IM 70.3 World Championship (Marbella) nutrition tips

Cooler weather triathlon races bring unique challenges when it comes to clothing, pacing and mindset. But fueling mistakes are some of the most overlooked.

Key considerations for include:

▶Cool enough that thirst/appetite may be suppressed, increasing the risk for bonking and dehydration.
▶A demanding/hilly bike requires a somewhat elevated effort and increased energy cost - alongside more time out on the bike course.
▶A flat run course - with "perfect" weather may feel great in the early miles but falling short on bike nutrition can lead to early fatigue.

2025 IM 70.3 NC - spectating

On October 23rd (Thursday), after I did my run workout and Karel went for a swim, we were off to Wilmington, NC. 

IM 70.3 NC was our last team race of the year. I've always wanted to visit Wilmington because I've heard great things about the race and race venue. Plus, Karel and I are really enjoying making new memories with Sunny and this would be his second time seeing the ocean. Additionally, Karel's mom is with us (until December) and it's always a treat to take her to new places. 

Our 5 hour drive to Wilmington went smoothly and we arrived to our downtown Airbnb around 3pm. After unloading our stuff, Karel met with two athletes to work on their bikes and Sunny and I walked a few blocks to the race expo area (next to Aloft hotel). Ironman gifted us with two VIP passes as we were one of the top 3 largest tri clubs at the race. I picked up our VIP stuff which included an emergency pack of sprays (ex. bug spray, sunscreen, etc.), wrist bands, cowbells and backpacks. We also received access to the athlete shuttle on race morning to T1 and VIP food areas in T1 and T2. We said hi to a few familiar faces and then Sunny and I walked around the streets of the historic downtown. 

Although Sunny doesn't use his e-collar when he does his therapy work, we still keep it on him when we are out and about. He feels really confident with it on and we are always working on his obedience to make sure he doesn't get rusty. We are still so proud of how far he has come. Karel mentioned to me that Sunny earned the opportunity to travel with us as a year ago, we were afraid to take him anywhere because of his reactivity to other dogs, anxiety in new places and excessive barking. He worked really hard and now he gets to enjoy the rewards of being an obedient dog by going everywhere with us. We love him so much. 

I ordered pizza in advance from Cugino Forno and had it delivered to Jim's beach house. Normally I pick up the pizza for our pre-race team pizza parties but not knowing the area and arriving a few hours before our team pizza party had me a little overwhelmed so the easy option was paying a little extra to get the pizza delivered. We picked up water from Food Lion as we made our way to the beach. It was ~40 minutes to get to the beach due to traffic. 

Our athlete and long time friend and team sponsor Jim rented a beach house by the swim start and it was the perfect location for our pre-race pizza party. We had a great time catching up with our athletes. 

Our Airbnb was in a great location - although it was a little noisy due to the music/weddings from the bars/restaurants in the area. We were located by the Museum of Bizarre which is on the run course (last 1/2 mile before the finish by the boardwalk entrance). We ended up sleeping really well once we officially fell asleep. 

On Friday morning we drove to the beach around 8:30am and went for an open water swim with a few of our athletes. Our athletes only swim for around 10-15 minutes to get a fell of the current in the water. Karel and I ended up swimming with the current and then against the current for a 30 minute swim. The water was a little chilly to enter but felt great with our wetsuits on. It wasn't too salty. 

After our swim, we changed at Jim's and Karel and I went for a run. It was a nice change to run on completely flat roads compared to our hilly terrain where we live. I ran for 1:22 and Karel ran for 90 minutes (he did a workout). After our run, we took Sunny and Karel's mom for a walk on the beach (dogs are allowed on the beach in the fall/winter) and then we went to lunch with Jim and his family and coach Joe at the restaurant on the beach. The food was ok (not much vegetarian options at the seafood restaurant). After lunch we went downtown to meet our athletes for a team picture at 3pm at T2. Then it was time to relax as all of our obligations were done for the day. 

In the evening, Karel and I walked to Castle Street Kitchen for dinner (it was really good!). I got a veggie burger and Karel got a regular burger. I set an early alarm for 4:45am so that we could get to the beach to support our athletes on race morning. 

RACE DAY

Trimarni athlete Brittany made us this awesome sign! 

We left our Airbnb in downtown around 5:10am and headed towards the beach. The traffic was really backed up as we got closer to T1 so we decided to park at Harris Teeter and walk 3 miles to the race start. It was very chilly in the morning so it was nice to warm up a little when we got to Jim's house. We saw a few of our athletes when they were lining up to enter the water. We then walked back to T1 and hung out in the VIP tent to see our athletes transition from swim to bike. Everyone looked cold starting the bike! 

