My body obsession

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Ever since a young age, I have loved learning about the human body, especially a moving human body.
In 1999, just shy of turning 18 years old and a year away from graduating from High School, my birthday present was a book titled "New Atlas of Human Anatomy" which came with a CD ROM explaining all the human body systems. 

I read that book every night, over and over again.

Throughout my undergraduate years at Transylvania University, in Lexington, KY, I couldn't get enough from my exercise science classes. Every topic was interesting and exciting and as a student athlete, I was able to apply almost everything that I learned to class to "real world" situations.

While majoring in Exercise Science, I quickly fell in love with strength and conditioning which gave me aspirations to be a strength and conditioning coach. Forced to start strength training at the age of 10 as part of my swim team conditioning helped me appreciate the health and performance benefits of a properly designed strength training program.
(I've been strength training for nearly 24 years!)
I remember interning at the University of Kentucky with the men's and women's basketball and cheerleader teams, which gave me a lot of hands-on experience in writing strength training programs for athletes (most of those athletes towered at least 1-2 feet over me). 

When I graduated from college with a Bachelor degree in Exercise Science and a Minor in Psychology, my quest for learning was not complete.

In the fall of 2004, off I went to graduate school in sunny and warm, Davie, FL at Florida Atlantic University.

While studying to earn my Master's in Exercise Physiology, I worked as a research assistant. In addition to my classes, which required me to get familiar with all the testing equipment in the  laboratory, I spent many long days and nights collecting research, and testing subjects, for research studies. 

Sometimes, I was even able to test myself.

Although my love tank for exercise physiology was filled to the top while in graduate school, something was missing....my own athletic pursuits.

Although my free time was limited during graduate school, I just wasn't feeling complete.
The athlete part of me was missing as I was only a student.

Seeing that I spent the last 22 years of my life competing in sports, I knew that I needed to find something that would physically challenge me.

Well, since my longest swimming events lasted anywhere from one-minute to 2.5-minutes (or 60-150 seconds) and my longest ever run was a 10K (less than an hour), I thought, why not.....
I'll train for a marathon!

If I can run 6 miles, what's 20 more miles??

It only took a matter of time before an endurance bug bit me hard. 

By the end of 2006, I had completed the Boston Marathon, my first half IM and my first Ironman (which qualified me for the 2007 Ironman World Championship). 

But here I go again....

In 2008, I found myself once again feeling lost without school. 

I was convinced that the athlete part of me was here to stay as I found great joy as an age-group triathlete and runner but I still felt that I needed to learn more about the human body.

Rather than going the PhD route, I decided to follow my new found passion in nutrition, thanks to endurance sports (and a few bonky workouts) sparking a need to learn more about sport nutrition.

Fast forward to June 2011, after three arduous years of learning, studying, paper writing, interning (9-months) and test taking, I finally received my RD credential.

With an ultimate goal of becoming Board Certified in Sport Nutrition, I waited and worked until I was eligible to apply, study and then sit for the CSSD exam, which I successfully passed last summer.

So why do I write all of this?

Every Olympic year (in addition to any big competition in the sports of running, track, swimming, cycling or triathlon), I find myself itching to learn more.
I LOVE watching the human body in motion.

My obsession with the human body will never go away because there is so much to learn as it applies to the physiology of the body during exercise.

When I see the human body, I don't see what's on the outside.

Perhaps to most people, efficient movements, a lean physique and defined and sculpted muscles are easily seen by the human eye.
When simply looking at the body image, it's easy to look at the outside of the body and associate words like fast, strong, high, powerful and skilled with the athlete.

But within the body is a very complex system that always, sometimes, most of the time or rarely works smoothly.

This is why I always feel it is necessary to thank the body as there is great physiology complexity when you want your body to go long, far, easy or hard.
Many times, it is easy to take your human body for granted.

Sadly, many people abuse, overwork, undernourish, bash or hate their body.

What's interesting about the human body is that it can be trained, physically, but also mentally.
And for the body's metabolic systems, among many other things, to work efficiently, there needs to be water and energy, supplied from food and many times, sport nutrition, to support the many complex movements that are needed for a given sport.

The most beautiful thing about the human body is that it is not perfect.
There is not one size fits all sport.
The human body comes in all shapes and sizes and there is a sport for everyone.

Starting tomorrow, for the next 17 days, the 2016 Olympic games will be feeding my body obsession as I watch, marvel, learn and study the many bodies in motion.

Athletes from all of the world will be putting many years, if not a lifetime, of hard work, dedication, money, time, energy and effort, all to compete in their chosen sport, to be the absolute best athlete they can be.....with their one and only human body.

Overtraining - more than training hard or long

It may come as a surprise to many athletes but when you are on a mission to get faster, training long and fast is not a safe combination.

Many times, this leads to overtraining as there is an imbalance between training and recovery.

Be mindful that training beyond your body's ability to recover is not correlated to a specific number of training hours.

As examples....

 "But I don't train 20 hours a week, I only train 8 - how can I be overtrained?" 
"But I train much less intensity than I use to train, I don't understand why my hormones are all messed up?"

If your body can not recover, adapt or tolerate your given training load, your body is going to give you signs that you are overtraining.

When your hormones are out of whack, your bones are becoming weak, your mood is unstable, your body is becoming fragile, you find yourself constantly sick, your appetite has drastically changed, your weight has unintentionally changed, your sleep is disrupted/restless, you are in a constant state of fatigue, you are constantly experiencing GI issues (which have never been an issue in the past), your energy has dropped and your performance has declined, taking one day off from training or searching for a quick fix through medicine or supplements are not simple solutions to a serious problem.

At this time, you must come to the realization that your methods of improving performance or preparing for your upcoming event are no longer working.

When you find yourself struggling to train for a streak of a week or more, knowing that you just don't feel like your normal self, this doesn't mean that you need to harden up, suck it up and push through.

 A smart approach is to discuss your current training plan with your coach so you both can figure out why your plan is not (or no longer) working for your body. Don't simply look into training hours but also consider the layout of workouts throughout the week, recovery routines, sleep habits, stress management, diet, fueling and anything else that could help you train smarter.

Training smarter does not mean training easy.

If you haven't dug too deep of a hole, you may just need 3-5 days to reboot your system with some good R&R and light activity before returning to normal training - which is slightly modified with a smarter training approach.

During this time, consider reaching out to a sport dietitian to give a birds-eye view on your diet, as many athletes struggle to train consistently due to haphazard fueling and hydration strategies and poor planning and nutrient timing in the daily diet.

If you are classically overtrained, you need to be respectful to your body during this time. There should be no timeline to "get better" by x-date or race as this is the time, more than ever before, to put your health before performance IF you want longevity in your sport. 

As an athlete, you should always be on a mission to learn how to train smarter in order to maximize performance with the least amount of training stress. This means constantly evaluating how you are training and being open to change.
Simply training hard, fast or long are not key words you need to use to reach your performance goals.

Whenever you train for an event, consider your lifestyle requirements (family, work, commuting, travel), your current level of fitness, your past history (illness and injury) and your short and long term goals so that you can follow a well-designed raining plan, in safe, fun and healthy way.

Grilled mushroom with pesto and goat cheese

There's something about the taste of grilled food that makes my taste buds excited.
And this is coming from a vegetarian!

On Sunday evening, Karel and I decided to fire-up the outdoor grill for a delicious dinner to finish a great weekend of training. Although my training volume/intensity is low relative to Karel (who is training for Ironman Mont Tremblant in a few weeks), we were both in need of a good meal to nourish and fuel our bodies.

My garden is overflowing with basil so the first thing that came to mind was pesto. I just love pesto on a grilled mushroom (thanks Katie Malone for the idea!) and as I was feeling extra creative, I didn't follow a recipe but instead, I made up my own -  a handful of fresh basil, a small handful of Parmesan and Asiago shredded cheese, a few long drizzles of olive oil and a sliced clove of garlic all into a food processor. My pesto was extra garlicky and had a nice kick to it.
(I found this recipe for you in case you want to make your own pesto at home)

While Karel had his grass-fed beef burger cooking on the grill (he has a special spot on the grill for his meat so that my food doesn't touch his), I built our grilled mushrooms.

Grilled mushroom with pesto and goat cheese
-1 large portobello mushroom cap (stem removed)
-Pesto (to cover the mushroom)
-Goat cheese (crumbled on top)
-Sliced baby tomatoes (from my garden)
-Olive oil (just a drizzle to give it a little more flavor)
-Shredded Parmesan and Asiago cheese (a nice salty taste)
-Salt (just a pinch)

The mushrooms do not need a long time to cook (~4-8 minutes depending on the heat of the grill, position of the rack with the mushroom and the size of your mushroom) and to help the presentation, I keep the mushroom on tinfoil, instead of directly on the grill rack.

To go with our grilled mushroom (and Karel's meat patty), we grilled a few boiled potatoes that I had left over from dinner on Saturday, when I made homemade mashed potatoes.  I find that boiling potatoes ahead of time helps for quicker cooking on the grill.

To prep the gold potatoes, I sliced them in half, coated the bottoms with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Karel grilled face down, directly on the grill.

And to change things up, instead of a salad, I kept it simple with a large handful of Leasa alfalfa sprouts.
Did you know that 1 cup sprouts has 3g of protein??

If you find yourself in a food rut, consider grilling food (whether outside or in your oven) as it can change up the taste and texture of your food, giving you a new exciting taste-bud happy experience every time you eat.

The power in.....

It was just over 3 years when I crossed my 6th Ironman finish line in Lake Placid. Although every Ironman finish is worth celebrating, this one was extra special as it was the very first time that I raced for 140.6 miles with Karel on the course with me, and not on the sidelines cheering for me.
It was so much fun for us to share our race day stories with each other after the race. For the first time in 6 Ironmans, Karel actually understood all the emotions and feelings that happen during (and after) and Ironman.

2013 Ironman Lake Placid was a special race for many reasons but in looking back on the day when I told myself that "I gave my best effort ever", in order to qualify for my 3rd Ironman World Championship (just 10 weeks later), this picture below shows me how far I have come in just 3 years. 

Karel on the left, me on the right. 

This picture popped up on my memory feed on Facebook last week and the first thing that caught my eye was Karel's time.
I remember after the race in 2013, in the evening, I told Karel how incredible it was that he almost broke 10 hours in his first Ironman.
In my mind, covering 140.6 miles in the low ten hours was something that I never considered possible for my body and the thought of my husband doing it was insane.

But then it dawned on me.....holy cow, I was 6 minutes away from breaking 10 hours at 2016 Ironman Austria!?!?
And Karel was just 13 minutes away from breaking 9 hours at IM Austria!

 

Five Ironman finishes later after Ironman Lake Placid in 2013, I am now a 11x Ironman Ironman finisher, including 2 more Ironman World Championship finishes (4 total) and I have a 10:06.54 Ironman PR.... which still blows my mind that my body could race that fast,, for so long.
Thank you body!

As an athlete, I feel it's important to never limit your potential as an athlete and to always believe that there is room for improvement.

If your sport ignites your emotions, fuels your motivation and keeps you hungry for improvements, there's no doubt that a breakthrough performance is coming your way.
You just have to believe it will come but you can't chase times, look for shortcuts or rush the process.

When you think about progress, it's not just the major breakthroughs that you should be wishing for but instead, focus on the small improvements that are necessary components in your personal athletic journey.

While you may be hoping for big gains in fitness so that you can get faster on race day, small steps in your development are important milestones and many times, they don't show as improvements in times (ex. faster times, paces, higher watts, etc.) but rather, it's something within you that makes you believe that you are improving.

It's far too easy to only be happy when you see a faster time but if you are constantly expecting too much, too quickly, you may find yourself not enjoying your personal journey and consequently, sabotaging a potentially great race day performance.

Every athlete is going to have setbacks and losses and many times, you are not going to see a faster time, despite making a lot of forward progress. But remember that it's the steps forward that accumulate over time, which help you become a smarter, wiser, stronger and perhaps even faster, overall athletically fit and prepared athlete.

I realize that every athlete is different in terms of fitness background, support from others, athletic goals, motivation, mental strength and work ethic, but I believe that to be a faster athlete, simply training with the mentality to get faster, is not a wise approach.
Many times this backfires with burnout, sickness and injuries.

I've accomplished a lot in the sport of triathlon with several best time performances, much of which I never thought was possible by my body, without training longer, training harder, chasing times, abiding by a specific diet/fueling trend or focusing on specific times, watts or paces.

Instead, I have directed a lot of my energy into training smart and putting a lot of my trust into the power in the following, which ultimately, has helped me take my fitness to that next level.

It only took 10 years but at 34 years old, I feel healthier, stronger, fitter, more energized and more resilient than ever before. 

The power in......

Using food for fuel
Using food for nourishment
Having a great relationship with food
Staying in great hormonal health
Committing to training
Stay present during workouts
Always warming up
Daily mobility work
Not skiping steps
Training and racing without expectations
Setting goals
Racing with a resilient body
Reaching out to professionals for help
Not being stubborn
Being flexible
Not giving up
Not wasting energy on what other athletes/pros are doing
Not being a trend follower
No excuses
Staying accountable
Foundation training
Training smarter
Accepting that setbacks are normal
Accepting that bad workouts are normal
Staying patient

Working on mental strength
Visualization
Mantras
Support from friends/family
Having fun

Dialing in and constantly tweaking sport nutrition
Creating a strong body through year-round strength training
Getting stronger before trying to get faster and then getting longer
Selecting races appropriately
Planning/mapping out the season

Constantly improving skills
Being willing to fail in order to succeed

Being willing to change

Staying humble but confident

Not training or racing with a big ego
Always feeling grateful
Never taking a day/workout for granted
Thanking the body - daily

Solestar cycling insoles

Your cycling insoles may not be as sexy as your race wheels, sleek-looking frame or brightly colored and well-matched race kit but some things on your bike do not have to be seen by others to make a significant improvement in how well you ride. Karel and I have been using Solestar cycling insoles for over 2 years and we can't even imagine going for a ride without them. From my personal experience, I loved them from the first ride that I used them. My feet feel extremely comfortable in my cycling shoes, never feeling overstressed. As someone who has worked really hard to improve my pedaling mechanics, the insoles have helped me tremendously, as I feel control with each pedal stroke, no matter the cadence, sitting, standing or in the aero position. Karel keeps a small inventory of insoles (in a variety of sizes) for when he performs his RETUL fits. He has received many positive testimonials. As for the athletes who often complain of foot tightness or hot spots, no matter the brand of cycling shoe, there's often an immediate improvement of no more "hot spots" or feet cramping or tiredness with the Solestar insoles. (If you need a personal testimonial, just reach out and we can connect you with a happy Solestar user) While you may not think anything of it, a stiffer/firmed insole helps to keep your foot in a more stable, neutral position which reduces pressure in your foot and ankle. In other words, every time you pedal, the power goes directly to the pedal, generating more power, rather than your foot absorbing all the shock.

You can learn more here:

Solestar principle

Difference to the common cycling insole

If you are interested in a pair, reach out to us via our website contact page. If we don't have your size in stock, not to worry. We order from Germany but orders can be placed and received within 2 weeks. If you are not 100% satisfied, you can return your Solestar Kontrol insole within 6 weeks to get a full refund. Solestar recommends that you give the insoles several weeks to get use to but from our experience, it's hard not to love them after the first few rides.

