IMWI '18 Race Report - 26.2 mile run

Photo: Jay Baker

After dismounting my bike, I quickly removed my cycling shoes as I ran my way into the terrace to grab my T2 (Run) gear bag. My legs were a little tired from 112 miles of biking but I didn't let it worry me. My athlete Diane was out on the course and on lap 2, she told me I was still leading but the girls behind me were closing in. At this point, I assumed I was still leading my age group but I didn't know by how much. Anything can happen in an Ironman marathon and I had a game plan that I trusted and I was looking forward to seeing if I could put together a solid run after what appeared to be a solid day of swimming and biking.

When I entered the women's changing room, I was all smiles as I was the only one in the room and I had all the volunteers to myself. I had a few Trimarni followers in the room (volunteers) giving me cheers which made me so happy. I put on my Nike Zoom Pegasus Turbo, emptied my pockets from the bike and put on my visor. I grabbed my hydration belt and race belt (which had my bib number on it) and headed out of the room. Rather than immediately running, I fast walked as I put on my belts. From experience, I know how good it feels to completely empty myself before a run so I made a quick stop in the port-o-john and I felt so much better afterward. 

I've learned a lot from Ironman racing and one major tip always comes to mind when I start the marathon - be patient. 26.2 miles is a long way to go. I see athletes all the time chasing paces, rushing out of T2 and treating the marathon as if it is a sprint triathlon as if every second matters. Sure, you don't want to waste your time doing silly things but you want to make good decisions as it's a long day of racing and what happens in the first few miles of the marathon can potentially make or break your race. I had no time goals or paces for this run. I trusted my training and my nutrition and felt confident with my run fitness going into this race. And even though I knew my competition was likely close behind me, I needed to be smart with my execution which meant taking care of myself in the early miles and really listening to my body.

Plus, I had a very specific game plan for this marathon. Walk within every mile. 

Photo: Brian Comiskey

Yep, that's right. My strategy was to intentionally take a walk (or reset) break within every mile. Not always at each aid station but instead, to walk to reset my form. This is something that I have practiced in all of my long runs and something that we encourage our athletes to do as well. Committing to walking in an Ironman can be tough for many athletes view it as failing. There's a big difference between unintentional vs intentional walking. The later makes you feel in control whereas the earlier makes you feel like defeated. I'm not saying that unintentional walking is bad but there's something very powerful about having a plan to walk and sticking to it. I figured that it wasn't if I got caught on the run by my competition in my age group, but when. However, I didn't let this thought of being caught scare me as I needed to focus on my strategy to get to the finish line.

In addition to my walk breaks (which were rarely at aid stations until the last 6 or so miles), I was also confident in my fueling plan. I had two flasks, each with 1 scoop Carborocket hydration (108 calories, 10 ounce water, 331 mg sodium and 27g carbs). Each flask was a different flavor - one with kiwi lime and the other with raspberry lemonade. For the second loop, I had two flasks in special needs filled with 3 scoops per flask of Osmo women mango (105 calories, 10 ounce water, 552 mg sodium and 27g carbs). I also carried an Enveritine cheerpack with me to start the run (and one in special needs) in case I needed a little pick-me up (I didn't end up using either). I have practiced with all products listed above as I use sport nutrition in every training session - even easier workouts. I am comfortable running with my Nathan Trail Mix hydration belt (I actually love it so much I don't like to run without it), drinking when I run and I enjoy the taste of my products. I also know that I can eventually move to coke in the later miles of the run and still sip on Osmo. The reason why I run with my hydration is that I can drink when I want to drink. Because muscle glycogen stores are declining, keeping the brain energized with sugar is key. Since the liver is responsible for this, the nutrition that I take in on the run is not only helping me muscles but also keeping my brain alert. In other words, I can always stay one step (literally) ahead of my blood sugar to prevent bonking. Also, I find that it's incredibly easy to overdrink at aid stations when you feel very thirsty or low in energy so by bringing along my own nutrition, I can use the aid stations just for water and then coke, when or if needed. 

Photo: Jay Baker

Within the first mile, I realized that I didn't completely empty myself when I exited T2 so I stopped in the port-o-john right before an aid station. I figured now was the time to go as I didn't want to wait too long and then struggle to find a potty and I knew once I went, I would feel so much better. And it worked! Plus, after a quick sit and rest, I felt a million times better. This also confirmed that adding in the reset breaks was going to help me delay fatigue and hopefully run fresher longer.

As usual, the first few miles were a little tough as I was trying to get my rhythm, settle into a good stride, find my form and just put my mind into a good place. The walk breaks were also a nice distraction from how far I still had left to run as I only focused on one mile at a time. This actually made the first few miles go by really quickly. My friend Jacqui (who was the overall amateur female) blazed by me (she ran 3 hours!) and we had a quick little convo. Based on this, I knew my effort was conversational and I was not over-doing it. Sure, it felt hard as I had been racing for over 6 hours but I wasn't forcing my effort or trying to chase a pace. I would glance down at my watch every now and then and see paces in the low 8 minutes and I felt like I could hold this effort for some time so I just ran with it - literally.

Photo: Jay Baker

Once I found my running legs, my smile grew bigger. I was actually enjoying running and I felt very strong and healthy. Because I don't do the typical "long" runs in training (my longest run was 2 hours/14 miles with a main set of 10 x 1 miles slightly faster than IM marathon effort w/ 30 sec walk between) but instead, many brick runs, double run days and a lot of frequency running, I not only felt fresh for this marathon but I was looking forward to the mechanical fatigue that I knew was coming. Because I only like to put myself in that deep uncomfortable place on race day, it was something that I was welcoming but I wanted to delay it for as long as possible. My goal was to run a very steady and sustainable effort for the first loop (13 miles) as if I was holding myself from going harder. This actually made the effort feel rather "easy" but within the context of Ironman racing (it's never easy). And that tired feeling that I felt on the bike was gone. I was alert, happy, energized and fresh. This rarely happens so I couldn't stop myself from smiling. The course was packed with spectators and I felt like every corner welcomed me with new cheers and faces. I love all the turns and terrain changes on this course as it helped me break it down mentally into small segments. Once I approached Observatory hill, I saw Karel and I was super excited to see him and hear an update of how I was doing. Karel and I have developed an ability to know what the other person needs to hear in the moment when we are racing and Karel said the right thing to me. He told me that I he was so happy with how I was running but the 2nd and 3rd place girls were 2 and 3 minutes behind me. I told Karel that I was feeling really good but I was sticking to my walk-break plan. He told me to not change what I was doing as it is working. All of this conversation occurred in about 30 seconds as I was running my way up the hill. Since I was being very strategic with my walk breaks, I made sure to walk anytime I felt like I wanted to feel good for an upcoming segment. Once I made my way on State Street, I could feel the crowds giving me so much energy. I was just happy that I felt so good and could smile my way through that section.

Photo: Joanne Marshall

Going into the race, my goal was to get a Kona slot. I figured we would have two slots but I wanted to win my age group just be sure. While this goal was important to me, I made sure not to take risks and to stick to my plan. At the end of the day, the only person I can control is myself. If the other girls were to run faster than me, so be it. I wanted to put together a race that I was proud of and at the end of the day, the athlete in my age group who put together the best race (in other words, who is the best at not slowing down) was going to win the age group and get one of the two Kona slots.

When I saw Karel for the second time, he told me that the girls were running just a bit faster than me but to not change what I was doing. This news worried me a little bit as I saw the two girls running in the opposite direction on State Street and I felt like the gap was closing. It was still hoovering around 2-3 minutes which is not that much time in the marathon. I also heard Karel's mom cheering which just made me smile so big as she was having a blast out there with her cowbell. 

Once I made my way on the gravel trail section, my legs were happy. I really enjoy running on gravel and I tried to stay on the gravel section for as long as possible (even if that meant running on the side of the run path with just a small patch of gravel). On the next out and back, I saw the girls and they were getting closer to me. Still, I was feeling good and stayed with my run/walk plan.

The first loop went by really fast which is exactly what I had hoped for. I was also really happy that my form wasn't breaking down. While I thought it would be hard to make the u-turn to lap two within a few hundred meters from the finish line, I was actually looking forward to lap two. Bring it out, I thought to myself.

I made a quick stop at special needs and then made my way back out of town. For this second loop, I needed to take a few small risks but also remain calm. Since I was very patient in the first loop with my effort, I had a lot of trust in my body for the next 13 miles. I knew the mechanical fatigue was building and it was going to get really hard, really soon but I just kept taking care of myself and focused on running well. After the run through the stadium, I started to mentally take note of the segments of the course that I wouldn't have to do again. Stadium - check. As I got to Observatory hill, there was Karel again and he told me that it was still close. Perhaps the coaches/friends of the other girls behind me were giving information like "she's walking" which made the other girls speed up but it was getting close and Karel was on edge (he later told me that my race was a very exciting race for him to track!). Rather than walking up observatory hill(s), I ran because I knew that if I was going to take a risk it was going to be on the hill. So I made my way up the hill, took a reset break, charged down the hill and after state street, Karel told me that I had opened up the gap and it was now around 4-5 minutes. I couldn't believe it. Am I really running away from my competition? This never ever happens?!?! While I knew I was slowing down, I was still able to keep good form and I never felt like I wanted the run to be overwith. I felt like I was there doing what I had trained to do and my body and mind were ON!

As I past mile 20, I told myself to just think of my favorite 6 mile running route. Then when I got to mile 23, it's only 3 miles - that's like a typical brick run (even though I always go by time and not miles/distance). Then when I got to 24, I told myself when I got to mile 25, I could give it everything I had. While it wasn't much more than I was giving for the last few miles, I couldn't believe the day that my body put together. I sprinted my way to the finish (well, it felt like a sprint) and made sure to celebrate the last mile. I loved seeing my athletes on the course and I could not wait to get back out there to help bring everyone to that finish line.

Funny stories....At one point, Karel told me to keep myself cool. I was like, um, I am not hot at all. While a few sections of the course were a little warm, the weather was perfect. I grabbed ice a few times but I didn't hold it long because it was too cold. Also, when I was nearing mile 16, I thought in my head it was mile 17. Total disappointment to see mile 16 instead. However, I must have missed mile marker 24 so after mile 23, I just kept running on the course thinking "where is mile 24?? And then when I saw mile 25 I was like "SCORE!" That was the best feeling ever and it couldn't have come at a better time as my legs were not moving so fast in the last few miles. 

When I crossed the finish line, I felt amazing. Sore, tired, exhausted and short of breath but amazing. I couldn't believe it. When I saw Karel and his mom (and a new friend Lindsey) behind the barricades, I just lifted up my arms as I couldn't believe it. I just won my age group and qualified for Kona for the 6th time. 

There's nothing like that feeling of crossing the finish line of an Ironman!! It makes all the unknowns, challenges, worries and muscle aches worth it. 

My coach, best friend and life-long teammate.

While anything can happen in an Ironman, I feel I put together a perfect race. The exciting part for me was that I was racing for all 140.6 miles. My competition was strong behind me and for most of the race, three of us were within 3 minutes of one another. For me, it wasn't so much about the time or place as far as why I am so proud of my performance but my execution. Everything I did on race day was practiced in training, I listened to my body, I arrived fit, healthy and physically and mentally fresh and excited to race. I didn't chase a result or metrics or an outcome but instead, stayed true to myself and focused on what I needed to do all day to deliver me to my 14th IM finish line with a smile that didn't go off my face for all 26.2 miles.

After the race, it took me some time to hobble my way to my gear bags and change in the terrace bathroom before heading back out to cheer for our athletes. I was so cold after the race that it took me some time to warm-up in the food tent! It got rather cold at night so I was happy that I had my warm clothes from the morning. I made sure to eat as much as I could after the race to help with the recovery process. The worst part of the day was hearing from Karel that our athlete Ericka crashed with just a few miles to go on the bike after she moved herself up to 6th place in the pro field in her first ever Ironman. She hit some gravel on a turn (accident as she is a great rider and bike handler) and went down - luckily nothing was broken but she was taken to the hospital. While we are incredibly sad about how her day ended, we know she will be back stronger and hungrier than before. We love you Ericka!

Here are my splits from the run, which include my walk breaks. I didn't have a set time that I was walking as I just walked to reset my form, stretch out and take care of whatever I needed to do to run well until my next walk break. 

Mile 1: 8:17 min/mile (didn't see the official start to the run so I started my watch late)

Mile 2: 8:43 (bathroom stop)
Mile 3: 8:11
Mile 4: 8:11
Mile 5: 8:05
Mile 6: 8:40
Mile 7: 8:34
Mile 8: 8:15
Mile 9: 8:28
Mile 10: 8:22
Mile 11: 8:23
Mile 12: 8:18
Mile 13: 8:40 (special needs stop)
Mile 14: 8:25
Mile 15: 8:36
Mile 16: 8:42
Mile 17: 8:57
Mile 18: 8:37
Mile 19: 9:16
Mile 20: 8:49
Mile 21: 8:40
Mile 22: 9:08
Mile 23: 9:09
Mile 24: 8:56
Mile 25: 9:05
Mile 26: 9:06
Mile 0.2: 8:26

I think I counted 21 intentional walk breaks over 26 miles (see below)
Per my Garmin: 25.9 miles, 3:44.09 (8:39 min/mile), 843 feet elevation gain

Ironman tracker results for the run: 3:45.44 (8:36 min/mile), 3rd fastest AG group, 24th female run, 113rd overall

RESULTS
Swim: 59.38
T1: 6:20
Bike: 5:37.44
T2: 3:03
Run: 3:45.44
Overall: 10:32.29, 1st AG, 5th amateur female, 2019 Kona Qualified

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2018 Trimarni Supporters and Affiliates

We would like to send a BIG thank you to our Trimarni sponsors and affiliates for supporting the Trimarni team:

• Run In - for helping us with our running gear/shoe needs
• Mg12 - for helping our muscles stay relaxed
• Clif Bar - for quality, organic ingredients in quality sport nutrition
• Carborocket - for providing a quality bike and run nutrition in tasty flavors
• Base nutrition - for making delicious bars and a variety of products to meet the needs of endurance athletes. And for being all around awesome. 
• Veronica's Health Crunch - for the most delicious hand made crunch - ever!
• Infinit - for customizable sport nutrition with safe and effective ingredients
• Levelen - for helping athletes optimize our hydration needs through sweat testing
• Hot Shot - for boosting neuromuscular performance and preventing muscle cramps
• Solestar - for maximum stability, better power transmission
• KLEAN for making quality products, tested to be clean and safe for athlete consumption.
• Boco Gear - for helping us race in style
• Canari - for the most comfortable, functional and stylish gear and for helping our athletes race in good-looking kits
• Amrita bars - for making the most delicious tasting, high-quality plant-based protein and energy bars. 
• Xterra - for the fastest, most comfortable wetsuit ever.
• Alto cycling - for engineering the fastest race wheels
• Swamp Rabbit Inn and Lodge - for keeping our campers happy with perfect lodging options
• Ventum - for designing a cool-looking bike that has been backed by research and top-notch engineering. I love my Ventum!

