Thank you Body (Thanksgiving)

 

For athletes, Thanksgiving often arrives during a time of off-season rebuilding, or much-needed rest.

Perhaps there's a reason for this timely holiday. You now have a chance to step back and appreciate everything that makes your athletic journey possible.

This Thanksgiving, take a moment to thank every part of your athletic life. And most importantly, don't forget to thank your body.

Dear body, thank you for an incredible '23 season

Dear body,
With only a few more days until Clash Daytona half distance (my last race of the year), I wanted to take the time to thank you for an incredible year of training and racing. You let me participate in 13 events over the past eleven months. From mountain biking and gravel racing to off-road triathlon to 70.3 and finishing off with two XTRI events, you allowed me to step out of my comfort zone, utilize a wide range of mental skills and test my strength and endurance. You let me push myself in a variety of ways and it was an honor to share each experience with you. 

With nine of my 13 events taking over 5 hours to complete, I never take for granted what you allow me to do, mentally and physically. My love for you is not for a look or image but for the life that you allow me to live. 

I know for you to take care of me, I must take care of you. I promise to never deny you energy or nutrients in order to look a certain way or for performance gains. I promise to aloways give you the nourishment and fuel you need in order to grow, build, think, function and perform. 

Thank you for supporting me and for helping me achieve my ambitious goals. 
Here's to one more race of the 2023 season and for finding new limits to explore in 2024. 

What do you think about your body?

Winning my first Ironman as overall amateur female at 2017 IM Chattanooga and giving my body a huge thank you for being oh-so-amazingly strong and healthy.

What do you think about your body?

• Standing on the podium in first place, yet you feel "too fat."
• Achieving a personal best time, yet your legs/butt feels "too big."
• Doubting your abilities because your stomach feels "too heavy."
• Blaming your subpar performance on your weight. 
• Lacking self confidence because you don't look like other athletes.

In each of these scenarios, is an athlete who believes one of two things: That looking differently will improve athletic success or a current look is the reason for lack of athletic success.

Despite putting in the training and being physically prepared for an event, actual acceptance of one-self can be a major athletic limiter. Inside, you have internalized feelings of being inadequate because of a look, a comparison or an assumption.

Poor body image can wreak havoc on performance, physical health and mental well-being.
There are great consequences to trying to conform to rigid societal ideals.

Underfueling, skipping meals, restricting carbohydrates, eliminating certain foods groups and ignoring body hunger cues are some of the many unhealthy dieting and disordered eating strategies that athletes turn to when trying to achieve a specific body type ideal. Sadly, many of the above strategies are unhealthy (for the body and mind), yet encouraged by coaches, nutrition experts and the media as a means to an end to gain the competitive edge.

Through the rise of social media and prejudgment statements from coaches/nutrition experts, the pressure to change how you look is almost inevitable. But that doesn't make it acceptable. Comparing your body to the body of another athlete can make you feel inadequate, unprepared and doubtful of your abilities. You may even assume that other athletes are more serious/successful than you because of their strict diets, body type and large social media following.

Pressure around body type can be detrimental to health (physical and mental), confidence and most of all, love of sport. It's not uncommon for an athlete to slip down the road of dieting, disordered eating and body image obsession only to reduce longevity (and potential) in the sport that was once fun, enjoyable and health promoting.

The way your body looks and the way your body moves/performance are not necessarily correlated. How you think your body should look to perform well may not match what your body really needs to look like to perform well.

To escape the immense pressure to attention body image perfection, body positivity is critical. What you think about your body matters. Without it, confidence and self-esteem are destroyed. How can you believe in your abilities if you don't appreciate your body?

To improve body image positivity, here are a few tips: 

• Every body is different. A look doesn't predict athletic success (or failure). 
• Always thank your body and appreciate what it can do. 
• Become more accepting of yourself. When you accept who and where you are, that's when change can occur. Mentally beating yourself up gets you nowhere. 
• Take control over your inner dialogue. Body image is closely linked to self-esteem. 
• Avoid a perfectionist mindset. Good enough is great. 
• Don't make comparisons or assumptions. 
• Remind yourself that in the world of social media, many people are presenting carefully selected images and posts of their lives, designed to look better than reality. 
• Break the habit of making excuses for yourself, being all or nothing or being highly critical of yourself. 
• Surround yourself with body positive advocates. Steer clear of people who make you feel bad about how you look. 
• Select your role models and influencers carefully. 
• A negative body image can be the start of an eating disorder, depression and anxiety. If you think you are suffering from a mental illness, don't be afraid to seek professional help. Brave athletes speak up and get help. 
• Learn to overpower negative thoughts with positive ones. Build your confidence with body positive affirmations and mantras. For example, workout because you love your body, not because you hate it.
• Wear clothing that makes you feel good about your body. Work with your body, not against it. 
• Be ok with change. Seeing your body change does not remove your great qualities and skills. Respect yourself. You must take care of your human self before your athlete self. Let your body know how much you care and appreciate it. 

Hello from Chattanooga (again)!

Here we are again, back in Chattanooga!

