Trimarni Clermont Camp - Day 4

The time finally came. The last day of camp. Surprisingly, our campers were a bit giddy and full of energy. Over the past 4.5 days, we never had the TV on and had little discussion of what was going in the outside world. I feel this really helped with the moral of camp as everyone was positive and encouraging - and staying passionate and dedicated to their swim/bike/run workouts.

Our last day of camp started at the Clay trail around 8am. We specifically selected the trail for the Sunday run as we had planned for it to be the day after the race (softer surface = easier on the legs). But since we worked our campers pretty hard on Saturday, everyone enjoyed the run workout on the clay trail.

We gave the campers a specific run workout with varying speeds and it was awesome to see everyone supporting one another. We kept with an out and back segment on the trail so that we could all cheer for one another.

After a dynamic warm-up, we spent 30 minutes warming up (15 min EZ then 15 min good form running) and then got into the main set which was:
1 min strong/1 min smooth
2 min strong/1 min smooth
3 min strong/3 min smooth
4 min strong/4 min smooth
5 min strong/4 min smooth
And then back down the pyramid.

The Clay trail includes some rollers so it was a great workout to keep everyone focused. Once the fog lifted near the end of our warm-up, the sun peeped out and it became rather warm. Our campers were well hydrated and fueled as we always require our athletes/campers to bring fuel/hydration with them when they run (belt/band/backpack).

After the run, we made our way to the NTC for the last workout of the camp. Because we had 30 minutes of free time between the run and our scheduled swim (reserved lanes), I put the campers through a 20 minute strength session - no equipment needed. We were all sweating by the end - just in time for their swim workout.

Although an endurance swim, our campers were extremely tired. But everyone worked hard and there were no complainers or excuses being made.

After the 90-minute swim workout, it was time for the final chat of the camp and the final good byes. It was sad to see everyone go but we were so happy that our camp was a huge success! Friendships were made, memories were created and a lot of fitness was gained over 4.5 days.

Karel and I mustered up some energy for a swim soon after the campers left and it was a struggle to complete the set (the same workout we gave to our campers - ha!). We even modified it because we were so tired.

After the swim, it was time to head back to the resort and before crashing from mental exhaustion, I devoured a few slices of leftover pizza, enjoyed a few handfuls of Cheeze-it's and started the packing from all the camp "stuff" - as well as a big pile of sweaty workout clothes that were in serious need of washing. All that was left in the house was Kathleen and Don and me and Karel. It was a very quiet night and I really missed all of our campers!

Because the public health situation was progressing near the end of camp, our coaching duties were in full effect on Sunday evening through Monday as we had a lot of workout modifications to make (ex. closed pools/gyms) for our athletes. Let's just say that we slept really well after our 9.5 hour drive back home on Monday as we were completely exhausted.

Thanks for following us along throughout camp - I hope it helped you maintain some good motivation with your training/exercise routine during this time. Don't give up on yourself! Change the plan but never change the goals.

We hope to see you at a future Trimarni camp!

Trimarni Clermont Camp - Day 3

Our campers were able to sleep-in a bit (compared to waking up early for the race - which was cancelled) and the overall energy in the house was positive, uplifting and motivating. Everyone was excited to spend the morning outside, on another beautiful and warm day. Although our race was cancelled, life was not cancelled. One can never plan for the unexpected. Sometimes the best moments are the ones you don't plan for. Trust the magic of the unknown. 

Around 8:15am, we all caravanned to Waterfront Park (just as we did on Friday) and got ready for our long ride. For many of our campers, our planned 4-hour ride was the most they had ridden in a very long time - and for some, it was their longest ride ever! We feel that it's important to not only teach our campers good skills and provide a lot of education at our campers but also put our campers into situations that they may not be able to (or are afraid to) experience alone as we feel every athlete is capable of so much more than they think they are capable of accomplishing. 

We once again broke into our three groups - which included athletes of similar fitness abilities and skills. However, for some athletes we put them in groups where they would be forced to work a little harder than normal - all because we believed in their abilities. Everyone worked so well together and we were constantly impressed with their teamwork and terrain management skills. 

We rode on the same route as Friday (which was the race course) and branched off the course on Sugarloaf Moutain Road. We then descended down Sugarloaf and continued on the ~5 mile Buckhill "loop" which was the course for the main set of the day. 

Alvaro positioned the car on Bruce Hunt road so that campers could exchange bottles from the cooler (already prepared to save time), get a snack/drink if needed and regroup. We gave our campers 90-minutes on the loop to ride as they wished - practicing skills, descending, climbing and terrain management. It was really hot out (upper 80's) so fueling and hydration were key. I had instructed all of our campers how to fuel/hydrate for their 4 hour ride and everyone did a great job.

Joe, Karel and I were able to ride with almost everyone throughout each loop and provide feedback and instruction as to how to best manage the terrain. For some campers, we had them stay on our wheel and we paced them throughout the loop and instructed how to change gears and ride the hills. The group was really attentive and hard working. 

After we regrouped at 12:15pm, we broke into our three groups again and headed back to the race course. I made a quick stop to say hi to a cow - which I thought was friendly but was not too interested in me. I even told him/her that I was a vegetarian but I don't think that mattered. ;) 

To finish off this endurance workout, our campers went for a 40-60 minute run to give them nearly 5 hours of training for the day. 

It was awesome to see how strong everyone looked and many of them knocked down mental and physical barriers. 

Let's just say that we were toasty at the end of the workout and a cold, fizzy, sugary-filled coke hit the spot at the end of a 5 hour workout in early 90 degree temps. 

After the workout we went back to the camp house, recovered with some delicious snacks and smoothies prepared by Kathleen and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon relaxing (although most campers had to pack up their bikes for flying back home the next day).

All is good when Karel can enjoy his ice cream and quarentine himself away from people ;) 

Alvaro and I went to pick up the pizza that we ordered from Flippers (coaches treat for our campers) and needless to say, our campers were ready to eat when we returned home. 

Kathleen made a few salads to go along with our pizza and we all had a wonderful time yumming on the pool deck. 

After dinner, Karel, Joe and I had a chat with our campers and then we did an activity where I had all of the campers write a letter to themselves, answering questions like "what are your long term triathlon goals, why do you do triathlons, what are your strengths and weaknesses, etc." I also had them write mantra's and key words on a notecard to maintain motivation throughout the season. I will be mailing these letters to each camper in June so that they can re-read their letters to keep enthusiasm high throughout the summer. 

After dinner it was time for a group pic (and one with jazz hands to get us ready to practice social distancing). 

It was early to bed as we had one last day of camp to go on Sunday. 

Trimarni Clermont Camp - Day 2

While our scheduled Olympic distance race for Saturday was not yet cancelled, we proceeded with our planned workout for the day. A 2.5 hour ride followed by a 20-30 minute run off the bike. 

The morning started as usual - the coaches were working hard while the athletes were eating, laughing and anticipating the training day ahead. With such a large house/resort, the coaches (and our camp support Alvaro) were tucked away on the far side of the house (with our own kitchen - one of four kitchens in the house!).

After eating our pre-workout meal, it was time to pack up and drive to Waterfront Park to start our brick workout. 

It was a beautiful sunny and warm day which was a pleasant change from our cooler temps and a big shock to our midwest and northern campers. I love the heat so I said bring it! 

For this ride, we broke into three groups based on fitness levels and each of the coaches (Karel, Me and Joe) had a small handful of campers to follow each of us. This also allowed us to be less cluttered on the road and to provide individual feedback to each camper as needed. Alvaro drove the SAG vehicle to our meeting spot and then joined us for some of our ride as we covered one stretch of road for the "main set" of our workout. 

After our campers covered the first part of the bike race course, we turned off the race course onto Sugarload Moutain road and started our main set which included a series of rollers to work on terrain management. After a short time on that road (out and back), it was time to descend down Sugarload Mountain for a time trial up to the top. Surprise - Clermont has lots of hills! 

Karel's group had so much "fun" the first time that they got to ride up it twice. My group and Joe's group only did one TT. And we were so proud of everyone for working so hard all the way to the top. 

Appropriately, the end of the TT course was by the donkeys (which I had to say hello to). 

It was great to see all of our campers supporting and cheering for one another. A few of our campers had never accomplished such a feat so it was great to see comfort zones being stretched. That is what camp is all about - doing things that you won't do or don't know how to do alone. 

After we all regrouped at Waterfront park, it was time for the brick run. We encouraged our campers to focus on good form running and to not think about the upcoming race on Saturday. 

We finished our 3-hour brick workout around 1pm which left us about an hour before registration opened at 2pm (a few blocks away). So our campers recovered with their recovery drinks and we all gathered under a pavillion for a course talk. 

Sadly, just 30-minutes after picking up our packet for the race, the city told Sommer Sports that they could not hold the race due to the current health situation. While a dissapointment, Karel and I had already planned option B in the case of a cancelled race. 

Vegan Baked Blueberry Oatmeal from my book Essential Sports Nutrition.

When we arrived back to the camp house, we had an absolutely amazingly delicious meal prepared by our camp cook Kathleen. What a treat to have her in the house preparing all of our meals. We truly believe that this made such a positive impact on the recovery and energy levels of our campers throughout their 4.5 day camp. 

Kathleen prepared sweet potato cookies, oatmeal bake and had a spread of fresh fruit, veggie burgers, deli meat and cheese, along with an assortment of breads. 

While there are plenty of places to sit and gather in the camp house, somehow I ended up in a kids rocking chair. As the saying goes "If it fits, you sit." 

Since we were unable to do our afternoon open water swim (oh - forgot to mention that on Thursday, the swim for the race was cancelled due to the water conditions so we had two cancellations - the swim and the race!) our campers had a lot of free time to relax and recover from 3pm until bedtime. They took full advantage of it! 

While some of our campers stayed inside, a few of us ventured outside and had some fun on the swan in the lake. 

That was a workout pedaling around this huge swan!!

After a bit of fun in the lake, we walked on the somewhat-sketchy boardwalk to Lake Louisa...which was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. 

Around 6pm, it was time for dinner. We had an assortmet of chilled pastas, chicken (for the meat eaters) and sweet potatoes. 

With happy bellies, it was time for our evening talk with our campers - which occurred every evening of camp around 7pm. 

Each night we went over the day, answered questions, highlighted the accomplishments and feats of some of our campers and turned over the white board (oh the anticipation by our campers) to reveal the workout plan for the next day. Although the original plan was the Olympic distance race followed by a 2-hour endurance ride, we loaded up the morning with a 5 hour brick workout. Catering to the needs of all of our campers, we were excited for each of them to put in some solid training and enjoy the outdoors for most of Saturday. 

