141 miles for my 43rd birthday

 

Over the past few years, I've celebrated my birthday with some type of cycling. Last year I was joined by Karel and my friends Garrett and Alvi for a 101 mile ride (with scenic views) and a little over 10,000 feet of elevation gain. 

A few weeks ago I started to think about where I wanted to go for my birthday ride and I wanted to do something I've never done before. I was chatting with my friend Garrett and I asked him about riding to and on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Garrett is all for epic rides so he is a great person to consult when it comes to creating routes. Several of my cycling friends have ridden on the parkway but they usually start from the Flat Rock/Dupont/Brevard area. I asked Garrett if he would create a route that included the Blue Ridge Parkway from our area. 

The first route he created started from Marietta (~10 miles from where we live) and included a loop around/on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was exactly what I was looking for. However, I didn't want to drive to Marietta to start the ride so starting from home would add an additional 20 miles, which would make for a 137 mile ride. This got me even more excited because my longest ride on the bike was 131 miles so this would also be my longest ever ride. 

However, I was told that a few miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway were closed due to Hurricane Helen (September) so we needed to revise the route. Garrett came up with the finalized route which got me super excited. Almost 140 miles and we were going to ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. And based on the route, I'm turning 25 😁.

With my birthday on a Saturday (May 31st), I didn't want to do this ride alone. Knowing that my friends would also be riding on Saturday morning, I sent out a few group texts and I was so delighted to see that almost all of my riding buddies were in for my crazy birthday ride. Because not everyone was able to do the entire 137 mile ride, Garrett created a "short" route (which ended up being close to 80-90 miles because most of my friends live near downtown Greenville). 

I sent out the invites and we planned to start the route at 7:30am with the goal to finish the ride by 4:30pm. 

We planned 4 bottle refill stops:

• Mile 25.8 (Caesar's head overlook) - unfortunately the water was running there
• Mile 45 - Downtown Rosman gas station 
• Mile 88 - Country store gas station (Back)
• Mile 114 (gas station Hwy 11)

I packed my pockets with sport nutrition powder (I brought along 5 individual baggies, each with 90g carbs. Two bags of Never Second berry and 3 bags of Infinite Fructose. I also brought along a granola bar, packet of PB crackers and a Never Second gel (which I never consumed). At the gas stations I had a few sips of Coke, a few Pringles, a bag of Haribo gummies and the granola bar and PB crackers that I brought with me. I also consumed 7 bottles of sport nutrition + 1 bottle water. 

Karel and I woke up at 5:45am and left our house on our bikes at 7:15am. 

We rolled to "the rock" around 7:25 and met up with everyone. Ten people showed up! 

We started the ride around 7:40am and made our way to Caesar's Head (CH). For those of us doing the long ride (Alvi, Seth, Yannick, Carley, Karel and me) we made sure not to take any pulls but instead, let those doing the short loop do the work. One of the riders had two flat tires so he decided to turn around. 

When we got to the base of CH, everyone did their own pace. When some of the short route riders went on ahead, I was thinking to myself "We are doing an ultra, don't go out with the half marathon athletes." The weather was perfect, I started off with light arm warmers and gloves and took them off before the 6.5 mile climb up the mountain. It took me 43:39 to get to the top. Karel's back was really bothering him (he has serious disc/nerve issues which have been getting worse over the past year) so he was feeling worried for the rest of the ride. I told him he could turn around with the short route riders but he wanted to do the entire ride with me. 

We took a picture at the lookout and Carley, Alvi, Karel, Seth and I continued down the other side of CH while the rest of the group reversed the route and continued on with their ride. It was a great start to a long day ahead. 

27 miles down, 113 miles to go. 

Once we got down to Cedar Mountain Cafe, we met up with our second group of friends who were joining for the next part of the ride. Sarah, Camillo, Tim and two of their friends joined us for the next 71.6 miles. This group started in Flat Rock/Saluda so they were also collecting a lot of miles today (130+ miles). 

We started to make our way to Rosman which I was super excited for. I've always wanted to make the turn in that direction and we were finally exploring new roads. The terrain was very smooth and somewhat flat and we enjoyed a pretty fast pace (21 mph) for the next 18 miles. We made a store stop at a gas station to refill bottles and stock up on snacks. The mission for us was to fuel a lot! 

The scenery was very beautiful and once we got onto 215, we started our climb. For the next 26 miles, we went up and up and up. Over 2 hours of climbing and we accumulated over 4400 feet (with only 665 feet of descending). The first 11 or so miles were gradual and it was my favorite type of grade - I could keep a nice rhythm and there were a few quick downhills to enjoy. Then the grade picked up and it was a little more of a grind. We made a turn on to the Blue Ridge Parkway and I was so excited to be in a new area. I've ridden on the parkway twice in the past but this was an entirely new experience for me and I was really happy to be with my friends. 

The views were stunning. It was very windy (not Lanzarote windy ;) and getting colder. We reached ~5000 feet and we still had 1000 feet to go (and over 3 miles). We thought about turning around but we all decided we would go to the highest point and stick to the plan. There's great power in being with a group and with it being my birthday, I think everyone was up for the adventure. 

Ten of us (Seth wasn't in the picture) reached 6053 feet which is the highest elevation on the Blue Ridge Parkway Motor Road.  Mission accomplished! 

We bundled up and started our descend. The 8 miles on 215 hwy was incredible. It was the most enjoyable descent with sweeping turns that required no or little breaking. I averaged 31 mph on the 8 mile descend. 

We stopped at the Balsam Grove General Store around 90 miles, which was a true delight. We were all in need of refueling our bottles and getting some food but the owners of the store were so nice. I highly recommend stopping at this store if you are cycling around the Balsam Grove area of NC (outside of Rosman). 

Throughout the ride, I wasn't focused on the mileage of how far we had ridden or how far we had left. I kept my computer screen on the navigation so I only focused on the segment I was in. I completely lost track of time and by the time we stopped at the country store, I realized it was getting close to 2pm. 

We had such a great group. No one ever complained and everyone was in good spirits. There was no weak link and everyone supported one another. 

Eight miles later, we said good bye to our second group of friends and it was down to five of us for the rest of the ride. Karel started to feel better so he and Yannick did some of the pulling. 

