2025 IMLP Spectating

Photo by Angela. 

We recently took our 6th trip to Lake Placid, NY. 

Lake Placid holds a special place in our heart for several different reasons. Ironman Lake Placid was Karel's first Ironman in 2013 and our first Ironman together. It was the first Ironman that I participated in after my dad was diagnosed with cancer and had undergone extensive spinal surgery due to the cancer spreading to his spine. Karel had his only DNF in Lake Placid in 2015 when he went into the race with a torn plantar. Karel has raced IMLP 4 times and I have raced 3 times. We decided to move to Greenville after 2013 IMLP as we fell in the love with the mountains. Lastly, we made the long drive to Lake Placid three times so that we could bring Campy with us. This recent trip was a bit emotional as Friday was the one-year since we said good bye to Campy. 

Karel was supposed to race Lake Placid this year but he has had some complications after two knee surgeries (meniscus trims) so he deferred to 2026. Since we had 9 athletes racing, we decided to make the trip to support our athletes. And this time we would make new memories with Sunny. 

Tuesday

We started our long 16 hour drive early on Tuesday morning. We made a stop in DC to stay with our athlete Morgan. We had a nice pizza dinner with several of our DC athletes. Sunny enjoyed playing with Morgan's dogs (Cheddar and Gossip). 

Wednesday

We finished the drive on Wednesday morning (we left before 6am and arrived around 3:30pm) and checked into our Airbnb at the Snowshoe Lodge.  During our drive, I ordered some groceries from Hannaford online (Instacart) and they were delivered in the evening. This location was perfect as it was only a ~1/2 mile walk to the lake and right on the run course. After we unloaded our stuff, we walked to Mirror Lake and was joined by our professional athletes Yannick and Katie for an open water swim. Since Karel and I don't leave Sunny alone when we travel, we took turns. I swam a loop (1.2 miles) and then Karel swam a loop. After the swim we all ate dinner at the brewery across the lake. 

Thursday

On Thursday morning, I left around 7am for a ride on the IMLP bike course (53.5 miles from our Airbnb). I enjoyed riding the Keene descent on my road bike and enjoying the scenery on the course. Lake Placid is incredibly beautiful and although the weather can be unpredictable, the weather was warm and humid. After my ride, I went for a 2.7 mile/22 min run. While I was out, Karel worked on a few of our athletes bikes and got some work done. He also went on a long walk with Sunny and stopped by the Blueberry bakery. He then went out for a MTB ride on the Lussi and Logger trails. Karel is getting ready for his 2nd Breck Epic MTB stage race. He was really disappointed in the trails on Thursday as they were not well maintained. He was able to ride for 2.5 hours and after his ride he went for a 4.5 mile, 31 min run. In the afternoon, we went for another swim at Mirror Lake. The water was warm so we wore our swim skins every time we swam. Our athlete Yannick watched Sunny in his camper van as we swam as it was raining (lightly) and Sunny does not like the rain). 

Friday

On Friday morning, we set up a meet up with our athletes at the lake. We all swam a loop. Since it rained overnight, Karel waited until it dried out before heading out for his ride. After the swim I went for a 9.2 mile, 1:12 run on the run course. Since Karel left for his ride after I swam, our athletes Katie and Yannick offered to watch Sunny while I ran as Katie needed to get some work done on her computer and she misses her pups (Sunny is the replacement :) I ran on Hwy 86 (reversing the bike course) to River road and then followed the run course back into town. After I returned, I walked with Katie to the pro meeting and then continued on with our walk in downtown with Sunny. Karel went out for a 4 hour, 30 mile MTB ride at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg (the out and back of the bike course). He was hopeful that this would be a good area to ride as it's the home of the UCI mountain bike race in Placid but once again he was not thrilled with the riding. He was still able to get in a long ride. In the evening, we had a pizza party at our athlete's house and enjoyed chatting with all of our athletes racing. 

Sunny is in the process of becoming a certified therapy dog so we did some practice with his vest on in the town. 

Saturday

In the morning, Karel went for a run (1:34, 12.2 miles) and I hung out with Sunny and got some work done. While Karle was running, Sunny and I walked to downtown and picked up bagels. After Karel returned, it was my turn to ride. I was really looking forward to my ride on the Whiteface Memorial Highway. Anytime I do a new route, especially a climb, I always do some research first. My friend Carley from Gville told me about the climb and she told me I would really enjoy it. She was right! The 40 mile ride took me 2:43 and had 4700 feet of climbing. The climb is 8 miles, gains 3600 feet and averages 8%. There is a toll booth after a few miles and it costs $15 for cyclists to continue to the top. There were a few cyclists climbing and descending as I was riding. It got cooler as I got to the top (I brought arm warmers and gloves and a mylar sheet for my chest). My goal was to complete the climb under 1:10 and I did it in 1:09. The views at the top were incredible. Because the climb didn't have any significant turns, the descend was fast! I maxed my speed at 50 mph! When I got back, I went for a 31 min, 4 mile run. After I returned home, Karel drove to the Flume Trail system and he said this was his favorite trail of the three. It was flown and fun. He rode for 1:48. As Karel was riding, I walked with Sunny to the transition area with Katie as she checked in her bike. In the evening (around 6pm), Karel and I went to Mirror Lake for one last swim. Karel went first and then he picked up dinner and walked back with Sunny and then I went for a swim. It was very peaceful as there weren't many people swimming (maybe 3 others and not athletes racing). 

Sunday - race day!

I got up at 5am and Katie came over shortly after. We walked to the transition area and I helped her out with her special needs bags and holding her stuff as she warmed up. Karel met us near the water a little after 6am. Sunny was a very good boy and did great all day with the crowds, music, loud noises, rain (not his favorite!) and long day. We had a great time cheering for our 9 athletes. We loved seeing Bruce - the oldest athlete in the race - complete the swim, bike and 7 miles of the run. Incredible at the age of 75 and his first Ironman! There was rain for a good part of the day (on and off) but thankfully all of our athletes completed the bike and made it to the finish. Our athlete Angela hung out with us (she was watching her partner Kevin race) and after the race, we had a few of our athletes come to our place to tell us about their race experience. We love Lake Placid! 

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A post shared by Marni Sumbal, MS, RD, CSSD (@trimarni)

Monday/Tuesday

On Monday morning, we packed up our place. Karel went for a run (5 miles, 40 min) and when he came back, I went for a run (50 min, 6.4). It's so easy to train in Placid as it's just so beautiful. We left in the late morning and started our long drive home. We stayed in Pennsylvania with one of our athletes to help break up the drive. We arrived home on Tuesday around 3pm. After unpacking, we went to Furman and did an easy 2400 yard swim in the evening. Sunny told us that he really enjoyed his trip and he is looking forward to more race/train-cations. Congrats to our athletes and everyone who raced! 

Austin Texas Girls Trip

 

I feel grateful that every athlete I coach becomes a friend. Even more special is the friendships that are created among our Trimarni athletes and team members. We have seen close friendships develop from an initial meeting at a Trimarni training camp, on our private team Facebook page or at a team race. It makes me incredibly happy to know that triathlon is more than a sport. It's been a driving force to long-lasting relationships of like-minded individuals. 

In September 2023, Justine reached out to me, Natalie, Danielle and Stephanie via a group text that she would be visiting her parents in New Mexico in January 2024. Justine has been living in Spain with her husband and two young kids for the past 5+ years as her husband Eric is in the military. They are about to move to England so this was a great time for us to all get together. Southwest was having a sale on plane tickets so we all booked our flights for our first reunion since 2018. Since then, Justine has had two kids, Natalie has had to kids and we have all experienced a lot in life, sport and career. 