What not to say to an Ironman triathlete

I love the Ironman distance.
2.4 mile swim. 112 mile bike. 26.2 mile run.
As taxing as it is on the mind and body, there is something so uniquely special and extreme about moving the body over the distance of 140.6 miles.
It's a distance that should be respected and not taken for granted.

It's often said that race day is the easiest day, compared to training, as you are supported by volunteers, friends and family, with thousands of other athletes, to keep you motivated and inspired as you move from the start of the swim to the finish line of the run.
Race day is the day when you can look back on the many months, if not years, of accumulated fitness, endurance, strength, speed and power, with excitement in your belly and a deep hunger inside to put it all that training to good use as you earn your Ironman finisher medal and t-shirt.

However, race day can bring a variety of emotions, as it's a day full of unknowns, even for the most prepared or experienced athletes.

Knowing that most Ironman athletes will experience some type of obstacle on race day, whether it is dealing with unforeseen weather, a cramp, GI issues, fatigue, a mechanical, sore muscles, etc. it's important for any Ironman athlete to stay mentally strong before the race in order to help reduce all pre-race jitters, anxieties and nerves that may sabotage performance.
While it's ok to be nervous, it's very important that you spend your time around energy givers as it can be difficult to surround yourself with people who suck away the energy that you are bottling up for race day. 

As a 11x Ironman finisher, including 4 Ironman World Championship finishes, as well as a coach and board certified sport dietitian who specializes in endurance triathlons, I put together a list of all the things that "us" Ironman athletes do not want to hear on race day.

1. Are you ready?
2. What will be your finishing time?
3. Are you going to win the race?
4. Did you know that ____ is in your age-group again? Didn't he/she beat you at the last race?
5. Are you worried about getting a flat tire?
6. Have you ever crashed on your bike before?
7. The water conditions don't look good.
8. It's going to be so hot on race day.
9. It's going to be so cold on race day.
10. You are going to eat all of that?
11. The swim looks so long.
12. Doesn't your butt get sore riding that far?
13. How much do your legs hurt after you get off the bike?
14. You actually enjoy doing this?
15. What do you do when you have to pee on the bike?
16. It's going to be really windy today. Don't blow off your bike.
17. Did you see all the hills you have to climb?
18. You look tired.
19. I'm feeling sick.
20. Can we sight-see after you check-in your bags and bike?
21. You are boring to be around.
22. We/you have to wake up at what time on race day?
23. Try to finish by ____ so we can go to dinner. 

24. Did you get to your race weight?
25. Are you still injured? 

Many times, the best thing you, the supporter, can say is nothing.
As athletes, we may not always say it or show it but we appreciate the unconditional support - always. Although it is an individual effort on race day, it takes a team approach to get to the finish line.
Just being there means so much.
It's a big commitment to train for an Ironman and race day is never easy.
So while it may be hard for a supporter to find the right thing to say to calm down a nervous, anxious or overwhelmed Ironman athlete, just know that an Ironman journey wouldn't be the same without the support of our close friends, family and teammates.

26. You are almost there (at mile 1 of the run).
27. You look great (at mile 24 of the run).

Trimarni camp swag

When you see or hear me promote a product, there is a 100% chance that I either currently, have used the product or know about the product, and recommend it.

Karel and I come across a lot of brands and companies with several opportunities to try new things that may or may not help us as health-focused, highly competitive athletes.

While what works for us may not work for everyone else (same goes for what works for Karel may not work for me), I would never endorse a product if I didn't believe in the product.

Among the many great things that come out of planning and holding a triathlon camp, I am able to reach out to companies to help fill camp swag bags for our campers.



Seeing that every triathlete loves free stuff, I am always on the hunt for a variety of products that our athletes can benefit from and use throughout (and beyond) camp. 

Here are some of the products that were used by our campers at our 2016 Greenville endurance triathlon camp.

CLIF BAR

Clif Bar made sure that our campers were very well fueled and hydrated throughout their 4-day training camp with a variety of products and sport bottles.

As a coach and board certified sport dietitian, it is always very important to me that my campers receive products that they can use throughout camp, taking into consideration the type of training that they are doing, the weather, the volume/intensity of the workouts as well as what they can use when they aren't training.

Our campers had plenty of Clif Hydration for all run workouts. I love the taste and texture of the Clif hydration powder and the two flavors provide just enough sweetness to make the mouth happy but in the right formulation to keep the tummy happy and the muscles hydrated and energized.
For recovery, Clif chocolate protein powder. If you have never tried this recovery powder, it is amazingly good, especially when mixed with cold milk.

Our campers were stocked with sport nutrition powder for all bike workouts but for our campers who needed some solid food during the long riders, I choose several flavors of Clif bars which would appeal to the taste buds.

To compliment the sweeter taste of the sport nutrition powder that was consumed on the bike, I selected a variety of savory bars, including MOJO PB Pretzel and mountain mix, peanut toffee buzz bars, crunchy peanut butter bars, coconut chocolate chip and LUNA lemon zest for a different taste and texture, when our campers needed something solid on the bike.

I also had a variety of gels and bloks, with a variety of flavors of both to prevent taste bud fatigue.

 Mg12

Before recommending this product to the public, Karel and I routinely used several Mg12 products for a few months in our lead-up to Ironman Austria. Whereas I tend to recover a lot faster than Karel (perhaps it is a combination of me being 6 years younger than Karel and that Karel can push a million times harder than I can in a workout), we both experience residual fatigue which is normal and expected in order to help us get to the next level with our fitness.

We have tried many different types of recovery creams and oils but I have never been impressed with any product due to food dyes, a strong smell or greasy texture turning me off from continuing to use a product. 

I was approached by Mg12 several months ago (which is a local company) and after learning about the product, I was excited to try a free sample of the salts, balm and roll-on oil.
Karel is a huge fan of creams, salts and roll-on's so I knew he would be really excited as his muscles can always use relaxing.

With Mg12, we felt immediate results. I was very relieved to see quality ingredients and no food dyes or chemicals and no greasy or sticky feeling on the skin.

Our campers received a goody bag of 1 ounce sport balm, 3 ounce sport roll-on and 2.2 lb salts.

As a special offer, here is your 10% off discount code on Mg12 products: 

trimarni 

Be sure to follow them on social media and share your positive feedback about the products.

New Wave Swim Buoy

Our campers received new brightly colored pink or orange silicon swim caps thanks to New Wave Swim Buoy. Our campers also had the opportunity to swim in the open water with a New Wave Swim Buoy. 

The New Wave Swim Buoy is a Trusted Companion for Open Water Swimmers.

It provides: 

- Visibility in Open Water

- Safe Place to Float and Rest

- Storage for Personal Items

New Wave Swim Buoy is brightly colored, lightweight, inflatable flotation device with a waist belt that visibly floats behind a swimmer in open bodies of water, making the swimmer more visible to lifeguards, boaters and other open water vehicles.

New Wave Swim Buoy can also be used as a flotation device, or to calm distressed swimmers.

New Wave Swim Buoy will not interfere with swimming, and now it is no longer necessary to leave valuables behind on the beach.

A dry pouch on one side holds smaller items such as a wallet and keys in the medium size, or larger items, shoes and clothing.

New Wave Swim Buoy is excellent for open water swimmers, triathletes, or anyone else who would benefit from added confidence in the water.
There are a variety of bright colors for you to choose from.
As a special offer, you can  use Amazon promo code TriMarni at checkout for 10% on any New Wave Swim Buoy on Amazon.

Offer ends September 30, 2016.


Veronica's Health Crunch

It was several years ago when Veronica came up to me at a cycling event (while I was watching Karel race) and told me that she was making a "crunch" that she wanted me to try. Veronica has worked very hard over the past few years and now you can find her crunch is a variety of stores and online.

Veronica has three flavors, the Original Flavor, Banana chocolate walnut and my personal fav (as I love anything cinnamon), cinnamon apple cranberry.

I will warn you that this crunch is addicting and you will yum louder than you have ever yummed before.
I like to snack on the original flavor while traveling, top my oatmeal with the banana chocolate walnut flavor and top yogurt with the cinnamon apple cranberry.


Oakley

You'll never see me or Karel training or racing in anything but Oakley sunglasses. We believe in their quality products and feel they offer the best products to keep our eyes safe, in our highly active lifestyle.

Oakley and Oakley women offer more than just sunglasses as you can find bags, backpacks, gloves, clothing, shoes, watches and so much more.

I absolutely love the Oakley packable backpack (which comes in a variety of colors) as it is perfect for traveling. I bring this bag with me almost every time when I travel as it is convenient and offers enough room (front pocket and big pocket) for everything I need when I am on the go. Plus, it folds up into itself for easy packing when you don't need it. 

Xterra Wetsuits

It's surprising how many athletes take poor care of an expensive wetsuit. Perhaps never giving it a proper rinse and cleaning after use or folding it up and throwing it into a closet, bucket or a drawer, only to be pulled out a few days before a race, looking distressed.

You should treat your wetsuit like any nice article of clothing, which means hanging it up after it is dry.

Xterra offers a wetsuit hanger which will keep your wetsuit in great condition, without worry that it will stretch or rip.

All of our campers received a wetsuit hanger for their Xterra speedsuit and wetsuit.
I hang both on my hanger, as well as my race day goggles that I only wear on race day.
I highly recommend ordering yourself a hanger as they are very inexpensive and will help you keep your pricey wetsuit in great condition.

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I'd also like to send a big thank you to the following companies who support Trimarni:

Boco Gear - for making our custom Trimarni visors and trucker hats
Canari Clothing - for making our custom Trimarni kit items
OOBE  - for helping us with our camp t-shirts
Run In - for helping our athletes/campers with their running needs
Carolina Tri - for helping our athletes/campers with their triathlon needs

As well as the other Trimarni sponsors.

2016 Trimarni Greenville camp wrap-up

It was only 26 months ago when Karel and I moved to Greenville, SC after spending the last 10 years (for me, 14 for Karel) in Florida.

Not one day has passed since May 2014 where we regretted this decision to trade the beach for the mountains.

With freedom to move anywhere in the USA, we picked Greenville because it offered us so much - affordable living, support of local farming, mountains, lakes, state parks, friendly people, bike-friendly roads, a fun triathlon community, an awesome, award-winning downtown and a small town feel, close to many big cities.

After our first summer in Greenville, it was a no-brainer that we needed to make the effort to make sure that other athletes could benefit from our hidden gem of a training playground. 

It was only a matter of time before we started offering private training camps and group training camps so that other athletes could experience what it's like to ride on very bike-friendly roads (we don't have bike lanes or shoulders on the majority of our routes - we literally share the road with the cars), train on challenging terrain to get stronger and to improve skills. While we feel Greenville is one of the best places to ride a bike, not to mention to improve your bike handling skills and cycling strength and power, Greenville has no shortage of spectacular views which will leave you oohing and ahhing, no matter where you train.

We have hundreds of cycling routes - we never have to repeat the same route. 

We just wrapped up our 5th Trimarni training camp and 2nd Greenville training camp.

We had a specific agenda for this recent Greenville training camp as it was extremely endurance focused. We carefully selected the Trimarni athletes who reached out to us to attend this camp as it was not a camp for every triathlete.

While we feel Greenville is the perfect place to improve fitness and skills, it's isn't until you come and train with us in Greenville, that you will learn that our terrain is extremely challenging - requiring a special type of resilience and mental strength in order to adapt to the training stress that you are given in Greenville. Sure you can do all your training on the trail and on flat roads but a strong athlete makes a great athlete.
But don't let this scare you away from coming to Greenville to train as our terrain helps athletes build confidence and there's no boring training session in Greenville.

Above all, our training camps are for athletes who want to learn and improve.

While we may have specific criteria for our campers at some of our training camps for safety reasons, our private training camps provide the perfect opportunity for athletes who want one-on-one attention, without ever feeling like your current level of fitness is too slow or not fast enough.
We are all about the athlete and catering to your needs.

We give a lot of feedback throughout our camps and specific instructions that are applicable and appropriate for training and racing.

And because our terrain is very challenging, sport nutrition education is never overlooked.
Knowing how much energy is needed to train where we live, I don't give suggestions for fueling but my sport nutrition advice is mandatory as I know what my athletes need, even if they think they need less.
 We have had 5 Trimarni training camps and with each camp, I give our campers specific instructions on how to eat before a workout, how to fuel/hydrate during and how to recover and eat after every workout.

We have had a perfect success rate in all 5 camps - no GI issues, no bonking, no health-threatening dehydration issues  and no nutritional catastrophes.
Sure, some athletes have an off-day or something may not go right but we have never had an athlete have to pull out of a workout or stop camp because of a nutrition related issue that could not be tweaked or fixed. 

While I realize that sport nutrition is hard to master and there is never a perfect strategy that works for every workout, our campers understand that in order to have the energy to complete a workout and to recover well, following sound nutritional guidance is imperative to their success at camp.
Proper fueling and hydrating also keeps the body healthy and well and our camps are not weight loss camps - our campers are here to perform, not to burn calories.

I am very appreciative of our campers/athletes who come to camp with an open mind and are willing and ready to try new things as it relates to skills and nutrition.
We challenge our athletes to step outside their comfort zone as we know that in a group environment, they are more willing to try new things and to not give up.

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Every year, when I start planning a Trimarni camp (often 8-10 months in advance), I feel overwhelmed with the amount of planning that is needed to ensure that our campers have a great camp experience.
This includes carefully planning the camp training itinerary, selecting the run/bike routes, the swim venues, swim/bike/run workouts, where our campers will stay, what swag they will receive, the SAG support, the sport nutrition that will be offered, making sure our athletes recover well and above all, making sure our campers enjoy their time at camp with great support from their fellow teammates/campers but also that they stay safe.

Although it takes a lot of work, Karel and I absolutely love the camp environment and experience of having so many like-minded individuals training together

While our campers have busy lives with work, family, kids and other responsibilities, we love giving our athletes an opportunity to check out of life and to just train without anything else on their mind.

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We had 16 campers who accomplished 18 hours of training (2.5 hours of swimming, 10.5 hours of cycling and 5 hours of running) over 4 days.

We are exhausted, sore, tired and mentally drained. 

But it was all worth it. 

We could not be more proud of our campers as they gained confidence on challenging terrain, improved skills and fitness but most of all, there was a common bond as they all supported each other, made memories and demonstrated what it means to be part of a team.

Stay tuned as we will be sharing the dates of our future training camps for 2017.

Here's a quick recap of our camp with pictures:

Day 1: 

AM:

30 min EZ conversational pace run

3 hour bike

30 min EZ run with last 8-10 min build to race pace effort

PM:

90 min long course swim at Westside Aquatic center

Day 2: 

AM:

76 mile/~5:20 bike with ~7700 feet of climbing (including the notorious, extremely hard to climb, Howard Gap)

10-20 min T-run

PM:

20-40 min EZ form focused run (5 min run/30 sec walk)

Day 3: 

AM:

1 hour open water swim at Lake Jocassee (warm-up, pre-set and race-specific MS)

90 min - 2 hour hilly run (3-4 x 15-20 min out, 15-20 min back)

PM:

Team dinner at Lazy Goat

Day 4: 

1 hour steady run (4 miles on rolling hills, finish the run on Swamp Rabbit Trail)

2.5 hour bike - steady/strong efforts

Every evening we had a recap of the day and discussion for the next day's workouts as well as nutrition/hydration planning. Campy always paid close attention. 

