Ironman Austria - one more sleep

It's hard to believe that it was almost 10 years ago when I was packing my transition bags for my very first Ironman.
Now 10 years and 10 Ironman triathlon events later, I have the privilege of racing for 140.6 miles with my body for the 11th time in Klagenfurt, Austria.

I've always felt that the Ironman distance was a good distance for me. Over the years, I have enjoyed the mental and physical challenge of training for and racing long distance triathlon events.

There have been a lot of high moments, PR's, Kona qualifications (4 of them) and great memories but I've also had my share of low moments with setbacks, struggles and injuries.
When I overcome those low moments, I always gain more of an appreciation for what I can do with my body as a triathlete.

Although I feel honored that I have the fitness to be competitive and to "race" (not just participate) for 140.6 miles, I never take the distance for granted. I respect the long day that I have in front of me and I can not thank my body enough for letting me push hard for 10+ hours.

Thank you for the continued support, safe wishes and good mechanical luck.

For tracking:
Ironman Austria
Marni - Bib number 672
Karel - Bib number 342

Swim gear

Bike gear

Run gear


Special needs

Escorting my mom to her volunteer duties at Registration. 

We'd like to send a big thank you to Triasport for special ordering me a new right side brake lever from Germany on Wednesday, overnighting it for it to arrive on Thursday AND for giving us a great euro discount.

Sadly, my basebar Di2 shifting stopped working in route to Europe (cause unknown). But all is good now!

Also, I realize I could have still raced just fine with my right side aero bar electronic shifting but to make me feel more comfortable, I'm incredible grateful and thankful to the best bike mechanic in the world (seriously, he's that good) who also happens to be my husband for going out of his way to find the part, order the part and then install the part. I'm also grateful that Karel is a perfectionist and very patient.

I played bike stand as Karel installed a new brake lever and rerouted all the cables. This was not an easy job so I'm thinking I'll need to make Karel extra proud on Sunday by riding extra fast and using my gears a lot....and getting him a few Czech beers nd get him a few Czech be 

Walking in Europapark to the pre-race athlete welcome banquet. 

Athlete pre-race banquet

Ironman Austria swim and run course preview (in pics)

The Ironman Austria swim course is an easy-to-navigate course thanks to the simplicity of the layout of the course and to the clear blue waters of Lake Worthersee. The only downside is that the sun will be in our face after the 2nd turn buoy. Karel and I have swam in the lake twice, with once being at a similar time as what we will experience on race day. We specifically wanted to see if we could find a landmark(yellow house and trees) instead of looking for buoys to help us navigate our way into the canal in the direct sun. Although, we have a 90-100% chance of rain and thunderstorms on race day so who knows what the sun will look like on race morning.

In 2014, we had a mass swim start at Ironman Austria - if you look at the swim picture, you can see three red docks - I started after the furthest dock away from the swim course and happened to swim my fastest swim time to date - 1 hour and 10 seconds. This year, we will be starting with a rolling start, which I absolutely love because you are able to swim with athletes of a similar swim ability. We I am not sure where on the course (between which docks) we will line-up based on predicted swim times but every 5 seconds, 10 athletes will enter the water. This should take about 20 minutes for the entire field to cross the swim start line. I plan to start with the 55-59 swimmers in hopes of finally breaking that 1 hour swim time that I have been chasing for the past 10 Ironmans. 

The water is clean, fresh and cool. I can't think of a better place for open water swimming as Lake Worthersee is like a big pool with great mountain views. 

Loving my fast Xterra Vengeance full wetsuit!

As for the distances on the swim course, we swim 1230 meters to the first turn buoy (buoys on our left), make a left turn, then swim 470 meters to the next turn buoy and make another left. Then we swim 1100 meters to enter the canal and then 1000 meters in the canal, which spans about 20 meters wide. 

Although the lake is clear and fresh, the canal is an entirely different open water swimming experience. Perhaps it's nothing out of the norm for a "normal" lake but there's nothing normal about swimming in Lake Worthersee.

Above is a pic of the canal on a normal day.
Here's a pic of the canal on Ironman race day.  



Although the canal continues on toward downtown Klagenfurt, we exit the water behind the Hotel Seepark. We have a very long run to the transition area and based on years past, you are not allowed to remove your wetsuit until you enter the changing tents in the transition area.



As for the run course, I just love this course. Two loops, lots of changes in terrain (sand, trail, cobblestones) and a few "bumps" on this flat course to wake-up my climbing legs. 

The run starts through Europa Park which is lined with spectators. We then make our way toward the lake and head on a sandy trail (which then turns into a paved bike/run trail/path) to take us to the town of Krumpendorf. The run course includes a lot of turns which makes things exciting as there are only two stretches of road which require us to run for more than a mile without a turn. On race day, there will be fans everyone and many of them enjoying a cold beer while cheering us on. The aid stations are located every 2-2.5 K which is about every 1.2-1.5 miles. 

This course is super spectator friendly as we pass through the same place (near Europapark) 4 times. Well, 5 if you include the last pass through as we make our way to the finish line. 

The 2nd long straight section that I mentioned is along the canal as we head to the town center of downtown Klagenfurt. We have a good 2 miles on this road with only 2-3 "bumps". Overall, it is mostly all flat. 

We go through a tunnel which is nice if the sun is shinning. Based on the predicted weather, this tunnel should keep the rain off our backs for a few seconds. 

We then enter the beautiful town center which will be packed with fans - who will likely be dining outside and cheering us on. I remember in 2014, there were crowds of people but all I could think about was the yummy smells of food!

While I can see how this downtown section may throw people off due to the constant change in terrain (cobblestones) and a lot of running up and down curbs, through building, etc. I absolutely love this section and can't wait to run here on race day - twice!

We run around the 16th century dragon fountain around mile 10 and then around mile 22. 

After exiting the town center for the 2nd time, we have one last run back to the lake before making our way to the finish line (left turn by the water). It's a long straight away to the finishing chute and finally, we can make one last left hand turn to enjoy the party at the finish line.


(2013 Ironman Austria finish line)

Can't wait to cross this line on Sunday!
Although this will be my 11th Ironman, every Ironman start is worth celebrating.
The finish is just the reward for a body that stayed healthy enough to train and race for 140.6 miles.

IM Austria bike preview (in pics)

It's hard to describe this course in words so I thought I'd use pictures to show you what you get to see in 112 miles on the Ironman Austria bike course.

When leaving Klagenfurt, there is a quick out and back section when leaving the transition area and then we head to Maria Worth, which is in route to Velden.
As you can see in the bike course map picture, the first part of the course is filled with water views. And not just any water views - the fresh and clean, aqua blue waters of Lake Wörthersee (also our swim course). 
There are a few rolling sections but the course starts out fast. There is also a nice view of the Pyramidenkogel (highly recommend to visit if you are in the area) which is on a 2,703 foot high foot mountain in Carinthia, Austria. 

After passing through Velden, we approach a round about and then head straight for several miles, with longer rollers (climbs and descends) and our first real views of the alps.
The course remains fast until we approach our first climb near Faaker See, just after 30K in the bike course. 

It's really neat to pass through so many small towns, which will be filled with fans on race day. 

There are two climbs in our first loop with the first climb is not so significant and the next climb is steady, and the first time where your overall pace really slows down. But, this course is filled with long descends so if you can pace the climbs (3 major climbs) appropriately, you can gain a lot on the downhills. 

Although the next 15K can be a little frustrating as the wind can be at your face as you ride on a wide open road with the alps on your right, followed by a section on a small road packed between houses and farms (hello cows!), the views are breathtaking. This is actually one of my favorite parts of the course.
Overall, the road conditions are great with just a few sections of bumpy roads (mostly patched).

Around 50K into the bike, we finish our loop section and then head back to Rosegg to make a right at the round about, up a short steep hill and then to start our next big loop, before repeating the course one more time.
I just love all the bike and walking paths along the course and I can't wait until race day as the course will be filled with fans, especially on the big climbs. Not every IM race course has a DJ on the course (Riebnig climb). 

While there are few technical sections in terms of descending (they are mostly long descends where you wind gradually either right or left and do not have to break), it's the passing through the towns which is fun but you also have to be alert as the roads are tight. 

The course is just beautiful (did I say that already?) and I love how the alps are always in sight. 

Above is a picture of the big climb nearing 70K which is long. Of course, on race day there will be a DJ and about 4-5 deep of fans so it will be a lot of fun. Plus, guess who loves climbing - ME!

This is one of those climbs where you can't see the top and it keeps on going. There is a false flat section in the middle and then it keeps going up. But what goes up, must come down...and boy, is it a fun downhill! There is one left hand turn on the bottom of a descend but other than that, the next 10K is fun. 

Karel and I had no trouble staying on course (minus one turn that is not marked) as the course is permanently marked with Ironman M-dots and signs.  

The last section is fast - although there is one technical area through a town but for a good 10K, you are gradually going back down into town. You can either gain time (free speed) or lose time depending on bike handling skills so I hope mine have improved enough for me to ride confidently on the back half of each loop.
Before the descend, there are a few areas that are filled with tall trees, almost like a Lake Placid type feel. This course has a little of everything for the nature lovers.

In total, we have about 5500 feet of climbing but IM Austria still remains one of the fastest IM bike courses.

Well, there you have it - the IM Austria bike course in pictures. 

Here are some of the pictures that Karel took of me as he patiently waited for me as we were previewing 1-loop of the bike course yesterday morning. 

European Race-Cation

It's been a busy last few days but we are finally settled into our rental home in Klagenfurt, Austria. And in case you didn't know - we are in Europe!

(I apologize now for any typo's or sentences that do not make sense. As you will read - I am still a little sleep deprived but slowly adjusting!)

We started planning our European Race-Cation last June after Karel and I registered for Ironman Austria. We had such an amazing experience in 2014 when we raced our first international Ironman together and seeing that we combined it with visiting Karel's family in Czech, we couldn't wait to do it all over again. 

But this time we brought my mom to share this race-cation with us! 

On Saturday afternoon we rented a mini van (although it turned out to be a passenger van - thanks Karel for driving!) for all our luggage and bikes and on Sunday morning, we headed down to Atlanta.

On Saturday evening, I had a little scare as I called Delta/KLM for the third time in the past 3 months to remind them once again that we would be traveling with our bikes and that I would need a vegetarian (lacto-ovo) meal for our flight. When the Delta agent on the phone told me that they needed 48 hours notice for our bikes and that they didn't have any record that we were flying with our bikes (according to KLM - our 2nd flight from the Amsterdam to Vienna) and we wouldn't be able to fly with our bikes. Say what??!! I nearly had a breakdown as we were driving to Atlanta at 9:30am on Sunday and I had called Delta twice letting them know about our bikes.
Finally, around 9pm on Sat evening I received a call from Delta that we were ok to fly with our bikes. My heart nearly stopped for a few hours but even with the good news that we were good to go with our bikes, I still had trouble sleeping. 

After our 2.5 hour drive and a bit of stress with all the things that we had to do before sitting on the air plane, we finally arrived at our gate around 1:30pm for our 3:10pm flight to Amsterdam. We prefer to minimize the layovers when we fly with our bikes and many times, it's cheaper to fly from ATL and to either rent a car or do off-site parking. 

We grabbed a late lunch (salad with tofu pictured below and a mozzarella and veggie sandwich - not pictured) and by 2:30pm we were boarding our plane.
The check-in with our bikes was smooth and we just love our new Scicon bike bags. Seeing that Karel is always the one to pack and assemble our bikes, he found it super easy to use and all he had to do was remove the wheels - yes, that easy! The bag came with a lot of accessories for keeping the bike secure and padded in the soft case. The case is extremely easy to move around which is nice when you have a lot of luggage. We typically go to the hourly parking when we check-in with our bikes as we can just bring in our checked bags and bikes and then go park and head straight to security. It makes for a less rushed experience. 

Karel was super excited to see his family for the firs time in 2 years. 

The flight was uneventful but relaxing. I can't remember the last time I had 8 hours to just watch movies/TV - I enjoyed every minute of it. Karel and I both prefer aisle seats but this time around there were no two aisles open for us to sit next to each other so Karel sat in front of me (to the right) and my mom and I sat in the middle row of seats.

I have to say that my lacto-ovo vegetarian meal was delicious. I had cooked kale and carrots with a black bean patty, along with a salad, fruit, a roll and cheese. It was not salty or heavy/greasy so it felt nice in my tummy. 

Seeing that we left ATL at 3:10pm, we arrive in Amsterdam around 5:45am (or 11:45pm EST). I had yet to sleep which not a good thing because by the time we headed to Vienna, I had gone over 24 hours without sleeping. We were served a light breakfast before landing in Amsterdam and once again, I enjoyed my vegetarian breakfast of orange juice, a banana and a tofu and tomato sandwich. 

We have traveled through Amsterdam twice before in route to Prague but never have we flown into Vienna, like we were this time around. 

Thankfully, I was able to take a short 1 hour nap on our 1:25 hr flight to Vienna but I knew my body was not happy being so sleep deprived. 

We had our last stressful moment as we were waiting for our bikes to arrive and thankfully, there they were! Yay!! (fellow triathletes/cyclists know this feeling)

Karel had one of his friends from Znjomo pick us up at the airport and sadly, it was rainy outside so we couldn't enjoy the ~80 min drive to Karel's hometown. 

Finally - reunited with his mom! 

Of course, as soon as we arrived, Karel's mom was ready to serve us lunch (their biggest meal of the day) and we were ready for her delicious home cooking.

We started with the traditional soup before the entree and this time I had vegetable soup with homemade noodles and Karel and my mom has the same soup but with beef broth. 

And for lunch, asparagus sauce with dill, an egg (beef for Karel and my mom), a dumpling and boiled potatoes. Oh so good! 

And of course, there's always something more in Karel's mom's kitchen - homemade apricot bars with fresh apricots from the garden. I must say, I love the treats in Czech because they are not overly sweet or salty - a big difference from the treats in America. 

After resting at Karel's mom's, we then walked over to Karel's dad's flat so that Karel could catch up with his dad. Neither of Karel's parents speak Czech so Karel is our translator. I often feel bad for Karel because it is a lot of work to translate and sometimes his brain forgets to switch (he will speak to his parents in English and to us in Czech).

Of course, no visit is complete without some treats. 

