Live a more courageous life

On Sunday (January 8th), Facebook shared this memory of Campy from 2014. Not only was Campy just a young pup at six years old but this was a very important moment in our life - it was our first trip to Greenville, SC. We were living in Jacksonville, FL and after six years, we were ready for a change. Although there was nothing forcing us to move, we felt like there was more to life for us and it wasn't in Florida. 

It was extremely risky to move from Florida to South Carolina. This was a big change and nearly everything that we would be experiencing would be new for both of us. 

Thankfully, Greenville, SC. has been the perfect place for us to grow our business and to live an active and healthy lifestyle. 

For much of my life, I hated change. I feared failure and I did not like stepping out of my comfort zone. Karel has helped me become much more courageous. With Karel leading the way in most of our adventures, it has forced me to understand (and work through) that paralyzing moment of anxiety, stress and worry. Because fear has the power of stopping us from making the most out of opportunities, I realized (with time) that being courageous means making the choice to get more out of my one and only life. 

Prior to moving to Greenville, SC we knew our move wouldn't be easy and smooth but we also thought about the things that were important to us - and that helped us act in spite of the fear of giving up the familiar. 

Since moving to Greenville, SC. I have found myself doing a lot of new things - I've really strengthened my courage muscle - and it's not without tears, worry and struggles. But each time I stretch or step out of my comfort zone, I find myself getting more excited about life. I no longer fear failure and that has allowed me to grow as a human being. 

The memory of our first trip to Greenville on January 8th, 2014 could not have come at a better time. 

On Saturday, it was nearly 30-degrees and we were getting ready for the 10am Greenville Winter Bike League weekly ride. The old me wouldn't have even considered the thought of riding outside but the new me likes to put myself into uncomfortable situations. Unfortunately, I didn't feel strong on the ride and it was a real struggle for me but I showed up and gave it my best effort. I finished the ride feeling accomplished (and even went out for a 20-min run off the bike!). 

It’s easy to avoid things that feel hard, uncomfortable and overwhelming. It’s normal to have an expectation that we should be in the mood to do something and that it will be comfortable, fun and pleasurable.

But this mindset means we teach ourselves that we can’t do hard things.

I love putting myself into challenging, uncertain, uncomfortable and difficult situations.

For many years, I was scared of failure. But I learned that I was robbing myself of great opportunities and meaningful experiences by shying away from difficulty.

Do the things that make you feel uncomfortable. 
Try to live a more courageous life. 
Learning to be comfortable with discomfort is an important skill to living a truly fulfilling life.

Good bye Florida! Hello new home in Greenville SC!

If you are an athlete, it's likely that you find yourself using the same motivation, discipline and mental/physical strength that is needed to cover x-miles of swimming, biking and/or running to function well in life. Or maybe the skills that you use a parent, full-time worker, boss or care giver have helped you transition smoothly to a multisport or running lifestyle. 

Life is not easy. 

It throws a lot at you when you least expect it and also when you try to do your best to control a situation, sometimes too much feels out of your control and it can be rather stressful. 

When Karel and I created our 2014 "race-cation" race schedule back in November,we did not plan for Karel to stop working at Trek Bicycle of Jacksonville and we did not plan on moving out of state. 

If you are someone who believes that everything happens for a reason, we can agree on one thing that sometimes life throws you a curve ball or two but that doesn't mean that you have to strike out and give up. 

With nothing keeping us stationary in Jacksonville FL, we decided that we would love the opportunity to trade the beach for the mountains and move to a cycling-friendly city with a small town vibe.

Moving is a lot like the Ironman and with 7 Ironman finishes in my legs, I found myself overwhelmed at the task at hand to move our life, our business, our furry family and us to a new state. 

But just like the Ironman, if you keep moving forward and make progress, you WILL reach that finish line. 