IMWI '18 Race Report - Pre-race + Swim + T1

Pre-race

I was looking forward to my 30-minute swim on Friday morning at the Pinaccle Health Club. Karel joined me but swam about double my distance as he is still in training mode for his upcoming races. Because two days out from an Ironman is a relatively light day of training for me, I was really looking forward to connecting with our 13 athletes who were racing IMWI (and seeing their family members). In usual Trimarni fashion, we had our pre-race pizza party + course talk as a way to connect everyone and provide last minute advice and tips. Our athlete Lisa lives in Madison and offered up her rooftop deck/clubhouse for our party. The views were incredible. Plus, you can never go wrong with pizza two days before a race. We ordered pizza from Pizza Brutta and it was amazing!

The rest of the day was very low-key for me and it was early to bed to try to get a good night of sleep as you never know how sleep will go on the night before the race. 

Saturday was all about waking up the body and fueling for the long adventure that awaited me on Sunday. Interesting, I never felt “too full or heavy” despite eating far more than I normally eat before a race. I started the day with my typical pre-training snack (2 waffles w/ PB, syrup and Greek yogurt) and a small cup of coffee and water. Then it was off for a 55 minute spin on the race course (with the terrain dictating my efforts to raise the intensity) followed by a 15 minute run off the bike. I’m not tied to any specific goal times, paces or distances to achieve with my pre-race warm-up as I’m looking to warm-up until I feel good and then save it all for race day. Karel started with me (and our athlete Thomas) but then continued on with his ride as he had a big day of training planned with a 6-hour ride followed by a 20-minute run. After a big glass of milk while cleaning up, I prepared myself 2 big slices of French toast w/ scrambled eggs and fruit. 

                                        

                                         

I re-packed my gear bags (I had them all laid out and almost packed as of Thurs evening) and then around 11:30am, headed downtown with Thomas, Karel’s mom and Campy to check-in our bikes and gear bags. Because the wind was gusty, I noticed that a few other athletes had used duct tape to secure their saddle on the transition rack. This was a great idea since my bike is too small to touch the ground so I did the same by taping down the saddle rails to the bike rack. After dropping off our gear bags, we walked around the outside expo and checked out the finish line and then headed home. 

But first, we had to make a quick stop at a local bakery to pick-up a few treats for Karel so he could survive his day of spectating on Sunday. Sadly, they were out of croissants but I substituted with two scones and a huge cinnamon roll (for me). If you didn't know, I LOVE cinnamon rolls. 

When we returned home, my lunch consisted of leftover pizza (from Pizza Brutta), cottage cheese, a handful of arugula. I really cut back on my veggies in the 48 hours before the race. I also yummed over some of my cinnamon roll (it was calling my name and I couldn’t wait to dig into it). Then it was time to fill my bottles with my sport nutrition powders (topping off with water on race day morning) and put my feet up and relax. Since I am not the best relaxer, I found a movie to watch on Netflix which distracted me for a while. Karel eventually came home from his workout around 3pm and he provided us with some great feedback on the course (since he did the entire course and a little more during his ride). I snacked on corn chips and fruit throughout the afternoon and ended the day with a bag of microwave rice (high in carbs and lots of sodium). Our professional athlete Ericka (doing her first IM!) came over with her husband in the evening on Friday for a last minute pre-race chat with me and Karel.

Since carbonated water can sometimes irritate the gut, I avoided it and just drank plain water all day plus 1 bottle of precision hydration (1500). Even though the temps were not predicted to be warm for race day, I still found it important to load on sodium to optimize my hydration level before the event. Since Karel was tired from his training, we both headed off to bed around 7pm and lights were off around 8:30pm. I think Campy was the first to fall asleep – this Ironman stuff is tough for his almost 11-year old body!

Race morning
My alarm went off at 3:45am and surprisingly, Karel was quick out of bed. He was starving and ready to eat after his big day of training on Saturday. This made it easy for me to get out of bed but I made sure to sit up slowly as to not throw off my blood pressure and faint (which happened to me at IM 70.3 World Championships in 2017). Campy (as you see below), was not quick to get out of bed. 

While I felt a little nervous, I didn’t let it get to me too much. I knew once I got to the race venue, my nerves would disappear. I ate my typical pre-race meal (which is also the same thing I eat before every training session – just in higher quantities for race day and a few extra toppings) of 2 waffles, PB, yogurt, syrup, banana, cinnamon, granola. I had a cup of coffee (instant is what I like), glass of water, 3 MAP BCAA’s and 1 scoop Osmo pre-load. I filled all of my 6 bike bottles and 4 flasks with water (since I put powder in them the day before) and then packed up my race day bag. 

Karel’s mom and Campy stayed at the house as Karel planned to go back to the house before heading out on the bike course to cheer. Karel drove Thomas and I to the race venue and we parked on the street just a block from the capital. We walked first to special needs to drop off our bags (Bike and run bag drop offs were both by the capital, before the finish line) and then headed to our gear bags inside the terrace to drop off any last minute items (like nutrition). I kept myself warm with pants, a jacket, a hat and gloves because it was a bit cool out (in the low 50’s) and a little windy. For every race, I always bring a bag of "extra" clothing like gloves, ear covers, shoe covers, arm warmers, leg warmers, rain jacket/vest and anything else I may need if weather changes. I made a mental note of where my bags were before heading to body marking and then to our bikes. 

Karel stood outside of the transition area and gave my tires a touch to see if they were good to go for the race. Since we pumped them up the day before (gave the bike a full charge for my electronic shifting on Friday night), they held their pressure on race day morning. It was nice to see so many familiar faces throughout the morning, including several of our athletes. Of course, I made sure to untape my saddle – that would have been no fun if I would have forgot! 

                                  

It was nearing 5:45pm when I was finished with my pre-race to do’s. I made a potty stop inside the terrace (nice clean bathrooms with no line) and then did a little light mobility work on the floor in the terrace for the next 10 minutes. Around 6pm, I put on my wetsuit, gave Karel a kiss and hug good-bye, found a doggy to give a kiss (can't forget the furry ones) and then made my way down to the swim start. It was a little crowded to get down there so I was happy to give myself extra time. I was hoping to get in the water but it appeared they weren’t letting anyone in the water so I just kept myself loose before getting into the corral. I had an Enervite pre-race Jelly around 20 minutes before the start. With the pros going off at 6:40am (in-the-water start at the first buoy), it was getting rather tight in the corral by 6:20am. I wanted to get around the 1-hour group but the only sign was 1-1:10 (predicted swim time for the rolling start). This created a lot of chaos even before the start for there was a wide range of swim abilities all crammed together (plus those that probably shouldn’t be near the front anyways). While it may seem like standing around for 30 minutes in a tight corral would be stressful, I didn’t mind it for I knew that for the next 10+ hours, I would be moving and using my body. 

Swim 2.4 miles - 59:38 (2nd 35-39, 6th female, 24th overall)

Source: IMWI facebook page

Once the gun went off, the line moved quickly. I first stepped over the timing mat and then walked to the water. It felt like forever until I crossed over the mat and then entered the water but I’m guessing it wasn’t more than a 30 seconds. I made a poor decision and started on the left of the swim start which was a bit more crowded since we needed to keep all buoys to our left. I found it very chaotic in the water for the first few buoys due to the large amount of athletes who lined up in the 1-1:10 time frame plus the sub 1-hour swimmers. There were many times that instead of focusing on staying on course, I was sighting to find clean water. The best part of the early part of the swim was swimming next to my athlete Stephanie who is a great swimmer. I immediately noticed her as we both wear the same Xterra vengeance wetsuit and I know her swim stroke. I eventually swam away from her but she wasn’t too far behind me as she had an awesome swim. The stretch to the first buoy went by rather quickly. While I found myself needing to swim by many swimmers, I finally found my groove.

However, once I made my way around the two turn buoys and started to swim back toward the start, the water became incredibly choppy – more like an ocean. Since I have a pretty straight-arm stroke, I really focused on catching the water and trying to time my stroke with the chop. While it worked for a little bit at a time, the chop would change and then I would need to reset my rhythm. Since it was a good mile of straight swimming against the chop, I had no time to think about anything in the future (bike and run) but to stay in the moment. Since it takes me some time to feel warmed-up (this is for any sport), I like to pick up my effort as the swim progresses. I found myself around a few other girls (pink caps) which gave me a little boost to keep my effort going and to swim really strong to the finish. Since I always wear new goggles for an Ironman swim, I could see perfectly throughout the entire swim which also helped me stay on course. Although the long stretch felt long, the final stretch to the shore came rather quickly. I felt strong throughout the entire swim and felt I paced it well. Since I don’t wear a watch, I didn’t know my swim time but quickly glanced at the race clock and saw 1:10 – which I figured was for the pros. I quickly did the math and figured I was right around an hour which I was happy about. It was a nice tone to set the day.  Karel stayed inside the terrace and then made his way near the mount line to cheer me on (and our other athletes) for the start of the bike.

T1 - 6:10

Source (not from this year)

The transition from swim to bike at IMWI is a loooooong one. I first got my wetsuit removed by the “strippers” and choose to go to the very end before laying down as to not get stuck around other athletes. I kept my cap and goggles on as two less things to carry up the helix. Oh that helix. The crowds were incredible as they were 3-4 rows deep cheering as I ran up and up and up to the entrance to the terrace. This race is also special because the transition area is inside! The volunteers were great as always and directed me into the room with our blue bike gear bags and then into the female “changing tent” (a room). My volunteer helped me put on my gear and held my timing chip as I put on my compression socks (typically I put it in my mouth so I don’t forget it). I wasn’t planning to wear my arm warmers as the swim really warmed me up (water temp was in the 70’s) but the volunteer told me it was rather chilly out and in looking back, I was glad I had them on. They were actually arm coolers so they were really light but provided my arms with just enough warmth for the early miles of the bike (well – actually until mile 60!). While the Ironman is a very long day requiring patience and not taking risks, transitions are nothing more than “free speed.” 

Source (not from this year)

Since this transition is naturally long, I made good use of my time by removing my cap and goggles right when I entered the terrace, put my helmet on as I ran to the changing tent and then carried my bike shoes with me until I got to my bike. While running the entire length of the parking lot to my bike (on the very far side near the mount line), I also put on my arm warmers while running. Once I got to my bike rack, a volunteer held my bike, I turned on my bike computer and then put on my shoes. I grabbed my bike and then I was off. I felt like it was one of my best executed transitions, even though it’s a long one. As my first race on my new Ventum, I was really excited to put it to the test and see how it dealt with the bumpy roads, gusty winds and technical terrain that was ahead of me for 112 miles of riding. 

2018 Ironman Wisconsin - quick recap

Every athlete is in pursuit for that perfect race. We'd all like to believe that if you keep racing, it’s bound to occur. But what if that perfect race never happens? Does this mean that all past races are failures? More so, what really defines the “perfect” race.....Is it a time, a place or a feeling?

After 13 Ironman races, five Kona qualifications, several podiums, an Ironman PR of 10:06 and an amateur female win at 2017 Ironman Chattanooga, I'm incredibly grateful to my body for what it's accomplished over the past 12 years of endurance triathlon racing. But even with all those accomplishments, I have yet to have that race where I felt like it was perfect. In reflecting on my performance at Ironman Wisconsin, I feel that IMWI was a perfect race.

For me, Ironman Wisconsin was the perfect race for a few reasons.

Going into the race, I was full of emotions. Two weeks out, I felt so exhausted and tired. I felt flat during all my training sessions and my efforts felt much harder than I wanted them to feel. Karel reminded me that I get this way before every Ironman but my taper-brain was giving me a ton of misleading signals. I trusted Karel and my training and just carried on with my workouts. The best part of the weekend before race week was watching the Ironman 70.3 World Championship which had me fired-up to race (even though I felt sluggish).

Come race week, the emotions got worse as word was getting around that there was a lot of flooding in the Madison area. This created a lot of talk (and rumors) about the swim being cancelled and possible modifications to the bike and run course. As a coach, I needed to keep my ears open for any changes as I needed to stay on my toes to communicate accurate information to the 13 other Trimarni athletes who were racing. Perhaps the unknowns of race day were getting to me for I had trouble putting myself into “race mode” on Monday. But once I arrived to the race venue on Tues evening, I felt more at ease with whatever we were given on race day. Once I got myself into a good place mentally, I found myself feeling really good with my sharpening workouts leading up to the race. With each workout, I felt better and better and more excited for the race. I didn’t have any pains or niggles and this was something that I constantly reminded myself of, for there’s no better feeling than feeling healthy, strong and injury-free before an Ironman. I felt like I had a good rhythm during the week because I didn’t venture too far from my normal workout routine. 