After visiting with Karel's family, we took my mom to her hotel/penzion where she would stay for the night (I joined her) - super cute. I absolutely love Karel's hometown as there is so much charm, history and beauty. Although this is my third time here in the past 4 years, I still get excited when I walk through his historic downtown. 

We had a light dinner (which we picked up some of it at the grocery and then Karel's mom made a meat and cheese platter) of couscous, asparagus, fresh bread and cheese. 

And one of Karel's favorites - rice and apricot cake (it's not sweet like cake so think non-sweet rice pudding). 

And she keeps on baking!
Homemade oatmeal, raisins and dried fruit cookies and gingerbread cookies (once again - the cookies are not sweet - just perfect. Honestly, it's hard not to feel great when you eat them - especially since they are prepared with lots of love). 

It was an eventful night on Monday as our hotel was filled with kids who were being super noisy all throughout the night. I was so exhausted and tired and tossed and turned in bed for hours until finally, around 3:30am I kinda fell asleep for a few hours. Needless to say, my mom and I didn't sleep as well as Karel (at his mom's flat) who slept 12 hours! Oh the fun of traveling internationally.



Karel and I had plans to run in the morning (Tuesday) to wake-up the legs but with him sleeping until almost 10am and me not sleeping, a workout was not in the picture.

So we ate instead :)
Fresh bread from the grocery and the most amazingly tasteful scrambled eggs (seriously, the eggs in Czech are amazing!)

After packing up our rental van, we made a stop at the local grocery in Znojmo (the food is much less expensive in Znojmo, Czech Republic compared to Klagenfurt, Austria) and around 3pm, we finally hit the road for our 4.5 hour drive to Klagenfurt.
Did you see our passenger van that we took to the ATL airport? Well, this one is even bigger...and a stick shift. Thankfully, Karel can navigate that big fan through the tiny streets of Europe :) 

The last time Karel and I drove to Klagenfurt, it was cloudy and rainy. This time, it was beautiful and sunny so we watched the mountains grow until they finally turned into the Alps. 

Now you may be wondering why I am so excited to be at McDonald's. Well, when was the last time your McDonald's looked like this??? (see below)

Fresh pastries? 

Fresh muffins? 

Fresh croissants? 

Fresh smoothies?

Yep - this is McCafe - not your normal fast food stop on the road!

If you didn't know, you have to pay to use the restroom at many places but here, we got a voucher to buy more coffee at McCafe. 

Fancy bathroom! 

Yum! 

This will be the ONLY time you will see Karel smiling over McDonald's coffee.
Mr. Czech here is very picky with his coffee!

Here are some of our pics in route to Klagenfurt. 

We finally made it to our airbnb in downtown Klagenfurt (right near the town center and only 2 miles from EuropaPark - race venue) around 7:45pm to check-in to our 2 bedroom flat.

After a late dinner and some unpacking, we finally went to bed around 10:30pm. Although I am still adjusting to the time zone, I think I fell asleep around 11:30pm and had a good 6 hours of sleep (the days are long here - the sun goes down after 10pm and then rises around before 5am) - slowly, I am finally getting on a sleep schedule and hopefully will feel more rested by race day on Sunday. 

I'll do my best to keep you updated with our travels via my blog when I have WiFi in our flat but for quicker updates, you can visit the Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition Facebook Page (and Instagram - @trimarni where I am sharing our daily pics of our adventures.

Your Ideal Recovery Meal

Are you under the impression that protein powder is the only way to recover after a workout?
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Athletes who train consistently hard on consecutive days are the ones who are able to get stronger and perform better in races. The key to this isn't just a loud alarm clock or superhuman willpower, however, it's recovering quickly from training so you can train hard, day in and day out. Nailing your post-workout nutrition promotes quick recovery, reduces muscle soreness, builds muscle, improves immune system functioning, and replenishes glycogen—all key building blocks in setting you up for tomorrow's session.

When we consume meals or snacks as soon as possible post workout (ex. within 30 minutes), our muscles become primed to accept key nutrients that can replenish glycogen and encourage protein synthesis. As a reminder, recovery includes everything that happens between two workouts which theoretically means that your recovery nutrition "window" is open all day.

Together, carbohydrates, protein, and fats are essential to maximize recovery, and thus, training. When athletes load up only on protein or carbohydrates—two of the usual suspects in most recovery meals—athletes will likely fall short of meeting dietary fat needs, which play an understated but important role in overall health, as well as promoting feelings of fullness.

The day to day foundation of an athlete's diet should be made up of real foods—wholesome by nature and rich in a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Whereas the purpose of recovery nutrition is to help an athlete refuel, rehydrate, and repair (and eventually build), athletes often fall short on recovery nutrition due to a rushed lifestyle, poor planning, loss of an appetite, or the tendency to reward or restrict food (for a variety of reasons). Coupled with a body that is mentally and physically exhausted, it's not a shock that athletes find it easier to make time to train, but not to plan healthy recovery meals.

Although recovery nutrition has evolved into a precise and complicated science, taking into consideration age, gender, environmental factors, fitness level, workout intensity and duration, endurance athletes should recognize that a real world setting may not allow you to eat perfectly after every workout. Thankfully for us, recovery nutrition is quite simple. 

Check out my latest Ironman article with a detailed 4-step guide to building the perfect post-workout recovery snack or meal.
Proper recovery nutrition is at your fingertips.

CLICK HERE to read the article. 

And in case you missed it:
Learn more about: Explore Cuisine Gluten-free pastas

And check out these recipes: Explore Cuisine recipes

Clif Bar Nut Butter Filled Bars - YUM!

In case you missed the breaking news, this isn't too good to be true.

Clif Bar has added a new organic energy bar to their line of products and yes, it's filled with a variety of nut butters.

Can we all yum together now?
YUMMMMMMM

Back in March, Clif Bar sent me a box with all four flavors (peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter, chocolate hazelnut butter and coconut almond butter). Each bar was wrapped in white paper with no ingredients listed as they were in the intro phase of making these bars (all pictures below are from my box received in March).

Clif Bar did not ask me to write a blog post (this isn't a paid sponsored post) but instead, they sent me the bars to try for some feedback. This isn't the first time they have sent me a new product or flavor.

This happened a few months before the launch of the bars (which are available now) so that is why I am just now writing about them as I wanted to see and learn about the product (on the website) before posting and sharing.
I'm very selective about what I share with you, my readers.

You'll notice that the picture above only has three bars in the box and that is because I ate the chocolate hazelnut butter bar before I took the picture. My tummy couldn't wait to try it!

Although I am now a Clif Bar ambassador, I actually fell in love with the company before incorporating their products into my active lifestyle. Although Clif Bar has been around for a very long time, it wasn't until I was invited to attend an RD Summit at the Clif Bar Headquarters in 2014 that I learned about the company - and that is what made me fall in love with the Clif Bar company.

"At Clif Bar & Company, we are a private, family and employee-owned company guided by five “bottom lines” or what we call our Five Aspirations: Sustaining our Business, Brands, People, Community and the Planet. These aspirations help us consider decisions from multiple perspectives that we value, and we choose the word “aspiration” in recognition that we’re on a journey and can always do more in each of these areas."

Not to mention that the employees get paid to race an event of their choice each year, paid to workout (having a well-equipped gym at the headquarters helps!), they are encouraged to walk or bike to work, they get paid to volunteer and you can bring your dog to work.

There's an in-house chef preparing healthy and nutritious farm-to-table like meals for the employees and there are RD's overseeing the product development.

So back to these delicious nut butter bars.

Seeing that this is the first of it's kind on the market to stuff a bar with nut butter, I think you will immediately find that the nut butter bar, compared to the original bar, is less sweet. This can be a major turn-on for athletes who primarily use sport drinks when training (or racing) on the bike but need to offset the constant sweetness of a drink with a more savory solid food option to nibble on throughout a ride. 

The bar is compact so this is what I call "energy dense." At 230 calories per bar, this isn't a bar that's going to leave you stuffed (which is a good thing for an active individual). Each bite will likely give you around 50-60 calories which is helpful for the athlete who needs a little substance in the gut when working out for long hours (particularly at low intensities).

This bar makes for an energy dense snack if you struggle to get in "enough" calories on your long workout days (especially if you are prone to losing your appetite but know you need the calories post workout). This also makes for a healthy option for a balanced snack when you just can't access real food (ex. traveling) in the 24-48 hours before a long workout or race.

Compared to the original Clif Bar, there is more fat but less protein, carbs and sugars. Because of this, I find this a more suitable balanced pre-workout snack if you just need something in your belly before a workout that will give you sustainable energy without causing GI issues.

Although I have provided some examples as to how to incorporate these nut butter filled bars into your active lifestyle, this is not a post asking you to stop eating real food. PLEASE (continue to) emphasize a real food diet.

In no way am I asking you to replace a real food option for a sport bar or add in sport bars to your diet just because they taste good. However, for very active individuals, there can be a place for bars as a supplemental form of energy.

There will come a point in an athlete's training regime (particularly for endurance athletes) when a real food diet will no longer give you all the energy that you need to support your workout regime. Not to mention, some real food don't digest the best when working out and we have to select our food options wisely before and after workouts to avoid GI distress. Sometimes the "healthy" foods/drinks consumed around and during workouts are not "healthy" when you consume them when sedentary - and this is why sport nutrition can be fun but also confusing. When you are fueling an active body that seeks performance gains, there are many exceptions to the rules. 

As for the taste, although they are less sweet then the original bars, the inside is creamy and delicious. Your taste buds will be happy as there is no strong aftertaste. Although Clif Bar has never been one for a chemical after taste with their products (like other bars), I think you'll enjoy the simplicity of ingredients found in these bars.

Here's a nutritional comparison of the nut butter filled bars compared to the original bars. 

Nut butter filled

Organic Peanut Butter, Organic Oat Flour, Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Date Paste, Organic Cane Syrup, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Pea Protein, Organic Rice Starch, Organic High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Organic Peanut Flour, Organic Dried Cane Syrup, Organic Rice Flour, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Natural Flavors, Vegetable Glycerin, Organic Peanuts, Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant). ALLERGEN STATEMENT: Contains peanuts. May contain soy, wheat, tree nuts, and traces of milk.

Original Clif Bar

Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Rolled Oats, Soy Protein Isolate, Organic Cane Syrup, Organic Dried Cane Syrup, Rice Flour, Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Oat Fiber, Cocoa, Cocoa Butter, Organic Date Paste, Organic Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, Soy Flour, Sea Salt, Barley Malt Extract, Organic Vanilla Extract, Soy Lecithin. ALLERGEN STATEMENT: CONTAINS SOY. MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF MILK AND WHEAT.

While you may see Clif Bar as a company that makes "sugar-filled candy bars," I don't see it that way.

Clif Bar is passionate about farming and organic food and fueling your adventurous lifestyle.
I'm pretty sure that Clif Bar would be disappointed if you lived a sedentary lifestyle but ate Clif Bar products on a daily basis.

Why?
Because Clif Bar wants you to be active!

Clif Bar doesn't sell weight loss products or a variety of pills claimed to improve health. Clif Bar wants you to eat real food in your daily diet but when you are going for a long hike, riding your bike for long hours, enjoying nature on two feet, going for a long kayak adventure, rock climbing or doing something incredible with your body, they offer a variety of products with organic ingredients (that you can feel good about) with the help of local farmers, to create a healthier and more sustainable food system, that taste good.

Again, I'm not paid to say this but as a sport RD, I feel it is in your interest to know how and why I select the products that I endorse and use and Clif Bar is one of very few other companies that meets my criteria of "healthy" sport nutrition to help fuel an active lifestyle. 

Nail the basics - recovery nutrition

                                                                                                   (picture source)

Most athletes don't nail their recovery nutrition like they can nail a workout.

Whereas the purpose of recovery nutrition is to help an athlete refuel, rehydrate, repair and build, athletes often fall short on recovery nutrition due to a rushed lifestyle, poor planning, loss of an appetite, or the tendency to reward or restrict food.

Coupled with a body that is mentally and physically exhausted after a hard training session, it's no surprise that athletes find it easier to make the time to train than to make the time to plan smart recovery meals and snacks.

Although recovery nutrition appears to have evolved in a precise science (not to mention that everything related to nutrition has become far more complicated than it should be), taking into consideration age, gender, environmental factors, fitness level, workout intensity and duration, endurance athletes should recognize that in a real world setting, you can not eat perfectly per "scientific recommendations" after every workout.

Seeing that many athletes have an all or nothing approach to nutrition ("if I can't be perfect, why bother?"), here are a few simple tips basics on scientific recommendations to help you apply basic recovery nutrition tips to your crazy, busy and stressful life.
Ultimately, when you recover well, you can train more consistently and when you train more consistently, you improve your fitness.

And who doesn't love an improvement in fitness?

HYDRATION

Science: 
For every 1 lb weight loss (pre workout weight minus post workout weight), replace it with 16-20 ounces of fluid.

Nail it tips: -Your total amount of fluid consumption to replace post workout should be spread out throughout several hours, not consumed all at once.

-Be mindful that you are also losing glycogen from the muscles and liver when you train long, which affects post workout weight. Don't overthink the drink - just drink.

-If you are losing more than 4% body weight during a workout or gaining weight post workout, you need speak to a sport RD regarding your sport nutrition fuel and hydration intake during workouts.

-Be aware of the mental and physical signs of dehydration.

-On a daily basis, it's recommended to consume 3.7L for men and 2.7L for women each day for adequate hydration.

-Adding additional sodium (start with ~1/8 tsp salt) to your pre and post workout snack/drink can help with rehydration if you are an excessive sweater, as well as curbing salty cravings that may appear post workout or later in the day. A glass of OJ after a sweaty intense or long workout (with 1/4 tsp of salt) is one of my favorite rehydration beverages.

-Every long workout is an opportunity to understand your hydration needs. Don't wait until race week to guess how much/little you need to drink during your race to perform well. This should have been figured out months in advance and tweaked throughout your peak training.
Consult with a RD if you struggle to understand your hydration needs - a board certified sport dietitian who specializes in your sport can help you out.
-Adding ~1/8-1/4 tsp of salt or 190-380mg sodium (I use pink Himalayan salt) to each 24-28 ounce bottle of sport drink/water may help you retain more fluids of you are a heavy and salty sweater. You may also need to increase your overall fluid intake (not calories) to 28-32 ounces of fluid per hour.
-If you are not a great water drinker, add fresh lemon or lime to your drinks, opt for seltzer or mineral water or add a splash of juice to your water. 