It's sad to leave what's comfortable and familiar but life is all about new opportunities and creating memories as much as possible. The primary reason for our move was to grow our business and we could not be more excited for what we have planned for the rest of this year for athletes all over, as well as for the next few years. Stay tuned!

Change is hard and can be scary but to help survive in life, be sure you don't do it alone. Hopefully you have a buddy, a significant other, a best friend or even a team to help you in life...if you don't, find someone who you can share the highs and lows of life with OR find that person who can be a mentor for you as you explore life alone (nothing wrong with that).

Not only am I married to my best friend but we train together and work together. We are also proud furry parents. 

We spend almost every hour of every day together and after we arrived home from our race-cation on Wednesday from St. Croix 70.3, we found ourselves working super strong as a team to transition our life from Jacksonville FL to Greenville, SC.

Campy made sure he was always around us during the moving process.....

Often with his eyes closed

Keeping his "bears" close

And finding anything to rest his little chin on for a little snooze.

The collection of pillows and blankets was a score for Campy!

I made sure to keep our bodies nourished for the last thing we need after recovering from a half IM in the virgin islands and then moving the weekend after the race is a sick or injured body. 

I made sure to keep my kitchen functional for homecooked meals as much as possible before we hit the road on Monday morning. 

Despite all the craziness in our life with getting our athletes ready for their races and moving, we made sure to spend a little time for ourselves. The week after our endurance races (key races) is always reserved for active recovery and although there's not much in common with recovery and moving, we wanted to give our body something familiar during the move so we enjoyed some EZ road biking and swimming on Thurs, Fri and Sat. Sun/Mon/Tues was 100% dedicated to the move. 

Karel made sure our friends/athletes felt extra good when they helped us pack up the moving truck....

Karel calls this the "magic" Czech drink. 

Campy did a lot of supervising

And door watching.

And with a lot of eating on the floor, Campy made sure the carpet stayed cleaned if any food was to "accidentally" drop from a plate.

And if moving wasn't stressful enough, how about add in a 90 gallon and 55 gallon fish tank......with lots of fish. Karel was very overwhelmed with this part of the move for our fish are our family.

Karel is the MASTER packer. If you ever need something done, leave it to Karel. This was one puzzle that Karel figured out but it wasn't easy!

Don't worry, Campy. We would never move without you! You are going to LOVE Greenville and all of the nature that we get to explore together. 

You know you are getting to the end of the moving process when you eat Tijuana Flats on the floor. 

And spend your last two nights sleeping on the floor with Dexter on the iPad thanks to Netflix. 

No more room!!

I have the precious cargo with me - furry and wet ones with me. Karel drove the moving truck and he left his car in Jax with a friend. He will fly down in June and do some RETUL bike fits and then drive back to SC.

We had to do our fish last so we woke up at 3:50am on Monday morning and it took about 2.5 hours to empty the 90 gallon tank (where all the fish from two tanks were hanging out over night) and then fill the large tupperware container (with a battery operated bubble maker and hole in the top of the container) and to get the tank into the moving truck (and stand). We then hit the road around 7:30am (which was rush hour but we didn't plan to leave that late, it just happened to take longer than we planned in the am). 

Campy was so exhausted from all the excitement of moving (and supervising) that he missed the entire 6.5 hour drive to our new home.

What a great surprise!! My friends at KIND sent us a surprise welcome package!

I can't believe Karel and I unloaded our drove to SC and unloaded the truck all in one day! We used Penske which was great to have the truck from Fri - Tues. We loaded the truck Fri (just a little) and then all day Sat/Sun (the weekend after St. Croix), then drove to SC on Monday am and unloaded Monday afternoon through the evening. Then returned the truck on Tues around noon. 

I am a firm believer that Pizza makes every situation better! I found a great local place called Brixx pizza and I got the mushroom and arugula pizza and Karel got the Hawaiian pizza.

Ahhhh, the best feeling and I never thought it would happen!

An empty fridge is no fun...time to shop!