It was nice to make our way towards Rocky Bottom as we were back to familiar roads. We descended on one of my favorite descends and made our way to our last store stop at the Holly Springs gas station. 

I was also feeling very strong so I pulled for some of the long stretch on Pumpkintown. My good friend Carley was riding really strong and she ended up with over 150 miles on the day! 

For 73 miles and 5:03 of riding, we averaged 14.4 mph and accumulated almost 8000 feet elevation gain. Thankfully, the major climbs were done so we were able to get our average speed up for the rest of the ride. We ended up averaging 16.8 mph for the entire road but for the last 68 miles (3:20) we averaged 20.4 mph. Because our stops were a little longer than planned, we ended up modifying the final route and made a direct route home on Pumpkintown and then from Marietta straight to Travelers Rest and then on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. 

The final crew (And Yannick ran off the bike) 

We made it home shortly after 5pm which made for a long time on the bike. But I've never been happier. I'm so grateful for amazing friends who showed up to make this birthday extra special. 

And a big thank you to Garrett for creating my "25th Birthday Route."

As for the evening, we had pizza from my favorite place: D'Als. 

Enjoy delicious homemade Carrot Cake (thank you George for making it for me!) 

And celebrated my first birthday in 16 years without Campy but my first birthday with Sunny. 

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Cesta Z Mesta Ride

I was really looking forward to our Saturday long ride. We are continuing to build up our weekly cycling mileage as we prepare for our first attempt at the 7-day Haute Route Alps from August 21st-27th. In addition to our triathlon training (Note to self: IM Lake Placid is in a month), we are putting in a lot of quality riding. Whereas two weeks ago I was on the struggle bus getting back into structured training, this past week I felt really strong and fresh. My body came around and I felt like I was recovering well from my training sessions. On Monday we did an EZ 1 hour spin, Tues was the Spinners A-group ride (3:43/69 miles - we ride to/from the group ride) and Wednesday we went mountain biking for almost 3 hours (24 miles). Thursday I had a private bike skills session with an athlete (90 minutes). In total, before Saturday I had ridden for almost 10 hours. 

On Friday evening, Karel mapped out our Saturday ride and called it Cesta Z Mesta - in Czech it means "The Road Out of Town." The planned route was 104 miles, 9,000 feet of elevation gain. Our plan was to leave at 8am. 

Well, plans changed. 
First off, Karel needed to Skype with his mom and brother in Czech to help his mom with her Visa for when she comes to stay with us in Sept-November. Nearing 9:30am, we were getting ourselves ready and it started raining. I looked at the radar and it looked like the rain would stop around 10am so we did some mobility, finished preparing our nutrition and heading out - in the drizzling rain - around 10am.

Although we were in no rush to get home, Karel thought it would be best for us to adjust some of our route so that we were not riding the entire day (and into the evening). Seeing that our miles go by really slow due to the technical and challenging nature of our terrain, we shortened the ride from 104 miles to 85 miles by omitting the entire Green River Cove loop. 

I started the ride feeling pretty good so my goal for the day was to try to sit on Karel's wheel on the climbs. For our mini yolomites ride the previous weekend, I made sure to pace myself for the long day ahead and didn't get aggressive on any of the climbs. I knew that pushing myself early on in our ride on Saturday would mean I would risk blowing myself up but I wanted to push myself for this ride. 

We wore our hydration packs for this ride to minimize stopping and to ensure we had plenty of fluids. We each had two bottles on our frame and I had 1.5 L (Karel had 2L) in our backpacks. I had INFINIT in my pack and Skratch SuperFuel in my bottles. I also brought along a Supra bar as well as fig newtons to keep myself fueled throughout the ride. It was on the cooler side when we started (and a bit misty with the rain) but it warmed up as the day went on.

The first 90 min of the ride was punchy. Once we got to the Watershed, we settled into a good rhythm for 11 miles to Mine Mountain. I was feeling strong. 

 

We enjoyed a few miles of descending down to the Saluda grade. Because the roads were slick due to the rain, I stayed a bit cautious and Karel rode away from me on the descend. I felt safe and confident on the descend but I didn't want to take any risks. 

Once we got to the Saluda grade, it was time to climb a few miles into Saluda. At this point, Karel's legs were speaking to him. He was struggling. I love the Saluda Grade climb because it's a steady grade and not steep and I can easily settle into a nice rhythm. I ended up riding away from Karel and waited for him at the top. I felt sad that he was feeling so empty but he wanted to see if he could ride off the fatigue. 

I LOVE my new USWE hydration pack! 

Because we adjusted the route, instead of doing the entire Green River Cove loop (which would add another 20 miles to our ride), Karel and I descended down the Green River Cove Switchbacks, then turned around by the tubing parking lots and rode back up. This was the first time that we had biked down the 17 tight switchbacks and I was surprised that I wasn't scared. I could tell that my bike handling skills have really improved thanks to all the group riding and mountain biking I've been doing over the past year. 

The climb was challenging but doable. There are a few kickers in between the switchbacks that really make the legs talk but otherwise, the switchbacks help to break things up. We climbed the 2 miles back up and then made a stop at the gas station to refill bottles. We had a fun and fast descend down for a few miles down the Saluda Grade to the Pearson Falls Road. I love the Saluda Grade descend as it has great flow with wide turns and it's not busy with cars to slow you down. After the descend, we climbed up Mine Mountain for ~5 miles. At this point, I knew Karel was struggling. I went ahead and would often look back and I could see Karel's head hanging low, struggling with each pedal stroke. I felt so bad for him that the only way home was to keep riding. He was totally empty. He told me that I could go ahead as he didn't want me to feel like he was slowing me down and he would eventually make his way home but I didn't want to leave him. I thought back to all the many rides where Karel was feeling so strong but he would wait for him to catch back up. I knew we needed to finish this ride together. 

We had about 8 miles of descending down the Watershed to loosen out the legs (it's not really a fast descend as you still have to work for it and pedal throughout) and then to Dividing Waters. For the rest of the ride, Karel stayed behind him and I pulled him home. He was so relieved when we finally made it back into Traveler's Rest and on to the trail. It was just after 4pm and Karel was done. 