CARBS

Science: 
It can take up to 24 hours or more to completely restock muscle glycogen stores after an intense or long workout.

-Aim for 1-1.2 g/kg of carbs, every 90 minutes in the 4-5 hours following a workout.

Nail it tips:
-If you are working out for 1-2.5 hours (ex. typical "weekly" workout), it's best to consume a recovery meal with protein and carbs (and some fat) within 60ish minutes post workout. Although some exceptions will apply that a recovery snack then meal is encouraged, most athletes can go right for a meal post workout.

-Understand the best foods that will digest the best after your workout when you do the following workouts: intense workout, long workout, early morning workout, late evening workout, mid day or lunch time workout, EZ workout. 

-If you are recovering from a 2.5+ hour long workout (ex. typical "weekend" workout), the next few hours post workout are key for optimizing recovery. Carb and protein intake are critical for recovery and repair.

-Avoid being the one meal a day post workout type of athlete (ex. minimal food post workout and then one big meal in the evening or the opposite, one huge meal post workout and then no appetite the rest of the day). Frequent meals, low in fiber and fat, along with mini meals/snacks are key to recovery without affection digestion.

-If you find yourself with no or little appetite post workout, opt for foods that will sit well like a glass of OJ, a handful of granola, rice, applesauce or fruit for carbohydrates. 

PROTEIN

Science: -Dietary protein ingestion immediately post workout can assist in the skeletal muscle adaptive response to training. Regardless of the workout, your recovery protein can also help meet your daily protein needs.
Many athletes fall short on daily protein intake.  Protein intake should be around 1.3-1.8g/kg/bw a day for athletes and around 25-30g of protein per meal. 

Nail it tips:

-Aim for 25-30g of protein within 30-45 minutes post workout and additional 15-20g protein every 2-3 hours for the next 6 hours (with carbohydrates) to maximize recovery.

-Plan your favorite go-to protein options for immediately post workout as well as for the hours post workout. Be mindful that the heat, the intensity of the workout and your overall appetite (or lack thereof) can affect your ability to tolerate and crave/want protein post workout.

-For a sensitive stomach, choose as soft or liquid as possible. Most athletes will find that liquids will digest easier than solid food, especially in the summer heat after a hot workout. Whey or vegan protein, scrambled eggs (or tofu), yogurt (or a yogurt based drink), milk or cottage cheese (great for salty cravings post workout) are easy go-to options. Always choose your options based on what your body can tolerate the best.

-Be mindful to continue eating protein throughout the 4-5 hours post workout and in your evening meal. 

Nail the basics: 

Be mindful that after a workout, your recovery window is open all day!
That is - everything between two key workout is "recovery".

The best way to nail your recovery nutrition is to plan ahead.

Because most athletes spend more time focusing on the workout itself than on what will assist in helping the body absorb the training stress (ex. sport nutrition and pre and post workout fuel and hydration), I suggest to write down what you will eat in the 2 hours before a workout and in the 4 hours after your long workout.

If you tend to finish your workouts exhausted or starving, it's in your best interest to have your recovery snacks and meals prepared (or easy to prep) ahead of time as you know what happens to your food choices when you don't plan ahead (especially after a long/hard workout).

Here's your get-started recovery nutrition planning guide:

60 minutes post workout: 

Fluid intake: ____________

Carb and protein snack or meal: ______________

1-2 hours post workout: 

Fluid intake: ______________

Carb and protein snack or meal: ______________

2-4 hours post workout: 

Fluid intake: ______________

Carb and protein snack or meal: ______________

Ironman-ready and grateful

With one last weekend of long workouts behind me, I have nothing but thanks to my body for allowing me to successfully train for my 11th Ironman.
It's a really neat feeling to know that my body is fit but also that it has a level of fitness that it has never had before. I'm excited to do something amazing with it on race day at Ironman Austria. 

 

In the past 10 years, I've started every Ironman that I have registered for and on June 26th, I plan to cross my 11th 140.6 mile finish line - at my favorite race venue, in Klagenfurt, Austria.
Talk about a true race-cation!

Looking back at my very first Ironman (IMFL in 2006), I was excited for the new adventure that awaited my body and mind.

Me and my "boyfriend" Karel - we had been dating for 6 months. Cat 1 cyclist who thought this Ironman thing was crazy!
It was a day of all firsts and I was nervously excited to do something that I had never done before - my first longest open water swim, my first longest bike, my first marathon after swimming 1.2 miles and biking 112 miles and my first time racing for anything longer than 5.5 hours.
I was very respectful of the distance and my body and I just loved every minute of race day as I was 24 years old and doing something insane with my body.

However, after that race, I found myself getting a little greedy with my body.
Rather than staying grateful for the opportunity to train and race for this extreme multisport event, I found myself taking my good health for granted. I always felt like I could do more and I constantly tried to do more.

Like many athletes, I became greedy with my fitness and I became overly focused on getting faster and going longer.

While there is nothing wrong with wanting to be faster or going longer, it's the narrow lens that many athletes (including myself at one time) tend to look through which only focuses on metrics, miles achieved and the race day final outcome (finishing time).

From 2006 until May 2012, I raced 5 Ironman triathlons (including 2 Ironman World Championships) But from September 2007-early May 2012, I found myself chronically injured and always feeling like I was rehabbing myself to simply get to the Ironman start line instead of just enjoying the journey of training for the Ironman.

Although I was able to race ok throughout those years, now looking back, I know that I wasn't taking a smart approach with my training - I was too greedy with my fitness.

Since May 2012, I have remained injury free. 

Although I've changed a lot with my training approach, bike fit, running gait, strength training, racing schedule and nutrition (daily and sport), I've become much less greedy with my fitness. 

Sure, I still want to get faster and perform amazingly well on race day because I believe that my body is built to "race" the Ironman distance, I never want to compromise my good health just for a one day athletic performance.

Ironically, with this smarter approach, I have finished 5 Ironman triathlons, have made huge improvements in my overall times and paces and have qualified for the Ironman World Championships twice.

My ability to get stronger, faster and more resilient happened not because I trained more or trained harder (actually, it was the opposite!) but because I stopped being so greedy with my body. 

--------------------------------------

Sure, every athlete wants to be fast, strong and fit on race day as this looks like the perfect equation of a potentially great, race day performance.

But guess what - if you stay healthy, there’s a good chance that you will excel on race day. Why? Because you will be able to do something amazing with the body that you were able to consistently train throughout your training plan.

Be mindful that if you get greedy with your body image and fitness or try to push through an injury, extreme fatigue or pain in training just to check off a workout for validation that you are "ready", you are constantly living on the borderline of what your body can physically handle.

Be respectful of your body at all times when you train for an endurance event (or any event for that matter).

At Trimarni, we don’t believe that a high level of performance should be at the cost of destroying your health and negatively affecting your quality of life.

Remember that you are participating in your sport because it makes you happy and because it makes you a better human being.
Ultimately, your sport improves your well-being and quality of life.

Sadly, we live in a society that obsesses over leanness and speed, at any and all costs and rewards athletes who are tougher than tough and leaner than lean.

If you are always trying to push harder than you should, ignoring signs that you could be injured or eating as little as possible, just enough to get through your workouts, you are putting more stress on your body that it can tolerate.

Take it from me - stop being so greedy with your body.

When's the last time you thanked your body for what it allows you to do in training and in life?

Safe cycling

I didn't grow up as a cyclist - heck, I barely rode my huffy bike with purple tassels when I was a child.
I was born to be a swimmer and have always felt comfortable in the water.

Karel, on the other hand, was born to be on two wheels. He has been riding a bike since he learned to walk. Road, fixie, TT, triathlon, mountain - you name it and Karel will ride it!
Whenever Karel has an off day and he feels tired, I just tell him "go ride your bike" and instantly he feels better.

When I met Karel ten years ago, I was training for my first Ironman. My cycling skills were horrible. I was afraid to clip in and out, afraid to get out of the saddle, afraid to be on my aerobars on busy roads (or around other people), afraid to take turns, climb, descend...yes, pretty much afraid to be on my bike despite me training for a 112 mile bike event.

I was great at riding on a spin bike and ok at riding in a straight line on the road. Anything else and I felt off balance, uncomfortable and certainly not one with my bike.

Thankfully, Karel looked out for me and wanted the best for me. He knew that for a happy marriage and for my safety, I needed to learn how to confidently ride a bike AND have the skills to ride my bike out on the road, in all terrain and weather conditions.

Fast forward to 2016 and 10 Ironmans, dozens of triathlons, bike events and a few bike-specific train-cations in the mountains and I can confidently say that my bike skills have improved A LOT.
He also showed me that my body was built for hard bike courses with a lot of climbing.


10,300 feet at Brainard Lake in Boulder, CO

I owe it all to Karel for constantly taking me out of my comfort zone.

But, as much as I knew I needed to work on my skills, this brought on many tears running down my face while riding my bike with Karel ((and a handful of arguments) where I was just too scared to try something on my bike.
But Karel was not comfortable with me riding my bike in a race, let alone on roads with cars, without proper cycling skills.

 Riding a triathlon or road bike was always very mechanical for me in that I wasn't always quick to react to what to do in certain situations and it would often take me a second to act after thinking. Thanks to living in Greenville where the terrain forces you to react quickly as it is equally challenging as it is beautiful, I now find myself able to ride (so happy) without having to think as much as to what I need to do when I see a stop sign, descend down a steep hill, climb or make a turn.


And if I wasn't on my bike, I would have never met Mr. Llama who LOVES cyclists.
I know I still have a ways to go until I can ride as confidently as Karel can (riding a bike is like walking for him - he doesn't have to think about it, he just does it) but at least I have made a lot of progress and I feel far more safer when I ride my bike out on the road thanks to a huge improvement in my cycling skills. 

As a triathlete and someone who really loves to ride her bike in the mountains, in nature, I know there is a great risk when it comes to sharing the road with cars.

But that's just it - we are cars and bikes, who both share the road.

I've said it over and over again but I feel so lucky that we found and now live in Greenville, SC. We have endless cycling routes in and around the mountains (where we ride 99.9% of the time - straight from our doorstep) and the cars actually share the road with us cyclists. It's not a bad problem to have but I can't tell you how many times we have to signal and wave to a car to pass us because they will slowly stay behind us, patiently letting us ride. If that is any indication of where we ride most of the time, I can confidently say that where we ride, the people don't need to get anywhere fast as we are in the country and life moves a little slower near the mountains.



Sure, we get the occasional honk or rude driver but it's not a common occurrence. To make it more evident as to the safety of our rides, I rarely ride anywhere that has a bike lane OR shoulder. I actually feel more safe riding here in Greenville without a designated bike lane than when I rode on the shoulder in FL.

It's far more common that a car will pass far to the left (often in the other lane if there is a yellow line) than to try to squeeze by us without moving.
Cars don't look act at us as if we don't belong.



We have over 25 miles of the swamp rabbit trail for men, women, boys and girls to ride leisurely, to stay in shape or to work on cycling skills which also provides many Greenvillians the opportunity to learn to ride and to actually ride a bike.
I can't tell you how many bike shops we have in and around Greenville and every week, our downtown becomes more bike friendly.

Greenville wants people on bikes and thanks to the city, the Greenville Spinners and many others who are actively involved in the bike community, people are proactive in making us feel safer on the roads.



While accidents do happen and some roads are just not safe for cyclists (thus the #1 reason why we wanted to move out of Jacksonville, FL), your enjoyment for cycling and your safety on the road can be improved with a few of these tips.

1. Master your cycling skills - While you can improve your fitness on the trainer, a stationary bike trainer does not allow you to identify and master your cycling skills like you can when you are riding in the elements and on all types of terrain. Forget the race wheels, the power meter, and the aero helmet which you feel you "need" to ride faster. Learn how to change your gears properly, sit on the bike properly, stand up and adjust your position, grab your bottles (and rotate your bottles), break quickly, maneuver your bike in tight spaces, react smartly, descend, corner, stop/start on any terrain and ride confidently on your bike. If you ride the trainer a lot or you find yourself uncomfortable outside on two wheels, take the time and practice riding your skills as often as you can by riding outside on safe roads.

2. Fuel and hydrate appropriately - When you are bonking, you can't think or react clearly. You lose all good judgement. Whereas you may not be in danger if you bonk in the pool or when running, it's dangerous to your life if you intentionally or unintentionally underfuel/underhydrate when on two wheels. Always bring more nutrition/fluids than you need and plan your refueling stops before you need to stop.

3. Be comfortable on your bike - This goes beyond the obvious of getting a professional bike fit from a very experienced fitter (especially when fitting you with the "right" saddle type and position). Your helmet, sunglasses, shoes and clothing should be very comfortable. If you don't feel comfortable in your gear, you are not going to be comfortable riding your bike for many miles. Do not try anything new on race day - practice in similar gear in training as in race day and don't assume that deep race wheels will make you faster if you struggle to keep them in a straight line in training.

4. Invest in electronic shifting - I can't say enough good things about electronic shifting. From an economy and safety standpoint, I feel this should be mandatory on all triathlon bikes (aero bars and the base bars) as it allows for more efficient (and often) shifting of the gears no matter the terrain (sitting or standing). This has been the best investment on my bike and I can't imagine riding without electronic shifting.

5. Obey the rules of the road - While we all want drivers to obey the rules of the road, cyclists should do the same.

6. Be remembered - Whenever I ride and I am passed by a car, if I have the opportunity (ex. safe terrain), I give a little wave and a smile. I want every car to remember me as the "nice" cyclist - not the one who stuck out my middle finger, yelled at the car or disobeyed the rules of the road. I want to create a good impression for all cyclists and I am sure I am not alone in this as other cyclists/triathletes in the community do the same.

7. Don't be a hypocrite - It's easy for a cyclist to complain about distracted drivers who are eating in the car, taking a phone while in the car or texting while in the car. But sadly, athletes are guilty of the same things. It's just as easy for a cyclist who drives a car to get just as distracted as a driver who doesn't cycle. How many times have you been driving home famished and exhausted after training and find yourself easily distracted (and a little angry) from being low in energy or taking a phone call or making a "quick" text?
Whenever you are behind two wheels (not on two wheels), be smart when you are driving as it's not just cyclists who are at risk on the road but everyone else who is around you, walking, driving and animals too.

