10 tips to achieve peak performance with the mind and body.

Peak performance.

What is it? 
For most athletes, to perform at your best, you need to be physical ready. However, race day readiness is much more than the physical training that precedes an important race.

To allow your body to operate at a level of peak performance, you need your mind to work with your body. An athletically ready body can only perform when you are confident in your abilities and you are calm, focused and determined.

To get into this "zone", where you are able to think about absolutely nothing other than what is absolutely necessary to succeed, your body can deliver the desired results.

For many athletes, it's likely that before and on race day, you let your mind get in the way of your performance. That is, your mind works against your body, instead of with your body.

Stress, loss of focus, self-doubt, competition, inability to stay present, worrying about the uncontrollables and fear of not meeting your expectations are all race day demons that can destroy a potentially great performance by your body.

To help you achieve a peak performance by your body, here are some factors that can help you perform at your best:

1. Specific, realistic and measurable goals 
2. Intense and strong motivation to succeed
3. Self-confidence and positive attitude
4. Experience
5. Sport knowledge
6. Routine - nutrition, warm-up, music, etc.
7. Imagery, visualization, meditation
8. Mantras, courage and positive self talk
9. Anxiety management and calming/relaxation exercises
10. The mind stays in the present moment

To get the most out of your body on race day, you can't just hope that your race will go well.  It is important to not isolate the body from the mind as it relates to achieving peak performance. Race day readiness is not simply based on your physical preparation but also your mental and emotional game before and on race day.

Because only on race day do you feel immense pressure to perform, it is important to consider the following sentence as it relates to peak performance.

When you are physically ready and mentally ready, you are ready to compete at your best.

Attention athletes! Don't overlook your special nutritional requirements.

As an athlete, you have special nutritional requirements compared to your fellow exercise enthusiasts. There's a good chance that you do more volume of exercise during a long workout than most people do in a week. Although this may make you feel a bit superhuman at times, it may also make you feel exhausted and worn out a lot of the time. Thus, it is important to take your "athlete in training" title, very seriously, recognizing that you can only adapt to training if you have a good understanding of your individual nutritional needs AND you meet them on a daily basis. 

In working with athletes, I am never surprised how many athletes struggle to meet daily energy needs. Not only is it tough to be an athlete but it's tough to eat like an athlete!

Consider how the following affects how you well (or not well) you meet your daily energy needs:
-Training load (volume, frequency, intensity)
-Family commitments
-Meetings/social events
-Work commitments/travel
-Lack of appetite
-Little time to eat
-Poor meal planning/prep
-Environmental stress (heat/cold)
-Dietary trends/body image concerns
-Appetite/cravings
-Timing of food
-Influence of professionals/other athletes/social media
-Availability/convenience of food/drinks

As I mentioned above, you are not like other people. The athlete mindset is to adapt to each training session to better prepare for race day. Thus, every training session is an investment to your development and ultimately, your goal is to maximize fitness with the least amount of training stress.

As an athlete, your active lifestyle is quite extreme and because of that, it is important that you understand why nutrition is so critical to helping you achieve success in your sport and why you need to make the effort, every day, to stay on top of your daily and sport nutrition needs.

As an athlete, you need an opportunity, an appetite, awareness, knowledge and availability to consume adequate nutrients and fluids in recommended amounts to meet your daily energy needs, which is dependent on your training load.

As an athlete, you have high energy costs because of your high energy expenditure. In other words, you must meet carbohydrate, protein, fluid and electrolyte needs every single day to ensure that you can stay healthy and consistent with training.  If you do not meet your daily needs, your body begins to fatigue, you struggle to keep your body in good metabolic and hormonal health and you increase risk for injury, sickness, burnout or over training. 

As an athlete, you must spend more time than other people to strategically plan your meals and your snacks and to also time your nutrition around workouts. So in your already busy life, yes, you still need to make YOUR eating a priority.

As an athlete, with the racing season quickly approaching (or you may already be in it), I strongly encourage you to not overlook how critical and extremely necessary it is focus on your food consumption and nutrient quality throughout the day. Busy schedules, lack of planning and intentional undereating will negatively affect training so do yourself a favor and make nutrition a key component to your active lifestyle. 

As an athlete, you have the energy to train so dedicate some of that energy to healthy eating and proper fueling/hydration. Consider that that extra energy on your diet can actually help you train harder, longer and faster!