I finished the ride feeling really strong and wanted to do our planned run off the bike. I ran for 40 minutes and finished my workout just after 5pm. It was a long day of training but a great one for me. Karel didn't run and instead, took Campy for a walk after he made himself a recovery shake. 
We finished the ride with 85 miles in 5:40 and 7500 feet of elevation gain. 

Although we both went into this ride a little fatigued from our previous training, Karel had a bad workout. It just wasn't his day. Sometimes you are the hammer and you do the pounding and sometimes you are the nail - you get pounded. Sadly, Karel was the nail. 

When a bad workout happens, it's important to reflect on the reason(s) for feeling off. Could it be nutrition, sleep, stress, fatigue, previous training sessions, weather......? Often times, we can contribute a bad workout to something specific. But then there are times when we just have off days. There's no real reason why they happen but there will be times in training and on race day when you can't deliver the effort that you hoped for - and that's ok. 

There's no reason to blame it on your body or make excuses. Sometimes the stars just don't align and you need to give yourself a break. There have been plenty of times when Karel and myself have had a bad bike workout and followed it up with a great run. But then there are times, in your gut, when you know that the run off the bike doesn't make sense. Karel made his decision not to run, didn't dwell on it or feel guilt and just moved on. 

When training is your lifestyle, there are going to be speed bumps. The peaks will almost always outnumber the valleys so never let a lousy workout question your abilities. Fail forward! 

Riding 107 miles in Greenville - a milestone!

Ride stats: 

5:53 total ride time

107 miles covered

7274 elevation gained

18.1 mph average speed

2 refueling/hydration stops

Too many animal friends to count but I said hi to all of them.

After 11 years of endurance triathlon racing, I am still finding myself improving in training and on race day. I remember back in 2004, while in graduate school and training for my first marathon in January 2005, I was told by several exercise professionals that I would struggle in endurance sports as a female vegetarian athlete. While endurance training/racing is not easy for any individual, I don't see myself as a female vegetarian athlete but instead, an athlete, who happens to be a female and a 25 year vegetarian.

Without a doubt, self-improvements have kept me enjoying each season of triathlon racing and training as I never feel bored or stale in a 3-sport sport. Although there have been many setbacks since I started endurance racing, I've learned that development from season to season and training consistency are key components to experiencing success on race day. In order to continually experience performance gains, my health has always remained my #1 priority. With a healthy body and mind, performance gains will come. Knowing that I can't always do the same things over and over and expect different results, every year as life changes, I carefully pay attention to better, smarter and more effective ways to nourish my body, fuel my workouts, train and race, never with rigid rules, methods or strategies. To me, training is a fun hobby that allows me to use my body, explore nature, travel and I use it to help me manage life stress and release energy, so I never like to put added pressure on my training/eating when it comes to performance improvements. Finding this balance between great dedication and just enough flexibility has been extremely important to my athletic development over the past 11 years. 

On Saturday, Karel and I ventured out to Lake Keowee,, which is the start of the Mountains to Mainstreet bike course. Since the start is ~45 miles away, instead of driving, we rode our on our tri bikes. Because the M2M triathlon course is a point to point to point course, we decided that the best way to pre-ride the 58 mile bike course was to bike to the start and then bike home. This made for a long ride but we were both mentally and physically excited for a morning together, on two wheels. Plus, we absolutely love exploring new roads/routes and the scenery and mountain views that come with riding in Greenville, so we knew the ride would be just as fun, as it was long. Oddly enough, the ride went by really fast! And the M2M course is so beautiful and scenic but also very challenging - just what we love in a bike course!

As athletes, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the journey of training as it's normal to have an outcome goal in mind for race day. Without specific goals, it's difficult to find the motivation to train, especially with those early morning wake-up calls and squeezing in a workout with a tired body/mind after work. 

Knowing that race day success is the sum of many small efforts, repeated over and over, it's important to always consider your own fitness journey and that every day, you are getting closer to building a better, smarter, stronger and faster version of yourself. Instead of wishing for quick results or comparing yourself to other athletes, celebrate your own accomplishments in your own journey.

There have been many times in the past 11 years when I have said to myself "I feel so strong" or "I have never felt this fit before." Just when I think that I can't feel any fitter or any more strong, I develop and find myself capable of even more with my body. Patience, hard work and consistency bring results and while it is great to have big goals and dreams, you must celebrate the small improvements and victories to let you know that you are making progress. 

Since moving to Greenville, SC in May 2014, I have only completed one ride over 100 miles (summer of 2014). Despite training for four Ironman's since we moved, riding 100 miles in Greenville was never a focus as the terrain is extremely challenging and the miles go by very slow here. We always go by time for our long rides as this makes for quality training and a better return on our training investment.

Throughout our long Saturday ride and especially after our ride, I couldn't help but think, over and over, where I am with my cycling fitness and where I was in 2014 and even more so, in 2006 when I did my first Ironman. I kept telling Karel after the ride "I can't believe I did that!"
Now, I can ride with Karel and he doesn't have to wait for me. Now, my skills allow me to ride safe and efficiently. Now, I feel one with my bike.

As much fun as it is to PR, stand on the podium or qualify for an event, every small achievement in training moves you closer to becoming better than you were yesterday in training and even closer to achieving something with your body, that you never thought was possible. In the big picture, athletic development and athletic success is not about the results but it's about progress.

It's easy to lose motivation and enjoyment for your sport if you believe what you are doing isn't working or if you don't see big improvements so the next time you find yourself questioning why you do your sport and why you should continue to put in the work, take a moment to reflect back on the progress you have made over the past few weeks, months and years. Thinking about big goals can be overwhelming so make sure to celebrate the little milestones and track and share your progress along the way. 

A training weekend to remember - be proud of your accomplishments

It's crazy to think that this is my 11th year of endurance triathlon racing and for the last five years, I have been sharing it with Karel as my training partner. We have had highs and we have had lows but that's all to be expected when you are a competitive athlete, always wanting to give your best, stretch your comfort zone and push your limits. 

Over the past few years, I have learned that it requires a lot of work and time to see performance improvements, so I am never quick to assume that my training is or isn't working. I continue to focus on the process and with so much gratitude to my strong and healthy body, no workout is taken for granted. Some workouts are so-so, some I want to quickly forget and others go into my memory bank to be remembered on race day. 