As we were driving into town on Tues evening, my stomach felt a little funny as it felt strange to return to the place where my fainting setback left me with a smashed face and an unfulfilled feeling for my last race of the season. But I didn't let this feeling get to me because I returned back to Chattanooga with Karel with excitement and gratitude for another race opportunity by my body.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have emotionally moved on from my recent DNS at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship but physically, a big part of me feels like I have some unfinished business here in Chattanooga.

Knowing that stuff happens and we can't control the future, the only way that I could move on from my last race experience was to make sure that my next racing decision was not for anyone else but myself.  I wanted to do a race that made me happy. After giving my next race a lot of thought, I couldn't be more excited to turn my letdown into an exciting new opportunity. You better believe that after I received the OK to race again, I wasn't going to move on with a sad ending to my last chapter.

And now I turn the page for my next chapter in my book of life.......

Putting things into perspective - Understanding that I experienced a freaky accident (with very bad timing), I have accepted that the circumstances were not in my favor but I will not let this define me as an athlete. Within 48 hours of my vasovagal syncope issue, I had several doctor appointments and lab work to receive confirmation that my body is in good health and I don't have to give up on my athletic dreams this season.

Reflect -  Like with many things in life, setbacks are a necessary part of the path towards success. Although I was sad, upset and frustrated while sitting in my rental home 2 Saturday's ago, instead of racing, I can now look back and with a clear mind, evaluate the situation. Although I should have slowed down in the morning and paid more attention to the woozy feeling in the body, there was not much that I could have done differently. I feel lucky that my fall only left me with cuts and bruises and with all things considered, it could have been a lot worse.

A new focus - Whenever an athlete experiences a setback, it's important to figure out what's next. Do you want to accomplish the same thing or accomplish something different? This question was on my mind for several days after my DNS as I felt like I worked so hard to prepare for the IM 70.3 World Championship and I was not able to show off my fitness. But more than racing, I missed out on the experience of racing and that is what I love so much about the sport. I missed out on being around other inspiring athletes and doing something incredible with my body.

While driving home from the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Karel was already quick to give me some ideas for my next race. It's funny because we both had different race ideas for what I should do with my trained body. My thinking was to find a challenging half ironman and Karel's idea was for me to do an Ironman. We tossed around a few ideas over the next 48 hours and after I received permission to race again from my doctors, I was ready to commit to my next race.

Karel knows that the Ironman event suits me so well and to be honest, I wouldn't have trained much different for an Ironman versus a half Ironman since we don't do a lot of high volume training. I train mostly with Karel so as he prepares for an Ironman, my training is very similar.  The half Ironman distance takes me far out of my comfort zone and that is why I dedicated this season to half Ironman racing. Because the Ironman distance always feels right for my style of racing - I can be steady and resilient all day long - it always feels right when I get to the start line of an Ironman

So after much discussion with Karel, we decided on my next and last race of my 2017 triathlon season.

Ironman Chattanooga! 

I couldn't be more excited to finish my season here in Chattanooga for 144.6 miles of racing! I get to share the course with 15 of my Trimarni athletes (including Karel), along with several familiar Greenville faces and this decision feels so right. I have nothing but excitement and positive energy building inside of me for Sunday. This is a no pressure, have fun and enjoy the experience type of race but I'm sure my competitive spirit will come out on race day.

Thank you Karel for helping me through the past two weeks and for encouraging me to get right back into training. Thank you to all the Trimarni followers who kept me motivated to get back into racing and for all the support and encouragement from my Trimarni athletes and friends/followers.

Let the countdown again....I am doing my 12th Ironman on Sunday!

Thank you body!

It's not your body's fault

Frustration, stress, fear, anger, disappointment, insecurity.

Food restriction, in an effort to change your body, will not fix emotional issues.

Do not make your body a target when you are having a bad day, an off moment or things just don't seem to be going well.

Do not take your emotions out on your body.

The only way you can get through life is WITH your body.

Give it a thank you every now and then. Starting now.

Turn body image dissatisfaction into satisfaction

When was the last time you thanked your body?

When you look in the mirror, how do you talk to/about your body?

When you train and eat, does your body image dictate your choices in a positive or negative way?

An unhealthy body image in athletes can increase the risk for disordered eating habits. 

Avoiding major food groups (carbohydrates), not fueling around/during workouts, skipping meals and snacks and dehydration are some of the examples of unhealthy strategies that athletes often take to gain control over eating in an effort to change body composition/image.

Whether you are an athlete who seeks weight loss/body composition changes to improve overall health, you are an athlete who struggles with body image due to comparison with other athletes, comparison to a past you or overall discomfort with your body image, or you are an athlete who follows a very restrictive diet and extreme exercise routine in an effort to maintain a specific body composition/image which has damaged overall health, irregardless of initial performance gains, it's important to focus on the health of your body...not the image. 

You can't live the rest of your life obsessed with an image.

I'm not saying that you can't change the way you look through diet and exercise but I want you to consider why you want to change AND the methods that will elicit a change in image/body composition. 

It's very common that athletes who are unhappy with their body will seek a diet strategy that involves restriction or food elimination but claim that they are changing the way they eat/fuel in an effort to improve performance.
It's also common that athletes will follow no extreme style of eating or diet but just focus on eating for fuel and for nourishment and achieve their goal body image and performance gains. 