Each morning after a good night of sleep (no alarm), a substantial pre-workout snack (2 waffles + PB, syrup, Greek yogurt and fruit – similar to race day) and a bit of mobility work, I did my planned workouts. We had to move a few things around because of the weather on Wed but other than that, I kept myself swimming, biking and running on race week with something every day. On Wed I ran and swam (am run and pm swim), Thurs we biked one loop of the bike course (~40 miles) and on Fri I swam. Sat was the typical bike/run combo. 

I found that every time I was at the race venue, I was getting more excited for my 14^th Ironman (and 3^rd Ironman Wisconsin). I made sure to get in a few pool swims on race week (even if the swim was to be cancelled) because that’s my happy place. Riding my new Ventum felt amazing and that was getting me super pumped for race day. Even though I had only rode my new Ventum about 5 or 6 times, I was confident with my decision to race on a new bike for I felt very dialed-in with my fit (thanks to Karel) and the bike was the perfect fit for me. The run always leaves me a little concerned as it's a continued work-in-progress for me but I felt confident based on my previous run training.
Come race day morning, I was antsy to get things going. I knew from past experience that once I got into the water, I would feel so much better. I just needed the race to start.

Once the race got going, I had no idea how the day would go and I feel that thinking helped me create the “perfect” race. With no expectations and a lot of Ironman experience (especially with racing Ironman Austria just 10 weeks ag), it wasn't until I exited the water that I felt like this could be a good race for me. What that meant, I wasn't sure but I felt like my body was ready to perform. While I battled low moments (as I always due in an Ironman) and had my typical “I’m never doing this again....why am I doing this” thoughts on the bike, my body was still working well. In other words, I felt like my mind and body were working together which meant I was able to still perform, even during those low moments. Most of all, I was having fun and felt like I wanted to be in the race. Plus, receiving feedback from people on the course about my position in the race (overall and in my age group) had me feeling a bit of pressure all day – which I liked.

While every Ironman requires a bit of good luck and there are bound to be plenty of obstacles to overcome out of your control, things were going rather well for me on the swim and bike. Even on the run, I didn’t have any nutrition/gut issues, no major obstacles to overcome and my body didn’t start to get really fatigued until around mile 16/17 of the run. More than anything, I felt good on the run and it never felt "too long" to run a marathon at the end of the Ironman. I was in the zone. And for me, I stayed in front of my age-group competition throughout the entire race! It's pretty typical for me to get run-down on the run but I couldn’t help but smile throughout the entire run (even though it was an incredibly tight race between me and my competition!) because of how well I was playing my tactics throughout the race. I felt this was the smartest I raced and in looking back, I didn’t deviate from what I know and from what has worked in training. 

You may not be surprised to hear that I felt good on the swim, but it was super chaotic and messy in the water. It was incredibly choppy and felt more like an ocean swim than a lake swim. Oh the bike. It was SO windy. Thank goodness for my new Ventum for it literally felt like I was slicing through the wind. But of course, the low moment came and didn't go away for some time. I had about 30 miles of being in a very low place where I wanted to quit and really considered that this would be my last Ironman. But then,, I popped out of it and I was having fun again. But then it wasn’t that long until I got another low again. While I had a good bike time for the distance, it was very windy which took a lot of mental and physical energy. The bike actually went by quickly for me but it wasn’t without plenty of low moments to ride through. 

Come the run, I had two bathroom breaks which I initiated before I really needed to go to the bathroom and I also intentionally walked once within every mile of the entire marathon as that was part of my plan. I stayed confident with my run/walk strategy for it works so well for me and I trusted my training. Throughout the entire race, I stuck to my nutrition plan and applied what I practiced in training and deviated when I needed to listen to my body and react to what my body was telling me (this comes from experience). As I mentioned above, I didn’t have any nutrition issues (I rocked my hydration belt for the entire run - just like I do for every single outdoor run training session) but I also had no low moments on the run. For me, this is where I feel my perfect race came about. After a solid swim and bike, I was running strong for my current level of fitness. Aside from the expected mechanical fatigue that comes in an Ironman (which didn't happen to me until after 2 hours of running the marathon), I felt in control of my body throughout the entire 26.2 mile run and my mind stayed in a positive place. And you can’t help but get energy from the Madison crowds as the spectators and volunteers are amazing and will lift you up for all 140.6 miles. The race staff did an exceptional job providing us with a safe and fair course.

So while I mentally and physically went through a lot during the race and yes, my body did get tired in the last few miles of the run, my perfect race came from taking good care of my body going into the race so that I arrived healthy, fit, strong, fresh and excited to race and then being proactive, present and smart during the race. Even though my competition was running me down, I didn't let it affect my race. I never chased an outcome and although I was racing my competition, I just focused on doing things well for all 140.6 miles.

Stay tuned for my entire Ironman Wisconsin race report with all the insider details on how I put together my perfect race. In the meantime.......

You can order my new book! In case you missed the Monday announcement on my Facebook page, I am now a published author. A dream come true for me! If you are an athlete, fitness enthusiast, coach, personal trainer, physical therapist, doctor, parent or friend of an athlete or you live an active lifestyle, my book Essential Sports Nutrition offers the most up-to-date nutritional guidance along with delicious recipes to make it easy to eat right to support an active lifestyle and to reach your performance goals. You can pre-order the book here: Essential Sports Nutrition

Thank you for your support – athletically and professionally. 

                             

2018 Ironman Wisconsin Race Results

2.4 mile Swim: 59:38

T1: 6:10

112 mile Bike: 5:37.55

T2: 3:03

26.2 mile Run: 3:45.45

Total: 10:32.29

1^st AG (35-39), 5^th female amateur, 13^th overall female.
2019 Kona qualified (accepted my slot).

Hello from Madison - It's IMWI week!

Wow, I can't believe it's finally here. It's race week! Just three more sleeps until race day.

A little update from this week.

Karel, his mom and Campy started their journey to Madison, WI on Monday morning with a long drive to Indianapolis. They spent the night and then finished the drive on Tues. With traffic and a few stops, it was a long two days of traveling. The house was pretty quiet for me for a day and a half but I kept myself busy with a few light workouts and work until I left for the airport on Tues afternoon. My athlete and friend Thomas and I flew from Greenville to Detroit to Madison on Tues evening and all went smoothly. Since Karel had our bikes and all my race stuff, I traveled pretty light with only a backpack.

To be honest, the week was a little stressful to start because of all the flooding in Madison and the great possibility of a cancelled swim and the unknowns of the bike and run course. Thankfully, the Ironman staff went above and beyond and the course is on for the entire 140.6 mile distance. Sure, anything can change between now and race day but the weather is looking good for an amazing day of swimbikerun come Sunday.

Our homestay and friend Ed picked Thomas and I up at the airport on Tues evening around 8:30pm and it was nice to reunite with Karel and Campy when we arrive to his home. With all the chatter about the weather/rain in Madison, all it took was a drive through downtown - in route to Ed's house in Fitchburg - to remind me why this race is so special. No matter what happens on race day, Madison knows how to put on a top-notch Ironman event. This will be my 3rd time racing IMWI and although it's a challenging bike/run course combo, the crowds are unbelievable!

Campy has been on squirrel (and rabbit and chipmunk duty) since he arrived and he is loving looking out the windows for any intruders.

Ed made us the most amazing pumpkin waffles on Wed after our wet run. YUM!

After a good night of sleep on Tues evening (the one-hour time change wasn't too hard to get use to!) we woke up to a very rainy day. This was expected according to the weather channels so we adjusted our planned training and instead of riding a loop of the bike course we went out for a morning run and finished the day with a late afternoon swim at Pinnacle Fitness.

Run workout (mostly on a bike/run path):
~15 min warm-up w/ walking to reset form and to control breathing
MS: 3 x 6 min build by 2 min to strong w/ 90 sec walk/rest between
~10 min smooth form focused running

Swim workout:
600 warm-up
Pre set:
200,175,150,125,100,75,50,25 w/ snorkel and buoy
MS: 2x's
2 x 100's build to strong w/ 15 sec rest
50 smooth
50 fast

Cool down: 100 EZ

Between the run and the swim workouts, we stocked up on groceries from HyVee and Karel's mom made us the most delicious vegetable and potato soup for dinner.

Because Karel is not racing, he is able to shuttle me around and also get in a few workouts of his own this week in route to his busy end-of-the-year race schedule with Augusta 70.3, Kona and IMFL all within about 8 weeks.

This morning we drove to Verona to bike one loop of the course. I really enjoyed being on my new Ventum and seeing the Wisconsin landscape of cows, farms and fields. Several of the roads have been paved (and others are still super bumpy) which was really nice. The course is challenging but it's also a lot of fun because it's constantly changing - up and down, left and right. It reminds me a lot of Greenville so it's not far from what we train on on a daily basis.

After the bike we drove back to Ed's house and had some lunch and then ventured to downtown Madison for the athlete briefing and check-in. Although this is my 14th time going through the athlete check-in procedure, I still get excited as if I am a first timer. I always go to the athlete briefing as you never know what updated or race-specific information will be provided. In the case of IMWI, a lot has changed such as the new bike course (first and last 3-miles) and the new swim course and rolling start (instead of waves). Also, IMWI has indoor transitions so it's also worth scoping out the layout before race day.

It was also fun to run into so many Trimarnis this morning. We have 13 athletes racing! 

While it seemed like a busy last two days, it has actually been rather smooth and relaxing. I have stressed myself out in the past by trying to do too much in one day and leave little time to myself to rest so I have tried to do a better job of this before my races.

Thanks for following along!

Race week self-doubts? Boost your confidence with these tips.

I can't believe that it's race week!! Just 6 more days until my 14th Ironman on one of the most awesome race courses on the US Ironman circuit. I can't wait for the cheers from the crowds as Madison knows how to put on a top-notch event.

Thanks to the recent live Facebook coverage of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, I think I am officially antsy to race. Whereas last week was filled with normal pre-race emotional highs and lows, I was so inspired by the gutsy and strong performances by the female and male athletes at Worlds that I now want my turn to feel the pressure and excitement of racing. If you didn't watch the coverage, go watch it as it'll fire you up for your upcoming workouts or races. Karel and I are huge fans of the sport of triathlon and we just love watching other athletes in action. There's always something to learn from the professionals and now with the live coverage, we can really see all parts of the race (and not just see the results) to truly understand what is really going on within the race and what each athlete endures to get to the finish line. Many times, you realize that the professional athletes are human just like the rest of us, dealing with similar issues and obstacles.

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

Are you preparing for an upcoming race? Will we see you in Wisconsin for the Ironman? If yes, hopefully the phantom pains and niggles and self-doubts are behind you as you gear up for your upcoming race and you are working on your mental game to put yourself into a calm and relaxed state before race day.

For some athletes, it's easy to ignore the doubts and negative thoughts that can creep into the head on race week but for others, with the race quickly approaching, you may be feeling a lot of emotions such as self-doubt, negativity, worry and anxiety.

Keeping in mind that your race performance is a reflection of your previous training, don't let negativity suck the fun away from what you get to do with your body and mind on race day. While it's perfectly normal to feel some stress, nerves and mental pressure before a big event, use that powerful energy to fire you up so it brings out the best version of you (and your current level of fitness) on race day.

Because lack of self-belief and worry can have a disastrous effect on your race day performance, here are a few tips to improve your confidence for race day.

1. Stop worrying about the uncontrollables - If you find yourself emotionally stressed out in the week or two before a big event, there's a good chance that you are dealing with the nagging negative thoughts of "what ifs". Worrying about details that are out of your control, like the weather or competition, is self sabotaging. Turn those negative thoughts into something positive so that those thoughts do not paint a bad mental picture for you before or during your race.
   
2. Stop focusing on the outcome - Too much mental energy on paces, speed. times or results can leave you emotionally drained, worried and anxious. It can also keep you from making good decisions in the moment. Remove any extra pressure on the end result and focus on the process of delivering yourself to the finish line. Remind yourself of all the tools that you have gained over the season and that a great race day performance is all about being in the moment and dealing with obstacles as they come about.
   
3. List your mantras - Every athlete will have low moments in a race - lots of them. There will be voices in your head that will try to convince you to stop, and maybe even quit when the going gets tough. How will you challenge these voices? What will help you take your focus off your self-doubts and refocus your mind to get you to a positive state of flow? By repeating a powerful statement to yourself over and over again in your mind, you'll find yourself pushing through these low moments and getting yourself closer and closer to that finish line.
   
4. Reflect on your journey - Look at your training log to see how far you've come. Remember that time when you couldn't do....... or you completed that tough workout on tired legs? Or how you overcome a setback? Focus on the highlighted moments instead of dwelling on what should have or could have been.
   
5. Visualize yourself succeeding - Picture yourself at various points during the race and go through all types of scenarios - the good and the bad. Look at course maps, videos and pictures to help you put images to places on the course. And don't forget to visualize yourself crossing the finish line.
   
6. Focus on what you can control - Take care of yourself. Focus on what you can control such as your gear and equipment, your sleep, nutrition and hydration as well as stress management. Surround yourself with energy givers, not energy suckers and avoid forums/media that cause self-doubt, worry or stress.
   
7. Have fun - Remind yourself that this is just a hobby. Your self-worth and athletic worthiness is not determined by a race. Enjoy being on the roller coaster of emotions as it's your body's way of preparing you for action. Make sure to remember why you signed up for the event and how special it will be to cross that finish line. Don't let your nerves and worries suck the fun out of racing. Focus on what you can control, trust your training, visualize success and don't forget to have fun. 