Justine and Natalie arranged everything and we met up in Austin, Texas (a few hours from where Natalie lives). Natalie picked us up from the airport, Justine booked the Airbnb. 

Here are a few throwback pics....

Danielle attending our first training camp in Clermont, Fl in 2014. We've been coaching Dee for 10 years!

Natalie, Justine and me in Klagenfurt for Ironman Austria. 

Celebrating Stephanie's finish at 2018 IMWI.

When a group of triathletes get together, there's going to be some working out so this was more of a train-cation than a relaxing vacation. Triathlon brought us together and it's keeping us together. 

Justine put together an itinerary from January 5th-7th and asked me to come up with workouts. 

Friday

• Shake out run – 30-45 minute easy conversational run. 
• OWS - ~10-30 minutes

Saturday

• 3000+ yard pool swim:

WU:

500 choice

PS: (1000)

4 x 75 as (25 kick or scull, 50 swim)

50 backstroke

4 x 75 (50 drill, 25 swim)

50 backstroke

4 x 75 (EZ/Mod/Hard by 25)

MS: (1500-1800)

3x

12 x 25 (3 fast, 1 EZ) on :40

200-300 smooth/steady (choice toys)

CD:

Choice

• Track workout – 6+ miles

2 mile warm-up w/ walks/stops/stretches

MS: (3 miles)

3x

200 strong but controlled (straight)

200 EZ recovery (turn)

200 strong but controlled (straight)

200 EZ recovery (turn)

200 strong but controlled (straight)

200 EZ recovery (turn)

200 strong but controlled (straight)

200 EZ recovery (turn)

2 min rest

Repeat 2 more times

CD:

Choice

• OWS - ~10-30 minutes

Sunday

• 90-minute run

WU: 20 minutes (10 min out/10 min back)

PS: 10 minutes out and back as (30 sec ON/1.5 min OFF – ON is strong but

controlled)

MS:

Option 1 (48 minutes): 8 x (5 min tempo into 1 min EZ reset)

Option 2 (49 minutes): 7x (3 min EZ, 2 min steady, 1 min strong, 1 min EZ reset)

CD:

Choice

• 4000+ yard swim

WU: (1000)

5 x 200 choice (or 1000 mix it up)

PS: (1000)

8 x 50 (Odd: 10 strokes fast, then EZ. Even: 25 backstroke, 25 swim)

200 kick w/ fins

8 x 25 (Odd: Fast. Even: EZ)

200 kick w/ fins

MS: (1600)

Option 1: 16 x 100 (optional buoy) w/ 15 sec rest (as 3 steady/1 EZ)

Option 2: 400 (optional buoy) w/ 20 sec rest (as 100 strong/300 steady)

CD: (400)

8 x 50 choice

We had to make a few modifications to our schedule but more on that later. 

After arriving to our Airbnb (which was a few miles from downtown), Stephanie and I took Natalies car and got a few groceries (mostly breakfast foods) at HEB. After Justine and Danielle arrived, we spent some time getting caught up and went to Barton Springs Pool. 

We started out with an easy coversational jog (15 minutes out and back) on an off-road trail. We then changed into our swim gear.

I've heard about this "pool" before and I was really excited to swim in it. It was a little chilly (69 degrees) so I opted to wear my wetsuit. It was a strange experience to feel like I was in open water but it felt like I was in a pool. We swam several out and back (~200 yard) segments for ~20 minutes. 

After we changed, we went back to the Airbnb to get ready for dinner. We drove near Congress Street and walked up and down the street, checking out all the nice shops. There were so many students, people, restaurants - the energy was high. 

Natalie made us a reservation for 7pm at June's All Day. It was a little chilly outside (in the 50s) but it was less noisy outside the restaurant so we sat outside under a heater. We shared the Lemon Ricotta as a starter, which was delicious. The menu lacked in vegetarian options but the couscous w/ vegetable kabob was so good. I also shared some frenchfries from the girls who got burgers and those were delicious. 

On Saturday, we "slept in" until ~7am, ate our breakfast and around 9am, we drove to the Austin High School Track. It's been several years since I ran on the track but it was a great opportunity for us to all run "together" but still do our own workout. The weather was perfect for our run and outside the track, there were so many people out running, biking and walking. I ended up with 6.38 miles 50 minutes and had a really good workout. It was so much fun running with my friends and cheering each other on throughout the set. 

After the track workout we went back to the Airbnb to clean up and Natalie got us tacos for lunch from Taco Deli. They were delicious. I really enjoyed my vegetarian/vegan tacos and the chips with guac was delish. 

Early in the afternoon, we went for a swim at Deep Eddy's. This is the oldest swimming pool in Texas. Although there were lane lines, it had a look of being "open water." I was hoping the water would be warmer than Barton Springs so I wouldn't have to wear my wetsuit but the pool was in the low 70s (not heated). I braved the cold water and swam without the wetsuit but we modified the swim since we didn't want to get too cold. I loved that the pool was 33.5 yards as it felt like it was 25 yards but with the extra 8 yards, every lap we were getting "bonus" yardage. We finished with 3000 yards in 45 minutes and I couldn't wait to get out. Although I was managing the cold temperature, I completely froze when I got out. I was shivering and shaking and it took a good 20 minutes for me to warmup. Lesson learned - wear the wetsuit. 

After the swim we went to the Austin Tri Cyclist store - founded in 1995! I got Karel a shirt. 

The afternoon was spent doing arts and crafts. Natalie bought us yarn to make chunky blankets. We watched a YouTube video on how to do it (not this video, but this is a good example) and then Justine, Natalie and I got to work making our blankets for the next few hours. 

Stephanie and Dee customized their tote bags. 

We then went to Hopdoddy Burger Bar for a meal and it was so good. I got the El Bandito (black bean and corn patty) and turned it into a salad (greens on the bottom topped with the burger and toppings. We all shared french fries with our burgers. 

On Sunday morning we drove downtown to run on the Lady Bird Run trail. There were so many people out running, walking and playing with their dogs. It felt like a race with so many people out on the paths. I absolutely loved this run path. It was a nice mix of bridge overlooking the water and downtown and hardpacked trail. It made for a great run. We warmed up and then did our main set. The weather was perfect for running. I got in 10.1 miles in 1:23 with a really solid main set. 

After the run we went to Lifetime Fitness for a swim. Natalie surprised us with what was going to be a warm outdoor pool and hot tub based on the website pictures but sadly, the pool was not warm (it was outside) and there wasn't a hot tub. We made the most of it and Stephanie and I got in another 45 minute swim and 3250 yards. 

We warmed up in the shower and changed in the locker room and went to Congress Street again to have lunch at Home Slice Pizza. We were all super hungry and shared the free bread rolls to start, then the gorganzola salad and then two pizzas (margherita and the spinach vegetable pizza). It was all so good. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. 

Austin was a really cool town. I loved the people, vibe, restaurants (sooo many), cool shops and active lifestyle. It's not a place that I would move to but I hope to go back and visit again (and swim in the pools when the water is a little warmer). 

We shared one last evening together and then we all made our way back to our homes on Monday morning. 

As I reflect back on this memorable, fun, workout, food and laugh-filled weekend, there was no body shaming or diet talk. It was a weekend of support, enthusiasm, celebration and joy. I feel this is important to share because you should always have a tribe of people around you who support you and lift you up. I admire these ladies so much. 

Justine has traveled the world and with her as your friend, you will have your biggest cheerleader. 
Natalie has a law degree and is the Vice President-Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer at UT Southwestern Medical Center and despite her busy schedule she makes time for others, her family and exercise on a daily basis. 
Stephanie is an incredible open water swimmer and her love for the water is contagious. 
Danielle is an engineer in a male dominated industry and she loves off-road racing. 

The support for one another to succeed is incredible and I am so lucky to have such awesome female friends. 