I've also learned that time goals, paces and watts are not worth chasing nor is a specific body image, but instead, I must continuously focus on something more subjective and meaningful to keep me motivated to train and race. 

Since I am not racing an Ironman distance triathlon this season (I've raced 6 Ironmans since 2013 and 2012 was the last time I took a season off from IM racing), but instead focusing on half IM distance racing, I've been creating a list of triathlon goals for myself that will keep me focused on the process of training rather than the outcome of race day. 

With so many years in the sport of endurance triathlon, I can admit to spending many of workouts criticizing my weaknesses and not focusing on my strengths. Sure, we all need to be honest, and somewhat critical about needed areas of improvements but I believe that many athletes doubt their own potential for success during the times of training weakness, bad workouts, a plateau in fitness gains, inconsistency or injury/sickness. But every athlete has room for improvement and the harder you work, the more consistently you train and the more processed driven goals you set for yourself, the bigger the chance that you will improve. 

If you find yourself crushing a workout, noticing your fitness improving or experiencing something new about yourself, like an improvement in your mental game, better execution of pacing or better application of sport nutrition, don't be shy about it. 

Since race day only comes but just a few times a year, give yourself permission to indulge in your own athletic triumphs every now and then. 

Let's get real - you train early in the morning before the world gets up, you squeeze in workouts whenever you have the chance, you organize your diet to support your training and you give your best, even when no one is watching. Don't wait until race day to "hope" it all comes together. You deserve to celebrate your personal victories NOW, in training. 

Athletic improvements will happen but they won't happen with a quick fix, magic potion or one or two epic workouts every now and then. Consistent training and hard work will pay off but improvements take time. 

The next time that you find yourself "wowing" at yourself, be proud of your accomplishment and share it with people who care about you and who have helped you along the way. 

No matter how big or small, take note of these special moments in your training journey as those are the moments that you work so hard for and that you will remember the most on race day. 

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My weekend to remember actually started on Friday. I have been feeling very frustrated with my swimming lately, struggling to consistently swim under 1:20 per 100 yards. While I can knock it out every now and then, I have felt like the effort I am putting forth to swim those sub 1:20's is just too much. In other words, every time I try to swim fast, I feel like I should be going much faster than what I am seeing on the pace clock. Let's just say, my swimming has been frustrating to me over the past few weeks. 

Sometimes I find myself in these swimming ruts where finding 2-3 extra seconds to knock off my swim times seems near to impossible. And then I see Karel, swimming next to me, improving in what seems to be, every single swim workout! I suppose I know better as I have been swimming for 25 years and Karel has been swimming for all of five so his gains appear to be much bigger than mine. 

Well, finally the day came when it finally happened. 

On Friday morning, I swam by myself at Furman and the main set was as followed: 

MS 5x's: 

3 x 100's strong w/ 10 sec rest

30 sec rest before repeating

My times hoovered around 1:14-1:17  with the last 3 x 100's all at 1:14. 

Then to finish the 3500 yard swim, I had to do 1 x 100 all out (from a wall push off)

1:11. 

I was so excited that I couldn't wait to call Karel after my swim and tell him that I finally had a good swim workout. Although I love being in the water, no matter how slow or fast I swim, I was really excited about that workout. 

Later on Friday, I had a very tough bike workout. Like so tough, my legs felt shredded at the end. 

The main sets were as follows: 

 MS #1: 

5 x (4 min all under 50 rpm, build effort from Z3 to absolutely max

3 min EZ spin between)

MS #2

8 min Z2 endurance 

MS #3: 

3 x (6 min at Z3+ all under 45 rpm) w/ 3 min EZ, fast rpm between)

Holy moly that was tough!

Karel did his bike workout first thing in the morning and swam in the evening. We both finished with a quality day of training but wow, we were exhausted come bedtime. 

On Saturday morning, I joined Karel, Thomas and Al for a ride up to Caesar's head before the guys would carry on for a 5 hour ride. Karel did not want me riding that long two weekends in a row so I was ok with riding back home by myself and doing my own thing. 

Well, sadly, Thomas's bike was having some trouble and even after a few fixes by Karel (always ride with your bike mechanic!), the bike was still having issues. It wasn't too long after Karel adjusted the derailleur as much as he could, that Thomas's bike chain eventually broke from getting stuck between gears (it was one of those mechanical issues that couldn't have been fixed on this day). What a bummer. Thomas handled himself really well as the situation put a damper on his morning training but our friend Brian picked him up and Thomas ended up getting in a quality brick on the trainer (on his road bike), later that day. 

Since Thomas was not longer with us, Karel decided that him and Al would continue to ride with me for the rest of the ride. Of course, Karel lead the way so we just followed. 

It was a beautiful route and like usual, the cars were friendly to us cyclists on the road. I feel so safe on our roads and it is always so much  fun to be on our bikes in and around Greenville. 

The big money maker was going strong for almost 6.5 miles up to the top of Caesar's head. Karel wanted me to pace myself for the first 3 miles and then when the road leveled out before it kicks up again, he wanted me to go strong to the top. 

While Al and Karel kept it conversational pace behind me, I found my rhythm and rode it very steady until Karel took the lead and pulled me to the top. I couldn't believe how "fast" I rode to the top, in my personal best time for that climb. I was also shocked to see that I could stay on Karel's wheel all the way to about 1000 meters to go when Karel kicked it up a notch and I didn't have that punch in my legs. I was huffing and puffing to the top and I was so excited to tell Karel about my time. 

Yep - celebrating 10mph for almost 6.5 miles! 

Al was riding really strong and a few minutes later he arrived to the top to join us. It's always fun training with our athletes. 

After the ride, we went for a 21 minute, 2.7 mile run around the rolling hills of our 'hood and the focus of the run was to build throughout. I wasn't sure how my legs would perform after 3:58 miles, 7078 feet of climbing (after elevation correction on TP) and 66.5 miles but once again, I was shocked that my form was good and I could find my rhythm. I was not able to hang with Al or Karel but I still had a great run off the bike. Karel ran super speedy and he looked good for his entire run. 

It was certainly a brick to remember. 