Morning run around lake Furman. 

First day of camp - campers are filled with energy!

First bike ride on our bike-friendly roads. 2 loops of a 10-mile course to practice climbing, descending and proper execution of how to navigate hills with the right gears and cadence. 

One-on-one work with a camper

Cooling off with a late afternoon swim. 

Campers divided into lanes based on swim fitness. Each lane had a specific workout based on their own swim abilities. All lanes had a race-specific main set with sighting and swimming next to each other to simulate the  race environment. All swimmers are required to use an ankle strap, buoy, snorkel and paddles. 

Cycling to North Carolina. 

Heading to Howard's Gap. 

It isn't until you complete this climb that you will understand its difficulty. 

SAG stop. 

Plenty of beautiful views to enjoy for ~5 hours

Grateful for awesome SAG support. 

There's no easy riding in Greenville but you'll finish every workout feel so proud of yourself that you conquered our terrain. 

Hello furry friends! 

We always feel inspired by our campers - no slacking for us! 

Group training brings out the best in one another. 

Suffering with smiles. 

It's easier to get out the door with others. No excuses - our campers made things happen. 

Our camps are dog friendly :) 

Exhausted but having fun!

All smiles. 

Mountain views all the way to Lake Jocassee. 

Thank you New Wave buoys for your perfectly sized, easy to see, brightly colored buoys (and swim caps). 

What a great group of triathletes who are willing to step outside their comfort zone.

All set! 

What a beautiful day for swimming in beautiful water. You can't help but be happy training here! 

There was a lot of neon in the open water. 

Thank you Jackie for the Kayak support. 

Race pace efforts - 30 minutes of 1 min take-out speed, followed by 4 min strong swimming. Rest as needed in between each set of 5 minutes. 

Gaining confidence in the open water. 

Loving the New Wave buoys and swim caps (and my new TYR Special ops 2.0 goggles which have been amazing to swim with in open water). 

Dynamic stretching and group talk before the run. 

Off they go! 

90 minutes to 2 hours of running - you are either going up or down. 

Karel finished off the last 30 minutes of the long run on his mountain bike to support the athletes as they stayed mentally and physically strong for their 5th run in 2.5 days. 

Well said Coca Cola. 

We are so lucky to live here. 

Cooling off after an open water swim + long run. 

This group cleaned up nicely for our team dinner at the Lazy Goat. 

My sidekick - what an awesome coach, person, best friend, business partner and training partner. 

Team dinner - there was a lot of nibbling, grazing and sharing. 

There was a lot of yumming. 

Yum.....real food. 

One last day of training - our campers surprised us as they performed amazingly well, despite this being this 6th run in 4 days. 

Yay for running on hills!

Keeping each other motivated and inspired. 

Teamwork!

Group work!

Yay for running happy. 

Building confidence. 

Having fun. 

Thumbs up - loving it!

Mental toughness

Looking good ladies!

All of our campers are required to wear hydration belts/packs when they run so that they can always stay well hydrated and fueled. 

Working together. 

When the opportunity comes about and you are healthy and feeling strong, don't let your mind limit you. Rise to the occasion and don't be afraid to fail. 

Strong efforts on the last day of camp! 

Staying mentally strong. 

Focused.

Enjoying the ride. 

Mr. Lama was so happy to see some Trimarni athletes outside - he loves cyclists. 

Until next time!!! 

Sport is more than body image

The other night, Karel and I were watching an ITU triathlon on Triathlon Live. 

We watch little cable TV but absolutely love watching swimming, cycling, running and triathlon. 

While the female triathletes were in the water, the commentator mentioned how swimming becomes more difficult as the triathletes get leaner during peak training. When the female triathletes were on the bike, the commentator mentioned how they need strong legs to be powerful but not too bulky or else it will affect their running. And for the run, words like lean, light, little and small were used to describe the female triathletes as they ran efficiently to the finish line.

It was only a few days prior, while watching the Tour de France, when the commentator mentioned that Peter Sagan "would be a better climber if he lost weight."

I love watching strong, fit and fast bodies in action.
For me, I am captivated by movement of the human body.
When I watch an athlete, I see determination, tenacity, commitment, passion, dedication, hard work and a deep fire to be the best that she/he can be.

But for the athlete, there can be great preoccupation with food and the body, all in an effort to be light and lean (of course, body composition is often sport specific and lightness and leanness are not rewarded by all sporting activities).

We live in a society where athletes want to perform well but feel pressure to look a certain way.  Coaches often believe that excess weight is a detriment to performance. In order for races to be won, records to be broken and memorable moments to be made, athletes are told that losing weight will improve performance.

Yet coaches and experts know that unrealistic aesthetic expectations and restricted eating habits can trigger eating disorders, thus harming athletic performance and health. 

So where do we draw the line?
Do we keep celebrating athletic achievements by bodies that are starved for nutrients and calories?

I don't believe we can change the thinking of coaches, experts and athletes that the lighter you weigh, the better you are as an athlete. There is truth to this statement - sometimes.
What we need is proper education, so that coaches and athletes understand the safest and healthiest ways to train and eat for a sport of choice.
Ultimately, we need to encourage athletes to make good decisions with their body, because there is no one-size-fits-all diet or training plan for a sport.

As a board certified sport dietitian, I work with many athletes, from various athletic backgrounds, all with different body compositions. While it's not uncommon for an athlete to express to me that she/he wants to lose weight or improve body composition for performance, I never let a number on the scale be the driver of a change in eating habits or an exercise routine.

Body composition and weight changes should be unintentional, when desired.
When the body changes because of a well-laid training plan and well-executed fueling, results are seen overtime (not quickly) and the athlete can maintain good focus for training and proper lifestyle habits.

Athletes already live an extreme lifestyle as it requires a lot of focus, dedication, hard work and commitment to excel in a given sport.
Developing optimal fueling, training, recovery and mental habits should be top priorities for athletes.

In order to help an athlete reach his/her body composition goals in order to improve performance, I simply take the focus away from the scale or what the body looks like (seems counter intuitive, right?) and instead, I focus on the many ways that an athlete can train better.

I often ask my athletes.....
Are you too busy and exhausted to "eat healthy"?
Do you know how to properly use sport nutrition during workouts?
Do you know how to properly time nutrition with training, before and after workouts?

Other questions include......
Do you sleep well, are mentally strong, do have employ a good warm-up before all workouts/races, are you stressed/overwhelmed, do you focus on strength training or mobility, do you train too hard, too often, do you rest enough?

Based on the responses of an athlete, athletes can easily change body composition without trying, simply by focusing on better training, nutrition, mental and recovery habits.

But yet, coaches, trainers and even nutrition "experts" continue to tell athletes that if she/he would lose weight, she/he would perform better.

Just like that.
Being lean is everything. 

WRONG!

To compete at your best, your body needs energy.
Long-term low energy availability can leave to nutrient deficiencies, hormonal issues, fatigue, bone issues as well as other cardio, GI, endocrine, reproductive, skeletal, renal and central nervous system complications.

Obsessing about food and the body may increase psychological consequences such as stress, anxiety and depression, not to mention increase the risk for disordered eating or an eating disorder.

While I love watching the human body in action, especially when gold medals are won, records are broken or the underdog comes from behind, I don't want to celebrate the athletic success of an athlete who is battling with an eating disorder, all in an effort to "be the best."

If you are an athlete, please don't feel pressure to "look" a certain way. 

Your body is amazing because of what it allows you to.
If you feel your health and/or performance is compromised because of your weight, any change in your diet or exercise routine should make you feel better about your body and what you can do with your body.

Above all, the best way to change body composition is unintentionally - when you focus on the many ways that you train and eat smarter.
A change in body composition is the outcome of your consistent habits. When you make good decisions with your training, life and nutrition, your body changes without needing to diet, starve yourself or avoid sport nutrition.

If you are dieting and excessively exercising in order to meet society's view of what an "athlete" body should look like in your sport, all in order to succeed, you will constantly find yourself struggling as it is impossible to look lean, strong, skinny, tiny, small, health, powerful and fast.

BE YOU. 

Don't talk about what you are not or what you wish you were.

Love your sport.
Own your body.
Stop trying to live up to the expectations of others.

Your body is your instrument, not your ornament.

In your pursuit for athletic greatness, I advise you to pursue love for your amazing body.
The more you take care of your body, the more your body will take care of you.

Make the effort

It feels great to be back home in Greenville, SC.

We are back to our routine of work and training and of course, back to the routine with this little golden nugget who enjoyed his "summer camp" with our dear friend Christi for almost 4 weeks.....

As wonderful as it is to be back in our home environment, I have to be honest and say that adjusting to life, without all of our meals prepared and served to us, has been hard.

We were heavily spoiled by Karel's mom, while we were in Znojmo, Czech Republic, with over 2.5 weeks of really good authentic Czech recipes, all home cooked and prepared with love.

With Karel and I continuing to train for the races that we have planned for the rest of the season (next up in August, Lake Logan Half Ironman for me and Ironman Mont Tremblant for Karel), life certainly isn't slowing down for us, with little extra time to shop, prep and cook food.

BUT, we have to make it a priority because our bodies require food to perform and to stay healthy.

Therefore, we have to make the effort.

"Knowing what to do and actually doing it" is a common statement from many time crunched and exhausted athletes.

BUT, you have to make the effort. 

Here are 10 of my tips as to how to make food prep, cooking and eating possible, despite living a busy life as an athlete.

1. Plan ahead - prepare as much as you can ahead of time so that it a meal is ready for when you get home from work or a workout OR prep your meal ahead of time for easy cooking (which is helpful when you are hungry or exhausted).

2. Never let food rules boss you around. The more restrictions you place on your diet, the more you will dread eating and cooking. With a dieting mentality, you may find that food makes you feel uncomfortable and even scared, which may lead into disordered eating or an eating disorder.

3. Always start with a recovery snack or a pre-meal snack. This works wonders as you can think more clearly and you don't use the excuse that you are "too hungry" to cook. 

4. Rehydrate before you eat. The hot weather can zap the appetite. But not eating for hours after a workout (and then overeating in the evening or the next day) is not performance enhancing. Post workout, pour yourself a refreshing glass of OJ, squeeze a juicy lemon or lime into ice cold water or blend ice and frozen fruit for a slushy drink before eating your recovery snack or meal.

5. Get help. On your busiest days, use the grocery store, a fresh and healthy delivery service or even your family members to help you out.  Perhaps one of your family members (or kids) loves to cook but you would rather grocery shop. Maybe you love cooking but despise food prep. Does a grocery store have a hot bar where you can get some items prepared ahead of time or is there a section with pre-made items that you can add to a homemade meal? 

I often find that with a team approach, you can get a lot more done and cooking doesn't feel so overwhelming.

6. Don't try to be perfect. For an athlete who strives for perfection and approaches life with a mentality that everything needs to go as planned, accept that you do not have to be perfect with your diet to reach your goals. Having too many or too high of expectations as to what you should be doing vs what you can actually do can make you feel like a failure, thus making you think "it's not worth it."

7. Have a few go-to meals and snacks. Every athlete needs a few meals and snacks that are easy and simple and fit the bill as to what you need to feel healthy, satisfied and fueled/recovered. Don't make these meals super complicated but make sure you always have the items you need ready, for when you need a quick go-to meal or snack. 

8. Get out of your food rut. Many athletes find themselves into a food rut, eating similar things over and over again because they are easy and simple. While there is nothing wrong with having go-to meals, you shouldn't rely on them day after day. Use your day off from training to get creative in the kitchen or instead of lounging on the couch when you have a few extra hours to spare, get inspired by recipes and make good use of your time by preparing new recipes or dishes.

9. Stop the excuses. If you find yourself always in a situation where you feel too busy, too tired, too hungry or too unmotivated to cook, you will find that day after day, you are simply using the same excuses over and over as to why you can't get a healthy, nourishing and balanced meal on a plate. No more excuses, make things happen. Figure out why you are letting healthy eating or proper fueling be an afterthought and if needed, reach out to a professional (ex. sport dietitian) to help.

10. Appreciate food for fuel. Your body doesn't run well when you don't feed it well. Put a similar amount of passion, focus, dedication and commitment into your daily diet, as you do with other important things in your life. Many times, when the focus is place on food for fuel and for health, the body performs better and it becomes easier to see improvements in health, body composition and performance.

Adjusting nutrition from short to long course racing

Endurance triathlon racing involves many complex physiological, sociological, mental and motivational factors. Therefore, when training for a multi-sport event of long duration, the human body experiences many metabolic, immune, hormonal and mental stressors in excess of what would be experienced in a single event of the same duration.

It's often said that triathletes and runners can get away with a lot in short course racing but without a well-practiced, well-planned and well-formulated fueling and hydration plan for long course racing, the body will not perform to it's full capabilities (and health may be compromised). 

This is why many athletes struggle in long course training and racing..... how can you expect your body to perform well, hour after hour, if you do not know how to fuel and hydrate it properly?
Sadly, it takes a lot more than motivation and will to get you to the finish line of an endurance race (or to successfully execute a long workout).

A successful endurance performance is not determined solely by how fast you can go, but by how successful you are at delaying fatigue. For a smooth transition to half or full Ironman training, getting your sport nutrition right  is paramount. 

Because it can be a great challenge to determine the ideal intensity which can be matched with proper

hydration and sport nutrition without causing GI distress when going long, practice your nutritional and pacing strategies in training to bring confidence to race day.

Thankfully, you have months of training to perfect your fueling and hydrating as you build fitness, endurance and resilience, so that you can go into your race day with confidence that you practiced and tweaked, practiced and tweaked and practiced and then perfected your ideal fueling and hydration strategy. 

To learn more about how to adjust your nutrition to long course racing, you can check out my article in Triathlete Magazine or online:
READ MORE HERE

Blueberry & cream cheese stuffed french toast

 For over 2 weeks, I had most of my meals prepared by Karel's mom.

And we only ate out five times in the 3.5 weeks throughout our time in Austria and Czech.

I can't tell you how many new foods I tried or how many times I yummed.

It's very common that eating outside of your home environment, whether for a work conference, an event, vacation or celebration, can make you feel a lack of control, thus making you think you are doing something wrong.

I also hear individuals talking about how they feel after eating when traveling, using words like gross, fat, heavy, bloated and uncomfortable.

After extended periods of eating outside of the home environment, it's common that individuals will say things like "I need to cleanse" or "I need to get back on track" or "I'm going to be really good for the next 4 weeks" or "I need to diet".

There can be an immediate need to gain control and in the mind, the "best" option is to be extreme and restrictive with eating choices in order to feel better again.

I understand that sometimes we have great eating intentions and try to make good eating decisions in certain situations but hunger, wanting to please others, peer pressure, lack of variety or minimal available food options can lead to eating choices that are not nutritious, performance enhancing or comfortable in the belly.

I think it's normal to very occasionally eat too much or to indulge too much as that is simply being human.
Life will still go on, you'll digest the food and you'll be ok. 

Many times, the vast freedom of not eating on a set schedule and having a too many food options that are not normally in your daily diet can make you feel as if the eating that occurred while on vacation was bad and in order to be good again, drastic measures need to occur.

