Lessons Learned From Patagonia

Lessons Learned From Traveling to the End of The World

Traveling to a remote corner of Chilean Patagonia felt a bit like stepping outside of time. The roads stretched endlessly without traffic lights, the wind roared intensely at its own rhythm, and the towering mountains put everything into perspective. Patagonia was a place where nature was raw, vast, untouched and beautifully wild.

After 10 days in Patagonia, we returned home and went right back to our normal routine - a lifestyle that often feels rushed, stressful and structured around tight schedules and convenience. Patagonia offered us something very different: a slower rhythm, a deeper quiet, and a refreshing recalibration of what life can be like.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have traveled to five continents and immerse myself in such a wide range of cultures. Each journey has challenged me, expanded my views, and has reminded me how much there is to learn from the ways other people live. From rushed city life to remote living to enjoying a delicious cappuccino from a gas station to eating with my hands, every place has offered its own lessons in resilience, community, food, and what it means to live a meaningful life. The more I travel, the more I realize that the greatest privilege isn’t just seeing the world, it’s allowing those experiences to change me.

Here are some of the lessons I brought home from our trip to Patagonia......

1. Simplicity Isn’t A Choice

In much of Patagonia, life is simple - not out of trend - but necessity. Connectivity is limited, amenities are basic, and people rely heavily on nature, family and community. Instead of feeling deprived, I found myself feeling less stressed. Tasks take the time they take. Patience is needed. Conversations are meaningful. Meals are unhurried and appreciated.
Every person we met was nice and helpful. Despite not having a lot, there was a lot of happiness around us. Simplicity stripped away the complexities of life, revealing how much of daily stress comes from a self-imposed pace that we feel obligated to maintain and the anxieties we feel from the constant distractions around us.

2. Nature Restores

The landscapes of Patagonia don’t just impress, they ground you. Glaciers that have existed for thousands of years. Winds that reshape trees. Lakes so blue you can see the reflection of mountains towering above them. Animals roaming freely over the mountains and farm lands.
Being surrounded by such immensity has a way of shrinking everyday worries. In a world increasingly consumed by screen time, nature has a way of restoring balance, perspective, and a sense of calm. A gentle reminder that spending time outside, in nature, is a critical component of mental heath.

3. Detachment From Digital Life

For over 12 hours, I supported Karel without any distractions - no radio signal in the car, poor cell service and no company. With limited cell service, I didn’t have the option to compulsively read emails, check texts or go on social media. There was no TV, radio or political noise. During our time in Chile, we stayed in three different Airbnbs to truly get the Patagonia expeirence. Every day I noticed details: birds chirping, chickens clucking, dogs barking. A series of strong wind guests. The crackling of the fire. The sound of a match lighting our stove. Moments became something to experience, not document. The absence of constant digital noise gave me the ability to be present and to focus deeply on what was around me.

4. Resourcefulness Is a Way of Life

In remote areas, people fix what breaks, repurpose what’s available, and make do without fuss. At our Airbnb in Coyhaique, Karel joked that there was no way the beat-up truck in our driveway was moving from under our unit. Sure enough, the truck made its way out of the driveway and a day later, it returned with a bed full of chopped wood for the wood-burning furnace. There's no Amazon Prime to make a quick delivery. The closest gas station (outside of town) was often more than an hour away. If you live in a town, you shop for groceries on a daily basis. If you live on the farm, you stock up with what you need and live off what you have. There’s a refreshing humility to this approach. It stood in stark contrast to the throwaway, materialistic, impulsive culture we often see in the U.S. Patagonia reminded me that resourcefulness isn’t just practical, it cultivates gratitude, respect for what we have and using creativity for what we need.

5. A Slower Pace Isn’t Laziness

In Patagonia, slowing down is not seen as inefficiency, it’s simply the rhythm of life. Roads are long, supplies take time to reach small towns, and nature dictates the schedule more than schedules do. The road conditions in Patagonia are not great. A mix of asphalt, concrete, pavers, and gravel. It takes time to get places, especially when you are driving for miles on a bumpy, twisty, gravel road. The slower pace taught me patience. It also reminded me that rushing rarely improves the quality of an experience, if anything, it tends to diminish it.

7. Travel Is All About Perspective.

Going somewhere remote forces you to confront your habits, assumptions, and expectations. Patagonia didn’t just show me a different place, it reminded me of different way of being. One of my most memorable trips was in 2004. For May term of my senior year, I travel to the Philippines for a work service trip. I spent over two weeks sleeping on a bamboo bed, pumping my water, taking bucket showers, creating our own tools to fix schools and riding around in Jeepneys. This trip forever changed me. When you return home from traveling abroad, you are left with an internal reminder that life can be lived in more than one way, and that often the most meaningful moments are the ones where you step outside of your comfort zone.

Final Thoughts

Traveling to remote Patagonia was a lesson in resourcefulness, presence, and intentional living. It taught me that many of the things we consider essential are, in fact, optional.

If we let it, travel has the power to reshape how we live long after the trip ends.

Thank you for letting me share our travels with you.

Karel's Patagonman race report is coming soon.

Patagonman - Day 1

 

We landed in Balmaceda (very small airport) around 3pm local time (2 hour ahead from EST). It was a quick 2-hour flight from Santiago (a total of 11 hours of flying and 26 hours of traveling). While Karel was waiting for our suitcases and his bike, I went to the Varona rental car counter (outside of the baggage area) to get our SUV. It was a very quick process and by 3:30pm we were in the car to make our way 1-hour to Villa Cerro Castillo (the location of Patagonman T2 - bike to run). It was a very beautiful drive and we couldn't believe how warm it was (in the 70's)! We arrived to our Airbnb (1.5K from the town center) and it was a little confusing to get in (the lady who met us did not speak English) but it all worked out. The cabin was super cute and so peaceful and quiet. The best part is that the cabin is on a farm and there are two dogs, lots of chickens and baby chicks! 

After we unloaded the car, we drove to the town to get a few items from the grocery store. There are a few stores in town but they are very small and limited with items. However, we were able to get the necessities - eggs, butter, cheese, deli meat (for Karel), a veggie burger for me (I was surprised with the frozen vegetarian options!) and a few other things for breakfast like oats, frozen berries and granola. We also got milk and yogurt. We then went across the street to the only gas station in town to get some bottled water (although it's safe to drink the tap water here). Every place we went to takes credit cards so we haven't had to exchange our money yet. When we arrived back to our Airbnb, we made a light dinner - eggs w/ frozen peppers/onions and bread w/ butter. Shortly after, Karel put together his bike and then we went for a short run. I ran for 26 min (3 miles) and Karel ran for 32 min (4 miles). We both felt awful running but it was good to shake out the travel funk. And the views were incredible along our road. 

View from our Airbnb

The sun didn't set until after 9:30pm but we seeing that we started our run around 8pm, we were ok with that. We were both exhausted from not having a full night of sleep in a day so we both slept amazingly well for 10 hours. 

In the morning, we had oatmeal for breakfast and after catching up on emails and getting some work done, around 9:30am, Karel loaded up the car with his bike and gear and I drove him ~15 min up the road for him to do a ride. He ended up riding for almost 3 hours (54 miles, ~4300 feet elevation gain) and reversed the course to start and then road the last stretch of the Patagonman course into town (T2 area). While Karel was biking, I drove to the start of the gravel road outside of town (first left after the hairpin climb/descend leaving town) and went out of an adventure. My plan was at least 7 miles on the Patagonman course but I ended up with 8.2 miles as I really wanted to make it to the lake. The course started off with gravel for a mile, then 3 miles of rocky, grassy, sandy single track trail and then 4 miles on a windy, hilly, gorgeous gravel road. I stopped a lot for pictures. We don't have any service outside of Wifi areas so I downloaded a podcast on my phone to listen to (although I really didn't need it as I was so focused on the nature around me). I also had the Patagonman run route on my phone (loaded on the Ride with GPS app, offline w/ a 7-day free membership) which helped a lot as the trail section of the course was very difficult to navigate. 

During my run I covered 2400 feet elevation gain, 16.4 miles and completed the run in around 3 hours and 10 minutes. Sadly, I somehow accidentally deleted my run around 13 miles into the run. I was taking pictures of cows and I don't know how I pushed the wrong buttons but it happened. Ugh. So I am guestimating my time. 

The run was absolutely beautiful. I saw so many animals and the nature around me was incredible. I wish I could have kept running but since I was reversing my route (out and back) I couldn't run too far. There were some steep sections that I walked. The gravel was loose in some places and there were also rumble strips. 

I carried 2 x 16 ounce flasks in my Compress Sport vest (it's actually Karel's vest as he is going to wear my USWE vest for the race) with Never Second 30 in each of them. I also had a 16 ounce bottle w/ Skratch and a 12 ounce bottle with water. I also carried a Never Second gel as well as a few pieces of candy (Starburst). I had my passport and money/credit cards in the vest, as well as my phone. It was very warm during the run and the air is somewhat dry. 

I returned to the car around 3:30pm and made a stop at the gas station and grocery store for a few more items and then made it back to our Airbnb around 4pm. 

Here are some pics from my 3ish hour adventure on two feet. 

After I had some food, Karel wanted to check out some of the run course that I ran on (he's deciding which shoes to wear for the race) so I drove him to the gravel road (~1.4 miles into the race course) and dropped him off. I drove to the town to check out the transition area and start of his run and then drove on some of the main road for 10 minutes to check out more of the sights. I picked up Karel around 30 minutes later. Karel ran 33 min (34 min) with some added stops for pictures. 

I showed Karel the transition area and start of the run and then we went for dinner at one of the few restaurants in town - and it was delicious. I had a huge vegetarian pizza (Karel shared it with me) and Karel had a burger. We ate at Pizzería y hamburguesería D-LIZIA.

Tomorrow afternoon we will pack up and head to Coyhaique, which will be our "home base" for the rest of our trip. 

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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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! 

From PCB to Lanzarote - Part 2

Around 9am we started our 5-ish hour drive (plus losing an hour) to the Atlanta International Airport (I made a reservation at the Peachy International Parking as that is where we park for our international flights). I gave us a buffer of 4 hours before our flight in the case of traffic. As we were driving, I noticed that our predicted arrival changed by 90 minutes (later) due to a road closed. Luckily we saw it in advance and could get off at the next exit and ended up only losing around 20 minutes. 

We arrived to the parking area around 3:30pm and took the shuttle to the international airport. The ATL international airport was chaotic as usual. After checking in our two suitcases and two bike bags, we went through TSA pre-check and made our way to the Centurion Lounge. There was a wait so we instead went to the Delta lounge. We enjoyed some food and spent the next hour in the lounge, getting a little work done on the computer. 

We boarded our Delta flight around 6:15am and the plane took off a little after 7pm. We were served dinner (I pre-requested a lactose-vegetarian meal) and I watched some of A Star is Born. I was able to sleep a few hours during our 8-hour flight to Madrid. 

When we arrived to Madrid, we stood in a long line to get through customs and then picked up our suitcases and bikes. Since our next flight was on Iberia (different ticket) and we had a 10-hour layover (originally it was only 7 hours but the flight was moved back several times), I reserved a hotel room well in advance (back in February) at Hello Sky. We took the shuttle bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 and went to the -1 floor at departures/arrivals to check into our room. I reserved a 6-hour room so we had until almost 5pm to enjoy a bed and shower. We took a 3 hour nap which was lovely. Around 2pm we got a snack in arrivals and then around 3:30pm we checked in at the Iberia gate (there was a separate check in area for oversized luggage like bikes). Since our flight wasn't until 7:10pm we had plenty of time before 6:35pm boarding. We went to the lounge with our priority pass membership (from our Amex Plat business credit card) and enjoyed some free food and drinks while working on the computer. We boarded our plane around 6:35pm. There were no TVs on the plane but I could access the entertainment system on my phone. I tried to stay up throughout the entire 2.5 hour flight but I fell asleep for around 45 minutes. 

After two long days, we finally arrived to Lanzarote, Spain around 9pm which is located in the Atlantic Ocean, by the Northwestern coast of Africa. While Karel waited for our luggage, I picked up our SUV rental car from Sixt rental car. I was able to find a manual SUV for less than $200! Karel loves driving manual. European SUVs tend to run much smaller than in the US but we made it work by stuffing our suitcases and bike bags inside the SUV. We made a quick stop at Lidl around 9:50pm and then arrived to our Airbnb just after 10pm. Our athlete and roomie Bara met us outside our Airbnb as she arrived on Friday. 

Karel and I had a small snack (I had a bowl of cereal) before finally falling asleep just after 11am. It was a somewhat restless night of sleep but we got up around 8am, ready to start our first official day on the island. 

                               

From GVL to PCB to Lanzarote - Part 1

In early January of 2025, I felt like I had no direction with my training as I was struggling to put together my race schedule. Karel knew that Ironman Lanzarote was always on my race bucket list because of the ocean swim w/ wetsuit, hills on the bike and heat throughout the entire race but I was very scared of the wind. Over the past few years, I have stepped way out of my comfort zone with mountain biking and Xtreme triathlon events so I feel more comfortable embracing challenging race day conditions. When Karel mentioned that I do Ironman Lanzarote this year, I slept on it for a few days and finally committed by registering for the event. Having a race on my schedule that was exciting and challenging gave me the motivation (and direction) that I needed to design my training for the next 5 months. Two of our professional athletes (Katie and Yannick) did the event last year and had great things to stay about the course and island. 