After the talk, our campers mingled for a little and then started to make their way to bed around 8-9pm. As for me, let's just say that I was ready for bed soon after our evening talk. 

Trimarni Clermont Camp: First day

Our first official day of camp started around 7am with a kitchen full of campers. There were a lot of happy and excited faces, fueling for a long day of training. At 8:15am, we carpooled to the National Training Center for the first workout of the day. 

After a dryland mobility session, our campers jumped into the perfectly clear water of the NTC pool to start their 90-minute long course swim workout. 

The workout was a mix of drills (sculling, fist progression and single arm) which then progressed into the main set which was a mix of open-water skills and strength/power. We finished the workout with a "race" - two by two in a lane and every camper finished the workout exhausted and accomplished. It was a great start to the day and the weather was amazing. 

After the athletes were finished, our camp helper/athlete Alvi and I did our own swim workout (2200) while Karel and coach Joe confirmed our bike course for our afternoon workout. 

Yay - outdoor swimming!!

I can't express how amazing it has been to have an in-house cook at the camp house. With nearly 20 campers all staying in one house, it's been so nice to have several kitchens, all stocked with food and a camp menu with all lunch/dinner meals prepared in advance. 

At 1:15pm, we drove a few miles down the road to Lake Louisa State Park for our bike/run workout. It was a very warm afternoon so I instructed all our campers to stay well fueled and hydrated throughout the workout. Thankfully we have a lot of sport nutrition products -from a variety of great companies - for our campers to use throughout camp. 

We selected a 2-mile stretch of road that included a mix of rollers and different wind directions for the workout. While our stretch of road was only 4 miles total (out and back), we spent nearly 2 hours doing specific cadence and effort intervals and no one got bored. The quiet road was perfect for our campers to focus on their efforts and for us coaches to spend time with each camper. 

Did I mention it was hot and sunny?!?!

After the bike, it was time for the run workout. Our campers did a solid run off the bike - which was not easy considering that it was nearing 90 degrees outside. 

We stuck to our schedule and finished the first day of camp at 5pm and dinner was ready by 6pm. We all yummed over tacos and then finished the evening with our daily chat with coaches/campers. 

Hello from Trimarni camp!

We packed up the car on Tuesday morning and hit the road to Jacksonville, FL around noon. To start the morning, Karel went for a swim at Furman and I did a bike/run workout (indoors) to start the day. The furry crew went to their "spring break" camp at Grandmas.

I drove the first 3 hours of the drive as Karel worked on the computer (thank you hot spot!) and then we swapped. For entertainment, we listened to various triathlon related podcasts. We made one stop at Chipotle and funny enough, Karel and I both got the same dish - a salad bowl w/ rice, beans, veggies and tofu. Yum yum.

We arrived to our friends house in Jax around 6pm and I was quickly greeted with lots of sloppy kisses from sweet Reagan. 

After a delicious dinner prepared by Erica, I got to hang out with Erica and Joe's cute son Weston for a little and then it was off to bed. 

On Wednesday morning, we left around 7:30am for a 2.5 hour drive to Clermont, Florida. Joe, our assistant coach (who also let us stay at his house to break up our trip) lead the way and we followed in our car. When we arrived, we went straight to the NTC for a 3000 yard swim workout. Since our training is pushed to the side during our camp to attend to the needs of our campers, it was nice to get in a solid swim - while enjoying the warm weather.

After the swim, we drove 20 minutes to our camp house "resort" and for the next 3 hours, I was on "party planner" mode, getting the house ready for the campers. 

So much sport nutrition!!

Awesome Trimarni camp swag bags!!

Our 20 campers started to roll in between 2-4:30 and at 5pm (after a brief camp intro) we headed out for a 1-hour social spin. 

We are so grateful that Kathleen is here to cook for our campers. Not only did she do all the grocery shopping (and keeping our kitchens stocked with food) but she is preparing all of our meals. 

In the evening, we had our formal camp introduction and went over the Thursday camp schedule - which will include a full day of training. 

It's camp week!!

While you may have an important triathlon race on your schedule, motivation is sure to ebb and flow throughout the year. Although it's not easy being an athlete, you are more likely to enjoy your training when your enjoyment factor is high. Sure, we need to embrace the solo grind that is needed for self improvement, but let's not forget that your sport also allows you to live a active, happy and healthy lifestyle - thus, it's important to find ways to keep sport fun. 

I can't believe that this will be our 14th group training camp! Over the years, we have learned a lot and have met so many inspiring athletes and human beings. Whereas many training camps focus on accumulating miles, we believe in a nice mix of training, fun, education and skill development. And at our upcoming camp in Clermont, we are even including an Olympic distance race as part of our camp experience!

Ultimately, our goal at each Trimarni camp is to help our athletes explore their true physical and mental capabilities. We help them overcome fears and what was once uneasy, becomes familiar and more comfortable. We love education - never ever stop learning. Our hope is that when our campers return home, they not only have improved confidence and self-belief but they can apply what they learned at camp to their own training and racing.

A training camp is a big investment - requiring time away from work/family - but what you get in return is an inspiring, education, fun, challenging, memorable and life-changing experience where you can stretch your comfort zone, learn, explore new boundaires, push your physical and mental limits and become the athlete that you are capable of being.

If you are considering participating in a group training camp, here are a few things you can expect to gain/receive:

• Trying new things
• Stepping out of the comfort zone
• Discovering new strengths
• Building friendships
• Discovering the value of hard work
• Learning to take healthy risks
• Constructive feedback
• Setting goals
• Being responsible
• Being attentive
• Teamwork
• Learning
• Improving decision making skills
• Overcoming obstacles

Every time we plan a triathlon training camp, we look forward to providing our campers with all the benefits of a training camp, like improving fitness, learning new skills, breaking bad habits and making training fun, but also providing our athletes/campers with the opportunity to escape the day-to-day responsibilities, stressors, distractions and excuses so that they can put all energy, time and focus into training. By creating good habits at camp, there's a great chance that our campers/athletes will bring those habits back home to their familiar environment in order to make better, faster and bigger gains in fitness while keeping the body in good health. And above all, we want our athletes/campers to enjoy this sport for many years to come so we hope that our training camps remind our campers/athletes how much fun the sport of triathlon can be and why all that solo training is "worth it".

2020 Trimarni team races + camp schedule

During my competitive swimming years, I loved showing up to swim practice because I knew it was a time to socialize with my friends. When it came to swim meets, the travel and entire swim meet experience was so much fun because I was with so many of my friends (teammates). While I loved being a swimmer, I couldn't imagine spending nearly a decade of my life swimming alone or going to a swim meet with so many unfamiliar faces.

There’s no better feeling than being part of a team. Not every age group triathlete gets to experience this as much of the training (and racing) is done alone or with only a small group of individuals. Within a team, you have continuous support from others, which lifts and elevates your performance to a level that you never thought was possible. Alone, you have to find your own source of motivation. As a triathlete, although you may compete as an individual, there's a lot more to enjoy on race day when you are racing with your teammates.

This is why we have team races at Trimarni.

Deep into my triathlon racing "career" I really missed the team culture. Some of my best memories from competitive swimming were celebrating successes with others but also feeling inspired and motivated when someone perservered through a tough situation. And anytime someone was struggling, there were plenty of hugs to go around. My competitive swimming years taught me that a cheer, pep talk and familiar face can go a long way.

Over the years, the Trimarni team has shared a lot together - on and off the course. Athletes come and go but they always stay part of our Trimarni family. I believe team races bring people together. Racing with your teammates reminds you that you are racing for something bigger than yourself. And no matter the result, your teammates are there to support you, encourage you, consule you and celebrate with you.

As you finalize your 2020 racing schedule, we hope to see you at one of our team races or group camps.

2020 TRIMARNI TEAM RACE / CAMP SCHEDULE 

March 11-15th: Clermont, FL Training camp + Olympic distance race (March 14th).

April 19th: Ironman 70.3 FL

May 17th: Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga

June 7th: Ironman 70.3 Virginia's Blue Ridge

June 24-28th: Greenville, SC Training Camp

July 26th: Ironman Lake Placid

Click HERE to learn more about our training camps. Registration will open soon. 

2017 Trimarni Clermont camp recap

Checking out of life in order to eat, sleep and train......could life get any more fun??

For many triathletes, the idea of attending a training camp is extremely exciting. But for others, the idea of stepping outside your comfort zone, in an unfamiliar training environment, with new athletes is scary and uncomfortable.

At a Trimarni training camp, we cater each camp to specific fitness levels so that no athlete feel excluded. Our camps offer a judgement and ego-free zone, where everyone supports, motivates and encourages one another. Karel and I work together to make sure that every camper receives the best experience possible and leaves camp with improved knowledge and skills, in order to train and race better in his/her familiar training environment.

With this being our 4th consecutive training camp in Clermont, FL, I'd say that this was one of the best ones yet. We had an amazing group of triathletes, from all over the US, of all fitness levels. There was no weak link and everyone worked so great together. Despite the chilly weather when we arrived to Clermont, all of our campers stayed safe throughout camp and comfort zones were stretched and new skills/habits were achieved.

Here's the breakdown of our Clermont camp......

Swag, swag and more swag!! This is one of my favorite parts about camp! I just love filling the goodie bags with Trimarni sponsor swag. 

A huge thank you to our 2017 Trimarni sponsors

-Run In
-New Wave Swim Buoy
-Mg12
-Clif
-Cheribundi
-Veronica's Health Crunch
-Infinit
-Levelen
-Hot Shot
-Boco Gear
-Canari

-Xterra
-Alto cycling
-Swamp Rabbit Inn and Lodge
-Salem Anesthesia

After Karel did two bike fits on Wednesday afternoon, we had an optional workout on Wednesday evening (bike or mobility) which was a nice way for the campers to get to know one another and to ease into their new training environment. In Clermont, all campers stay at a Duplex, which works perfect for our large group.

Karel and I had a team meeting with the group at 6:30pm, which included athlete introductions. Of course, no group meeting would be complete with an ice breaker, which included "what would be your superhero power if you could make one up?"

We had some great responses by our athletes. Karel selected a superhero power of being able to change the wind while he was riding his bike in a race so that only he would get tailwind and everyone else would get headwind. My superhero power would be to talk to animals.

Around 7:30pm, we left our campers so that we could get a good night of sleep before the first day of camp. 

Day 1 - Swim, bike and run

Our morning swim was pushed back by 90 minutes due to the cold temps so we met at the NTC at 8:30am for a 9am workout. We first explained the strength endurance + speed swim set to our campers and then moved our way outside (in 40 degrees) for dynamic stretching. 

The nice thing about cold weather and an outdoor pool is easy to get in, hard to get out. For the coaches on deck, however.....Brrrrrr. 