8. Be alert - In the two years since we moved to Greenville, I have never ridden my bike with headphones in my ears. It's important to be alert to your surroundings and plus, riding a bike allows you to be close to nature so open your eyes and ears and enjoy it! You should also be aware of your surroundings, always looking what's slightly in front of you, paying attention to cars, dogs, squirrels, branches, potholes and any other distractions. Plan your routes accordingly to minimize riding in unsafe areas.

9. Keep your bike tuned-up - I can't tell you how many bikes have been in the hands of Karel and he has found something on or inside the bike that could potentially risk a bike accident. A proper tune-up doesn't mean simply cleaning the chain and wiping off the grease, dirt and sweat but making sure the bike is fully rideable at all times (bolts, bearings, wheels, brakes, tires, cleats, pedals, cables, etc.). Your bike should always be in proper riding condition and if not, don't ride outside!

10. Have fun! - It would be a shame if the only time you are allowed to ride a bike outside is when you are a kid and only in the neighborhood with your parents watching. While bike trainers are an effective tool for specific bike training and for riding your bike at any time of the day, no matter the outside weather conditions, riding a bike outside is fun. Keep riding a bike fun. It's easy on the body as it is non-weight bearing and it allows you to see more than you can see in a car or by foot. Riding a bike makes you feel free and it's an activity that I encourage everyone to participate in, no matter your age or fitness level.

11. Be the change you want to see - If you aren't happy with your current cycling community, safety or riding conditions, get involved with your community. While change takes time, there's no point complaining about something that you can possibly do something about. While laws and roads won't change overnight, you deserve to ride your bicycle outside.

In light of the recent cycling tragedy, my very good friend (and athlete) Meredith (a wife, triathlete, cyclists, full-time employee and mom of two young kids), who is extremely actively involved in our cycling community, shared this powerful message on social media and with her permission I would like to share:

" I rode this morning, alone as I do 90% of the time. This is awful, and unfortunate. It could happen to any of us. So do fatal car wrecks, plane crashes, and random cancer diagnoses to those we love. We cannot live in fear. You will do nothing for the sport by hiding in the garage. Yes, the trainer has a place, but there ARE safe roads and 95% of the drivers in our (Greenville) community realize and accept that we are human beings on two wheels and give us that respect when they pass. As I was nearly pinched off the road by a rogue vehicle just this morning, the Michigan crash already heavy on my mind, the car behind the offending car then laid down on its horn and pursued the driver who seemingly pursued me, in what seemed to me a defensive move in my direction, to tell the other driver what he tried to do to me wasn't cool. It shook me up, but I was glad to see another car take up for me, in a way. Then, as I waited for the last green light on my cool down home, a gentleman in a pick up truck pulled up beside me and rolled down his window to say hello, ask me about the weather, and wish me a safe ride. All this, and the friendly hello and waves from multiple fellow cyclists out this morning. I know what was on all our minds. I personally work for this safety in our community, and I won't quit. You also know what they say - the only thing necessary for evil to endure is for good men to do nothing. So in this case, be an exemplary ambassador for cycling, ride when and where it is safe, and be overly friendly and visually appreciative to those cars who respect and protect us. I take in the beauty and enjoyment and the life altering joy a bike brings. Ride on!"


Riding with Meredith this morning and enjoying our peaceful roads with endless mountain views. Thank you to the cars who were so patient and nice to us as we celebrated our good health on two wheels.
Happy times on two wheels! 

Cauliflower, lentil and quinoa dish

Some of my favorite meals are the ones that involve no recipe but a lot of creativity.

Cauliflower is not my most favorite vegetable but I picked one up at the grocery so I could make myself do something yummy with it in the kitchen. I first thought about baking it in the oven but that seemed rather boring as I was feeling a overly creative yesterday.

As I was deciding what to do with this white vegetable, I cooked some lentils (about 1 cup) in water on the stove top.
I then added some quinoa (about 1 cup) to the cooked lentils (with a little more water) because, well, why not?
I seasoned the lentil quinoa mix with a little salt.

Still stuck with the cauliflower, I softened a pack of sliced tempeh in the microwave for 90 seconds and then cooked it on a skillet in a little olive oil until browned on all sides.

In the same large skillet on medium heat, I sauteed chopped onions (about 1/2 large onion) and garlic (2 large clove) because I knew that it would bring out a lot of flower in my soon-to-be-made cauliflower dish.
I decided I would chop up the cauliflower and do something with it...eventually.

Finally, I added the chopped cauliflower to the sauteed onions and garlic, with a little more olive oil and on low heat, I covered the dish for around 20 minutes to let the cauliflower soften. I occasionally stirred the mix and added a little water to help soften the cauliflower.

When the cauliflower was soft, I added a good amount of shredded fresh reggiano cheese and a few pinches of salt and my dish was finally ready to plate.



I love it when I impress myself.
Yum, yum, yum!

When's the last time that you were extra creative in the kitchen?
Don't stress about it - it's just food.
Meals are simply a bunch of ingredients thrown together.

Be brave in the kitchen as there are no rules.

Have fun creating your future yum and be sure to take a picture of your final product before it goes into your body to make your tummy happy!

Getting older

I'd like you to meet Grandpa Joe. This is mom's dad and he is 92 years old. 

He has a fun fact about everything and can remember anything from his lifestyle. 

His stories are very detailed and he is funny and smart.

Grandpa Joe has lived 58 years more than me and his body moves a lot slower than my body.

Grandpa Joe needs time getting ready to go out and he takes a few more steps to help him get in an out of a car. His vision is great but his right ear doesn't hear as well as his left. His cane helps him get around but he does need a little assistance with his balance on stairs. 

For exercise, Grandpa Joe walks and does Tai Chi. He walks around the family room, living room or anywhere where there is room to work his muscles and to get his heart rate up. This is his daily workout routine which he makes himself do every day, 3x's per day. 

Grandpa Joe loves real food. He doesn't have a big appetite as he eats small meals but he eats a lot of fruit, nuts and veggies. He doesn't eat fast food or much processed food. Although since he has spent the last two decades in Reno, NV he has had his share of buffet dinners.
There is no off-limit food in his mind and he likes a good shot of alcohol or a cold beer.
He also likes his morning cup of Joe (go figure) :)

I try really hard to not take my good health and young body for granted but being around Grandpa Joe really reminds me to be smart with my body.

I see this in two ways:

1) I want to do amazing things with my body. I want to climb mountains, be outside, explore nature, travel....I love to move. I feel amazing when I train for and race in a triathlon. I feel so alive, healthy and strong and I am very grateful that my body allows me to what I can do and I want to do this for however long as I can. I have two arms and two legs and I can use them all. I feel great freedom with my body when I train and I don't want to take this good health for granted. Even when I feel tired or unmotivated to train, I still find a way to workout/exercise as I know one day, I may not be able to do what I can do.

2) I respect my body and know that if I push through too much fatigue, try to push through a bad niggle or push aside healthy lifestyle habits just to train, my body will not be happy. If I don't eat well, my body will pay the price - maybe not today but certainly down the road. I realize that every year I am adding another year of life and training to my body. This is more stress to my body. I am constantly aware of my body and the signals it gives me if I need to cut back on intensity or volume, if I need more sleep, if I need more calories or if I need to change something in my training, diet or lifestyle. I never bash my body or speak badly about my body but instead, I am constantly thanking my body for what it allows me to do. I never compare myself to anyone else because I am constantly focused on my body.

Hopefully we can all learn a thing or two from Grandpa Joe as he has lived a very long and healthy life with a lot of great memories.
Not knowing how many years he has left on Earth, he never takes a day for granted.
Every breath, heart beat, muscle contraction and movement is worth celebrating.
Cheers to another great day of life. 

Athlete fueling mistakes

As a board certified sport dietitian who specializes in fueling the endurance athlete, I find it critically important that athletes develop appropriate daily eating and sport nutrition habits to support an extremely active lifestyle. It's important to remember that your extreme exercise routine (which you call training) is also very stressful on your body.

Although we need to stress the body for it to physically adapt, the human body can not tolerate too much stress without adequate fuel, hydration and proper nutrients.

When Triathlete Magazine gave me the topic of "x-fueling mistakes that triathletes make", I struggled not because I couldn't select the mistakes but that I only had 500 words for this article.

With the experience of working with many endurance athletes, I see common fueling mistakes time and time again. However, I find that more mistakes are made due to misinformation and poor planning than by no information.

Clearly, in our society we do not struggle with lack of information on any given topic. Instead, there is information overload on everything which makes figuring out what works best for you, extremely difficult.
Making the investment to work with a professional who specializes in the area of your concerns/struggle is often the best way to truly understand what will work best for you and your body.

To be honest, I find that most endurance athletes develop bad habits overtime throughout a season. One long workout is rewarded with x-food and then x-food becomes desired after every long workout. Or, the athlete starts off with good intentions for proper sport nutrition, meal planning and recovery but overtime, those strategies are forgotten as the athlete gets "too busy".

These bad habits that are developed overtime are due to a variety of reasons but I find that most endurance athletes leave less time for proper meal planning/prep, feel rushed or constantly on the go, are constantly looking for a quick fix (or the cutting edge) and jumping from one approach to another, put too much on the daily plate (feeling exhausted, drained and overwhelmed) and push aside healthy lifestyle habits (or never create) in an effort to just go through the motions in order to check off workouts.

Here are 4 of the common fueling mistakes that I find that athletes make throughout a season. 

I selected these topics not because athletes are uneducated on these topics but instead, because athletes often overlook or don't make the effort to create great daily lifestyle and nutrition habits to take training to the next level.
It's far too common that athletes become very robotic with their lifestyle and training, thus sabotaging their potential to make huge performance gains overtime.
Sadly, I find that many athletes underperform in almost every workout, not because of a lack of passion and dedication for training but because daily and sport nutrition are limiting overall health and/or the ability to improve athletic performance.

Caffeine dependence

Although a universally known stimulant when needing an adrenaline rush, the strategic use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid is not for every athlete. If tolerable, a safe caffeine dosage is ~3-4g/kg, consumed ~60 minutes before activity  - example, a ~4 ounce espresso. Although your morning 1-3 cup coffee routine is perfectly healthy, more is not better.
If you find you “need” caffeine pills or energy drinks to fight fatigue or to get through a workout, you are developing an unhealthy dependence on caffeine which could be masking an underlying issue like underfueling, sleep deprivation, stress or overtraining.   

Poor recovery planning

Recovery strategies are dependent on sport duration and intensity but to perform well over consecutive workouts you must always refuel, rehydrate and repair.  

In your busy real world, don’t let your cravings or busy lifestyle get the best of you after you finish a workout.

Within 60 min after training, consume 0.8-1.2g/kg carbs and 25-30g protein, with 16-20 ounce water, to kick-start recovery.  Muscle glycogen replenishment and tissue repair are enhanced when carbohydrates and protein are consumed together.

Try this ideal snack or meal: 6 ounce 0% Plain Greek yogurt + 1 banana + ½ cup dry oats + 1 tbsp nut butter.

Haphazard fueling strategies 

A precise balance of carbs, fluids and electrolytes are needed to delay the onset of fatigue by sparing liver glycogen, maintaining blood glucose concentrations and offsetting excessive fluid losses from sweating. 

Athletes often over-complicate fueling strategies due to misguided sport nutrition recommendations and lack of understanding of how to properly use gels, bars, foot portables, powders and chews. Whereas too low of an energy intake is detrimental to performance, concentrated carb solutions (or high osmolality) can saturate the intestines as oxidation rates are limited when a single carb source (glucose, sucrose or maltodextrin) is consumed. 

To optimize carb oxidation without causing GI distress, consume 30-60 grams of carbs per hour, in frequent dosages every 10-15 minutes. To experiment if increasing the oxidation of carbs (60-90g/carbs/hr) will improve performance, multiple transportable carbs are advised (Glucose + fructose + maltodextrin) over a single source (glucose). 

Habitual reward food

Your active lifestyle allows you more calories than the average person but quality food choices improve health and performance.
Rewarding with junk food after a long/hard workout not only increases cravings for unhealthy foods but undermines the importance of developing appropriate fueling and hydrating habits around/during workouts.
While there is nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence, coaxing yourself to get through a workout with the anticipation of guilt-free unhealthy or excessive eating may create a dysfunctional relationship with food. Stop habitually using food for reward (when exhausted) or punishment (bad workout) and thank your body for giving you a great workout, then treat yourself with a massage or Epson salt bath. 

3 Explore Cuisine product recipes

As promised in my last blog, here are three delicious recipes using Explore Cuisine products. 

PRODUCT OPTIONS
Bean Pastas: Organic adzuki bean spaghetti, organic black bean spaghetti, organic edamame and mung bean fettuccine, organic edamame spaghetti, organic soybean spaghetti.

Product Spotlight: Organic black bean spaghetti
Per 2 ounce dry serving:
215 calories
2g fat
23g carbohydrates
1267mg potassium
12g dietary fiber
4g sugar (natural)
25g protein
32% daily iron (based on 2000 calorie diet)
15% daily calcium (based on 2000 calorie diet)


Black Bean spaghetti with kale cilantro pesto
1 cup kale
1 cup cilantro
1/3 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 garlic clove
1 small sweet banana pepper
2 tbsp lime juice
Pinch of salt
½ cup parmesan cheese
½ cup olive oil
1 box (8 ounce) Explore Cuisine Black Bean Spaghetti

1. Blend first 7 ingredients in food processor. Add cheese and slowly pour in olive oil.
2. Boil 8 cups of water and pour in Organic Black Bean Spaghetti. Cook for 8 minutes and drain.
3. Top spaghetti with pesto.
(recipe adapted from Explore Cuisine website)

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Pulse pastas: Organic chickpea fusilli, organic chickpea spaghetti, organic green lentil lasagna, organic green lentil penne, organic red lentil penne, organic red lentil spaghetti.