In the fall of 2024, we selected our 4 Trimarni team races of 2025, with IM 70.3 Gulf Coast being the first race of the season on May 3rd. With IM Lanzarote being 7 days after IM 70.3 Gulf Coast, I knew I couldn't race both events and with Karel returning to training after his 2nd knee surgery in 4 months (meniscus tear in both knees) we decided that we would still go to the race to support our athletes. We decided we would stay in Panama City Beach until Sunday (the day after the race) and drive to the Atlanta airport to start our travel to Lanzarote. Logistically, this required us to have all of our stuff for our trip to Spain with us in PCB. Additionally, because we wanted to bring Sunny with us for his first trip to the beach, we needed to find him transportation back to Greenville (thankfully our athlete/friend Ruthanne offered to bring him back for our house pet sitter Sarah to reunite with him). This was Sunny's 2nd road trip and longest road trip. He was great. He loves his car seat from Funny Fuzzy and stays in it anytime we are in the car. 

We started our 8-hour drive to PCB on Thursday morning around 7:30. The ride was fairly uneventful, just long. Thankfully we gained an hour so we arrived around 3:30pm local time. I dropped Karel off at the Frank Brown aquatic center for him to get in a swim while I checked in to our Airbnb at the Gulf Highlands Resort. After unloading our car, Sunny and I drove back to the aquatic center for Karel and I do to a Sunny hand off. It was my turn to get in a lovely outdoor swim workout (~3000 yards) while Karel walked Sunny. Sunny had a blast playing in the dog park, while enjoying the warm weather. 

After my swim we went to pick up our pizza order at Mr. Maine's pizza (highly recommend) for our team pizza party. We rented the conference center and had 10 athletes in attendance. It was great to see everyone and Sunny enjoy his first team pizza party (he had practice at our recent group training camp). Around 9pm we were ready for bed as it was a long day. 

On Friday morning, I went for my "long" ride. With us staying by the beach, there aren't a lot of safe places to ride. I opted to go to Gayles Trails behind Frank Brown park but I didn't want to drive there so I started off along Front Beach Road and road mostly southeast as it was a bit more quiet, with a bike lane. After I warmed up I did my main set of 5 x 10 minutes (strong effort) w/ 2-3 min EZ spin. I finished with 2:08 and 42 miles. I did a quick 3 mile and 24 minute run off the bike with a few strides. When I returned from my workout, Karel headed out for his ride. He ended up riding 57 miles and covered the race course in 2:50. While Karel was out, Sunny and I walked to the Sunrise cafe and bakery for a post ride meal of waffles and scrambled eggs. Sunny was allowed to sit inside because he was on his best behavior. I ordered Karel the Borscht to-go. 

In the early afternoon, we took Sunny to the dog beach at Pier Park. We have so many memories of Campy at the beach in Panama City Beach and we were so excited for Sunny to experience the sand, ocean water and birds. Sunny wasn't impressed with the water (we weren't surprised) but he loved running in the sand, playing with the other dogs and chasing the birds. It was great to let him run around off the leash and enjoy his freedom that he has worked hard for with his obedience training from Dog Training Elite. 

After our beach date, we went to the Lotus Cafe. This is one of my favorite restaurants as there are so many vegetarian options and I love the atmosphere. You order at the window inside and then you can sit anywhere in the outdoor covered seating. I had a veggie burger and Karel had one of the specials (turkey stuffed with feta). It was so good. 

It was raining on and off throughout the evening but based on the predicted weather, the worst was going to come throughout the night and into race day. We prepared our athletes for a cancelled swim possibility and sure enough, the swim was cancelled around an hour before the race start (the race was to start at 5:30am but was delayed to start at 6:10am). Karel and Sunny drove to Pier Park to cheer for the athletes in the early miles of the bike and I ran 42 minutes to Karel. Originally I had planned a 75 min run w/ a few intervals but by the time I got to Karel, it started to downpour and then it wasn't worth continuing on to run in the rain. 

After all of our athletes passed, we went back to our condo and watch IM 70.3 St. George on Outside TV while tracking our athletes. When I first athlete got close to the last 10 miles of the bike, we started our walk to the Edgewater resort to watch our athletes start the run. Sunny enjoyed watching and cheering for the athletes. We were able to see several of our athletes start the run after the bridge and catch them on their 2nd loop. The rain had stopped and it got very warm and very windy. Later we learned that there was hail and rain on the bike, as well as super strong winds for the last 16 mph. Sunny and I went back to our condo around 12pm and Karel stayed out and cheered for all of our athletes until he saw our last athlete start her 2nd lap of the run. Shortly after Karel arrived to our Airbnb, it started to lightening and downpour. We received a notification from the Ironman app that the race was postponed. And then the race was cancelled. Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions and weather conditions! 

A few hours later, we met up with two of our athletes (Angela and Kevin) and we had a late lunch at Lotus cafe (again). Around 6:30pm, several of our athletes met at Beach Cow Creamery for ice cream. 

We finished our laundry and packing and around 8am on Sunday, we were ready for leg 2 of our trip. We dropped off Sunny with Ruthanne at her car (he was confused but also comforted by Ruthanne and Janice, since he knows Ruthanne very well). We were really sad to say good bye to Sunny as we really had a great time sharing this trip with him. 

Part 2 coming soon.....

'24 South Africa - Day 8 and 9

 

Sunday was our last full day in Gordon's Bay. We didn't make any plans for Sunday as we wanted to see how we felt after the race on Saturday. I felt pretty good although my right foot was sore from all the uneven footing from the race. Karel didn't sleep well so he was really tired in the morning. The night was incredibly windy. We sleep with our door open and it sounded like waves were crashing as we were sleeping. The wind was super gusty in Gordon's Bay in the morning as well. 

I really wanted to swim since it was my last opportunity for a swim for a week. The closest option was the Strand Indoor Swimming pool but the happiest option was the Coetzenburg outdoor pool. We decided to make the 35-minute drive to the outdoor pool for one last long course swim in the sun. It wasn't windy and the sky was completely blue. It was a wonderful 3200 meter swim. 

After the swim we were getting hungry as it was nearing 1pm. We drove a few miles down the road to the beautiful main area of Stellenbosch that was filled with white buildings containing cute restaurants and shops.

As we were driving, I came across a Lebanese restaurant online that looked delicious so we walked to Man'oushe after we parked. They even had a vegetarian menu with so many delicious options. This is an authentic Lebanese restaurant based in the heart of Stellenbosch’s pedestrian area.

We got the Summer in Beirut salad which was incredible. Greens, avocado, kiwi, mint and pine nuts. We also got the Mezze Platter, which had sauteed string beans, hummus, baba ganoush, homemade cream cheese, falafal, and Lebanese bread. It was all so good with so much flavor. The exchange rate from US to Rand makes traveling to South Africa very affordable (19 Rand = 1 USD) unlike other places in the world (ex. 1 Euro = 1 USD). 

After our meal, we drove toward Gordon's Bay and stopped at the Cheetah Outreach near Strand. We booked a tour to meet the Cheetahs and learned all about them. They had very strict rules for approaching the Cheetah. We got to pet this beautiful 7-year old Cheetah who is living the good life (along with a handful of others) with an open field, shade for napping, silver plated dining and lots of love and attention. The primary goal at Cheetah Outreach is to promote the survival of the free ranging, South African, cheetah.

We learned a lot about cheetahs, like how they only live for 8-12 years in the wild and that they have over 2500 spots! Cheetahs are not part cat as they have non-retractable claws (like dogs). And their physiology allows them to reach speeds of over 60mph in less than three seconds!

We returned to our Airbnb around 4pm and spent the next 2 hours packing our bikes and suitcases for the next part of our race-cation. 

At 6:30pm we walked upstairs to enjoy an incredible dinner with our Airbnb hosts - which are now like family to us. If you are looking for an affordable and perfect location Airbnb during a visit to Gordon's Bay (~35 miles from Cape Town) I highly recommend booking this Airbnb. There are three bedrooms (each with a private bathroom), a kitchen, sauna and hot tub (which we didn't use) and a 10-minute walk to the beach and to the grocery. 

Karel enjoyed the meat selection that was cooked on the grill (braai) by Thys and Hester prepared several vegetarian dishes. It was all so good. 

On Monday morning we each went for a 40-minute run around the area before leaving for Cape Town around 9am. During our drive to Cape Town we had a reminder of the rough living conditions for so many people in this area. 

After getting caught in a lot of traffic in downtown Cape Town, we dropped off our bike cases at the Giant bicycle store to be picked up by a company who would be driving them to our upcoming race. I booked this service in advance so that we didn't have to deal with traveling with our bikes to Port Elizabeth. 

We then dropped off one of our suitcases at our upcoming hotel (where we will be staying next Saturday until Tuesday). 

At noon we dropped off our "SUV" at the airport, checked in for our flight and spent the next 3.5 hours in the lounge (thanks to our priority pass) enjoying delicious food (so many vegetarian options!) and working on the computer. We got a lot of work done. 

At 4pm we made our way to our gate with SAFair. Our flight left 30-minutes late but we only arrived 10-minute past our planned arrival. There was a lot of turbulance before landing in Port Elizabeth as it was very windy. 

We picked up our one suitcase and we were met by a driver that took us to our hotel in Port Elizabeth. I arranged for a pick up with our hotel as it is a lot easier (and safer) than finding a taxi or Uber. 

After checking into our hotel around 7pm we walked along the ocean to find some food. We wanted to eat at an Indian restaurant but learned that it moved locations so we settled for Mikes Kitchen. Karel got a prawn curry dish and I got a veggie burger. It was all just ok. 

It was nearing 8:30pm when we walked back to our hotel. We wanted to sleep with the balcony door open but it was a little noisy by the street so we used the AC (first time in over a week) and slept great. 

It is now Tuesday and we will be picked up at the airport at 2:30pm via a shuttle to take us to the start of our 4-stage Mountain Bike Race. 

'24 South Africa travel day(s) - and a visit to London

 

On Friday morning (2/9) I woke up with excitement and sadness about our upcoming 19 day trip to South Africa. Excited to travel and race on our mountain bikes at Xterra South Africa and PE Plett 4-stage mountain bike race but sad to leave Campy, our other senior Madison (cat, almost 16) and our 3 littles – Ella, Sylvi and Asher. Thankfully, Karel’s mom is staying at our house (we flew her in from Czech in early January) and she can keep everyone on their routine, they will be loved and they won’t be alone.

 

I started my morning by joining our masters swim group at Westside aquatic center from 7:20-8:45am. The group starts around 7am but I usually get in around 7:15-7:20. It was a spicy swim set with a lot of short intense sets, finishing with a little distance. I love swimming with others and we had a great group. I shared a lane with our athlete Yannick who is making a great comeback after breaking his collarbone in November from a bike crash. Karel swam 2000 yards at Furman and followed it up with an intense 1-hour SYSTM bike workout on the trainer.

We packed up the car, overloaded the furries with kisses and hugs and made our 3 hour drive to the Atlanta international airport around 11:15am.

I booked our travel in October. There was a lot to book with this trip so I will save that for another blog. But our flight was ATL to Heathrow (London) on Delta and then London to Cape Town on Virgin. I booked a flight to Cape Town that gave us a 11 hour layover in Heathrow so that we could explore the city as we have never been there before (well, never outside the airport).

We have a pretty good routine when we travel from ATL. We park in hourly parking ~4 hours before our flight departs. International flights usually board an hour before take-off. Arriving this early means we don’t have to wait very long to check in as there is rarely anyone in front of us in line – this time there were 2 people. We checked in our suitcases and bikes, dropped off our bikes at oversized luggage (which is by security) and then went back to our car to drive to off site parking.

I ask Park n’ Fly to book off site parking ~3 miles away. I book online in advance to save money. I was able to find a deal for $9/day and I got 3 days free as a “loyalty” member. After we parked, we boarded the free shuttle to the domestic terminal (since there are no shuttles from off site parking to international). We then go through TSA pre-check and board the plane train to our terminal. For this trip we were in Terminal E.

It was around 3:30pm when we arrive to our terminal so we had ~2 hours to spend in the Delta Sky Club lounge to work before our first flight. We also ate some food as we were really hungry. Our flight was delayed by an hour so we had 3 hours in the lounge – which allowed us to get a lot of work done. We left the lounge around 6:20pm and waited another 20 minutes at our gate before they announced that they were almost ready to board after waiting for something on the plane to be fixed. We finally boarded the main cabin and we were off to London around 7:30pm.

We were both really tired so we watched a movie (I watched Wonder – super cute), ate dinner and then tried to sleep for the rest of the flight (~5 hours). We slept on and off. I pre-ordered the vegetarian – dairy meal (as I always do online when I purchase the flight tickets) and the meal was really good. I’ve had this dish before but I really enjoy it. It was a curry dish w/ tofu, bulgur salad and fruit. There was also a piece of pita bread and a roll (I didn’t eat the roll, I was full).

We woke up to a light breakfast around 90 min before landing. It was ok. I didn’t finish my sandwich as I wasn’t too hungry. It was a veggie and cheese sandwich. I wish it had egg on it for more protein but I snacked on a protein bar later on.

After we arrived in Heathrow, we went through customs (which was really quick) and then left the baggage area. We didn’t need to collect our bags/bikes as they were going to our final destination (Cape Town). It felt really weird leaving the airport with only our carry on backpacks.

We went to Left Baggage after exiting the baggage area and checked our carry on bags for 15 pounds each. This way we could explore London and not have to carry our bags.