We split our campers into three lanes based on swimming ability and offered skill feedback to our campers as they were swimming. This set was endurance focused but we added a bit of intensity with short rest to provide a bit of cardio stress. 

After the 90 minute long course swim, our campers sprinted to the locker room for a warm shower. Thankfully, the water was warm in the pool so when Karel and I were done coaching, it was our turn to do the workout. Oddly enough, we were so looking forward to jumping in the pool in order to warm up!

After a 2.5 hour break, we met up with our campers at 1:30pm for a 3 hour ride. This ride was very specific on variable cadence work. This was our first opportunity to see our campers in action and for several, there first time outside on the bike since last fall due to frigid temps.

We first rode out to our first interval section, which was on a 2 mile windy stretch of flat road. We had our campers do 6 x 5 minute intervals of varying cadence (choice, heavy, higher than normal) all at a Z3 effort. Because of the out and back stretch of road, Karel and I were able to ride one on one with our campers and provide feedback. The hands on work is so valuable for us coaches, especially on the bike.

                             

Did we mention how much we love our new Canari kits???

After the first main set, it was time to head over to the back side of Sugarloaf mountain for some hilly intervals. We had our campers perform heavy gear work for 2.8 miles, which included a few steady climbs. After one interval, we had them ride easy back down and perform another round of heavy gear work to the top.

After main set number two was complete, it was time for the fun part of the workout....a TT up Sugarloaf mountain!!

This 3/4th mile climb is steep and we had our campers give a best effort to the top. Every one of our campers made it to the top and we were so proud of everyone for not complaining and for giving a solid effort after two tough main sets. We then all rode back home to complete a little over 3 hours of riding. 

After spending much of the day working out, it was time for the last workout of the day, which was a 15-20 minute easy brick run, followed by a 6 x 10 sec hill strides.
What a great way to end day 1 of camp!
Our campers were ready for some food after workout #3 so we didn't have a team meeting that evening but instead, scheduled a team talk for before the Friday bike workout. 

Day 2 - Run, Bike, Open water swim

Now that our campers were comfortable with each other, after giving them a good dose of training on day 1 of camp, we headed to the Clay Trail for the first workout on day 2 of camp. We met at the trail at 7:30am for a dynamic warm-up, followed by a run workout and then main set. 

All of our campers were required to wear hydration belts to stay fueled and hydrated. Even though it was cool outside (low 40's), the overall quality of workouts, throughout the entire camp, depends on proper fueling/hydration for every workout.

The nice thing about day 2 of camp is that the campers begin to form friendships with one another and you can see more teamwork and support for each other.
We gave our campers a specific interval workout to work on pacing on the gently rolling hills on the Clay Trail. The set included 4 rounds of 14 minute intervals of 8 min smooth endurance effort, 4 min moderate strong, 2 min strong and then 1 minute rest. This was a 1 hour main set for a total of 90 minutes of running. 

Since we asked our campers to run out and back sections in order to cover different stretches of the Clay road for different intensities, Karel and I were able to run with our campers and give feedback (or to give them a little push). 

I have to be honest and say that the Clay Trail is one of my favorite running routes. I just love the soft surface and the sunrise is picture perfect. 

After the run, we instructed our campers to drink their Cheribundi tart cherry juice to help reduce inflammation and to help with recovery and to follow up with a protein drink (Clif hydration). We just love tart cherry juice and we have been drinking it more regularly after our intense/long workouts to offer a natural way to reduce inflammation. I am a big proponent of juice post workout as it is easy to digest and it is refreshing and rehydrating. 

What a great workout to start day 2 of camp! 

We gave our campers about 2 hours of recovery before we headed over to the team house/Duplex for a talk on bike execution, managing terrain and changing gears. It was a very beneficial talk as Karel did an exceptional job explaining the most efficient ways to ride on hills and in wind. 

After the 1 hour talk, we all headed out on our bikes to recon the Olympic distance course. We gave our athletes a few intervals to do but nothing too intense. This was another opportunity for us coaches to ride side by side with our campers and help with changing gears, when to sit up and when to get out of the saddle. Assistant coach Joe also helped us out on the course - he was a great help at camp. 

After the almost 1:45 hr bike ride, our campers gathered their swim gear and we all walked down to Waterfront park for an open water swim. This was a great opportunity for our campers to get comfortable in open water, test out their wetsuits (which have been sitting in the closest for several months) and work on sighting and building efforts in the open water. A big thanks to New Wave Swim Buoys for providing buoys to all our campers. Not only does this make it easy for us to see our campers but the buoys act as a way to rest, in the case of an emergency like shortness of breath or a cramp. 

After the open water swim, our campers returned back to the team house to clean up and Karel and I went back to our rental house, before heading out to Lil Anthony's to pick up the pizza. At every camp, Karel and I treat our campers to a team dinner, which typically is a pizza dinner. We ordered 6 XL pizzas (3 vegetarian and 3 for the meat lovers) and 1 small gluten free pizza (for our athlete/camper with Celiac). It was a yummy way to end the evening.

Day 3: Ride, run

With only one day left until race day, our campers were carrying around a bit of fatigue. We know that day 3 is always the tough day as the body is sore, the mind is tired and well, some campers are just moving slow. But, in a group environment, others can bring out the best in you.

With chilly temps at 7:30am, we rolled out and headed toward Buckhill for 4 loops on rolling terrain. We finished our last bike workout of camp with 3 hours of riding and our campers did amazing. We had our campers team up with athletes of similar abilities to ride loops on the hills and to ride at a steady/strong effort. Karel and I would ride with the groups for a little while and then branch off and join another group. We had a SAG vehicle available in case anyone needed anything. We could not have been more proud of our campers as everyone rode strong and applied all the tips that we discussed during camp. 

After the ride, it was time for one last brick run (before the race), which was a short 15-20 minute shake out run.

As for the rest of the day, the campers had an optional open water swim (on their own) as well as picking up their race packets at the race venue. 

Karel worked on our bikes in the afternoon to get them race ready and while he was working on our bikes, I laid out all my swim/bike/run gear to get it all ready for race day. 

Karel and I headed down to the race venue to get our packets in the mid afternoon and then Karel went for an open water swim (he swam the race course) as I watched him and chatted with my friend Elyse.

Around 4:30pm, Karel and I had our last chat with our campers to discuss race strategy for Sunday's event and a Q&A where our campers could ask us anything. Karel did a little bike mechanic work on a few bikes and then it was time for our campers to eat their pre-race meal before getting everything ready for the race on Sunday. 

While laying in bed around 8pm, I found myself with some pre-race nerves on Saturday evening. Although this was just a fun race and a great way to end camp with our campers, no training session can replicate what you feel on the night before a race or on race day morning. I talked to Karel about my race strategy for Sunday and he gave me reassurance that I could bike hard (like really, really hard). In other words, this race was all about taking risks, trying new things and being willing to fail. 

                                                              ---------------------------

                           

With so many distractions, responsibilities and stressors in life, a training camp offers a safe, fun and interruption free environment in order to learn, stretch your comfort zone and to train with others. If you are considering attending a training camp in the near future, don't be afraid of what you can't do but instead, get excited about what you will be able to do with your amazing body.

Great Clermont Olympic Triathlon - race recap

With a job title of "triathlon coach", Karel and I have the big responsibility of help our team of athletes, physically prepare for races while keeping them in good health. 

Coaching is much more than writing workouts as it requires understanding the athlete as an individual and stepping inside the athlete's life to provide the most appropriate training plan for consistent athletic development. 

Karel and I take our coaching job very seriously and part of our job is putting on training camps. We absolutely love the camp experience as a way to interact with athletes in a group training environment. 

Seeing that Karel and I are not only coaches but we are also athletes, it's important to stress that we understand exactly what our athletes feel and experience with training and we are very aware of the fact that training for triathlons, in a busy life, is not easy.

But, on race day, we are reminded of the why in our triathlon hobby. Race day is what we all live for as we can put all that hard work to good use and share the suffering with teammates. The energy, nerves and excitement is alive on race day and only on race day do you truly feel like a real athlete. 

I can't fully express it in words but I can tell you that racing with our athletes is one of the coolest and most rewarding parts of our job as coaches. Being on the same course as our athletes, experiencing the same conditions and going through the same highs and lows, nerves and uncertainties is what racing is all about. 

The Great Clermont Olympic triathlon holds a special place in my heart as it was the very first triathlon venue that Karel watched me race in, back in 2006 after a few months of dating. Now, 11 years later, after racing this event at least a half dozen times, I did something that I never thought I would do with my body - win the race as overall female. 

This race win is dedicated to all my Trimarni athletes and campers as they are the reason why I love this sport so much and why I continue to push my body in training and on race day. For Karel, the sport of triathlon has given him a new outlet to be competitive and to explore his physical limits and we both love sharing our race experiences with our athletes.

For your reading entertainment, here's the recap of the race.  

RACE DETAILS: 

Marni: 

Swim: 23:34

T1: 2:11

Bike: 1:07.48 (21.9 mph)

T2: 1:28

Run: 46:38

Total: 2:21.37

First overall female

Karel: 

Swim: 23:11 (Karel finally beat me in the swim!)

T1: 1:53

Bike: 1:03.15

T2: 1:29 (I beat Karel in T2!)

Run: 38:30

Total: 2:08.16

PRE RACE:

Nutrition: 

1/2 cup oatmeal + syrup + peanut butter + dates 

Hardboiled egg

8 ounce coffee w/ milk

8 ounce water

Transition area: 8 ounce water with Clif hydration (1 scoop)

Karel and I woke up at 4:45am and after eating our pre-race meals (Karel had a croissant w/ jam and INFINIT Mud in his second cup of coffee), we headed down to the transition area (via bike) which just a few minutes down the road. I left before Karel at 6am to set up my transition area.

After body marking and setting up my transition, I saw all my Trimarni campers start to roll in. They all looked SO good in their new kits. Karel and I sported our new kits as well, but Karel surprised me with our own brightly colored custom Canari kits (Pink and Green).

After 3 days and 8 workouts at camp, they were all excited to race but a bit nervous as to how the morning would turn out. We assured them that this race was all about dusting off the rust as the first race of the season and taking smart risks and applying the information learned at camp.

I spent a good 20 minutes getting myself warmed up on dry land before putting on my wetsuit. Karel spent at least 30 minutes jogging around to get his blood flowing.

After putting on our wetsuits, we made our way down to the water to get into the chilly lake for a warm-up (it was around 68 degrees). After warming up, adjusting the wetsuit and goggles and getting myself comfortable in the open water, I exited the water to line up with the first wave of women to start at 7:30am.