We made our way back to the car (with a quick stop at a bagel shop) and then drove back to our Airbnb. Thankfully, no traffic getting to downtown. We parked our car and had a short rest in our Airbnb before heading back outside to the run course. We stood on the corner of Orange and Front street and watched our athletes come by. This was around mile 1.75 into the 13.1 mile run. The weather had changed from windy and cool on the bike to very pleasant on the run (although we were still cold while spectating, our athletes looked comfortable running in the 60-degree temps). 

Sadly, during the bike portion, our athlete Ruthanne was hit from behind by another rider. She was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Thankfully, she is ok with nothing too serious but she did have 6 fractured ribs and some road rash. Ruthanne was part of a Trimarni relay (she was the biker) so the other two relay members went to the hospital to stay with Ruthanne. We were worried all morning and were relieved when she left the hospital in the afternoon. On Sunday, I drove Ruthanne back to Greenville in her car (with Sunny) since she lives a few miles away from us and Karel drove him and his mom home. 

Although the logistics of IM 70.3 NC are a bit stressful with the two transitions, it was nice have two locations for the race. We really enjoyed our time at the beach but we also enjoyed walking around the historic downtown. If I were to do this race, I would stay at the beach so that I didn't have to ride the morning shuttle on race day morning (which runs from downtown to the beach). Because athletes cannot access T2 bags on race morning, I would leave my car at downtown after checking in the bike in T1 and run gear bag in T2, and then uber back to the beach. This way I would have a car at the race finish and an extra hour to sleep on race morning. 

There was a farmers market going on during the race.

Although it was a long day on our feet (we walked over 10 miles!) we loved seeing our athletes in action. We had several best performances on a day that proved to be challenging with the cold weather and wind. 

At 4:30pm we walked to Aloft for the awards (coach Joe placed 2nd in his AG and received a slot to the 2026 IM 70.3 World Championships and we placed 5th Tri Club). We ordered food from Kale Me Crazy and had it delivered to our Airbnb around 6pm. 

We were tired so we went to bed around 8:30pm. The next morning we packed up the car, picked up Ruthanne at the beach, said good bye to our athletes and hit the road back to Greenville. 

From GVL to PCB to Lanzarote - Part 1

In early January of 2025, I felt like I had no direction with my training as I was struggling to put together my race schedule. Karel knew that Ironman Lanzarote was always on my race bucket list because of the ocean swim w/ wetsuit, hills on the bike and heat throughout the entire race but I was very scared of the wind. Over the past few years, I have stepped way out of my comfort zone with mountain biking and Xtreme triathlon events so I feel more comfortable embracing challenging race day conditions. When Karel mentioned that I do Ironman Lanzarote this year, I slept on it for a few days and finally committed by registering for the event. Having a race on my schedule that was exciting and challenging gave me the motivation (and direction) that I needed to design my training for the next 5 months. Two of our professional athletes (Katie and Yannick) did the event last year and had great things to stay about the course and island. 

In the fall of 2024, we selected our 4 Trimarni team races of 2025, with IM 70.3 Gulf Coast being the first race of the season on May 3rd. With IM Lanzarote being 7 days after IM 70.3 Gulf Coast, I knew I couldn't race both events and with Karel returning to training after his 2nd knee surgery in 4 months (meniscus tear in both knees) we decided that we would still go to the race to support our athletes. We decided we would stay in Panama City Beach until Sunday (the day after the race) and drive to the Atlanta airport to start our travel to Lanzarote. Logistically, this required us to have all of our stuff for our trip to Spain with us in PCB. Additionally, because we wanted to bring Sunny with us for his first trip to the beach, we needed to find him transportation back to Greenville (thankfully our athlete/friend Ruthanne offered to bring him back for our house pet sitter Sarah to reunite with him). This was Sunny's 2nd road trip and longest road trip. He was great. He loves his car seat from Funny Fuzzy and stays in it anytime we are in the car. 

We started our 8-hour drive to PCB on Thursday morning around 7:30. The ride was fairly uneventful, just long. Thankfully we gained an hour so we arrived around 3:30pm local time. I dropped Karel off at the Frank Brown aquatic center for him to get in a swim while I checked in to our Airbnb at the Gulf Highlands Resort. After unloading our car, Sunny and I drove back to the aquatic center for Karel and I do to a Sunny hand off. It was my turn to get in a lovely outdoor swim workout (~3000 yards) while Karel walked Sunny. Sunny had a blast playing in the dog park, while enjoying the warm weather. 

After my swim we went to pick up our pizza order at Mr. Maine's pizza (highly recommend) for our team pizza party. We rented the conference center and had 10 athletes in attendance. It was great to see everyone and Sunny enjoy his first team pizza party (he had practice at our recent group training camp). Around 9pm we were ready for bed as it was a long day. 