I was super exhausted from one of my hardest bricks but that's too be expected, especially since my body is doing things that it has never ever done before. These fitness gains, especially on the bike, have been a loooong time coming but even Karel is so excited about how strong I have been getting on the bike. 

Even though I am not a napper, Campy convinced me to lay down for a little bit and I took him up on his napping suggestion. Thank goodness for Campy, who is a professional recovery coach. 

(Karel took this pic while I was resting my eyes and tired body). 

As for Sunday, my "long" run was on the treadmill and it was a nasty workout! 

MS: 

3 x 12 minutes as: 

2 min Z3, 4% incline

2 min Z4, 4% incline

1 min Z4, 5% incline

30 sec Z5, 5% incline

30 sec max at 6% incline

2 min EZ walk/jog

4 min Z2 endurance 

That was tough! 

I ended up with 7 miles and 1:15 total running time for this "long" run and my legs were toasted. I could not have been more proud of my body and I am incredibly thankful for my good health and what I can do with my body after 11 years of endurance training and racing. 

Trimarni camp recap - day 2 (long ride + interval run)

It was a rather late night for Karel and I after our first day of camp but as coaches, we wanted to make sure everything was taken care of for our athletes. Karel had assembled a few bikes on Wednesday when the athletes arrived and we also made sure that we had everything and anything that we would need/want during a long day of training. I had about two weeks of food shopping/prep behind me but still a bit more finishing touches for the pancake buffet on Friday. Thankfully, when it came to refueling after workouts and a few extra snacks throughout the camp, I had a lot of help thanks to fabulous companies who helped out with the first ever Trimarni camp. 

The weather was much nicer for us on Friday although it started out a bit chilly for Florida (upper 40's) but we would warm up quickly thanks to our long ride on the hilly roads of Clermont.
The workout for Friday was as follows:
3-4 hour ride (two groups based on fitness - looped course)
Interval run after the bike:
15 or 30 min run
-15 min run - 5 min steady/comfortable form focused running. Walk 1 minute, 5 min strong. Walk 1 minute, 5 min steady/cool down.
-30 min run - 5 min steady/comfortable form focused running. Walk 1 minute. MS: 3 x 5 min strong w/ 1 min walk in between. Then cool down

Infinit nutrition was the nutrition sponsor for the camp and provided all the campers with SPEED and GO FAR formulas. I helped each athlete with their nutrition for their bottles (how many scoops) as well as what formula would be the best. This was a great opportunity for the athletes to try a well-formulated sport drink that is safe, effective and efficiently digested and absorbed with the proper amounts of electrolytes and carbohydrates when mixed in water. It was not mandatory that the campers use INFINIT but rather that every athlete had adequate nutrition in their bottles to consume during the long bike. Karel and I have been so pleased with INFINIT and we will both be using INFINIT as our primary sport nutrition fuel for this season. 

The campers met at the NTC at 7:10am and we started the day with a few leg opener drills to loosen up the hips and to warm-up the body. 

Every morning, Karel and I gave a short talk on the purpose of the workout as well as key pointers to consider during the workout. For this workout, the goal was time in the saddle but also to gain confidence and skills on the bike. It's one thing to have fitness to ride a bike but on race day, you must have skills to transfer that fitness to racing conditions. Karel and I used this long bike ride as a way to ride with the campers and to give specific instructions as to when to stand or sit-up on the saddle vs being aero (a common mistake is that triathletes have a tendency to always stay aero while riding). Another major area to address was changing gears. Karel and I had a chance to ride with almost every athlete throughout the 3-4 hour ride and to help the athletes learn how to ride smarter by changing gears at appropriate times based on the terrain.

Karel mapped out a small loop (about 20-25 min course) that included 4 steady climbs which was great for the athletes to feel-out the first loop and then learn how to ride smarter on the next loop. This is really important for race day for if you don't pre-ride parts of the course or know where you are riding, you may find yourself struggling to anticipate climbs or feel confident with your skills on the bike. 

We all started together and then split-up into two groups. Karel had a group of 6 and then I had a group of 7. The course was marked so every athlete knew where to go and we gave each athlete the option as to how many loops she/he would like to do. Our goal of the camp was to stretch comfort zones and for the athletes who live in FL, climbing the hills of Clermont was a new experience and was a big confidence builder for those who are doing races on rolling terrain this summer (ex. Raleigh, Haines City, Augusta 70.3)

There was one impromptu stop to say hello to a beautiful friend who was watching us ride around....

And considering that I am always saying HI to animals when I train/race, we just had to stop to take some pics. 

Karel and I could not be more proud of every athlete who rode today. Considering that we picked a challenging course for the athletes, we heard no complaints or excuses but instead, a lot of learning took place. Because we knew that riding 3-4 hours on the hills would give each athlete a lot more training stress than riding 5+ hours on flat terrain, we were not focused on the miles but instead, what each athlete gained within each mile.
As many of you may know, Karel and I do not believe in long miles when training for endurance racing. We only do 2 long rides as part of our IM prep (which takes place 12 weeks before a race). We do 1 x 100 mile ride and 1 x 112 mile ride and then rest of our rides are around 4 hours, primarily intervals and we do more intense or longer bricks off the bike to create a more beneficial training stress than just sitting in the saddle for long hours.
Our philosophy - get faster before you go longer.

We gave the athletes the option of riding up Sugarloaf mountain (1/2 mile climb) either once or twice during the long ride or skipping sugarloaf and riding an alternate route home. We were so impressed that every athlete at our camp not only tested out Sugarloaf but not one athlete clipped out and walked. And Sugarloaf came at the end of the ride (after 2 hours of riding hills) which was incredible for every athlete!

Karel and I really enjoyed riding with our campers and often times, having an athlete draft off our wheel or riding side-by-side to talk about changing gears, getting out of the saddle or aerobars as well as how to race smarter on the bike. We really enjoyed our one-on-one time with our campers since we did not want to just have our athletes get out an ride but instead, gain experience and skills with our help.

After the ride it was time for the run and without hesitation, every athlete finished the morning with a run. I had one athlete who choose to swim after the bike instead of running, which was absolutely fine - we don't focus on CAN'T at Trimarni but instead, I CAN.

We had around 90 minutes to clean-up and have a quick recovery snack/drink before it was time for pancakes and presentations. 