We figured out how to use the underground system and booked two tickets on the Heathrow Express – a 15 minute ride to Paddington station in London (round trip was 70 pounds). We lucked out that our friend Honza was in London for an INFINIT nutrition work trip and he is really familiar with London so he was our tour guide. I had also reached out to a past athlete of mine who lives in London and a current athlete of mine who used to live in London for suggestions. Once we arrived in Paddington we took the underground to Piccadilly Circus station.

I had a list of what I wanted to see and we tried to check off all we could in 4 hours:

Trafalgar square
Downing street
Buckingham palace
Westminster Abbey
Hyde park corner – didn’t get to
Piccadilly circus
Leicester square
Covent garden – didn’t get to
Tower Bridge
London Eye
Big Ben

The weather was cool and it was on and off drizzling but thankfully we were able to see a lot.

Although we were really sleepy, it was nice to walk around before our long flight to Cape Town.

We ate lunch at Sabar – a vegetarian/vegan Indian Restaurant. It was delicious. 

We took the Central Line back to Paddington. It was really easy to access the underground as all you do is use a credit card for wireless payment and scan before and after riding the underground. We took a taxi to see the Tower Bridge as that was a few miles away from everything else that we saw. 

I had a hard time keeping my eyes open on the train ride back to the terminal. We picked up our carry on bags at Left Luggage and then walked to departures. I received an email when checking in for our flight on Thursday about reserving a time slot for security so I reserved 3:45pm (with a buffer of 15 min before and after). We ended up arriving around 3:45pm so it worked out perfect. I suppose this would save time during really busy times of the year. We didn’t have to wait very long and I don’t think the regular security was that busy.

After going through security, we went to the Club Aspire lounge (with our priority pass membership) and had a light snack and worked a little before boarding our 11-hour Virgin Atlantic Flight (premium economy) to Cape Town.

After experiencing Virgin Atlantic Upper Class last September in route to Italy for XTRI Icon, I fell in love with the airline experience. As part of the award ticket (credit card points) that I booked to Cape Town, we sat in premium for 11 hours from London to Cape Town. The seats were large and comfy, the recline and foot rest was great, the food and service was amazing and the movie selection was great. I finally watched Barbie (which I loved!) and I also watched No Hard Feelings (which was funny). Karel likes to watch more serious movies – he watched Oppenheimer, which he said was really impactful.

Karel slept on and off throughout the flight. His back and leg were bothering him which made it hard for him to sleep. I was able to get some good sleep throughout the flight.

We arrived in Cape Town around 7:30am which was a bit strange to arrive so early in the morning for an international flight. We went through customs (which took about 20 minutes) and then got our luggage. We were happy to see that our bikes and luggage were there after the 11 hour layover in London (we were a bit worried about the long layover). We walked across the street to the rental car and picked up our SUV from Sixt. I booked online from one of our credit card portals and while I got a great deal, I think I’ll avoid using Sixt in the future as we have used them twice and the SUVs that we have received have been really small with little trunk space. We were able to fit in all our stuff but it was a tight squeeze.

Karel did well with driving on the left side of the road (and right side of the vehicle) and we made our way 35-minutes to our Airbnb in Gordon’s Bay. 

We arrived to our Airbnb around 10:30am on Sunday. It was nice to be back at the same place where we stayed last year. After unloading the car, we walked to the SPAR grocery store a few blocks away and got a few things from store. After eating a light lunch, it was nearing noon local time and we couldn't fight it any longer. We took a nap. And I slept for 5 hours! 

After waking up around 5pm, I did some mobility and went outside for a short 3 mile run around Gordon's Bay. It felt so good to run in a sports bra and feel the warm dry air. The beach was packed. It was around 80 degrees in the evening. Karel met me at the beach and he did a shake out swim in the ocean for 20 minutes. The water was a little cool but he got used to it. 

After eating dinner around 8pm and Skyping with Karel's mom at our house, we went to bed around 9:30pm and went to sleep. Although our place doesn't have AC, we stayed cool with fans. I was surprised I slept so well after a 5 hour nap but I guess I needed it. I woke up around 6am on Monday. 

After 2 days and 44 hours of travel, little sleep over two nights, 4 hours in London and 19 hours of flying, we can officially start our race-cation. 

An easy tip for deciding what to eat

Yesterday we drove 2.5 hours (one-way) to watch my favorite comedian, @natebargatze, perform in Evans, GA. We laughed for 2 hours. If you don't know who Nate is, check out his two Netflix specials, his Amazon prime special and his Washington's Dream skit on SNL.

We left early for the 7pm show so that we could have dinner in Evans. We love different cuisines and I was excited to find an Indian restaurant called Namaste Indian Street food.

Prior to ordering, I asked myself "What do I want and what do I need?"

🍴I needed a satiating meal that would leave me satisfied for the next 4.5 hours (show + drive home).
🍴I needed a meal that would allow me to focus on the show and not feel hungry or lethargic.
🍴I needed a meal that would leave me feeling comfortable during 4.5 hours of sitting.

🍴I wanted a meal that felt nutritious. I've done very little intentional exercise this week (30 minutes of swimming yesterday) to let my body fully recover from a massive season of training and racing.
🍴I wanted a meal that would make my taste buds happy.
🍴I wanted a meal that I've never had before.
🍴I wanted a meal that reflected the local cuisine.

We shared a basket of garlic Naan and regular Naan and a mango lassi sweet drink. I ordered the ragada veg patties. Karel had the chicken biriyani. The food was incredible. I could not stop wowing over the different spices, flavors and textures.

Karel's dish

My dish

As a Board Certified Sports Dietitian and endurance triathlete, I believe that you are the expert of your body. Rather than relying on an external sense of what you should or shouldn't eat (ex. diet, food rules, body image, etc.), eating should be a satisfying, enjoyable and empowering experience based on what you need and what you want.

Ironman Cozumel - spectator recap

 

Although we didn't race Ironman Cozumel, we had an incredible time on the island, sharing the experience with our athletes. 

November 13th - Tuesday

We flew GSP to CZM on Tuesday the 13th. Normally, we would encourage our athletes to arrive Wed for a Sunday Ironman but with this being an international race (and a very hot and humid one), we decided to arrive a day earlier. We flew out of Greenville at 5:25am (arriving at 4am). A few weeks prior to the flight, I checked my Delta app and there was an upgrade to First Class (from the main cabin where we were sitting) for only $5! I jumped on that offer which gave us two free bags (each) up to 70 lbs. We used our TSA Pre-check to breeze through security and got a coffee in the centurion lounge at 4:30am (lounge access with Amex plat biz CC), before boarding our flight. It was a quick 35 minute flight to ATL. We had a 5 hour layover in ATL so we waited until the Delta Sky Club opened at 6:30am (lounge access with Amex Plat biz CC although I think we could have had access with our First Class tickets since it was an international flight)  and spent several hours working on the computer in the lounger, while enjoying delicious food. I personally enjoy the B terminal Delta Sky Club lounge in ATL over the F terminal lounge but thankfully it wasn't too busy as the lounge is rather small compared to the B terminal. We boarded our 2.5 hour flight to Cozumel around 10:25am. We enjoyed the larger seats and extra legroom, along with the free snack box (I got a fruit and cheese box, which was delicious and Karel had a Turkey sandwich box) and free WIFI for skymiles members. The plane was an older plane with a very small TV and limited shows/movies but it was only a 2.5 hour flight. We enjoyed having three of our athletes on the flight as well. 
When we arrived, it took about 20 min to get through customs. We had to fill out a paper form, show our passports and then our bags were sniffed by a security dog. It took about an hour by the time we landed until we got into the taxi. I wasn't sure how the taxi process would go (there were plenty) so I went ahead and booked one online prior to our trip. I used Cozumel Tours. They were very responsive and nice in the booking process. It was $9 person + $9 per bike. It was raining when we arrived and continued to rain on and off for the next two days. 
Although our Airbnb was only a few miles from the airport, it wasn't a direct drive as we had to drop another athlete off as his Airbnb and with all the one way streets and tourists, it took about 20 min to get to our Airbnb. Our Airbnb was incredible - I'd call it a compound. Donna, the owner, gave us a tour and we had plenty of room for the 9 of us (plus extra beds). The location was perfect as we were within walking distance to the grocery store, race packet pickup/T2/finish line and pool. We didn't rent a car and we were fine without one as there are taxis everywhere (easy to pick one up by the ferry port). 
After unloading our stuff in the Airbnb, Karel built our bikes and Claire and I went to the Mega to grocery shop. Throughout the week we each made several smaller shops since we were walking with the groceries. We shared the costs of food at our house. 
For dinner we went to a local restaurant - El Foco. The owners had run the restaurant for over 40 years (their daughter was serving us - and her two dogs were extra cute). We enjoyed the local cuisine and I had cactus on my vegetarian tacos. Yum! Tasted like green peppers. 

Pastries from the Mega grocery store. 

Our Airbnb pool

We were instructed no paper in the toilets (only in the trash can), you can't drink the tap water (our Airbnb supplied us with 8 huge jugs of water and she refilled throughout the week) and you need to keep the Airbnb extra clean due to ants. 
I was told about the animal situation that there were a lot of stray dogs and cats. As a big animal lover, this was hard for me to see but thankfully the ones we saw didn't look like they were suffering. We fell in love with a tortie cat who was very skinny so we temporarily adopted her and fed her two packages of wet cat food every evening. 
We slept great the first night (we had AC) and we were excited for our first official day in Cozumel. 

November 14th - Wednesday

A little before 9am, we walked to the pool (Sports Unit Independence). This was my first time walking through the streets of Cozumel and it was neat to have a close look at local life. It took ~15-20 min to walk to the pool. We paid $4 (or 60 pesos) each to access the pool. The 25 meter pool had 8 lanes (I think) and it was salt water. It was warm and felt amazing. I did a swim workout with our athletes. Karel wasn't able to join because he sliced his finger with a knife as he was cutting a zip tie off our bike case. He went for a run while we swam. I ended up swimming 3773 meters. It felt so good - I wanted to keep swimming. The pool was open 9-1pm. After getting a light snack at home, several of us went out for a bike ride around the island (one loop of the course). The 6 miles getting out of town were very busy. Although it was flat and a bit windy, it was so beautiful to see the ocean. There was a road just for bikes but for this ride, we stayed on the road so our athletes could see the entire course. It got busy again as we made our way back into town. We rode 44 miles in 2:13. It was very warm and I loved it. I brought three bottles (2 sport drink and 1 water) and it was nice to have the water to cool my body. I went through my two sport drinks bottles. After the bike, I went for a 3.5 mile run on the run course. It was very hot and humid at almost 4pm but I loved running by the water. 

A few of us went to a vegan restaurant called Nutty Treesome. It was delicious. 

November 15th - Thursday

Around 8am, our crew walked a little over a mile to Stingray Beach for an semi-organized open water swim. It was very choppy but it was so fun to swim in the ocean. Karel was able to tape his finger so he could swim and we did a few out and backs for 25 minutes and ~1500 yards of swimming. After the swim, our athletes each had their own training to do. Karel and I went out for a bike workout. We took advantage of the different terrain and spent a lot of time in the aerobars for our bike workout (which felt like a trainer session - just with better views). We started off through the town and biked the course but turned around before returning back to the town on the other side of the island. It was a bit more windy than the day prior. 
For our workout we did: 
~40 min warm-up
4 x 3 min build w/ 2 min EZ
2 x 15 min HIM effort w/ 3 min EZ
~40 min IM effort
4 x 3 min build w/ 2 min EZ

It was really hard staying in aero for so long. Our legs were toasted at the end. There were several places to refill our bottles with bottled water (we stopped at Coconuts bar) along the other side of the island. We finished with 3.5 hours and 72.5 miles. I did a 20 minute/2.5 mile run off the bike. Once again it was really hot and humid. I always run with my Naked belt and 2 flasks but this time I wish I had some aid stations available to cool myself with ice. Although it felt like running in a sauna, I was loving it. I was so happy training in the hot conditions. 


November 16th - Friday

Karel and I went out for a long run while our athletes had a bit of a chill day with their workouts. I ran 11.6 miles (1:33) and ran one loop of the run course. I needed to stop on the way back to buy water to refill my flasks. I included 4 x 1 mile stronger efforts on the way back but with the heat and humidity, it was difficult to pick up the pace without overheating. Karel ran 1:35 and covered 13 miles. Surprisingly, we both do really well training/racing in the heat although Karel prefers cooler conditions. I love the heat and humidity. 

After the run, we did a quick shower and change and walked to the pool for a short recovery swim. It felt so good to loosen out for 2400 yards. 

In the afternoon we watched the athlete briefing on YouTube as well as some past videos from IM Cozumel. It was good for our athletes to familiarize themselves with the course now that they were at the venue. 

Our adopted tortie cat that we fed every night. Two packets of Whiskas. 

At 5:30pm we had our team pizza party and course talk. I ordered pizza from Rolandi's (although it has a new name). When I went back to pick up the pizzas around 5:00pm, I realized the pizzas were small so when I picked up the pizza, I had to order another order for 10 pizzas total. Karel and I enjoyed sitting by the ocean in the restaurant as we waited for the pizza. It as worth the wait as the pizza was delicious. 