I can't speak for every situation but I will encourage you to think about your eating choices when you travel.

First off, I don't believe that you should ever eat something that makes you feel physically bad inside.
This extends beyond clinical issues or a food intolerance or allergy.

You do not have to eat something just to please someone else.
You do not have to eat something just because everyone else is eating it.
You do not have to eat something just because you feel you  need to clean your plate.
You do not have to eat something just because you are on vacation or traveling. 

You are allowed to say no to food.

However, sometimes, it is good to say yes.

Broaden your taste buds, try new things, indulge yourself and get inspired by new creations.

Don't eat on a routine, eat only familiar foods, bring all your "good" foods with you in Tupperware containers, eat only the foods that have a specific calorie count or eat alone for fear of eating food prepared by someone else. 

If "healthy" eating takes up way too much space in your life, meaningful life experiences will be missed because of extreme thoughts about food and the body.

As I return home from 3.5 weeks of eating a lot of bread (every day), eating dessert at least once a day, having lunch as my biggest meal every day and trying a lot of new creations, I feel just as healthy now, as when I left for Europe.

As I mentioned, not every traveling experience is the same but I feel that sometimes, we all need these eating experiences to break out of the normal routine and appreciate (or at least try), a new style of eating. 

My biggest take away during my 3.5 weeks in Europe was not thinking about food as being only healthy or performance enhancing. While I feel these are two important reasons as to why we should select the foods that we eat, I also felt a tremendous amount of joy by just eating.....for pleasure and not just for "nutrition". 

Not even 24 hours have passed since I arrived back to Greenville, SC and I have already caught myself wanting to go back to my normal routine - making a smoothie as a meal, eating peanut butter from the jar, preparing a hearty salad for my lunch, etc.


It's so easy to make food/meals quick, easy and tasteless or feel uninspired by food, stuck in a food rut.

While there is nothing wrong with the foods I mentioned, I was so inspired by my trip to Europe that I really want to continue to try new things when it comes to food and eating.

Even though nothing was wrong with my previous eating habits, my eating in Europe was such a pleasurable experience and it reminded me how much I love to yum over food. 

It also showed me that even as a board certified sport dietitian who spends every day helping athletes with body composition goals, health and performance, I spend a lot of time talking about health, nutrition and performance but not nearly enough time encouraging athletes to simply eat for pleasure.

Sadly, in our body obsessed society, I believe that our culture has lost the need to eat for pleasure as it's easy to assume that only those who eat for pleasure will eat "too much" or eat "unhealthy or will not lose weight or will gain too much weight.

Is it not possible to eat for pleasure and still reach and maintain health and performance goals?
I believe it is possible.

Grateful for our amazing neighbor Joey, who took care of our cats, fish and house while we were away, she made sure we had a delicious breakfast for our first meal home, which could be quickly prepared on the morning after returning home from 24-hours of traveling.

Not only was this meal super scrumptious, but it prompted me to write this blog.

You can't ask for a better meal to practice your "eating for pleasure" skills.

I believe this meal is healthy and performance enhancing but I have no doubt that you will yum over every bite, thus feeling great pleasure when eating it.

And no, you do not have to wait for your next long ride or run to "deserve" to eat this meal after your workout is complete.

You are allowed to eat this meal for breakfast, any day of the week.

Enjoy!

Blueberry and Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast
Ingredients 
(2 servings)

1 egg
1/4 cup 1% milk
1/4 tsp sugar

Butter (about 1 tbsp for skillet)

4 slices bread
Blueberries (handful)
Cream cheese (to your liking)

Maple Syrup (to your liking)

 (I didn't have the ingredient list, only the steps for prep, so I reached out to Joey so that I could share this creation with you)



1. Whisk together eggs, milk and sugar. 

2. Make sandwiches - spread soft cream cheese on both sides of bread, add blueberries and press bread together (seal the sides the best you can).
3. Heat skillet to medium heat and then add butter to coat pan. 

4. Dip sandwich in egg mixture and cook on both sides until golden brown.
5. Top with warm syrup.

YUM!

Grocery shopping in Czech

Nearing the last day of our European race-cation which included 1 week in Klagenfurt, Austria and over 2 weeks in Karel's home town of Znojmo, Czech Republic (with only 2 of those days as an overnight trip to sight see in Prague), I thought it would be fun to reflect on my many eating experiences that I have enjoyed, while on vacation.

It's going to take me a while to put all my food pictures into one blog (I'm thinking I'll let the food pics do the talking) so I wanted to share what it is like to grocery shop here in Znojmo, Czech Republic.

While I love eating new foods and meal creations when traveling, I find it important to understand the culture behind food. Whether it's understanding the agriculture (which is an important sector of the economy) or simply learning how to the food gets from farm to table, it's all very exciting to me.

With the "local" grocery store just a block from Karel's mom's flat (and in route to his dad's flat), we visited the store frequently. Sometimes it was just for some fresh bread and pastries whereas other times, our shop included items for Karel's mom (to make our lunch - she started cooking around 8am each morning) or some light items for dinner.
As for shopping for produce, we often stopped by a market, either in town or on the side of the road. 

And, we did a little shopping form nature (Mother Earth doesn't charge!) while riding our bikes.




The mornings are very busy at the grocery store as lunch is the biggest and most important meal of the day. The town pretty much shuts down for lunch and it's typical that most people stop their day (working and at school) for a sit-down lunch. 

To get your cart at the store, you insert 5 or 10 crowns (or 1 Euro) into the cart to unlock the cart. When you return your cart and insert the key, your coin pops out. This eliminates loose carts in the parking lot and having an employee go out to the parking lot to return the carts to the front of the store. 

If you only need a few items from the store, like meat, cheese, bread and/or pastries, you can shop at the front of the store as there are two counters with these items.

The grocery store is set up similar to what I am use to with the produce in the front but the main difference is that you (the customer) weigh your own produce when you select it, versus the check out person weighing everything for you. You put your produce on the scale, select the type of produce and then the machine prints out a bar code which you stick on your bag.
This makes it very quick and efficient at check out.

There is no shortage of fresh bread and pastries at the store. Shop late at night and there is little left.
Everything is made daily and spoils quickly so shopping on a daily basis for fresh bread is just part of this culture. Buying bread in the bag once a week is not typical, although there are a few "packaged" breads. 

While the pastries make your mouth water, they are not overly sweet. This is a nice change from the typical pastries that everyone associates with being overly sweet and packed with sugar.



You bag your own bread and can mix and match in the same bag. The check out person knows which bread is what so it's very efficient at check out .



Here's the packaged bread section. 

Oh the choices. 

I absolutely love the deli and cheese section at the grocery store, which I think is pretty typical here in Europe.
Rather than having one person behind the counter, slicing each cut of meat or block of cheese, everything is ready in the morning.
There's at least one person per section in the meat and cheese area, and they simply use their hands (with gloves) to grab how much meat and cheese you want, weigh is, wrap it and you are on your way.

(For reference for pricing, 1 US dollar = ~24 Czech Crowns. Food is very inexpensive for us here. But keep in mind that they use the metric system. Gas, on the other hand, is very expensive). 

Beer is cheaper than bottled water. 

And speaking of water, you can choose how many water bottles you want without having to buy a big packaged of water bottles. Mineral water is very popular here in all types of flavors. You don't have to worry about food dyes and artificial flavors as they are banned by the European Union. 

Of course, there is a section of candies and chips and other cereals but aside from the chocolate candy bars (which bring back found memories for Karel), we haven't bought much snacky food, if any. 

There's a huge frozen section of meats and cheeses and yogurts. 

And eggs are not refrigerated. 

At checkout, you pay if you want a bag (about 5 crowns) so it's typical that everyone brings their own bags. Also, about 80% or more of people pay for everything in cash here. Credit cards are not very popular. 

After our grocery store trip, we walk home with our bags and get to cooking and eating. 

Eating comfort zone

It's often said that traveling is one of the best ways to step outside your comfort zone. 

A new routine, a new lifestyle, new sights and perhaps even a new language that you do not understand.

Every time you travel, you welcome the opportunity to experience a new way of living.
And above all, when you travel somewhere new, there is a good chance that you will eat new foods or new meal creations that are not familiar.

Perhaps you are the individual who loves putting yourself into situations where you are forced to try new foods and adapt to new cuisines and eating traditions and customs.

But for many people, traveling can be an overwhelming experience because it requires eating foods that are not so familiar and that can make you feel uncomfortable (often more mentally than physically). 

While it is good to have a style of eating that works for you on a daily basis, if your eating boundaries are very limited, you may find extreme difficult to step beyond the place where your daily eating habits make you feel safe and secure and this can bring a lot of anxiety when you travel.

While it is very easy to say "yes" to foods within your comfort zone (or diet-approved zone) when you are at home, when you travel, you may find yourself saying "no" a lot due to a very restricted and limited food comfort zone.

While you should never eat something that doesn't agree with your body (allergy, intolerance) or goes against moral, ethical or medical reasons, living a life that is controlled by food limits is no way to live.

You may even find that you dread the thought of traveling to a new place (whether for work or pleasure) for fear of having to eat foods that you normally don't eat. Whether you are a picky eater or crave simplicity or struggle to make eating choices without nutrition fact labels, measuring cups, calorie counts or a clear understanding of how a meal is prepared, I encourage you to slowly begin to step outside your eating comfort zone. 

Over the past few years, I have become more uncomfortable eating....... in America.

While I am very comfortable eating in my own environment, my eating comfort zone is not always comfortable as I am eating in a diet and body obsessed society that has a very dysfunctional relationship with food.

This doesn't mean that I don't love the USA as I am proud to be an American but I am greatly disturbed by our culture when it comes to food and how people see and talk about food.

I love bread, yet in America, bread is bad for you - we are told it makes you fat and causes diseases.
I love grains, yet in America, only a few are "good" for you, depending on the current trends and who's giving you permission to eat what.
I love milk and cheese, yet in America, those are bad for you - We are told they are bad for you and can cause inflammation.
I love all fruits and veggies, yet in America, there's a list as to which ones are healthy and which ones are filled with the most sugar - thus making some fruits and veggies "unhealthy."

You see, when I am in Europe, I can eat in peace.
I eat all my favorite foods and new ones because the foods I love, grains, bread, milk, cheese and all fruits and veggies, are all accepted in Europe.

There's not a day in America where I don't see or hear people talking about the foods that I choose to eat in my diet, discussing all the "bad" things about these foods and all the "bad" things that will happen if you eat them.

And don't get me started on how "bad" these foods are for athletes, especially if you want to perform well, improve body composition and stay healthy.
(Would now be a good time to do a throw-back to our 2016 Ironman Austria finishes where our bodies performed so well, despite being fueled by so many "bad" foods and "bad" sport nutrition products?)

So why is it that I feel more comfortable eating in Europe than in America?
First off, I don't speak the language.
Therefore, when I eat, I don't hear anything that makes me not enjoy what I am eating.
There is no talk about carbs, gluten or sugar.
 I can taste and truly yum over my food without any judgement.

For me, food isn't complicated yet in America, it's complicated. Very very complicated.

I'm bothered by how companies market and advertise food and frankly, what people call "food" in America.
I'm frustrated by magazines, social media, TV and experts constantly brainwashing children, adults, the elderly and athletes that something on the body always needs "fixing" and the best approach to change the body image is through food restriction.
I'm saddened to hear how many athletes are abusing exercising the body, and believing that starving the body from calories is the "best" way to improve performance.
I'm upset that America is so obsessed with healthy food yet we have such an unhealthy society.

While I understand that I am speaking about our country as a whole and not discussing subgroups who may have a great relationship with food and the body, I know that there are many individuals who understand where I am coming from and you likely sympathize with me. 

By all means, you are allowed to eat bread in America!

Let's be honest - eating is a messy topic in America and unless it changes soon, our society will become more sick and ill because of unhealthy habits that can be changed by a healthier lifestyle and eating disorders (and disordered) eating will become more and more prevalent. 

Naturally, this is a very important topic for me me as a Board Certified Sport Dietitian because I want to be the change that I want to see in America when it comes to athletes improving their relationship with food and the body. 

As I enjoy my last few days in Europe (with more pictures of my Czech meals to share on Facebook), I will continue to appreciate a style of eating that I strongly embrace here in Europe.

For the last 3 weeks, I have enjoyed eating trying new foods and meal creations and welcoming any eating opportunity to try something different. 

I am not sure when it started or how it started but my diet has certainly evolved to one that makes it so easy for me to eat in Europe. 

Whether I'm eating in the USA or Europe, I never feel confused or conflicted about my food choices but in Europe, I eat among a society that appears to have a great relationship with food and the body.
And with every bite and every yum, I am happy. 

Stepping outside of America allows me to step away from a food and body obsessed culture which is heavily focused on what foods are good or bad, depending on the season, the year and the latest diet fad, research study and the loudest nutrition expert.
Here in Europe, I am not in a culture that eats in uncertainty and fear and doesn't need approval that x-food is allowed to be eaten.

Allowed by who?

I'm still wondering that same question and who you are letting boss you around as to what foods you need or should be eating to be happy and healthy. 

IM Austria race report - post race

You can't have a race report without the post race details......

With quads that were no longer working, I slowly hobbled my way to the big white tent with Karel (only athletes allowed inside) to grab my street wear bag.

Karel told me that there were showers outside the white tent for showering. I could not wait to clean myself up after racing for 10+ hours.

I walked over to the showers, thinking that there was only one set of showers but thankfully, there was a men's and a women's shower.

The line to the male showers was long and not only was it filled with men but naked men. Oh my - what a sight (when in Europe)!

When I opened the door and walked into the women's shower "cubicle", there was at least 8 individual showers (and curtains) and no wait!

With warm water, I cleaned myself up and it felt amazing. What a treat to have indoor showers right at the race venue after an Ironman.

After I got dressed, I met Karel and my mom joined us as we walked to the transition area to get our bikes (5:30pm or later check out).

I picked up my very dirty bike (see pic below) and then grabbed my bike and run gear bags. We went through several stations to verify that our stuff was actually our stuff and then we turned in our chips at the end. 

We slowly walked to the parking lot to get our van and then we made our short drive home back to our apartment.

Seeing that it was 90 minutes or so after I finished when we arrived home (and over 2 hours for Karel), my body was starting to slowly shut down.

So, I did what every Ironman athlete loves to do at the finish of an Ironman.....lie down!

I crashed on the bed with Karel and still without much of an appetite (the food options post race were not your typical post race pretzels, pizza and banana options - they had all types of meats, goulash, bread and some fruit....and beer of course), I couldn't believe what had happened. I hadn't checked the Ironman website yet so it was finally time to actually see what I did to confirm that what happened during the race, really happened.

Aside from laying down, I also look forward to exchanging stories with Karel post race. While my first 7 Ironman events were with Karel on the sidelines, the past 5 Ironman events have been special as I don't only tell Karel my race recap but I get to hear his recap.

He still couldn't believe the race that he had and he was so happy with his result. Actually, he was shocked. He said he really celebrated at the finish line and soaked it all in. 

We took some time to reply to our many texts and messages (thank you everyone for the support) but nearing 8pm, our brains were just as exhausted as our bodies. 

Karel decided that he wanted ice cream whereas I was in no mood for anything with sugar in it but I thought it would be nice to walk downtown Klagenfurt and cheer on the athletes who were still racing and to let Karel satisfy one of his sweet teeth. 