Not knowing what to expect as this was my first triathlon race since August, my focus was to just stay present and to go through the motions of racing so that I could shake out my nerves and get myself more comfortable in the race environment for my upcoming more important races. 

I have to say that it was a great feeling to be surrounded by so many of my athletes/campers and also to see so many familiar faces out on the course. My most favorite part about racing is being around the other athletes as I have made so many friendships thanks to the sport of triathlon. 

Swim: 

Goggles: TYR Pink 2.0 special ops 

Wetsuit: Xterra Vengeance
Gadget - Garmin 920

The water was dark and a little choppy. The course was a large counter clockwise rectangle and with the sun slowly rising, we didn't have to worry about swimming into the sun. There were plenty of buoys to keep us on course but I found myself zig zagging a few times due to the chop. My athlete Stephanie is an excellent swimmer so we both found ourselves swimming next to each other (and sometimes hitting each other - let's say love taps) for almost all of the swim. There was one lady swimming right in front of us for the entire swim and I couldn't get myself to catch her or stay on her feet. To be honest, I didn't feel too good in the water. I didn't feel speedy or slow, just so-so. I guess I needed this swim to just go through the motions. Regardless of how I felt, Karel beat me out of the water! He has been working really hard with his swimming and we swim a lot together so I am glad to see that he is feeling more confident and comfortable in the open water. I guess I need to really step up my swimming game!

I exited the water in 2nd (women were first wave at 7:30am) and just in front of Stephanie. I had the wetsuit stripper help me take off my wetsuit and I ran into the transition area. 

I did a quick transition and ran with my bike to the mount line and then started up the hill to star the bike portion. I was actually most excited for the bike portion of the race as 1) I have improved my power and skills a lot on the bike 2) My bike is much more "aero" thanks to Kare, so I wanted to test it out for the first time 3) I love riding my bike. 

Bike: 

Bike: Trek Speed Concept 7 series custom (pink rocket) w/ Shimano ultegra Di2 shifting 

Wheels: Alto cycling. Front: cc56. Rear: cc86 

Helmet: Lazer Wasp Air w/ shield

Fuel: Infinit Trimarni base blend (220 calories) 

Socks: Swiftwick 

Shoes: Bontager XKL hilo

As I started the bike, I yelled behind to Stephanie "Great swim!" and I was off. It was only about a mile down the road that I caught the first place female and I found myself riding behind the police car, who was leading the race. I received no draft from the police car as he was way in front of me but it was a really neat feeling to have that escort for the entire bike.

Since I know this course really well, I had a lot of confidence on the course. I knew every turn, hill and descend, which made it much easier to execute on this course. My race strategy was to go hard on the bike and see what happens to my legs on the run. Karel wanted me to ride hard and he believed that I could still run well off the bike, even after a very hard effort for 40K.

For the entire bike, I pushed hard. My quads were burning and my glutes were working but I felt strong. Since Greenville gives us such challenging riding, Clermont is such a different riding terrain for me and I really wanted to take advantage of the gentle rollers and smooth pavement.

The highlight of the bike course was seeing Karel after I made the first turn around. Whereas I usually get a smile out of Karel, he actually lifted his head up and gave me a loud yell. I am not sure what he said but I could tell that he was so proud of me to be in the lead, behind the police car. Let's just say that marrying a cat 1 cyclist meant that one day I would be a strong cyclist. Well, that day has finally come and I owe it all to Karel. 

I saw my competition, which included my friend and superstar athlete Elyse, as well as several of my Trimarni athletes/campers, which gave me a lot of energy.

I gave myself one littler breather to loosen up my legs after the 2nd turn around but besides that, I pushed hard for the entire ride and wowzer, did it hurt!

I made sure to stay fueled and hydrated since I was going into this race after 4 days of leading our training camp (8 workouts) so I sipped on my 220 calorie bottle of INFINIT throughout the race - always making sure to take several gulps when I drank. I now have my bottle cage between my aero bars as Karel recently moved it from my frame (to be more "aero") and I have to say, I really like it as I find myself drinking more often and it's very easy to grab.

I stayed in the lead of the race until about 1/2 mile before T2, when I was passed by the first place male.

Throughout the entire bike, I found myself thinking "I won't be able to run after this.....stay present, don't think about the run!" I was thinking this over and over and I tried to stay as present as possible on the bike. When the time came to get off the bike, my legs didn't feel too wobbly, which was surprising! 

Run: 

Shoes: New Balance Zante

Hat: Boco gear performance trucker
Sunglasses: Oakley women radar lock with vents

Hydration belt: Nathan mercury 2

Fuel: water and Clif hydration cran razz  

I tried to get as much of a lead on the bike as I could, along with any extra "free speed" in transition, as I worried about any fast runners behind me. While I would love to call myself a fast runner, I feel my strength is in endurance racing and as a resilient athlete, I feel I am great at not slowing down.
I put on my running shoes and fuel belt and jogged out of transition while putting on my race belt. I had my sunglasses sitting on my trucker hat so I was able to grab the hat (with sunglasses on it) and put on my hat and then sunglasses as I began to run.

The first mile of the run felt ok but certainly not great. The best part was having an amazing female lead escort on the bike, leading me on the course. Not only was she super supportive to me, cheering me on but she was encouraging everyone around to give me a cheer. She really made the run a lot more exciting for me. It felt a big windy in my face heading out to the first turn around, around 1.5 miles on the trail. Around mile 1, I hit a very low spot and I felt extremely uncomfortable running. I was having trouble breathing with a pain in my ribs, my heart rate monitor was uncomfortable and I just felt blah. I kept trying to focus on good form and to help me out, I would count "1, 2, 3, 4" with every foot strike to find a good rhythm. Oddly enough, all my pains went away when I hit the turn around and I suddenly felt good again! I saw Elyse and she gave me a huge smile and I cheered her on. The first place male was way ahead and when I saw Karel, as the 2nd male, he gave me a cheer and told me to stay steady as I had a big lead.
To be honest, it sure didn't feel like a big lead as I felt like Elyse was coming for me so for the next few miles, I didn't look back as I just stayed focused on what I needed to do to keep my lead for however long that I could. 

It was so great to get back to the crowds at the race venue and to see my athletes on the course. With another 3.5 miles to go, I started to find my rhythm. Like I said earlier, I didn't feel fast and didn't expect this to be a "fast" run but I really wanted to see how my legs would perform after such a hard bike. Although I wore my Garmin throughout the race, I never once looked at it on the run. I had it autolap each mile so that I could review it after the race (I used multisport function for the race).

Although I never felt tired during the run, I experienced a few moments where I felt like I was running low on energy. Thank goodness that I had my fuel belt as I needed that extra energy between the aid stations. I didn't grab anything from the aid stations but instead, grabbed my sport drink flask or water flask as needed throughout the race. I also used my water to cool myself as I found myself getting a little warm near the middle of the run.

After the final turn around, which seemed to take forever to get to after seeing mile 4, I saw Karel and he said "damage control." Not sure what he meant by that at the time but when he passed me again, he just told me to enjoy the rest of the race. Karel passed me around mile 5 and he was quickly out of my sight. It was great to see him so much on the course and to have him pass me, which never happens.

The last mile was pretty special as my bike escort was cheering me on and I was getting some high fives from the spectators. With so many familiar faces on and off the course, this really felt like a home town race for me. It was really special to cross the line as the first overall female and to make the moment even more special, I was the next finisher behind Karel. 

My run splits were super consistent and once I found my rhythm around mile 4, I felt like I could have kept going - not any faster but certainly further. I went 100% by feel. A big confident boost for Haines City 70.3 in a few weeks. 

Karel, on the other hand, didn't even wear a watch on the run as he always goes by feel and decided to just forgo the watch in this race. 

My run splits:

7:29

7:35

7:34

7:34

7:37

7:21

7:02 (for the last .2)

After Karel and I chatted about the race and I did an interview with a camera guy, we headed back out on the course to cheer for the rest of our Trimarni athletes. 

It was really great to see our athletes finish and then immediately head back out to cheer for their teammates. 

After all of our athletes finished, we took a team picture with all of our campers/athletes and then it was time for awards. All of our athletes stayed for awards to cheer on everyone. 

Not only did we have several of our campers on the podium, but Trimarni placed first in the division 1 USAT Florida Region North Club Championship! We had 21 athletes race and all of our campers started and finished the race! What a great group of inspiring athletes who did something amazingly incredible with the human body! 

What a GREAT group of athletes!

Thanks for reading! 

We hope that our campers inspired you to not be afraid to stretch your comfort zone. You never know what you are capable of doing, unless you try. 

Thank you to our 2017 Trimarni sponsors!

-Run In
-New Wave Swim Buoy
-Mg12
-Clif
-Cheribundi
-Veronica's Health Crunch
-Infinit
-Levelen
-Hot Shot
-Boco Gear
-Canari

-Xterra
-Alto cycling
-Swamp Rabbit Inn and Lodge
-Salem Anesthesia

Hello from Clermont, Florida!

Before starting our long trip down to Clermont, Florida, Karel and I got in a 3700 swim workout at Furman University to start our Monday morning. To be honest, we both had a lot on our mind so it was a little difficult to stay present but we got it done and both felt good with moving blood and getting our heart pumping before sitting in the car for the rest of the day.

After our swim, we went home to eat breakfast and then it was time to pack up the car. Since I had dropped off the cats at my mom's on Sunday evening, it was time to say 'see ya later' to my little golden nugget.

I dropped off Campy at his grandma's (1 mile away) while Karel was loading up my car and then we were off to Jacksonville, FL around 11:15am. While it's always hard to say good bye to furry child Campy, he is in great hands with my mom who loves him (almost) as much as I do and takes such great care of him. Plus, Campy has a bunch of furry friends in her neighborhood so he doesn't mind his home away from home as he can play with his furry buddies. 

Our first stop was Jacksonville, FL. We arrived around 5:30pm. Although it was a chilly gloomy day, with on and off light rain for our entire drive, we were entertained with triathlon podcasts for our entire drive and we switched off driving half way so that neither of us got too tight while sitting in the car.
We also made frequent stops to stretch our legs.

We stayed overnight with our athlete Joe and his wife Erica and baby son Weston (and doggy Reagan) which was nice to relax before making our way to Clermont on Tuesday.

Erica made us dinner, which was delicious! We had brown rice, curry lentils, roasted veggies and Naan (chicken for the meat eaters). It was so good to have a nice homecooked meal after our travels.
With Karel and I in the car all day, we had to get to some work emails in the evening but by 9:00pm, I was ready for bed.  Karel stayed up a little later to work on some stuff on the computer. 