Back at the NTC, I was so excited for the pancake buffet. I don't know about you, but I sure do LOVE pancakes after a long ride. 

The weekend before the camp I made 40 pancakes from scratch with gluten free flour and froze them until the camp. They were super delicious after our 4-4.5 hour workout on Friday. 

Toppings:
Fresh fruit (local strawberries and oranges, bananas, apples and cantaloupe), PB2 powder, KIND peanut butter granola, dark chocolate chips, Irish butter (Karel's favorite), Maple syrup, honey, dates, trail mix, unsweetened coconut, Daisy Brand 2% cottage cheese and Chobani yogurt. 

I also made chocolate chip muffins with the flap jacked protein pancake mix that I received for the camp. YUMMY!

Karel stayed rather busy at camp with RETUL fits but we were happy to offer that service as we know many athletes do not have experienced fitters near by and many times, we have athletes email Karel for advice on saddles, fits, aero bars, pedals, power meters, etc. so it was nice for everyone to have the opportunity to pick Karel's brain. 

Trimarni athlete Ryan brought his Normatec boots to share so there was a bit of compressing going on during the afternoon of presentations. We are all about active recovery and "comfy" clothes were highly suggested during our presentations. We even had our Trigger point kit (which we highly recommend) for anyone who wanted some good-hurt during our presentations. 

As part of our camp, we took time every day to reflect with the athletes. We wanted to talk about what the athletes learned during training for that day but to also ask questions about upcoming training/racing situations. Karel and I also shared stories and lessons learned from our own racing experiences (7 Ironmans for me, including 3 IM World Championships and a lifetime of cycling racing for Karel, now turned IM finisher).

The highlight of the afternoon was giving our campers a break of listening to us talk, and having Kelsey Abbott from Find your awesome give an awesome presentation about the different levels that we go through (1-7) in life and sport. She discussed how to recognize when you are in a certain level, how to move from one level to another and what levels are appropriate at certain times. The presentation had a big impact on each athlete for it related so well to the workouts during camp and all the emotions, hard work and teamwork that was needed for four days of quality training. 

Around 5pm it was time to call it a day.

Some of the athletes jumped in the pool for a recovery swim while Karel and I cleaned up our presentation room and took some time finalizing the details (course, workouts, sport nutrition, recovery snacks, etc.) for day three of the camp.

Karel and I had given every athlete an itinerary before the camp but we did not give specifics on the intervals or purpose of the workout. Rather than overload our athletes with haphazard workouts just to do miles during camp, it was really important that we placed the right stress on our athletes bodies, at the right time, to ensure that we could minimize risk for injury/burnout or fatigue and ensure that our campers would have well fueled bodies (who could tolerate sport nutrition effectively in the hills) to perform strong for every workout as it came throughout camp. And most of all, this camp was designed to improve fitness so that after our athletes recovered, they would not only have new skills and confidence but a stronger foundation to work with during upcoming training. 

After two days of training hard and training smart, we gave our athletes the heads up that day three was going to be a tough day. We encouraged everyone to rest up and to be mentally strong for the brick workout on Saturday.
Karel and I were really excited to show our athletes exactly how we train for endurance events by giving them one of our key "long" workouts. Rather than doing a solo long run or solo long bike we combine a longish interval bike with a longish interval run for a quality workout to work on nutrition and pacing for race day. 

100 mile ride + Blueberry Strawberry pancakes

There's something special about the last few weeks before an important race. Actually, thinking about all things in life, how neat is it to reflect on where you were 3, 6 maybe even 12 months ago and then stop to think where you are today. I really love when things come together and despite obstacles, set-backs and low moments, keeping focused on the journey can be the defining reason as to why some individuals succeed in life. As for success, you can't always define that and for many athletes, it means a PR, age group place or beating competition. For others, it is just the satisfaction that they are somewhere where they never thought they'd be several weeks or months ago. 

Nearing race day, I can only reflect on the work that was done with Karel as my teammate, coach and biggest supporter. I'd like to believe that he thinks the same way about me for we have really enjoyed sharing this journey together. It's awesome when we both have amazing workouts and after the work is done, drenched in sweat we can share thoughts from our workout. But it is still entertaining when one of us has a great workout and the other, well, not so much. Thankfully this happened only  a few times but two athletes in the same house with similar training plans means a lot of highs and lows, not always at the same time. But I guess in a good way, it is great to hear about a high with someone when your workout didn't go as planned. There's no reason to beat yourself up for your "off" feeling when a loved one is having a great day. I really enjoy this part of training because being able to share all moments with Karel has kept me enjoying this journey more than my past 5 IM experiences. As usual, I have never felt burnout, questioned "why" am I doing this, felt fatigued or exhausted. I have woken up excited for every workout and I feel progress was made in every workout. I owe a lot of this to sharing the workouts with someone as it is amazing how we all can use a little pep talk (or sound advice) when things don't go as planned as many times, it only takes one negative thought to ruin a workout but one positive thought to keep on going. 

Nearing our taper, these last few weeks are very race specific in terms of training. This means no more group rides to ensure we both enter the race with skin on our body (not risking group-ride crashes). We have been extra careful on rest and rather than having 1 day of rest or active recovery, we have been taking 2 days, with race specific workouts falling every 2-3 days  + 1 day active recovery. Because many athletes do too much too soon (or too long) in training, taper often becomes a time of "necessity" - I finally get  to rest or I need to keep going hard. Realizing that no more significant performance gains can be made and endurance has already been built over the last 10 weeks of IM specific training, the elements we are trying to balance include resisting fatigue, maintaining fitness, staying healthy, staying mentally strong/focused and keeping good form. All of this can be done with the right type of training plan in the weeks leading up to a race and for many athletes, the taper can be the time when previous weeks/months of training are either put together for a peaking performance on race day....or fear-based training (at any point in training) takes over the athletes' mind and come taper, too much "I need to rest" ruins the athlete's race day performance. It is a tough combination to balance but it can be done..you just have to trust yourself that it will all come together on race day. 