It was really neat to walk on the race course and to reflect on our day. Karel and I both shared our stories about how we felt "here" or what happened "there". 

Not sure what Karel is more happy about - his Ironman performance or his ice cream??

I knew that it would be hard to fall asleep with the typical post race insomnia but I managed to fall asleep around 11pm but then I woke up around 3am - hungry!

I had snacked throughout the evening, after the race (mostly pretzels and milk) but at 3pm, I needed some substance in my belly!

I made myself a hardboiled egg, avocado and cheese baguette sandwich with farmers cheese spread. Yes, fat and salt please!! 

After I ate, I went back to sleep for a few more hours but it was a restless night of sleep. Karel said that he didn't sleep at all but just tossed and turned in bed.....with every muscle in his body hurting. I could feel the pain! 

Karel and I made the mistake of not getting any yummy post race food for our apartment so around 8am, we went to the grocery to get some food.

Karel picked up some chicken and made himself a schnitzel and had some potato salad (without mayo).....and a beer of course.

Breakfast of a champion....or of a 9:13 Ironman finish with a 3:06 marathon!

After we ate, we went to the expo to check out the finisher gear and purchased a few items and then went over to the roll down for Kona. 

Although IM Austria was not Karel's key race to Kona qualify, he couldn't believe his time and overall place and thought that there may be a slight chance that he would get a roll down. With only 40 slots for Kona at IM Austria and only 5 slots in Karel's 40-44 AG (with 500+ athletes), we knew it would have to be a miracle...but we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

Deep inside, Karel hoped for the Kona slot here just so he didn't have to repeat the torture and pain of racing hard in 8 weeks at IMMT but he was also fine with whatever outcome was meant to be for him. He said that even if he didn't get a Kona slot, he was so proud of his race and he could not have asked for anything more. 

Well, maybe 2 minutes more as that would have given Karel a Kona slot (it rolled down to 6th plave and Karel was 9th) but oh well.

I have no doubt that Karel will do what he does best and go into his upcoming training with tenacity and will race smart, once again, at Ironman Mont Tremblant to see if he can earn his Kona slot.

If you were wondering, there was only 1 slot in my age group (30-34) and the first place girl took the slot. But that's ok as my only goal was to podium at IM Austria and not to Kona qualify. I am thrilled that the one slot went to the athlete who is going to Kona.

After the roll down, we started to get hungry so we went to a restaurant in downtown Klagenfurt for a late but light lunch. 

Appetizer

Karel's dish

My dish - dressing on the bottom, cooked potatoes and salad.

My mom's dish - beef soup.

After lunch, we went back to our apartment to change and to get ready for the athlete post-race banquet.

I was getting a bit nervous in my belly to stand on the podium but equally excited to celebrate with the other athletes. 

The tent was packed and it was fun to see so many professionals and age group athletes in one room....all walking kinda slow :) 

They served us salad and bread to start and then two different types of pastas (a vegetarian dish and one with chicken). Mine was so good. They serve each table family style and you pass around the big dish and serve yourself. It's really cool to sit with other athletes, from other places in the world. 

When they started the award ceremony, the called up the professionals and the male and female winners gave a speech. Then it was time for the age group awards.

I was surprised when they called my name as the fastest overall female swim as I wasn't expecting anything at the banquet.

The fastest male swimmer wasn't present so I walked up to the stage and received an award from Arena Swimwear.

Not too long later, they called up the 30-34 age group podium for men and women. They only award top 3 so this race was a really huge deal for me to be on the podium. This was my highest age group finish since my very first IM back in 2006 (when I was 23 and won the 18-24 AG) and my highest ever overall amateur placement in an Ironman.

What an honor to stand up there with so many athletes from all over the world. I was also super pumped to be the fastest American female amateur at Ironman Austria.

What a dream come true!

After the awards (which got more and more inspiring as they went into the older age groups, even a 70-74 year old male category!!), it was time for desserts and then the conclusion of Ironman Austria with a live band entertaining everyone until the after after party (which we didn't attend - those Europeans know how to party!)

Well Ironman Austria - thank you again for the great memories.

I really don't know how Karel and I can top this race experience.

We have raced Ironman Austria twice and both times, we left the race with a PR but also with the same feelings that we absolutely LOVE racing in Europe.

While traveling here is extremely stressful, time consuming and expensive and it seems as if we always have some type of bad luck before race day...... race day does not disappoint us and things just somehow work out.

Like many athletes, we have each had our struggles as endurance athletes (and I'm positive there will be more) and it can be very tough to live this lifestyle together (as a married couple) for it's tough when one of us isn't in a good place, physically or mentally.  

But not only is that life but that's life as an athlete.

It's tough!

Be respectful to your body during the tough time and be grateful to your body during the great times.

With so many setbacks in my past, I can only encourage you to not give up during your low moments because the race of your life will happen - you just have to put in the work, believe in yourself, dream big and stay patient.

Thank you to our 2016 Trimarni sponsors for the ongoing support!

IM Austria race report - 26.2 mile run

Not feeling so great within the first 1/2 mile of the run, my first thought was that this is going to be one tough marathon for my body to get through.

To be honest, after 10 Ironman starts and finishes, this wasn't the first time that I have thought this or experienced this feeling, so I just reminded myself that the only way I would get to the finish was to keep moving forward.

While I felt physically fit and prepared for IM Austria, I did a lot of mental training to help me prepare for the uncontrollable moments and the uncomfortable moments of racing a 140.6 mile event.  I was prepared mentally for anything that came my way on race day.
And oh boy, was I given a lot to struggle with during the marathon!

Going into Ironman Austria, I reminded myself that I was in great health and that any suffering that I felt on race day was normal and expected. I welcomed the opportunity to suffer for 10+ hours and I wanted to embrace the good hurt that I would feel when racing to the best of my athletic ability.

I've learned that having a goal pace or goal time in the Ironman run can cause a great amount of stress and pressure for me so my only goal for the run was to find and establish and then hold good run form with rhythm and fluency. This is something that I have learned from Karel as he always tells me that he runs with a metronome-style of running and no matter how fast or slow his time shows on his watch, he doesn't care about the time but instead, finding that rhythm and then holding it until he becomes numb with this feeling and he can then just go with it by digging deep and staying mentally tough.

While Karel and I don't do the typical "long run" training (in Jan/Feb we do some longer slow runs around 2 hours but in my peak training, my longest run was 13.1 miles - at Rev3 Knoxville and Karel's longest run was 15 miles, with most of his runs around 13-14 miles), we race with our resilient bodies that are strong, healthy and durable. It takes a lot of courage to trust that you are "ready" to run an Ironman without the fear-based long-run training to see if you are "ready" for the marathon but we both felt ready for the marathon.

But of course, feeling ready and then dealing with the obstacles that you face on or before race day is just part of endurance racing.

For the first 3 miles, my stomach was not feeling good. But somehow, I was able to find a semi-good rhythm despite feeling uncomfortable in my gut. The crowds were cheering loud as I ran through Europapark which is always an instant energy booster.
Thankfully, the rain had stopped and the sky stayed dark so the weather was absolutely perfect for running.

There is one section in the run that we pass through 5 times, with the 5th time being the last time as we veer to the left to the long chute to the finish line.  

While I was really looking forward to this "hot spot" as a mental check-off point that I was making forward progress in the run, the Ironman Austria run course is my absolute favorite Ironman run courses as it has everything I love in a marathon run:
Cobblestones, sand, paved trail, loops, grass, a downtown, a neighborhood, water and mountain views and lots of crowd support.
While there are no significant hills, it's relatively flat with a few bumps to wake-up the quads...not to mention the curbs you have to run on and off of as you are entering and exiting downtown Klagenfurt.

I need a lot of mental stimulation when I run and not to mention the kilometer signs (instead of mile markers) to make me think (I love doing math when I run - it helps me tune-out the pain in my legs), I was really excited for this run course.

But first, I needed to figure out my stomach situation.
While my legs felt heavy at first, they started to feel better once the terrain changed from pavement to sand.
As I was running near the town/neighborhood of Krumpendorf, I spotted Karel running toward me as he was a few miles ahead of me since he finished a little over 20 minutes ahead of me on the bike.
I wasn't sure what condition Karel would be in off the bike based on his back pain going into the race and anything he had to overcome on the bike but even when he was in intense pain before the race on the bike, he felt ok on the run. I know he was just thinking that if he could get through the bike, he would be ok for the run and would just take it mile by mile, willing to drop out of the race if he had to (but we knew this would be hard as he really didn't want to DNF this race).

When I saw him, I gave him a big smile and a wave and he yelled back "Go Marni". This was certainly a surprise as Karel rarely talks when he is in race mode so I really appreciated this gesture. I wasn't sure what to think of his running form but I was just happy to see that he was running.

I felt like I really needed to use the bathroom so I planned to stop when I approached the first potty on the course. Well, my digestive tract was impatient so found the nearest bushes. It was a bit of a struggle to get off my one-piece short sleeve tri suit. No need to feel sorry for me or feel grossed out by this as I respect the human body and all that it has to handle on race day and well, sometimes things just don't work out like we would like.
I embraced this obstacle and my primary goal was to get through this stomach situation so I could get running again.

I was feeling a bit frustrated after this stop because I still didn't feel good for the next few miles.
I really wanted to stay up on my sport nutrition from my hydration belt but ever time I took a sip, I felt the urge to go to the bathroom again.
With the aid stations occuring about every 2.5K (or about every 1.5 miles), I skipped two aid stations and withheld from taking in any calories for over 15 minutes.
I was anxious to get back to taking in calories and fluids as I needed the energy but by mile 4 of still not feeling good, I needed this situation to go away as soon as possible.

A few more miles ticked by and I was able to still run with semi good form but my mind was not in the right place as I wasn't thinking about the metronome style of running that I wanted to achieve but instead, my mind was thinking about my tummy and how to best get through this situation.

As I made my way through the park again and on to the path toward downtown Klagenfurt, I was so relieved to make it this far. I knew I'd be seeing my mom in a few miles which made me happy to see a familiar face. 

Although I was going through a lot in the first 7 miles of the run, I still hadn't seen another female amateur close by me - but there was a good chance that with 3 potty stops so far on the run (plus one in T2), I may have been passed by girls and not even know it.

Before I approached downtown Klagenfurt, a girl passed me. We ran close to each other for a while which gave me a glimmer of hope that even though I had all these struggles, I was still making progress - I couldn't have asked for any more at this point in the race!

I laughed because at my 4th potty stop, the girl I was running with also stopped. We entered at the same time and left at the same time and we went back to running close to each other.

As I was getting close to downtown Klagenfurt, the crowds were getting thick and I was so excited to get some energy from the crowds. I could smell all the good food from the outdoor seating at the restaurants which made me smile - at least others were yumming while we were suffering.

I was hoping to see Karel again but I suppose we missed each other.

The downtown section was exciting and I finally came to terms with my tummy that I would sit in the potty until I was ready to exit and no more short stops.
What felt like forever, I finally felt better. 
I also decided that I needed to ditch my hydration belt at an aid station (by a fence) as I was still dealing with some distention and my hydration belt was extremely uncomfortable. While I love my hydration belt and tried to keep it on for 12 miles, it was time to use the nutrition from the course.
On to coke and water for the next 14 miles.

This is Karel running through downtown Klagenfurt - my mom snapped the pic. 

 
This is me entering downtown Klagenfurt - my mom snapped the pic.

As I was leaving downtown, I spotted my mom and told her that my stomach was not feeling good. She told me to hang in there and that I was doing great. 

She yelled something at me and I thought she said "you have a 11-minute lead" but after thinking about it, I thought she said you are in 11th.

Regardless of what she said and what I heard, I needed to hear this.

Something inside of me switched from suffering with my belly to needing and wanting to suffer with my body to get on the podium. Regardless if it was true or not, I convinced myself that I was going to get on that podium and I needed to believe that to get me through the rest of the marathon.

Suddenly, my legs started working and my stomach felt better. I was making a lot of forward progress and I actually felt strong. I embraced the hurt I was feeling and I was also happy to have passed the longest distance I had run in training.

When I went through the "hot spot" once again, I received another wrist band (think hair band) for my 2nd loop of the run. To get this band, a volunteer opens up the band and you stick your hand through. I received a yellow one when I started my first loop and a green one when I started the 2nd loop.
I didn't pick up my special needs flasks since I no longer had my hydration belt.

Now that I got through all those tummy issues, it was time to start playing the mind games. First, I thought how great it would be to finish now since I was running by the finishing chute but that was just wishful thinking. Still 11+ more miles to go! I told myself that all I needed to do was to get through the Krumpendorf section and then through Europapark (around 5-6 miles or so) and then it would be smooth sailing for the rest of the run. Sure, I knew this wouldn't be the case but I have learned that not only do you have to cut deals with yourself but you have to make yourself to think about anything you can to make a given situation better.

I had incorporated several walks into my running now that I was able to run more steady, whereas before, I wasn't walking the aid stations as I was doing enough stopping at each potty stop.

I felt like I was running really "fast" (relatively speaking) through Krumpendorf but when I got back on the trail to head back to the "hot spot", I felt a low. I just told myself to keep on moving forward, which I did.

I was surprised that my legs were running as well as they were considering all that had happened in the first 2 hours of the marathon run but nonetheless, my legs were fatigued. Every foot strike was painful but I tried to keep my mind in a good place that this was exactly what I had trained for.

As I was leaving the hot spot, I spotted Karel. My first thought was "I am SO jealous that he is finishing now!!!" but then I cheered for him. Later he told me that it took him a few minutes to process that he heard me as he was in a world of hurt from racing hard (not from an injury, thank goodness) and was just laser focused on the finish line.

I figured I had a good 45+ minutes until I reached the finish line so I was on a mission to get there as soon as I could so that I could reunite with Karel and my mom.

Every time I crossed a timing mat I felt like I was connecting with all my friends and Trimarni followers so it kept me focused that I knew people were tracking us online.

While I told myself that the rest of the race would be "easy" as I was running near Krumpendorf, I started to feel a painful cramping in my belly. Seriously?
Ok, I can get through this. I knew that the best thing in this situation was to stop as I couldn't risk to run with bad form this late in the race so I stopped at the next aid station, stretched out my core, took in some water and coke and walked until I felt better. While it didn't feel better right away, it slowly loosened up and what a relief, in less than a mile I was back to running again.

As I went through downtown once more, I noticed that there were some girls close behind me.
I gave myself permission to walk at one more aid station with 2.5-3 miles to go and then I was going to suffer like I have never suffered before.

I passed the girl who had passed me on the run earlier in the race and I also ended up passing the girl who passed me on the run.

I still had no idea what place I was in but I told myself that I had to be near the top of the age grouper females and I just had to stay focused to the finish line.

Every foot strike was scary as it hurt in my quads but I reminded myself that the pain I was feeling was nothing new as I had felt this pain 10 times before.
Plus, with no more tummy issues, I welcomed the hurt from pushing hard.

I had yet to look at my overall time, my running pace or any other metric on the run so like I normally do in an Ironman, with less than 2 miles to go, I look at the time of the day on my watch to see what my overall time may be.