Lessons learned from our train-cation

I'd say that was a productive and successful train-cation. Travel went smoothly, we remained in great health and we were able to accomplish all of our planned workouts. The warm weather and change of scenery was exactly what we needed to recharge. Although this felt far from a vacation as every day included several hours of computer work, it was a nice escape from the daily grind.

After our 3.5 day "camp" in Clermont, FL. concluded on Thurs afternoon, we drove to Jacksonville, FL to finish out the rest of our trip - Karel had four bike fits for some of our FL athletes scheduled over the next two days. We stayed with our assistant coach Joe, and his wife Erica, son Weston and dog Reagan. After spending 6 years in Jacksonville, it was nice to be back and to train on familiar roads. Although much more car-filled/busy for my liking, it was a nice change to train on roads that were flat!

To finish off our week of training:

Friday AM:
4250 yard swim (for me, Karel had the morning off for his fits)

Friday PM:
1:38 ride (Karel and I did this workout together after his fits)

Saturday AM:
2:45 bike followed by a 15 min run (for me)
Karel had an EZ 45 min run in the morning before his fits

Sunday AM:
75 min run (for me)
90 min run (Karel)

All of these workouts had a specific focus or set(s). 

As for the "camp" (or train-cation), I found myself thinking of a few aspects that are important when embarking on an intentional over-training load in a new/different environment. Interestingly, these aspects apply to the daily-grind, particularly in your own home environment.

Be organized and preparedFrom charging gadgets and having extra gear/equipment to having food prepped, being organized and prepared makes it easier to accomplish what you intend to accomplish - all in a timely manner. The tools and methods that you choose are completely up to you but being organized and prepared can reduce stress to make your training much more enjoyable and productive. I feel a key component here is learning what works and what doesn't work. There are no mistakes but lessons learned. I'm a big fan of writing down an itinerary for the day and then planning what needs to get done in order to make the day as productive as possible. Rarely does leaving things to chance work out for the best. 

Be flexible 

In training and on race day, every athlete needs the skill of being flexible. Although we were able to accomplish our training for the week, it wasn't without a obstacles. I had two flat tires (on two different days), lightening forced us out of the pool for nearly 40 minutes (we got back in and finished our workout) and rainy/cool weather required us to swap a few workouts around. While we had a plan for the day, rarely did things go as planned. To ensure that workouts stay of quality so that you can adapt well to your training sessions, it's important to not compromise sleep and nutrition just because you are too rigid with your training sessions. To work out at any cost can do more harm than good. A smart approach to training allows for positive adaptations. If you have become a bit obsessed with rules, strict schedules and a perfect plan, I encourage you to become more mentally flexible and less of a perfectionist. I'll share a secret with you - you can still have a "perfect" training session or race, even if everything doesn't go as planned.

Be kind

I can't tell you how many times I thanked my body throughout the last seven days. I couldn't believe how quickly I bounced back from my training sessions and how my body performed with such a training overload. Being kind to my body was much more than just thanking it. Being kind also included prioritizing good sleep, eating and fueling properly, hydrating well and keeping up with mobility work. Not once during our train-cation did I comment (or think) about how I looked of what my body looked like. In a toxic body image world, I have learned to accept my body for how it is and to be kind and respectful to it with my nutrition, training and mindset. Without body kindness, it's easy to sabotage your workouts and destroy your health due to poor body image, self-hate, body shaming and being too critical. Being kind means letting go of the mindset that you need to "look" a certain way in order to be a better, faster or more successful athlete. Being kind means listening to your body when it needs rest, fuel, hydration and nourishment. Being kind means giving your body sleep instead of trying to function in a caffeinated, sleep-deprived state. Being kind means removing negative people in your life who you compare yourself to and/or don't make you feel good about yourself. Being kind means enjoying what you can do with your body and thanking your body for what it allows you to do. 

2019 Clermont Train-Cation Recap

For the past few years, Karel and I have dedicated a few days in the month of February to a personal "training camp." We ran this idea by our coaches and they supplied us with our workouts for 3.5 days of training in warm and sunny Clermont, Florida. We are very familiar with Clermont as it was the first place where we held a training camp back in 2013. Since then, we have held five camps in Clermont, Florida. Also, when we lived in Clearwater and then Jacksonville, Karel and I would annually participate in the Clermont Horrible Hundred bike event in November.

Clermont is a great place for triathletes. The NTC (National Training Center) has an incredible facility with a huge outdoor pool that would make even the most anti-swimmer triathlete want to swim. The one-day rate is a little pricey ($15/person) but it's worth it when you get to swim outdoors and be surrounded by other like-minded individuals (there's no shortage of triathletes in the area, no matter when you go to Clermont).

There are countless routes for cycling. Since we were last in Clermont (in 2017), there have been so many new developments, roads and cycling trails. Although we consider Greenville, SC super bike friendly, it's incredible how many cycling-friendly paths there are in the area. We also feel safe on the road, mostly because the drivers are accustomed to sharing the roads with cyclists/triathletes. We have been fairly lucky with this trip as the weather was perfectly HOT when we arrived on Sunday evening. Although Wed was rainy and chilly, we were lucky to get two warm days to start our train-cation. It's been a nice change from our weather in Greenville (which is not that bad compared to way up north!). And in case you were wondering, Clermont is hilly!! Although we are searching out more "flat" terrain while we are here, we are getting plenty of ups and downs to remind us of home. 

As for running, there's the notorious Clay Trail that is a rolling hill trail covered in orangish clay. It's very popular among visitors and locals. We were planning to run on it on Thurs but due to weather, we had to swap Wed/Thurs workouts. While there are plenty of paved trails for running, we enjoy running by the Waterfront Lake - which is home to a series of triathlon events from March until October.

Tomorrow we will conclude our training camp with one last big workout. Here's the run down so far...

Monday AM:
4300 yard swim
2:46 ride

Monday PM:
50 minute run

Tuesday AM:
3:49 ride
(Karel had a 25 min run off the bike)

Tuesday PM:
4000 yard swim (with a 40 min break before the main set due to lightening)

Wednesday AM:
5000 yard swim
1 hour run for me, 50 min run for Karel

Wednesday PM:
30 minute run

Thursday AM (still to come!)
5 hour ride
20 min brick run

With a lot of training to pack into 3.5 days, nutrition plays a huge role in our training - all year long.  Consistency is key for us as we love the process of training, but we also care greatly about our health. In my opinion, nothing says "healthy" when you think about the stress that we put our body under when we are training for 3-5 hours a day so it's very important for us (and for all athletes) to consider the role of the daily diet and sport nutrition to help the body perform well and adapt to this intentional overload of training stress.

While I always put a lot of thought and effort into how we eat and fuel, it never feels too overwhelming for me. With a background in exercise science (Bachelor degree) and exercise physiology (Master degree), I find that sport nutrition comes quite simple for me. Because I know what's going on on a physiological level, it's much easier for me to know how to eat, fuel and hydrate on a daily basis. 

I prepped a lot of food before we traveled to Clermont so that we could easily put together a balanced meal in a hurry, without needing to think about meal planning (or waiting for food). Rather than making complete meals, I made a bunch of different foods such as rice, quinoa, boiled potatoes, sauteed veggies, tempeh, tofu and chicken. I also brought along some staples like honey, syrup, PB and oatmeal, as well as some "fun" foods like Oreas and pita chips (however, the later two haven't been consumed very much). Karel and I are all about real food to make up the majority of our diet but as endurance athletes, there is room for the "fun" foods. We never worry about eating "too much" and we also don't focus on body image when we train (or throughout the day). Food is our fuel and nourishment and we don't ever restrict ourselves (that includes fueling before and during workouts). 