Before getting too far out of Jax, we stopped at the AMAR European store to stock up on some European eats and treats. Since we spent 6 years living in Jacksonville before moving to Greenville, we are very familiar with the area (although it is expanding/changing every year). The European store is well worth visiting if you well, love European food. Karel found himself yumming over all the food so we stocked up on mineral water, chocolates, breads and so much more. 

When we arrived to Clermont, we checked into our Airbnb, which is located just a few blocks from Waterfront park and less than 1/2 mile from where our campers are staying in a Duplex (team house). It's rare for Karel and I to stay in a hotel when we travel and with so much stuff for camp, we need space and a kitchen. 

Karel and I needed to stretch our legs so we went for a (windy) ride around 3:30pm after we unloaded our car and got situated. 

It was nice to be back in Clermont and to ride on some familiar roads. We also used this ride as an opportunity to scope out the route for our Thursday bike workout for our campers on day 1 of camp. 

After our ride, we quickly cleaned up and headed out to the NTC to pick up our custom Canari Trimarni kits, which had just arrived to the Gear for Multisport store (we had them shipped there - thank you Kim and Kevin!).

After the NTC, we made a stop at Publix for groceries and by 6:30pm, we were back at our rental house, ready to eat dinner.

As for the rest of the evening.....from 7pm until 11pm, we were busy! 

Our kits look AMAZING!! 

Karel did inventory on our kit items and I packed sponsor swag bags. It's a lot of work to put together a camp but it's all worth it when we see our campers in action. 

So much stuff!!

Off to Clermont, Florida for our training camp!

It's crazy to think that in 2014, we held our first ever training camp in Clermont, Florida. 

Now, 4 years later, we are heading back to Clermont for our 4th consecutive Trimarni Clermont training camp.

Every year, we try to make our camp experience better than the last. This year, our campers are in for an amazing 4.5 day training camp experience filled with education, lots of sponsor swag, challenging workouts, learning and stretching the comfort zone. And to make the camp experience even better, we will once again conclude our training camp with a USAT sanctioned Olympic distance event on the last day of camp!

For us as coaches, seeing athletes in action is extremely beneficial as it gives us an opportunity to provide immediate feedback to improve skills and execution. Repetitive feedback to our campers offers the chance to correct previously learned habits and to enforce good habits.

For our campers, training in a group environment provides a fantastic opportunity to do more with the body than what can be done solo as training with other athletes keeps the mind from giving up and forces you to not give up when tired. We believe that a camp training environment shows athletes that they are physically and mentally capable of achieving so much more than what they think they can do alone in their home environment. 

Above all, every athlete, no matter how young, old or busy, deserves the opportunity to check out of life to do something incredible with the body. Certainly, a sport is a hobby and we do this hobby because it is fun, it makes us happy and it provides great life enrichment. Good health should never be taken for granted and a training camp gives the body a unique opportunity to place intentional stress on it for several days, with other like-minded individuals. 

You can follow us along on our Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition Facebook page where we will be posting videos and pictures throughout camp.

Wednesday evening is the official start of the 2017 Trimarni Clermont Training camp so between now and then, we will be getting together the final touches for a smooth and safe camp environment, packing the swag bags, fine-tuning the workouts and getting excited to welcome our 19 campers to Clermont, Florida. 

Our email will be checked throughout camp but we will not be quick to respond as we will be chasing around our athletes all over Clermont for the rest of the week. 

2017 Trimarni camps - now open for registration!

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A MEMORABLE, VALUABLE, EDUCATIONAL, Challenging AND FUN TRIATHLON TRAINING EXPERIENCE WITH EXPERT GUIDANCE and athlete support?

 YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE.

At Trimarni, we are extremely passionate about our training camps. We take great pride in selecting beautiful venues, which are conducive to safe and effective training, while carefully planning every detail of our camp itineraries to make the most out of your entire camp experience.



Our mission is to provide our campers with an unforgettable camp experience, empowering you to stretch your athletic limits while providing you with a great amount of education and skill focus to help you become a better triathlete. 



When you participate in a Trimarni camp, we will give you our full attention as we want you to learn new training techniques (and break some old bad habits) to ensure that you can train effectively in your home environment, after your time at camp has concluded.


As you travel to a picturesque training location, surrounded by like-minded triathletes, you will leave your stressful and busy life behind you. 



We want to take care of everything for you so that all you have to do is book your travel and show-up to camp.

Your camp investment will give you the unique opportunity to train in a group format (alongside two experienced coaches and SAG support), while getting great sleep, eating well, fueling smart and receiving a lot of motivation and inspiration from your fellow campers.

Take a look at our camps to decide which camp will best fit your athletic needs.
All camps are open to all triathletes.
You do not have to be a Trimarni coaching athlete to participate in a Trimarni group or private camp.



If you are coached by another coach/coaching company, we would be happy to discuss your needs with your coach, before a group or private Trimarni camp, to ensure the best camp training experience possible to assist in your athletic season development. 

If you aren't sure which camp is right for you, send us an email and let us help.

We look forward to giving you an unforgettable training experience at a 2017 Trimarni group or private training camp.

Be sure to register quickly as several of our camps are over 50% filled at this time.
(Trimarni coaching athletes receive first priority sign-up.)

FIND OUT MORE HERE

2016 Clermont camp - race day pics

Our awesome photographer Taylor took some amazing pictures during our 4-day training camp.
We just love seeing our athletes (and their strong and healthy bodies) in action. 

Here are some great action shots from race day. 

2016 Clermont camp - race day

On the first day of camp, at our evening meeting, Karel talked to the campers about the purpose of camp. Our campers knew they were training with an intentional overload of stress and that they would be "racing" an Olympic distance triathlon on the last day of camp. But we emphasized that the race is not why they are at camp. We could not have them worried or overly focused about the race and we certainly did not want them to save their energy for Sunday.
With every camp workout having a specific purpose and placement, we knew with the right mindset, our campers would be impressive on race day - even after 3 days and over 12 hours of training.

At our team meeting on Saturday we all had a good laugh that on Sunday, we would have our shortest workout which was the Olympic distance race. With this, we also told our athletes to make sure they thank their body for being strong enough to tolerate so much training volume and intensity in 4 days.

Of course, we told them they had the excuse of "I just did a training camp" but we knew our campers would not use it. Even though our campers did not taper for the race, we still took the race seriously - we asked every camper to "race it" but with the understanding that they are going into the race tired.

Because it's very easy to put too many expectations and thoughts into the first race of the season, we love our Clermont camp for that reason - our athletes can wake up in the morning and not be stressed about goal times, overall place, watts, speeds or anything else that triathletes like to control on race day. Sure, it's great to have goals for race day but when we tell our athletes to have fun on race day and to practice everything that they learned in camp, this gives them a lot more freedom to not get stuck on the end result but to focus on great execution. 

-------------------------------
Karel and I woke up at 5am to leave at 6am for the race (just a block away). Karel made his coffee from his french press and we also had a coffee pot ready for the other Trimarni athletes staying in our townhome. After a pre-race meal and water, it was time to head to the race.

While riding our bikes to the race, I could  feel a little drizzle - I had checked the forecast and the rain wasn't suppose to start until 9am. 

Well, after we arrived to the race, the drizzle turned into a light rain shower.
I had made the decision to keep my run shoes covered in a bag (learned my lesson from Challenge Knoxville last year) but other than that, my transition area was laid out as normal and I stayed dry with our team under our team tent. 

We love our Xterra Wetsuits!
I absolutely love the fit and feel of my new Vengeance fullsuit. It was extremely comfortable, especially around the arms. 
After a few team pictures, we instructed our athletes to get in a good warm-up due to the previous three days of training so several of them got in the water whereas others stayed on dry land with old running shoes (we asked them to bring two pairs) and performed a serious of dynamic warm-ups and some jogging w/ pick ups.

The race started at 7:30am with the collegiate waves and I was up next (with several other Trimarni teammates) at 7:45am. 

It's always a different feeling being in open water (versus the pool), especially at the first race of the season. I swam aggressively to the first buoy to try to position myself near the front before settling into a good rhythm.
The sky was dark and the water was dark but there were plenty of buoys on the course to keep us going in the right direction.

Another great benefit of this race was dusting off some rust and practicing transitions. I rehearsed what I was going to do in T1 in my head as I was exiting the water (after getting my wetsuit stripped off by the volunteers) and I jogged to my bike, powered on my Garmin and then put on my socks (calf sleeves were on under my wetsuit), cycling shoes, helmet and sunglasses (well, I put on my Oakley's but then realized I didn't need them so I hung them on my tri suit top for a mile and then put them on).

Seeing that we had spent two workouts on the race course, I knew our athletes would feel really confident on the course, even with the rain (which had stopped by the time we got on the bike). We had a lot of discussions with our athletes on smart execution on hilly courses and with a few hills on this Olympic course, we knew our athletes would ride confidently.

With no expectations, I just rode strong. I had no power, speed or time goals but instead, I just focused on riding hard.

My legs felt strong, not fast, but strong and I had a lot of fun on the course. One of my favorite things about this race is seeing all of our campers and teammates out on the course. With 18 Trimarni athletes racing, we couldn't ask for a better environment to push hard and to support one another.





It's rare for me to finish the bike ahead of Karel so I welcomed the opportunity to be the first Sumbal out on the race course. 

I saw Karel twice and gave him a smile. He is always in race mode but he gave me a nod back. As for the other Trimarni athletes, there was a lot of cheering for one another which was awesome. 

Once again, with no expectations, I just ran. I was so excited to wear my new Brooks Pure Flow 5 in a race and wow, they felt amazing. I felt like I was running on my treadmill (which I love) as each step was light and springy.

I knew my legs wouldn't have much in a kick in them for two reasons - 1) no speed work in training yet this season due to building strength over the past 5 months 2) 3 days of leading a training camp takes a toll on the body.

I suppose that the word to describe my run was resilience. I didn't feel fast but I felt strong and steady. I know my body wished this was a half IM as I was just starting to feel like I was getting into a good rhythm by mile 5 but then again, I know my body was struggling to find that extra gear in this short distance race.
Mile 1: 7:10
Mile 2: 7:12
Mile 3: 7:15 (10 sec walk break to reset form)
Mile 4: 7:12
Mile 5: 7:17 (10 sec walk break to reset form)
Mile 6: 7:16
Mile .2: 7:07

I carried a hydration flask with 80 calories (1 scoop) Clif Hydration mixed with 8 ounce water and finished the flask by the end of the race. I had a sip every mile for a nice boost of sugar with sodium. I didn't grab any water at the aid stations.

It was fun to see all the other Trimarni athletes out on the  course and Karel and I could not have been more proud of our campers/athletes. Everyone was in race mode and no one was using their "I just did a training camp" excuse card. 