November 17th - Saturday

With only one more day until the race, our athletes did their assigned pre-race warm-up and got their stuff ready for the race. Because the swim start/T1 is ~6 miles away, the athletes used a taxi to transport their bikes and gear bags to the transition area. Karel and I went for our long ride around 9:30am. Although our last race of the season (Clash Daytona) is a half distance, we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and plenty of time in our aerobars with a longer ride. We reversed the course so that we didn't have to ride through the busy streets of the town. We were surprised all week to not see more athletes on the back side of the bike course. It was a lot more windy today for our ride. We took our time warming up for ~1:40. We stopped outside of the transition area to refill our bottles at a small store. We then rode steady for ~35 minutes until we got on the bike path to start our intervals. We did 2 x 30 minutes as (4 min steady, 1 min strong). It was nice having the intervals to break up the effort. We rode 43 minutes between the intervals as IM effort. We did the two 30 min intervals into the wind and used the IM effort as active recovery in the tailwind. We stopped shortly after the last interval at the last store on the backside of the island before turning left to head back to town. We refilled our bottles and made our way back to our place. We rode 4:34 and 92 miles. After the ride, Karel went out for a short run (30 minutes/4 miles) but I wanted to go a bit longer. I did 1:07/8 miles and ran a loop of the run course. I started the run around 3 so it was very hot and humid but I wanted to experience the run as if I was racing as I knew this would give me a better understanding of what my athletes were going to experience and I'd be able to give them better nutrition/hydration and pacing advice. I was pretty proud of myself for completing that run. I could have used a bit more water for cooling but I was thankful to have my two flaks of nutrition on me. 
For fueling during my workouts in Cozumel I used: 
Swims - Skratch orange flavor
Runs - Never Second C30 berry 
Bikes - Infinit Fructose 90g

Karel and I went out to eat after our workout. We ate at Rock N Java Cozumel Carribean bar and grill. The veggie burger was so good. And the fries hit the spot. We also got chips and gauc, which was delicious.

 

Sparkling water lemonade w/ lime. 

Feeding our island kitty

It was nice to hang with our athletes in the evening as they were relaxing before going to bed. 

November 19th - Sunday Race day!

4:30am group pic!

We woke up at 4am and Karel drove the athletes (Ashley and Zach had a rental SUV) to the race start at 4:30am. We waited and waited for the athletes to start and eventually we heard the race was delayed due to water conditions (wavy) and then eventually it was cancelled. The athletes started in a time trial setting from T1 with their bike stuff. We were relieved when they finally started the race, over 2 hours later (~9am). We walked a few blocks on the bike course in the middle of the town to watch the athletes come in for their first loop. It was awesome to see the pros and all the age groupers. We were able to give all of our 7 athletes a big cheer. 

Our good friend Katie was there supporting her friend and it was fun to hang out. I was so excited to introduce her to our neighbor Chihuahua (4 months old) across the street from where we were staying. After seeing our athletes on their 2nd loop, we made our way to the start of the run to watch the pros exit T2. We then spent the next 6+ hours on the run course, cheering for our athletes. Although the race was delayed, the positive was that the sun was setting as our athletes were on their 2nd or 3rd loop of the run, which made for a little more tolerable conditions. Karel and I were able to find a restaurant to eat on the run course so we could cheer for our athletes as they were racing. 

I love this pic that I took of Sebi. This was his last pro race of his career. 

We ate at the Thirsty Cougar. The burger wasn't as good as the one from the day before but it was still good. We became obsessed with the sparkling water lemonade that was offered at all the restaurants.
So freshing.

Karel got ice cream at Flamingo Ice Cream Bar. We don't recommend - it was overly priced and a very small portion. 

We watched all our athletes finish and the finish line was incredible. We loved the local music and all the spectators cheering for the athletes. It was nearing 11pm when we made our way back to the Airbnb. We chatted with our athletes to hear about their race and nearing midnight, we went to bed. 
Here are some of my favorite race day pics. 

Bags of water instead of cups of water.

Marek

Sara

Ashley

Diane

Zach

Ashley

Claire

Kevin

Sara

Diane

Claire

Zach

Claire, Diane and Zach

Ashley

Ashley and Zach

November 20th - Monday 

Karel and I were pretty tired and sore from spectating all day so we went to the pool for an easy swim. However, because it was a holiday (Mexican Revolution Day), the pool was closed. We walked toward the ocean and decided to meet some of our athletes who went to Money Bar Beach Club for snorkeling. There is a small beach area that you can enter the water for free, or you can sit at a table (or beach chair) if ordering drinks/food. We took a taxi instead of walking the 3 miles to get there. The water was super clear and we saw a lot of fish. Karel and I ended up swimming ~2000 yards while also looking at all the fish. There were some tiny jellyfish but thankfully they didn't sting too bad - more like a little itch. 

After our time in the ocean, we all ate lunch at the restaurant before heading back to the Airbnb to start packing up. We did our laundry at the corner Lavendaria. We went to the awards ceremony at Senior Frogs at 5:30pm. It was chaotic and crazy. With people already there eating (likely getting a table well in advance), athletes and family had to find a place to stand inside the restaurant. It was hot and crowded. Although the award ceremony was special, it would have been better to have the awards in a more open and more spacious location. 

Sara - 1st 45-49
Diane - 2nd 55-59
And Kevin - 2nd 65-69

4th place Tri club award

November 21st - Tuesday 

I went for a swim with our athlete Claire around 9am (~2700 meters). The pool was a bit more quiet compared to race week. I was sad leaving this incredible outdoor pool. After the swim, I went for a run. It was really hot and I found this run to be a challenge. I ran 53 minutes, 6.7 miles. I decided to run the other direction from the race course to change up the scenery. I saw several Iguanas as I was running. 
Claire ordered us a Taxi van from the Ferry port area to pick us up at 11:45am. Even though our flight wasn't until 3:20pm, I wasn't sure how busy the small airport would be and from our experience in Kona, I thought getting their early would be less stressful. Thankfully, no line and we were able to quickly check in. Actually, we did have to wait but only for the Delta staff to turn on their computers to start checking people in. Security was quick as well. Around 12:30pm, we went into the VIP lounge with our Priority Pass/Amex plat Bix membership (and since we can have a guest, we took Claire in with us). We enjoyed some snacks and water while working on the computer. Claire left for her flight a little after 1pm and we left the lounge to board our flight around 2:25pm.

The flight to ATL was uneventful. We had a long layover in ATL (almost 6 hours) and since I used the Mobile Passport Control app (it's free), we breezed through customs with almost no wait. Our plan was to inquire about doing the Global Entry Interview upon arrival (we have been conditionally approved for a few months but haven't been able to get an interview appointment). After exiting customs (before leaving the area to get our bags) we asked about getting an interview and he said it would be ~90 minutes. We decided to wait and after 90 minutes and a 10 min interview, we were approved for our global entry. We got our bags and bikes, dropped them off again, went through security and then took the plane train to terminal B. We spent the next 3 hours in the Delta Sky Club. We were super hungry and it was so nice to have an assortment of delicious fresh food to enjoy while working on the computer. It was a very late night. We arrived to Greenville around 11:55pm and made it home just before 1am. It was so good to reunite with our furry crew. 

Speaking of furries, here are some pics of my new Cozumel friends. 

Lessons Learned from Cozumel

Lessons Learned from Cozumel

Nothing says vacation like a warm tropical island with ocean views. I thought we were going to Cozumel to spectate our athletes at the Ironman and to train in a beautiful location but we left with so much gratitude and joy.  I've had the opportunity to travel to several countries and places around the world but the places that I enjoy the most are the ones that I visit for a race. When visiting an international destination for a triathlon or bike event, I get to see so much more than simply visiting for a vacation.  When we travel, we usually stay in Airbnb's. This allows us to have plenty of space, with a kitchen to prepare our own food. Because of this, we are required to shop at the local grocery store - which is always an interesting experience. And when it comes to cooking or meal prep, we are forced to use whatever kitchen gadgets are in our Airbnb. When we have a rental car, we must drive like the locals, learning the road signs, laws and etiquette. Sometimes we have AC, sometimes we have a washer. Often times, we don't. Sometimes we have fast internet speed, sometimes it is very very slow or non existent.  Traveling can be an eye-opening experience to how others live, but only if you allow for the opportunity to live like a local.  During our week-stay in Cozumel, we shared an Airbnb with our 7 athletes. There were specific rules in our Airbnb like turning off the AC when you leave. Cleaning up every crumb because of ants. Always locking the front gate. Never drink from the tap water. Taking the trash out daily to the bin outside. Only flush what comes out of your body down the toilet (no toilet paper). We didn't have a microwave so cooking/boiling water was a bit slow in the morning. We were also limited to plugs for appliances. But we loved it all because it allowed us to live like a local. We didn't have a car so we walked everywhere (or took a taxi). We made several trips to the grocery for food and it was always fun to find different and similar food options. Some of the showers did not have hot water, which was fine after spending all day outside in 80+ F degree weather and high humidity. We experienced flooding due to the rain. We felt extremely safe walking around the island.  Cozumel is not a country but a municipality in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. But if you only stay at the resort, travel via ferry or cruise or visit the beaches or touristy spots, you may consider it to be a well-established vacation destination. Although we had several comforts of home (we slept amazingly well), it was apparent that we take for granted things like water, electricity and sanitation services. Here are a few things I learned from our 7-day stay in Cozumel:  Life can exist without "necessary" items - dishawasher, garbage disposal, Amazon prime, microwave, washing machine, Starbucks.  It's easy to take for granted "necessary" items - clean accessible water and food, medical care, safe working conditions, shelter and education. People who have very little are often happier than those who have a lot. Far too many people align life around materialism. Your worth is not based on your money or profession.  The poor are frequently stigmatized and blamed for their poverty as it is a matter of laziness or irresponsibility. Most immigrants have a very strong work ethic. This is largely driven by necessity. Be mindful what you complain about. A little more gratefulness goes a long way.  Learn to live a simple life. Appreciate what you have.  If you are interested in a delicious recipe, check out these Gingerbread energy balls.

ICON XTRI Livigno Italy - Travel + day 1

 

With a 6:30pm flight out of Atlanta, we were able to get in a workout on Saturday morning (8/26). Karel went for an hour run (7.97 miles) and I did a 90-minute workout on the trainer (MS 6 x 90 sec high cadence w/ 2 min EZ spin. Then 4 x 4 min steady effort w/ 2 min EZ spin). I watched the live broadcast of the 70.3 World Championship while on the trainer. I did a quick 2.4 mile/19 min run off the bike. I felt really good for this brick workout. 

We ate, finished up last minute packing, said good-bye to Karel's mom and all our furries and left for the Atlanta International airport around 11:15am. 

It's always hard to leave Campy, especially since his dementia is getting worse. He threw up bile twice on Monday and wasn't eating (and was really lethargic) which wasn't like him. He really enjoys his walks throughout the day but something was off. He's also been coughing for over 2 weeks. We had him on a med for it but it wasn't getting any better. I made a vet appointment for Thursday (when our vet was back in the office) and she worked me in for blood work, Xray of the lungs and an overall check up. I didn't want anything to suddenly happen to him while we were away so the vet visit felt like a priority. Thankfully, his blood work and organs looked great. Although his brain is struggling, his body is still showing up for life. She gave him a steroid shot to help the coughing (it was our 2nd resort, first we tried an antibiotic pill) and that seemed to help. We go through a lot of diapers each day but it's worth it for this not-so-golden anymore, golden nugget. 

Karel's back has been bothering him since Breck Epic so I drove the 3 hours to the airport.
Whenever we fly international, I like to get to the airport around 4 hours before our flight take off. This gives us plenty of time for delays and there is less waiting/lines. We also like to check in first before parking the car as this is easier for us than lugging our bags and bikes around the airport (and on the shuttle). We drove directly to hourly parking and brought in our bikes and bags to the terminal for check in at Virgin Atlantic. 

I really enjoy watching travel vloggers on YouTube (I really like Kara and Nate) and I've learned a lot about travel hacking with credit card points. In other words, saving a lot of money on travel with the help of being savvy with credit card sign-up bonus's and understanding the perks of each credit card. I told Karel to give me three years to see if I can pull off some travel hacking and it only took me less than a year to book our first first class international flight with money and points. I do a lot of research and plan well in advance. I booked our tickets in the early sprint/late winter for our September flight.
I transferred points from AMEX to Virgin Atlantic and booked 2 upper class seats for ~$800 each and ~65,000 credit card points. Compared to an economy ticket on Delta (which is what we usually fly), I saved us over $800 (total). With our upper class ticket we got lounge access to Delta Sky Club (which we have already thanks to our biz Amex Platinum Credit Card), 2 free checked bags up to 70 lbs each, priority boarding, priority luggage and the best part, lie-flat seats. This 8.5 hour flight took us from Atlanta to London Heathrow. Originally I booked our next flight on British Airways from London to Milan w/ 15,000 points but after hearing a lot of stories about lost luggage (and bikes) with BA from London, I decided to go with a more reliable airline (Swiss). I spent a little more than I would have liked but it gave me peace of mind knowing that there was a better chance of our luggage (and bikes arriving). I booked two business class seats (so that we could get the priority luggage and extra weight w/ 2 free bags) on Swiss from London to Zurich for ~$250 each. I booked a flight 6 hours after arriving in London so we would have time to go to the Virgin Atlantic arrivals lounge after getting our luggage and going through immigration and also in case of any delays. In total, I spent ~$2200 on flights to get us to Zurich from Atlanta. The flight would have been ~$500 less had I not changed to Swiss but I was really worried about our bikes not arriving. I can't wait to share about our flight home from Milan to JFK (it was less than $200 thanks to points...and on Emirates business class!). 