My 2018 IMWI training stats

                                                       2010 Ironman Wisconsin Finisher!

When I started training for my first Ironman, I was really obsessed with volume. I felt that with every workout, the more miles/hours that I could accumulate, the more prepared I would be (IMFL '07). While I had a great day of racing and loved the entire race day experience, this mindset didn't serve me well in my second season of long distance triathlon racing. I got injured just before the Ironman World Championship - my very first IM Kona.

Over the next six years, I made a lot of mistakes with my training. I was still able to race but I was always frustrated that I couldn't stay consistent with training. My body never felt strong enough to handle the volume and intensity of training that I felt I should be doing to improve as an Ironman triathlete. It was disappointing to feel like I was constantly rehabing myself to get well enough to race, instead of putting my energy and time (and money) into training.

Thankfully, lessons were learned. I changed my perspective on endurance triathlon training. It was not an easy change or one that came naturally. Rather than trying to go longer or to get faster, my focus was on getting stronger. This required a new methodology of training that did not look like the training of other Ironman athletes. I kept worrying that I wouldn't be ready without all the volume. I was doing much less volume and the results were very slow to come. I was hesitant at first but with Karel as my guide (coach), I knew something had to change if I wanted to stay in this sport and not destroy my body.

Overtime, I improved. And continued to improve. And I'm still improving. As I got stronger, my confidence grew. A lot of this happened over the last 4 years. I have been racing more often and I'm racing better than ever before. And with this new style of training, my body is staying healthy.

Because I had spent so many years frustrated with my body, I finally felt what it was like to have a healthy and resilient body. This made me love the sport even more for I felt like I wasn't destroying my body but actually making it stronger with an appropriate style of training. We didn't want to keep this training a secret so we began to apply these new methods to our coaching athletes. While some athletes needed a learning curve to trust this higher-frequency/intensity, lower volume Ironman training, we can confidently say that this style of training works for us and our athletes.

Of course, the definition of "works" is all relative to our coaching philosophy which is focused on helping our athletes reach performance goals without compromising health. 

While my 2018 IMWI training stats may not be all that impressive in terms of volume, I'm very proud of what my body was able to do with my training this summer. More so, I'm so thankful to my body and I hope that my health stats reflect why this style of training works so well for me. 

Training stats:
Number of Ironman starts: 13
Number of Ironman finishes: 13
Kona qualifying: 5 times
IMKona finisher: 4 times
Races completed this year: 1 Ironman (IM Austria, 2nd AG), 3 half Ironmans (IM 70.3 FL 1st AG, IM 70.3 St. George tied for 2nd AG, Challenge Prague 1st AG)

Longest swim (8/29)
5400 yards

Longest bike hours (8/11)
5:20 (88 miles, ~6200 feet elevation gained) - Trimarni training camp

Longest bike miles (5/12)
91 miles (4:56)

Longest run (8/19)
1:58, 14 miles

Mentally toughest weekend of training (8/17-8/19)
Friday: AM 5100 yard swim
Sat: AM 3:56 bike + 1:01 (7.7 mile) brick run, PM 25 minute (2.5 mile) run
Sun: AM 1:58 run (14 miles), PM 2600 yard swim

Biggest week of training (6/4-6/10)
21:35 hours
12 hours swim
11:36 hours bike
5:46 hours run
15 sessions completed over the week

Biggest weekend of training (6/8-6/10)
Friday: AM 4200 yard swim, PM 1:22 bike
Sat: AM 4:20 bike (78 miles) + 1 hour brick run (7.48 miles), PM 45 min run (4.76 miles)
Sun: AM 1:56 run (13.5 miles), PM 3000 yard swim

Number of workouts to "test" to establish training zones:
None this year

Health Stats: 
Last sickness (cold/flu) - June 2007
Last time taking antibiotics - ? Maybe 10+ years ago
Menstrual cycle - regular each month since Sept 2007 (naturally)
Stress fractures - Never
Broken bones - Never
Last injury - Spring 2013 (hip/back)
Average sleep - 8-9 hours/night
Food allergies - none
Health issues - none
Daily supplements consumed:  Iron
Diet: Lacto-ovo vegetarian for 26 years

12 Race ready tips

You are probably hoping that I am going to write about how to plan your sport nutrition for race day or what percentage of your FTP you should hold while you are on the bike, how to swim fast in open water or the best way to run strong off the bike without your legs hurting.

While having a plan can ease mental worries for the athlete who tries to predict/control a race day outcome, it's important to recognize that being race ready is more than just checking off workouts and having a strict plan for race day.

Two years ago, at 2014 Ironman Wisconsin, something incredible happened.
Karel and I both qualified for the 2015 Ironman World Championship.
Although our goal was to both qualify, our results could not have been planned nor predicted.

Karel: 9:44, 3rd AG (35-39), 9th overall male amateur.
Marni: 10:44, 3rd AG (30-34), 6th overall male amateur.

To the minute and the exact same podium spot, we both excelled to the best of our best ability on race day.

The outcome of race day was not just a result of hard work in training and great luck on race day but it was also from a processed-drive mindset that kept us moving in the right direction, for 140.6 miles.
The plan was to Kona qualify - that's it.

It's been two years since this special race day and we can both agree that we have learned SO much more about endurance racing and what it takes to bring out the best in you on race day. 

Whether you are trying to qualify for Kona, hoping for a podium spot or a personal best or looking to have an all-around enjoyable race day experience, here are a few race ready tips, not involving metrics or nutrition, that have helped us excel in endurance triathlon races over the past few years.

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1) Be realistic with your race day goals but don't sell yourself short. Although you are racing with your current level of fitness, you must believe in yourself, that your training has given you the mental and physical skills to race smart and to excel.

2) It's completely normal to have race week/day nerves - nerves mean that you care about your performance.  Whether you fear the upcoming distance, the unknowns of the race course or weather worry you or you feel pressure from yourself, friends or family, you should never let your fears, worries or nerves get the best of you. Visualize yourself succeeding before race day so that you can turn some of that nervous energy into excited energy.

 3) Keep your mindset positive before and during the race. It can be performance destructive to have conflicting thoughts before the race - like negative energy about your readiness, powerful doubts about your worthiness as an athlete, uncertainties about if you are cut out for this event and maybe even thoughts of "this isn't worth this pain" or "I just want to get this over with."
It's important that you care throughout the entire race - this means keeping your mind in a place where you always care about your performance and no matter what obstacles come your way, you stay focused and mentally strong to put forth the best race performance possible by your body.

4) When racing, remember that thoughts are temporary. Every negative thought will precede and follow a positive thought. We often call these highs and lows of racing and we all feel them. You just have to keep moving forward so that you can catch those positive thoughts  - and try to hang on to them for as long as possible. 

5) There are many controllables when it comes to racing and lots of uncontrollables. You can't control your competition, you can't control the weather and you can't change the course. But you can control your race by planning your sport nutrition, your clothing, your pacing plan and your attitude. Racing to your best is accepting that you can not control everything so you must remain processed driven.

6)  Do not sabotage your race day performance with your body by worrying about (or trying to control) your weight. There is no reason to restrict, control or stress about food in the days leading up to the race, unless it is to help you maximize performance (give you energy), keep you hydrated and reduce risk for GI issues on race day (low residue/fiber diet). 

7) Do not deviate from what has worked in training. Avoid seconding guessing yourself and don't worry about what other athletes are or are not doing.  It's your body and your race.

8) Embrace your  competition. Racing brings out the best in athletes and often, competition will push you to perform better than you thought was possible. But this means that you can't doubt yourself - if you find yourself saying "I'm so slow, everyone is so much faster, I don't belong here" you won't rise to your abilities. Always race your closest competition and let others bring out the best in you.

9) Help out your fellow athletes. If an athlete is having a great day or if an athlete is struggling, give him/her a cheer. There's great power for you and the other athletes in spreading energy through a cheer, high five or a smile.

10) Don't chase times, paces and rankings. You must stay present at all times - processed drive, not outcome focused.

11) Be more than just be physically prepared. Review the course in great detail, review the weather, read the athlete guide, attend the athlete briefing and do anything else possible before the race to feel mentally prepared. Nothing brings more confidence than feeling prepared.

12) Have fun! After your race, you go back to life. Let's be honest - racing is fun and for just one day, you get to do something for yourself and by yourself. In some crazy way, tell yourself that no matter how much it hurts on race day, you don't want it to end. Enjoy your special day and be grateful and thankful that you can do what you can do with your body. Be yourself in every way possible.

IMWI Race Report - Awards and Kona slot distribution

My dad had this incredible way of making the best of every situation. I really looked up to my dad because he lived a very positive life despite the many obstacles that he had overcome in all years of his life. He was always happy and smiling. He taught me that no matter how hard something may be in life, nothing feels better than finishing something that you start.

I commend my dad for never giving up on his 10 month fight with cancer. My dad was incredibly fit and healthy but he had an amazing new amount of strength since his first day of being diagnosed with an incurable type of cancer. I wish so badly that my dad could have crossed his finish line to be a cancer survivor and more so, to live life with me today.
But I know he really gave a strong effort despite all the obstacles that he faced from June 2013 until May 28^th, 2014.

It’s very bitter sweet that our 2014 triathlon season ended on a high note because our past year was not without adversity. The soreness, aches and pains of racing in an Ironman eventually subside but there are moments in life that are extremely difficult to overcome and stay with you forever.

It never crossed my mind to stop training for triathlons in the past year, even after my dad passed away just three days before my 32^nd birthday. I was never raised to give up when the going gets tough and I was also taught that life is not easy so I never have expected an easy way. 

However, as a human being, there are many emotions to be experienced when you lose a loved one which makes it incredibly difficult to give 100%, 100% of the time. So even if you are not a quitter, it’s sometimes very difficult to find the “why” to continue.

On Sept 7^th, Karel and I gave it our 100% for 140.6 miles. We both did not have an easy day and the fight was a difficult one. But in honor of my dad, the effort was worth it. There were so many times during the race when we could have given up but we worked way too hard to surrender during our own temporary hardship.

Karel passed 500 athletes from the time he exited the water, until he crossed the finish line. Karel was 89^th in his age group after he swam 2.4 miles and finished 3^rd age group. Although he did not know this while he was racing, Karel’s ability to never settle and to believe there is a chance, paid off greatly at IMWI. Karel did not feel fresh on the run but his two choices were to dig deep and not give up or give up and settle. 

I found myself as 2^nd amateur from around mile 35-45 of the bike until around mile 10 of the run. 87 miles to question if I was doing enough, if I was pushing too much and if this was all worth it. I found myself in survival mode only to realize that  if there is a will, there is a way. 

After a restless night of sleep on Sunday (and a 4am snack of 7-up, Chobani strawberry yogurt, granola and banana for me), Karel and I had a small meal around 8am and chatted with our homestay Ed at the kitchen table.

The congrats messages were still coming in via Facebook, texting and email and Karel and I were still in disbelief as to what we did yesterday with our bodies. I had dreamed about what it would feel like for both of us to qualify for Kona at the same race but due to waves of complete exhaustion and satisfaction, it really didn’t feel like we were in the present moment. With quads that barely worked in a body that was completely exhausted and depleted, it was hard enough to think about how I would get my body to the award ceremony, let alone think about racing in Kona next October. 

It was an extremely challenging race that was not textbook perfect in terms of execution. As Karel, Ed and I made our way to the Terrace for the awards on Monday morning around 9:30am, I thought about the similarities of Ironman racing and life.

Never does an Ironman race need to be perfect to be termed successful. The real results are told by the athlete and not by times on a piece of paper. There are many moments when you want to give up but somehow you find the inner strength to continue on. Life is not perfect, it’s easy to give up and the best moments in life are when you find yourself doing what you once thought was not possible. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it.

The awards were preceded by a free breakfast (for athletes) and the food selection included muffins, fruit, yogurt and egg and cheese sandwiches (meat options as well) on English muffins. We were not super hungry and a few hours later we were going to enjoy a real meal at the Great Dane brewery and pub. 

As we waited for the awards to start, I spotted the Kona slot allocation sheet.

I first looked at Male 35-39. 4 slots. Awesome for Karel who placed 3^rd!

Then my eyes scrolled down the page to Women 30-34. 

I thought 2 slots for sure but in the past, three slots have also been awarded for the 30-34 age group. 

What? Only 2 slots!!!

Oh no…what if Suzie changes her mind and takes her 2^nd place slot which leaves me as the first athlete to not receive a Kona slot in our age group.

I’m typically a patient person when it comes to triathlon training and racing but I was filled with nerves and anticipation. Although I had 100% made up my mind that I would not chase a Kona slot in 2015 and that I would be taking a break from Ironman racing for at least 1 ½ years if I didn’t Kona qualify, it was incredible painful to wait until 11am for the Kona slot distribution (and roll down) to see if fate was on our side.

I went back to Karel and told him that he was 100% in for Kona but there were only two slots in my age group. I could tell that Karel was a bit bummed for it was our goal to race Kona together.

After Mike Reilly showed two inspirational videos (volunteer and athlete), I started to get back to reality in that it was not life or death if I didn’t qualify. I gave my absolute best and there was really nothing more I could have done on race day. I almost gave up during the race so just finishing was a huge accomplishment! I was confident that I prepared the best that I could and I would not have done anything different leading up to the race or during the race.

After the pros received their awards, we listened to the Female and Male overall winners give speeches. This was super inspiring. They both gave amazing speeches, especially the male winner, Daniel Bretscher who also set a new course record.

Then Mike Reilly called up  all athletes under 40 years of age who placed top 5 in their age groups..

While holding hands, Karel and I walked up to the left of the stage to join our fellow age group competitors. 

I thanked Suzie again (this time in nice clothes and not all sweaty) for helping me out on the run and she said “Did your husband get a Kona slot?” I told her yes. 

She was so happy for him and she replied back “I’m so happy you both will be racing together in Kona!”