Although I am all about real food, there's a time and a place for sport nutrition - specifically powders and bars. I'm grateful for the sport nutrition companies out there who have well-formulated products with safe and effective ingredients. When I search for a quality sport nutrition product, I look for the carbohydrates, electrolytes and formulation to ensure that it's well made and also that it can be easily digested and absorbed. I am not a fan of "boosters" and additives in sport nutrition products so to me, sport nutrition needs to be simple - give the body what it needs and nothing more. If the body needs something more (ex. BCAAs, protein, fat, etc.), get it from an extra source and not from your primary sport drink. By supplying the body with what it needs during a workout (with the right type of product and amount), the body can perform at its best and the stress response decreases (with less risk for injury, burnout and sickness). This is how the body can best stay "healthy" through intense and high volume training. In my opinion, sport nutrition products are not unhealthy - they keep the body in good health! That is - if you use them properly.

Throughout this camp, I've not consumed any energy drinks or caffeinated products outside of my one cup of coffee in the morning. The energy that I need comes from my daily diet and from the fuel and hydration that I consume during training (and after training). 

Karel and I don't get to train like this very often. Even with the Ironman World Championship as our priority race this season (in October), this will likely be our only personal training camp of the year. The rest of the season will include a lot of private and group training camps for athletes and we will squeeze in our own training when it makes sense. As part of this mini train-cation, I wanted to use social media to show you how we train, fuel and eat. It's not extreme, sexy or complicated. Yes, it does require a lot of planning, understanding and effort, but I feel it's an obligation to my body to take care of it. 

It's not uncommon for endurance athletes to want to change how they look and to experience strong feelings before, during and after workouts to be lighter, leaner or stronger. This often leads to overexercising and underfueling. However, there is also a large group of athletes who don't think this way but just lack an understanding of how to fuel and eat to support the training load. Regardless of the group that you fit into, haphazard fueling and eating can result in health issues and a performance decline.

As it relates to the former group, rather than fueling for consistent training, great health and a stronger body, athletes sabotage great workouts by not eating properly. The body becomes weaker and more fragile as the goal switches from being strong, fit and healthy to train more and to eat less.

There are far too many nutrition "experts" who are encouraging athletes to avoid carbs and sport nutrition and even to fast for 8-24 hours at a time. Because of this, athletes are scared and confused about food. This thinking is absolutely wrong!!!

The outcomes of an underfueled/undernourished body are not advantageous. I could not image training in an underfueled, undernourished state. Workouts are hard enough as they are, even when I'm well fueled! 

If you have been told to not fuel before, during or after a workout OR you feel you are chronically undernourished OR you are occasionally severely restricting your food/sport nutrition intake, you may be putting your body at an increased risk for injury, burnout and illness. 

Please be kind to your body. Take care of it and give your body the fuel and nourishment that it deserves. In return you'll be rewarded with great health, consistent training and an improved quality of life. 

Scottsdale, Arizona Train-Cation - Day 4

Some swim workouts are better with company. A swim partner keeps you accountable to getting to the pool to start your workout and to stay in the pool to finish your workout. 

For our last workout of our train-cation, we had a mega swim workout provided by Tower 26.

My body was still feeling pretty tired from the bike ride on Wednesday but I shifted my mindset from "I'm too tired" to "you can do it!"

Here's the swim workout......

500 warm-up
4 x 50's kick with snorkel and board w/ 10 sec rest

Pre set:
400 swim w/ fins and snorkel

MS: 10 x 350's with 40 seconds rest as
#1-4: 70, 75, 80, 85%.
#5-7: 85% (same effort as #4)
#8-9: 70%
#10: Best effort

CD: 100 EZ
Total: 4600 yards

Hello from Scottsdale, AZ!

Several months ago, Karel and I decided that we would take a vacation in February to change up our normal training scenery and to enjoy some warmer weather in a place that we have never visited before. That place.....Scottsdale, Arizona and that time is now!

Although we travel a lot for our races, I can't remember the last time that we traveled somewhere for a train-cation. I think the last time was in 2006 when we were dating! No race, no camp, no athletes to attend to.....A train-cation just for us! While it feels kinda weird to have the focus only on us as we love traveling for races or for our athletes, it is probably a little overdue for us to have the opportunity to spend a few days just to ourselves to do what we love to do - swim, bike, run. Although we can't shut-off our computers during our train-cation (there's always work/coaching to do), it's refreshing to change the scenery to awake the mind and body.

With our furry crew enjoying a few days with "Grandma", we left Greenville early on Sunday morning around 5:40am to head to the GSP airport. We had a quick flight to Atlanta and then a 3.5 hour flight to Phoenix. Each flight had a minor delay while we were on board but with all things considered, the travel out west was fairly uneventful. 

Although I brought snacks with us, we picked up "brunch" from Nature's Table (terminal E). I got a side of scrambled eggs and a vegetable wrap (tomato, zucchini, lettuce and provolone) and Karel got a tuna sandwich. 

It's always hard for me to leave Campy when we travel so I am always on look-out for furry friends to say hi to when we are away from home. Gotta get my animal-fix! Luckily, I had this little friend sitting in front of me. This is 14-year old Lilly and she doesn't have any teeth so her tongue sticks out. She was very well behaved and so cute. 

This train-cation all started back in November when I was texting with my friend Emily and mentioned to her about wanting to go somewhere warm to train in Feb. She suggested that we come stay with her at her home in Scottsdale, AZ and we can all do a mini training camp together. Since Emily is coached by Matt Dixon with Purple Patch, we knew we would get some quality workouts for our camp together and we would be in great company from a "local". Plus, Emily is a super strong, fast and resilient triathlete with great results to show for her hard work and we both have had the opportunity to train with at past PPF Greenville camps, so we knew she would make the perfect training partner.

As soon as we arrived to Emily's house, we quickly unpacked and then headed off to the local outdoor pool for a 2200 swim. It felt so nice to swim outside and to feel warm(er) weather on my skin! 

After the swim, Karel assembled our bikes (all good from the travel!) and I got caught up on emails while we waited for dinner to be delivered. I could not stop yumming over our dinner from True Food Kitchen! What a great way to end a long day of traveling.

We are excited for our first official day of our train-cation tomorrow which includes a ~4 hour ride with some cadence/effort intervals, followed by a 30-minute run and an afternoon splash in the pool.

Thoughts on training at elevation - Boulder train-cation

The stats are in from our 8-day train-cation in Boulder, CO!

Swimming: 8800 yards
Cycling: ~231 miles, ~24,000 elevation gain (Marni) 
Cyling: ~310 miles, ~30,000 elevation gain (Karel)
Running: 42 miles (Marni and Karel)

Wow - that's A LOT of training at elevation!
There are many benefits of training at altitude. 

Acclimating to altitude produces more red blood cells which means more oxygen to deliver to the muscles. Altitude also creates more capillaries which gives the blood more pathways for delivery to the muscles. Lastly, there is an increase in mitochondria (powerhouse of cells) as they convert oxygen to energy.

As you can see, there are many performance benefits to training at altitude that can bring on better endurance, power and speed....and they are all natural and legal!!!

However, it's not all as "magical" as it seems. 

Exercising in "thinner" air means less oxygen per volume of air. Less oxygen molecules means the muscles have a harder time to work efficiently. The lungs also take a beating too (talk about coughing after the workouts). Although the body will compensate for the decrease in oxygen by producing more red blood cells (with the help of EPO - again, this is natural!) to deliver oxygen to the muscles, there is a great struggle that occurs when the body begins to train at altitude. 

Some athletes will notice the struggle at ~5200 feet whereas some athletes have to go to more than 8,000 feet above sea level. 