On Friday morning, I went for my "long" ride. With us staying by the beach, there aren't a lot of safe places to ride. I opted to go to Gayles Trails behind Frank Brown park but I didn't want to drive there so I started off along Front Beach Road and road mostly southeast as it was a bit more quiet, with a bike lane. After I warmed up I did my main set of 5 x 10 minutes (strong effort) w/ 2-3 min EZ spin. I finished with 2:08 and 42 miles. I did a quick 3 mile and 24 minute run off the bike with a few strides. When I returned from my workout, Karel headed out for his ride. He ended up riding 57 miles and covered the race course in 2:50. While Karel was out, Sunny and I walked to the Sunrise cafe and bakery for a post ride meal of waffles and scrambled eggs. Sunny was allowed to sit inside because he was on his best behavior. I ordered Karel the Borscht to-go. 

In the early afternoon, we took Sunny to the dog beach at Pier Park. We have so many memories of Campy at the beach in Panama City Beach and we were so excited for Sunny to experience the sand, ocean water and birds. Sunny wasn't impressed with the water (we weren't surprised) but he loved running in the sand, playing with the other dogs and chasing the birds. It was great to let him run around off the leash and enjoy his freedom that he has worked hard for with his obedience training from Dog Training Elite. 

After our beach date, we went to the Lotus Cafe. This is one of my favorite restaurants as there are so many vegetarian options and I love the atmosphere. You order at the window inside and then you can sit anywhere in the outdoor covered seating. I had a veggie burger and Karel had one of the specials (turkey stuffed with feta). It was so good. 

It was raining on and off throughout the evening but based on the predicted weather, the worst was going to come throughout the night and into race day. We prepared our athletes for a cancelled swim possibility and sure enough, the swim was cancelled around an hour before the race start (the race was to start at 5:30am but was delayed to start at 6:10am). Karel and Sunny drove to Pier Park to cheer for the athletes in the early miles of the bike and I ran 42 minutes to Karel. Originally I had planned a 75 min run w/ a few intervals but by the time I got to Karel, it started to downpour and then it wasn't worth continuing on to run in the rain. 

After all of our athletes passed, we went back to our condo and watch IM 70.3 St. George on Outside TV while tracking our athletes. When I first athlete got close to the last 10 miles of the bike, we started our walk to the Edgewater resort to watch our athletes start the run. Sunny enjoyed watching and cheering for the athletes. We were able to see several of our athletes start the run after the bridge and catch them on their 2nd loop. The rain had stopped and it got very warm and very windy. Later we learned that there was hail and rain on the bike, as well as super strong winds for the last 16 mph. Sunny and I went back to our condo around 12pm and Karel stayed out and cheered for all of our athletes until he saw our last athlete start her 2nd lap of the run. Shortly after Karel arrived to our Airbnb, it started to lightening and downpour. We received a notification from the Ironman app that the race was postponed. And then the race was cancelled. Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions and weather conditions! 

A few hours later, we met up with two of our athletes (Angela and Kevin) and we had a late lunch at Lotus cafe (again). Around 6:30pm, several of our athletes met at Beach Cow Creamery for ice cream. 

We finished our laundry and packing and around 8am on Sunday, we were ready for leg 2 of our trip. We dropped off Sunny with Ruthanne at her car (he was confused but also comforted by Ruthanne and Janice, since he knows Ruthanne very well). We were really sad to say good bye to Sunny as we really had a great time sharing this trip with him. 

Part 2 coming soon.....

'24 IM 70.3 Gulf Coast Race Recap

IM 70.3 Gulf Coast.

Marni: 4:40.18, 2nd AG (40-44), 4th overall female.

Karel:: 4:18.04, 1st AG (45-49), 15th overall.

There were a lot of great takeaways from this race......

Although it's fun to go fast, I prefer hard, hilly and technical bike and run courses.

I love three loop run courses!

The training that I need to do to stay mentally and physically healthy and happy right now in my life is very different than the training I used to do to be mentally and physically ready to compete in the 70.3 distance. I've never considered myself great at the 70.3 distance but I'm happy that I can still be competitive without specific 70.3 training.

I love competition! I ran the first loop as the lead female. I was passed in the 2nd loop by the eventual overall winner (Samantha Skold - who was so fast and strong!) I then got complacent. My friend Jen Sylva passed me with a few miles left in the run and she encouraged me to run with her. I wasn't able to match her pace but thanks to her encouragement miles 10, 11, 12, and 13 were my fastest ever in a 70.3 run. She gave me an extra gear that I didn't know that I had. Thanks Jen! 

I'm very thankful to my body for staying healthy and injury free for the past five years. That's a lot of consistent training over the years and I never take a training session (or race) for granted.

Karel went into this race with a lot of niggles. His "no expectations" mindset allowed him to put together one of his best runs off the bike in a 70.3 in a very long time.