As an athlete, you likely have a tremendous amount of information on how to fuel and hydrate for workouts, how to fuel properly before/after workouts and you likely understand the basics of how to eat a healthy diet throughout the day. Apply this information to your daily life so that eating, fueling and hydration does not become an after thought. I see it all the time but athletes do not make healthy eating, fueling and hydration a priority until something bad happens with the body. 

As you continue with your summer training, consider that a loss of appetite, heavy training, fatigue, poor access to suitable (or healthy foods) and distractions from proper eating can all negatively affect your ability to train well and keep your body in good health, during the time of the year when you expect your body to perform the best. 

As an athlete, there are no magic bullets or secret nutrition tips to boosting performance. Consistent training, proper fueling/hydration, planning ahead and understanding what works best for you will help you get to that next level.

Here are a few simple nutrition guidelines to help you achieve athletic excellence: 

1. Plan your day of eating before it happens. Plan out your nutrition before/during/after workouts, 3 meals and a satisfying snack between your meals. 
2. For every workout, don't just show up. Have a plan for hydration and fueling before/during/after all workouts. 
3. If you have an off day or a bad workout, underfueling or overexercising will not make things better. Just move on with the methods that are working for you so that you can stay consistent with training. 
4. If you have a bad workout and you feel like your methods are no longer working for you, reach out to a Board Certified Sport Dietitian for help. 
5. Don't be afraid to focus on (and eat for) your own nutrition needs when eating with family, friends and co-workers. 
6. Plan ahead! You must shop and prepare food before a hectic day happens.
7. Plan ahead! You must prepare your pre and post snacks/meals before fatigue/tiredness/business sets in.
8. Sport nutrition products not only help you perform high quality training sessions and keep your body in good health but they bring confidence for race day application. 
9. Always consider how your environment and terrain will affect how you fuel/hydrate before, during and after workouts. 

As an athlete, if you are committing yourself to training for an upcoming event, consider the reward to your training investment when you can confidently say that your nutrition is enhancing your performance and health and that your mind (and not your nutrition) is your only limiter in training and on race day. 

Why you should break up with your food rules - forever!

For much of my educational career, I was taught guidelines based on scientific. By definition, a guideline is a statement by which to determine a course of action. A guideline is never mandatory, not binding and not enforced. Unlike a rule, which tells you what you are and are not allowed to do, a guideline is a recommendation or a suggestion. Whereas there are no consequences to breaking a guideline, rules, when broken, do not have the same consequences/penalties as laws. Rules are typically set in place as it is a way to enforce the way that things should be done.

In your everyday life, you likely adhere to both rules and guidelines and hopefully, obey all laws. For example, it's a law to wear your seat belt when you are in a car and to not drink and drive. There are rules to the road when you ride a bike outside and at every athletic event, there are rules to ensure athlete safety and fair play. Then there are guidelines to help people make healthy choices in their daily lives to help prevent chronic disease and to improve longevity and quality of life and perhaps guidelines at your place of employment, to help you effectively do your job.

As a board certified sport dietitian, my job is to help athletes apply sound guidelines and practices to maintain optimal health while improving athletic performance. To ensure athletic success, every athlete needs to be treated like an individual. Therefore, I never enforce rules as it relates to how an athlete should or shouldn't eat. As a qualified individual to prescribe, treat and counsel athletes on daily and sport nutrition, I am often disturbed by the many "experts" that dish out nutrition advice, almost always with food rules.

Although daily and sport nutrition guidelines are needed to help an athlete stay healthy while maximizing performance gains in training and on race day, food rules, whether advocated by a coach, nutrition expert, on social media (ex. blog, website, etc.) or in a book/magazine/TV, encourage restrictive behavior.

With good intentions, many athletes use food rules as a way to eat better and to improve performance. For example, a rule to always refuel after a workout is great advice. But a rule of "no starchy food in the evening" or "bread is off-limit" or "you can only eat a cookie if you workout for 2+ hours" or"must workout fasted to burn fat" or "no sport nutrition during workouts less than 75 minutes" can place an athlete at risk for disordered eating patterns, potentially sabotaging performance and health because athletes see these rules as non-negotiable and will ignore biological cues for hunger and cravings in order to adhere to these rules. Seeing that athletes often take guidelines too the extreme, there can be great consequences to adhering to food rules. 