Every athlete will peak differently, primarily based on previous training, current fitness and racing/season goals. Obviously, Karel and I want nothing more than to peak on July 28th so we are maintaining fitness while doing everything possible to reduce fatigue. We entered this week with a rested body thanks to a day off on Monday, an active recovery swim on Tues and an EZ endurance (2 hour) bike on Wed. We both did an intense brick (3 hour ride + 8 mile run) on Thurs (Karel ran 4 miles upfront before the bike) and then Fri was an endurance swim. Saturday was our "long run" with fresh legs again (for Karel, he split it up into 4 miles upfront, 3.5 hour ride, 10 mile run...then off to work for the day - what a trooper! For me, 2 hour ride + 15 mile run)  and Sunday was our 2nd and last 100+ mile ride with our 10 week IM specific training. I don't believe  in junk miles and none have been wasted on this training. With most of our "long" rides being around 3-4 hours with higher intensity intervals we are able to put the pieces nicely for these longer rides without feeling drained or burnout and with a lot of confidence and endurance in the tank. It's a beautiful thing when fitness comes together over a period of time but what's not so fun is when fatigue happens quickly and lingers around.

Although athletes struggle with resting (some more than others), I must say that without a doubt, you have to put in the work to progress with fitness and to train for endurance events. But without the right balance of training, your risk for poor form increases (and motivation declines) because the body is unable to adapt properly. If you are currently training for an endurance event or seek fitness gains with your exercise routine, be mindful that the body needs to rest in a way that is beneficial to you making gains with your fitness. Not too much, just enough and when I say rest, this means not wasting time on doing miles/time that don't contribute to your race day fitness. Get the workout done, rest and do it again tomorrow. 

Because I only believe in doing 1-2 workouts in endurance training based on miles (and not time), this workout happened to be a 5 hour ride (not a designated 100-mile ride), despite Karel pulling me along for over 100 miles at his pace (but still my appropriate power zone for the IM by drafting on his wheel). I don't believe in going by miles as you never know what the day will bring and I find it more beneficial for an athlete to accomplish a strong 5 hour ride than to suffer in the wind for 6+ hours just to ride x-miles. Riding 112 miles or 56 miles for an endurance triathlon gives you confidence (sometimes - if done at the right time when you can actually "test" your fitness) but you should not be expected to ride by miles for every long workout. Focus on your main set and then be smart in your training conditions and with your body and how it is responding for that day. 

Our 2nd, 100+ mile ride over 20 mph is in the books thanks to Karel holding a strong pace for our 3 x 25 min intervals at just above IM pace. It was hot and super windy and our route included a lot of rollers which really made things fun and passed the time quickly. We did the intervals after a 1 hour warm-up and included 5 min EZ spin in between each interval. After the 3 intervals, Karel rode steady for the rest of the ride home. Having head-wind all the way home was no fun but it gave us great practice for pacing, nutrition and mental strength to be used on race day. 

Karel went right to his 110% Play Harder  gear to recover and I headed out for a 2 mile run. I actually felt quite good on the run and I use these short runs (up to 30 minutes) off the long bikes as confidence builders. I do not focus on pace but keep an eye on my HR and form. I just run happy knowing that from Feb - April, I was unable to run a step or even walk without pain.  

After I returned from my run, it was time to make my homemade pancakes......enjoy!!

Talk about a fair trade...Karel pulls me around for 100 miles and watches the TDF while I make us pancakes :) 

Blueberry Strawberry pancakes

1/2 cup rye flour (you can use any flour)

1/4 cup instant oats
1/8 tsp salt

1 egg + 1 egg white
1/4 cup Fage 0% Greek yogurt
1/2 cup milk

1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
Small handful (about 1/8  cup or so) raisins or currants (optional small handful of dried cranberries)

2-3 tbsp chopped walnuts
1/2 cup blueberries 

1 cup strawberries (sliced)

Water to help with mixing (if needed - maybe a tbsp or two)

1. Preheat two large skillets to low-medium heat. 

2. Mix together above ingredients in large bowl until "creamy" consistency (may need to add water so batter is gently dripping off mixing spoon/fork). 

3. Drizzle a little olive oil on pans and use ~1/3 cup for each pancake. 

4. Let each pancake cook for 2-3 minutes on one side and then flip when firm. Let other side cook for ~1.5-2 minutes (or until golden brown). 

Makes ~8-10 pancakes depending on serving size (I generally press my pancakes down a bit so they are more flat and wide than thick)

Do you have a fitness/athletic goal....Are you committed or obsessed?

I can't believe we are nearing July!! In only 5 weeks, Karel and I will be sharing our first Ironman experience together in Lake Placid!! I feel like it was just yesterday when we registered for the race (last July) and it was just 10 weeks ago when we started our key "IM-focused training". Although I feel that athletes always have the opportunity to build on past seasons, there is a special kind of attention and focus that is often made when gearing up for an important race or any endurance event. We must never forget that the body must be trained in order to perform. With the good and the bad (lessons learned) days, any time you have a goal you must be willing to be disciplined, determined and committed. For many times, it is when things get tough or challenging that you are most vulnerable to quitting but many times, it is at that moment that you are about to make a breakthrough, a jump on progress or learn something new about yourself. 

Although there are no guarantees in life, you may notice that for yourself (or for others) that there is a big connection between commitment and success. Although success does not have one standard definition, the person who dedicates him or herself to a goal will discover many opportunities of progress than compared to the person who is not focused or desires quick results.

As an athlete all my life, I have discovered many definitions of success with my sport activities/events. Perhaps for yourself, if you have ever tried a new sport, distance or physical activity, you have the choice of doing it when it is convenient (or wishing for it to be easy) OR being committed and recognizing that the situations ahead of you will not always be within your comfort zone. But as we all know, "easy" is rarely associated with fitness gains for the body and mind loves to be comfortable and in order to get stronger, fitter or faster we must respect the body but still, push it to a higher limit. When we are committed to the task at hand, we get to experience this amazing thing called a "breakthrough" and consequently, when this happens, the situation gets easier but the next step is setting a higher goal. And thus, the cycle continues as we look for the easy way but we all know that anytime something gets easy, we look for another challenge and new goal.

The issue for many age group athletes is this idea of commitment which we all must have when training for an event (ex. running race, triathlon, cycling event, etc.). There is an expectation that when you do an individualized sport, it is all about yourself and only you can do the work to get to the starting line and finishing line. Sure, we all need support and help along the way but our goals and level of commitment is based on how much we (YOU) want "it". Thus this is a great thing when you plan your races and training in order to peak at the right time but many athletes take this to extreme and commitment often turns into obsession.