After checking in around 2:30pm, we drove 6 miles to off-site parking. 

I booking off-site parking online a few days prior to our trip (Park 'N Fly Plus, free airport shuttle to domestic). I was able to save $63 by booking in advance. We got on a shuttle right after parking and got dropped off at the domestic terminal (no shuttle directly to international). We went quickly through TSA (thanks to pre-check, well worth the $85 for 5 years and our Amex card covers the cost) and then took the plane train to terminal F. We had to wait over 20 minutes to get into the Delta Sky Club (it's somewhat small for a lounge compared to domestic and very busy) and we were really hungry. Once we got in, we got some delicious food and worked on the computer for the next 2 hours until our plane boarded at 5:45pm. 

I was so excited to board the plane. We went to our seats and Karel was surprised by all our amenties and our seats. He never really knows what I plan for our trips - he is just wants to show up and not have to worry about travel planning. I love travel planning so it works out. 

The flight was a bit bumpy but overall it was incredible. Many people said once you fly first class you'll never want to fly economy again. Although the staff, lie flat bed w/ a comfy blanket and pillow, wide screen TV, delicious vegetarian options, complimentary PJs and extra perks were great, I don't feel like we always have to fly first class. I consider this a luxury (and something to check off our bucket list) and I will only "buy" first class seats if I can use points. Otherwise, it's not worth the $5000+. I actually saved money with points and paid less than had I purchased economy seats so I consider this a big win. 

Karel wasn't able to sleep as his restless legs were bothering him throughout the night. I slept on and off for a few hours. The PJs were SO comfortable. 

When we arrived in London, we went through immigration, collected our luggage and "left" the airport. We had access to the Virgin Atlantic arrivals lounge (we could store our luggage/bikes there) so we had breakfast in the lounge. Our flight arrived almost an hour early and since I slept through breakfast, I was pretty hungry. 

The Heathrow airport was huge! We used a cart to carry our bikes and suitcases from one terminal to the next. It took us almost an hour to get to the desk to check in for our Swiss flight. After checking in and dropping off our bikes at oversized bags (which we do at every airport when checking in), we went through security and had a choice of a few lounges to go to. It took us about 20 minutes to walk from the A to B terminal and we went to the Singapore Airlines lounge. Neither of us were hungry but Karel got a coffee and some juice. We both took a long nap as we had over 2 hours until our flight was boarding (it was delayed by 40 minutes). I set an alarm on my phone so we wouldn't oversleep on the couches. I had a light lunch and then we walked the 20+ minutes back to terminal A for our Swiss flight. 

The short 75 minute flight to Zurich was smooth. We were served a meal (Karel had tuna and I had a vegetarian meal that I requested online in advance) and then tried to nap a bit. We were both super exhausted. The nice thing about our business class seats on Swiss was no person in the middle seat. I think it's a bit wasteful (they may as well just make bigger seats) but Karel was happy about it (he isn't peopl-y :)

Once we arrived in Zurich, we went through immigration, collected our bags and bikes (we have an Airtag on all of our pieces of luggage and although not 100% reliable, it does give peace of mind to kinda have an idea where everything is). We walked to the rental car area, checked in at Alamo to get our automatic SUV (we usually get a manual for Karel to drive but got an automatic in case I need to drive). We left the airport around 6:30pm, made a few wrong turns leaving the airport and finally hit the road for our 3 hour drive to Livigno. The drive took a long time due to the mountain passes, construction lights and a 3.5K one-way tunnel. We also had to pay a toll of $17 to enter Italy from Switzerland. We arrived exhausted around 9:30pm. 

We checked into our hotel (Hotel Sporting) and the staff was so nice. They took care of parking our car, took our luggage (and bikes) to our room and left us with a spread of food as we arrived after dinner (Italians express their love and kidness through food). We weren't too hungry as we ate a lot of great food over the past 24 hours but we found some room for a little of everything. Around 10:30pm we went to bed and slept until 9am (11 hours). 

8/28 - Monday 

We woke up to rain on our first offical day in Livigno. We went to breakfast downstairs and were quickly reminded how much we love the hotel food options in Europe (we had our first experience during the Haute Route Alps and then in Molveno for Xterra worldss). I opted to stay in a hotel for 7-days during our trip as we could get all three meals included (Full board) for a small extra charge. At ~$200/night, I consider this is a great deal as we can eat, sleep and rest well.

The hotel also has a spa that we can use anytime between 2-8pm. We were slow moving in the morning and really tired but we managed to find some energy to get outside for an easy ~34 minute, 4 mile run. We warmed up pretty quickly despite it being in the 40's and a little rainy. The views were spectacular. I didn't feel impacted by the altitude at 6000 feet which was a great feeling compared to how I struggled at 9600 feet in Breckenridge a few weeks ago. 

After the run it was time for lunch (12-2pm) but we weren't hungry. We waited until 1:40pm and then decided to get a light lunch in the restaurant. I couldn't finish my first course (they offer 4 courses but we only had 2 + dessert for lunch) and the waitress was concerned I didn't like the food. :) I politely told her that I was full and getting on the new time zone. The presentation of the meals was amazing and everything was so tasty in the perfect portion. 

Karel getting his afternoon espresso. 

We both took a short nap and I had to force myself to wake up so that I could sleep in the evening. Karel built the bikes and around 5pm we drove a few miles down the road to the Aquagranda facility by the lake. This aquatic center/gym was massive! We paid $15 each to swim (a lot of money for one swim but well worth it. The only package we could buy was 10 passes each but we knew we wouldn't use them all so it wasn't worth it) and made our way to the 50-meter pool. I'm always taken back by the locker room situation in Italian pools as there is often one big changing area (private rooms with doors) for men and women. But it isn't unusual to have men and women taking showers, changing and drying hair in the same space. It's just normal in many places of Europe. 

We swam ~3000 meters with a mixture of sets. Again, I felt really good (similar to the run)  and the altitude didn't bother me. I was really amazed with how good my body felt while exercising - it must be from all the great food. I didn't want to swim because I was so tired and it was cold and rainy out but I was so thankful we went. We had to pay 1 euro for parking (per hour, first hour is free). I didn't have my phone in the pool area so I didn't get a picture. The water was 78 degrees F but it felt a bit warmer. It was the perfect temperature. The pool wasn't crowded (we had our own lane) but there were people in each lane. Everyone in the entire pool area (hot tubs, water park, pools) are required to wear swimming caps. I saw a lot of Ironman and triathlon swim caps. 

We drove back to the hotel and we had a good appetite for dinner. The chef prepared me vegetarian meals that were not on the main menu and they were delicious!! The veggie burger was the best I've ever had. After dinner we were ready for bed. Dinner is served 7-9pm and although it moves quickly from course to course, it's still kinda late for us. But our bodies are still adjusting to the 6 hour time difference. We went to bed around 10pm. 

I've been taking pictures of all the delicious food that we've been eating. I'll save those pics for their own special blog after we finish our trip. 

'23 Breck Epic - Travel, Fri, Sat

 

8/10 - Thursday
We got up around 2:45am to leave for the airport at 3am. We are so thankful that Karel's mom is here through all our trips to take care of our furry crew. We made the 30 minute drive to the GSP airport and Karel dropped me off w/ our suitcases and bike cases before parking the car in the economy lot. I've booked all of our GSP trips for the first flight out as it makes for smoother travel with less chance of delays/cancellations. The check-in process was smooth and no issues (or charge) with our bike cases on Delta since we have all of our checked bags/bikes at 50 lbs. I love traveling with Delta as they are reliable and always kind and helpful. 

TSA was quick thanks to our pre-check status (highly recommend for the one-time payment of $85 for 5 years). We were through security shortly after 4am and waited for the Centurion lounge to open at 4:30am. I was able to get a little work done on the computer in those 30 minutes. Thanks to this credit card, we have lounge access at Delta Sky Club, Centurion and many others, which makes for a more enjoyable travel when we have access to a quiet place to work (with free Wifi), unlimited food and as many espressos as Karel wants. 

We had a little over 2 hours in Atlanta so we want to the Delta Sky Club and had breakfast and got some work done. Then it was time to board our flight to Denver. Our flight was ~50 minutes delayed due to storms but otherwise, it was a smooth morning of travel. 

I got my period the day before we left. For some reason, this months cycle left me feeling really awful. I mention this because the flight from Atlanta to Denver had me feeling really stiff and my right knee was really bothering me for some reason. The 3+ hour flight to Denver was uncomfortable for me and I couldn't wait to get up and walk around outside. 

When we arrived in Denver, Karel collected our suitcases and bikes and I took the shuttle to the Peaks Parking lot to get our rental SUV (I reserved on Turo as it was a lot cheaper than renting a car at the airport). I found the SUV, put my bag in the backseat of the car, plugged in my phone from the passenger side (after folding down the backseats) and went to the drivers side to get in the car to pick up Karel. When I went to the driver's side door, I couldn't get in. The door was locked. Before freaking out, I rushed to the passenger side. Locked. I checked all doors and the trunk - locked. Somehow, the keys were in the car and the car was locked. I panicked. I didn't have my phone and I had no way of reaching the owner of the car or Karel. Thankfully, there was a guy cleaning out a car a few rows down and I asked if I could use his phone to call Karel. The guy mentioned there was a free service for lock-outs so he let me borrow his phone to call. I thought I was going to be saved by this service but the lady on the phone told me that because it wasn't my car, she couldn't order the service. At this point, I feel completely helpless and I started to cry. She passed me over to the manager and he was very helpful after I told him the situation. Around an hour later, someone came and unlocked the car (which was pretty impressive to see :) I finally picked Karel up after 12:30pm (over 90 minutes after we landed). 
I was so exhausted from everything but Karel helped me through it all. 

Karel was really tired so I started the drive. We stopped for lunch around 50 minutes into our drive at a Himalayan restaurant. It was SO good. We love this type of cuisine (so many great flavors) and enjoyed a basket of Naan and we each got a delicious bowl of curry (mine had chickpeas and Karel had chicken). 

After we ate, we drove to Frisco and met up with our friends Peggy and Anthony as they were driving to Avon. We chatted for about an hour outside of Starbucks. It was so nice to see them (and meet their dogs). Around 4pm, we drove across the street to Safeway and got a lot of groceries for our apartment and then drove into Breckenridge. The air was refreshing at 9,600 feet. 

We checked into the Beaver Run Resort (host resort of Breck Epic) and unloaded all our stuff in our room on the third floor. I really wanted to do some type of exercise but my knee was really bothering me. We opted to take a walk but then it started to rain. I guess it was a sign to rest. I unpacked my stuff, we had a light dinner and then went to bed around 9pm - we were exhausted. 

8/11 - Friday
Karel had a hard time sleeping but I slept pretty good. I woke up around 6:30am (Karel was up around 5:30am). We spent a few hours working and Karel built the bikes in the morning. I was craving a swim but unfortunantly the local rec center pool (2 miles away) was closed for renovations. The next option was ~15 miles (~30 minutes) away in Silverthorne. At least I had another option. I drove to the pool around 10:30am and purchased a 6-visit pass for $70 (normally one visit would be $14). It was really important to me to swim throughout our trip, even though the pool location wasn't ideal. Swimming at 9,000+ feet was challenging and I needed to give myself a lot of rest. I wasn't able to do any intervals so I just focused on swimming easy and moving my body. The aquatic center was very impressive but the lap pool only had 4 lanes (and was warm). I swam 4,600 and then went to the hot tub to stretch. while I was out for my swim, Karel did a 3-ish hr, 25 mile mountain bike ride on the first stage of his event. He said it was really technical. 

After the swim, I picked up a few things at the grocery and then drove back to Breckenridge. At least the drive was really pretty. In the afternoon, I went for a bike ride to spin my legs. I was so impressed with the bike paths around the area. I biked 2 hours (35 miles) from Breckenridge to Copper Mountain - all on a bike path. It was incredibly beautiful. It felt really good to spin my legs. I wanted to do a short run off the bike but then it started to rain. I guess it was a sign that I needed one more day to let my knee calm down. It was nice to have a full kitchen (minus an oven) in our studio. The resort was like a hotel but the studio made it feel more like an apartment. We walked around in the evening and then went to bed around 9pm. Suprisingly, I was sleeping much better than I anticipated at altitude. 

8/12 - Saturday
I was planning a long ride to Loveland Pass (12,000 feet) this morning but the weather forecast didn't look ideal. I wasn't sure how my knee would do with a run so I spent some time doing ECFIT mobility and foam rolling before I went for a run around 9am. Karel left a little before I did. Since we were staying at the top of a hill, all of our running was net downhill to start, then a tough run back uphill to where we were staying. The terrain is very deceiving too as it doesn't look hilly until you start running or biking up the incline. It's more like a false flat. My knee ended up being just fine for the run and I was so thankful that I took those two days to let it calm down. I think my hips/SI joint got irritated from all the sitting and due to my period (loose ligaments). I ran 5 miles out and back and I could really feel the altitude coming back. I had to do a lot of walking. I wasn't worried about pace but just focusing on staying fueled/hydrated and enjoying the run. I ran 10 miles in 1:28 with almost 1000 feet elevation gain. I got a bit of work done before heading to the pool (30 minutes away) later in the afternoon. I swam 4000 yards and it felt really good to loosen out after the morning run. The aquatic center was really busy with kids playing on the slides and in the various pools but thankfully the lap pool wasn't too busy. While I was swimming, Karel picked up his stuff at registration and then attended the nightly meeting at 5pm (to learn about the upcoming next day stage). Karel made pasta for dinner (he made chicken for himself and I cooked a Beyond Beef burger). 