Product Spotlight: Organic Chickpea fusilli

Per 2 ounce dry serving:
200 calories
2.5g fat
35g carbohydrates
5g fiber
11g protein
15% iron
4% calcium

Organic Red Lentil Penne Mac n’ Cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1.5 cups 1 or 2% milk
2 cups shredded cheese (sharp cheddar)
1/3 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
¼ tsp pepper
Pinch of salt
8 ounce organic red lentil penne (cooked)

1. Heat deep skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp oil and onion and sauté until golden brown. Remove to plate on side.
2. In skillet, add butter and 1 tbsp olive oil. When butter melts, add flour and stir to combine with heat-resistant whisk until smooth (about 3-4 minutes).
3. Slowly add milk while whisking.
4. Bring milk to a bubble while stirring so that milk can thicken. Then stir in sharp shredded cheese, one handful at a time. Keep stirring. Add pepper and a pinch of salt.
5. Add cooked penne to the sauce and coat completely by turning over and over into the sauce with a spatula.
6. Transfer penne and cheese mix to a baking dish and top with parmigiana cheese.
7. Place baking dish under hot broiler and brown the cheese. 

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Product Spotlight: Organic Red Lentil Penne

Per 2 ounce dry serving:
190 calories
1g fat
35g carbohydrates
3g fiber
11g protein
15% iron
2% calcium

Baby tomato, peptias and goat cheese chickpea fusilli 

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped baby tomatoes 

1 cup chopped white onion 

1 large garlic cloves (finely chopped)

8 ounce package sliced mushrooms

½ cup dry roasted pepitas 

½ cup chopped basil

Pinch of salt 

2 cups baby spinach

1 tbsp lemon juice

8 ounce Organic chickpea fusilli (cooked)

½ cup goat cheese (soft, crumbled)

1. In medium skillet, heat to medium heat and add olive oil chopped tomatoes, onion and mushrooms. Gently toss until soft and lightly brown (around 6-8 minutes). 

2. Add garlic, salt, pepitas, basil, lemon juice and spinach. Gently toss and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat. 

3. Add cooked pasta to veggie mix. 

4. Top with goat cheese.

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Food to Thrive Foundation

Explore Cuisine is committed to fair trade and sustainable living. Two percent of all Explore Cuisine worldwide proceeds go directly to the Food To Thrive Foundation, providing education, empowerment and advancement in farming programs to every Explore Cuisine team member. 

Explore Cuisine gluten-free pastas

Introducing Explore Cuisine:
A pasta for anyone.

For decades, pasta has ruled as the go-to comfort food for athletes. It’s quick, easy and a beloved source of carbs. However, pasta alternatives are slowly finding their way into the supermarkets and on the plates of many health conscious athletes.

Loaded with plant based protein, Explore Cuisine has taken a new delicious approach to traditional pasta. Integrating beans, peas, lentils, edamame and chickpeas into their line of products, Explore Cuisine has a pasta for everyone, without sacrificing taste, quality or nutritional value.

I found out about Explore Cuisine (formally called Explore Asia), as I received a bag of edamame pasta in my Ironman World Championship goodie swag bag (well more like two bags as Karel received a bag too). 

I was excited to try it out when we returned home from the big island.
I followed the directions and added in some veggies and sauce and violà - it tasted pretty good!

COOKING PREP
-Bring 8 ounce cups (2 liter) of water to boil. Add pasta.
-Reduce heat and simmer for 4-11 minutes (depending on the type of pasta).
-Strain.
-For a more al dente texture, rinse under cold water and then strain.

Recently, Ironman asked me if I wanted to write an article (with recipes) on the products and I couldn't turn down the delicious opportunity to get inside my kitchen and try new creations.

To help me out, Ironman sent me a box of products to use for my recipes.
Like all my Ironman articles, I received compensation to write the article expressing my thoughts and views but this time I was asked to feature Explore Cuisine products (which was really not all that hard - so yummy!).

AT A GLANCE
Explore Cuisine offers 5 different types of products: bean pastas, pulse (part of the legume family) pastas, rice noodles, rice pastas and soups. Each product is 100% Non-GMO, USDA Organic, Gluten-Free certified, low glycemic, kosher certified and vegan, high in protein and a good source of fiber and rich in iron and potassium.

Seriously – there is a pasta option for every athlete, no matter your dietary needs. Each product cooks similar to your usual pasta option – which means easy prep for the busy athlete in training.

In my next blog, I will share 3 absolutely amazing recipes - Karel, mom and neighbor tested...and Campy too!
 To get you started, visit your closest natural food store to pick up the following plant based pastas (if your store doesn't carry Explore Cuisine, you may be able to find another brand).
Organic black bean spaghetti
Organic Chickpea fusilli
Organic Red Lentil Penne

Here's a preview of one of my delicious recipes to get your mouth watering: 

 

Are you recovering well post workout?

Endurance training takes a toll on the body. And if you are like most athletes, where your long workouts occur on the weekend (after a stressful week of training, work and life), you can imagine how easy it can be for the body to carry around residual fatigue as training volume increases if you are not recovering well from your daily workouts.   

Adequate recovery is critical in the restoration of physiological and psychological processes.

From a nutrition point of view, replenishing glycogen, increasing protein synthesis and rehydrating are three critical components to maximizing your fitness but your post workout recovery nutrition also acts as nourishment to keep your immune system functioning properly. 

Consider these three reminders when it comes to post workout recovery.

1) Recovery is everything that happens between two workouts. If you want your body to consistently perform well at every workout, you  need to consider everything that happens between two workouts, which includes sleep, diet, stress management, mobility, etc.
To minimize risk for injury or illness, you may need to make some lifestyle changes (or investments) to ensure that your life allows you to recover, refuel, rejuvinate and repair between every workout but specifically after the more intense or high volume workouts. Endurance triathletes are known to squeeze in a lot into one day but sometimes you will gain more out of your workout by slowing down (and not feeling the need to rush to the next thing in life) and allowing your body to recover properly. 

2) Recovery nutrition depends on the sport duration and intensity. Therefore, there is a fueling and rehydrating strategy for every type of workout. As an athlete who seeks performance gains, it is important that you see recovery nutrition as part of your workout. Your workout is not complete until you recover with the appropriate fueling and hydration snack or meal. Keep in mind that what you eat post workout is part of your daily nutrition needs/calories (whereas what you eat before and during a workout are "extra" calories to support a workout and should not be added to your daily recommended caloric intake).
You will know if you are not recovering well if you find yourself with a run-down feeling in the 4 hours after training, you have difficulty sleeping at night (yet feel exhausted during the day), you can't give the effort that you know/think you should be giving during a workout, you are struggling to get through easy workouts, your muscles feel fatigued, exhausted or sore to the touch, your appetite seems a bit wonky or you have trouble reaching or sustaining higher intensities.

3) Recovery nutrition will not destroy your body composition goals. A common mistake for the athlete who seeks a change in body composition is not prioritizing the fueling and/or hydrating post workout all in an effort to lose weight. Keep in mind that weight loss in the form of reducing body fat (which is the kind of weight loss you want - not from water weight, muscle loss or bone loss) is dependent on expending calories or reducing calories and staying consistent with training so you can get stronger, faster and more powerful. Nail your recovery nutrition so that you can reach your full athletic potential.

34 years old

It's hard to believe that I have been alive for 34 years!!!

To celebrate 34 years of life, I thought it would be fun to share with you 34 things that you may or may not know about me. 

1. I was born and raised in Lexington, KY. I moved to Davie, Florida for graduate school (FAU) in 2004 and graduated in Dec of 2005. I then moved in with my parents (who moved to New Port Richey for my dad's new job as the chief Optometrist of the VA clinic) for a year and then moved in with Karel (after we had been dating for a year) in Dunedin, FL. We then moved to Jacksonville, FL in 2008 and Greenville, SC in 2014.

2. I swam competitively in HS and college and my specialty strokes were 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and 200 IM. I was a lifeguard all through HS (in the summer), taught swimming lessons, taught water aerobics and have always loved being in the water.


3. My brother was a gymnast from a very young age. He went to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado to train a few times and went to University of Michigan on a full ride as a gymnast. He finished 4 years of Division I gymnastics as the 2007 Big Ten High Bar champion.
We think his next calling is to be a Ninja Warrior.


4. I have 11 ear piercings and my belly button pierced. I had my tongue pierced my freshman year of college (sorry mom, I know you hated it). I got a Mdot tattoo (on my right ankle) after my first Ironman in 2006 (I was 23 years old).

5. I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian when I was 10 years old for animal reasons. I love all animals and I rescue anything "alive" in our  house (bugs/insects). Please don't talk about killing animals, hunting animals or the death of an animal around me as it makes me very sad and uncomfortable. It's ok if you eat meat in front of me. I will never lecture anyone about meat or not eating meat.

6. I suffered from hip/back injuries throughout my competitive swimming years and then from 2007-2013. I had my start of hip/back injuries as a triathlete 30 days before my first IM World Championship. I haven't had an injury since May 2013.

7. I haven't been sick since 2007. No cold, no flu, no antibiotics, no medications. Thank you body.

8. I've never broken a bone or had a stress fracture. But my muscles are not always the happiest with my active lifestyle. I do 70%+ of my running on the treadmill which works well for my swimmer turned runner turned triathlete body.

9. I don't have any food allergies or intolerances. But if a bug bites me, I will swell-up right where I was bit/stung. No perfumes or smelly lotions for me in the summer!

10. I love cinnamon!

11. I haven't chewed a piece of gum since September 2014. I gave it up cold turkey because I didn't like eating sugar alcohols every day and found myself "addicted" to chewing gum for many years prior.

12. Karel and I met on a group ride outside of Clearwater, when we were set up on a blind date, on my birthday in 2006. I was a horrible cyclist - but Karel took me under his wings and believe in me (or he knew that our relationship would be a lot more fun if I knew how to ride my bike better).


13. Karel and I got engaged on his birthday in 2007 and married in 2008. Karel asked me to marry him at a restaurant in front of a group of friends (and much of the restaurant watching). I decided that he was the one for me after we traveled to Reno, NV and rode our bikes around the lake. During IMFL (6 months after we met) I told Karel I loved him while I was racing, after he told me "you are going to Kona!"


14. We rescued Campy from a foster family (found on Petfinder.com) in 2008 just a few weeks before our wedding, when he was almost 1 year old (although we were told he was 18 months).



His original name was "Sparky". HERE is the story about how we rescued him.
Campy was found behind a building from a foster family before he came to his forever home.
Now he is living the GOOD life.


With a little attitude and always protecting his mommy!

15. We have two cats. Smudla is Karel's cat who is 13. He rescued her when she was just a few months old. Campy found Madison (who is named after cow's in Wisconsin - although she is white with black spots) in a bush outside of our apartment in Jacksonville just a few months after we rescued Cmpy. After a few months of seeing her outside, we welcomed her to our home to stay.
Smudla (pronounced SHMUD-LA but we often call her Shmud-lee) runs our house - drinks only from the sink, eats when she wants to eat and loves sleeping and hiding in boxes. She always has a new sleeping spot in our house.

Madison (or Maddy) is obsessed with Campy.

We also have two fish tanks (55 and 70 gallon).

16. My grandpa is 94 years old and is sharp as a whistle.


17. My dad passed away from cancer 3 days before my birthday in 2014. My dad was liked by everyone and never had a bad day. I talked to my dad every day on the phone and he was always there when I needed him, especially for a good laugh. I got my positive attitude and constant need to smile from my dad. He is now resting peacefully here in Greenville.



Every time Karel and I travel or go somewhere to make memories, we bring back a rock or shell (from nature) for my dad.


18. I am 5 feet "tall".

19. For seven years I watched Karel race crits (his favorite), road races and circuits as a Cat 1 cyclist. Karel has been racing bikes for all his life.


I have always loved being on the sidelines for Karel. I get such a rush when I watch him race.


Karel's first season of triathlon racing included a sprint, olympic and then half ironman (all within 4 months). His first half was Branson 70.3 which was then ranked with the hardest US bike course. Go figure Karel would pick that race as his first long distance triathlon. And he finished 5th AG!
It was a special experience to share that race together as it was also my first overall amateur win in a triathlon.

  


20. All of Karel's family lives in Czech. We have visited them twice (and in 3 weeks we will be traveling to Europe for the third time). Karel went 12 years before he went back to Czech for the first time, since coming to the US.



Karel loves being back in his hometown and seeing his family....and drinking some good beer.


Did I mention that Karel loves his Czech beer?


21. My mom lives 1 mile from us. Campy loves going to grandmas. We love having her close by too. She is always super busy with activities (she has more friends than we do!) and she goes hiking with her "hiking class" at Furman (Olli program) once or twice a week. She's always been supportive of my/our active lifestyle and loves watching us race.


22. I went to graduate school to become a strength and conditioning coach but after receiving my MS in Exercise Physiology, I wanted a career in sport nutrition.


23. After graduate school, I did a 6-month internship with Ironman (back when Dr. Gills owned the company and there was only a handful of employees) and met the fabulous Judy with Iron Girl who was a great mentor for me as I was finding my way in the field of endurance sports. I then worked at a YMCA as the wellness coordinator for 1 year and then went back to school to earn my RD credential. I love writing and public speaking. My most memorable speaking event was at the CIA where I helped with a cooking demo and talked about nutrition at an Oakley Women event. I nearly cried (ok, maybe a little) as I was overjoyed with the experience.



24. I worked as a clinical RD (PRN) for 3 years before moving to Greenville. I never wanted to be a clinical dietitian when I was a dietetic intern but when the opportunity came about, I thought it would be a great challenge to learn something new and balance it with sport nutrition. 


25. Karel and I moved to Jacksonville, FL (from Clearwater) in 2008 after he got a job as the GM of the Trek Bicycle Store of Jacksonville. Karel had an amazing boss and we are grateful for his opportunity to work with Trek and to be the general manager of two concept stores as he gained a lot of knowledge and experience about running a business.
I started Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition in 2012 and Karel started to work with me full-time in May 2014 when we moved to Greenville. We spend almost every minute of every day together as we are training partners, business partners and life partners.

26. I traveled to Japan in 8th grade for an exchange program and to the Philippines in 2004 for a work service project.

27. I went to IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) for my freshman year of college and swam competitively. I transferred to Transylvania University in 2001 and continued to swim competitively for the next three years.

28. I majored in Chemistry in undergrad for my freshman year and then moved majors to Exercise Science. I minored in Psychology. Transylvania University is a liberal arts school which focused heavily on writing and public speaking.

29. I have been strength training since I was 10 years old (when I started swimming).

30. I never take naps but I'm a great sleeper at night.

31. I love to travel but do not like to fly. I think I would be more relaxed on an airplane if it was filled with doggies.