Many athletes are led to believe that food restriction/elimination is the only way to change/improve body composition. 

I am here to tell you that that thinking is not accurate. 

You CAN change your body composition and eat before a workout.

You CAN lose weight by eating carbohydrates. 

You CAN feel comfortable with your body image.

A dissatisfaction for your body composition can lead you to believe that if you lose weight or change your body composition (get a flatter stomach, decrease your thigh size, get a more muscular butt, etc.) you will enhance your appearance, improve performance or improve your health. 

But the problem isn't your body but instead, what you think about your body. 

When an athlete feels as if losing weight/changing body composition is the only, best or necessary way to improve performance, restrictive eating and/or overexercising may result, often causing disordered eating patterns.

A preoccupation with body image may affect training in that every workout could be affected by what you didn't eat (but should have eaten) or is controlled by what you did eat (feeling guilty).

This is not the way that you should be training or thinking.

Learn to love food.  

For sport RD's who work with athletes, we educate on seeing food for fuel and for nourishment. For myself, I educate on learning how to have a better relationship with food and the body in addition to mastering healthy eating and nailing sport nutrition (I specialize in endurance triathlon sport nutrition).

For nutrition professionals, it is important that any athlete who has a body image obsession or concern, that he/she is detoured from any mass-marketed diet that involves food elimination/restriction. 

If you are uncomfortable with your body image, it is important to ask yourself why. 

Why don't you thank your body more often? 

Why do you need to change the way you look? 

Why don't you love yourself?

Why do you take such extreme measures to change the way you look when you should be focusing on food for fuel and for nourishment? 

Don't destroy your health in an effort to get healthier.

Don't restrict energy when your goal is to have more energy to workout longer, harder or faster. 

It's time to think more about yourself. 

Your body is amazing.

Body, show me what you can do!

If you want to feel inspired, motivated to work out and amazed by the human body, I recommend to watch Kacy Catanzaro do the incredible as she becomes the first women to make the finals in American Ninja Warrior. 

I am extremely passionate about helping athletes learn how to develop a healthy relationship with food and the body through my business but I am also no stranger to expressing my thoughts with the athlete's body, and concerns with body image and ultimately giving guidance to athletes on how to build a better body image.

So when something so amazing, related to the human body in motion, goes viral in the mainstream media, I love the opportunity to share my thoughts on a very important topic. 

Body Image

How do you see your body at rest and how to do you see your body in motion? As an athlete or fitness enthusiast, we must not forget that you are not an exerciser. You have goals for your body and ultimately, you have a training plan that allows you to make the necessary physiological gains necessary (along with proper recovery) to improve fitness by a specific deadline. 

For good reason, you likely have an intensified image of your body when it is in motion for at no other time during your day will you feel so close to your organs, brain, skin and body parts.

Body image is the way that you perceive your body and also how you assume others perceive you. For most age group athletes, there is great joy in having an "athlete" status - either in training or on race day. For athletes are dedicated, motivated and disciplined and they love challenges, overcoming obstacles and reaching personal goals. However,  for many, with this "athlete" status comes a deep pressure to "look" like an athlete. And in the quest to work hard (or earn) the image of the athlete that you feel is relative to an improvement in speed or power, it's extremely easy to develop negative thoughts about your body in motion and to want a different body composition.

Rather than being focused and aware of personal gains in fitness and attention on developing a fueling regime that meets your individual needs, a negative body image creates a dramatic shift of an individual focus to, instead, a focus of what everyone else is doing and what you are not. 

Although not every athlete will develop a classified eating disorder while changing the diet or exercise routine in order to change body image, I have discovered that many athletes create extremely unhealthy methods of eating and fueling the body (or lack of fueling) and exercising which consequently negatively affect performance. 

The tough issue for many is recognizing how a negative body image negatively affects performance and health. As a health and fitness professional, I have experience with athletes who carry a negative body image with them throughout the day and end up intentionally underfueling and perhaps overexercising all in the quests to achieve "ideal". 

I find that for many athletes, there is a greater chase for a body image than for performance and health gains. 

Strong is the new skinny

I am very happy to see that our society has shifted away from idolizing the size-0 "model" body as the norm for only 5% of our population naturally possess the body portrayed by the media (ex. magazines, clothing ads, TV shows, etc.). 

You may have noticed that "strong is the new skinny" is the new slogan that has taken over social media in many forms from motivation pictures, quotes and workouts. 

Not limited to women, our society is moving into a trend where we celebrate and marvel over bodies for what they can do instead of just looking a certain way. 

We awe over physical feats such as (but not limited to) grand cycling tours, the Ironman, ultra running, cross fit and now, Kacy in the Ninja Warrior (she inspired me to do 4 full unassisted pull-ups today - she rocks!). I am sure I am not alone that there are amazing athletes out there who are doing incredible things with their body....and perhaps you are one of them! 

We should not forget that those who are fighting cancer or an illness, balancing working life while having a family or individuals experiencing uncontrollable life changes should also be celebrated for what they are able to do with their bodies. Certainly, strong is not limited to individuals who sweat and cross finish lines but instead, for the many people who are not so lucky to have good health and freedom to train for and cross finish lines. 