As an example, an athlete experiences a positive change in body composition by working out fasted in January and February. His/her sugar cravings appear to be controlled and the athlete feels energized and strong. However, come March, the athlete's training increases in intensity and duration and the athlete is now gaining weight, experiencing extreme sugar cravings and is struggling to maintain energy during workouts. Whereas once the food rule of "no food before a morning workout" was seen as a success, the athlete now has great anxiety and stress about eating before a a workout and despite knowing that the current lack of fueling is sabotaging performance and health, there is great anxiety to breaking the rule of not eating before a workout. Ultimately, the athlete, who is very resistant to change, allows him/herself to eat before the workout but feels safer with this food rule if workouts are over 90 minutes. Although one rule has been broken, the athlete now regularly workouts for over 90 minutes anytime food is eaten before a workout to feel safer about breaking the food rule.

As I mentioned before, there is no punishment for breaking a guideline or a rule. Thus, nothing bad will happen if this athlete eats before a workout. However, the athlete is now a victim of his/her rules and feels like a prisoner and slave to self-imposed food rules. In other words, the athlete is feels guilty about breaking the food rule, similar to the guilt felt from breaking a law that comes with a punishment.

In my line of work, I specialize in helping athletes overcome disordered eating patterns that are sabotaging health and performance. The biggest resistor, in my experience, is that these athletes fear a change in body composition by breaking food rules. In other words, certain athletes feel great anxiety and stress without food rules, for fear of gaining weight or not meeting the expectations of a coach, training partner or beliefs of what an athlete should/shouldn't look like.

Regardless of the source of the initiating of food rules, many athletes are unable and unwilling to deviate from the strict guidelines that they have created. Some athletes have difficulty breaking food rules set forth in the New Year, whereas other athletes have been living with food rules for many decades. Food rules can be as strict as no eating after 7pm, or never eating more than 30g of carbs at a meal, to something as simple as always drinking a full glass of water or eating an apple before a meal to trick your body into thinking it's full.

Food rules create structure, order and control. This is why diets work - temporarily. Food rules in a diet keep you "on track" by taking out the guess work of eating but this "good or bad" style of eating 

do not take into account your ever-changing life and unique nutritional and sport nutrition needs.

At first, food rules make eating easy, but the consequence for many athletes is disordered eating, which may develop into an eating disorder.

Following strict and unrealistic rules can result in physical, emotional and psychological issues, including nutrient deficiencies, hormonal disturbances, anxiety, depression and obsessive thinking. For an athlete, the stress you place on your body through training is more than enough for your body to handle. Food rules are like gasoline to the fire as you already risk health issues by pushing your body for performance improvements, why place it under even greater stress with food rules?

Food rules also result in extreme preoccupation with food and body image. This can be exhausting - mentally and emotionally. You may find yourself checking out of life to adhere to your food rules to ensure that you never break a rule. Understanding that unless you isolate yourself from friends, family and social events, you will eventually need to break some of your food rules, you  may experience feelings of guilt, self hatred, body dissatisfaction, anxiety and shame when you can't meet your eating expectations.  Due to intense fears relating to breaking your food rules, you may also experience unexplained GI issues due to food phobias, rules and eating strategies based on irrational fears (ex. eating gluten, drinking milk, eating too much sugar, consuming calories during training, etc.).

Breaking food rules can be very difficult. There can be great resistance to stop engaging in food rules and rituals related to food. But it's time to put yourself back into control. As you break your food rules, you will find yourself with less anxiety and more confidence with your food choices. During your break-up period, it is very important that you do not focus on your body as your body is likely in a state of undernourishment and low energy. The first step in your break-up is giving your body the nourishment it needs to heal from the damage that has been done by disordered eating (ex. restrictive eating caused by food rules). Eventually, likely with the help of a professional, you will be able to engage in healthy, structured and enjoyable eating patterns that are not rigid, strict, controlled or obsessive. As an athlete, it's likely that you want to do amazing things with your body. It is important to see food as nourishment and fuel. As an athlete, it is a responsibility to your body to relearn what it feels like to be hungry and satisfied and what it requires from you to eat "enough."