32. I read textbooks and research articles before bed each night. But I am not a book/novel reader. I'm also not the best at watching movies as it is hard for me to sit still and not multi-task.

33. I qualified for the Boston Marathon after my first marathon and the Ironman World Championship after my first Ironman.
My parents thought I was crazy for training for an Ironman and Karel thought I would be one-and-done after IMFL.


Ten Ironman's later, I still love this sport and feel so lucky that I get to share it with Karel.



We love coaching all levels of triathletes but absolutely love helping athletes train (and understand fueling) and complete their first Ironman distance triathlon.


34. I went to Montessori school and then an arts school before High School. I was very creative and loved drawing (and making things) growing up and played in piano competitions throughout middle and high school.

I'm a very visual learner and learn best when I can see and apply information as oppose to just reading things in a book.

And for a bonus for next year....
35. I am incredibly thankful for the amazing coaching and nutrition athletes that have come into my life over the past 4+ years. I learn so much from every athlete that I work with and I feel very lucky to have a job which allows me to make a difference in the lives of others, as it relates to performance, health and nutrition.

M2M Half Ironman - Race recap

 Karel lost a considerable amount of training last summer when he tore his plantar fascia in late May, which was extremely disappointing as he was gearing up for IM Lake Placid (which he DNF'd after the bike, on purpose) and he was training for his first Kona (and our first time racing the Ironman World Championship together).

After a lot of rehab and therapy, he was able to put in a minimal amount of running to prepare for the IM World Championship and ran surprisingly well without further damage to his foot but there was still some lingering niggles up until this April (11 months after the injury happened).  While he still has to be mindful of his foot with daily exercises, therapy and strength work, we think he may be on the mend (and his running fitness is proving this to be true). 

In the past 4 weeks, Karel has raced twice and has placed overall winner twice (Toughman Half Ironman and Lake James 50).

Under the guidance of coach Matt Dixon with Purple Patch Fitness, Karel has made huge gains in his overall fitness in the past few years but most recently, patience and consistency in training has allowed him to improve his strength, endurance and resilience in all three sports. There's no special diet or special training designed just for Karel but instead, he focuses on quality workouts with proper recovery. We both wish we had more time to train but we are extremely busy with our business so we have to make every workout count (and sometimes we have to miss workouts too, just like everyone else).

M2M (Mountains to Main Street) could not have come at a better time as Karel was running (or swimming, biking and running) with great momentum going into this race. Although M2M wasn't a priority race and there was no special specific build-up for this race, he felt the pressure of this hometown race and wanted to do well.

When we set up our race season (typically late fall before the next year) and select our one or two A races (for Karel, IM Austria and IMMT for me Rev3 Knox and IM Austria), this doesn't mean that we don't race hard for all the other races. The difference between A and B races is not that B races aren't important and we don't give a hard effort but they don't have a specific build as we have specific developmental phases to go through and we want to peak appropriately for our A races. So when we race a "B" race, we simply continue with our training and appropriately adjust a few days before and after the race depending on the season and type of race.

M2M featured a point to point to point course, starting at Lake Keowee for the 1.2 mile lake swim, then transitioning to the bike for 58 very challenging, hilly miles (close to 4000 feet of climbing) to Traveler's Rest, where T2 was located. Then, for 13.1 miles, the run featured a few hilly sections to Furman, a few more hills around Furman lake and then a net decline to the finish in our amazing downtown Greenville/

Check out that finish in the heart of downtown Greenville, right by Falls Park.

Karel and our athlete Drew (who was staying at our house for the weekend for the race) spent a few hours on Saturday driving the 75 minutes to T1 to drop off the bike, only to experience a down pour on their bikes just before arriving to transition. Let's say that their clean bikes got another nice wash.

Karel and Drew then drove the 58 mile bike course to T2 to drop off their run gear (except for their sport nutrition filled flasks for their hydration belt which they would then do on race day morning before heading to the race start).
For dinner, Karel made pasta with marinara sauce and chicken at home.

There's something special about being able to eat at home and sleep in your own bed before a race!

Campy loved being able to sleep in his own bed before his spectating duties on Sunday. 

Karel knew every inch of this course as he had rode the course a few times (starting from our house to Lake Keowee and then back home - why drive when you can just bike there and back???).
There was no getting off course for him.....unlike you know who :)

Karel knew the bike course would be extremely challenging but since he knew every hill, turn, descend and road condition, he was looking forward to executing a smart bike effort while pulling out all his former bike racing tactics.

On Sunday morning, Karel woke up around 4:15am to get his body going before leaving to T2 at 5:45am (to drop off filled run flasks) and then to T1.

Karel had 2 pieces of toast with almond butter and a Bolthouse chocolate drink (about 8 ounces) and of course, a homemade cappuccino (or two).

Karel made a sandwich for the road but race day nerves made him hesitate to eat it so he didn't eat anything else before the 8:30am race start.

Karel and Drew were accompanied by my mom (what a great sherpa!), our athlete/friend Meredith (who was racing the aquabike) and Campy. 

Although the water temp was on the verge of not being wetsuit legal after a week of warm weather, a few days of cooler temps and lots of rain made for a comfortable 73-degree lake and wetsuit legal swim.

Karel warmed up on the dry land and then in the water for a good 10 minutes to get himself comfortable in the water. Although his swimming has improved tremendously in the pool, Karel is still a little uncomfortable in the open water but warming up really helps to ease his nerves. 

Karel started in the first wave (open wave) and did a great job staying on course. He felt stronger in the second half and was able to catch up to a few guys who dropped him in the start of the swim.

 Karel swam 31:12 which he was really happy about.
Karel never stresses about his swim time because the swim starts with the gun time and the swim finish is always where the timing mat is. In this case - at the top of a hill, right before transition. 

Karel had a quick transition before heading off on the bike in 6th place.....to chase down the competition. Thanks to free speed in the transition, he left in 5th place.

Campy, checking out the competition.

The wind was very strong on race day and with a good chunk of the race on the open and long rolling hills of Hwy 11, this made for a really hard ride for the athletes...as if the bike course wasn't already very taxing!

Right from the park, there was ~1.5 mile hill to the main road. He used this to set himself up for a good ride by adjusting his posture, changing up his cadence/gears and settling into a good rhythm. When he got to the main road, that is where his "race" started.

 Karel's plan was to intentionally push hard for the first hour of the bike to catch the guys who swam faster than him. By the time that he got to the main road, he caught the third place guy.

If there is one thing to know about Karel on race day, it's that he can suffer really well.
He's exceptionally good with being uncomfortable....like really, really uncomfortable.

And to his surprise, around 25 minutes into the race, Karel caught up with Drew and Drew told him that there was one guy still ahead - which they both had in sight.

By the time they reached the first aid station in Salem, Karel took the lead for the first time. This was much sooner than he expected or hoped for.

Karel pushed at his threshold for an hour, despite never looking at his power but going all by feel. Karel is able to push watts on race day that he he is never able sustain alone in training. This is just the beauty of race day - it brings out another type of athlete that you never thought you could be.

For the next 36 minutes, our athlete Drew and Karel were riding strong near each other, which was a nice mental boost for them both.
It was very windy and he just put his head down and told himself that if he is suffering he knows everyone else is suffering. That is where he opened up the gap on Drew. And by the time he got to Pumpkintown hwy (off Hwy 11), he was extending his lead.

Karel was really pleased with his Alto Wheels (CT 56 in the front and CT 86 in the rear). The bike was very fast and stable in the windy and hilly conditions. His gear of choice was 54x42 front chainring with 11-26 rear cassette. He managed the terrain well by keeping constant tension on the chain while climbing, thus controlling the heart rate and being able recover and soft pedal (while moving fast) going downhill.

This is a common mistake that athletes make - spinning too light of a gear going up hill (HR goes up, RPE goes up) and not moving anywhere fast and by the time the athlete reaches the top of the hill, they are exhausted and need a while to recover. Keeping a steady cadence with a smooth chain tension will keep the HR in check and lower the RPE.

For the next 18 miles, Karel rode really hard. Karel said openly before the race that he was willing to take risks on race day as he was willing to lose in order to win.
While giving this hard effort on the bike, he stayed present and never let his mind think about how his legs would feel for the run.

Karel stayed fueled with 2 x ~250 calorie bottles (around 26 ounces each) and ~12 ounces of a 100 calorie bottle. He didn't consume any solid food or gels or "gummy bears" (Clif Bloks). 

After turning onto Geer hwy for a steady 3 mile climb back to TR (Traveler's Rest), it was just a few more miles until Karel rode into Trailblazer park...... in first place.
As Karel was approaching the transition, he saw my mom as she wasn't expecting Karel so soon (or in first) and Karel said to my mom with a smile "Hi Susie!" and she was super excited to see him. 

Although Karel had a quick transition, he cramped in his quad when bending over to put on his shoes but anticipating a potential cramp before the run, he quickly drank his It's the Nerve bottle which kinda released the cramp. Karel got extremely worried about the cramp and thought his day may be done but as he walked out of transition and then started jogging (carefully), he slowly felt a little better.

Thankfully, there was a little of a downhill before the first climb which allowed Karel to loosen his leg out and to find his running rhythm. This cramp was purely from the effort his was pushing. This cramp was pretty severe as he couldn't bend his knee or move his leg for a brief moment but thankfully it released itself.
Did I mention that Karel loves to push hard?

Karel's fan club - My mom, our neighbor/friend Tim and his wife Joey (taking the pic along with many of the pics you see in this blog - thanks Joey!) 

Karel ran the first 30 minutes in 6:25 min/mile average on the Swamp Rabbit Trail before making his way to Furman. Karel was not alone on the course as he was joined by his own police escort. 

Karel was in such a zone when arrive to the back entrance to Furman (from the trail) and when the motor cycle stopped for Karel to make his ~1.6 mile run around the Furman lake (including the steep hill in the back of the lake), he almost confused himself as to which way to run around the lake. Even when you know where you are suppose to go, sometimes the mind plays games on you on race day. Luckily, Karel picked the right way around the lake.

As he was nearing the trail again, he could see a few of his competitors starting their run around the lake but Karel wasn't holding anything back as he wanted to give everything he had and leave it all out on the course. 

Karel is a big proponent of form over pace and he is constantly making sure that his form feels good, especially in the early miles of running of the bike. He always tells himself "form, posture, fluency." over any pace.

Once he found his rhythm, he found himself wondering if he should pick up the pace a bit for a little stronger effort but then he came to his senses "this is just fine, you are suffering enough."

When he knows he has reached a good pace or rhythm, he almost feels numb. It's really hard for him to describe but obviously it works for him. 

Karel had his 4 flask Nathan belt and he took a sip from each flask as needed throughout the race and occasionally water for cooling and sipping at the aid stations (which were not every mile). 

One of Karel's biggest worries about this race was the train. With less than 3 miles to go, there are train tracks with the slowest moving train ever that has held up many cyclists and runners along one or the other side of the Swamp Rabbit Trail as the train occasionally passes through on a daily basis. There was no way for the race to stop the train or know the train schedule so this was just one of those worries that Karel had as he was racing. 

Sure enough - TOOT TOOT.

Karel could hear AND see the train. Although it was not moving, it was getting ready to go. Karel frantically asked his police escort "Can you please stop that train" - of course, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it he still wanted to ask as he was desperate.

However, the policeman rolled up to the tracks and stayed on the tracks as Karel ran by.

Sure enough, the train went by about just a few moments after Karel ran by and then came again and stopped our athlete Drew, but only for about 15 seconds. 

After Karel ran by the tracks, he felt a sigh of relief and finally felt like he was on the homestretch without any more distractions.

Although, it was a regular Sunday with lots of people on the trail enjoying their beautiful day outside and then here comes this neon orange wearing triathlete huffing and puffing as if he was in a race.
Oh wait - he was!

Still giving everything he had, there was absolutely no mile that wasn't a best effort on this race day. Near the later miles of the run, Karel was running and not knowing if his next step would be his last. Every part of his body was hurting and he just kept pushing and pushing and pushing.

Karel wanted this win so bad and he worked so hard for it on this day.
He said he even got a little emotional at the end because this was one of those days where he doesn't know if he will ever be able to repeat this type of effort again, from start to finish.
It just all came together.

With no one else in sight, Karel ran to the finish.

In so much pain.

And finished as the overall winner of the inaugural Mountains to Main Street Triathlon. 

The next athlete arrived 12 minutes later. 

So exhausted. 

And relieved it's all over. 

The moment every athlete longs for after a race.....to rest the legs! 

As the other athletes started to roll in, it was time for everyone to share their war stories of the race. 

What a great crew! Cheers!

Here are Karel's run splits:
Mile 1: 6:25
Mile 2: 6:30
Mile 3: 6:21
Mile 4: 6:25
Mile 5: 6:29
Mile 6: 6:42
Mile 7: 6:30
Mile 8: 6:33
Mile 9: 6:39
Mile 10: 6:32
Mile 11: 6:31
Mile 12: 6:27
Mile 13: 5:51
Total: 1:23:55 (per Garmin)
Average pace: 6:31 min/mile
627 elevation gain
These run splits are super impressive considering that many of Karel's long runs are around 7:40-8:00 min/mile pace! Although he does specific speed work on the track and treadmill as well as hill work, there are some sessions that are designed to be slow and easy. In the past, Karel was always running much faster in training and this only lead to injury so now he is more cautious and saves his best efforts for race day. 

OVERALL MEN RESULTS

This was an extremely special day for Karel, mostly because it was a home town race. We absolutely love our Greenville community and it was such a great treat for Karel and so many other athletes to be able to race for 72.3 miles from Lake Keowee to downtown Greenville. This was not an easy event to put together and we thank all the volunteers, Set up Events Staff, race directors, spectators and everyone else who put together, promoted and helped our with this event.

Congrats to everyone who finished!

Karel and I are excited to both race Mountains to Main Street next year.

Swim with bear.

Ride with the Eagle.

Run with the rabbit. 

(Thank you Kimberly, my mom and Joey for these great pictures!)

Thank you to our sponsors!

Overcoming adversity

 Adversity is defined as an adverse or unfortunate event or circumstance.
Adversity is part of sports and is part of life.

Throughout a lifetime, many difficult situations will threaten every individual.
These hardships (or tragedies) may even define a person.

When faced with adversity, you really discover what you are made of and who you are as a human being.