Together? Did I just get my 100% confirmation that Suzie was not taking her Kona slot because she wants to race IMWI next year (it’s her favorite race and local for her)? 

I gave her a big hug, just like I have done in the past for my fellow age group competitors, for the last 2 times of Kona qualifying (IMWI 2010, IM Lake Placid 2013) I have received roll down slots 3 out of 4 times of qualifying for Kona (I won my age group 18-24 when I raced my first IM, IMFL). 

I introduced Suzie to Karel and I also met the other girls in my age group. 

Stacey (who was 1^st amateur and won our age group) not only had an exception race by placing 5^th overall female but she mentioned that she wasn’t sure if she was going to take her Kona slot because she was in a similar position as Karel and me…..she said if her husband qualified for Kona (he was in the 35-39 age group) she would take her slot but since her husband didn’t qualify, she wasn’t sure if she would take her slot (Stacey and I raced Kona together in 2013 so I knew of her and how awesome she is as an athlete). 

Of course, the 4^th and 5^th place girls were anxiously awaiting if 1^st and 2^nd place would take their slots and then it all came to me if I would take the roll down slot. But in the end, as we stood on top of the podium, I think we all were so proud of each other for it was close competition that allowed us all to give our best effort on race day.

I'm sure there were a handful of girls not on the podium that gave their absolute best effort as well. 

Karel was just so excited for his first podium, even though you wouldn’t guess it from someone who is always so focused. I was just so proud of him, not only as his wife but as his best friend.

After awards, we had about 30 minutes to wait until Kona slot distribution and roll down. Although I was pretty certain I was going to get a slot from Suzie, I still didn’t want to celebrate and share my Aloha’s too early. 

30-34 age group podium

Me and Suzie

35-39 age group podium

11am came around and it was time. You’d think that all of the stress was on race day but I think that Karel and I were still so nervous about making sure that we were both 100% in. Even though it was almost guaranteed that we both were about to get a slot, we needed proof with our Kona qualifying certificates.

    

Mike Reilly started with the 18-24 age groups and let me tell you how awesome it is to be in the room when athletes are receiving their Kona slots. It isn’t only exciting when an athlete earns his/her allocated slot but it is even more exciting when the slot rolls down to an athlete that likely, 30 minutes ago, didn’t think he/she would be going to Kona. I have qualified for Kona 4 times and each time, it is the most amazing experience to hear your name be called by Mike Reilly that “You are going to Kona!”

When it came to the female 30-34 age group, there was silence in the room when 1^st and 2^nd place declined their slots.

“Marni Sumbal…do you want to go to Kona?”

“YES!!!!”

I walked up to the front of the room, received a lei and stood in line to register and pay for Kona (although we planned for this, paying for two World Championships at the same time…I hope our banking account has been tapering for this shock!). 

I gave the 4^th place girl a big hug as it was her first time qualifying for Kona and she didn’t even expect it to happen at awards. 

As I waited to the side (Karel had the credit card), Mike Reilly called Karel’s name and followed it by “I love it! Husband and wife going to Kona. Karel, are you going to finish together?”

He was joking as he laughed and smiled at Karel, who then gave him a big high five.

I gave Karel a BIG huge and we both finally could relax...well, our bodies still hurt but at least the work was over. 

We did it. We just cannot believe it and words cannot even begin to describe what that moment felt like when our master plan actually (and finally) paid off. It’s still sinking in. I am so thankful to everyone who followed us (friends, family and Trimarni fans) as well as the companies who we have been able to be proud ambassadors for because we absolutely LOVE their quality gear/products!
Oakley women

110% Play Harder

INFINIT Nutrition

Hawk Racing

Xterra Wetsuits
Canari cyclewear

We did not make any big sacrifices in life to make our dream a reality. 

I do not believe that we did anything extra-ordinary to execute well at our three key races this year (St. Croix 70.3, IM Austria, IMWI). 

We believe in our approach to training and we maintain a healthy relationship with food by eating for fuel and for health.
We also do not make excuses. It's just not our style. 

We love life so we believe in a balanced approach to training. We simply enjoyed every training journey this year. Above all, we stayed patient and focused on ourselves and not on what our competition was doing.

We waited and waited and when it was time for us to give our best effort this season, that was the time when the dream came true.

What a year, filled with highs and lows. My dad would have been so proud of us.

I stil can't believe it! 

Karel and I will be racing together in the 2015 Ironman World Championship.

Aloha.

2011 Ironman World Championship with my favorite guys. 

IMWI Race Report: 112 mile bike

It’s no easy task to train for and race in a 140.6 mile event as it is huge undertaking for the body and requires a big commitment in life.

I can’t believe that in the past 14 months, I have crossed 4 Ironman finish lines. For three of those races, I had 3 consecutive PR finishing times (10:43, 10:37, 10:17). Incredibly, in 2013 I raced two Ironman races within 14 weeks from one another and in 2014, I raced two Ironman races within 11 weeks of one another. My body has not only let me  finish every Ironman I have started but I also recently qualified for the Ironman World Championships twice, within the past 14 months.

In the past 14 months, Karel (who just learned how to swim 2 years and 2 months ago) has progressed extremely quickly with his triathlon fitness and is now racing at the top of his age group.

As Karel and I continue learn more about the sport of endurance triathlons, we continue to train and race smarter. And the biggest contributor to us getting faster and stronger over the past few years is training the least amount possible with the most performance gains. We train hard but recover harder. 

In the past two years, I have experienced huge gains in my bike fitness. I contribute a lot of this to being married to a great cyclist and bike tech who knows everything and anything about bikes, bike racing and bike training. Although there have been some tweaks to my new Speed Concept Trek bike thanks to Karel over the past two years (shorter crank length, saddle, wheels/tires, Hawk ceramic bearings, Di2 shifting, RETUL fit) the biggest change has been training less hours on the bike than when I started training for Ironmans.

It is very rare for us to ride more than 5 hours, even for our peak Ironman training. Typically we do one ride around 100-110 miles and maybe one more ride around 5 hours but most of our long rides are around 4-4.5 hours and almost always include a 30-60 min run off the bike. 

The reason why I mention this is because it is possible for you to be a faster cyclist without long hours on the bike. We are firm believers that to get faster, you must ride faster. But you must train faster before you go longer.

Additionally, I can speak first-hand about how my cycling skills have improved while living in Greenville for the past 3 months (and learning from/training with Karel) and this has helped me take my cycling to the next level.

Far too often I hear Ironman athletes talk about wanting to be better runners off the bike and also being faster cyclists. And thus, they train more. And more, and harder and harder and more. 

Sometimes it works but I ask you this, if you could work less hours and get paid more, would you?

 More time to spend with friends/family, more time to get restful sleep, more time to make time for healthy/balanced eating and more time to enjoy life….would you work less....even if you LOVE your job?

Since Ironman athletes can spend up to 40-50% of total race time on the bike, it is extremely important that if you want to have a good race day Ironman performance, you must get faster and stronger on the bike. And to get stronger and faster on the bike, you have to train smart. And when you train smart, it’s NOT just about the miles but instead, knowing how to ride smart.

There are a few tips that I have for you (that we believe in for us and our athletes) to help you improve your cycling time in a triathlon and concurrently your overall finish time.

-Strength train in the off season and think beyond long, slow base miles to improve aerobic and anaerobic fitness. 

-If you train indoors, have a coach who reviews your training files, perform intervals in training and want to use your time wisely when you train, invest in a power meter and bike computer (ex. Garmin Edge) and learn how to use them properly.

-Take good-care of your bike and get regular tune-ups. It’s not just about the parts that you see but also consider how the inside parts are working to help you have a safer, more efficient ride.

-Invest in electronic shifting (Di2). This may be the best investment you will ever make on your bike because you will not only be able to shift more often but you will keep a steadier cadence. You will also ride safer as you will minimize the time your hands are off the bars.

-Be sure your fueling plan not only meets your needs and is easy to digest and absorb (ex. liquid nutrition and not 3 different methods of obtaining calories, fluids and electrolytes) but is also practical for your race day course. Hydration systems should be easy to reach, bottles should be secure and you can actually fuel/hydrate yourself consistently (ex. every 10-15 min) throughout your entire bike ride.

-Get a professional RETUL bike fit from an experienced fitter that understands your fitness, flexibility, race goals/distances and riding style.

-Incorporate longer bricks into your training plan instead of just focusing on long solo bikes and runs. We do not believe in runs longer than 2.5 hours OR bricks/long bikes longer than 6.5 hours.

-Understand your race course so that you can pace and fuel effectively and be mentally prepared for your race day.

-Your bike leg prepares you for the run. Overbiking and underfueling does not make for a strong run off the bike.

-Improve your cadence and use your gears when you ride. Learn the best way to ride hills for your weight/height and improve your skills on turns, descends, rollers, windy sections and climbs.

-Be smart with your race day gear. Wheels, helmet, tires….it’s not about the “fastest” gear in the wind tunnel but instead, what helps you ride your best on your race day course. 

                                 

After a 6 minute and 12 second transition (over ½ mile transition!) I was down the helix and ready to wake up my land legs. I immediately took a MAP (BCAA amino pill) and a sip of my custom INFINIT sport drink. I sipped my sport drink at least every 10 minutes (2-3 gulps at a time, typically while sitting up). 

The first 10 miles of the IMWI require you to stay alert. There’s a short no-passing section on a paved trail (can we talk about how much this frustrated Karel- haha) and then there is a section throughout a parking lot. During these first few miles, your bike is quickly introduced to the theme of this course: Hills, bumps and turns.

There’s a good 17 miles or so to get out to the 40 mile loop that we repeat twice. We encounter hill after hill, bump and bump and turn after turn. Yep, that pretty much sums up the ride. But despite this extremely taxing course that provides very little opportunity to recover after each hill, the sights are beautiful. Farm land everywhere and the scenery extends for miles and miles.

I wasted no time to settle into my rhythm on the bike. As I mentioned before, Karel and I both took a lot of risks in this race. Rather than using our power meters to pace ourselves, we simply used it as a tool to give us feedback. We were out racing our competition and because of that, we both knew we could not hold back BUT we still had to ride smart.

It was very important to me to stay up on my calories from my liquid nutrition as there really is no easy way to conserve energy on the IMWI course. As you may guess, Karel and I were not looking for a conservative ride and we know how much energy it takes to ride hilly courses (as we train on hilly courses all the time). It was extremely important that I get in a bit more nutrition throughout the 112 mile bike ride (however not too much that I could not empty it from my gut and absorb it) so for the first time, I used special needs. I carried 3 bottles with me of my custom INFINIT drink that I created and have used in all my past training, each bottle containing around 300 calories. I had the same in my special needs bag. There was a lot of bottle dropping on the course so I made sure that my bottles were secure in my cages by doing my last bit of IMWI training prep on bumpy, hilly roads here in Greenville. I also had some Clif blocks (1 package already open for easy consumption) and a sport bar (already opened) for additional energy.

Miles 1-17:

I felt really good during these miles. There are a few rollers but nothing too difficult or technical. My main focus was keeping a nice high cadence which has been years in the making (I have gone from 78 average cadence in an IM just a few years ago to 91 at IMWI!! This is HUGE! All those cadence-specific intervals in the early season have paid off!) so that my legs would not be too toasted throughout the bike and on the run. Since Karel and I rode most of this section (and 1 loop) of the bike course on Thursday, I was aware that I needed to keep up with my nutrition as it could be very easy to not keep up with it due to all the bumps. Also, early frequent, consumption of liquid nutrition has been shown to postpone fatigue so never neglect your nutrition in the first 1 hour of your IM race. 

I wasn’t sure how many women were ahead of me and since I anticipated a handful of fast swimmers in my age group, I thought that I was around 5-6^th in my age group. I passed a few girls within these first few miles and eventually, I was just riding with the boys. 

Loop 1:

Karel and I had several discussions as to how we would each pace this course. We both decided that we would not have a pacing strategy so much (ex. hold back or to focus on specific watts). It is important to understand that Karel and I both race Ironmans differently because of our strengths. 

As a life-long swimmer, I am near the front of my age group when I race so this puts me at a prime spot to see where I am at in my age group. As for Karel, I think his theme is “on your left” when he races for he has a lot of catching up to do after the swim. 

Because of this, I am not forced to play catch up, like Karel. So for both of us racing for a Kona slot at IMWI, Karel is the one who is really digging extra deep, especially in the first hour of the IM.

 (this is not something that I would recommend to other athletes as Karel is an experienced Cat 1 cyclist who has taught his body how to suffer for almost all of his life. He has learned how to think differently as a triathlete but because of bike racing, he has an extremely high pain and anaerobic threshold and often still races like a cyclist). 

So, I primarily went by feel in this race with a close eye on whoever was around me but also to not dig a hole I could not get out of. I do not wear a HR monitor when I race so when I did look at my Garmin Edge, I focused only on cadence and normalized power. I would also look at speed but really this was just to keep me honest with my efforts, along with power. I have all my mini screens set to lap so every 10 miles (markers on the roadside) I hit lap (see very bottom of page) so that I was only focusing on one-10 mile (or around 29-31 minute) segment at a time. This was the best way to pace myself and it is just like how we train….lots and lots of intervals to focus on only one segment at a time. 

I did a really good job with my nutrition on this course and I found myself to be really comfortable on the climbs. I was also handling my bike really well with every turn and descend on the course (I’ve heard there are 91 total turns on the IMWI course). 

There is no one “big” climb on this course but instead, several. Each climb comes with its own description but what makes this challenging course so incredible is the crowds. They are everywhere! There are 3 climbs that are packed with spectators. Tour de France-like feeling. The cheers can be heard before you even get to the climb and even if you are having a low moment, the crowds know how to give you energy that you do not have.