After I crossed the finish line, I went back out to cheer for Karel who was nearing the finish line. Once again, it was a nice change to be on the sidelines cheering for Karel as he is always finished way before me.

After Karel and I finished, we went out and cheered until every Trimarni athlete crossed the finish line. I will be sharing some race pictures of our campers in my next blog (Thank you Taylor for the great pics!). 

There was so much support among the Trimarni team and we loved having everyone out on the course, cheering for each other. 

You can just call us a pack of highlighters - we love our bold and bright kits. 

I absolutely love my bike - the fit, my new saddle, my super stiff and fast Alto Cycling Wheels. I'm so excited to race the Rev3 half Ironman in Knoxville in 7 weeks! 


A big congrats to Karel for winning the Male Master's division.
(Karel is coming to terms with getting older but he is still getting faster. This is his first race in his new 40-44 age group - he will turn 40 in September). 

I had fun racing with these fast ladies in the 30-34 age group!

We are so proud of our athletes/campers!

3-day training camp - check!
Olympic distance race - check!
Great attitudes - check!
Motivation to last the rest of the season  - check!

GREAT CLERMONT TRIATHLON RACE RESULTS:

Gary – 1st AG (65-69) - sprint distance

Maggie – 2:19 (Aquabike)

Lisa – 2:32:42 (1st AG 40-44)

Justine – 2:31:13

Stephanie – 2:43:21

Erin: 3:00:06

Heather – 3:26:45

JoAnn – 3:34:43 (despite having some back issues when starting the run, she pulled through and finished strong!)

Joe- 2:17.02 (3rd AG 30-34)

Wlad – 2:25:50 

Adam: 2:27.02

Carsten: 2:28.20

Rob: 2:38.44

James W: 2:47.36

Chris A: 2:53.24 (PR)

Jim N: 2:58.04

Ryan – Mechanical on the bike but excellent swim!

Keri – despite a little open water swim anxiety, she still swam strong!

Marni: 2:23.20 (3rd AG 30-34)

Karel: 2:10:32 (1st Male Masters, 7th overall)

2016 Trimarni Clermont Camp - day 3

We always tell our campers that day 3 of our training camps is the hardest - mentally and physically. However, our campers really surprised us in Clermont because they were actually really looking forward to a change of scenery on Saturday morning for the endurance ride as well as a brick run. We started day 1 and 2 of camp with a run workout so I think they were also looking forward to getting on the bike first thing in the morning.

We also let them sleep in on Saturday and we didn't start our ride until 7:30am. Every night, our campers went to bed earlier and earlier so just a good sign that they were recovering well from a day full of training.

Our campers also fueled exceptionally well for every workout and ate well throughout the day so I knew that poor fueling or unhealthy eating wouldn't be an issue for our campers.

The Saturday workout was endurance focused with a 3 hour ride followed by a 20 minute brick run.

We all rode to the Buckhill loop and instructed our athletes to ride in groups (we put them into groups of 4-5 of similar abilities) at an endurance effort - not easy but not hard. After 2 days of training, we knew they would be tired and a little fatigued but this accumulative training stress was planned and we wanted our campers to learn how to adjust efforts (and mindset) when training tired.
Our campers fueled very well before the long brick as well as during (and good hydrating) which was great because I had  no fears/worries about athletes bonking or complaining of being hangry and tired.
Every camper had a body that was energized and healthy!

I want to send a big thank you to Taylor (and Maggie) for providing SAG support on Saturday for our campers who needed any extra nutrition or hydration. Although it wasn't too hot out, it's always nice to have extra fuel just in case.
Plus it was nice to have our photographer Taylor on the course taking pictures of all our athletes.

After the 3 hour ride (our campers did 3-5 loops depending on fitness level) we all rode back to the team duplex house and everyone geared up for a 20-minute brick run.

We asked our campers to lay out their gear just like in a race (transition area) so that it would be a quick transition to the run.
We also asked our campers to wear their hydration belts for the brick run as it's just one of those things that you want to get comfortable wearing just like a race belt, hat or a watch. The more you wear it, the more comfortable it feels. Our campers had Clif Hydration in their belt flasks as I didn't want them to see the brick run as "only" running 20 minutes off the bike but instead, seeing the run as a continuation from the 3 hour bike workout and to understand that they still need fuel and hydration to delay fatigue even if "only" running 20 minutes.

We timed the weather perfectly as we all finished the run in the rain.
There's something so fun about running in the rain but it's even more fun when you have 16 of your fellow teammates running with you.

After the workout, our campers cleaned up and picked up their packets at Waterfront Park (1/2 mile from the team house) and then had the rest of the day OFF from training.

While Karel was performing a RETUL fit at our townhome during the afternoon, our campers rested and then starting preparing dinner around 4:30pm.

What a nice spread of food!!
This is how I like my campers to eat at camp!

While our campers were eating, Karel and I had a brief chat with our campers about race execution for Sunday and then we had a special guest speak to our group at 7pm.

I want to send a BIG thank you to Dr. G (Gloria) with Life With No Limits Coaching for speaking to our athletes for 75 minutes about Mental Toughness and the Champion Mindset.

Gloria gave her presentation via Skype and it was a very interactive and informative presentation. Gloria is a true professional with so much experience as a clinical sport psychologist. And as a former Trimarni athlete (we still coach her hubby Ken) and long time friend, I knew she was the perfect person to provide our team with the best info possible to help them improve their mental skills as athletes and human beings.

Thank you again Gloria for giving us all great tips and advice for developing a champion mindset. Our campers were able to bring so many new tools and tricks to race day after 3 days of training camp.

Stay tuned for day 4 of camp - race day!!!

2016 Trimarni Clermont camp - day 2

It was an early start to training on Friday morning for day 2 of camp.

We arrived to the 10-mile Clay Trail at 7am, before the sun came up. We timed it perfectly as we spent a good 15 minutes on our dynamic warm-ups after the 3-workout day on Thursday and when we started our warm-up, we ran into the sunrise. 

The workout on the Clay Trail was our camp long run. Rather than having our athletes run for 90 minutes, we focused on a warm-up (30 minutes) and then the MS split into intervals with short rest. This is one of our favorite workouts as the time ticks away and you can find yourself keeping good form despite the planned fatigue as the set continues on for multiple rounds. 

We require all our athletes to run with a hydration belt to get comfortable consuming sport drinks/water while running so I was not concerned about any of our athletes having a "bad' workout due to fatigue, dehydration, cramping or GI distress (yes - not one of our athletes has had GI distress despite using sport nutrition for every workout). 

The Clay Trail is amazing. It's a hard packed surface (in most areas) and are are surrounded with nature.
I love running on trails and any surface that is not the road (I love the treadmill) so my body was in heaven during this workout. 

Our campers were amazing. Not one complaint and a lot of teamwork. We just love it when our campers support one another and cheer for one another during the workouts. It's hard to not be inspired at a Trimarni camp. 

Here's the run workout:
30 minute warm-up (15 min out, 15 min back) with walking as needed
MS: 4-5x's:
4 min steady, 30 sec walk

2 min strong, 20 sec walk

1 min very strong, 10 sec walk
Continue to repeat without extra rest between rounds.
Then cool down 10-15 minutes

After the run we gave our campers a 2 hour break to refuel and rest before the swim and by 11:30am, our campers were on the pool deck, ready for another 90-minute swim. 

At a training camp, we want our athletes to do things that they may not normally do and this means pushing them to be uncomfortable - mentally and physically. Most of the time, our campers don't realize their full capabilities. 

Although this workout was designed to be an endurance set (steady swimming), our athletes were exhausted. Perceived effort was much different than on Thursday.
We were so proud of our athletes - for many of them, this was their longest long course workout. 

After the 90-minute swim workout, it was 1:00pm and our  campers were hungry. They had another 2-hour break to refuel and relax before our 3pm recovery ride. 

Although our campers were moving slow, we knew they would benefit from a recovery spin. This was also a great opportunity for Karel and I to work one on one with our campers. 

Karel did a great job talking about descending, cornering, riding in wind, climbing and changing gears. We both rode side by side with our campers, in small groups for extra one on one work. 

This one on one work is so valuable and one of the best parts of training with our athletes. We can write great workouts for our athletes but it isn't until we see an athlete in action that we can see if they are spending more energy than needed and we can correct learned habits that are not economical.



After our 90-minute recovery spin, it was 5pm and we could finally call it a training day.
After a recovery drink and snack, Karel and I were off to pick up pizza from Lil Anthony's for our team pizza party. 

We want to send a big thank you to Trimarni athlete and baker Sara with Sara Ran Away With the Spoon. You won't believe how great these cookies taste until you taste them yourself. She makes the best stuffed cookies!
Thank you for sending us Fudgy Java Jolt and PB Stuffed cookies. 

Time to eat!!

Our amazing Trimarni sherpa, sag, house mom, photographer and organizer Taylor. I don't know what I would do without her. 

YUM!

We are just so proud of our campers - two days of training and 6 workouts complete. And only half way finished with camp!

This picture captures how awesome our campers are - there is no shortage of laughing. 

And thank you to former Professional Triathlete and 5x Ironman Champion Heather Gollnick for speaking to our group about balancing life with triathlons. Our campers learned a lot! 

Clermont, FL....here we come!

 It seems like it was just December and I was in the initial process of preparing for our 2016 Trimarni Clermont Training camp.

I know our campers are just as excited as we are to start 4-days of intentional training overload.

Our campers will be training over 4 hours every day with 3 workouts each day. There's just enough time between workouts to eat and rest.

Our campers know what they are in for at a Trimarni training camp - it's the perfect mix of fun, education and challenging workouts.
We will be stretching some comfort zones over the next 3 days.

And to conclude the training camp, every Trimarni camper will be racing (yes, racing) the Great Clermont Triathlon (Olympic distance) on Sunday. We included the race into our training camp last year and it was a perfect opportunity for our athletes to incorporate the many skills that they learned at camp and to execute without the pressure to finish with a specific time or place goal.

I will be updating the Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition Facebook page with pictures throughout our  camp and hopefully, my blog as well. You can stay up to date with our camp on social media by searching for the hashtags #Trimarni #Trimarni camp or follow on Facebook. 

Here are a few pics from our trip to Jacksonville, FL and then to Clermont, FL

Sweet snack on the road before lunch on Monday in route to Jacksonville, FL.

Late afternoon snack at Native Sun Jax.

Karel doing a pre-race tune up on our friend's bike at Open Road Bicycles. Karel is always in high demand with his expert bike mechanic and bike fit skills, even when we travel. 