So much fun shopping at a new grocery store!

And as new Greenville residents, the cashier gave us complimentary flowers! So nice and pretty!

Campy got a new toy to destroy.....a new home gift is always fun.

Sleep was a top priority on Mon and Tues with our life being a bit crazy over the past week but by Wed we were both itching to get back in the water. I have been a Y member for over 20 years (I swam for a Y when I started swimming) so lucky for us, our new YMCA is 1.9 miles from our new home!

I think we are really going to enjoy our new home but it will be a bit of an adjustment until we feel as if we are settled down. But until then, we will continue to stay focused on the reason why we moved and to stay focused on helping athletes and fitness enthusiasts reach personal health, fitness and body composition goals. 

Stay tuned for a recap of an amazing opportunity that I had with a group of selected RD's.
I just came back from an awesome trip to San Fran! I know, crazy times.  Only two days in Greenville and I was off to the West Coast for a 2.5 day trip to the Clif Bar HQ for the #ClifRDsummit . 

While I enjoyed my time in Cali, Karel explored our new bike routes...so pretty, I can't wait to train!

Goodbye Jacksonville!

Growing up in Lexington, KY for 21 years and moving to Davie Florida in 2004, I never thought that I'd be where I am today.

Actually, let's turn back the clock to 2006. I moved into my parents new home in New Port Richey, FL with negative money in my bank account and no job.....yet I did have an expensive new piece of paper letting me know I had a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology.

From 2000-2006, I sacrificed a lot in life for my education and wrapped it all up in 2011 after finishing 3 time-consuming, costly, exhausting years to obtain my RD credential. Why did I do all of this? Well, I don't like short-cuts. I always wanted to have my dream job of owning my own business and I knew that I couldn't just wish for things to happen...especially when I wanted to do things the right way.  I made my dreams come true through hard work, dedication and commitment. 

As a long-time student-athlete, the same traits that have helped me find personal success in my professional life have also helped me find success in sports. Seven Ironman finishes, including 3 Ironman World Championship finishes are constant reminders for me that I can be motivated, inspired and excited to reach a goal but I have to be open to hard work, dedication and commitment to turn my goals into dream-come-true.

I'm grateful to have such wonderful support from Karel and my family for I don't think I'd be where I am today without being able to share my enthusiasm for Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition with them. My family knows when I have my mind set to something, it's very hard for me to get distracted. 

As many people know, Karel is 100% on board at Trimarni since he stopped working at Trek Bicycle store of Jacksonville in November 2013 (after 5 years of being the GM).

Over the past two years, since officially "opening" Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition, I have had the great honor of helping athletes and fitness enthusiasts from all over the world reach personal health, fitness, body composition, performance and lifestyle goals. 

And like any small business owner would agree, it takes a lot of hard work, time, dedication, commitment and patience to grow a business and to experience success. There are ups and downs but it can be extremely rewarding to know that your business is helping other people. 

As many people know, Karel and I love to travel. 

IM Lake Placid 2013

Retz, Austria 2013

Nature, local eats, mountains, water, physical activity. These are a few of our favorite things we like to experience when it comes to exploring the world with our active bodies. Lucky for us, we both love that our triathlon lifestyle allows us to race to travel (or travel to race). 

But as much as we love to travel, it's important that we have a place to live that gives us enjoyment for the same things that we love to experience when we travel. 

With Karel's job at Trek as the reason for us moving from Dunedin, FL to Jacksonville FL, we realized that there are so many great places in this world for us to live and to grow our business. Although we are leaving a lot behind, sometimes you have to take a chance every now and with that, be willing to put in even more work than you did before.  

As much as we have enjoyed our making and building friendships in Jacksonville, we confirmed our decision to move after our recent trip to Greenville, SC. 

(Source)

Mountains, nature, community, bike-friendly.....

Greenville, SC. 

We are excited to bring Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition to you and make you our home this June!!!