So here we are in modern day when we are focused on the best way to fuel and train a body in motion instead of just obsessing about what size clothes we wear. This makes me happy as a sport RD and exercise physiologist. 

However, we slowly move away from the super-model body image which has been marketed as the ideal look for our society over the past decade or so, even though many of us know that it is not realistic or healthy to have very limited body fat, no curves or muscle tone but nevertheless, the pressure remained high from the media. We now have strong, muscular, extremely fit and toned athletes (of all fitness levels) as the new normal to motivate and inspire us to work hard in order to be strong.

For many athletes, however, this new fitness movement of clean eating, power and strength and ultra endurance may be no better than dieting to be "skinny."  For we are still a society that continues to obsess about health, food and the body. And the more we focus and obsess about it, it seems like the more unhealthy we become. 

Simply put, we have the message that strong is the new skinny and that is extremely motivating because we have permission from society (I know, very sad right?!) that we can have muscles and be sexy, beautiful and fit. 

But is this fit-focused movement really helping athletes create a healthier relationship with food and the body?

Sadly, I think this movement is making things worse. 

For now, instead of cutting out calories to lose weight to be thin (the old normal), athletes are making extreme dietary changes while training the body (up to 10-20+ hours per week) in hopes to get stronger and faster AND change body composition (the new normal). Athletes are overtrained, undernourished, sleep deprived and lacking proper tools to train smart and to build self-confidence as an athlete. 

Simply put, there are many athletes out there who look fit or are on a mission to be fit, but are extremely unhealthy.

Hopefully you now understand why I am so passionate about helping incredible athletes (of all fitness levels) learn how to fuel their bodies in motion. I find that so many athletes take extreme or destructive measures when it come to body composition changes or performance gains. I am not sure if this is because the athlete does not know the proper steps or if the athlete is following the advice (or rules) of some higher figure who feels that there is only the right way to reach health and fitness goals. And this needs to stop. I am tired of seeing athletes compromising their health and potential as a hard working athlete because of a body image goal.
Whereas you may feel you need to train more or train harder, I feel that a productive area that athletes can work on is learning how to have a healthier relationship with food and the body. 

What's the point of having a lean body if you can not do anything with it?

A strong body in motion

What does your body allow you to do? 

Cross finish lines, participate in a spin class, climb mountains on your bike, zumba for hours or keep up with your super energetic family?

Now ask yourself, if you are currently trying to become faster, lose weight, change body composition or reach a PR, what are you not able to do with your body because of the following:

-Low blood sugar

-Low energy

-Underfueling/overeating

-Guilty eating

-Restrictive eating

-Extreme fatigue

-Overtraining

-Body image critiquing/comparing

-Altered blood values

-Chronic sickness and/or fatigue

-On going injuries

-Burnout

-Depression

-Mood swings

-Exercise/food obsession

-Relying on energy boosters/pills to energize a tired/worn down body

-Food runs your life

-Missing a workout ruins your day

-Your eating and workout routine control your life

It is not uncommon for the athlete to experience a mix of symptoms that reflect improper fueling or haphazard training and instead of trying to gain fitness while training, the athlete actually ends up losing fitness, compromising health and often times, missing out on life. 

The amazing effort that was shown my Kacy on the American Ninja Warrior shows a strong body that can perform amazingly well. A body that is trained, fueled, healthy and fit. 

However, what works for Kacy may not work for everyone. Ande for most of us, we have our own goals of what we want to achieve with our bodies and perhaps it involves swimming, biking and/or running and not rope climbing or conquering the salmon ladder or the spider wall. 

And that's ok. As long as you have a goal that challenges you and makes you motivated to work hard every day, that's what is most important. 

Your training, eating and lifestyle routine should reflect your goals for it is your journey that you get to take your body and mind on every time you have an athletic commitment and a deadline. 

Rather than idolizing any one body type, it's time to start showing yourself what YOU can do with your trained and well fueled body. 

Your body has strengths and weaknesses and only you can make sure that you are fueling and training it appropriately so that you are enjoying life with your one and only body. 

It's not a complicated statement to understand but I realize for many who have yet to master a healthy relationship with food and the body, that it can be very difficult to change the mindset in a food and exercise obsessed athlete (regardless if the methods in place are actually working to improve performance). More often than not, I find that athletes are so rigid with the training and eating routine and are so scared of change that even the thought of changing what's not working keeps an athlete doing the same thing over and over and sometimes, hoping for different results but even being content if results don't come so long as training and the diet never have to change.

My ongoing message stays the same. 

If you do not have a healthy relationship with food and the body, you will find yourself undernourished and underfueled and eventually unmotivated and unhealthy.  This is no life to live, especially if you are taking time out of your life to train for a sporting event. 

A body that can not perform is absolutely not the state that you want your body to be in when you place intentional physiologically stress on your body because you have goals for your body which you want to meet by a definite deadline. 

If you are unable to address and change what is not working, then you need to find someone as soon as possible who is qualified to help you learn how to train and fuel in a way that is supportive of your health and fitness goals. We have far too many fit-looking motivational experts as well as opinionated athletes with loud voices who think they know what works for everyone, because it works for them. Therefore, athletes have endless material to use when it comes to modifying the diet for performance and body composition changes and sadly, this only confuses athletes as to what is the right individual approach for each human body. 

