IM 70.3 Blue Ridge - Quick Recap

 

Our racing block was a success.
We completed three long distance triathlons in 29 days. 

May 7th - Ironman World Championship (St. George, Utah)
May 22nd - Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga (Chattanooga, TN)
June 5th - Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge (Roanoke, Virginia)

The past 4 weeks have been fun, exciting, challenging and empowering. 

FUN
Although traveling can be stressful, we love our race-cations. In St. George, Karel re-connected with his friends from Czech. We were reunited with the beauty of the red rocks in and around St. George. In Chattanooga and Roanoke, we had over 20 Trimarni team members participating in each race. It was so great to see familiar faces. We love racing and being able to travel to three different places in a month was a lot of fun. Each race provided us with a different race experience and unique course features. The community support, volunteers and professionalism for each race was incredible and we felt welcomed (and safe) at every race venue. 

EXCITING
I forgot to mention that Karel finished 4 races in 6 weeks! He completed his first 8-hour mountain bike race (and won it!) in Tennessee two weeks before IM St. George. We did not feel overwhelmed by this racing block but instead, focused on one race at a time. We went into this racing block healthy, resilient and strong - even though our training over the past few months was a bit unconventional. It was exciting to have so many unknowns going into Chattanooga and Blue Ridge, as well as how we would perform at IM St. George. Karel had not raced an Ironman distance since 2019 and going into the race, he was a bit ambivalent about continuing to race long distance triathlons. But racing with no pressure or expectations provided freedom to enjoy the day. We both surprised ourselves with great performances and I shocked myself with my first ever podium finish at the Ironman World Championship. We both felt really good at IM 70.3 Chattanooga and I had my fastest ever 70.3 performance - just shy of the age of 40! And Karel won his age group. And with both 70.3 events, Karel found himself running faster and faster! We recently won our respective age groups at Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge and Karel finished 6th overall and I was 4th female amateur. It was exciting to see what our bodies were able to do at each race.

CHALLENGING
The travel, logistics, packing and unpacking and saying good-bye to our furry crew every other weekend was tough. Balancing these races with work was also a challenge. But the hardest challenge was keeping the body moving after each race to help with the recovery. The first few days after the Ironman were rough but the body finally started to come around in the 10 days before Chattanooga. But then again we were "only" carrying the fatigue from an Ironman. Going into Blue Ridge, things got tough - very very tough. We were tired, exhausted and we could feel a bit more deep soreness lingering around. Trying to recover from Chattanooga 70.3 and Ironman St. George proved to be a big challenge - and we felt it. It was harder to "show up" to workouts, even though we weren't doing a lot between each race compared to what we would have done in the lead up to a 70.3. I was very tired going into Blue Ridge and I couldn't seem to get enough sleep to feel rested. The races were finally catching up to me (as to be expected) and I was feeling tired. Karel seemed to be a bit more energized than me going into Blue Ridge so I wonder if my hormones and getting my period on Thursday of Blue Ridge race week also affected me. We started and finished this racing block with two very challenging bike courses (7000 feet elevation on the bike in St. George and 4000 in Blue Ridge). We asked a lot from our bodies to race in heat, on hills, in cold water, in warm conditions and so much more. 

EMPOWERING
Anytime you do something for the first time, there are unknowns. We learned so much about ourselves over 4 weeks - in training and on race day. We have so much more gratitude for our body and mind and what they can do on race day. We stayed healthy between every race - free of sickness, burnout and injury. We put our energy into what we could control to keep us healthy. Even when we were tired, sore and exhausted, the body was still willing to work and the mind was there to keep the body going. With each race, we didn't race with any goals, metrics or an outcome focus. We simply stayed in the present moment. With each race, we become a smarter, more strategic, better and more confident with our abilities. Although we didn't gain fitness from race to race, we certainly became better racers. 

Last year at Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge, I crossed the line first but because of the rolling start, I finished second. I lost the race by 2 seconds. Returning this year, certainly I wanted to finish first but I also knew it would be greedy of me to expect that I could race at my best after racing twice before Blue Ridge. I knew that I could be competitive but I also didn't feel the pressure that I needed to win to feel satisfied. Last year, Karel watched the race on the sidelines due to a broken hand, just a week out of surgery. I wanted so badly to share the course with Karel last year and I was so thankful that we could share the course together this year. Racing is so much more than needing to prove something. It's a day to explore the abilities and capabilities of your body and mind. 

Often times, the pressure felt on race day becomes paralyzing. Athletes become overwhelmed with the need to prove something and racing becomes demoralizing. Racing should be fun. It's a celebration of months and months of hard work. Racing is also exciting, challenging and empowering. Racing should be shared and celebrated with others.

