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Meet Austin triathlete Kelly Handel
I met triathlete and training consultant Kelly Handel at Austin Java last Friday, on her 31st birthday. (Happy birthday Kelly!)
Kelly’s cool. And amazing.
A collegiate swimmer turned triathlete, she spent two years at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs (where she met another running phenom, Derick Williamson, whom she just married in September).
Kelly pecked at a muffin while she explained to me her passion for triathlon.
“One thing I really like about triathlon is that with three different disciplines, everyone has their own strength and weakness, something to improve,” she says. Handel is strongest in the swim and run, and is always working to get better on the bike. She likes the unpredictably of triathlon, where varying courses and outdoor conditions are the name of the game.
“A lot is about perseverance. Many times I’ve gotten off the bike near the back and can run people down,” she says.
She also pointed out an impressive scar on her left forearm. That’s from a cycling accident in Denver in 2005. She went down in a pack of riders, and when she managed to untangle herself, she saw that her arm bones were poking through the skin in two places. Ack!
Three surgeries and a lot of healing later, she got back into racing.
Now she works as a training consultant at Source Endurance, helping athletes reach their potential. She also continues to race. (She snagged eighth place this year in the Austin Marathon, her first marathon.)
Her typical training regimen during triathlon season? Bike four times a week (including long one on Saturday), run three times a week and swim three times a week.
At Source Endurance, she helps test athletes in the company’s lab. Baseline data on an athlete’s lactate threshold (the moment when the body is producing more lactic acid than it can effectively clear) and VO2 max lets her write individualized training programs for the clients she coaches.
“I enjoy working with everyday people, not just elite athletes,” she says. “People over 35, with family and jobs, who have maybe one hour a day. Our job is to help them get the most out of the time they have to train. They have busy lives and we know that.”
“You invest a lot of time, energy and emotion into it,” she says. “ You want to get the most out of it.”
She’s not all about working out, either. Kelly and Derick live in a 100-year-old home in South Austin. She likes to cook, and won’t turn down a good beer or a good margarita, either.
She also writes a blog, which you can see here: http://kellyhandel.blogspot.com/
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By Cori
December 9, 2008 5:41 AM | Link to this
Thanks for your article. Kelly means what she says when she says she works with all kinds of athletes. I’ve been lucky enough to work with her now for about a year and a half, and even though I’m a busy at-home mom of three young kids and solely a recreational fitness girl, she’s managed to help me lower my half marathon time with each race! Thanks for giving her and her company the attention they deserve!