Be sure you work with a coach who has experience in tailoring training plans to your individual lifestyle needs and understands the human body in motion. Also be sure that you work with a registered dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition so that you are not taking short cuts or wasting time when it comes to your training and racing goals. 

Most top athletes know what works for their body. They recognize what sport nutrition is best tolerated and useful during training and the best foods to eat before and after workouts. Athletes who fuel properly for performance gains, instead of for a body image, do so because they love how great it feels to perform with a body that is not compromised.  They have focused not on what everyone else is doing but instead, through ongoing individual trial and error, they have figured out what works for them. (key word - patience). 

Athletes who are always on the search of something better, quicker and easier will constantly find themselves trying something new until it doesn't work anymore and then moving on to something else without ever spending time to consider what works best long term.

In my opinion, it is a waste of your time, money and energy as well as missing out on life if you spend your days always focusing on what others are doing instead of focusing on yourself. 

Love your body in motion

What a simple concept. 

If you nourish and fuel your body, you will love the results that come with a strong and healthy body. 

A body surviving on a restricted diet and hours and hours of weekly cardio is not what you should be celebrating when you idolize over fit bodies in pictures or what you should be aiming for. A fit body isn't always a fast, a lean body isn't always strong, a perfect looking body is not always healthy and a fit, lean, perfect body is not always happy in life. 

It's time that you create a strong and healthy body that will help you reach your health and fitness goals.

Your body is amazing and you do not always have to cross a finish line to show your inner strength. 

But if you are focusing on your body composition in hopes to improve performance and health, just be sure that you feel as healthy as you want to look. And in my belief, healthy comes in all types of body compositions, shapes and sizes and the bottom line is that a healthy athlete performs amazingly well. 

Eat well, train smart, recover hard and then show me (no, show YOU) what you can do with your amazing body. 

Ironman Austria FINISHERS!

 

Preparation

The activity or process of making something ready or of becoming ready for something.

Things that are done to make something ready or to become ready for something.

A state of being prepared. 

We all have our own definitions for being/feeling prepared. For the athlete, it may be following an arbitrary training plan and for others, it may be putting all your trust into a coach to design the perfect plan for you to peak and taper properly and execute on race day. 

I'm sure we can all think of a time when we felt prepared and things didn't go as planned.
And of course, the times when we didn't feel prepared and it showed. 

 But then there are those times when we didn't feel prepared and we surprised ourselves. 

Some say that preparation is key to success. Failing to prepare is like preparing for fail. 

When it comes to carrying the human body for 140.6 miles, preparation is certainly key. There's always that person who can wing it but without preparation comes fears, uncertainties, doubts and negative "what if" thoughts. 

However, how much can one actually prepare for an event that involve 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running without risking injury, burnout or extreme fatigue as well as balancing life with good nutrition, proper sport nutrition, stretching, quality sleep and everything else that goes into "preparing" for an Ironman

Despite this being my 8th Ironman here in Austria, I went into this Ironman with a mix of emotions, including excitement and nerves. 

I have completed 7 Ironmans so far (three on the big island) and I still woke up on race day morning thinking to myself "can I do this...again?"

I've learned so much about Ironman racing over the past 8 Ironmans, including 3 Ironman World Championship races. 

And one thing that I have learned is that 140.6 miles is a long way to go and even those who feel they are best prepared, still must have the right mindset to start and finish the 8-17 hour journey that lies ahead. There is so much training that goes into a one day event so on top of doing the "work" that you may feel is needed to prepare the human body to perform the demands of swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26.2 miles, that training is no good without the right mental toughness on race day, combined with pure enjoyment for the sport and appreciation for the human body.And of course, the ability to overcome whatever comes in your way while racing for 140.6 miles (no race is ever "perfect", it's just how you overcome situations that will determine if you perfectly executed your day.)

I am proud to say that Ironman Austria was a great success for Karel and me. As for feeling prepared going into this race, we certainly did not follow our "ideal" training plan with everything that has been affecting us in our life over the past few months so I guess you could say that we didn't feel 100% prepared. I am not one for excuses and I find that with Ironman training, it's very rare for a person to give 100% for 6+ months to prepare for an Ironman. Ironman training requires a lot of time, money and dedication and for us age group triathletes, it is a fine line of training for an Ironman and still feeling balanced in life (and being able to still function well in life).

In our case, we had two half Ironmans (HITS Ocala in March and St. Croix 70.3 in May) which included some good "short distance" stress on our body before we started our IM build. 

However, our move in May coupled with the passing of my dad left us with our minds on other important things in our life. Nevertheless, we both have thoroughly enjoyed our new home in beautiful Greenville SC so we applied the most training stress on our body with ample recovery to prepare the best we could for Ironman Austria in just 5 weeks. Of course, we do have years of endurance training under our legs but this should never be a good reason to purposely over or under train. 

This means that we carefully overloaded our body with higher intensity workouts that were of moderate volume (even though we do no believe in large weekly volumes of training or "long" training days on the weekend). We each carefully stuck to our own taper regime (we both have our own 2 week taper routine) and then appreciated our time in Europe and considered this Ironman as a chance to take a few risks and to race among a very high caliber of athletes. Since we both were not racing for Kona slots (we are saving our Kona-qualifying race for IMWI in 9 weeks), we wanted to see what we were capable of with our current level of fitness on this fast, beautiful yet challenging course. 