Both Karel and I had an amazing time in Boulder, CO but it was rather difficult for both of us to feel like we could train "smart" during our train-cation. The dry air was tough too.

With less than 8 weeks until the 2015 IM World Championship, our bodies were in a great place physically to absorb a mega-load of training stress but the reduced atmospheric pressure really made it challenging to stay aerobic. We have spent much of our training this year learning how to listen to our body and when we need to go EZ, we go EZ so that when we need to go hard, we have the energy to do so. Athletes often train in between this area - all the time and this makes it hard to boost performance.

In Boulder, it almost felt as if every workout was anaerobic - no matter how "easy" we were trying to go (which as you can imagine, made "recovering" after a climb or during a workout, quite impossible).
Even though we don't chase numbers when we train, it was much harder to go a certain effort in all three sports at altitude. 

Our Boulder train-cation was extremely beneficial in that it took us away from our normal training environment, which mentally, is always a great thing when training for a 140.6 mile event.
And although we both don't feel as if we lost fitness because of the altitude, it's hard to say as if we "gained" anything at altitude. 

Whereas a mega-load (train-cation/training camp) is designed to put a lot of stress on the body, the altitude was a stressor....on top of the intentional training stress. 

Thankfully, neither of us experienced "altitude sickness" so our immune system stayed in good health at altitude and with all of our training. Neither of us had headaches, nausea or extreme fatigue. 

The first thing we noticed was difficulty sleeping - this is often called "altitude insomnia". Karel and I would have difficulty falling asleep (we probably missed our sleeping partner Campy too) and we would both wake up at least 2 times during the night. We also both had to go to the bathroom to pee at least twice during the night. This got better by the 6th day at elevation and by the 7th day, we finally were able to sleep through the night. The sleepless nights were exhausting come morning time. 

We stayed in Boulder (~5400 elevation) for the first 3.5 days of our trip and then went to 8,000 feet when we linked-up with our friends in the cabin for the next 6 days. Then back to 5400 feet for our last night in Boulder. Our training ranged from 5400 elevation to 10,000+ elevation. 

Karel and I had no trouble consuming our typical sport nutrition during all our workouts (we never once trained with just water - always a sport drink + additional food for our bike rides) so we managed to meet hydration and calorie needs but we both experienced a slight drop in appetite. I don't consider this an advantage at all to not have an appetite. We need to eat!!
This mostly occurred in the 2-3 hours post workout so for Karel, he opted for more liquid calories and for me, I ate more frequently (every hour) and had small meals instead of a larger recovery meal. By dinner, we both had our "normal" appetites back and had no trouble enjoying our normal carb-rich diet.
We always had an appetite to eat before our workouts as well. 

In Greenville, SC, we live at ~1,000 feet. Most of our mountains go up to around 2,000-3500 feet. We just LOVE training in Greenville. 

As for racing at elevation, neither one of us will race at altitude simply because of the adjustment that is needed to perform well and stay healthy, at altitude, is risky. Sure, it can be done but we much prefer hilly courses that include mountains as oppose to starting a race at high elevation. 

Once again, our Boulder trip was awesome - we loved the active community, the many running trails, the delicious eats and the variety of terrain. However, the trip was exhausting. Physically, it was so challenging to train, recover and train and recover and by the last two days of the trip - I was beat. The load was intense but the altitude made it even more difficult. There were so many times when I couldn't catch my breath as I was training and I found myself "anaerobic" no matter the effort.....then again, my fitness has improved a lot this summer so I managed to train "with" Karel for most of our Boulder train-cation - and he pushes me!
 Sure, I had some great workouts but from a "smart" training perspective, our train-cation was long enough and I am happy to be back in Greenville. Karel managed to bounce back quickly after we returned home, whereas I have taken this entire week (since Tues when we traveled home) incredibly easy with light workouts, to fully recover my body. 

It's always fun to train up the training environment but always remember that your #1 goal is to train in the environment that gives you the best training stress. If you can't adapt to the training stress, then you are likely compromising your health at the expensive of trying to improve performance. 

Boulder train-cation: day 7 and 8

On Sunday morning, Karel and I drove down to the park and headed out for a 40 minute run before getting on our bikes with Adam and Bill to cycle to Golden, CO to watch stage 7 of the USA Pro cycling challenge. 

I was really looking forward to this ride but after the run, my body was feeling incredibly tired (I wonder why!). Adam, Karel and Bill (the rest of our group drove their bikes to Golden) were riding from Boulder to Golden on semi busy roads (to get out of Boulder) and I was just not comfortable on those roads.

So after about 30 minutes of riding, I decided to head back to the car. It was a bummer to not continue on and join the guys to climb Lookout mountain to watch the tour but my body had enough.....and when I got back to the cabin I just laid on the couch (and watched the race on NBC) for a few hours.

But Karel had a lot of fun and he felt strong riding. I was happy for him. It's great in our athlete-relationship that if one of us has an off day, we can still be happy for the other person who is having a better day.

As the guys were riding to Golden, they linked up with professional cyclist Lucas Euser from United Healthcare. Karel was really excited to ride with Lucas and he said it made the rest of the ride go by really fast.

Karel really enjoyed the climb up Lookout mountain...and after the crowds dissapeared after the pro race went by, Karel enjoyed flying down the descend. 

Here are a few of Karel's pictures from Lookout Mountain while watching the last stage of the Pro cycling challenge. 

Hey - I know these guys! 

Around 4pm, I received a text from Karel to pick him up in the park parking lot so I made my way down the mountain to give Karel a lift so he didn't have to bike up Sunshine Canyon. 

Karel rode back by himself and finished with 4 hours and a little over 70 miles. 

After the group cleaned up, it was time to head downtown for our last dinner together. 

We went to The Med - which was amazing!!!! 

We ordered a few appetizers and ate A LOT of bread (oh so good!) and then it was time for our entrees. 

Karel ordered the chicken Kabobs.  

I ordered the Spinaci - this HIT the spot in my belly!!!

It was a late night on Sunday night but the guys wanted to watch the end of the USA Pro cycling challenge on NBC sports and there was a lot of laughing and chatting going on as well. 

On Monday morning, our group got up early to head to the airport and Karel and I took our time as we had to be out of the cabin by 10am. 

I felt a bit better on Monday morning (compared to Sunday...pizza always does the trick!) so I went for a run...my last workout of our 7-day train-cation. 

5.5 miles at 8,000 feet on top Sunshine Canyon. 

After we loaded up the car, it was time....time for a cinnamon roll!!
I've enjoyed a fresh cinnamon roll a few times this summer (last time after placing overall female amateur at Challenge Williamsburg) and after doing more training within 7-days than I have ever done in my life.....this cinnamon roll from Breadworks tasted amazing!!

As for the rest of our last day in Boulder...

Now that we are out of the cabin, we are enjoying some relaxing. There will be a little shopping, a little more eating and then early to bed before we head back to Greenville to reunite with our furry family (who is currently being spoiled by "grandma"). 

Thanks for following along during our train-cation!!!

Next up...a VERY important race-cation. 

5 weeks from tomorrow we head to Kona, Hawaii for the 2015 IM World Championship on October 10th!!!

Boulder train-cation: day 6

After 4 days of climbing, descending and doing more climbing and descending, we were seeking a "flatter" ride to open-up our legs. We reached out to our friend Laura (who is also training for Kona) who lives in Boulder to see if we could link-up with her for her long ride. She was happy to have us tag along and we were happy to have such a great (and strong) tour-guide. 

The ride was exactly what we needed. Flat with a few rolling hills and one climb to see Carter Lake.....every train-cation ride should include a beautiful view after a climb. 

It was super windy with a lot of headwind and cross wind. Perfect Kona training!!

Karel and I have not trained on flat roads in over 1.5 years so it felt so great to settle into a rhythm and steady cadence.