Palm trees - it's been a while (I still love my mountains more than the beach)

But I really love outdoor swimming - anywhere!
Thanks Trimarni athlete and friend Adam for taking us to the perfect pool for our 4700 yard morning swim on Tuesday - and for joining us for some fun in the water!

Mix and match lunch from Publix grocery store as we made last leg of our trip from Jax to Clermont.
Karel got a Publix sub. 

After unloading our packed car, Karel and I needed to relax our tight legs from all the traveling. We enjoyed a 1:45 ride around the lake and on the Olympic race course. After two years of riding in Greenville, SC, the Clermont hills are getting flatter and flatter. :) 

After we cleaned up from our ride, we made a quick grocery store shop at Publix and then it was finally time to eat and call it a day.
I had a stuffed pita w/ mixed greens and arugula w/ chopped Cabot cheese and hummus, and a side of baby carrots and cottage cheese. 

Karel had "brinner" (Breakfast for Dinner) which consisted of oats, strawberries and almond butter (mixed with milk) and a side of eggs and ham with fresh bread (from Native Sun) w/ butter. 

Trimarni Clermont camp - day 4: RACE DAY!

Throughout the entire camp, our athletes knew that they would be racing a USAT-sanctioned Olympic distance triathlon on the last day of camp. Little did they know that they would all do amazingly well on race day despite over 12 hours of training accomplished in 3 days. 

How was this possible?

If the mind is in a good place and you remove the outside pressure and internal expectations, you'd be surprised what the body can accomplish. 

Although we do not recommend going into your races exhausted, it's extremely valuable to put priority on your races in your season plan and to not chase times/places with each race but to instead, use the race to gain experience, knowledge and skills for down the season road of racing. 

We knew our athletes would be able to pull out the "I just did a training camp" card at any point during the race and take it easy but that's not how our athletes approach races. 

We encouraged every one of our athletes to race smart and to give their absolute best effort. This advice was not only for our athletes but also for me and Karel. We have carefully designed the training plans for our athletes based on their season goals and this is also true for me and Karel. I did not expect anyone of our athletes (including me and Karel) to have stellar performances at this point in the season, even without a training camp 3 days before the race. It's just too early for any one of our athletes to "peak" or to have the speed that will come further down in their training plan. But giving your best effort is a way to put all the past training (over the past 4-5 months) to good use and to show what a strong and healthy body is capable of achieving. 

We did not feel that abiding by our gadgets was useful as this was the first triathlon for all of our athletes at camp this year and it was important to gain valuable information from this race...after the race was finished. So we encouraged our athletes to make sure they had their gadgets working for the race but to not be a slave to their gadgets (GPS, HR, Power). This race was all by feel and it had to feel "right". We gave our athletes specific pacing strategies for each leg of the triathlon and also instructed our athletes to do a good warm-up as a tired body needs extra time to wake-up tissues, tendons and muscles and to get the blood flowing. 

Most athletes avoid racing on a tired body and abide by some type of taper to go into race day a bit rested and fresh. This is good advice when you have a key race on your schedule. But, this was far from the case for our athletes. Therefore, it was necessary that our athletes accepted that they were not in peak shape at this point in the season and their bodies were tired. It would be very hard to find that extra gear, especially on the run. Bottom line, there was no pressure on the outcome of their race performance and I think this mentally, helped most of our athletes. Without time, pace or power goals, our athletes ended up racing better than they expected due to putting less pressure on themselves. 

But with many of our athletes racing their first key race in the next 4-6 weeks, having a race on the last day of camp was a fantastic opportunity to practice transitions, to associate RPE to pacing (and to review data files after the race) and to shake out the emotional cobwebs that affect the mind on race day morning. 

Karel and I got up at 4:50am and had our pre-race meal/snack around 5:30am after a cup of coffee.

Our athletes Kelsey and Danielle met us at our condo around 6am and we all biked down to the race venue (about 1/2 mile away) with our transition bags on our back. 

After our athletes set-up their transition areas, everyone did their own pre-race warm-up and rituals. Sommesports provided the Trimarni Team with a tent which was great for us to gather at before and after the race. 

My mom showed her support bright and early as Campy was still sleeping. Campy has never seen me in a triathlon race before so it was a great treat to have Campy cheering with my mom when we were on the run portion of the triathlon. 

SWIM: 23:53 (4th female)

The swim was wet-suit legal although some athletes chose not to wear wet-suits. I wore my Xterra Vector Pro full sleeve wetsuit and dark-lense Vanquisher Speedo Goggles.

I really enjoyed starting the race with my athletes (and my friend Lauren on the Stellar Triathlon Team) but nevertheless I did get the nervous tingles in my belly as we were standing on the sand before our swim wave. I felt surprisingly good after my morning dynamic warm-up session and quick swim and I was really excited to race.

I managed to get a good start/entry in the water and settled into a nice rhythm with a few other girls until the first turn buoy. I felt really strong throughout the swim and all that pool work with our toys (ex. ankle strap) was paying off in the open water.

I exited the water feeling good and ready to bike. 

BIKE:  1:08:27 (21.7mph average, 4th female)

I took Karel's advice to our team and took it rather easy for the first 8 miles or so in the race (until the first climb on Jalarmy). Since moving to Greenville in May (after 10 years of living in FL), I certainly have a new perspective on "hills" when I race for there is no easy or flat riding in Greenville. I felt good on the hills but made sure to not power up the hills too hard as I wanted a steady ride for the middle and end section of the race.

I spotted my friend Lauren D. when I made the first turn around and I knew she was getting close to me. I really wanted her to pass me as I need some work getting out of my comfort zone on race day and I knew she would be the one to help me. When Lauren passed me I legally drafted behind her and she really made me push hard. I was so grateful for this opportunity because not only is she a friend of mine from Jax but a super strong athlete who is performing awesome right now. She pushed me when we use to do track work when I lived in Jax and I loved the uncomfortable push to try to keep her in my view throughout the bike.

I made the mistake of easing up a bit too much in the last 1.5 miles so I will learn from this and trust myself that I don't have to slow down that much in order to still have a strong run.

I consumed 1 bottle of 250 calories of sport drink on the bike and I planned 1 flask of 1 scoop Clif Hydration in my hand held flask for the run. 

RUN: 46:09 (7:27 average pace, 9th female)

There's not much to over-analyze about this run as I felt good and that's all I can ask for. I'm so excited to see what I'm capable of this season with the help of Chris Johnson, PT. My biggest mistake for the first 6 years of endurance racing was trying to get fast too early in my season. I was able to get fast but it came with an unwanted side-effect: injuries. Finally, I am nearing almost 2 years (in May) of absolutely NO injuries. My hips, back and glutes are healthy and strong and I am one happy runner!

What I can say is I felt strong during this run and it was steady. I wanted to have a strong back-half of the race so pacing was really important to me. I was not looking at my Garmin for pacing feedback as I ran but instead, I just ran. I took two stop breaks to take a breather for about 5 seconds or so throughout the race. Karel passed me in the first mile of the run and it was great to have a short chat with him before he ran away from me as he was chasing down his competition.

Mile 1: 7:15 (142 HR)

Mile 2: 7:24 (146 HR)

Mile 3: 7:23 (149 HR)

Mile 4: 7:23 (152 HR)

Mile 5: 7:23 (155 HR)

Mile 6: 7:09 (159 HR)

.31: 7:00 (161 HR)

I chose to wear my Brooks Launch with a 9 mm drop rather than my Brooks Pure Flow 4 that have a 4mm drop. I wanted the little extra heel to toe drop to help my legs which were already tired going into this race. 

Karel had a great race and just like me, we both felt like we have so much more fitness to gain this season and we are really happy with where we are right now with our athletic development.

Karel placed 2nd age group and 6th overall male.

Swim: 25:31, Bike: 1:03:14 (23.5mph), Run: 40.01 (6:28 average)

Total time: 2:11:55

Lauren had an AMAZING race and placed 2nd overall female and I shocked myself with a 3rd place overall female result. As great as I felt on race day after 3 days of camp, I look forward to a taper before Challenge Knoxville half ironman distance triathlon!

Total time: 2:21:48 (25th overall athlete)

Two podium finishes made for a great start to the racing season but racing with so many of our athletes was the best part of it all!

Enough about me and Karel....it's time to show off our AWESOME athletes! 

Kelsey raced the aquabike and placed 2nd overall female! She's AWESOME!

Taryn looking strong!

Keep it up Josh!

Karel and our friend Daniel K on the Stellar Triathlon Team. 

Jim Nitz having fun and looking healthy and strong!

Karel headed out on the run course to cheer on our athlete Mike B. 

Looking good in the kits Josh and Karel!

Colleen is smiling big because she is healthy,  injury free and enjoying her season training for her first Ironman!

There goes Karel again pushing our athlete JoAnn!

There goes JoAnn's hubby Rob!

Great race Joe! Every day you are getting stronger!

Nice work Mike M - looking great!

Karel giving Jeff B a pep talk to keep up the great work!

Looking great Ryan!

Love the smile Tricia!

What a great group! Keep having fun Maggie, Tricia and Ryan!

Heather - you look amazing! Photo credit to Heather's friend on Facebook who took this great pic!

Nice work guys! Way to go Wlad - keep making those fantastic improvements! 

Great job Taryn, Kelsey, Elizabeth and Danielle! 

Our Trimarni camp couple - JoAnn and Rob sharing the race-day love!

Thanks Lauren for the push! You rock! 

Elizabeth spoiling Campy with kisses and butt massages. 

Great job Danielle on the podium!!

Way to go Kevin!! Nice work!!

Great job Kelsey!

We love our Jax friends! They will always be our training buddies!

Smiles post race. 

Results from our athletes:

Joe N - 2:22:33, 2nd age group (25-29)

Wlad -2:25:44, 3rd age group (40-44)

Nick G - 2:30:23 

Kevin D -2:30:41, 3rd age group (55-59) \

Josh G - 2:32:49

Danielle - 2:45:17, 3rd age group (35-39)

Rob J - 2:46:35

Mike M. - 2:48:38

James W - 2:50:55 

Colleen L - 2:47:32 

Jeff B - 2:56:24

Mike B - 3:01:36 

Taryn F - 3:02:29 

Jim N - 3:05:20 

Elizabeth - 3:05:22

Heather A - 3:10:34 

JoAnn J - 3:18:04 

Maggie - 3:31:30 

Ryan -3:39:33 

Tricia - 3:44:41

Kelsey A - 1:50:51 (aquabike), 2nd overall female

Karel - 2:11:55, 6th overall

Marni - 2:21:48, 3rd overall female

Thank also to the Trimarni sponsors! 