On June 29th, 2014, we both raced the best that we could considering all circumstances that had affected us over the past few months. 

Every athlete will toss around the thought of feeling as if they could have done more prep work before race day, especially in the taper period and race week that precedes the important race day. 

Because every athlete is going to feel and not feel prepared at certain times in a racing season, it is always important that you follow a few of the following suggestions to ensure a positive racing experience: 

-Race only with your current level of fitness - minimize the risks that you take on race day so that you can finish the race with minimal setbacks.

-Consider your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to executing your race day plan.

-Be sure you have a race day plan that is flexible. 

-Trust the training that you have done and if applicable, your past fitness/racing experience.
-Don't confuse your concerns/worries about not feeling prepared with hating the racing experience. I promise that even if you don't feel prepared, you are going to figure out a way to get to the finish and enjoy crossing that finish line. 

-Never stop loving what you choose to do with your body and with your free time. Your ability to train and race is a gift. 

-Enjoy the race day experience. Maybe you aren't having a good day but someone else is and you can help them out. Don't worry, that favor will be returned when you are rocking your course and others who aren't having a great day, are rooting for you to finish strong. 

-Never stop believing in yourself. 10% undertrained is far better than 1% overtrained. 

The day was not easy for us and after eight Ironman races, I can assure you that I have never felt as if the Ironman day was easy. This is one very important thing that I carry with me as I am racing for 10+ hours...it is NOT suppose to be easy!
The Ironman does not just hand out that medal to anyone, you have to earn it!

Karel and I gave our best effort and left it all out on the course. We love to train smart but we also love to race smart. This means that we are OK to take some risks at times but we also have experience in how to overcome situations when the risks do not work in our favor. We are also ok with our ego's in that if the day does not turn out as we planned, we are still going to fight to get to that finish line. Run, jog, walk, crawl...unless it is medically related, neither one of us our quitters. 

We both respect the Ironman distance. Feeling prepared is great but there are many uncertainties on race day and that is why I feel virgin Ironman athletes should not go into an Ironman with overly ambitious goals. Of course, this statement is coming from someone who wanted to qualify for Kona after her first IM and then I ended up winning the 18-24 age group by almost an hour....but still, I dealt with a lot of "new" things on race day that I somehow was able to overcome. 

The Ironman requires experience, good mental strength (you will realize this when you get to the marathon if you are currently training for your first IM) and the ability to overcome obstacles all day long.

But above all, the Ironman day is to be shared with many people and not just yourself. It requires a lot of people, friends and support to help you start and finish the race. 

I'm incredibly greatly to 110% Play Harder and Oakley Women for helping me race in style but also with quality gear to support my active lifestyle. 

My mom, brother and close family and friends, thank you for supporting this crazy lifestyle that Karel and I enjoy with our free time and disposable income. 

To all the Trimarni fans - thank you so much for your ongoing support. I am so proud to live my life so that I can help others reach personal goals and dreams.
Thank you Gloria for always having the right thing to say at the right time. It's the thoughtful, yet appropriate emails that I get before a race that really make a positive difference in how I approach my race day experience. 

And thank you to the Trimarni coaching and nutrition athletes who inspire me and Karel with your ongoing commitment and dedication to your sport as you balance work, family and life. 

The race reports will be coming soon once I gather the right words to talk about our perfectly executed day with two bodies that didn't feel 100% prepared BUT were super excited to race. 

The Ironman Austria140.6 mile course was filled with lots of cheering spectators, great weather conditions (even with the rain on the bike) and endless spectacular views. 

Ironman Austria, thank you for a perfect day of racing! 

Thanks everyone for your support, we channeled all the positive energy from our amazing friends, family and Trimarni fans!

We would also like to thank my dad, who is not with us, but loved the Ironman day when I raced and we both proudly wore his favorite hats and felt his presence all day (especially when we both needed his strength on the run!).

Final stats:
Karel: (2nd Ironman)
1:07:10 - 2.4 mile swim (PR)
T1: 4:10
4:56:23 - 112 mile bike (PR)
T2: 3:51
3:11:17 - 26.2 mile run (PR,wowzer- 9th fastest AG!!!)
Total: 9:22:51
22nd AG/439 starters, 124th overall
41 minute PR!! So proud of you Karel !!! I just LOVE sharing the excitement and pains of racing an Ironman with you! So sorry that you are way too fast and have to wait for me for almost an hour 

Marni (8th Ironman- thank you body!)
Swim 2.4 mile - 1:00:13 (PR....err, still so close to breaking that hour mark!)
T1: 5:18
Bike 112 miles - 5:29:07 (PR)
T2: 3:48
Run: 3:39:09 (BIG PR... Yay!)
Total: 10:17:35
7th AG/57 starters, 31st female, 18th amateur female
21 minute PR!!

And lastly, thanks to the best furry child ever! 

We love that you approach life with unconditional love and excitement every day!

Every day is a winning day for Campy!