And when I say great, it was far from easy as I was sitting on Karel's wheel...and he was feeling really good...and riding super strong. 

We finished with 70 miles in around 3.5 hours which made for one fast ride in very windy conditions. 

Thanks Laura for the ride! See you in Kona in a little over a month!

Karel and I quickly made our way back to the cabin (we parked at Centennial Park Trailhead), changed, had a recovery drink and made a to-go meal and we all boarded our van to head to Ft. Collins to watch stage 6 of USA Pro cycling challenge.

It took us a bit longer than planned due to a lot of traffic and road closures but we finally made it to the race venue in time to see the women's finish.

While our group got beers and food at a local restaurant, Karel and I met up with Eric, a Clif Bar contact and he provided us with two VIP passes. Thanks Clif Bar!!!!

Karel enjoyed a beer...or three and we both enjoyed some yummy catered food. 

We met up with our friend again to walk around the "expo" area and then Karel and I made our way back into the VIP area to get our spot as close as possible to the finish. 

The set-up for the stage was incredible - there were big screen projectors everywhere with the commentators pumping-up the crowd. There was a water station to ensure that everyone stayed well-hydrated and in the VIP area, there were several TVs showing live footage. 

I have become quite the professional cycling fan thanks to Karel and prior to his triathlon journey in 2012, I spent many weekends on the sidelines cheering for him at his cat 1 cycling races. 

It was so much fun to share this experience with Karel and the best part.....Roman Kreuziger, a czech cyclist, won the race! 

After the race, we went to the team bus area which was really cool to see the athletes and be so close to the team cars and buses. 

Karel and Taylor Phinney (stage 1 winner).

After waiting around for a while, Karel finally got a picture with Roman. We then made our way back to Boulder after a fun day of cycling and watching cycling.

What a special day for Karel...and go Czech!!! 

                                         

Boulder Train-cation: day 5

Day five of our train-cation included a little cycling and a lot of running.

Karel and I started our morning around 8:00am with a 24 minute run, starting from the park at the base of Sunshine Canyon. We ran down 4th street and made a big loop that included a lot of up and downhills. 

We kept the effort super easy since we had two more workouts on the daily to-do schedule. 

Our friends from our cabin cycled down to the park and we all started our ride toward Flagstaff Trailhead.

The climb to our look-out point was around 3 miles. It included several switchbacks but nothing too steep (except for at the beginning of the climb). It was an absolutely beautiful climb as you could see all of Boulder during the climb. When we got to the top, we enjoyed the view and then it was time to make the descend back to Boulder. 

Karel and I rode back to our car at the park on the base of Sunshine Canyon and the guys continued on with their ride. Karel and I ended up with a little over 1 hour of riding and 1500 feet of climbing. 

We put on our run gear and off we went for our first long run in Boulder. 

We choose a new path, the Boulder Creek Path, which was another amazing trail/road running route. 

Karel and I started the run together with a 40-minute EZ, slower than Ironman-effort pace. Karel ran with a 4-bottle flask and I ran with two bottles. I always tell my athletes to never ration their hydration and to drink frequently during runs but I didn't take my own advice on this run. I didn't realize how far I was running before we ended up at our turn-around and after quickly going through 1 x 10 ounce flask with 80 calories of Clif hydration, I found myself needing to ration my other 10 ounce flask (with Clif hydration) to make it back to a water fountain. 

Karel and I ran a bit up 4-mile canyon before making our turn around. Our next set in our long run main set was 30 minutes at IM effort...then 20 minutes faster than IM effort. 

I really enjoyed the trail and all of the beautiful sights during our run but the way out to our turn-around was tough because it was slightly uphill. I managed to stay with Karel for another 1.5 miles before I let him go to continue on with the set and I choose to run/stop and take pictures and to make sure I didn't risk a health issue by running with so little hydration/calories. 

I enjoyed my stop breaks while still managing to hold sub 8-minute miles on the trail and when I got to a water stop, I decided to just run EZ as the last few miles were not ideal with so little nutrition/hydration. 

I met up with Karel after around 90 minutes of running and we both jogged easily back to the car. 

Here are a few pics from the run:

Karel ended up with 1 hour and 50 minutes of running and I finished with 1:40. Added to our 24 minute run before the bike, we both were exhausted...but in a good way.
The altitude still has an effect on how were are training but we are happy with how we are performing and recovering. But above all, we are having a lot of fun and really enjoying this train-cation. 

On our drive up to our cabin, we made a stop to say hello to a few furry friends that we spotted on the side of the road. I wonder what Mr. Lama would think of all of these friends? 

After a bit of recovery (food, hydration and rest), we all headed out to Avery Brewing for a well-needed post-workout meal. 

You better believe that our group enjoyed this beer list. Karel got two different IPA's and a brisket sandwich with a side of roasted carrots. 

I ordered the veggie tacos - which was amazing!!

This train-cation has been so much fun for me and Karel but even more so, to enjoy food, training, fun and laughs with our friends. 

Our friends/athletes, Kristen and Trent also joined us (we stayed at their house for the first 3 days of our trip - and I love their three furry children). 

After hanging out at the brewery for a bit (what a great vibe!), it was time for Sweet Cow ice cream. 

Karel got the dutch chocolate and berry sorbet and I got the oatmeal cookie and chocolate covered pretzel. 

So good!!!

When we got back to the cabin, I did my daily blogging on my little outdoor table and we enjoyed the cooler air outside before it was time for bed. 

Stay tuned for day 6 of our train-cation. A long, windy, flat ride followed by watching stage 6 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Fort Collins. 

Thanks for following along! 

Boulder train-cation: day 4

Thursday was our big ride day. And by big, I mean BIG! 

Karel and I thought it would be "fun" to finish our ride with a climb back to our cabin on top Sunshine Canyon.....the 6.5 mile descend was a lot of fun to start but it was a little reminder of what's to come at the end of our ride. 

Staying on top of Sunshine Canyon has been a treat for every ride that we do, we start and finish at Centennial Park Trailhead and the drive up and down is absolutely beautiful. 

Thankfully, my descending skills have improved greatly since moving to Greenville so I have felt really confident going down the mountains (but nowhere near Karel's descending skills).  

We waited a few minutes for our friends to get ready and then we were off to Old Stage road to start our ride. 

The ride through Left Hand Canyon was absolutely beautiful. Tall rocky mountains and a flowing creek to the side of the road. 

A few of the guys went a different route and then heading up to Ward and Karel, Adam Baskin and Chris and I started our long climb up to Ward.

The climb was steady. It wasn't steep but it wasn't flat. It kinda felt like a false flat for a good 8 miles or so and then it kicked up before the final push to the town of Ward. 

I found myself settling into a rhythm with the guys and I was able to hang for a mile....and then another mile..and then another mile. 

The guys were averaging around 10-13mph so I did the simple math and I guesstimated that this 10.5 mile climb would take us/them around an hour-ish.

I told myself, one hour of suffering was on the table and I was up for the challenge. The effort was steady but the lack of oxygen was definitely the biggest limiter for me. 

There were several times when I was uncomfortably breathing but I told myself to just hang on. I was constantly playing games with myself (mentally) and just convincing myself that I was ok...when clearly, by my breathing, I was not comfortable.
But, I was hanging on and was determined to make it until I couldn't make it anymore.

I kept an eye on my Garmin 810 and when we were getting close to 50 minutes, I could feel the road pitch-up and I was really having trouble staying on Karel and Adam's wheel (Chris had dropped back around 9 miles into the climb).

I let the guys go but I could still see them in sight and before I knew it, I was at the general store in Ward and I could finally rest my legs on the ground. 

Holy cow. I couldn't believe I just did that. 