Clif Bar

Canari Cyclewear

Run In

Oakley and Oakley Women 

Veronica's Health Crunch

First Bourn

TrainingPeaks

SOLESTAR

Challenge Family

TriBike Transport

Salem Professional Anesthesia Services

XTERRA Wetsuits

And thanks Sommer Sports for welcoming the Trimarni team!

Thank you for reading about our 4-day Clermont Training camp. Stay tuned for our advanced athlete, Ironman-focused Greenville camp this June! 

Trimarni Clermont Camp- Day 3

Thank goodness for teammates. They lift you up when you are down, they give you energy when you feel empty and they hold you accountable to putting in the work. 

Day 3 of camp started at 7:30am. 4 hours of riding and 30 min of riding was the plan and our campers did not complain. We told everyone to get their mind in a good place because it is not that often that you can ride with others after 2 days of solid training (and 6 workouts accomplished) and have this amazing opportunity to be without day-to-day life stress and to just do what you love to do...which is use your active body. 

The weather was perfect as it was overcast and not hot when we started our ride. I instructed all our athletes to bring 3 bottles of sport drink (at least 220 calories per bottle) and I had our Clif Bar products (blocks, bars, gels) available if athletes needed the extra calories in addition to relying on primarily liquid calories. Karel and I set-up two coolers of ice water (and a box of sport nutrition products) in our secret spot on the Buckhill loop for our athletes to refill bottles as needed for our 4 hour ride. 

Karel picked a great bike course which included multiple loops on Buckhill and then one last climb on Sugarloaf Mountain. Our campers broke into groups, some larger than others, so that everyone could push each other. The ride was not an intense ride but far from conversational. With over 3000 feet of climbing, our campers really challenged themselves. 

As we say with every Trimarni camp, day 3 is always the hardest, physically and mentally. Knowing that we would all be racing an Olympic Distance Triathlon Sunday was just another reason for the mind and body to want to "check-out" with the training scheduled for Saturday. But our campers were amazing -  more than amazing they were awesome and outstanding!

Typically, after a few days of training, a good warm-up is in order. Whereas tired muscles are no fun to use when a long or intense workout is in order, if the body is well-fueled and well-hydrated and the mind is in a positive place, most athletes are only a warm-up away from a great workout. We used the first 45 minutes or so to keep the ride fairly easy and conversational until we hit the looped section of the course and then it was time to get serious. 

Ok, so my serious includes a few pics of animals but other than that, I had my game face on.

It's not the same "mountain" I climb in Greenville but if the road isn't flat, you can call it what you want. Sugarloaf Mountain is not an easy climb but every one of our athletes got to the top and looked great while climbing! 

All those heavy gear intervals over the past two months were paying off with our athletes as they all were able to pedal efficiently and stay relaxed while climbing. 

What a beautiful "mountain" view. 

Yay! Trimarni athletes looking strong and still smiling!

After an EZ spin back to the NTC where we met in the morning, our campers all went out for a 30 minute run (15 min out, 15 min back) with their liquid nutrition (fuel belt or hand held) for one last workout of the morning. 

It was nearing 12:45pm so our athletes had 2 hours to shower, clean-up, get a recovery drink and eat a good meal before we all met at Waterfront Park for athlete check-in...and another workout. 

After we all checked in for the race for the 32nd Annual Great Clermont Triathlon and picked up our packets, everyone changed into their swim gear and we headed into the water for a 20 minute open water swim.

There was talk about wetsuit legal or not so we advised our athletes to wear their wetsuit (if wetsuit legal) in order to practice wearing it in an early season race. The water temp was on the verge of being non-wetsuit legal for race day but on Saturday afternoon, it was very comfortable for us to wear speedsuits and swim suits.

One of the best suggestions that we can give to our athletes is to get to know their course before race day. By having the opportunity to bike on key sections of the bike course (or at least drive) ahead of the race, know the direction of bike in/out and run in/out and feeling the water to be mentally and physically (or clothing) prepared is all beneficial to boost confidence for race day. We find far too many athletes spend the 24 hours before a race worrying about things in and out of their control. The more you get to know your race course, the more comfortable and confident you will be on race day - and you will feel even more prepared. 

There were a few buoys set-up from the half ironman race on Saturday morning so we did 2 loops (or 10 minutes) around two small buoys and then I broke everyone into groups of 5 (similar swim ability) to practice in-the-water starts (although at this race it was a land start) to simulate mass starts. Everyone swam around 5 minutes at a "best effort".

Campy was happy to join everyone at the race venue and I'm pretty sure he was just as exhausted as all our campers by Sunday. Vacationing is hard work when you are a 12 lb chihuahua/italian greyhound! 

After our 20 minute-ish swim, we called it a day around 3:45pm and our campers went back to their houses to rest, eat and pack-up. After 3 days and over 12 hours of training completed, our athletes were in bed early for a good night of sleep before starting day 4 of camp....race day!

Trimarni Clermont camp - Day 2 recap

                           

Good morning campers!!
March 20th, 7:30am - meet at the NTC track!

We reserved the track from 7:30-9am but the first 30 minutes were spent warming up. We find this extremely valuable for our athletes and we feel this is often a missing link in the average age-groupers training plan. With rushed schedules and never enough time for anything, strength training and a proper warm-up are typically put to the side in order to squeeze in every extra minute to add more mileage/distance to the workout.
We did our mobility warm-up, followed by 1 mile EZ jog and then 10 more minutes of dynamic warm-ups. All in an effort to help our campers warm-up the body to enable the body to perform better and to reduce risk for injury. 

While we were doing our workout, an elite runner to the side of us did not go unnoticed. She spent around 15 minutes jogging super slowly on the track and then another 30 minutes doing her warm-up exercises. This is proof that top athletes do spend time warming up because it makes for better quality workouts. Lesson to age groupers - use your time wisely and stop counting miles and focus on what you get out of your available training time.  

                           

photo by Elizabeth

What a picture! We felt like we were running in a sauna but a run is better than no run and track workouts are so much fun with company!

Since 19 of our 20 athletes are Trimarni coaching athletes, this would be the very first "speed" workout for all of our athletes. Although our athletes have been training with us since November, they have been diligently working on building their foundation and getting stronger before they go faster. Not to our surprise, everyone ran FAST and did just great on the track! We absolutely LOVE track workouts but it can be a recipe for injury, burnout and a suppressed immune system if the body is not healthy and strong to run fast.

Ready, set .....GO!

A fun main set for our athletes to work on pacing and mental focus.

Thank you Clif Bar for keeping our athletes well-fueled throughout our camp!!
And thank you Run In, our local running store, for all your support for the Trimarni Team!

Do you always run with a sport drink? I highly recommend you do so in order to train your gut, to stay hydrated, to meet your electrolyte needs, to keep your immune system healthy and to help postpone fatigue and boost recovery.

The Trimarni team fuels smart!

Photo by Elizabeth (far right, looking happy to be running!)

Love my Trimarni girls!

Photo by Elizabeth
My athletes make me work hard! Here I am pacing Trimarni athlete Kevin D who just turned 57! Super strong and FAST!

Photo by Elizabeth
Time to cool down! Yay for keeping the easy stuff easy and the hard stuff hard.

Wrapping up our track session with some key pointers for our athletes.

9am - time for a long course swim session!!

Although an active recovery swim would be a great idea, we didn't take it easy on our campers!

Deck-ups were on tap and although our athletes were tired, everyone gave their 100%!

 

MS: (Long course)

5 x 150's as: 50 smooth, 50 build. Then get out of the water, run around the block and then 50 build to fast.

Rest as needed and then 50 EZ swim to home base. Rest 30 sec and repeat 4 more times.

                                          Yay - all done for the morning workout sessions!

Trimarni camp is never complete without an underwater pic! Love my age-group swimmers!

After the swim we did 15 minutes of dryland (yep - more core work!) and then we called it a morning. 

We gave our athletes some free time to refuel and rest from 10:30am until 2:30pm.
This was well-needed by everyone for although we want to overload our athletes with solid training stress, we never train at the expense of poor nutritional habits or inadequate sleep. 

At 3pm, we all meet at the NTC for a 2 hour social spin OR a 2 hour tempo ride (Karel's group). 

As coaches and athletes, we do not believe in junk miles. As age group athletes we have a lot on our plates and going through the motions just to tick away miles is rarely beneficial. We want quality sessions and to use our time, when we aren't training, wisely in order to make our training sessions count. Junk miles only break down an athlete and take up precious time for sleeping, eating and relaxing (and spending time with family/friends).
However, in the case of  a training camp, we used this social spin as an active recovery ride for most of our campers. Knowing this was the 6th workout in 48 hours for our campers, this is new training stress for many of them and a social spin got our athletes on their bikes, outside and made them use their body even when they were tired and exhausted. 

The best part about the ride was having our athletes work together. If one athlete was tired and the other athlete felt good, that good energy spread throughout the group. 

Photo by Elizabeth
Plus - the views were not hard to enjoy either. 

Photo by Elizabeth
It's hard not to want to be outside, on two wheels, with views like this and GREAT company!

After the two groups regrouped back at the NTC, our campers cleaned up at the NTC and Karel and I headed back to our condo to get ready for our team Pizza dinner!

The vegetarian pizza selection.

Pizza was provided by us for our campers from Lil Anthony's Pizza (which was GREAT!) and based on the number of empty pizza boxes (we ordered 6 XL pizzas, 3 vegetarian options and 3 meat-lover options), I'm pretty sure our campers were extra hungry. 

Campy was on his best behavior....especially around the meat eaters for any "accidental" topping droppings. 

Beer, pizza, friends, Campy and.......

DESSERTS!!!
Thank you Sara with Sara Ran Away With The Spoon for sending us your delicious treats!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Lemon Patty Cake

Chocolate Chip Brownies 

Blackberry/Granola bars

And Happy Birthday Taryn!!!

Slow down Elizabeth - save some cookies for the rest of us! 

Karel and Colleen - sharing is caring when it comes to desserts!

A HUGE thank you to the Trimarni sponsors for providing some AWESOME prizes for our campers. We resorted to the draw-names-out-of-a-hat option.

Thank you Oakley and Oakley Women for providing a pair of Half Jacket 2.0 shades for the male prize and the Commit SQ Breast Cancer edition shades (my fav!) for the female prize.

Thank you Veronica's Health Crunch for providing your NEW banana walnut cacao crunch, Xterra Wetsuits for the wetsuits and to Run In for the Body Glide, 2 Fuel Belts and 2 handheld flasks. 

Looking good Maggie and Jim! Congrats on winning your new Oakley shades!

Rob, Wlad, Colleen and Tricia will be running well-hydrated with their new Fuel Belt hydration gear. 

Stay tuned for day 3. Yep, we are only half way through camp!