Throughout the marathon, I was doing a little math - not knowing my swim time but guessing it was 59 minutes and then knowing that my bike time was something over 5:16 (as that was the last time I looked at my Garmin on the bike, before the transition area), I was thinking that I was going to finish around 10:20-10:25 based on all that I had to go through on the run. I was thinking that I was not even going to run a sub 4 hour marathon and that maybe I would be top 5 in my age group.

It wasn't until I was nearing mile 25 that I looked at my watch for the time of the day and it was getting close to 4:50pm.

Are you freaking kidding me?

While I am sure it didn't look like it, I felt like I was sprinting to the finish line.
It seemed to take forever through the park but I finally reached the hot spot once more, turned to the left, rotated my bib number to the front, zipped up my jersey and started to smile.

What a relief.
I finally made it to the finish line.

I was overwhelmed with emotion that I high-fived the announcer and with my hands raised up as high as they would go (oh boy, that took some energy), I crossed the 2016 Ironman Austria finish line. I looked up at the clock and saw 10:06 and couldn't believe it.


Thank you Joey for the pictures from the computer!

I didn't have much time to process it as I hobbled my way to the side of the finish line and nearly collapsed on the rail. 

Me far right, looking at the clock in disbelief. 

As I hobbled away from the finish line, I could hear Karel yelling at me from the other side of the fence. Of course, he was all dressed with a plate of food in his hands and I walked over to him.

We chatted between the fence and I told him I went 10:06. He was so happy for me.
It took me a minute to remember that he raced too so I asked him how his race went.

He was nearly speechless when he said "9:13".

I responded, are you serious?
He also told me that he ran a 3:06 marathon.

I was thrilled for him and I couldn't believe our day.
While the outcome may have been perfect, we both had our obstacles to overcome before and during the race.



After sitting down (with a group of guys) for a few minutes, I was finally ready to walk to see Karel and my mom.

My mom was so happy for me and she told me that I had the fastest overall swim of the day.
Say whaaat?
She told me that I swam 57.0 and I couldn't believe it. I thought there was no way that I swam that fast - I believe my dad, from above, was helping me out on race day.
Karel said the same thing about his marathon - my dad was helping him dig deeper than ever before.



It took a bit for me to find out how I finished overall in my age group but thanks to a bunch of text messages and posts on Facebook, I finally got confirmation that I was 2nd in my age group and Karel was 9th in his age group (out of 500+!).

I've always loved the Ironman distance as it doesn't always award the fastest or fittest athlete.

I respect this distance and I am incredibly grateful to my body for letting me start and finish 11 Ironman distance events.

Thank you for your support and for sharing our special day with us.

OVERALL RESULTS

Karel: 

9th AG (40-44), 68th overall

Swim - 1:03.05

Bike - 4:56.51

Run - 3:06.05

Total - 9:13.10

Marni: 

2nd AG (30-34), 10th female overall

Swim - :57.04

Bike - 5:18.00

Run - 3:42.57

Total - 10:06:54

(I apologize for any grammar errors or typos!)

IM Austria race report - 112 mile bike

(this picture was not from race day but the same view we got to enjoy for much of 112 miles!)

As I was settling into my rhythm on the bike for the short out and back section, I kept the effort very easy - light on the pedals.
Karel told me that my "race effort" would start after I left Maria Worth as I was nearing the round about by the town of Velden. I needed to give myself time before settling into my Ironman bike "race effort" as I was ready to give a very sustainably hard (relatively speaking for an Ironman) effort on the bike for Ironman Austria.

This year I have made/seen some big and exciting improvements on the bike - but as we all know, this didn't happen overnight. Seeing that I married a cat 1 cyclist turned triathlete, I really had no choice that I was going to become a good cyclist whether I liked it or not - thankfully, I learned to love cycling!
The truth is that my cycling has been an ongoing developmental process starting with an evolving bike fit (by Karel) to help my glutes work harder on the bike and to not tire out my quads. Specifically this season I did a lot of work on the trainer to help with my pedaling mechanics, with better chain tension with variable cadence (to help me climb better sitting and standing).  And of course, since moving to Greenville 2 years ago, I am more confident riding my bike in all types of terrain and know how to change my gears properly when anticipating different terrain.
So as much as I wish I could tell you a;; the magic key workouts that have helped my cycling, the truth is that I have not doing anything extreme with my cycling training - I simply dedicated myself to improving my skills, learned how to ride my bike and improved my confidence when riding on two wheels.
(Thank you Karel!)

My longest bike was 5 hours (about 85 miles) although I had one intentional overload cycling week (4 weeks out) where I did 3 long rides (4.5 hours, 5 hours and 4 hours within 7 days - all with a run off the bike. This same week I did a lot of run frequency as well. It was my biggest week of training in my IM training block (which lasted about 5 weeks) but the rest of my "long" bikes were around 3.5-4 hours with only a few 4.5 hour rides. 

I felt like I was flying through Maria Worth as the first section is fast. There are a few "bumps" in the road but overall, it's a great start to an Ironman after swimming for 2.4 miles.

I noticed in front of me that there was a girl with a motorcycle escort ahead of me. I was a bit confused by this because I was getting closer to her and I wasn't too sure of why an age grouper would have an escort. The first thought was maybe she was the top age grouper and they had a lead vehicle with her but as I  got closer and spotted her bib number around her waist on her back and it was a very low number (we were required to wear our bib numbers on our back - on our race belt - on the bike since we had no body markings. We also had 3 numbers on our helmet - front and both sides). I was able to see the back of the sign on the motorcycle and it read "3rd Austrian woman" or something like that.

While I have exited the water close to female professionals in the past at an Ironman, it was only a matter of time until I looked like I was riding backwards as they were riding quickly away from me.

This was certainly a first as I was staying very close to the professional female ahead of me. However, eventually she did ride away.

Seeing that I had no assigned watts, heart rate or speed to hold but instead, to just stay up with my nutrition (1 bottle per hour of 300 calories + additional water as needed from aid stations) and to go all by feel and occasionally check in with my metrics, when I approached the round about by Veldon I was ready to focus for the next 4+ hours.



As I approached the first climb, I felt good but didn't want to do anything crazy.
With two loops, 180K and 4-5 climbs (3 being significant climbs), it was really important that even though I was willing and ready to give an effort like I have never given before on the bike, I didn't want to ruin my race in the first 20K.

Compared to 2014 Ironman Austria, I felt much more confident on the bike course  And seeing that we were predicted to have rain later in the day (just like we had in 2014), I felt like I would be able to ride more comfortably in the rain on this terrain (in 2014 I rode a bit too scared).

I kept waiting for Karel to pass me but after finishing the Faaker See climb and then finishing the first loop of our course (see the map above to understand the loops within the loop course), I was nearing 50K and no sign of Karel.
I knew that there was a good chance that he wouldn't feel good on the bike based on how he had been feeling on race week but I hoped that a miracle would happen and he would be able to ride pain free. I knew how much he was looking forward to IM Austria, especially the bike course.

I can't say enough about this bike course - cute villages, the screaming spectators, the awesome volunteers at the aid stations (seriously - they were so awesome), the unbelievable breathtaking mountain views, the smooth silky terrain between the villages, the long fun and fast descends (nothing too technical) and the challenging climbs to break up the course.

I felt a little tired (sleep tired) in the first 90 minutes of the bike and I knew it wasn't from being low on calories but probably just from poor sleep habits on race week due to a bad case of jet lag. I stayed up on my nutrition with my liquid calories (4-5 sips every 10-15 minutes and as needed) plus water at aid stations and although my body felt good and I felt sharp, my eyes were sleepy.

It was around the time when I was having a little low that you know who rolls up behind me and I can spot a flash of orange right next to me.

The first thing he said was "Wow babe, you are doing great."

Karel passed me a little after 60K as we were nearing the last big climb (which is a long and tough one - it just keeps going and going and going)  of our first loop and later did he tell me that he couldn't believe that it took him that long to catch me on the bike. Usually he passes me within 30-40 min of the bike.

I told Karel that I thought I was near the top of the amateurs as he rode away....with a small group of other guys trying to stay with him (they didn't last long).

I could see Karel in the distance starting the climb and as he was switching from getting out of the saddle and then sitting and climbing, I could tell that he had his normal riding style - which was relieving (later did he tell me that his hips felt fine but he did feel a bit of tightness in his back but better than the days prior).

This was a great pick-me up and after the long climb, I was back to business again.

The last 30K of the first loop is very fast with a few slightly technical areas through villages (but nothing crazy hard or scary). The roads are wide open and you can almost always see where you are going with nothing significant to make you squeeze on your breaks for a turn or switch back. Despite the challenging climbs, if you can climb efficiently, this can be a very fast course (which it is known to be one of the fastest IM bike courses despite 5300+ feet of climbing).

As I was finishing the loop, in the last 30K, a girl rode up next to me (actually, this happened near the last big long climb) and I noticed on her bib number that she was in the 18-24 age group. While this didn't concern me that she wasn't in my age group, I wasn't sure how many female amateurs were close behind me on the bike so I used her as my rabbit and tried my best to stay with her. She was very strong on the bike and was able to stay with others a bit better than me (legally drafting) as I was still trying to manage my efforts and I didn't want to waste everything I had on the first loop.

With the rolling start, the drafting was much less of an issue this year compared to when we raced in 2014. For many times during the bike, I rode by myself for miles and miles with no one in sight. There were a few times when I was passed by guys or a few small groups of 4-8 guys near each other but never 20+ athletes riding in a pack together.

Oh, I forgot to mention that throughout the bike, I had a motorcycle next time me with a photographer taking pictures of me. He would stay with me for several minutes. At this point, I finally realized that I was somewhere near the top of the amateur race which just blew my mind. Seriously, me??...at Ironman Austria with very strong and fast females amateurs?

After a fun and fast 10K wheeeeeew, let's fly, aero-action ride, I was nearing town and the girl who I was riding with was out of my sight so now she was out of mind. Time to refocus and get ready for lap #2.

As I was nearing the "hot corner" near transition to start loop #2, the announcer yelled "Here is Marni Sumbal, our 2nd female age group athlete". 

Well, now that it was official, I was willing to take some risks and give it what I had to have the ride of my life. I paced myself as well as I could on the first loop (which is hard when you are about to burst with energy after taper) and fueled as well as I could on the first loop so now, I just had to sustain my effort. I knew that I would slow down due to fatigue (hills seem to grow on loop two of an IM course - always!) and with the sky turning dark, I continued to hit lap on my Garmin to focus only on 30 minutes at a time - that is all I could control.
I would often find myself thinking about the run and how my legs would feel after this bike but I forced myself to stay present.

I did stop at special needs for 3 more filled sport nutrition bottles and although it was quick (I asked the volunteer to put my bottles in my cages for me so that I could stretch), I really enjoyed this stop at 92K to just put my feet on the ground and relax for a few seconds. Then I was off again for a solo ride all the way to Velden (with maybe a small handful of guys passing me).

For some reason, I grabbed a coke near Velden thinking that it would wake me up but looking back, I don't think that was a good idea as I have done this in the past and have ended up with GI issues on the run (despite being able to tolerate coke on the run just fine). Perhaps with my GI system not becoming regular due to jet lag, the combination of coke + sport nutrition + effort was a bit too much in my tummy.

I didn't want to back off on my calories too much but I needed my gut to empty some of the contents so I gave myself about 20 minutes or so of no nutrition to see if I could get things to empty. While I wasn't too worried about it as it wasn't that uncomfortable while cycling, I was just a little worried about the run. 

I also didn't let it get to me too much as I know the IM is a long day and a long event and things out of your control (even if well practiced) may happen. If I have learned one thing after 10 Ironmans (Austria being #11) - things WILL happen on race day and you have to do a good job trying to deal with them when they happen. I've never had a "perfect" race day where everything went perfect for 140.6 miles - a great race is when you can overcome what comes your way.

I had a few more low moments in the second loop but knowing the course was really helpful as there were certain sections that I was really looking forward to and I knew that I would be able to pick up some speed and get into a good place again.

As I was finishing the first loop (within our loop) again, the sky started to drizzle.
Around 60K, the sky started to pour.

For the next 30K, I rode in a pretty heavy rain shower (with a few thunders) that only let up in the last 10K (although still wet roads). I was a little worried about what the run would be like but I knew that I needed to focus on the bike as the roads were wet and I still had one big long climb to do with a lot of fast descending (and a few villages with a few tighter turns) to do in the rain.

Thankfully, I remained confident in the rain which meant I was riding safe. At times, I was even descending in the rain on my aerobars as I knew that breaking in the rain, descending, was not safe. I did not ride stupid but smart and I was really proud of myself - this was a long time in the making!

Somewhere in the last 150K, I caught back up with the 18-24 girl that had passed and dropped me around 80K. I figured she was the first amateur female so I once again tried to stay with her.

But as I got to the last tight turn through a village, I knew that riding safe was my priority. She was riding close to a small group of guys so my chances of catching her were gone.

I continued my descend back into town alone and one by one, I was being passed....by guys.

Still not another female in sight, I eased up a bit as I got my mind and body ready for the marathon (or as ready as they could get after 180K of cycling).

I switched over my Garmin (for the first time) screen from my interval screen to total time and it read 5:16 as I was nearing the transition area....holy moly! In 2014 at Ironman Austria, I rode 5:29 and I was thrilled to have finally broke 5:30.

Sub 5:20 was my scary goal (which helped me put in the work for training) going into this race and I couldn't believe it.

As I dismounted my bike, I spotted Karel's bike and smiled with relief that he had finished his bike. I was so excited to see him again on the run and hopefully see him running. If anything, I just wanted him to finish and I know "just finishing" was his goal so long as he wasn't in pain. 

I racked my bike and then ran straight to the potty to see if I could help ease my stomach a little before the run. I struggled a bit with my short sleeve tri suit to get it off which was costing me some time but finally I was in and out (what felt like forever!). I also took the time in there to remove my HR monitor since I was wearing my new Garmin 235 (with HR built into the watch on the wrist).

I grabbed my run bag and then ran into the women's changing tent.
I guess they weren't expecting me because I didn't have a volunteer helping me - I was all alone.
Finally, after I put  on my visor, watch, shoes and hydration belt, a volunteer came in as I was finishing up and she took all my gear and put it into my bag. I thanked her, popped a TUMS in my mouth and off I went.

Like usual, those first few steps off the bike, with running shoes, are scary as you have no idea how your legs will feel - fresh or heavy?

Thankfully, I felt fresh!

But sadly, it didn't last long.
Five minutes later, my legs felt heavy and I was not feeling good on the run.

Ok body - 11th Ironman, let's figure this out!

We have a marathon to run, Karel to see, my mom to say hi to and a podium to get on to!

IM Austria race report - 2.4 mile swim

Although my alarm was set for 3:45am, my body woke me up at 3:20am. I stayed in bed anxiously awaiting my alarm to get me up so that I could finally start my Ironman race day.

I couldn't believe today was the day that I could FINALLY put all that training to good use and release some bottled-up energy that has been hard to hold on to for the past week.

Karel woke up stiff in his back and I could tell that he was concerned about what his body would let him do on race day. I had taped Karel's back and hip on Friday which made him feel better but I knew he was not feeling even close to 100%. The good thing was that he felt no pain or issues when swimming so for the first time, he was actually looking forward to swimming and not looking forward to the bike (as the bike was causing him some issues in his back since we arrived in Austria).

