Carter Campbell

Athlete of the Month

Carter Campbell

Coach: Jordan Gusman

Event: 10k

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Interview with Carter Campbell

Q: Hey Carter! Glad you could join The Axe for some questions. How are you doing today?

Great! I’m definitely getting pretty excited about spring weather. Living in Colorado, we both know how tricky it can be training with all the snow we’ve gotten or even just some of the frigid days we’ve had. Every day is one step closer to warmer weather and longer days!

Q: Can you give our readers a snapshot of your running career so far and how you found Hammer & Axe?

Sure thing. I first started running in the 8th grade, the last year of middle school. I had been watching my older brother run cross country, and the environment of the sport seemed to capture my interest. I hadn’t played any other sports in years, was a band kid throughout middle and high school, and wasn’t expecting to get as invested in running as I am today.

As the years went on in high school, I became less invested in band and more invested in running. It wasn’t until my senior year that I started to run decently, but nowhere near collegiate levels. I kept running on my own through my time at Colorado State with no real plan or structure, competing in local road races, but managing to see some small, but noticeable gains.

Eventually, however, I gained only so much by just running on my own. It seemed I had reached a plateau that I couldn’t get past, which in turn was making running more of a chore mentally. Being a fan of Tinman and seeing the launch of Hammer & Axe, I saw it as a perfect opportunity to continue to fulfill my passion for the sport in a more structured way.

Q: I know you came to a good amount of our Summer Series runs in Boulder this past summer (that’s where I met you), how has training been going since then?

Things have been going great. At the time of the Summer Series, Jordan and I had been working together for only about 4 months. It wasn’t until late fall/early winter that I really started to notice a new level come around. This happened after the last race of my ‘season’, so I was eager to show off my training. I ran a stellar Thanksgiving Day race and followed that up with a couple of great months of training.

Apart from the training and fitness, I haven’t had this much fun getting up and running every day since officially being on a team back in high school. The weekly schedule hasn’t gotten mundane, and there’s always something to look forward to. Whether it be the next race or simply the next hard workout, we’ve kept the ball rolling ;).

Q: How is Jordan as a coach? I’ve always wondered what those weekly phone calls with him are like! Haha.

I’m very glad I chose Jordan as a coach. I feel he and I are very similar in being pretty easygoing, and as a result, we actually aren’t on the phone every single week. There might be a week or two where we don’t talk, followed by a string of daily communication. I’ll shoot him a text if I have a great workout or a terrible one, and we’ll talk about how to move forward from that situation, good or bad. We do hop on the phone for some major events, however. Whether it be going into a new block or coming up on a bigger race, we’ll thoroughly talk things through—those calls will typically go for an hour or more.

Outside of running, we also share a number of similar interests. We both love video games, and I just got my first tattoo around the same time Jordan was adding one to his many. It was great having someone know what that process is like while in the middle of a big block!

Overall, I feel Jordan and I mesh really well together and are able to bond past just the coach/athlete relationship.

Q: How have you grown since joining Hammer & Axe, and why do you continue to invest in Jordan as a coach?

I can start by talking about surface-level fitness gains. Since joining Hammer & Axe just shy of a year ago, I’ve run three 10k PRs, logged the highest consistent mileage I’ve ever done, and stayed healthy and fresh while doing it. I feel like I’m in a great place of being strong, fit, and fast. I’m looking forward to continuing the upward trend going into the summer with some nicer running weather.

Past fitness, I’ve learned a lot about being patient, trusting the process, and keeping my eye on long-term goals. Jordan has taught me that no coach or training plan will make someone take a chunk off their PR overnight. As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t until late fall (about 7 months of working together) that I really started to notice a big change in how I was feeling.

I continue to invest in Jordan because of the external force he brings to my day-to-day training. If I just wanted written workouts, I’d go look one up (I heard you guys have plenty)! Having someone else believe my goals are achievable and invest their time in me is a huge driving factor. He understands what I want to accomplish and has given me a path to reach those destinations. Without that external investment, I don’t think I would have made close to the same amount of progress over this past year.

Q: Do you have any races coming up? If so, what are your goals and expectations for those?

At the time of writing this, I actually have a 5k in two days. It’s more of a low-stakes, smaller race, but is a good opportunity to break up a big chunk of our current training. I am looking at getting down to sea level to race a fast 10k in a month or so to round out the winter block of training. Living in Colorado, it’s hard to go down to low elevation often, so we’ve been building towards this idea since last fall.

What I’d like to see from myself from these races is to continue to develop a better mindset in racing. After a solid year, I notice that times I used to think were wild in my mind are becoming more and more achievable. Giving myself the small belief in a big breakthrough was the most challenging part of last year. I feel Jordan and I have set myself up for a great couple of races, and I’m hoping to pull through with this next 5 and 10k.

Q: Any last thoughts for our readers?

Over the past year, I’ve been able to reignite my passion for running through Coach Jordan. While some days are harder than others, I’ve been able to stay excited and always get after the day. If you’re like me and have found yourself on a running “plateau”, finding something to help get yourself over it will be one of the best decisions you make. That’s what working with Jordan did for me.

Keep up with Carter! 👇

Carter’s Strava

Carter’s Instagram

Work with Coach Jordan

Coach Jordan Gusman works with all kinds of athletes from all over the world and would love to add a few more athletes to his roster.

Don’t need a coach? Try one of our training plans instead. We have plans for almost every distance and goal time you could think of (plus, they’re a good bang for your buck).

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