Out of everything in the store, a pop-tart sounded the best...and for some reason, it tasted amazing. 

Karel was so proud of me...it took me a bit to gather myself but I finally pulled myself together.

We took a quick bathroom stop....

  

Chilaxed a little in Ward...

And then it was time to climb some more. 

After our stop, we had 5 more miles of climbing and we finally got our reward.....

Brainard Lake.

10,300 elevation. 

And we got a few pictures to prove it! 

What an amazing experience. Here are the stats:
From the bottom of Left Hand Canyon to the Lake: 19 miles, 5400 feet of climbing,
1 hour and 32 minutes of climbing

And what goes up...must come down. Weeeeeeee. 31 miles of descending (with a few rollers).
It took Karel 1 hour and 11 minutes to descend 31 miles.

The wind was a bit sketchy at times as we were descending to the town of Nederland  but the roads were open and the views were breathtaking. 

After we re-grouped before the descent into the town, Karel and I went ahead so that we could get a head start since we had one last climb back to our cabin (the guys had the van parked at the park).

The descend into Boulder was unreal - big rocky mountains.
I just love being on my bike....and being so close to nature. 

I forced myself to keep a positive attitude for our 6.5 mile climb back to the cabin on Sunshine Canyon road but I could tell that my body was tired.
2200 feet of climbing in 6.92 miles and in barely under an hour later, Karel and I were finally done with our BIG ride. 

Just a snapshot of our ride.
Total elevation gain: 13,000!!!
And boy, did we feel it! The scenery is amazing here but I can't wait to get back to my oxygen in Greenville, SC next week! 

After a recovery snack and recovery meal, Karel and I rested as the guys headed to Pearl Street Mall and around 5pm, Karel and I found some energy to get to downtown for some food. 

What a great group!

Karel and I ate at the same restaurant where the guys ate an hour earlier. We all ended up at The Lazy Dog.

I got the hummus plate with a Caesar Salad  and Karel yummed over wings and a local IPA. 

What an amazing day on two wheels. I was so proud of my body and I didn't once forget how far I have come with my cycling skills and my love for riding my bike. 

Stay tuned for day 5 of our train-cation. 50 days until the 2015 IM World Championship and the fun continues with a 3+ hour run/bike/run workout for me and Karel. 

Boulder train-cation: day 3

By Wednesday, Karel and I started to feel more normal with the altitude - although we are both struggling with a bit of altitude insomnia where we struggle to fall asleep and we wake up at least twice throughout the night. 

We have been waking up (without an alarm) around 6:00-6:15am and enjoying the fresh, dry air outside. 

It's been a long time coming since Karel injured his foot in May but, with the help of an amazing PT Kent, Karel is finally back running again. He is up to 14 minute run, 30 sec walk. 

With us staying just 3/4 mile from Wonderland Trailhead, it's so convenient (and beautiful) to run on the trails out there so around 7:30am, we headed out for a 1 hour run.

Karel and I started together while warming up and then after a short break, it was time to get to business. With Karel doing a lot of strength work for his foot and keeping his cardio strong with swimming/cycling, Karel certainly did not slow much over the past 3 months. I tried hard to keep up with Karel as we were running between 7;15-7:45 min/miles for a good 4 miles...up and down the trails. It was a lot of fun and great to enjoy the scenery with Karel. 

After our run, we had breakfast #2 (and a Clif recovery drink) and we rested for an hour before we headed to Scott Carpenter Pool for a 11am long course meter swim.
Our friend/athlete Kristen joined us which was great for us all to workout together. 

We had a tough Kona-prep swim!
400 warm-up
Pre-set (with buoy/paddles): 100, 200, 300, 400 (increasing effort from 75-85%)

MS 2x's:
8 x 100's w/ 10 sec rest @ 90% effort
400 Ironman effort
1 min rest, then repeat MS one more time

Total: 3800 meters

After the swim (workout #2), we were in need of some carbs so off we went to Breadworks to cure our bread cravings. 

Karel got a chicken panini, 3 pastries and a loaf of bread and I got a salty pretzel. YUM!

After our post-workout meal/lunch, we packed up at Kristen's  house and it was time to start part II of our vacation with our Gearlink friends. 

Around 3pm, we made our 6.5 mile trip up Sunshine Canyon to see where we would be staying with our friends.
For the next 5 days, we will stay around 8000 feet up the mountain in this beautiful cabin. 

Our friends just flew in from Clearwater and they were anxious to ride so around 4pm, Karel and I loaded up our car for workout #3. 

We parked at Centennial Park Trailhead (at the base of Sunshine Canyon) and got on our bikes and made our  way to Old Stage Road and then up, and up, and up Lee Hill.
It was a tough ride but beautiful and a lot of fun to ride with our friends.

Although Karel would be in cycling heaven with his road bike (bombing the descends), we both have our triathlon bikes since we are less than 8 weeks out from the IM World Championship and our tri bikes are our primary bikes to train on (lots of muscle memory). 

It was nearing 7pm when we arrived to dinner and we were all ready for food!
We ate at BackCounty Pizza and the food was amazing (although  after 3 workouts for me and Karel, we probably could have eaten pizza at the gas station and said it was amazing too :) 

                             

I got the Nediterranean veggie burger and french fries and the guys got beer and pizza. I know - I passed on pizza but I needed something heavy in my gut and a burger did the trick! 

I proudly cleaned my plate!

We then made our way to Safeway to shop for groceries for the cabin and by 9:30pm, we were back in the cabin with the groceries unloaded and time to relax before bed. 

Stay tuned for the recap of our long, hard, beautiful Thursday ride. 

Boulder train-cation: day 2

On Tuesday morning, we left our house (off Broadway) around 7:30am with my friend, Katie,

to ride for 2.5 hours. Karel and I were excited for our first ride in Boulder.
The ride started on Broadway and then we turned left on to Lee Hill which took us to Old Stage Road. We had a bit of a kicker of a climb for the first few miles and then a nice descend to catch our breath. As for the rest of the ride, it was beautiful and Karel and I really welcomed the many miles of flat roads. We did a big loop and finished back at our house where we are staying.
Because our ride didn't include a lot of climbing, Karel and I really enjoyed being able to settle into a rhythm. We haven't ridden on flat roads in over a year (since moving to Greenville) so our route was a great treat!
Here are a few pics from our ride. Katie took us by all the Boulder triathlon "hot spots". 

After the ride, I went for a 40-minute transition run to and around Wonderland Lake Trailhead. My run called for 40 minutes at IM effort and it felt good to run strong off the bike, even at altitude. I was much more comfortable running today at altitude on Tuesday versus running on Monday. 

After my workout, it was time to eat and then after a short rest, it was time to head to the Training Peaks Headquarters. Here are a few behind-the-scene pics inside Training Peaks. 

The Pain Cave!

After our visit (and chat) with our friends at Training Peaks, Karel and I headed near Pearl Street to do some walking around. 

Karel has a shirt from Endurance Conspiracy  and wanted to visit the Boulder store so we visited the store and bought two shirts. 

I didn't buy this tank but I thought the triathletes would appreciate this top. 

Love my new cycling shirt. 

Karel's new shirt. I don't think he can have too many cycling shirts. 

We visited a coffee shop that happened to have huge loaves of bread...and pretzels! 

After our busy day, we headed back home, ate a late lunch and watched the next stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge on Universal Sports. 

I spent the rest of the evening laying around with my furry friend (shhh...Rosie isn't allowed on the couch but we didn't tell her owners who were away at work) and Karel went for an early evening run. 

After dinner-in, we watched the 2014 Ironman World Championship (previously recorded) for a little inspiration as to why we are here having fun and training hard. 

Thanks for following along...stay tuned for day 3 of our train-cation....3 workouts (run, swim, bike) and a full day of training in Boulder, CO. 