We love racing with our athletes. We had 17 athletes racing and it was great to see so many familiar faces on the race course.

I forgot how much I love ocean swimming and the unpredictability of open water.

We rarely seek out flat race courses but after watching the 2023 pro coverage of 70.3 Gulf Coast, I really liked seeing the spectator friendly, 3 loop run and the entertaining bike course. We decided to make Gulf Coast a team race and we ended up having 17 Trimarni athletes and team members at the event. 

We traveled on Wednesday and made the long 9-ish hour drive to Panama City Beach. Thankfully we gained an hour, which got us to our Airbnb around 3pm central time. We stayed in a nice Airbnb a mile from the race venue. Although the condos at the resort and along the water were appealing, I didn't want to mess with elevators and lugging all of our stuff up and down. After unloading the car, I went for a swim at the local aquatic center (~$10 entry fee) and it felt so good to be non weight bearing after such a long drive. We split up the driving but I did most of it because Karel's back has been giving him a lot of issues and his right leg goes numb when he sits (and drives) for long periods of time. I swam 2700 and when I finish, I saw our athletes Angela and Kevin at the pool. After my swim, I picked up Chipotle for dinner (pre ordered at the pool for pick up) and then made a quick stop at Publix for a few groceries. 

On Thursday we ventured down to the ocean with red flags on the beach. The water was very choppy with big breakers. Karel learned how to get through the breakers by diving under the waves, grabbing the sand and holding on until the breaker passes. He learned this at Xterra Maui in 2021. I really struggled in the water and it took me 3 different attempts to get past the breakers. I was most worried about getting stung by jellyfish since I have a bad reaction to stings but thankfully all was ok. Karel wore his swimskin and I just wore my bathing suit. 

After our "swim" - if you were to call it that - we drove back to our Airbnb, had a quick snack and then drove to the aquatic center to start our bike workout. We biked on the cycling path to the main hwy and then rode the cycling path (parallel to the hwy) until we got to the bridge. We then got on the main road and rode over the bridge on the race course. We rode almost 20 miles and it was fast going out and windy and slow coming back. When we returned back to the Airbnb, I went for an easy 4.8 mile run on the race course (1 loop + a little extra). Around 2pm we got our registration packet at the Edgewater conference center (across from the transition area). The line moved really quickly and the volunteers were very nice. 

In the evening we had our team pizza party at our Airbnb and course talk following. 

It stormed throughout Thursday night and we woke up to wet and debris-filled roads. We waited a little to let the ground dry but then rain was predicted. I really wanted to get on my bike Alvi and I got out around 9am for a 18 mile ride on the course (I wanted to see part of the back part of the course). We got rained on and there was a lot of sand on the road. When I returned home, Karel took my part completely apart so that he could fully clean it. Karel went for a run in the morning. We dropped off our bikes in the transition area around 2pm and then rested for the rest of the day (and carbo-loaded). My typical carb loading strategy is as follows: 
-2 waffles + syrup + yogurt + PB before workout
-~120 calories sport drink during workout
-Glass of milk post workout
-Eggs + bagel + PB and banana for breakfast
-Pasta + marinara and veggie burger for lunch
-Poptart (2) for snack w/ yogurt
-Soup + rice for dinner 

We went to bed around 7pm and slept ok. Karel slept better than I did. I tossed and turned as our pet sitter told me on Friday that Campy was having a bad day with his dementia and that had me really worried. But thankfull all is ok now. 

With the 5:40am race start, we woke up at 3:15am. We left the house around 4:15am to drive to the shopping center parking lot (~1/2 mile away) to park and then walk to the transition area behind the Edgewater resort. We still hadn't heard if the swim was happening or if it was non wetsuit legal. We later heard it was happening and not wetsuit legal. 

After setting up our stuff in the transition area, we walked to the ocean behind the resort. I wish I would have arrived earlier than 5:20am as it was really crowded and I really didn't get a good look at the ocean before I was in the corral for the race start near the front. 

For the rest of our race recap, you can check out our video report HERE.

Photo:Brittany 

Photo:Brittany 

Photo:Brittany 

We slept ok after the race and around 7am on Sunday (after packing up the car), we made our long 9+ hour drive home. 

Karel and I did not specifically train for this race. It felt really good to be able to race well enough to be competitive despite not having this race as our primary focus in this early season racing block. Our big focus this year is on XTRI events. Karel will be participating in his first XTRI event in Italy in late June and I will be participating in Norseman (the XTRI World Championship) in August. To keep the winter training fresh and fun, we do a lot of off-road training (trail running, mountain biking, gravel biking). This helps keep us mentally and physically healthy. Although the training isn't conventional, it keeps us enjoying triathlon at this stage in our triathlon journey.