A quick trip to Charleston, SC

 

We only had two full days in Charleston, SC so we brought our gravel bikes to ride in Francis Marion National Forest. I used routes from the Swamp Fox Gravel Fondo Race. 

I was looking forward to this trip for a few reasons. The first was to explore a different style of gravel riding - flat roads. The second was to enjoy different scenery for a mental boost. The third reason - which was the main reason for our trip, was to take advantage of a promotion that I purchased last year from Blue Green Vacations. For $229 I received a 3-night/4 day stay at a Blue Green Vacation Location of my choice. And for an additional 40,000 Choice Hotel Points, $25 Amex Gift card and $100 Visa Gift card, Karel and I would need to sit through a 2-hour presentation. Karel was not thrilled about having to sit through a sales pitch for Blue Green Vacations but since I'm getting into travel hacking, I felt like I could "sell" Karel on this trip by throwing in some gravel riding. Originally we were going to participate in the Swamp Fox Gravel Fondo Race but the race filled up before I had a chance to register. Since we already had the dates and hotel booked, we decided to take advantage of a short getaway. 

After a morning swim and lifting session at Furman, we packed up the car and hit the road around 12:30pm. It was an easy 3.5 hour drive to Charleston, SC. Karel did all the driving and I worked on Training Peaks in the car. Campy got to enjoy two cat-free nights at my moms house. It's been challenging for Campy as he is showing some siginficant signs of cognitive decline (doggy dementia) so he is much more anxious and confused. It was good for him to be at my moms so that he didn't have to stress about a cat approaching him while he was sleeping. After arriving to the Hampton Inn at Patriots Point, we unloaded the car, checked in to our room (BlueGreen handled the reservation) and went for a short 3 mile run to move some blood. We were both feeling tired and stiff from sitting in the car so it was nice to shake out. We ate dinner at Verde which was delicious. We both got the Greek salad - Karel had chicken and I had tofu on it. 

Prior to leaving, I received the sample pack that I purchased from TORQ nutrition. After 17 years of dialing in my fueling for long distance triathlons, it’s been a bit of a learning curve to figure out the best way to fuel and hydrate for off-road riding. With that said, I’m still prioritizing liquid calories to meet my hydration and energy needs, but also consuming more solid food, gels and chews as the demands are very different when the intensity is higher, limited refill stops, the unpredictable terrain and I don’t have to run off the bike in a gravel or MTB event. I also really enjoy trying out new products to recommend for athletes. I really liked the nutrition profile and ingredients of the Torq products and the variety of flavors. 

I was hoping that we could escape the cold in Charleston but we only had one warm day, on Friday. The weather difference could not have been more extreme - on Thursday we started the ride at 9am and it was 30 degrees. On Friday at 9am it was nearing 70 degrees. But Friday was windy!

We did the 53 mile (race) loop on Friday and it was nice to experience the flat roads. Karel's back was really bothering him (he has two discs that are slipped/bulging) so he wasn't feeling too good. It was a good 3ish hour ride. We had to quickly get back to the hotel to change before our 2pm BlueGreen Vacation presentation in downtown Charleston so I ordered lunch from the Pickled Palate. The place was super cute - I wish we could have eaten at the establishment but we had to get the order to go. Karel got the Cuban and I got the Vegan (no pickles, add provolone). It was delicious. We arrived to downtown Charlotte around 1:45pm and parked the car on a side street. The town was super cute but it was really busy. 

We survived the presentation - which was only an hour, followed by a short discussion with an individual sales rep. After we declined, we received our gifts. They weren't pushy to sell us the packages which was nice. I could see how this type of vacation rental would work for some people but it doesn't fit our style of travel (which is to travel to race). 

We walked through the market and then Karel got some ice cream from the Charleston Candy Company. He got key lime, rasberry and chocolate. I had a few bites and it was delicious (I prefer bready type stuff over ice cream, cake and cookies). 

Our good friends Kathleen and Don live in Charleston so we met up for dinner at 6pm on Thursday. I was so excited for the restaurant that Kathleen suggested. We love trying international cuisine. We ate at Malika and it was incredible. So much flavor! We started off with appetizers - Dahi Puri and Chaat Papri. 

For the entree, we each got a version of the Thali. Don, Kathleen and I had the vegetarian options and Karel got chicken and Aloo Gobi. I had Paneer Tikka Masala and Palak Paneer. It was SO good! 

On Friday we woke up around 6am and had breakfast in the hotel lobby at 7am. Karel had eggs, toast and oatmeal and I had a waffle and eggs. 

Karel never travels without his Nespresso machine. 

We planned on riding the 100 mile route but had a shorter version as plan B (~83 miles) depending on how the ride was going. It was a beautiful day - in the low 70s but super windy. The flat roads were really tough for us as there was no opportunity to coast. It was a big difference from our riding near/in the mountains. We much prefer hilly routes - although hills can be challenging to climb, at least you get to recover on the downhills. We had to include several breaks to stretch our back and hips throughout the ride. We rode pretty strong, each taking pulls. The gravel was mixed - chunky, loose and soft and there were some sections that were filled with deep holes. It was an adventure and I found myself getting frustrated by all the elements. Thankfully I was able to get out of my funk thanks to Karel giving me a bit of a pep talk. 

Karel's back bothered him but a little less than the day prior. He wasn't in the mood to run off the bike and while I was super exhausted from our almost 5 hour ride, I talked myself into a short out and back run. Surprisingly, I felt really good running! 

As for nutrition for the long ride/run on Friday, I consumed:

Pre workout:
1 waffle (360 calories) w/ syrup (100 calories), JIFF packet (110 calories), 2 butters (140 calories) = 650 calories
Scoop of eggs = 120 calories
Total = 770 calories (+ cup of coffee and water)

During the 82 mile, 4:44 ride:
1.5 L USWE pack w/ 5 scoops Never Second Berry (600 calories)
1 TORQ chew bar (120 calories)
1 TORQ gel (120 calories)
1 TORQ hydration (120 calories) in 26 ounce water
1 bottle water (26 ounce)
Total: 960 calories, 102 ounces

During 2 mile, 15:30 min run:
~TORQ hydration in a 10 ounce flask (probably consumed ~30 calories and 5 ounce water)

We enjoyed the change in riding conditions and all of the restaurants but we still love our roads, people and towns in and around Greenville, SC.

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South Africa Race-Cation - Day 3

Feeling a bit more rested on day 3, we started the morning with an open water swim. I thought we were swimming in the Indian ocean (which would be a first for us) but it was the Atlantic. Still, the furthest south I've ever swam in the ocean.

Prior to our trip to SA, I emailed a lady that I found online who was in charge of the local masters group. She connected me with the Gordon Bay Sea Swim group on WhatsApp so that I could stay up to date with all the local swims. An older gentleman (Gordon – appropriately named 😊) said he would meet me and Karel for a swim, along with Harold – the local legend who has completed over 100 English Channel and Robin Crossing swims. The water was a little cool (upper 60’s) but with the warm sun at 8:30am, it felt prefect in our Roka wetsuits. We swam to and back from the old harbor which was ~1000 meters away. When we got there, we could stand on the sand (low tide) and regroup. Gordon was very helpful in that he would tell us where to swim as it was low tide so we could be aware of the rocky sections. I saw one jellyfish and it freaked me out but other than that, it was a nice swim. And no sharks :) Gordon and Harold were super nice and we chatted a bit after the swim by Gordon’s car (parked by the beach where we kept our stuff during the swim). After the swim we stopped by the local coffee shop “To Go” and Karel got a cappuccino, two croissants and a cinnamon roll. The bakery items were not the tastiest/freshest which was kinda disappointing. While waiting for our items, I made friends with the cats next door – Casper and Cat.

We walked back to our Airbnb and after eating some food, we headed to Elgin Valley Country Club – the Xterra SA race venue. The drive was ~25 minutes and it was beautiful. Normally I like for us to stay close to a race venue when we travel to a race but there wasn't much around the country club area and I wanted to make sure we could walk to places - Gordons Bay was the perfect location. We went up the road and over the mountain to Grabow. We passed through a town that was packed with a lot of African locals. There were many people walking along the highway to get to/from work, as well as more people needed a ride. If only there were bikes available for transportation. The ‘neighborhood’ of shacks was tough to see – and there are a lot of them throughout South Africa.

 

When we arrived to the country club, we weren’t sure where to go as the gate was closed when we arrived. We were buzzed in and met Willie – a tatted-up local who has a trail named after him. Willie told us that we needed to pay to use the trail (60 Rand = $3.39 USD) and to park just outside the gate and to use the wooden staircase to enter the trails (some of these trails are also used for Jeeps/off roading and hiking). I downloaded the 28K (18 mile) race course to my Garmin but the course was also marked with blue arrows. Karel led the way and helped me navigate through some of the tougher sections through the course. As usual for Xterra, we did a bit of climbing to start but the trails were much more flowy. It was also very sandy which was new for me. Often times it would feel like I was riding on ice as the bike would just slide through the sand (or get stuck). It was a new type of feeling (kinda like the deep mud in Molveno, Italy) but the more I did it, the more I learned that I needed to keep the weight off my front wheel and just let the bike slide. The jeep trails were still technical as they were rocky, sandy and up and down. As we went on the course, we were stunned by the beauty of this area. There was so much flora and different plants that we had never seen before. The rocks were incredible. When we made our way to the famous rock garden, I was ready to test my skills. I did pretty well navigating through the rocks (it was mostly downhill) but struggled on one steep and rocky section. Karel coached me through it and I got it the second time. Karel has been really helpful in my journey into mountain biking (which started ~13 months ago) as he will notify me of any technical or difficult sections before I get to them (and tell me what to do) or we will stop and he will walk me through which line to take or how to get through a touch section. There were a few tight switchbacks on loose sand which required a lot of balance and power so it was helpful to have Karel in front to tell me what I needed to do. I really struggled on the downhills with the curves and turns on the sand so that is an area that I know I need to continue to work on (body position). Although we got tired as the ride went on, it was the most incredible riding experience that I have ever had on a mountain bike. It was cloudy, windy and hot so we made sure to stay well hydrated with our USWE hydration packs. 

We stopped at the store on the way home to get a few more things before dinner. We both got a bit sunburnt (the sun is very strong) as we didn’t put on enough sunscreen during our ride as it was cloudy so that didn’t feel too good in the evening. We went to bed a little earlier (~10pm) as we were both pretty tired from the day.

International travel - a quick hello from South Africa

Late this summer, Karel mentioned to me that we should travel somewhere warm in January 2023 to escape the winter and to do some type of athletic event. And his top choice was not Arizona, Florida or the Virgin Islands but....South Africa! Karel came up with this idea after hearing about the return of Xterra South Africa (off-road triathlon event). After several months of researching, travel hacking and planning (my favorite!) I was able to put together an exciting, affordable and memorable itinerary for our 2 week race-cation (which includes a Safari and Kruger National Park). We will be participating in Xterra South Africa on Sunday, January 22nd in Elgin Valley (outside of Gordon's Bay, an hour from Cape Town) and then flying to Johannsburg on the 23rd for a 4-day Safari tour. We will then travel back to Cape Town on the 27th for one last day in Cape Town before flying back to the US on the 28th/29th. 

If you couldn't tell, I love traveling. Since an early age, I've had the privilege of traveling all over the US and internationally. When I was in middle school, I participated in an exchange program and spent almost 2 weeks in Japan. At only 13-14 years of age, I spent some of the time living with a family that didn't speak English and took part in a lot of different traditions. During my senior year of college, I traveled to the Philippines during May term for a work service project. I spent two weeks working on buildings and schools and I slept on a wooden bed, took bucket showers and had no AC. I was surrouned by people who had little to nothing but were incredibly happy and grateful. Traveling to this third-world country truly changed my life. 

Although it's fun to see popular touristy sights, one of my favorite things about travel is meeting new people and learning about different cultures - the language, traditions, customs, religion, holidays and food. Without travel, all we know is what's normal and not normal in our own society. By immersing yourself in another culture, you learn different and new perspectives. You also become more mindful of the traditions, practices, thoughts, beliefs and lifestyles of other people. Seeing the world from a different point of view can make you a more understanding person. While travel is a great way to immerse yourself in a culture beyond your own, you can learn at home through articles, talking with friends and coworkers, YouTube, documentaries, blogs and social media.There are so many places I never knew about but now want to visit thanks to travel vloggers.

And one of the best parts of travel is the FOOD!

Whether it's the pizza in Italy or seafood in Japan, traveling introduces you to new flavors, recipes, ingredients and dishes. While we can agree that America has a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with food, food plays a very important role in many cultures - it shows different traditions in each community and for many cultures, nothing is more important than a family meal. Whether you order from a restaurant menu or step out of your comfort zone with local street food, there's no better way to experience an entire culture - from the local and seasonal ingredients to the traditional recipes - than through authentic dishes. 