I remember when I was in graduate school to earn a Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology, school was my life. I kept myself active and trained for a marathon (gotta put all that education to good use!) but above all, school was my top priority. I realized the educational undertaking of graduate school was only 1.5 years but I was fully committed to my education for those 1.5 years. I made sacrifices and did not have much life outside of school but I knew that it would all be worth it when it was over. I remember studying for my exit exams and that took isolation to a whole new level. Morning, noon and night, studying all day and even when I could squeeze in a workout, I felt like I was still studying (and often did on the treadmill or stationary bike). Again, it all worked out and it was worth it.

I had the same experience while obtaining my RD credential but that road was a bit longer (3 years) and I knew that the 10-month internship would be the big commitment so I made sure that I kept myself as balanced as possible throughout the journey of being eligible for my internship while obtaining my pre req courses.

So for anyone who has earned a degree, passed a certification or has dealt with a similar situation of being in school and having to be fully committed to studying all day, every day...you get it. And even if it isn't education-related, it is likely that at some point in your career, that you have had to be 100% committed to the task at hand.

Never would we complain to a person that they are studying too much or that they are obsessed with studying. We know that education is expensive, time consuming and for many, it is specialized. We often do anything and everything to support and encourage those who are in school (or doing something career related) for they need ongoing support and motivation to keep on moving forward and to not quit when things get tough, challenging and overwhelming.

But for any age-group athlete, the commitment that is needed to train and prepare for an event can often get confused with obsession. And thus, rather than getting the support needed to continue, your support-crew begins to complain.

When training begins to interfere with daily activities and relationships, when a missed workouts becomes the "worst" part of the day, when "perfect" is associated with expectations of working out, when you ignore the signs of injury, fatigue, burnout or illness, when your diet/training routine becomes extreme and isolated, when you set unattainable or unrealistic goals/expectations for yourself with training or you live in a bubble of working out, eating and sleeping, one may feel you are obsessed and have taken your training routine to the extreme.

I realize that this can be a hard situation to handle for any athlete and my suggestion is to always set goals for yourself but recognize the journey that is needed to achieve goals. Often times, athletes get so obsessed with the end result that they lose sight of the journey and the progress that is being made. Many times, success comes from worrying less about what others are doing and just focusing on yourself and what you are able to do every day to move yourself closer to your goals.

For myself, I can not dedicate more than 10-14 weeks of my life to a race. I have a lot of dedication within me and my type A personality allows me to stay focused with whatever task is ahead of me. Thus, if I have a goal, I find myself 100% committed to my goal. I try to establish my own definition of balance (which is often re-defined thanks to my supportive hubby) every time I have a goal so that I don't lose sight of all the many important parts in my life that make me happy. This year has been a great year for my career in that I have dedicated myself to many speaking events all over the US and many trips lasting for several days. I found myself with the same commitment and focus to my career as I do with my training and racing and I hope you can do the same.

Whenever you train for an event, I encourage you to find a way to keep things balanced for as long as you can. Sometimes that means talking with your close friends and family and having an honest discussion with your boss and anyone else that relies on you. There are many people in this world that don't understand the commitment, dedication and desire to train for events, whether it is a 5K run/walk or an Ironman. But, you never know who you will inspire as you dedicate yourself to the task at hand in order to achieve your goal. So I encourage you to make sure that you do not become obsessed but instead, just stay committed so that your life isn't extreme in any one way (yes - I realize that training for an Ironman or marathon can be quite extreme but be sure to keep your on/off switch ON at the appropriate time for training and ON at the appropriate time for family, work and social obligations).

Keep things fun, enjoy the journey and be sure you find yourself always making progress. You can't expect to have a great day every day but you can learn something from every workout/experience and if anything, be sure to never make the same mistake twice.

With several 3-3.5 hour rides behind us, this weekend was all about putting the pieces together. With the focus on Ironman pacing (which works very well for me since Karel's IM pace is my IM pace when I draft on his wheel - although he is much faster so I cover more distance than by myself but we typically train by time so it all works out), our plan was a 4 hour ride + 4-6 mile run on Saturday (achieved!! 90 miles + 50 min run for me) and the BIG ride today. 

Today's ride was all about getting comfortable with all the highs and lows that come from being on your bike for 5+ hours, practicing nutrition, practicing pacing, working on mental toughness (thanks Gloria for all my tips!) and well, just enjoying time together outside (which I just love sharing my 6th IM journey with Karel!). 

112 mile ride + 10 min run (Karel ran 4 miles off the bike). 

I can't believe it...never in my dreams did I think I would be riding this fast/strong behind Karel's wheel. October 2011 was the last time I biked 112 miles (in Kona for the World Championships). Two years later I have made a lot of progress and not a day goes by when I reflect on the hard work, fun and tough days on the bike to be able to ride 30 minutes faster on a training ride and to stay behind Karel's wheel for 112 miles.  For around 6 years, I have been riding with Karel. Never could I draft off his wheel like I can today. Karel and I still laugh about my very first 100 mile ride in the summer of 2006 when we were dating, while I was training for IMFL. Karel said he nearly feel asleep and it was the longest ride of his life. Of course, he was proud to be there with me but I think after that all he had on his mind was "I gotta get this girl faster!" 

Still I am challenged on the bike with certain workouts (and depending on the day - my body recovers very quickly but I don't always have perfect days) and not always can I do his workouts (especially when he was training for cycling and crit races - I didn't even try for some of his short crit-focused workouts). But whenever possible, I try to push myself on the bike and I can only do that if I believe in myself and that I can't doubt myself until I try. I have been dropped on many group rides in the past, I have struggled to stay confident when my legs hurt and I have often found myself comparing myself to those who are faster. But with everything that may have kept me from thinking I could get better, I used it all as motivation that as long as I don't give up, I can make progress. 

As you continue with your athletic journey or think about setting a goal for yourself with fitness, I encourage you to give yourself a time-frame. Don't make it too long, don't make it too short. Think about the journey ahead of you and don't ever give up. I promise....some progress is always better than no progress.