You can choose to beat an adverse situation or it can beat you.
It can make you or break you.

Recovering and moving on from difficult scenarios, tragedies and circumstances is part of life but it is a critical component to sporting success.

Adversity in sports doesn’t always give a warning signal.
Many times, athletes are faced with obstacles (bad weather, flat tire, gut problems, low moments, anxiety, worries, pain, suffering, off course, etc.) and in a split second, they have to figure out how to deal with the cards they are given for a favorable outcome.

How you deal with adversity is a true test of your character, resilience, focus and determination as an athlete.

As an athlete, don’t let misfortune define you and don't let hardship break you.

Do not curse, make a scene, lose your temper, make assumptions, play the blame game or throw out excuses.

While some adverse situations are within your control, most unfortunate circumstances are out of your control.

Always keep in mind that the only thing that you can fully control is yourself and how you handle the “this sucks, are you freaking kidding me” situations.

In training and on race day, you can feel defeated OR you can endure your hardship with a champion mindset.

Sometimes race day will not let you demonstrate how hard you worked, your current fitness or how well you prepared.

Although defeat does not mean that you failed, giving up should never be your first or only option.

 There’s a lot to be learned from adverse situations.
When things do not go your way, you can learn from the lessons that you were taught, discover something about yourself, make adjustments or simply move on.

When you are faced with an adverse situation and quitting is not an option, choose to carry on as if the adverse situation never happened (easier said than done, especially if quitting is your first thought).

Mistakes, difficulties and detours are critical for athletes.

If you never experience a setback or find yourself in an uncomfortable or troublesome situation, you never get the opportunity to demonstrate a better version of yourself, as an athlete.

Here are a few things to remember when dealing with an adverse situation – in life and in sports.


1. Never give up – The main reason why people give up is because they assume they will not succeed. Well, if you think you may succeed (even just the slightest hope), you will try harder and this effort will move you much closer to success than giving up. There is no straight, paved, sunny sky path to success. There are mountains, uneven roads and detours in every journey so remember that perseverance will pay off. Athletes who persevere through hardships learn a lot more than the athlete who never tries anything for fear of failure. Sometimes you have to be willing to lose to win and to try and fail than to wonder what may have been. Never give up on yourself.

2. Be flexible and persistent – While planning is essential, plans are often useless. As an athlete, the uncontrollable is always going to happen and you can’t plan for everything. You can either adapt and overcome the situation or you can get frustrated and angry and give up. In a perfect world, you can follow a plan but sports are far from perfect. The best team or fastest athlete doesn’t always win, calls and judges are not always fair and success is not always rewarded to the athlete who put in the most work. As an athlete, you must learn how to be flexible, be proactive and be willing to adjust, with tenacity. As long as you keep moving forward, you’ll become more experienced at overcoming any challenge that comes your way.

3. Be mentally strong – Reality check – bad things are bound to happen in training and on race day. You cannot control every situation. While it’s normal to be emotional, flustered and agitated, don’t give up on yourself. If you are having a low moment or something bad happened, hang in there as you never know what’s coming next. In sports, sometimes when something bad happens, something amazing is about to happen. Although sometimes situations just suck all around, don’t let your mind give up on your body.

4. Stay confident – During adverse times, it’s easy to draw upon your weaknesses. Well, what about your strengths? When things don’t go your way, immediately recognize something good in the situation. Life will always give us moments of uncertainly but by staying optimistic, you may find yourself gathering the necessary strength that you need to succeed. And above all, when you can’t change the situation, change the way you think about the situation.

5. Don’t let it define you – Every individual has to experience some degree of adversity on the road to success. Sadly, far too many athlete give up when the going gets tough. To discover your true potential as an athlete, you must have a resilient mindset so that you do not feel defeated when things don’t go as planned.

Don’t let one workout or one race define you as an athlete.
 While adverse situation are no fun to deal with when they happen (and it’s ok to be emotional and upset), don’t let a hardship get the best of you.
Let your hardships teach you something.
Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to be successful. 

Rev3 Half - race report, Part II

                           

10, 9, 8......3, 2, 1....GO!

At 7am, we were off! Immediately, I felt good in the water. Karel and I have been swimming at Lake Hartwell (by Clemson) every Wed for the past 4 weeks to get more comfortable in open water, in our wet suits. Going into this race, I wasn't feeling super speedy in the pool but I felt like I could put together a strong swim. My goal for this race was to go as hard as I could go (sustainably strong) for the swim, bike and run and to finish knowing that I didn't hold back at all for 70.3 miles. I was willing to take many risks in this race just to see how they would pay off. After 10 years of endurance racing, I finally feel I am at a point in my athletic "career" where I am ok to fail so long as I give my absolute best effort.

I was constantly aware of any other yellow caps around me to keep an eye on my competition. I swam side-by-side by another swimmer but found myself needing to stop every now and then (probably at least 5 times before the first turn buoy) to lift up my goggles and actually find a buoy. Although I was sighting for the buoy every 5-7 strokes, I wasn't seeing anything. And if there's one thing to remember about open water swimming, staying on course will give you the "fastest" time vs swimming fast and getting off course. And if you sight and don't see a buoy, it doesn't count.

This didn't affect my pace too much but I am sure it did slow me down a little. However, every time I stopped ever so briefly to lift up my goggles to find a buoy, I found myself back with the other girl who I was swimming with, after a few strokes.

I didn't notice any "help" in the water with a current in either direction. It wasn't choppy but it also didn't feel pancake flat.

As I rounded the first buoy to the right, I found myself with the second wave of swimmers (male 40+ which started at 6:55am). After rounding the next buoy, I was with more male swimmers (Male 39 and under which started at 6:50am).

I felt really strong in the water and not too uncomfortable with my effort. Although I felt I may have been able to swim a little faster, I felt strong and steady.

The swim went by surprisingly fast and before I knew it, I was turning around the last buoy and making my way to the dock.

I quickly recognized that I was the first female out of the water and I was excited to bike hard to keep my lead for as long as possible. 

I saw Taylor (Adam's wife) at the top of the dock and she confirmed that I was first female out of the water. I don't turn on my watch in the swim for this very reason - I don't care about my swim time, I am here to race the competition. 

I removed the top part of my wetsuit and ran my way to the transition area up the dock, through the boat house.... 

....across the street, up the side walk and into the transition area.

I was rehearsing my T1 in my head as I was running and felt as if I had a quick transition.

I powered on my Garmin Edge on my bike and as I was leaving the transition area, I saw another girl running to her bike. 

I clipped in my shoes and off I went. 

I'm in love with my new S-works Evade Tri helmet! Thank you Karel for an early birthday gift!

As I left the transition area, I only had a few minutes before we started climbing out of town. The first and last parts of this 56 mile bike course include a lot of punchy climbs mixed with longer enclosed climbs with a few descends. This makes it hard to settle into a rhythm in the early miles of the bike.  This course really makes you stay focused as you can't zone out and enjoy the view. 

I didn't feel all that fresh when I got on the bike but then I again, I was doing a lot of climbing and descending. I actually felt better on the climbs than I did on the rollers as I was able to settle into a nice rhythm on the climbs and I really loved the descends. I knew that after 30-40 minutes, I would likely find my racing rhythm so I just embraced the uncomfortable feeling and kept riding along.

I was diligent with my nutrition to ensure I could fuel my sustainbly strong effort for 56 miles. I had 3 bottles each with 280 calories for a total of 72 ounces of fluid and 840 calories for 56 miles.

While my bike skills have improved tremendously over the past two years, my fitness on the bike has also improved thanks to Karel continuing to dial me in with my bike fit over the years, a new saddle (Adamo ISM) a few months ago, a lot of specific bike training on the trainer and my new Alto wheels.

Needless to say, I have a lot more fun racing triathlons these days as I get on the bike excited to push hard....but it never feels easy!

I found myself riding alone....a lot. I broke the course into intervals, every 30 minutes so that I could mentally break down this ride - which helped considering that I was pushing hard but had no one in sight as my rabbit (or keeping me accountable to my effort from behind).

I felt like there was a bit of wind out on the course. While it wasn't anything gusty, it never felt like I had a true tailwind but constantly felt like I was riding into the wind. There were very few athletes around me and I found myself staying on course by following the pink arrows taped to the ground and every now and then, I would get excited to see another athlete in the distance. I found myself passing a few guys.

Rev3 did a great job marking the course with bright arrows letting us know that a turn was approaching, that we were about to make a turn and then confirming the turn. This course had a lot of turns so it was easy to stay on course.

Nearing the first out and back around an hour into the race (around mile 20ish), I had my first chance to see my competition. As I was riding to the turn around, I discovered that I was near the front of the race...with the guys. I spotted Trimarni athletes Wlad and Adam on the other side of the road which was great to see some familiar faces. As I made my way back from the first turn around, I saw two other females just as I was about to cross the street, around mile 23. I had no way to know how far ahead I was or their efforts/speeds but I guessed it was around 5-6 minutes which fired me up to keep on pushing.

In my opinion, I feel like the last 30 miles were the hardest. Sure, I was getting a little tired but there's a good 300 more feet of climbing in the back half of the race, even though you are on the same roads, just heading back into town, instead of away from town.

Although I never found myself not enjoying the bike and I was mentally present for the entire bike, around mile 40,  still riding alone, with no one in sight and still pushing, I really wanted some company......I wanted someone to suffer with. As I was riding along, I spotted my athlete Adam in front of me and as I was passing him, he told me that his hamstring was giving him some issues. I told him that he was riding really strong (for a Floridian :) and to hang in there. I think it was great for both of us to be on the course near each other and as I rode ahead, I could feel that he wasn't too far behind me which I liked that he bounced back quickly and continued to bike really strong.

Seeing Adam was the pick me-up that I needed and as I approached the next turn around, I had an opportunity to see my competition for the last time before the run.

I saw my athlete Wlad ahead of me and after the turn around, I saw two girls close together but I felt like I was still keeping my lead.

With still around 10 miles to go (and a tough 10 miles), I told myself that I had one more opportunity to gain some ground on my competition. With every climb, I stayed steady and with every downhill, I told myself "free speed!" I rode very aggressive and a few times I thought about Karel (who was also racing at the same time as me but in Greenville) who is my idol when it comes to cycling. He has taught me everything I know about bike riding and he has taken me from a very inexperienced triathlete who didn't like to ride her bike to the athlete I am today. Sure, it took 10 years but he never gave up on me and I didn't give up on myself.

As we were nearing town, I caught up to Wlad and I was getting my mind and body ready for the run. I never looked at my Garmin for total time, pace, watts, etc. throughout the ride (except to hit lap every 30 minutes) but as I was nearing downtown, I switched my interval screen that I use for racing to my main screen which showed total time and miles.

I saw that we had around 3 miles to go and I was around 2:35 into the race. I wasn't chasing a specific time but I liked seeing my time here at the end just to give me one last push to T2.

After the last few climbs, I was nearing the bridge with several guys ahead of me and I saw a rider in the far distance but first, a few guys going to the right.

I was a little confused as I thought we went straight but I saw the neon pink arrow (yellow for olympic) on the ground that the half IM athletes were told to follow throughout the race....although it looked a little different than the taped arrows we had been following.

I had a quick second to process this information and to decide what to do - follow the pink arrow that is the same color as the arrows I have been following and follow the athletes ahead of me or go straight.

I decided to follow the arrow as I thought it was a little detour and would pop us out where I saw that rider far in the distance.

Also, Rev3 clearly told us that every arrow would be followed by another confirmation arrow. Well, sure enough, there was another yellow and pink arrow spray painted on the ground telling us which way to go.

Well, after seeing my Garmin go from 54 miles, to 55 miles to 56 miles to 57 miles to 58 miles as I was descending down a hill with several other guys saying "are we on course? This doesn't look right!" I stopped when it was safe for me to stop, asked a guy on a motorcycle "Where's the river" and he pointed up the hill we just descended down on.

At this time, Adam and Wlad were with me as I had caught up to both of them and we, along with a few others rode back to where we went off course. If you look at the picture above, you can see where it says 54 and 60 miles and the blue line which is where we rode off course.

As we were climbing back to the course, there weren't a lot of words spoken. This was the first time I had ever gone off course and I was trying to process it all. My first thought was that I had lost the lead that I worked so hard to gain for the past 54 miles on the bike + 1.2 miles in the water. My second thought, as I see more athletes going in the other direction was "I'm so confused!"

For several miles, we each would randomly shout out "this sucks" and Adam and Wlad both told me that they felt so bad for me as I was in the lead and had hoped to win this race.

I didn't say anything and somehow remained calm, despite being filled with so many emotions. I wanted to cry and be angry at the same time but something inside of me kept me calm.

By the time we returned to the course, a Rev3 staff member was taking care of the markings which were obviously not part of our race - despite looking nearly identical with the same colors.

The next 2 miles were tough. I was unable to pedal and I felt empty.

I could have easily stayed home and participated in our local half with Karel but I really wanted to come to Knoxville and race to the best of my ability because I love this course (Swim bike and run). I finished 2nd overall amateur female in the half last year and I felt like I could race this course a lot better and a lot stronger.  

Having Wlad and Adam there was so helpful. Although we didn't say much and each of us somehow stayed calm, we were all so upset. Wlad and Adam were also having amazing races and each were contenders for placing top three in their age group. 

As I rolled near the dismount line, I didn't know what to do.

Do I keep racing despite a 20 minute, 6 mile detour?

Do I stop and quit?

Do I complain and tell everyone what happened to gain closure? 

As I rolled my bike to my rack, I saw two other bikes from the girls who were behind me. Clearly, I was not even close to the front of the race anymore and who knows how many girls were close behind me due to my detour off course.

I don't know what made me want to continue as I had lost all hope that I would win this race, let alone place top three overall female.

The only thing I wanted to do was to cry as I was so upset.

I quickly grabbed my race belt, hydration belt and hat after I put on my running shoes and as I walked out of transition, I started jogging and then I started running.

And this wasn't my normal run off the bike... I was running hard. Actually, I was running with frustration.

As I was leaving transition, Taylor told me that the first place girl was at least 10-15 minutes ahead of me. Immediately, my heart sank into my chest. As you can imagine, I was replaying the scenario of what had just happened in my head for the first mile. Over and over again, I wished for a different outcome. I worked so hard on the bike and it was all for nothing. I kept thinking, "if only I didn't go off course, I would be in the lead and I could push the run as hard as I could to try to stay ahead of the competition."