It was close to around 2.5 hours in the race (so around 75 minutes or so of riding, if I remember correctly) when I hear Karel’s voice next to me (and his disc wheel). We talked about our usual topic when we see each other “how was your swim?” and we both told each other our times and wished each other a great race. Hearing Karel tell me that I looked great on the bike gave me a huge boost of confidence. 

I can’t recall the miles but on the first “big” climb (of three), I heard someone in the crowd yell “Go Girls!” Girls, I thought? For so long I had been cheered on by the fans as “you Go Girl!” so suddenly I was being passed. 

It was Stacey and I knew she would be strong on the course due to her past race results. Because I knew of her, I didn’t try to pace off her. Although I reach my higher limits as an athlete because of girls who are faster than me, I was honest with myself as to what I could handle on this course and riding with Stacey was not practical. Rather than getting upset, I stayed focused as I was having a really strong ride. There was no need for me to overlook my success on race day by comparing myself with others. I had a feeling that Stacey would win our age group (unless something happened which I would never wish I any athlete – I need those faster girls to help me be a better athlete!) and I figured 2-3 Kona slots so I was still in the running depending on where I was in our age group off the bike.

Special Needs: 
How long was my spot? 10 second stop according to my Garmin. 

Since we rode by special needs when we started our first loop, I made sure to check where my bag was placed on the ground according to the many rows of bib number ranges. I actually ended up spotting my bag on the beginning of the first loop thanks to my purple ribbons so when I yelled out my bib number and pulled over to the side right next to my bag, the volunteer had my bag ready, I asked her to put the bottles in my rear cages as I quickly stretched out and took one last sip of my last bottle before I tossed it (I had tossed the other two on the course at the feed zones where I also grabbed water to sip and cool my body and then toss) and then put the 3^rd bottle in my frame cage and off I went. 

What a great decision to use special needs!

Miles 56-112

One thing that I have learned in Ironman racing and has been repeated to me many times by Gloria (my mental coach) is that there are highs and lows in Ironman racing. You just have to keep yourself going. I certainly am no stranger to lows in racing and I wish I could say there has been an Ironman when I felt good for the entire 112 miles of the bike...or even the entire 140.6 miles. 

Nope, it hasn’t happened. 

From miles 50-80, I was just feeling a low. Performance wise, I was ok but it was just one of those times when I had to keep on trucking along. Since most of my pacing was with guys, as I had only been passed once on the bike by a female, I gave myself a little pep talk that I was riding really strong. Probably stronger than I have ever ridden before!

Strong is very relative as I was not anticipating a "fast" time close to 5:30 on the bike like I did in Kona or 5:29 in IM Austria. A strong, fast 112 mile IMWI ride by a female would be between 5:40-5:45 and that was a goal of mine, that I felt was also achievable with my current fitness and the current weather conditions.

We were blessed with great weather with most of the bike being around 77 degrees but my Garmin told me it did get up to 86 degrees in the sun for about an hour (around 4 hours on the bike so this would be around noonish). 

The clouds went away at times and I found myself a bit warm at times but I made good use of water at the aid stations to keep my body as cool as possible. By the time I got to the last 3 climbs (and saw my homestay Ed and his wife Judy along the course – cheering super loud for me which was awesome and also my new Trimarni friend Kayla) I got some mojo back and it was time to get my mind focused for the marathon.  I continued to take 1 MAP every 30 min or so throughout the bike. 

Riding back into town, on the path again (no pass zone) and up the helix, I was impressed with myself. It’s moments like that when I remove myself from competition for a Kona spot and I thank my body. I thank my body for not only being healthy that I can race in an Ironman but for not failing me and for being so strong when I ask it to be strong. It may not be my fastest 112 mile bike ride in a race but on the hardest Ironman course I have raced, I feel this was my strongest performance and I gave it my absolute best effort, stayed up on my nutrition and paced myself to the best of my ability.
It was certainly NOT an easy ride!

As for Karel…he was on a mission..... Don’t let anyone pass me, move on up.

And wow, did he ever move on up! 

Karel felt good on the bike, stayed up on his nutrition (he had 3 bottles of his custom INFINIT mix that I created + perform on the course, his own nutrition that he brought) and made sure he gave his absolute best effort. That was our only goal. 

No excuses, race the competition and not the finishing time. 

When I gave my bike to the volunteer after I dismounted my bike, I removed my cycling shoes from my feet and carried them inside the Terrace. I grabbed my T2 (bike to run) red gear bag quickly and was greeted by a dozen awesome female volunteers. 

I couldn't stop smiling but quickly did I realize that I am the only female in this changing tent!! 

They gave me the most awesome welcome!

The volunteer lady told me that I was probably the 10^th or 11th female but I immediately thought age groupers. I wanted/needed to know AGE GROUP 30-34..where is my competition? Ahead of me, behind me…where am I?

I quickly put on my Brooks Pure Flow Run shoes and grabbed my race belt, my dad’s favorite Corvette hat  and two Infinit Napalm run flasks  and I was out of there with volunteers all around me, cheering me on. But first, I need a potty stop! 

I went pee twice on the bike but because I was working really hard, I was not able to fully empty my bladder in the last 40 miles. Oh how I needed to pee! While in the port-o-potty, I put on my race belt and hat (multi-tasking, Ironman style) and oh did it feel good to just sit. Oh wait, I have a marathon to run! As I was enjoying my brief “rest” in the potty, it just dawned on me…I was only passed by 1 female and she was the female that I thought would win overall amateur for the race and if I am 10th female per the volunteer and there are pro women ahead of me...... Could it be that I am not only 2^nd age group but also 2^nd amateur female? Holy cow! I got to get out of her. Potty stop is over!

It’s time to run for a Kona spot and find Karel out on the course.

112 mile bike stats:
 

Marni

112 mile bike – 5:42:58, 19.59mph

2^nd age group after the swim, 2^nd age group after the bike

21^st female after the swim, 10^th female after the bike

2^nd female amateur after the bike

Karel 

5:11:30, 21.57 mph average

89^th age group after the swim, 5^th age group after the bike

521^st overall after the swim, 43^rd overall after the bike!!

41^st male after the bike

Marni bike splits per Garmin Edge 510 (every 10 mile marker)

Elevation (somewhere around 5,000-5,300)

Normalized power: 160

91 cadence average

Variable Index (VI): 1.07

10 miles: 19.93mph, 96 cadence, 172 NP (normalized power)

20.43mph, 94 cadence, 165 NP

19.13mph, 93 cadence, 175NP

20.89mph, 94 cadence, 166NP

19.68mph, 91 cadence, 177NP

20.13mph, 91 cadence, 145NP

18.64mph, 90 cadence, 165NP

19.77mph, 88 cadence, 155NP

18.66mph, 88 cadence, 151NP

19.21mph, 88 cadence, 148NP

19.02mph, 88 cadence, 128NP

First 56 miles: ~2:47, NP 168, 20.07mph, 93 cadence

Last 56 miles: ~2:53, NP 150, 19.04mph, 88 cadence

A big thank you to Gloria and all of the Team Sumbal followers on race day!!
I can’t believe that I was 2^nd overall amateur for all of the bike and I didn’t even know it! 

Thanks Adam B for the pics!

2014 IMWI FINISHERS! A dream came true.

It was almost eight years ago when I crossed my first Ironman finish line. 

I still remember every detail of IMFL 2006. 

I had my bike-racing boyfriend (Karel) who I had been dating for 6 months, on the sidelines. He thought I was a bit crazy to want to do this 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run event but nonetheless, he was cheering me on for 140.6 miles. Somewhere in the last 3 miles of the marathon, Karel told me I was going to Kona. I yelled back "I love you!" It was the first time I told Karel that I loved him. Even though Karel thought that this sport was super crazy when we met, it's funny that now the Ironman is our sport of choice that has brought us closer and closer over the past two years since Karel stopped racing bikes as a Cat 1 rider and jumped into his first sprint triathlon in the summer of 2012. 

My first Ironman was also special because my parents were dishing out support and positivity for me all day as their 24-year old daughter was about to embark on her first all-day endurance event. I guess some may think it was their parent-duty to be out on the course. But really, it was just normal for my mom and dad to be there for me (regardless if I was at a swim meet, swimming for 1-2.5 minutes or racing an IM for 11 hours) because giving unconditional support is just one of their great traits as great parents. 

When I crossed the finish line, I knew that I had won my age group (18-24) and had received the one and only coveted Kona slot for my female age group. 

With 9 Ironman finish lines crossed since 2006, the places and finishing times have all varied but the feeling of accomplishment feels better and better, year after year. 

I remember seeing my dad when I crossed the finish line at my first Ironman. He had tears in his eyes and he just couldn't believe what his daughter had just accomplished. For me, it was simply a goal that I had worked really hard to achieve but for my dad, it was something more than me just crossing a finish line. My dad knew I had this goal and had put in the work but when it comes to endurance racing, so much can occur in long distance races and he was just so over-the-moon happy for me to have the day that I had worked so hard to have. My dad was the best at bragging about his kids and I am so happy that my brother and I have always been so focused in life with our goals to give my dad so many reasons to be proud of us. But really, he inspired us to dream big and to work hard for success. 

The Ironman triathlon is extremely challenging not only because of distance that the body has to travel but because of the obstacles that arise before and on race day. It requires a lot of time, money and effort to just train for the Ironman but once the hard work is over to get to the start line in good shape with a healthy body, there is an entirely new journey that lies ahead,. A140.6 mile journey that is filled with highs and lows as the body continues to move forward from 7am until the course closes at midnight. 

But what is so special about the Ironman triathlon is that it is a demanding, challenging sport that can change your life. It is a sport that allows big dreams to come true. 

I find that I dream the biggest when I am awake. I do not lay in bed and think about what I want to happen in my life but instead, create big goals when I am awake and in the moment of life. I am so grateful that my body allows me to do the things in life that make me incredibly happy. 

When I dream big, I smile. My dreams do not scare me but instead, they push me to work hard. Hard work brings me joy because it's not just about what comes at the end of the journey but also about what kind of person I become in the process. 

Goals require hard work, time, patience and the ability to overcome obstacles. As you probably know, there are more components in this difficult equation to make your goals become a dream come true. But those dreams never come true if you give up when the going gets tough.

Over the past two years, Karel and I had a dream that not only drove us to train smarter to train harder but also a dream that we couldn't get out of our mind. 

The dream of Karel and I, husband and wife, racing in Kona together at the biggest stage of triathlon endurance racing was more than just an idea. It was something that we wanted to experience together and something so special that we just couldn't let go of this dream. 

Karel and I are firm on our philosophy of training smart so we knew that we would not sacrifice our life just to make this dream come true. Instead, we would spend the entire year planning our racing schedule and every phase of training so we could properly prepare for each race and peak appropriately.....without compromising our health and other things in life that make us happy. We refused to train more but instead, we continued to learn how to train smarter so that we could train hard and then recover even harder. We trained our bodies and mind for 3 key races, all leading up to IMWI as our ultimate race of the season. The last race of the season was the race when we both were willing to give everything for the possibility for the dream to come true. 

No pressure, right?!?!!

The interesting thing about this year is that we never felt burnt-out from training or felt as if we sacrificed a lot in our life for our dream to possibly come true. Although we were 100% devoted to our dream, we only devoted every ounce of energy possible when we expected our body to make physical progress to help us move closer to our goal. In other words, if our day was controlled with a light switch, we turned on our switch before, during and after a workout and then turned off the training switch so that we could turn on the life switch. We were extremely careful not to blow a fuse by blending the two. Certainly there is some overlap (especially since our job is to coach and help fuel endurance athletes) but our continued excitement for triathlons thrived over the years because we felt equal, if not more, happiness from life......when we were not training. 

Simply put, even with the biggest, most grand, perhaps impossible to achieve goal, we never made triathlons are life but instead, just part of our awesome lifestyle. 

Karel and I are more than husband and wife but we are best friends. Although we have our differences, we have a lot of similarities. 

One thing that we both have in common is that when we have a dream, it does not fade away. It is not a dream that is built on ego to be the best, most popular or even the most successful. But instead, it's  a dream that gives us satisfaction. We work really hard, without shortcuts and we do not expect to ever reach for an EASY button (as an endurance athlete, I have learned that my easy button has batteries that always die when I need it the most).

It's the worst feeling to have a dream and to feel as if you wasted time, money and energy to follow a dream that was not possible. But if you have the courage to pursue your dream, consider it possible and do not give up. EVER. .

Your time to pursue a goal is never wasted. But it is extremely important to choose how to spend your time so that the energy (money and time) you dedicate to your goal, is used properly. Success doesn't come from simply putting in the work but instead, making the work count, being mindful of progress (or if lack of it, a need to change the approach to training) and finding fulfillment in the journey....a journey that makes you a better human being. 

We all must believe that were put on this earth to achieve something great with our bodies and mind. 

I believe that we all dream big because we are inspired by the success of others. 

Whether it is in sport, career or with a family, we all have the ability to achieve greatness and to help, inspire and motivate others through making dreams become a reality.

Since a simple formula (if we could create one) for success is hard work, preparation and learning from past mistakes, it's not so much about the dream but instead, keeping the dream alive long enough that it can be achieved. 

We both had one big goal going into this race so we had to leave everything out on this challenging IMWI course. We took some risks and we suffered mentally and physically. There were some highs but ouch, over 140.6 miles, there were a lot of lows. 

No Ironman race is easy. We are quickly learning this as we continue to aspire to be the best endurance athletes that we can be. When it hurts so bad deep inside and you forget about your goals and just question if the finish line is even a reality, this is when you know you are really entering a place that only endurance athlete crave and outsiders do not understand (but yet, they get inspired by the suffering). It's not a pretty place to be in but it is a place that when you overcome that deep, dark place, you feel incredibly accomplished. So accomplished that even if you do not achieve the initial goal that you set out to achieve, you somehow feel exceptionally accomplished. 