Boulder Train-Cation - day 1

Day 1 in Boulder started with a 50-minute run through Wonderland Lake Trailhead.

With this being my first workout in Boulder, I just went by feel to make sure I didn't overdo it with the altitude of ~5400 feet above sea level. 

We are staying at our athlete's house which is just a mile from the trailhead so it was the perfect warm-up before an absolutely wonderful, beautiful run. 

The altitude wasn't too much of an issue but I certainly didn't push it during my run. I did notice that for the same RPE, I was running 30-60 sec per min/mile slower which was just fine by me. I really enjoyed the ups and downs on the trail and if you know me, you know I just love running on hills and trails so this was a very welcomed run. I included a few more frequent walks if I felt short of breath just to make sure that my aerobic run didn't turn into an anaerobic run (regardless of the pace). 

I had 2 x 10 ounce flasks during my run in my Nathan hydration belt - one with water and the other with Clif Hydration. 

Here are a few pics from my run. 

After the run, I had breakfast #2 which consisted of homemade banana bread (thanks Kristen!) and a glass of milk. I didn't want to eat too much as I only had an hour or so before our morning swim at RallySport Boulder. 

An outdoor pool with a view....yes please!!!

My friend Katie invited Karel and I to join her at her masters swim at Rally Sport at 10:30am. 

Did I mention that the swim was coached by Professional triathlete Julie Dibens?

Here's the workout (if I remember correctly):

800 warm-up (150 free, 50 non free)

10 x 100's (first 4, moving 25 of kick, the rest free. Last 6, 3x100 of the first 25 of each 100 being IM order, then freestyle for 75. The repeat). 

600 buoy (300 build, 300 steady/strong)

6 x 100's (25 fast, 75 EZ)

6 x 100's strong

400 paddles/buoy

8 x 25's (15 yards fast, then EZ, 20 yards fast, then EZ, 25 yards fast, then EZ, last 25 EZ. the repeat)

100 cool down

4200 yards total

Once again, the altitude was a factor in that the effort felt a little harder than what we were doing but after around 35-40 minutes of our 1:15 masters workout we felt more normal. 

And since Karel and I have been swimming long course meters all summer, it was fun to swim short course...outside!

Thanks Julie and Katie for welcoming us to Boulder with a great workout! 

After our swim, it was time for lunch. 

Katie took us to Modmarket. Karel got the Wintergreen salad and chicken sandwhich and I got the Superfood salad with tofu. The menu had so many great selections! 

After lunch, Karel and I did some grocery shopping after a little walking around Pearl Street and stopped by Vecchios.

I suppose you can call this a bike shop but for Karel, this was a bike museum filled with all things cycling memorabilia. 

Now you may be thinking that we didn't have a lot of carbs after our swim. Oh don't you worry. We made up for that at Bread Works.

If a place has BREAD in the name, I'm pretty sure we will walk out with something in our hands..or in our belly. 

After a busy day, we had a little furry company while watching Stage 1 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. What an amazing performance by Taylor Phinney! 

As for the rest of the evening, Karel went for a short run in the evening and I took a walk with our athlete/friend Kristen and then we stayed-in for dinner. 

Boulder, CO Train-Cation - travel day

After a challenging 4:15 hr workout on Saturday morning (3:15 interval ride + 1 hour descending pace interval brick run), the rest of the day was devoted to packing, cleaning and preparing for our 9-day trip to Boulder, CO.
Yay - a train-cation!! 

Although Boulder is claimed (for great reason) to be a great place to train if you are a triathlete, especially for us being less than 8 weeks til the IM World Championship, we actually put together this trip a year ago thanks to our Gearlink cycling friends in the Tampa Bay area who have been coming out to CO for the past few years to watch the US Pro Cycling Challenge  and to ride in the mountains of Boulder, CO.

Back in 2006, a few of the Gearlink cycling team members wanted to set-up me and Karel as two single athletes and our first "date" was a group ride on my b-day (5/31).
Since then, we have remained close to several of the Gearlink members who continue to train and race bikes. 

When Karel and I were dating in 2007, we took a trip to Dahlonega, GA to watch the Tour of Georgia and ride our bikes in the mountains. 

This picture was taken just over one year of dating.
Who knew our love of mountains would only get stronger, just like our relationship.
My cycling skills were oh-so-not-good back then. Thank goodness I married a cat 1 cyclist and expert bike mechanic. 

The GA trip was only my second training trip to the mountains (the first one was when Karel and I went to Lake Tahoe to visit my grandpa and we rode our bikes around the entire Lake Tahoe) and since then, Karel and I have wanted to take another trip with our cycling friends to the mountains.
The past few years did not provide us with the opportunity to travel for a train-cation so last year as we were putting together our 2015 race schedule, we decided that this would be the year when we would make the trip out to CO. 

This is Karel's first trip to CO and my first time really seeing Boulder, CO. I have been to several places in CO (including Boulder) but it's always extra special to make memories with Karel while doing what we love....which is exploring nature on two wheels. 

Around 8:30am we made our 2.5 hour drive to ATL to board our direct flight to Denver, CO.
To pass the time, we watched/listened to the LIVE footage of IM MT Tremblant on Ironman.com from my phone. Karel registered to race IMMT next year and I am so excited to travel to Canada to watch him and my athletes race. 

For lunch, we ate at Willy's (in terminal B) which is one of my favorite places for lunch when we travel through ATL. We both got salads and Karel got steak and I got tofu.

With free WiFi at ATL, we continued to watch the LIVE Ironman footage on my iPad. 

Oh, I forgot to mention about traveling with our bikes. So, to make things easier for us with 2 checked bags + a bike case and carry-on luggage, we often park in short term parking (which is a direct walk to the terminal) and check in only our bags and bike case. We then go back to our car (a short walk to the garage across the street) and then drive to economy to park our car for the duration of our travel. This makes it easier than lugging everything all at once and it gives us a little more time to not feel rushed especially since the airlines can be a bit insensitive to athletes who are traveling with a bike case.
Since we are all checked-in by the time we park our car, we do not have to rush or have to struggle with all of our bags and can bring in only our carry-on luggage with our boarding passes to security. 

We did this for our trip to Europe which a big time-saver and stress relief and all went smoothly this go around.

Our 2.5 hour flight to Denver, CO was very smooth and we watched 1/2 of the movie McFarland, USA with Kevin Costner on my iPad with the free GoGo in-flight service on Delta. What a great, inspirational movie about running. We can't wait to finish it on our flight home. 

After getting all of our luggage and taking the shuttle to the rental car area, we picked up our rental car from Dollar and then headed to our athletes' house (Kristen and Trent) in Boulder, CO. We are so thankful to have a few friends in the area to stay with until our Gearlink friends arrive on Wed (where we will be staying in a group house until Monday). 

Although we experienced a little rain coming into Boulder, the mountains were stunning. 

After a quick change, we headed a few minutes down the road to Pearl Street to enjoy a delicious dinner at WestEnd Tavern. We met up with our athletes Lisa and Curt, who just moved to CO and it was so fun to catch up with everyone. 

I ordered the veggie burger (which was SO good) and the arugula salad with pecans, apple slices and goat cheese. Karel got the mushroom burger special and the FishWater double IPA (which he said was SO good). 

After dinner, we walked around Pearl Street. Thankfully the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening. 

I didn't have any room in my belly after dinner but Karel got ice cream from Sweet Cow (which I plan to visit this week when I do have some room in my belly!).

Our travel day is now complete and it's time to officially start our train-cation in Boulder, CO. Excited to make some memories with Karel.
Stay tuned on my Trimarni Facebook page for updates and pictures as well as a few blog posts throughout the week.