In doing some research for our upcoming South Africa trip, I came across this article discussing 30 different culinary traditions. Here are a few of the ones I found most interesting: 

• Borscht (Ukraine and many Eastern European Countries) - a traditional soup with beetroots as the main ingredient. 
• French baguette  (a symbol of France) - a 'good' baguette has a crunchy crust and is 65 centimeters in length. The only ingredients are wheat floud, water, yeast and salt. 
• Tea (a way of life in China) - there are over 2,000 different teas produced in China. 
• Joumou (Haiti) - this soup is a symbol of freedom and liberation. Made from a local pumpkin or squash. 
• Ceebu Jën (Senegal West Africa). The dish is passed down from mother to daughter. The essential ingredients include fish, broken rice, tomatoes, onions and other seasonal veggies. The dish is eaten with one's hands or a piece of bread to scoop up the rice. This dish is a symbol of hospitality.
• Lavash (Armenia) - this dough is made from wheat flour and water. This bread plays an important role in Armenian weddings, where sheets of the bread are draped over the bride and groom's shoulders to signal future prosperity. 
• Nsima (Africa) - a thick porridge made through an elaborate process of mixing white cornmeal with water. In Malawi, the dish is eaten with a protein and vegetable. Young children are taught to pound maize and sift flour at an early age and eating a meal of Nsima is a way to strengthen family bonds. 
• Keskek (Turkey) - found in Turkish, Iranian and Greek cuisines and associated with ceremonial and religious occasions, cooked by groups of men and women together in the community. From beating the ingredients to praying over the wheat or barley to a music performance and the thickening and stirring of the dish, the local community all come together to take part in keşkek preparation.
• Airag or Kumis (Mongolia) - This fermented dairy product is made by churning fresh horse milk inside a special vessel crafted from cowhide. It's a critical source of nutrition for moadic communities. To make, the milk must be churned more than 500 times before the yeast is added to start the fermentation process. 

I'll be blogging about our travels but currently I'm soaking it all in and making the most of everyday here. You can follow me along on Instagram (@trimarni) where I'll be posting videos/pics on my stories. 

From Vienna to Nice

A blog post I wrote before the Haute Route.....

International travel can be very unpredictable and stressful so I've been mindful to give ourselves plenty of time whenever traveling to somewhere new. With a 7:25am flight in Vienna Austria on Friday 19th, we decided it would be best to spend the night at the airport hotel on Thursday 18th. The airport is only around 60 miles from where Karel lives in Znojmo (he lived just a few kilometers from the Austrian border) but it takes a little over 90 minutes to travel there. I wanted to get to the airport at least two hours before our boarding time of 6:45am so the hotel sounded like a much better option. Plus, we would be able to sleep in an AC room (for the first time in 15 days, since arriving to Europe) and we were craving a good night of sleep since we haven't slept restfully since arriving. 

After arriving to the airport, we parked our car in the P4 parking garage. I booked our parking online so that we would save a bit of money by doing it in advance. We received a QR code to get into the parking garage and that went very smoothly. I did the same thing when we flew to St. George in May in Charlotte, NC and we were able to park in the hourly parking lot across from the terminal for about the same price as long-term parking. We then walked a few minutes across the street to the NH Vienna Airport hotel, we checked into our room. It was so nice to feel the AC. 

At 6pm we had dinner in the hotel buffet (which was way overpriced but we were so hungry). It's been really nice in Czech because the Czech crown (currency) is in our favor as the US dollar goes a long way. Especially in Karel's town of Znojmo, it's very affordable for us to eat/sleep/travel. 

After we ate, we watched the Collins Cup documentary online and then went to sleep around 9:30pm. The night wasn't too restful as I was nervous about the airport experience the next day but it still felt good to sleep in AC. The alarm went off at 4:10am and we walked across the street to the terminal at 4:30am. Austrian Airlines is strict with luggage weight and the size/weight of carry-on's so we made sure to meet all regulations. We carried on as much as we could of our Haute Route gear in the case of lost luggage. 

The check-in process was very smooth. There was no counter to report to but instead, we checked in ourselves, printed our boarding passes and our luggage tags, fixed our luggage tags on our suitcases and then dropped off our bags at the counter. I purchased a "fast track" security ticket with our parking pass for 10 euros each as I was worried about going through security and while it did expedite the process, we would have been fine without one. After going through security, we had around 1:45 until we boarded our flight. 

Karel and I did some work on Training Peaks for our athletes from 5am until 6:30am and then around 6:45pm, we boarded a bus that took us to our plane. We then boarded our Austrian Airlines flight and around 7:30am we were off to Nice, France. I slept most of the flight and Karel read a Czech cycling magazine that he brought with him. 

With this being our first time to France and first time to Nice, it was beautiful to see the sea and all the mountains. I couldn't help but think that we would be biking over many of those mountain passes. 

We arrived shortly after 9am and I felt the stress lift off me after we received our luggage. I was a little nervous about taking the tram to the city to get to our hotel but I used the Rome2rio app to understand the tram and I also found another blog to understand how to buy tickets, etc. We bought our tram tickets for 1.50 euros each and when we were about to board, we weren't pushy enough and the doors closed on us so we had to wait another 10 minutes. The tram took about 30 minutes to get to our destination (which was Garibaldi square) and then we had a 0.4 mile walk (plus a little extra until we found the right way to go) to our hotel. 

The Haute Route booked all of our accomodations as part of our package so we added on an extra night to our Nice hotel - Aparthotel Adagio Nice Centre. Although we arrived around 11am (well before our check in at 3pm), our room was ready and they let us check in early. 

The room had AC (yippee) and a small kitchenette which was nice to have. After unloading our stuff, we were hungry for a meal so I found a brunch restaurant called Les Clay. We sat outside and I enjoyed pancakes and eggs and Karel had a bagel bread sandwich. 

After we ate, I was so exhausted that I napped for about an hour. I wanted to sleep all day but Karel wanted to go to the sea and I couldn't resist the opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean for the first time. 

We walked to the Port of Nice and checked out the beautiful yachts before heading to the rocky beach. The water was incredible blue and refreshing and super salty. It was amazing to just float on our backs in the water. We enjoyed swimming in the ocean and laying in the warm sun. 

Around 3pm we left the beach and had lunch at a restaurant (not sure of the name) as Karel was really wanting some fish. There wasn't much on the menu for me so I enjoyed pizza and salad (I can always opt for Pizza ;) Karel learned how to "eat" his fish from the waiter and he really enjoyed his meal. Mine was also delicious and I finished it all but two pieces (Karel finished those slices for me). 

We then walked around the city, I got us lost again as we tried to find the LIDL grocery store and we arrived back to our room around 7pm for a light snack (yogurt, fruit and muesli). 

We slept amazingly well and woke up a little after 7am on Saturday morning. Only one more sleep until we start the toughest amateur cycling event, the Haute Route Alps! 

Hello from St. George!

 

St. George, Utah is one of our favorite race venues. Our first time to St. George was in May of 2017 for the 70.3 event. We couldn't wait to return in 2018 to race for a 2nd time. Karel loves St. George so much that he returned again for the 70.3 in 2019. And then in September of 2021, we once again traveled to St. George to participate in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. 

The St. George scenery gets us every time. The red rocks are incredible and the race course takes us through several different towns, allowing us to see so much of the area. With such a challenging course (hills, heat and wind), the spectacular views make it easy to temporarily forget about the suffering. 

For the first time ever, the Ironman World Championship is taking place outside of Hawaii. On May 7th, Karel and I will be participating in the 2021 Ironman World Championship (because no World Championship took place last year, this race is being called the 2021 World Championship). This will be my 6th Ironman World Championship and 18th Ironman event. This will be Karel's 5th Ironman World Championship and 15th Ironman event. We love tough and challenging events and we will be tested on Saturday. 

Our travel started off super early on Monday morning. We woke up around 3:30am, quickly got ourselves ready, said good-bye to our five furry kids (who will be well taken care of while we are away) and drove to the Greenville airport. Due to our small airport, we rarely need more than 90-minutes to go from parking to the plane. Well, this time was different. The airport was packed at 4:15am! With a 5:30am departure to Atlanta, we were cutting it close and then at security, Karel was told that his birthdate didn't match his ticket because the lady at the counter entered it wrong. So he had to sprint back to the counter to get it changed. By the time he got through security and then we got to the gate, the door was shut and we - along with a handful of others - were not on our plane. 

In all my years of traveling, I've never missed a flight before. It was our fault for not allowing more time. I was so upset. This trip was not starting off on a good note. We were put on the next flight (7am) and on a different flight from Atlanta to Vegas so thankfully we got to our final destination on the same day (just a few hours later than planned). 

Things turned from bad to good when we picked up our rental car. This was my first time using Turo and it was awesome. We went from the luggage area to short term parking and there was our car with instructions as to how to get the keys inside of it. Not only was this process super easy but this rental car was almost $500 less than had I rented from a rental car company at the airport. We loaded up our Ford Edge and made our way to get some food....Chipotle! 

We started our ~1:45 hour drive to Vegas - which turned into almost 3 hours due to ~4 miles of construction work. We finally arrived to our condo (the same area that we stayed in September) around 5pm after a very long day of traveling. It was so nice to finally arrive in St. George. Despite a long and semi stressful travel day, we took one look around and we were quickly reminded why we love it here. 

As Karel put together the bikes, I went to Albertsons to get groceries (~3 miles away). By the time I got back, Karel was finished with the bikes. I was mentally exhausted so I made myself dinner (well more like breakfast - a yogurt parfait with fruit, granola and bread with peanut butter) and Karel went for a short run to shake off the fatigue from the flight. 

Around 8pm mountain time, we were tired and ready to sleep. Thankfully, a good night of sleep was all we needed as we woke up on Tuesday morning around 6am feeling excited to get on our bikes to check out a new part of this Ironman race course. 

More to come tomorrow.....

Hello from Maui, Hawaii!

After seven trips to the big island of Kona for the Ironman World Championship (5x racing, 2x spectating Karel), I now have the incredible opportunity to travel to Maui. This experience is actually another unexpected opportunity that came out of the pandemic.

In the winter of 2021, Karel was really getting into gravel biking. With so many new off-road adventures around our area, he also found himself riding his mountain bike a lot more frequently than in years past. After hearing about Xterra Oak Mountain from Eric Lagerstrom on his TTL (That Triathlon Life) YouTube channel, Karel decided to participate in his first off-road triathlon - where he placed 1st AG (45-49) and 5th overall amateur.  He had so much fun and he was itching for more off-road adventures.

Next came the USA Championship in Snowbasin, Utah in late September (a week after we participated in the IM 70.3 World Championship event in St. George) and now, here we are in Maui for Karel to participate in the Xterra World Championship. Although the participant list is smaller than in years past due to COVID (and the event is being held several weeks later than normal), Karel is really 'stoked' to have this first-time opportunity to participate in the 25th anniversary of this legendary race. Although a trip to Maui is serving as an amazing opportunity for us to escape the colder temps in late November/early December, I'll also be participating in the Xterra World Championship, but in the 21K Trail Run. I race on Saturday and Karel races on Sunday. This will be a true race-cation for us both! 

Travel Day.....
Because Xterra didn't get the green light for holding the event in Maui, Hawaii until a few weeks ago, I waited to book our flights until we knew 100% that the race would happen. Earlier this summer, I had booked our Airbnb and reserved a rental car knowing that I could cancel both of those without being charged. Our flight options were not the best as the flights were either expensive, the seat options were slim or the route options were not ideal. However, after comparing lots of different options, I was able to book a reasonably priced United flight from Charlotte to Denver and then Denver to Maui. We decided to leave for the airport super early on Monday morning to avoid any type of Thanksgiving traffic. 

We left for the airport at 4:15am and arrived to the Charlotte airport around 5:45am. I reserved our parking online which is something that I have never done before. As I was looking up a map for the airport to get familiar with the parking layout, I came across a link for pre-paid parking. For an incredible deal, I was able to reserve 9 days of parking at the hourly parking garage right across from the terminal - no long-term parking shuttle needed! Even though it would cost ~$40 more than long-term parking, that extra cost was worth it as it meant we didn't have to worry about waiting for the shuttle and having to lug our suitcases and Karel's bike case around. Since we were traveling the day after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I wanted to minimize any extra possible stressors (or delays) that we could encounter. 

Since we arrived a little over 2 hours before our scheduled flight to Denver, there was no line for checking in our luggage with United. Karel packed his bike case to be 50 lbs so there was no charge for the bike and no charge for our luggage (2 bags each) since we were flying premium cabin (2 free bags each). I've become rather creative with booking our travel so I always weigh all the costs, pros and cons and possible issues to try to ensure a smooth traveling experience for our race-cations. So far, all went smoothly. 

The line for security was somewhat long but we weren't rushed so there were no issues there. We finally boarded our plane around 8am and we were off to Denver. For our ~4 hour flight to Denver, I watched a few shows on my iPad with the free United entertainment app and took a few short naps. Karel purchased Wifi so he could work on Training Peaks. 

When we arrived in Denver, we had a little less than 90 minutes before our next flight. At this point we were a bit hungry so we purchased a delicious early lunch at Garbanzo Fresh Mediterranean. OMG it was so good, Karel and I could not stop yumming. 

We finally boarded our long flight to Maui (~7 hr flight) and waited another 30+ minutes before leaving the runway. We were lucky to get front row seats in the Premium section (just behind First Class) which meant lots of leg room and space to move around. Karel gets extra cranky during long flights (especially when they are really peopley so he was much more relaxed with our two seats at the front of our section. We even had leg rests and two hot meals! 

I watched a few movies and took a few short naps. Although the flight was long, it was nice knowing that it was our final flight before arriving to Maui. The plane was packed and it had a very different vibe compared to our Kona travel for the Ironman World Championship. There's something about sharing a plane with so many triathletes as you can feel all the excited, nervous energy. But nonetheless, we were excited for our first trip to Maui. 