Also a big thank you to INFINIT nutrition for keeping my tummy happy and my body fueled during my training To Trek Bicycles for making safe, speed machines for me to drive with my body. To 110% Play Harder for helping me play hard and recover harder. To Brooks Running for keeping my feet and hips happy and to Oakley Women for knowing how to help a woman in motion look stylish and sporty with quality gear!!!! And to Gloria for helping me stay mentally strong in life and in sport.

The athlete's body - love your body in motion

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This is one of my favorite pictures to use in my presentations when I talk to athletes and fitness enthusiasts about learning how to have a healthy relationship with food and the body. I'm sure that you can see immediately why I love this picture. Both athletes are incredible because of what they are able to do with their body. 

If you are currently training for an event or have ever trained for a race, you may have noticed that through hard work, consistency, a balanced diet and proper sport nutrition and nutrient timing your body became stronger, faster or more powerful to carry you through longer and/or more intense workouts. 

Sadly, many athletes are not only seeking great fitness gains for an upcoming event but chasing the "look" of an athlete. 

In reference to the above picture, place the two athletes side-by-side at the beach, in bikinis, and Zelinka will likely gather a lot of attention for her defined body. Put the two athletes side-by-side at the track, and you may say that one athlete is "fitter" than the other. How many times have you arrived to a race and with one look at a body you immediately assume that an athlete is "fast" because of his/her body composition?   

A body performs based on how it was trained to perform. A healthy body will be at a healthy body composition based on balanced training, a good diet and proper fueling around/during workout. 
But because our society is so body-image obsessed, we have this perfect image of what an athlete should look like and many times that look coincides with the picture of health. 

This picture is from the 2012 London Olympics  - the heptathlon. Both athletes are extremely fit and have arrived to the greatest stage for an athlete. Both athletes performed based on how the body and mind operated on race day, after months and years of dedication.  A 6 pack of abs or having no jiggle when you wiggle is not a guarantee that you will PR at your upcoming race and not having a lean, strong body now does not mean that with months of consistent training and proper eating/fueling that your body will not change naturally in result of training stress. 

Because a disordered style of eating alongside extreme exercise habits are not uncommon among athletes and active individuals – of all sizes and fitness levels and in men and women - who strive for the "look" of an athlete, it's important that you see your body for the masterpiece that it is. Your body does not have to allow you to do what you love to do with it so as you train for your upcoming race/event, don't forget to thank your body......daily.  

Obsessed with every moment of the Olympics (winter and summer), I am just so amazed by how athletes perform under pressure. All that hard work, for years and years, just for one day or one event. The athlete's body is absolutely amazing. 

And regardless of what the body looks like on race day (completely covered or with minimal clothing) when a body is trained to perform to it's full potential, there's no denying that it's easy to marvel at a body in motion. 

There is a broad spectrum of shapes and sizes when it comes to the physiques of athletes. Professionals, competitive age groupers and the novice. I hope you recognize that your body is unique, special and beautiful. Please love your body and treasure everything it allows you to do on a daily basis. Never bash your body - especially when you expect it to be incredible when you train it to perform for race day. 

The 2014 Trimarni kits (and jerseys/cycling shorts) just arrived!! They were worth the wait and are now ready to be worn by a body in motion. 

Disclaimer: performance goals may be reached while you are wearing your awesome outfit while training with your awesome body.

Training the body: thanking the body.

My legs were tired, it was hot and humid, the wind was blowing and I was riding behind Karel on his new Speed Concept.

33 days until Kona and I think I just finished one of my hardest training blocks ever.

Thank you BODY!

-Sunday's workout-

5 hour ride + 15 min run

Bike:
1 hour warm-up, building to 10 watts below IM pace (legs took a while to warm-up thanks to the stress I placed on my body from Saturday's 3:15 bike + 9.5 mile run).
35 min IM pace w/ 5 min EZ
Main set 3x's:
35 minutes @ Half IM pace (watts) w/ 4 minutes in between (see below of details of this set)
Steady riding upper Z2 until finished
Total hours: 4:58
Miles: 99.3

15 min run off the bike (RPE 75-80%, ended up holding 8-8:15 min/miles)

Since Karel is training for a half IM (Miami 70.3 in the end of October), his training is a bit different than mine right now. He ran 1 hour before the bike and then joined me on my 2nd interval. After I did 35 minutes of riding at my IM pace and then recovered for 5 minutes, Karel joined me and we were ready for the main set.

The duration for the main sets has grown over the past few weeks and no more am I feeling the "low" I use to feel around 2.5 hours during my long rides. While training for IM Lake Placid, I knew that my endurance was going to come slowly after not running for 90 days (Feb - April) due to my chronic hip/back issues. But I continue to focus on the CANs with my exercise/training routine and enjoying everyday with my healthy, pain free body. Now, I feel my endurance is better than ever and since the training is getting very intense and specific, I am super mindful of resting my body before I really need to rest it. I really love the progression that Karel has given me with my training for it was a work in progress. I spent all last year working on my speed as Karel did not want me to do an IM but instead work on the little things that will improve my endurance. Hence, get faster before you go longer.  I remember blogging last year about doing my first Olympic distance tri in 4 years! Oh the nerves!! Then there was The Iron Girl Half Marathon in Clearwater . Then another Olympic distance tri (first time for Karel!). And then I was able to put it all together at Branson 70.3

Anyways, the body is an amazing thing and I don't feel it is always respected. It takes a lot of time to train the body and mind, not only in athletics but with anything in life. You just have to have patience and I think our society loves quick fixes. Our society wants something to happen today just like.