During our pre-race team talk/pizza party on Friday, Karel and I talked to our athletes about having an explorative mindset on race day. Instead of racing with a mindset of "I have to do this" we wanted our athletes to race with a mindset of "let's see what I can do." Racing should not feel like a test - pass or fail. In each one of our races, we went in with no expectations but instead, a mindset of "let's see what happens." 

It was an incredible experience to see what our body and mind could do race after race after race. We learned so much about racing and about ourselves.

Now it's time for a well-deserved reboot as we recover from the past month of racing and prepare our body and mind for the next block of racing adventures. 

Race report coming soon......

IM 70.3 Blue Ridge Results
Marni: 5:06.52, 1st AG (40-44), 4th overall female
Swim: 29:15
T1: 3:10
Bike: 2:47 
T2: 2:07
Run: 1:44.37

Karel: 4:37.00, 1st AG (45-49), 6th overall 
Swim: 29:18
T1: 2:34
Bike: 2:39
T2: 2:09
Run: 1:23.07

My first book signing

It was a jammed-packed three days but it was all worth it.

On Thursday afternoon, I made the 2.5 hour drive to the Charlotte Running Company - Promenade location. This was a somewhat last-minute event to put together so I was grateful to have a small group of local runners, fitness enthusiasts and triathletes in attendance. A big thank you to Leyla and Kelly and Meg Fillnow for promoting (and attending). 

To start the event, I gave a short motivational talk discussing how to get more out of an exercise/training journey with becoming obsessive, rigid or extreme. I then followed up answering several nutrition questions and had my first ever book signing. While my intention as an author is to write books that are helpful, inspiring and educational, it was a great honor to sign books and to connect with my readers. I even had one female who has used my sport nutrition book in her dietetic practice - the book was filled with post-it notes and highlighted sentences.

After the event, I drove down the road to stay the night with my friends Kelly and Meg Fillnow. We spent the next hour or two chatting, laughing and snacking before a later-than-normal bedtime of 10:30pm. It was great to hang out with these two exceptionally fast, humble and awesome athletes/humans.

The next morning, I slept in until 7am and had a cup of coffee and pre-workout snack (2 slices cinnamon toast w/ peanut butter) and then went to the Y with Kelly and Meg. We had an awesome swim workout, which was extra fun in a new pool for me. There's something so fun about swimming in new locations - every pool feels different! Kelly is recovering from knee surgery due to a bike accident so she used the buoy for the entire swim but she was great company as we held the same paces throughout the entire set. 4400 yards later we were done and it was time to eat.

I enjoyed a delicious egg and veggie scramble at the Fillnow house w/ 2 slices toast and then it was time to hit the road to Roanoke. It was cold and wet outside but to my surprise, the rain turned into snow as I was driving! Luckily it wasn't sticking so it was a smooth and safe drive up to Roanoke Virgina. This is me trying to take a selfie to show Karel that it was snowing. ;)

About 3.5 hours later, I arrived to Ally's house - who was putting on my next event.

This was my first time traveling to Roanoke and it was neat to check out the area since we will be racing the innagural Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge in June. After unloading my car, we headed to Run About Sports (the run store that Ally owns) and did a quick promo video for our event on Saturday. I received a few gifts from Ally - like a soft hoodie that I will likely wear all the time as it's so comfy.

We then drove back to Ally's house where I was welcomed by her two energetic kiddos and adorable dog.

I was able to get a little work done on the computer before it was time for dinner. Ally made a delicious black bean and sweet potato enchilada dish which was the perfect meal to end the day.

  

After chatting with Ally later in the evening, I went to bed a bit early (8:30am) as we had an early wake-up call. 

My alarm got me up at 5:30am and after a pre-workout snack (2 slices cinnamon toast + PB) we drove to River Edge Park to run on the Greenway. Ally and I ran a few miles before the group run at 8am. She ran me to the downtown area of Roanoke and showed me some of the popular places - like the best ice cream in town (note to self - make sure to take Karel there afer the half IM). While I didn't see the bike course (although I heard it will be very hilly - yippee), I covered the entire run course for the half IM and I love it. It will be very spectator friendly and scenic with parks and river views throughout the run. It was nice to chat with some of the local runners and triathletes - many of which will be doing their first half IM in June.

After the run, we made a quick stop at Kroger to get some snacks for the events, and then did a quick change before my speaking event. The event had a similar flow as Thursday's event but with a much larger crowd. I had a lot of great questions and met a lot of awesome people. 

After the event, I went back to Ally's house, packed up the car and headed home around 12:30pm. It was a smooth and easy drive for the next 4.5 hours and ended the day with dinner at my mom's house - while being entertained by my three nephews who were in town for the weekend.