After we landed, we entered the airport (which was covered, not like the outdoor airport in Kona) and couldn't wait to smell the salty flowery air. But first was a 40+ minute wait to show proof of our Hawaii Safe Travel QR code to show proof that we were vaccinated so that we didn't have to do a 10-day quarantine. The line was very long and slow so this was the biggest delay of our trip. But we finally made it through the line and on our way to get our luggage. Next came the short shuttle to pick up our rental car from Budget and finally, a little after 5pm we were finally on the road in Maui to make the ~1 hour drive to our Airbnb. 

The sights and smells were familiar yet different. It's hard to not compare Maui to Kona and to feel like so much is so different. But the more I think about it, the allure of Kona is more about the history of the Ironman World Championship and the beauty, mystery and variety of the elements on the Ironman World Championship course. Maui is not Kona but there is still a lot to be in awe about on this island. 

As we were driving to our Airbnb, we made a quick stop at a beach parking lot to snap a few pics as the sun was setting. We then made a quick stop at the Safeway grocery store (groceries are very expensive here as usual and there is only one Walmart on the island which is by the airport) before arriving at our Airbnb. Because it was very dark when we arrived (~6:30pm) we could only hear the waves crashing in the distance. We were really tired but mustered up a bit of energy for a light meal (Karel made himself a deli meat sandwich and I had yogurt, fruit and granola) before we hitting the bed around 8:30pm. 

It was a long day of travel but it felt so good to finally lay down and get some good sleep. 

As usual, we were up around 3am tossing and turning and eventually Karel got up around 5am and I got up around 5:45am. We started our morning with a cup of coffee (of course, Karel brings his travel espresso machine on every trip whereas I enjoy Nescafe Gold Instant coffee) before spending the next two hours catching up on emails and a bit of work. 

Even though we woke up to rain, we instantly felt that good island energy. 

The adventure continues - hello from Ogden, Utah!

I was in rough shape the day after the IM 70.3 World Championship. I was empty and oh-so-sore. It felt like I had just done an Ironman! Karel was sore but not as exhausted as I was. 

After a somewhat ok night of sleep, we took our time in the morning and did a little work on the computer. By late morning, we made our way to Snow Canyon for a scenic hike. Karel brought his mountain bike to spin his legs while Ashley, Zach and I walked around for ~2 hours. We met up with our athlete Gin and her mom so it was a fun time exploring the trails. Although there wasn't much for Karel to mountain bike on (only one trail which wasn't too technical), he said it was the perfect way to loosen out after the race. In the evening, Alvi, Karel and I went to our community pool to splash around. Karel swam ~1500 yards, I did a few laps (no swim cap, truly a splash) and then spent a little time relaxing my sore muscles in the hot tub. 

On Monday, I was still sore and exhausted but I knew I needed to start moving my body to help expedite the recovery. Since Karel had dropped off his tri bike with Tri Bike Transport after the race, he only had his mountain bike left at the house. Karel went out for a ~90-minute mountain bike ride on the trails behind where we were staying and I went out on my tri bike for an almost 2 hour sightseeing journey on two wheels. I mostly stayed on the bike course and headed from Washington to the Red Hills Parkway but took a few detours to check out the big houses higher up off the course. I finished the ride feeling so much better than when I started and decided to shake out the legs with an easy ~22 min jog around our Airbnb complex. My quads were still super sore and tender but with each step I found myself loosening out a bit. On Tuesday, our check-out of the Airbnb day, we went for a morning swim at the pool (3300 yards) which felt good to be non weight bearing and move through the water. I actually started to feel a little better during the swim than when I started - always a good sign that recovery is going well. 

After we checked out of our rental place and exchanged our rental truck for an SUV, we made our way 4.5 hours north to Ogden, Utah. The next adventure of our Utah trip!

Soon after Karel participated in his first Xterra off-road triathlon event back in May (and before breaking his hand), he registered for the Xterra USA Championship in Ogden/Snow Basin, Utah. With the event happening a week after the IM 70.3 World Championship, it was the perfect excuse to extend our stay in Utah by another week. Of course, logistically, this required me to be super creative with our travel arrangements - two one-way flights, two rental cars, two Airbnbs and a lot of other research to ensure a smooth and stress-free race-cation. Luckily, so far, it's all working out. 

And here we are in Huntsville, Utah near Ogden and Snow Basin. Altitude just around 5,000 feet. We are staying by Pineview Reservoir in a cute ski-resort type villa community. We didn't find out until a few weeks ago that the Xterra swim portion of the triathlon was cancelled due to bacteria in the lake but I decided to keep our rental as the location is still central to Snow Basin Ski Resort - where the duathlon will take place (2.5-mile trail run/19-mile MTB/5.5-mile trail run). 

After unloading our car and catching up on a few emails, we each went for a short jog to stretch out the legs. We ended up jogging around the nearby campsite which had a beautiful view of the Reservoir. We then made a late-evening drive to the local grocery store for a few more grocery items. After dinner, we were ready to get a good night of sleep and sleep in. 

Well so much for sleeping in. I guess we were both excited to start the day just before 7am. And it was Karel's 45th birthday!! After working on the computer for a few hours, we drove up to Snow Basin (~8 mile drive, ~6300 feet altitude) to check out the trails. It was a cool morning in the upper 50's but it warmed up nicely throughout the day. There was no cost to access the trails at Snow Basin and the Xterra crew had already started marking the course with blue arrows for the bike course. Karel biked almost the entire course (just short by a mile) and it took him ~2 hours to cover the 19 miles. The course either goes up or down and there are many technical sections with rocks and tight switch backs.

While Karel was riding the course, I ran the first part of his bike course which is also the big loop (and 2nd part) of the 21K Xterra Trail Race that I will be participating in on Sunday. My legs are still sore and I can really feel them when I walk upstairs but oddly, when I run I feel ok - certainly I am not able to run hard or fast but I can quickly put one foot in front of the other and call it running ;) I really enjoy trail running as I feel it suits my style of running and I just love being in nature. Like the bike course, I went up and up to almost 7300 feet (starting at 6300) and then made my way back down the other side (although the highest peak is 9300 feet so there may be more to climb there!). A hiker told me there were moose ahead off the trail but sadly I didn't see any. Karel was also on the lookout as he heard the same thing. I walked a few sections that were super steep so that I wouldn't overstress my calves. I had a lot of fun and just took my time when there was a scenic view to enjoy. I ran for 80 minutes and covered 8-miles of the course. I waited for Karel to finish and then he went for a short run just to check out the mile that he didn't see on the bike. This course is going to be crazy difficult but also absolutely stunning. We are both excited for our adventures this weekend!

Today (Thursday) we started out our morning somewhat early by driving to Ogden High School for a morning swim. The high school pool was so nice and for only $3, it was the perfect way to start our day. Karel swam 3000 yards and I swam 4000 yards. We aren't feeling any effects at altitude and overall, I'd say we are feeling relatively healthy after Worlds. We then made a necessary stop at Kneaders bakery for a fresh baguette and a delish cinnamon-roll type bread. 

The scenery is just beautiful around this area and I couldn't wait to get on my bike in the afternoon. I ventured out alone and rode around the reservoir (~15 miles) which was incredibly scenic with the fall colors on the leaves of the trees and the rocks on the mountains. And so much farm life - something I was really missing in St. George. There was even a nice paved path to ride on on the far side of the lake. I then challenged myself by riding 7 miles up to Snow Basin. While the climb wasn't technical or overly difficult, it was more of the descend that kinda scared me as it was a fast, steep, straight descend for over 4 miles. And I was also worried about the wind. But I did it and I am proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone. Karel left to drive to Snow Basin for his mountain bike ride on the trail around the same time as me and ironically, we both arrived home at the very same time! I rode 30 miles in just under 2 hours (~15 mph) and covered ~2300 feet of elevation gain. 

We are really looking forward to the weekend! Here are some pics of the past few days in Ogden, Utah.....

Karel heading out to check out the Xterra bike course.

At the top! 

My view from the trail. That parking lot waaaay in the distance is where we started.

Technical section at the top. 

More rocks at the top.

Beautiful valley on the run course.

Karel finishing his short run after the bike.

Happy 45th Karel (Wednesday). Thank you Claire for the Birthday cupcakes. Never too much chocolate for Karel. 

Ogden High School swimming pool. Great aquatic complex!

Kneaders Bakery. YUM!

Views in Ogden (we are staying in Huntsville, about 20-min away). 

Exploring around the reservoir in Huntsville.

Biking up to Snow Basin. Up and Up for 7-miles. 

Thanks for following along! 
If you'd like to track Karel at the Xterra race on Saturday:

 💥  Photos and videos on the Xterra Facebook page.
 💥 Link to live results: HERE. 
 💥 Final Results from all races will be loaded HERE.

Travel Day to St. George, Utah

 

Our travel day started early as we woke up at 4:10am and left for the Greenville airport at 4:45am. It was incredibly hard to say good-bye to our furry feline crew (Campy is with my mom) but we know they will be in great loving hands while we are away. 

The check-in process was pretty smooth and we were at our gate around 5:50am for our 6:35am flight to Atlanta. 

A bit of a back story on our trip....

Booking this trip was a bit of a logistical puzzle as we are not just traveling to St. George for the IM 70.3 World Championship but we are also spending time in Salt Lake City, Utah (Ogden - Snow Basin) the week after because Karel will be participating in the Xterra USA Championship. After working through all different types of flying scenarios/options, the most affordable (and stress-free) option was to book two one-way tickets on Delta. Our first trip was GSP to ATL to Salt Lake City to St. George. Then on the way home, we go Salt Lake City to ATL to GSP. 

I also had to book two different rental cars (one for while we are in St. George and one to pick up in St. George and to return in Salt Lake City). I also booked two Airbnb's. Karel used Tri Bike Transport for his tri bike (dropped off in Charlotte the week before we left) so that he doesn't have to bring two bikes with him for the entire trip. Instead, he flew with his mountain bike. 

I do enjoy booking our trips and all the logistics that come with our race-cations but this trip is sure to be the most logistically difficult trip I've ever had to book....but it'll all be worth it! Because I booked a one-way to St. George, the price difference for First Class vs. Economy was not that much so I treated us to a bit of an upgrade.....and wow, it was a treat to be able to lay down in our pods for our 3.5 hour trip. We were soaking up every minute of it - we didn't even care that we sat on the tarmac for over 30 minutes waiting to lift off. We both watched one movie and Karel started a second movie while I took a needed nap. 

We arrived in Salt Lake City and waited about an hour to board our last flight. There were some delays for our tiny aircraft to take off but after waiting almost an hour, we finally left Salt Lake City and in less than an hour we arrived in St. George. 

Overall, everything went smoothly and most importantly, all of our luggage arrived in St. George - including our bikes! This is my third time traveling to St. George for a triathlon (4th for Karel) but we usually fly into Las Vegas. Although the 2-hour drive from Vegas to St. George is incredibly beautiful (well the last hour), the flight from Salt Lake City to St. George was spectacular. 

When we arrived to St. George, we had a short walk to the luggage and rental car area. I was expecting some issues with our rental car as all of the cars are sold out in St. George (and very expensive). I reserved a minivan but we ended up with a truck. Oh well, at least we had something for us, our luggage and our house mates Joe, Ashley and Zach. 

It was nearing 4pm when we left the airport and we decided to make a stop at the grocery store (Harmon's) in route to our Airbnb in Washington, Utah. Harmon's is a bit expensive (kinda like Whole Foods) but they have a wide variety of items - and it was the closest grocery on our way to the Airbnb. We loaded up on essentials and then made the rest of the drive to our Airbnb. 

I specifically selected our Airbnb at Sienna Hills in Washington, Utah for a few reasons. First off, because it was central to both the race venue downtown and Sand Hallow State Park (Swim/T1/Bike start) and easy to get on and off the interstate. We can also safely bike from our place to the bike course (we are right on the bike course). There are also several running paths/trails for us to run on from our community. Lastly, and most importantly, the community has a lap pool. I figured with 4000 athletes in town for the race, swimming pools would be crowded and I wanted a place to swim without any hassle. Our athlete Kaley met us at our place (she stayed with us just one night until her Airbnb was ready on Tuesday) and we were anxious to get in the water (we both looooove to swim). 

After a long day of traveling, it was nearing 6:30pm when we got to the pool (which was 8:30pm EST). Exhausted and tired, it felt so good to be weightless and to move some blood. The water was warm but the salt water provided a relaxing feeling as we swam for ~1600 yards. Karel did his own thing and Kaley and I did a few different sets - kinda making stuff up as we went along. It felt a bit like swimming at altitude at first as we were both pretty tired but the swim felt good and it was nice to move the body. 

After the swim we ate a bit more, Karel assembled the bikes and then nearing 9:30pm local time (11:30pm EST) it was time for bed. Unfortunately, our Airbnb Air Conditioner broke and we didn't realize it while we were out swimming so we had a very uncomfortable night of sleep as it was ~80 degrees in our Airbnb. Thankfully, the AC is now fixed and we can cool off from the 90+ degree desert heat outside. 

Overall I am feeling much better after struggling with Covid sickness from the 1st-3rd. It's been almost 2 weeks since I first experienced my worst symptoms and my coughing has mostly gone away (just a little to clear my throat), my sinuses are much better and my taste/smell is slowly coming back. I'm still tired but that could also be due to taper and everything else going on right now. Thankfully, I feel like my health is in a good place that I can race on Saturday and give it me best effort on what will be an extremely challenging course.