I woke up with a very nervous belly and the thought of eating was not on my mind. I forced down 2 Clif Bars, a glass of OJ and a banana for a total of around 780-800 calories. I also had around 8 ounce of water.

After I ate, I filled my sport nutrition powdered-filled bottles (bike and run) with cold water and double checked that I had everything I needed for a day full of swim, bike, run.

We all (my mom included) left our place around 4:50am to drive to Minimundus (about 10 minutes away).

We made our walk to the transition area (about a 10 min walk) and it was nice to be around all the other athletes. I think of IM Austria as a European IM World Championship with the level of athletes BUT with a much less tense atmosphere. You would be surprised how many Europeans were drinking beer at the pre-race athlete banquet on Friday!

Karel was not planning to use special needs for this race so he waited for me as I dropped off my bike and run special needs bags just outside the transition area.

Karel walked with me to my bike and pumped up my tires and did one last check to give me the confidence that all was good on my bike for 112 miles of cycling.

After he pumped up my tires, I gave him a kiss and a hug as we both did our own thing to get ready for the race.  

After I put my Garmin 810 and my three bottles (each filled with 300 calories) on my bike, I walked over to my bike bag to double check that it was in the right place and then to my run bag to put my flasks (each with 100 calories of Clif Hydration) in my Nathan Mercury 2 hydration belt.

The volunteers were absolutely amazing in the transition area - they were already cheering for us and with lots of high fives. Ironman Austria does a great job of making the athletes feel extremely special and to remind us that it is our special day.

After I left transition area, I walked over to the big white tent (where we had our banquet and athlete briefing) to put on my Xterra Vengeance women's wetsuit (half way up). I grabbed my new TYR pink Special Ops 2.0 Femme Polarized goggles. I only wore them once in open water to see if I liked them and absolutely loved them. While I normally use Speedo Vanquishers, I really searched for a better goggle for me for open water. I was worried that the non adjustable nose piece would be an issue for my small face but it is the perfect fit with just enough suction around the eyes and a wide lens for sighting. While I purposely only wore them once, I had a perfect 1 hour fog-free swim in open water for my practice swim in Greenville and then twice more when we swam on race week in Lake Worthersee.

I had a throw away plastic bottle of water (about 12 ounces) to sip on and I took a small swig of a Clif Double Espresso gel.

I then dropped off my "Street Wear" bag in my designated bin (with my before/after race clothes, cell phone in a baggy, sandals and extra pair of goggles just in case I needed them).

I ran into my mom and she wished me good luck and I gave her a big hug and thanked her for being there for us today. She's such a big supporter of Karel and me and loves supporting our very active lifestyle, especially on race day.

Because I no longer wear a watch in the swim portion of a triathlon (or turn one on if I do wear one for the entire race - for IM Austria, I did not wear a watch for the swim or bike, only the run), I had no idea of the time. I wanted to make sure that I got in a warm-up between the warm-up times of 6:10-6:30am.

I looked at the watch of another athlete and it said 6:15am. Oh my!

I quickly pulled up my wetsuit and put on my cap and goggles.

I hurried my way through the packed crowds to enter the Strandband building and finally made it to the area where we could warm-up.

I spotted Karel warming up but I had no time to chat as I needed to adjust my wetsuit (with water inside) and do my go-to swim warm-up with 10,20,30 fast strokes with equal strokes recovery. I do this a few times after smooth swimming for a few minutes to get the blood flowing.

I finally had a chance to talk to Karel in the water around 6:28am and I told him that I felt very nervous. I didn't want to talk about my nerves to him as I knew he was dealing with a lot but he told me I would do great.

We gave each other one last kiss for good luck and then both walked over to the corrals for the swim line up for the rolling start.

As I was walking over to the corrals, I had all the typical thoughts of "what if my body won't perform, what if I feel flat, what if I have a bad day" and I needed to stop thinking about the what ifs. I told myself that my body would know what to do and I was very anxious to just get started.

Karel ended up ahead of me in the corrals as we both lined up in front of the sub 1-hour group. For 10 years (since I started Ironman racing) I have been determined to break 1 hour for the 2.4 mile swim. I have came close many times with the last time in Austria with 1 hour and 13 seconds (errrr).

As I stood in line, more and more people were jumping over the fence and it was getting tighter and tighter. After the Austria anthem, the pro's started (6:40am and 6:42am) and then at 6:50am, it was time for the age group rolling start. I found myself around a lot of guys and some girls that I knew would be fast in the water (or else they would not have lined up where they did).

The music was pumping and the energy was building and as the line started moving forward, it was officially go time.

I absolutely LOVE the rolling start and I find it safe, much less stressful and scary and more relaxed than a mass start. Plus, with my experience, I have always swam faster with a rolling start compared to a mass start as you can line up with athletes of similar swim abilities.

I walked my way over the start line and then ran into the water. After a few dolphin dives, my 2016 Ironman Austria had officially started!

I absolutely love swimming in Lake Worthersee. Immediately, my stroke felt good in the water. It was a little chaotic in the beginning but in no time, I found myself swimming with a few girls (white caps and a few gold for AWA athletes) but mostly guys.

Karel said he saw me swimming (thanks to my black and purple wetsuit) but after a few strokes, he said I was gone and he couldn't hang with me. 

There were several orange/red buoys on the course and with the advice of Karel, I mentally broke down the first ~1200 meters to the turn buoy into 12 x 100 meters. While I had no way to know exactly where I was, this is all I thought about to help me keep a steady pace.

I didn't really have a race strategy for the swim except for to swim strong in the water.

As I was swimming, I actually felt fast in the water. I was staying with a group of guys and a few girls which was new for me as I typically have trouble drafting in the swim. I was staying on course really well (I was sighting and not relying on the group I was with) but sometimes I would find myself a little to the right where I wanted to be closer to the other athletes. I don't feel this affected me much as I was able to find clean water for efficient strokes for the first long stretch to the turn buoy.

When I saw athletes turning, I thought "wow - already?" as it didn't feel that long.

I made the turn and saw that I had dropped a few girls. I was swimming with another girl and still hanging with a lot of guys.

The next 470 meters went by fast. I still felt really strong and fast in the water and at times, I almost felt like I could pick up the pace. I was staying very present while swimming (and not thinking about the bike) and I was really enjoying this swim. While the water temperature was "warm" enough for the pros to not wear wetsuit, it was wetsuit legal for the age groupers. I found myself a little warm at times but nothing that was concerning. It was the perfect air and water temperature.

I felt like I was holding myself back a bit for the first 1600 meters, until we made our last turn around the turn buoy to head back straight to the canal (1100 meters) so I gave myself permission to pick up the pace a bit.

With the sun in our eyes, I was able to sight on two tall trees in the distance that Karel and I strategically picked out during our practice swim to make it easier to stay on course. While we were instructed to keep all buoys to our left, the race director set up another set of buoys to our right to help us stay on course as the sun can get pretty bright when swimming toward the canal.

I was still staying on course and I found myself passing a lot more swimmers. At times, I was swimming alone, which was fine to avoid being hit but I didn't want to waste any energy in the swim so I picked up the pace just a tad to try to catch a group ahead of me. While this didn't wear me out, it made me feel like I had more to give in the swim and with the canal approaching, I was feeling like now was the time to really give it a strong effort.

When I spotted the "white house" to my right, I new the canal was coming soon.

For the next 1000 meters, I was packed in with a group of guys in our tight 20-meter wide canal. At certain parts, the canal was shallow but I strategically wanted to get to the outside so that I could continue taking full strokes. I was able to move to the far left and found myself swimming really fast. I could see the crowds on my right and left and you could hear the loud cheers from the spectators.

The energy was building and after I went under the bridge walkway in the canal, I really picked up the pace. At this point, I had dropped the guys that I was swimming with and I was in clean water, all by myself.

Nearing the swim exit before the right hand turn, I was anxious to see the time on the clock to see my swim time. Part of me was nervous to see the time as I knew I would be disappointed to see anything over an hour but then again, like I tell my athletes, whatever happens in the swim, you have to forget about it and move on because there is nothing you can do about it.

As I made the right hand turn, I spotted to look at the clock and couldn't find it. I looked again and no clock.

I chuckled to myself and thought that maybe this was meant to be - I wouldn't know my swim time until after the race.

I swam to the swim exit and the volunteers helped me out of the water. I ran up the steep platform to get out of the water and then took off my cap and goggles. I pulled down my wetsuit to my waist and while taking off my right arm of my wetsuit, I left my goggles and cap inside so that I wouldn't drop them (and wouldn't have to carry them). 

I didn't hear my mom but she was there cheering for me and snapped this pic (no your eyes aren't messed up, it is blurry :) My mom apologizes about the picture- she said I was moving too fast!

Thanks mom for the cheers that I didn't hear!

I made the loooong run to transition and wasted no time. I grabbed my bike bag from the rack (while noticing that no other bags on my rack were missing) and into the female changing tent.

There I was alone in the female changing tent with my own volunteer helping me out.

I had her wipe of my feet with my towel to dry them off as I put on my helmet and sunglasses. I then put on my socks (I was wearing CEP calf sleeves under my wetsuit - I normally wear compression socks in an IM but I didn't want to waste anytime at this race in transition - it's free speed!) and my cycling shoes. I asked the volunteer to put some extra nutrition into my pockets (gels, bar, blocks) and she nicely told me she would pack up my bag (otherwise, I would have had to do it as instructed by the race directors and then place the bag in a bin).

Deep inside, I just needed some type of confirmation that I did or didn't break an hour and I asked her the time of the day (since we started at 6:50am) and she said 7:52am. I figured the transition took me at least 3 minutes so I thought to myself that there was a good chance that I broke an hour.

While I didn't have any way to confirm this, I was thrilled with the time of the day regardless of my swim time (1:02 after the race started and I was about to run to my bike).

As I was about to leave the changing tent, I asked her if she knew how many girls were ahead of me.

She responded "I think 6".

I figured age groupers so I thought that I was still in a good position in the race as I was feeling really confident (and excited) to be on my bike.

I ran out of the changing tent and made my way on the red carpet to my bike. I powered on my Garmin and then ran my bike all the way to the bike out. I looked for Karel's bike (just to see if he beat me out of the water) but wasn't able to locate his bike among all the other bikes. I guess I would see him on the bike, eventually, if all was ok with his back.

When I mounted my bike, the crowds were intense. For less than 1/2 mile, we have a quick out and back (with a turn around a cone) which is super spectator friendly. I spotted my mom on the other side of the barricades.

When I made the turn around to head her direction, the announcer said "and here is our first amateur female out of the water."

Although I heard him correctly, I was positive he was confused as the volunteer told me I was around 6th out of the water (based on her guessing).

Regardless, I gave him a thumbs up and then waved to my mom.

I settled into my comfortable aero position it was finally time to see if all my hard work on the bike was going to pay off as I was determined to see how close I could get to the other female age groupers who were ahead of me (or so I thought).

Off I went for 180 kilometers and 5500 feet (1680 meters) of challenging and fast fun on two wheels! 

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

As for Karel's swim, he said he felt really comfortable in the water.. He really prefers the rolling start as it helps him stay calm when he enters the water which sets the tone for the rest of the race. Whereas in 2014, at Ironman Austria Karel swam 1:07, he was super excited about a PR swim of 1:03 this year. Karel wore his ROKA swim goggles and Xterra wetsuit.
Karel has continued to make huge improvements in the swim as he puts in the work in the pool by swimming at least 4 times per week, with specific workouts to keep him focused and excited to swim.
We have also done more open water swimming (Lake Hartwell at Clemson) this season, more than ever before.
In addition to his swim toys (snorkel, ankle strap, buoy, FINIS agility paddles), he has been wearing SIM shorts (by ROKA) in the pool for most of his pool workouts since the winter (sometimes he swims without them and sometimes he takes them off for the main set) and they have really helped him as he keeps his energy (and good form) in the water for each workout longer (whereas without the shorts, he would get tired and lose form faster) which has really helped him gain a lot of swim fitness this season.
 Yes, I said it - he actually enjoys swimming.
While he doesn't have the same joy as I do for swimming (especially early in the morning - he prefers evening swims), he has really worked hard for his swimming improvements. While it's not always easy in the pool or open water, Karel continues to put in the work and it's really paying off! 

IM Austria race report - Pre-Race

Karel and I packed all our gear bags on Friday and I also prepared my bike and run bottles with sport nutrition powder (and special needs bottles) which made Saturday much less stressful.

But nevertheless, the butterflies were not yet in formation in my belly as I was full of nervous excitement. 

I was feeling a bit more nervous than normal as I normally don't get too nervous for an Ironman but I am constantly reminded by Gloria that nerves are a good thing - it means you care and you are ready.

On Saturday morning, I woke up around 5:30am as the sun was peaking through the window. After a few nights without AC, we purchased a fan which helped to cool off our bedroom as it was getting warm out (in the 80's during the day and 60's at night).

It's amazing how bright it gets so early and how long it takes in the evening for the sun to set. The days seem long and my jet-lagged body was not liking the already short nights.

While I felt I slept OK on Friday night (my first "real" sleep in 6 days), I knew I was still struggling to get my body into it's normal routine (sleep, GI system, mind and body), even after being in Europe since Monday of race week.

Around 8am, my mom and I made our way down to the race venue by bike so that she could start day #3 of her volunteer duties at registration. Renting a bike (for only 30 euros for the week!) was the best thing for us as we only lived about 2.5 miles from the race venue (in downtown Klagenfurt) so it was easy for my mom to get to and from the race venue on two wheels. And thankfully, we are in a super bike friendly area where everyone bikes around and there are many trails just for bikes.  The cars really respect bikers and walkers which is nice (gas is expensive here!).

My mom is an expert Ironman volunteer as she has done it many times in the past and she loves helping out the athletes before the race. This race was unique as it was in Europe so aside from Kona for the IM World Championship, she had to help athletes who spoke many different languages.

After my mom dropped off her bike in the bike parking lot (yep - a section in the parking lot just for bikes), I continued riding for another 15 minutes before heading back to the race venue for the 9am, English speaking mandatory athlete briefing.

Karel started his ride after me and because of his back and hip pain, he wanted me to do my own pre-race warm-up so that I could focus on myself as he knows that I use a lot of my energy on him because I care about him so much and he wanted me to stay in my zone to get myself ready and to not worry about him.

Karel and I eventually met up at the athlete briefing at 9am which was very well done with a big screen and announcer to explain every little detail about the race.

Because of the predicted weather, the race directors were a bit nervous as we were suppose to have 100% thunderstorms all day on race day but thankfully, the weather changed to only storms/rain in the afternoon.

We were also suppose to have big storms on Saturday but it only rained a little over night.

After the 1 hour athlete briefing, I continued on with my pre-race warm-up and rode for about an hour on the race course through Maria Worth and included a few leg openers to wake-up my body. I was really excited about my deeper rear dish wheel from Alto Cycling (first time using it in a race but I rode several long rides with it to get use to it) and my newly fixed electronic shifting on my right base bar.

In case you didn't hear about my little freak out (while Karel remained completely calm):

Sadly, in route to Europe, my basebar Di2 shifting stopped working with the cause unknown. Karel thought maybe a cable snapped but all was good inside the bike.