When we race against tough competition, it only brings out the best in us. Fast athletes make us push harder. Without them, we would never reach our full potential.  

At 2014 IMWI, we dug so deep that there were many moments in the race that we both almost forgot about our dream. The Kona dream fueled the fire but the flame burned just long enough to help us make it to the finish line.

Thank you everyone SO much for your support, positive vibes and kind words.

A dream in the making just came true. 

We did it and it was NOT easy. 

Karel: 9:44, 3rd AG (35-39), 9th overall male amateur.
Marni: 10:44, 3rd AG (30-34), 6th overall female amateur. 

2015 KONA BOUND!

 What an incredible day for both of us, thanks to so many supportive Trimarni followers and screaming IMWI fans and volunteers. 

I will be racing my 4th Kona and 10th IM with Karel in Kona Hawaii next October, for the 2015 Ironman World Championship!

My dad would have been so proud. 

Thank you dad for inspiring me to love life, dream big and to never ever give up. 

IMWI - One more sleep!

After our morning swim and checking in at the race venue on Friday, I spent a little time on Friday afternoon packing my bags. My homestay has a pool table which made for a great height for laying out my gear for my bags. 

I will wait until race morning to top my bottles with water so I prepared all my bottles with powder (only) and then laid out all my gear for race day. 

Morning Clothes (also swim gear):
Sweatshirt and yoga pants (not pictured, I will wear over my Trimarni kit)
Trimarni tri top
Trimarni tri bottoms
Brooks Running sport bra
Sunscreen
Hair ties (4)
Body Glide

Chip w/ strap
Cap
Speedo Vanquisher goggles (tinted and clear)
Garmin 910XT

Bike Special Needs (to turn in race morning outside Starbucks)
3 bottles, each filled with 300 calories of INFINIT custom drink (no protein, I will fill with water on race morning)

Run Special needs (to turn in race morning outside Starbucks)
2 flasks, each filled with 2 ounce NAPALM (100 calories each - I will also grab nutrition as needed/tolerated on course)

Bike Gear
Giro attack helmet (no shield)
Oakley Women Commit shades
110% Play Harder compression socks
Garmin Edge 500 (will place on bike on race morning)
3 bottles each with 300 calories INFINIT (for first 56 miles of bike)
Bontrager shoes
Small hand towel 

Run Gear

Race belt (safety pins attached) w/ bib number
Brooks pure flow running shoes
2 flasks (each filled with 2 ounces NAPALM)
My dad's favorite hat

(ribbons attached to all bags)

After bags were packed, I did a little work on the computer and then we went out for dinner around 5:30 with our homestay friends, Ed and Judy. 

We went to Benvenuto's, just down the road which is a delicious Italian Grill restaurant. Pasta and pizza is our typical 2 nights before a race meal so we were excited to keep our IM tradition alive here in Madison. 

We first enjoyed a delicious salad w/ Focaccia bread and olive oil with fresh herbs and then it was time to yum over dinner...

Ed and I shared a super large veggie pizza (leftovers will come in handy in the middle of the night after the IM) and for our toppings: artichoke, red onions, spinach, pineapple and mushrooms. 

Karel and I were pretty tired so by 9:30pm we were out and enjoyed 9 restful hours of sleep and once again woke up without an alarm. 

After our pre workout snack (the usual, rice cake w/ banana slices, PB and cinnamon for me, waffles w/ almond butter and jam for Karel) and coffee/water, we did a 1 hour spin on the race course (leaving from Ed's house which is a few miles from the "stick" section of this lollipop like course) with the course dictating our intervals to wake up our legs. Even though Karel and I were riding together, we each did our own thing on the bike. We always do a short warm-up the day before the race to not only wake up the body but also to test out race gear just one last time. It was good that we did this because my Garmin Edge told me my power meter battery was low so I told Karel so that he could change it when we got back. Karel also charged our bikes on Friday night so they were ready to go for Sat drop off. 

Although it was a little windy (not as bad as Thursday's 3 hour afternoon ride) the weather was amazing around 60 degrees!

After our bike we each went out for a short run, Karel did around 15-20 minutes and I did about 10 minutes. My legs felt good which was a great feeling since my last run was on Wednesday. 

After our pre race warm-up, we cleaned up and had a recovery drink and then I got busy in the kitchen to make some yummy fruit and nut pancakes from scratch. We all enjoyed them, even Ed and Judy. 

Around 12:30pm we double checked our bike and run bags (even though we can access them on race morning) and Ed drove us to the race venue to check in our gear. 

Check-in was 10am-3pm so we arrived around 1pm and there was no line and everything went really smoothly. 

The IMWI transition area is on the top of a parking garage and because it is very narrow it is extremely long. Combine this with running up the parking garage helix, going inside the Monona Terrace to grab our bags and enter the changing tents and then to get our bikes, this makes for a long transition time. 

Although my bike is wedged tightly between bikes in the middle of our bike rack, Karel has a prime spot in the front of his rack. 

We then dropped off our bags and mentally focused on where everything was located as the brain can get a bit turned around in a triathlon.

After we walked ourselves through the swim to bike, bike to run routine just one more time, we walked through the Ironman Village and checked out the finish line area and then headed home to rest for the rest of the day. 

It was around 2pm when we arrived back home so we enjoyed a late lunch (we were snacking all morning and staying hydrated on OSMO hydration) and Karel had some leftover pasta and bread and I made myself some grilled tofu and basmati rice w/ tomato soup (from the can) and some pita chips on the side. 

Thank you everyone for all your support, nice words and excitement for our race. We will absolutely take all that positive energy with us on race day and we both hope to have a safe, fun 140.6 mile journey tomorrow (with everyone else out on the ourse). 

If you are interested in tracking us on race day:

Ironman.com

Athlete tracker
Marni - bib 729 (30-34 age group)
Karel - bib 401 (35-39 age group)

Also, our favorite mobile app for tracking:

Iron Trac App

And good luck to everyone else who is racing this weekend!!! Be safe, thank your body and enjoy the race day journey!

Moooo!!! Hello from Madison, Wisconsin!

Karel and I love to travel and we love to race.
In 2013, we planned a season of race-cations to celebrate our love of traveling and racing. 

It's been quite a season, with a lot of highs and some lows but well, that's all part of being an age-group triathlete. 

Just because you sign up for a race, it does't mean that life will be easy. If anything, life gets a bit more complicated. 

But in order to find success in both life and sports, you have to do the best you can to keep everything balanced with whatever you commit yourself to in life.

It's hard to believe but Ironman Wisconsin will be our last race-cation of the year and come Monday we will be enjoying our off-season!

We started our racing schedule in March with our first race, HITS OCALA HALF IRONMAN, as a tune-up race for the season. 

Then in May, in the end of packing up our townhome for our move to Greenville, we raced St. Croix 70.3. 

Then, just 6 weeks after moving to Greenville and sadly, just 3 weeks after my dad passed away from his 10-month fight with cancer, we raced Ironman Austria. 

So, here we are. Just 3 days away from Ironman Wisconsin. This will be my 9th Ironman and 2nd time racing IMWI and Karel's 3rd Ironman. Karel rode this course several times in the past when he was working for Trek and he would visit Trek HQ or go to Trek World. 

The hardest, most stressful part of any trip is saying see you later to our furry BFF. If I could only find a way to let him know that we WILL come back to him. Oh those 7-year old puppy eyes are so incredibly tough to leave. 

But lucky doggy (from sleeping on the streets to sleeping under comfy covers on a comfy mattress), Campy now gets to go to Charlotte every time we travel (we meet our friend half way, about an hour away). So now he is currently enjoying himself at his "camp" until we get back from Wisconsin. 

Tuesday morning I did a 90 minute ride and 10 min run with Campy and around 5:30pm I drove to Gaffney Outlets (1 hour away) to meet my friend to hand-off Campy (and all his toys). On Wednesday, I had a good 4-ish mile interval run (MS 2x's: 3 x 90sec at 7 min/mile w/ 30 sec break and then 3 min @ 8 min/mile recovery jog w/ 1 min break) and then a 1500 swim. 

After running a few last minute errands on Wed, I packed up our food bag (yum smashed fresh raspberries in my PB sandwich) and the car and we were off to the airport around 2pm (we always like to be early when it comes to checking in our bike case) for our 4:30pm flight to Madison, (planned to arrive at 8:30pm). 

After a smooth check-in with Delta, we went through our small airport of Greenville and had a good two-hours to relax before our flight. The weather looked perfect for a short flight to Atlanta, before heading to Madison.

We watched our bike case board the plane which was a good feeling. 

We have a bike case that holds both of our bikes and two wheels. Karel installed an extra front fork mount and with some expert mechanic skills, he puts both of our Trek Speed Concepts in the case. I will try to remember to take a pic before we head home to show you how he does it. We pay 1 bike fee (Delta $150) but in order to meet the weight regulations of $70 (to avoid overweight for a special item as the bike case is a special item, not regular baggage) we have to remove the seats from the case and put them in our checked luggage (which we share a luggage). Also, Karel and I both get 1 checked bag free and the bike case counts as 1 bag (even though a special item) so this is why we share a suitcase to avoid having to pay for a third piece of luggage. 

Well, a first happened for us as there was a major delay leaving Greenville. 

After boarding the plane (pictured above) with our suitcase and bike case on board, we were told there were some storms in ATL but that the pilot thought we would be fine to avoid them. When we rolled away from the gate, the pilot got word that the ATL airport shut down due to storms. With a schedule arrival of 5:30pm and a schedule depart from ATL at 7pm, we were now looking at a possible departure of 5:30pm which would have given us only 30 min for us AND our bike case to get to the next flight (if all went as planned). 

Well, after sitting on the plane for an hour, we were then told it would be 6pm that we would be leaving. By then I knew we had no chance to get to Madison that evening as I had called Delta while we were waiting to check on a possible "next flight". Sadly, we were on the only evening flight to Madison. 

Karel and I were not sure what would happen next as we had never been through this before. 

What hotel would we stay at?
Would we get our bag and bike in ATL?
How would we get to Madison the next day if the first flight out fills up?

Oh, so many questions and concerns from two athletes about to race an Ironman in 4 days!

Well, this is one of the reasons why we always try to arrive to a race venue (of an important race) with at least 4 days until the race. Traveling has it's share of unexpected events which often require time and patience. 

After spending 90 minutes on the airplane (thank goodness for the Trimarni bag of goodies!), the pilot finally drove us back to the gate so that we could depart if we wanted to. 

We departed the plane (but kept our carry on bags on board) so that we could stand in a long line to talk to the gate agent. 

I wasn't sure of our options but I knew there was a 9am flight from ATL on Thursday and a 6:05am flight from Greenville. Still not sure what would happen to our bike case and suitcase (the extremely important parts since both had our bike stuff in it even though we carried on our nutrition and race gear!) the gate agent told us we had two options.
Oh, let it be known that by 7pm (as we waited in line) we had been at the airport for 5 hours AND it was now storming in Greenville, SC.

Option 1: 

Fly to ATL (whenever the plane would leave) and spend the night in a hotel and take the first flight out in the AM to Madison. This flight arrives to Madison at 10:35am (1 hour behind EST)

Option 2:
Stay in Greenville and leave on the first flight out to Detroit, which then goes to Madison. This flight arrives to Madison at 9:05am. 

Because we would not have any access to our bike case/luggage, the easy answer was option 2 so that we could stay in our own bed and not have to deal with the craziness of the ATL airport (and pay for a hotel room). 

I got the car from the Economy lot ($4 to hang out in the airport for 6 hours) and then we made our 20 min drive home in the pouring rain. We were so exhausted that we were off to bed by 9pm for a 4:10am wake-up call. 

On a positive note, our cats were REALLY happy to see us! 

So, let's try this again. 

6:05am flight to Detroit. 

8:35 flight to Madison. 

Two smooth flights and 90 minutes to wait and hope that Delta checked the locked-up luggage for the night and made sure that our suitcase and bike case got on the first flight out of ATL to Madison. 

Well, at least we had a comfy area to wait and wait and wait. 

Thankfully, a friend of ours is a Delta Diamond member so he was able to check that our bike case was on the plane. But in this situation, it's kind of like getting a race t-shirt before you do the race and you don't want to wear it until you crossed the finish line. We didn't want to celebrate until we had visual contact with our belongings. 

Because we couldn't wait in anticipation at baggage, we stayed in the terminal area and waited by the Gate where the plane was departing people and luggage. We watched and watched and after just 5-8 suitcases, there was my Oakley suitcase!!! 

We waited a few more minutes and yippee......

We saw our bike case!!!

Oh, what a great feeling. Thank you DELTA for coming through for us and for also being so great at helping us out with all our questions. 

Funny enough, I ended up seeing one of my nutrition athletes at the airport who flew from ATL so I told her that it was a bummer we could not have flown together but she was on the same flight as our bike so it kind of counted :)

We are so incredibly lucky that we have a home away from home in Madison with one of my long-time nutrition athletes Ed P. who is not only a 2011 IMWI finisher but a prostate cancer survivor and all-around amazing guy. His wife picked us up at the airport (since Ed was volunteering at 2014 IMWI) and took us to her home where we quickly made ourselves at home. I was in the kitchen cooking up some lunch and Karel was out in the garage in his new Trimarni bike shop to assemble our bikes. 

Thankfully, no broken parts, Di2 was working and charged and in just 3 hours after making ourselves at home, we were out on our bikes to ride the course and stretch our legs (and to release some unwanted stress in our bodies). 

Oh the fun of race-cations! 

IMWI training - feeling prepared, confident and ready

The work is done.
Thank you body!

My 9th Ironman journey is coming to an end and in two weeks, on September 7th, 2014 I get the privilege to take my body on another 140.6 mile journey to reach the Ironman Wisconsin finish line.

My dad will get a front row seat from above and I will be sharing the race course (my 2nd time racing IMWI) with my best friend, coach, training partner and hubby. 

