Tri-race road-trip! What’s in my cooler?

Welcome to our life….. we are on the road again! 

But this time it’s triple the fun because I get to train on the hills, I get to watch Karel and 6 of our Trimarni athletes race in the Clermont Olympic Distance Triathlon AND Campy gets to make memories with us!

After a quick stop at the Jacksonville Running Company on Friday late afternoon (when Karel got finished with a RETUL fit and I got finished with my Oakley Women Facebook chat), we hit the road around 5pm, hoping to miss some Friday traffic in route to Clermont, Florida (just outside of Orlando). We arrived around 7:30pm and missed the traffic. YAY!

I packed a cooler and bag full of yummy goodies for us to enjoy so once we arrived to our hotel (Clermont Days Inn and Suites – pet friendly) all we had to do was prep, eat and relax.

When it comes to traveling for races, I prefer to bring as much Trimarni-friendly options as possible for it makes our trip a lot easier to have our food options within our control (when we want to fuel our body). It  isn’t that we don’t ever eat out when we travel for races but there are a few pre-race foods that work well for Karel and me and traveling with food takes the guessing/stressing away as to where and when we will eat. Not to mention, bringing our own food from the grocery store reduces costs on eating out for traveling is not cheap, especially when you throw in the cost of race fees. 

When it comes to traveling to a new place for a vacation or event (non-sport related), Karel and I LOVE supporting the local food business as well as enjoying local eats. You will not find us eating in our room (or eating similar foods that we eat at home) when we go to new places for we love to explore new places and eat like the locals. I also get really inspired by new meals which gives me great excitement for when I get home to the Trimarni kitchen.  Since we don’t have rules with our diet, we both believe if you eat well most of the time you don’t have to worry about the rest of the time.

Here is my list of what I brought with us for our Fri – Sun trip to Clermont, Florida
(Not everything is/will be consumed but always good to have options. Most of the foods are in our daily diet.)

Cooler:
2 flavored Chobani Greek yogurt
2 Fage 0% plain Greek yogurt
Large bag of mixed sliced fruit (grapes, apples, strawberries)
Deli meat (for Karel)
Sliced cheese
4 hardboiled eggs
Hummus
Bag of baby carrots
Large bag of mixed greens
1 small carton skim milk
1 Kefir strawberry drink
1 Bolthouse chocolate protein drink (for Karel)
6 slices Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread
Irish butter (for Karel)
Local Blackberry Jam (from our trip to Waycross, GA)

Food bag:
4 small bananas
1 fresh baguette

1 bag WASA crackers
3  pitas
Honey
2 sandwich-size baggies of peanuts and golden raisins
Large bag of mixed cereal (Cheerios, granola, Kashi cinnamon cereal)
1 bag triscuits
4 packets oatmeal
Smuckers Natural Peanut butter
Dark chocolate
1 can soup (for Karel)
1 bag 90 second rice (it has chicken stock in it so only Karel ate it)
1 large Tuna packet (in water)
Dog food
Instant coffee

Sport Nutrition bag:
INFINIT customized formula (for me)
INFINIT Speed (for Karel)
Napalm (for me and Karel)
2 gel flasks
4 water bottles (for me)
3 water bottles (for Karel)
4 KIND bars
2 Power bar performance energy blends (for Karel)
Optygen
Hammer Endurance Aminos
Hammer Tissue Rejuvinator

Extra:
Plastic plates
Tupperware bowl
Plastic bowls
Silverware
Napkins
2 jugs water

We woke up around 6am on Saturday and the weather was perfect for a beautiful day of riding. I couldn’t wait to get on my bike in the hills of Clermont, Florida. 

Karel and I drove to the NTC  with our bikes attached and we each went our separate ways. Karel did his race warm-up on the race bike course and a short run off the bike, each with a few pick-ups to get the blood flowing.

As for me, Karel gave me a great workout to test my current level of fitness after a few months of consistent (injury free) "train smarter to train harder" training (YAY - thank you body!) . 

3:15 ride in the hills of Clermont (59 miles)
(I enjoyed seeing a few athletes on the course during the Half Ironman event that was happening in the morning)

8 mile run off the bike:
(I ended up running around our hotel which was around 1/3 mile but provided me with unlimited ice from the ice machine (which made my intervals amazing in the hot Florida sun) but also a change to pace myself on terrain that was not flat but also not super hilly. I could also focus and settle into a pace without worrying about cars if I were to run on the road outside of our hotel. Also I could keep me bottle of sport drink and gel flask of Napalm on Karel’s car for easy sipping between intervals)

2 mile warm-up (7:43, 7:39)
Walk 1 minute
MS 3xs:
5 min @ 6:45 min/mile, 5 min @ 7:30 min/mile
(over/under intervals to help the aerobic threshold while minimizing fatigue in a long run)
1 min walk/rest in between
10 min cool down

After the workout, it was time to enjoy some Campy time outside and then clean-up (while refueling with a glass of milk mixed with whey protein powder and a handful of cereal, also 1 Hammer FIZZ tablet in a bottle of water) before heading to Chiptole with Karel for a meal. 

We both got our meal to go (I got a veggie salad on greens with rice, beans, cheese, corn, veggies and salsa) and Karel ate in the car (with Campy watching carefully for any accidental chicken droppings)  while I drove to the race venue (my tummy wasn’t quite ready for a meal so I snacked on some fruit).

After Karel picked up his packet we made one quick trip to Publix so Karel could get a few last minute foods for his pre-race meal in our hotel room.

This afternoon I talked race-strategy with a few of our 6 Trimarni athletes that are racing tomorrow and Karel did a final tune-up on his bike to get it officially race ready.  Tonight it is early to bed for an exciting day tomorrow of watching trained bodies and minds in action! 

Triathletes are so inspiring!