While pre-riding the race course (60 miles) on Wednesday, we rolled by Triasport which looked to be a higher-end bike shop.

Thankfully, the owner spoke English so Karel was able to discuss what had happened. After the owner spent a long time on the phone trying to see what he could do, they were able to order me a new right side brake lever from Germany, for it to be overnighted to arrive on Thursday. They also gave us a great euro discount which was much appreciated as this was an unexpected purchase!!

Although I could have still raced with only my right side aerobar electronic shifting (the brake worked just fine, it was just the shifting on the base bar that wasn't working to change my small cassette), Karel knew that I was very uncomfortable with this situation. I absolutely love my electronic shifting and it has helped me become a more confident rider as I feel much safer and more efficient when I can shift from both my base bars and aero bars.

When we picked up the part on Friday, Karel was ready to get to work in the afternoon before the athlete pre-race banquet. Thankfully, I married the best bike mechanic in the world (seriously, he's that good) and with the tools that he brought with him from home (always thinking!) and from his dad's workshop in Czech, I played bike stand for over an hour while Karel rerouted the cables and installed the new brake lever.

And it worked!

Thank you Karel for once again, coming to my rescue and for taking great care of me and my bike needs!

I told Karel that I would ride extra fast for him on race day and use my gears a lot :)

After my bike warm-up, I returned back to our rental flat and transitioned quickly to the run. I debated between my new New Balance Zante which I have been wearing for the past few weeks (Karel got a pair back in April and absolutely loves them so I decided to try them out) and my Brooks Launch (which I wear on my easy run days). I left my Pure Flows at home (Karel and I each have 3 pairs of shoes that we rotate around for different workouts).

The Zante have a 6mm drop and Launch have a 10mm drop.

For some reason, I didn't feel the best running on Thursday with the Zante and thought it was just from the travel and my first time running since Sunday. But something in me thought that the Zante were not the best shoes for me for this race with the sand and the cobblestones. But then again, normally I wear Brooke Pure Flow (4mm drop).

I decided to transition into my Launch shoes for my pre-race warm-up and instantly I felt so light on my feet. It just felt good and if there is one thing you need in an Ironman, it's having happy feet in your shoes for 26.2 miles.

Yes - these will be my Ironman shoes!

After a 15 min warm-up on the run course with a few pick ups, I went back to the flat to try on the New Balance once more just to confirm my decision. I did a few more minutes of jogging outside and felt confident in my decision to wear the Launch, last minute, for the race.

 Please be mindful that I don't suggest this strategy on the day before an Ironman - wear what you have practiced in training.  

After a recovery drink (Clif recovery and milk and a glass of OJ) and a meal (eggs, bread w/ farmers cheese spread and fruit), I repacked my transition bags as I was officially ready to check in all my gear.

After Karel returned home from his bike/run warm-up (he said he felt OK but not great - his back was still bothering him on the bike), we both rested for a little bit before a light lunch and then we left for the race venue around 2:30pm (bike check in from 1-7pm)

We parked at the Minimundus parking lot and then walked over to the transition area. If you don't know much about this race venue, the transition area is huge to accommodate 3000 athletes and there is a very long run from the swim exit to the transition area. 

Here we are in our euro "van" - perfect for all our stuff but not so perfect for navigating through the tiny streets and parking spaces in Klagenfurt.

And did I mention that this van is a stick shift?

Although Karel has had fun driving this around (even parallel parking it several times), he was ready to return it on Tues when we arrived back in Czech. 

At the bike check in, we were required to wear our race belts (to be worn on us, while we are on the bike) and helmet. There are several checks to get through the transition area with the last check being the chip check to receive your chip. 

It was nice to see my name on a name tag but sadly, my bike did not rest comfortable through the night as it was squeezed between two bikes on a very tight rack packed with female bikes. 

Perhaps one day my wheels will touch the ground. 

Maybe I should start dreaming big to grow a few more inches.

As for Karel, his AWA status got him a prime spot near the bike in and out area.

Score!

After racking my bike, I hung up my run bag in it's designated spot (with my run shoes in a plastic zip lock due to the predicted rain shower over night).

And then I dropped off my bike bag. Same for my cycling shoes and socks, I had them in a ziplock bag instead my transition bag.

You are not allowed to use ribbons or alter your bag in any way here at Ironman Austria. 

I mentally walked myself through the big transition area one more time before exiting the transition area (with my chip) to see my mom who was waiting for us. 

The volunteers were amazing in transition area. The girl who helped me told me that her school class drove to Klagenfurt from another area in Austria to volunteer for the race. She was really excited to help out and she had never seen an Ironman before. She was very helpful.

It's really incredible how the volunteers and spectators treat the athletes here in Austria - I constantly felt special and welcomed in Klagenfurt as an Ironman athlete.

And to top it off, all of the female triathletes at Ironman Austria received a beautiful rose.

Out of ~3000 athletes there were only 273 female finishers.

Girl power to the female athletes who raced in this male dominated race! 

After bike check in, we made a quick stop at the Spar grocery store for some last minute dinner items  (eggs and rice for me - keeping it simple like usual) and then it was time to rest, eat and sleep.

I received a great pep talk from Karel to remind me of my race strategy. While the strategy did not include any paces, watts or times, it did include words like suffer, stay mentally strong, you can do it, believe in yourself, you trained harder than you have ever trained before, you are in great shape and you will do great.

He also told me that no matter what happened to him during the race, to not worry about him. He wanted me to only focus on myself. Karel wasn't sure how long his body would last as he didn't want to race through pain and risk further issues going into IM Mont Tremblant. He was also prepared to withdrawal from the race if needed.

It was the perfect pre-race talk as I know I have a tendency to let my body get comfortable in the Ironman when it comes to racing. I tend to race with one speed and just hold it. This time, I needed to accept that although I may feel comfortable at times, I will not always feel comfortable and I needed my mind to be prepared for what I trained my body to do on Sunday.

I needed to mentally prepare for the hurt that comes with racing an Ironman at this level and to not let my mind be my limiter. I continued to remind myself that I am very healthy, strong and injury free. I could not ask for a better way to go into an Ironman.

While I consider myself a mentally strong athlete on race day, I knew that if I wanted to do something that I have never done before with my body, Karel was right - I needed to get my mind ready for 140.6 miles of being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Before I went to bed, I received an email from Gloria and the quote she sent me was just perfect - I told her that I would carry it with me in my mind through my entire race.

"You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible."
 -Deepak Chopra

2016 Ironman Austria finishers

Dreaming big is easy.
It's free, it it's not physically exhausting and anyone can do it, at any age or fitness ability.

Dreaming big is a necessary part of goal setting.

If you can't visualize yourself achieving your goals it's going to be very hard to believe your goal is worth achieving.

And if you can't believe in yourself, you will likely not work hard enough to make your dream turn into a reality.

Eight months ago I started my 2016 season (foundation phase) with one big scary goal.

To be on the podium at the 2016 Ironman Austria for my age group (30-34). 
For 8 months, I stayed present for almost every workout.
Sometimes I lost motivation, felt too tired or found myself "too busy" to train but I never lost sight of my goal.

I followed my training plan and took great care of my body to stay consistent with training.

I didn't question the workouts that Karel gave me because we had a game plan for this season.
 (and with the help of Matt Dixon with Purplepatch Fitness, who is Karel's coach) 

With 10 Ironman races behind me, including 4 Ironman World Championship, Karel knew that I didn't need any more endurance in my body.
Karel knows I can go long all day and will be happy in my comfort zone.

So this season - Karel took me waaaaayyyy outside my comfort zone. 

And I loved it. 

I trained like I have never trained before and that kept me excited to put in the work day after day, week after week and month after month. I loved seeing my progress week after week but certainly, I had those stale moments when I questioned if the plan was still working.

I swam more frequently than I have ever swam before as a triathlete (4-5 days per week).
I biked more on the trainer than ever before (weekly rides) and rode mostly my long rides outside. My longest peak IM training ride was 5 hours (about 85 miles) and most of my "long" rides were around 3.5-4.5 hours.
I did a lot of brick runs.
I did a lot of strength training, mobility work and hip/glute work.
I ran a lot - not long but frequently. And most of my running was on the treadmill. My longest peak IM training run was 13 miles (at Rev3 Knoxville).

I worked extremely hard when I was told to go hard and I went easy when I was told to go easy. My mind got in my way a lot and I had to learn how to use my mind wisely.
I never became gadget obsessed and didn't focus on metrics. I never trained with the intention of swimming, biking or running x-pace on race day. I simply trained as smart as I could to stay consistent with training. The more consistently I trained, the more anxiously, nervously excited I became that I was going to be able to do something amazing with my body on race day.
I never had to miss a workout because of a sickness or injury.

While I felt like I was doing a lot of "new" things this season, I constantly reminded myself that I've made a lot of mistakes and have overcome a lot of obstacles in the past 10 years as an endurance triathlete.
Thank goodness for those mistakes and setbacks!
Those were simply lessons in my athletic development to get me to where I am today.

Knowing that training consistently (and enjoying my training) would help me move closer to my Ironman Austria goal, Karel knew where I could gain the most with my fitness (swim and bike) and where I could possible lose the most with my fitness (running), depending on how we set up my training plan, workout volume, intensity and frequency and periodization.

This season I needed to get myself into great physical shape (while keeping myself very healthy) but I needed to mentally prepare to suffer like I've never suffered before - in training and on race day. 

Karel and I raced Ironman Austria in 2014 and we fell in love with the race venue, the crowd and volunteer support, the course, the atmosphere, the finish line experience and most of all, the high level of competition that brought out a level of racing that we never thought was possible in either of us.

In order to achieve something amazing with my body on race day, I needed to be in great health. 

I needed support from a team who believed in me when I questioned the craziness of this goal - especially when Karel told me he thought I was capable of breaking 10 hours (thank you Karel and Gloria for your ongoing support)
Thank you to my mom and close friends who "get me".

To reach a big scary goal, I needed consistency in training and a lot of ambition.
I am thankful for great triathlon guidance from Tower 26 podcast and Purplepatch Fitness, and our PT friends Chris, Drew and Kent and the amazing Dr. Cassas who always seems to have time for us despite a busy work schedule.

This season, I remained presently focused but not obsessed, with my training as life and happiness can not revolve around one goal.

I had a deep inner fuel to work very hard.
I needed this scary goal to help me stay motivated.
I needed great teamwork and teammates to keep me enjoying this Ironman journey (thank you to my Trimarni coaching athletes and my fun, girl power bike partner Meredith and the awesome Greenville triathlon crew).

You can't expect that everything will come easily when you are training for an Ironman but above all, you have to believe in yourself that you can do whatever it is you want to do if you are smart and patient.

Athletic dreams do not come easily, especially if you set a goal that seems impossibly possible to achieve.

On June 26th 2016 I not only conquered my big dream goal of placing on the podium at the 2016 Ironman Austria but I achieved more than I thought was possible from my body.

It's very hard to describe this Ironman Austria experience.

I've always loved racing a high level of competition but to combine it with this 140.6 mile course, I suppose the best was brought out of my body and mind on race day.

Amazingly, this course brought out the best in Karel too.
When I grow up, I want to be able to suffer like Karel.

Karel's body has been giving him some issues over the past year and every time he feels he is in the "best" shape, something comes up with his body which makes it difficult for him to train like he wants to train. This has been mentally and physically exhausting for both of us. It's been extremely sad at times and also frustrating knowing that he is trying to do all the right things but his body doesn't always cooperate.

Surprisingly, Karel shocked himself with his race performance at Ironman Austria. We say this honestly as Karel was in a tremendous amount of pain in his hip/groin in the 3 weeks leading up to this race after a MRI showed an impingement in his right hip so his training had to be significantly adjusted. Not to mention, he was in some agonizing back pain in the 72 hours leading up to this race but thankfully. Karel and I are against steroid shots and aggressive, quick-fix treatments so thankfully we have a great team of docs and PTs helping us out with good advice.

Most of the time, time just heals those injuries/niggles/issues.

But for Karel, time was running out before Ironman Austria so he came to terms with his body and just stayed optimistic that maybe all will be OK on race day and if not, he came to terms that if he had to pull out of the race, I would have to take one for team Sumbal and race my heart out for both of us.  

Although I still feel like this is all a dream, I know it's real.

To be able to share my on-paper, near perfect race day performance with Karel is an absolute dream come true.
(behind the scenes, this race was not so perfect for me so stay tuned for more details coming soon)

I am still so in love with Karel after 10 years of us living a highly active lifestyle together and for those who know me well, I love sharing this crazy, roller coaster of emotions, triathlon lifestyle with Karel.

Karel finished 9th AG (out of 500+ in his 40-44 AG) with a 9-min PR and his fastest Ironman swim (1:03) and fastest ever marathon run (3:06.0 - 5 minute PR).
Sadly, with only 5 Kona slots in his age group, he missed a slot by less than 2 minutes.
But that is ok as he is thrilled with his race and how his body miraculously performed here in Austria and it was never his intention to Kona qualify here as he has IMMT in 8 weeks where he hopes to Kona qualify.

While the real race day performance is best told by the athlete talking about his/her execution and what she/he had to overcome to get to the finish line, and not by race times and places, I am incredibly thankful to my body for what it allowed me to do on race day.

I just finished my 11th Ironman event.
I had a 11-min PR with an overall time of 10:06.
I had the fastest overall female swim (57.04) and finally broke an hour in the Ironman swim (it only took 10 years!)
I had an 11-min PR on the bike with a time of 5:18.00 (with the last 60+ minutes in the pouring rain).
And despite some major GI issues to start the run (which lasted for about 10 miles), after five potty stops (1 in T2 and then 4 on the run course), I overcome what I thought was not possible on the run (to keep running) and somehow I still managed to run a respectable marathon time for myself of 3:42:57.

I finished 10th overall female, 4th amateur female, fastest American amateur female and achieved my season goal/dream of placing on the podium at an international Ironman event (2nd AG).

As for going to Kona for the 2016 Ironman World Championship, I was not chasing the one Kona slot in my age group.
I went into this race to be the best athlete that I could be without any goals for what needed to happen to get me somewhere after this race.
All my focus was on this one day.

I went into this race knowing that I gave everything I could to prepare mentally and physically for this race and took risks like I have never taken before during an Ironman race. I did all of this because I will now take a temporary break from Ironman racing so I can focus on shorter distance triathlon races until I am ready to race another 140.6 mile event. As for how long of a break, my body and mind will let me know when it wants to return to this extreme triathlon event.

My body has allowed me to do a lot over the past 10 years and I don't take my good health, my love for pushing my body and my competitiveness for granted.

I often feel I am taking a lot of risks when I train for an Ironman so for my triathlon longevity and health, I'm giving my body a break from training to race for 10+ hours and I can now get my Ironman endorphins from Karel who is chasing his Ironman dreams. 

Thank you for your support and thank you Ironman Austria for making my dream come true in such a spectacular race venue.

      

RESULTS

Karel: 

9th AG (40-44), 68th overall

Swim - 1:03.05

Bike - 4:56.51

Run - 3:06.05

Total - 9:13.10

Marni: 

2nd AG (30-34), 10th female overall

Swim - :57.04

Bike - 5:18.00

Run - 3:42.57

Total - 10:06:54

30-34 men and women AG podium 


A beautiful AG award and a keg.
Euro style.