I often hear athletes talk about feeling undertrained. That's a very difficult word for an athlete to have in his/her vocabulary because it is often used in the context of not being physically prepared. 

When I think about my last 4 Ironman journies, I have intentionally and unintentionally taken different routes to prepare my body and mind for race day. 

In the past 15 months, I have crossed 3 Ironman finish lines and have felt unprepared for 2 of them. 

But amazingly, the two that I felt unprepared for, I did amazingly well. I qualified for 2013 IM World Championship at IM Lake Placid with a roll down slot and at IM Austria, I had a PR of 10:17. At Kona, I felt the most prepared out of any IM and had a great day. But surprisingly, the two IM's before and after Kona that I felt unprepared for, I still managed to find success on race day. 

I feel extremely ready for IMWI as I go into this race with 15 months of injury-free, consistent training. I have experience from starting and finishing 8 x Ironmans and I know that my race day performance comes down to how I take my trained, well-fueled and mentally strong body/mind over 140.6 miles all while overcoming the obstacles that I experience on race day (and yes, there will be plenty of them for every IM I experience something new that happens to my body/mind/gear/gadgets).

So as I have been extremely careful to save my best performance for race day (and not waste it in training), I believe that I am prepared and absolutely not overtrained. 

I think that it is normal for any athlete to look at those around them (other athletes on social media, race results, training partners) and compare training schedules. It's easy to think in your head before, during and after any workout "am I doing enough?"

I realize that we always can do more for if we aren't injured, sick or burnout, there is still room for improvement. But it is a careful line to cross for it's really hard to have that great race performance that you have worked so hard for if you use all your physical and mental strengths in training and overdo it in training. 

So how do you now if you have done enough?

From my experience, it is just something you feel inside. It's this itch that you can not wait to race but still have waves of anxiety or nervousness coupled with excitement. 

To trust yourself that you have done enough, you can't doubt your fitness. The only thing you can do is race with your current level of fitness and have a plan that allows you to put all that training to good use. 

You have to feel confident in your training session. I realize there is a learning curve for newbie endurance athletes to gain confidence with each longer workout but if you have one opportunity to prove you can do "it", save it for race day. If your body and mind are in a good healthy place, I promise you that you can do "it" on race day. 

If you are nearing your upcoming race or have a race on the horizon in the next 6-12 months, it's a very special thing to feel prepared. Overtrained is something that has significant symptoms that will negatively affect performance whereas underprepared is something that may be objective to the athlete in reference to not completing assigned workouts, cutting workouts short, not feeling successful with fueling/mental focus, etc. You can certainly race underpreared but your pacing strategy will need to be carefully constructed. You do not want to race overtrained for it only creates a spiral of issues with your health and motivation to follow. 

So endurance athletes, let us all meet somewhere in the middle. 

If you train smart, you will constantly find yourself improving in some way, as an athlete. You may get faster and/or stronger, more powerful or just find yourself racing smarter. 

Within every journey that you take your body on, create a plan that allows you to make progress so that by race day, you feel prepared. Although every athlete wants to peak appropriately in his/her season, keep in mind that peaking is relative to current level of fitness. Every season you have the opportunity to train in a way that allows you to discover new limits. That is, so long as you do enough but do not overtrain. 

Preparation is not limited to physical fitness but it also has to do with nutrition, mental focus, calming nervous and silencing self-doubt, understand gear-related issues and knowing how to execute on race day. 

Your plan should give your body steady, consistent progress so that you find yourself motivated to train and put in the work to become someone that you were not when you started training but not too much progress, too quickly that find yourself hitting a plateau or not enjoying your journey. 

I am sure there have been times in life when you have not felt prepared and you have done just fine. 

Trust yourself that when it comes to race day, somehow, someway, you will use 3,6,9,12 months of training for good use and finish your dream in the making. 

TRAINING RECAP: 

THURSDAY: 

After our mile-repeater workouts on Thursday morning, we did our first group ride in Greenville at 5:30pm at Hotel Domestique. Although our legs were a bit tired from the morning run, we both looked forward to not only spinning our legs with a group on our road bikes but biking with George Hincapie!! 

FRIDAY

On Friday morning, I gave us a great swim set.It was fun to push a bit and we enjoyed the recovery in between intervals to keep the form good. This is really important for Karel for as a newer swimmer, when his form goes he gets really tired (and vice versa). We do not swim side by side or on the same interval but I try to give him workouts that will help him build endurance and confidence in the water. 

Warm-up: 

400, 300, 200, 100  - mix it up
6 x 50's w/ fins (Odd: 25 right arm only, 25 left arm only. Even: build to fast), rest 10 sec

MS: 

3 x 200's @ 80% (or IM distance effort) w/ 30 sec rest
100 EZ (pull/paddles active recovery)

2 x 200's @ 85% (half IM/Olympic effort) w/ 30 sec rest

100 EZ (same)

1 x 100 @ best effort
100 EZ

3 x 100's @ 90% w/ 20 sec rest
50 EZ

2 x 100's @ 95% w/ 20 sec rest

50 EZ

1 x 100 @ best effort

100 cool down

3500 yards total

(30 min of hip/core/glute work today)

SATURDAY

4 hour bike + 30 min run - bike focused race day prep brick

Bike:
Warm-up 47 minutes (this is our typical warm-up time as we ride from our house and this is when we hit our country roads. This includes about 1100 feet of climbing - talk about an easy way to get warmed up!)

MS: 

4 x 30 minutes at IM effort w/ 4 min EZ in bettwen

Total stats:
3:43, 66.43 miles, 17.8 mph average, 3753 elevation gain

Although we have no flat roads to ride on, I also made sure to ride on bumpy roads similar to IMWI, technical sections and of course, lots of rollers. I had 4 bottles on my bike of INFINIT nutrition (Custom blend) so I not only practiced my pacing strategy but also my nutrition which has been perfected in every workout. I also had my race wheels on as well as my race day outfit. 

Run: 

Steady run, no main set. Walk 30 sec after each mile. 

32:39 minutes, 4.06 miles, 8:02 min/mile average
Splits: 7:53, 7:45, 7:52, 7:52 min/mile

It was very hot so not only did I go through my two flasks that I brought with me (with nutrition in them) but I refilled after 2 miles at a nearby hotel. 

Campy loves training for an Ironman!!

Yummy fuel for Sunday's run focused brick!! 

Homemade pizza with Trader Joe's herb dough.
Toppings:
Yellow pepper, arugula, mushrooms and leeks along with marinara sauce and cheese. 

Too cute not to share. 

SUNDAY

2 hour bike + 2 hour run - run focused brick

Bike: 

1:20, 22 miles, 1234 (how cool!) elevation gain.
All at IM effort on rolling hills. Took about 40 minutes for my legs to get warmed up, which is typical after a hard workout the day before. 

Run: 

2.5 mile warm-up (rest 20 sec after each mile and 1 minute before main set)

MS: 

3 x 1 miles at max sustainable endurance effort w/ 30 sec rest in between

Rest 2 minutes, repeat set 1 more time

Cool down with Campy

Total stats: 1:11 total time, 9.02 miles, 7:56 min/mile average (this includes walk breaks but I stopped my watch at my 2 minute break and used my recovery HR 2 min warning as my "timer")

The weather was perfect for this run - cloudy and even a mist of rain. However, I still went through all my flasks and brought extra nutrition with me. I ended up consuming 6 ounces of water w/ Napalm (80-100 calories) every 30 minutes of running so a total of 24 ounces of fluid (+ extra at water fountains when I refilled at my mile interval walk breaks) + around 220-250 calories for 9 miles of running. I felt strong and really light on my feet. Talk about a great run to finish off my IM training! 

I ran a big loop so my course was not flat. I purposely tried to finish each round (last mile of three) on a net incline since IMWI finishes slightly uphill into town. I focused on a pace that felt good and made sure to rest in my walk breaks (or cool myself at water fountains to reduce core temp and to refill my flasks). I do not plan to run this fast on race day but we do not believe in running "slow" which can affect form so instead, finding a pace that feels comfortable but sustainable and using walk breaks to postpone fatigue.  My longest run for IMWI (and probably since IM Kona in October 13th, not counting an IM race) was 16 miles so I had nothing to prove here in terms of miles, I just wanted to feel good and to dial in my nutrition and work on mental focus and form.

Warm-up: 

Mile 1: 7:54
Mile 2: 7:53
Mile 2.5: 7:57 min/mile pace

MS: 

First round: 3 x 1 miles:
7:28, 7:26, 7:56 (last mile uphill) w/ 30 sec walk in between

2 min rest

Second round: 3 x 1 miles: 

7:21, 7:22, 7:46 (last mile uphill) w/ 30 sec walk in between

(always a great feeling to finish strong!)

Hello active recovery week!!!! 

Rest up Campy, we have lots of walking to do this week! 

IMWI training....going strong

I recently heard a great saying when it comes to training. 

Every workout should help you be more prepared for the next workout. 

I couldn't agree more. 

With our "train smart" approach to training, our goal is never to destroy the body. This is not limited to just putting training stress on the body with specific workouts but also with nutrition. No workout is performed without proper nutrition before, during and after workouts. Just to make myself clear, Karel and I never perform a workout without a snack before, sport nutrition during (powder in a bottle of water each hour) and some type of recovery snack or meal post workout. I just see no point in sabotaging a workout by not fueling properly to support the immune system, postpone fatigue and to enhance recovery. 

  Additionally, we never create a workout that is so "epic" that the human body can not recover within a short time frame. As an age group triathlete, time is not unlimited. It is important that in order to make consistent performance gains that we are not overstressing the body in one workout that we can not be equipped for another workout the next day. Certainly, there's exceptions to this rule such as well- designed training camps that place an intentional heavy load on the body to stress the body in a certain time frame. However, it would be a waste of time, money and energy if an athlete accomplished a big load, let's say, at a camp, and did not properly recover to make long lasting fitness gains. 

After Karel was finished with his 14 RETUL fits on Mon evening, we continued our trip just a bit more south to visit with my mom. 

Campy was SO happy at his resort, although it was a little different without my dad being present. This was the first time that Campy was in the house without both of his grandparents being there but not to worry, my mom gave Campy extra love. 

Weekly training update:

On Tues morning, we woke up without an alarm and had a good 90 minute spin.....in the pouring rain. We didn't plan for the rain but around 1:15 into our ride, the sky opened up so we turned around. It was a planned EZ spin as Karel's legs were completely toasted after being on his feet for 4 days with the fits. 

On Wed morning we had 10 hours of driving ahead of us so we didn't want to exhaust ourselves before our trip. We had an early bedtime on Tuesday so that we could get a solid 8 hours of sleep and we woke up with an alarm around 5:45am so that by 6:45am (enough time to digest a pre training snack and get the body going after dynamic stretching/campy walk) we were both out the door for a run (Karel and I do not run together because he is too fast for me). 

My set:
1 mile warm-up. Then stop and stretch it out.
2 miles steady running w/ 20 sec walk in between each mile. 

MS:
3 x 8 minutes (4 min @ ~6:50-7 min/mile, 4 min @ ~7:45-8 min/mile - under/overs, my fav). 1 min walk in between. 

Then cool down

Total: 6.5 miles

When we got back to SC, I made sure to spend a good 20 minutes stretching out my hips and back as I was getting a bit stiff in the car (especially with a chihuahua sitting on my lap when I wasn't driving)

On Thurs I sat an alarm at 5:45am and was at the Y (2 miles down the road) at 7am for a swim/strength workout. Although I can choose my own schedule as a small business owner, I typically need a good 60-90 minutes to answer emails in the morning (most from my west coast athletes) and I do not like to push my workouts back past 8am because I need a good 7-10 hours most days (weekends included) to get to all of my Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition to-do's. 

I started my morning with a great swim which I shared in a previous post and followed it with 30 min of full body strength (primarily legs and core). With IMWI being a challenging course, it requires a lot of power, not necessarily speed. Therefore, Karel and I are making sure our bodies are as strong as possible to take the 140.6 miles of stress on the body. I absolutely love being in the weight room even though most of my strength work is body assisted work (not machines). 

Karel and I wanted to do an EZ spin on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in the evening but it was raining so it was a good excuse to eat an early dinner at 5:30pm and get to bed before 9:30pm. 

On Friday morning, it was a cooler morning and the rain had stopped by the time we got to the Y at 7am. We did a great 3200 yard swim (the outdoor pool was chilly!):

500 swim warm-up
Pre set:
4 x 200's w/ fins (50 drill, 50 swim)
MS: 

3  x 100's (50 steady, 50 strong)
50 EZ
2 x 100's (25 steady, 75 strong)
50 EZ
1 x 100 (strong)
50 EZ
2 x 100's (25 steady, 75 strong)
50 EZ
3 x 100's (50 steady, 50 strong)

400 pull
8 x 25's - 10 strokes no breath, then EZ into the wall w/ 10 sec rest

After our swim, we did 30 min of strength work and we added in some plyo's as well as good core work. It was a great morning workout!

In the evening, Karel went for a bike ride and I went to the Y for a nice form focused run on the treadmill (4 miles) w/ 30 sec rest each mile) for the first two miles and then 10 minutes of 1 min "fast" w/ 30 sec rest. Then cool down. 

This morning we were SO excited to ride as there was no rain on the radar! 

However, it's been a while since we rode our normal routes and wow, did those hills grow since last week!!!

We did 75 miles and just over 4 hours with 5000 feet of climbing. It was another beautiful ride but I was super excited to be off my bike when I got home. 

Off the bike, 4 miles w/ 30 sec walk each mile. It was a fast run for me with just under 7:45 min/miles but it felt good as I was not going by pace but just RPE. 

So, there you have it - lots of progress, feeling strong and the countdown continues for IMWI!!

Happy training!

Thank you body!