Sometimes we have to shut up the mind to make the body go that extra mile to get stronger but many times, we don't listen to the body when it is speaking.

I feel athletes are no more stubborn than the rest of the population for many people push the body (or don't listen to it) when it needs to rest or slow down. I think for many of us, we just don't want to miss out on life and because of that, this is the reason why we should listen and constantly pay attention to the body and what we choose to feed it, do with it and most importantly, how we speak to it.

On Sunday, my main set was more than just 35 minutes at Half IM pace. It involved no tail wind (thanks to Karel choosing country roads with the long blades of grass blowing right at me or to my side) and very little shade from the heat. It was perfect Kona prep and Karel constantly reminded me what I was about to do with my body in Kona in about 4 weeks for 140.6 miles. "It's not going to be easy Marni. You can never beat the wind."

Riding with Karel is amazing. I can't tell you how much I learn and benefit from him as a cat 1 cyclist for many many years. His knowledge of bikes is one thing as well as his passion for anything on two wheels but it is his attention to details and tactics that really make him so smart as an athlete.

The set was as follows:
10 minutes of me in front riding half IM pace.
Then Karel would go in front and hold a similar pace (he did this workout for me so he obviously wasn't pushing his watts) and I had to stay draft legal (7 meters) behind Karel. He wanted me to pay attention to my speed and watts and to stay draft legal but still be "competitive" with who was in front of me. This is something I have a hard time with as I typically stay a bit too focused on myself and don't take a lot of risks when it comes to being pushed by the other girls who pass me. Karel wanted me to be relentless within my own ability and I felt like this was one of the hardest sets I have ever done and it really pushed my limits (physically and mentally).

I repeat myself quite often but the thought in my mind is that I am always grateful for what my body allows me to do. There have been many times in my life when I have wanted to give up - when things aren't easy, when obstacles arise or when it seems like everyone else has it easier than me. 

For the past few years, I have experienced a lot in life and I owe it all to my body. We go to great lengths to reach goals together and because of it, I have really taken advantage of life. 

You see, success in life- whether sports, career or anything in between - is having a purpose and then thinking in a positive way as to how YOU can go about reaching your goal.

I constantly remind myself that my body does not have to let me do "this". When I train I push my body and challenge myself. I get sore, tired and rely on sport nutrition because I am depleting my body of nutrients, fluids and electrolytes. I see patients in the hospital who are too tired to get out of bed, lay in pain, are unable to think straight and feel miserable - not because they just did a marathon or an IM or biked 100 miles that day but because their body is failing them at that time.

I find so many people are so focused on what everyone else is doing that they forget who they should really be paying attention to on a daily basis - their own body.

This morning I received an email from a Trimarni follower and it 100% sums up everything I believe in. With permission from Sarah S. I wanted to share this note from her which she shares her thoughts after finishing her first Ironman distance triathlon. There's a great lesson in thanking the body. 

I started Ironman Arizona last November but DNF'd due to dehydration about 100 miles into the bike....Rev 3 Cedar Point was my redemption race.

First of all though, you really have changed the way I think about my body and my relationship with food. I don't come from an athletic background at all....I couldn't run over a mile until 2009, never really rode a bike until 2010 and couldn't swim a lap until 2011. So this has been quite the journey! 

I never have had a healthy relationship with food but reading your blog has taught me that as athletes especially food is FUEL and we need to treat our bodies right. Also, thanks to you the whole day yesterday I kept reminding myself to thank my body for being awesome. 

When it got hard (which it did a lot) and I wasn't preforming how I *thought* I should, or going as fast as I had hoped, instead of being angry at my body or dragging myself down, like I used to do, I thanked my body for letting me get through training and for carrying me through this race. 

In the past I would have felt bad for myself and thought "you're so slow, you're near the back, why do you even do this?" but yesterday not a single negative thought entered my mind the whole day. 

I spent hours thanking my legs and my lungs and encouraging my body to keep moving forward. It's still a new way of thinking for me, but I love it!

How did Sarah's race turn out? Here's the end of her race report:

Miles 18-22 were the worst, I just gritted my teeth and used every single ounce of grit and determination and will I could to move one foot in front of the other. With about 4 miles to go I started feeling good again! I actually did a little bit of slow running and let myself get a tiny bit excited about finishing but not too much because I still had over an hour to go at my pace. I could see the lights of cedar point getting closer and soon I could see and hear the finish line. Miraculously once I got in the chute all the pain vanished and I was able to run again. I took it all in…everyone cheering my name like I was a rockstar and the tears started flowing….I did it! A 6:23 marathon isn't what I hoped for (about an hour slower) but it didn't matter, I was so proud of myself. After 15:19 of swim, bike, and run! I am an Ironman! After years of training and a DNF last year, I did it. It was the hardest day of my life and nothing anyone can do or say will prepare you for how deep you have to dig out there. I am just so proud of myself!