I fought so hard with myself not to stop as my mind was going all over the place and I was clearly not thinking about running.

But as my Garmin auto lapped the first mile, I looked down and was in shock with my pace.

And the second mile went by and I was in disbelief with the pace I was holding.

I was completely numb and was feeling nothing as I was still so sad about what had happened.

But then something inside of me still wanted to race. I don't know how or why but I told myself that I am not going to give up until I crossed that finish line.

I came to Knoxville to race and I will leave everything ounce of energy I have on this course.

Finally thinking rationally, I knew I couldn't change the situation so I changed my attitude. I made sure I stayed up with my hydration drink (each flask had about 120 calories of Clif hydration + 1/8 tsp pink Himalayan salt) as I knew any lack of energy or fluids would not help this situation that I was in. 

As the miles ticked by, I had several other athletes cheering for me.

"I read your blog Trimarni!"

"You look great!"

"You are running so fast!"

"She's up ahead of you.....go get her!"

Well, I knew two girls were ahead of me but what I didn't know was by how much?

I knew I would see them as I got close to the turn around just after mile 3 and sure enough, I was about 1-1.5 miles behind.

That's a lot of ground to make up in 10 miles but my body was trained for this race and I was not going to let all that training go to waste.

I ran harder and harder and was taking a lot of risks. More risks than I would ever suggest my athletes to take. I threw in a few walks as I needed to shake out my legs after that hard 62 mile bike and I also needed to stop twice to fix the tongue in my left shoe as it was bothering my foot and I didn't want to hurt myself.

All in all, I knew that the stops and walks was going to affect my total time but then again, I was dealing with so many emotions, I was just happy that I was still making forward progress.

I saw Adam and Wlad who were running together and I felt like they were giving me a lot of energy. They would cheer for me before the turn around sections of the course (two out and backs) as I was running about a minute ahead of them. 

I mentally broke this course down into sections and kept making deals with myself - just get to the next aid station, just get to the bridge, just get to the turn around. Sure enough, I had passed the 2nd place girl and before I started my second loop, I saw the first place female about a mile ahead of me. I felt like my gap was closing but I still felt it would be impossible to catch her. My body was suffering but I was still running as fast as I could (considering the day I was having). 

The cheers were still coming from the other athletes which helped so much. I had a few athletes try to high five me and all I could do was smile. I didn't mean to be rude but I was on a mission and in a zone and I wasn't able to use any extra energy, except for grabbing my bottles from my hydration belt, grabbing water to cool myself and sipping a few cokes (twice) on the run and powering myself forward. 

As I was nearing the last turn around around mile 7, I saw the first place lady and I was getting close. At this time, I had been racing for over 4.5 hours and my body was getting tired. 

No. Keep going.

I kept pushing through a world of hurt. My mind and body were battling against each other and by mile 11, I was trying to tune out my mind and let my body run. The run back had a little wind in our face which was tough. Although this course isn't super hilly, it's not flat and the wind made it a bit more difficult to pick up my pace.

The last 1/2 mile was exhausting. Running on a walking path with lots of turns and I could see first place in the near distance. Oh so close, yet so far away. 

Nearing the finishing chute, I came to terms that I could not have given any more out there on the course. 

From start to finish, I gave my 100% best effort and pushed as hard as I could.

As I crossed the finish line in 5 hours and 21 minutes, I collapsed to the ground as my body and mind had enough. I was given a cold wet towel from a volunteer and my eyes started watering.

I was so sad about the misfortune of going off course and it finally all hit me after 1 hour and 39 minutes and 7 seconds of running. 

Adam and Wlad finished less than a minute behind me and they both ran incredibly strong. 

As a coach, I could not have been more proud of these two athletes for their character and ability to overcome the adversity of going off course.

After the results were finalized, I learned that I had missed the overall female winner spot by 34 seconds. I had the 12th fastest run of the day (including the guys) and the 6th fastest swim.

A little breakdown of my bike stats:

Total: 62 miles, 3:06 total time

3760 elevation gain (419 feet in the 6 mile detour)

Average cadence 89

Average HR 145

Average Normalized Power 164

Average speed 19.9

Stats before the detour (at mile 54):

2:40 time (average speed 20.3), normalized power 166

Split breakdown: (I never looked at my Garmin for watts, speed or HR, I went 100% by feel.)

25 minutes: 183 NP, 19.2 mph, 149 HR

30 minutes: 165 NP, 21.4 mph, 146 HR

30 minutes: 164 NP, 21.3 mph, 151 HR

30 minutes: 165 NP, 20.5 mph, 146 HR

30 minutes: 156 NP, 19.4 mph, 144 HR

41 minutes: 156 NP, 18.2 mph, 136 HR (including the 6 mile detour)

A little breakdown of my run stats:

Total: 13.1 miles, 1:39.07

656 elevation gain

Mile 1: 7:06

Mile 2: 7:08

Mile 3: 7:18

Mile 4: 7:32

Mile 5: 7:13

Mile 6: 7:38 

Mile 7: 7:30

Mile 8: 7:32

Mile 9: 7:40

Mile 10: 8:11 (fixing my shoe)

Mile 11: 7:35

Mile 12: 8:21 (barely surviving, long open stretch)

Mile 13: 7:51 (on the inclining walking path to the finish)

I came off the bike in 68th place overall and finished in 12th, passing 1 female and 56 males. 

After the race, Taylor told me that she had been talking to my mom (who was supporting Karel at his race) and Karel had won overall at the Mountains to Main Street half.

I was filled with emotions.

While the effort I gave and the suffering I endured throughout the race was exactly what I had set out to do at Rev3 Knoxville, I wanted so badly to change the scenario which affected the outcome of the race.

But then I was so happy for Karel and honestly, overjoyed as I knew how bad he wanted to win his race.

After the race, I went over to my former athlete Tracy (also Rev3 volunteer coordinator) and couldn't hold in my emotions anymore. I cried to her and she felt so bad. I told her it was not her fault but I was just so upset and it all finally hit me.

When we walked to get our bikes, I was in great company as we (Wlad and Adam) could all share this experience together. We even joked "are we going the right direction?" a few times as we were walking back to the hotel.

When I returned to our hotel room, I laid down and texted my mom (who knew the situation from Taylor) and asked her to tell Karel to call me when he was ready to talk. I didn't want to take away from his celebration of winning his race.

Karel immediately called me and it was great to talk about our races.

Later I learned that the markings on the course were by a charity ride that was occurring in 3 weeks. The ride organizers marked the course on Saturday night with the exact same colors (and arrows, but with a circle) as Rev3. There was no way that Rev3 would have known about this or how it would affect our race and Rev3 was at no fault for the detour.

This is a tough situation to explain how the mind works when you are racing but even harder to understand for outsiders. While it's obvious that the charity arrows are not Rev3 arrows and I keep replaying this scenario in my head as if I could change the outcome, this was just one of those situations where it was just unfortunate how it all happened and what a coincidence that the arrows looked so similar and happened to take so many athletes off course.

Overall results: HERE

Race breakdown: HERE

When faced with adversity, you really discover what you are made of as an athlete.
While there was no way that I could have prepared for this situation, I have once again learned something about racing.
When faced with a hardship on race day, you can choose to beat it or it can beat you.
Recovering and moving on from difficult scenarios, tragedies and circumstances is part of life but it is also a big part of sports. 

I've learned a lot in 10 years of endurance racing and I know that adverse situations, whether a detour on a course, weather or a nutrition or mechanical issue, will make or break your race day.
As athletes, we often have split seconds to figure out how to deal with the cards we are given for a possible favorable outcome.

While I didn't win the race, I am extremely proud of my body for what it was able to do and for my mind for never giving up. I have no idea how I was able to run after the detour or what inner force made me run so hard but that is what I love about my sport of triathlons.

You learn so much about yourself during every race.

Thank you Rev3 for teaching me that I can deal with adversity.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Rev3 Half - Race report, Part 1

After racing the Lake James 50 (1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, 8.4 mile run) just a week before Rev3 Knoxville, I wasn't so sure about how my body would recover. I had trust in my body that I would be able to feel fresh again after a few days but it wasn't until Thursday (5 days post race) that I finally started to feel a little (and by little, I mean tiny winy) pep in my step. This had me a little worried but Karel assured me that I was just fine. I trusted him and stuck to my sharpening (aka "taper") plan so that I didn't go into Rev3 too rested and after every workout, I was feeling a bit more race ready.

Friday was a very wet and gloomy day which made it difficult for me to get into race mode. However, after joining Karel and our friend/athlete Meredith (who was doing the half aquabike - her longest race distance ever) in downtown Greenville at the Mountains to Main Street expo, I found myself getting excited. There's something about a race environment - whether race day or pre-race - that gets me pumped to race.

After a Trimarni pizza party on Friday evening with several of our Greenville (and visiting Jacksonville) friends, I was feeling more race ready (pizza always does the trick). 

By Saturday morning, I was doing my pre-race warm-up brick and finding myself wanting to push a little harder on the bike than instructed and holding myself back on the run. I convinced myself that this was a good sign. Although the only day that really matters is race day, I felt as if my body was recovered and finally race ready after many months of training.

After saying good bye to Karel and Campy, Trimarni athletes Adam, Wlad and I (each in our own cars, I drove myself) headed north to Knoxville.

I entertained myself by listening to triathlon related podcasts and just under 3 hours later, around 3pm, we were at the Holiday Inn in downtown Knoxville, TN.

After checking into the hotel and unloading our stuff (I shared a room with my athlete/friend Adam and his wife and Trimarni photographer and the best sherpa ever, Taylor), Adam and Taylor made a quick trip to Whole Foods (I brought a cooler and bag of food) and I rested in the room until 3:45pm.

We all headed down to the race venue to pick up our packets and attend the pre-race athlete meeting. I never miss athlete briefings as I find it extremely important to know all rules and any last minute details or changes about the course/event. 

After the meeting, we walked back to our hotel (less than 10 minutes) to put our bike sticker numbers on our bike and then we made our way down near the water, to the transition area (another less than 10 minutes). 

I just love the Rev3 environment and how much they care about their athletes and I especially love these awesome bike racks.

I was excitedly anxious to get on my bike on Sunday morning to tackle this challenging bike course so I said see ya later to my bike before we walked to the river to check out the swim course. 

Seeing that Karel and I raced Rev3 Knoxville last year, I was familiar with the layout of the swim course. I walked Adam and Wlad through the course so they understood where we started (by Calhoun's by the River) and where we exited (by the boat house, where we are standing). 

We walked back to the hotel and chillaxed for the rest of the evening. 

I enjoy eating in my room on the night before the race (in comfy clothes without having to wait for food) so I enjoyed a pre-made meal of Jasmine rice (1.5 cups), hardboiled egg, salt, edamame and corn. Pretty simple but super easy for me to digest. I have experimented with several different options in training and this one felt the best.

I reviewed all course maps once more on my iPad in the evening and Adam and I watched a video that I found on You Tube of the bike course (my second time watching it) so he understood all the more technical sections.

I fell asleep shortly after 9:30am and slept fairly well before an early morning wake-up at 4:15am. 

After making coffee in the room (good European instant coffee and hot water in the electric kettle, mixed with milk), I sat down to my pre-race meal (once again, well practiced in training) of 2 Van's waffles with maple syrup and Smuckers Natural PB, banana and glass of OJ. Just shy of 500 calories and very easy to digest. I also had a small glass of water. 

I filled my powdered-filled bottles (3 of them, each with 280 calories) with water after I ate, prepared 1 x 20 ounce bottle with 80 calories Clif Hydration to sip in transition (I only ended up drinking about 8 ounces) and changed into my Canari short sleeve Tri suit. 

I bundled up in some warm clothes (it was 53 degrees but water temp was 67 so I wanted to stay warm before my pre-race warm-up) and we all (Adam, Wlad, Taylor and I) headed down to transition area around 5:20am. 

After pumping up my tires (I have Victoria Latex tubes in my Alto race wheels, so I have to pump them up before I ride), I laid out my gear on my transition towel:

GEAR
Clothing: Canari one piece short sleeve tri suit, Oakley Women continuity sport bra, CEP calf sleeves, newton socks
Swim: Xterra vengeance wetsuit, Speedo Vanquisher goggles, body glide spray (TriSlide is our go-to spray)
Bike: Bontrager shoes, Oakley sunglasses flak 2.0, Sworks women evade tri helmet (with magnet buckle - new helmet, love it!), Garmin Edge 810, Alto Wheels CC-56, Solestar kontrol insoles
Run: Brooks Pure Flow 4 running shoes, Nathan Mercury 2 hydration belt (2 flasks each with 120 calories Clif Hydration), Clif Bar visor, Garmin 910 (I wore the Garmin for the entire race, including the swim but only turned on for the run).

Nearing 6am, I performed some dynamic exercises to get my heart rate up and blood flowing and then joined Adam and Wlad for a little jog with a few pick-ups. Although the pre-race warm-up rarely feels good as I am getting my body ready to race, it really helps to prepare the body for what's to come with the endorphin-filled start of a triathlon race. 

After making several potty stops thanks to a nervous belly, Taylor, Adam and I walked to the ~10 minutes to the swim start. 

The weather was absolutely perfect which was a nice change from the rain we experienced last year. 

All suited up and ready to go!

Adam's wave was at 6:50am, Wlad went off at 6:55am and the female wave was at 7am.

Rev3 allowed us in the water 5 minutes before our wave start which was great to be able to get into the water to warm-up and adjust the wetsuit (very important to put water inside your wetsuit before you start swimming so you can adjust the wetsuit and so it doesn't "suck" on your chest and cause tightness).

I was already noticing a massive glare from the sun right into our eyes and it was so difficult to see the buoys before our first right hand turn. I had ordered new clean (no fog -yet) goggles for this race but they didn't come in until Friday evening so I was worried about wearing them for this race as I didn't have a chance to adjust them properly for my face while swimming. I opted for my other race goggles with a little tint but they often fog which was not so good for this bright sun.

After a quick swim warm-up followed by 10,20 and 30 strokes fast with equal strokes recovery to warm-up my system, I was officially race ready and I was looking forward to the suffering that I was willing to tolerate in order to give my best effort to see if I could achieve my overall female winner goal. 

Stayed tuned for part II of my race report.

I promise, it's filled with excitement.