It's time to overcome your fears of certain foods and start to incorporate them into your normal life. Stop reading the blogs, articles and websites that encourage you to avoid x-food. If you find yourself worried about eating a certain food, like bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, dairy, oil, peanut butter, fruit or chocolate, it is important to your health and well-being to get rid of the mindset that forbids you to eat certain foods. Labeling food as good or bad or setting rituals for yourself as to when you are or are not allowed to eat certain foods is not health or performance promoting. 

As an athlete and coach, I am always looking for ways to experience performance improvements with the least amount of training stress. Food rules place a lot of stress on your body and make it much more difficult to experience performance gains. If you are finding yourself uncomfortable or afraid around certain foods, for fear that it will make you gain weight or you will lose control when eating certain foods, these food rules have likely caused you to avoid certain foods. Ultimately, your off-limit food list may have foods on it that are necessary and critical for you to achieve a healthy weight, maintain good health and to maximize performance. It isn't until you break up with your food rules that you will learn to create a style of eating that is free of guilt, shame, anxiety and rules and will (finally) let you live a life of food freedom. 

Athlete Spotlight: Kara Diamond-Husman: Leadville 100 Trail run finisher, now pacing through life with a Type 1 Diabetic daughter.

Name: Kara Diamond-Husman

Age: 39

City/State: Denver, CO

Primary sport: Running

How many years in the sport: 12 years

What Trimarni services have you used: Training plan

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Describe your athletic background and how you discovered your current sport?

I was a competitive tennis player growing up. My parents were against me partaking in any running activities, even if it was required in a team sport. They would write notes to excuse me so that I wouldn't run. My parents believed that running would causes eating disorders in girls.

My urge to run began in 2005 when I was 20 weeks pregnant and on bed-rest. I was in the midst of a complicated pregnancy with twins and was either laid up on the couch in our Wash Park home or I was at the hospital, under close watch. When I was at home, I would watch people through my house window as they ran by to do a few laps in the park. During that time, I decided I wanted to run my first marathon once our twins were born. While my husband and I did quite a bit of hiking in the high country, I never was a “runner” and I never competed in a race. Six months after our twins were born I ran my first half marathon, the Boulder Backroads Half. I loved it! I loved the energy I felt from running a race. Six months later, in 2006, I signed up for the inaugural year of the Colfax Marathon. I amazed myself by placing third in my age group and qualifying for Boston. My journey of traveling to marathons and seeing new cities began. After running Boston and then New York, I was completely hooked. I found running to be extremely invigorating, I loved the positive energy of the race environment and it helped build my self-confidence.

What keeps you training and racing in your current sport?
Over the next couple of years, I ran many marathons and half marathons around the country, often placing in the top three of my age group. In 2012, I was named one of Colorado’s fastest marathon runners in Colorado Runner Magazine. Then in 2012, I raced my first Ironman race, Ironman Arizona.The day was so unbelievable and so emotional. It was everything I thought it would and could be. I loved the entire race atmosphere and loved all the encouraging people around me – including my family who flew out to support me. Crossing that finish line was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Those six words, “Kara Diamond-Husmann, You, Are, An, Ironman,” will always be with me. My life was changed forever.

My Ironman Journey continued with Ironman Mount Tremblant in 2013, Ironman Boulder 2014 (Kona Qualified), Ironman Kona World Championships 2014, and Ironman Wisconsin 2015. However, recently, one of my daughters was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After this diagnosis I needed to be on call for her at all times of the day. I stopped going to the pool and I have not been back on my road bike. When I have free time, I enjoy doing things I love and that is RUNNING! As my passion for running was growing exponentially, I felt an urge to share this passion with others. Shortly after my running career began, I heard of a program called Girls on the Run, a national organization that teaches 8 to 13 year old girls self-respect, confidence, and healthy lifestyles through running. I immediately knew that I wanted to be part of this organization.  I could integrate my love for teaching young kids (I am a former teacher) with my love for running and help build self-confidence in girls. I’ve been a coach and site director for Girls on the Run since 2006 and brought the program to my own children’s school in 2010. The Girls on the Run program ends each year with the girls completing a 5K run at an organized race event. It is very rewarding being an inspiration to all the young girls that I get to work with. And, watching all the young girls cross that finish line with a sparkle in their eye, an uncontrollable smile on their face, and an “I can do it” attitude is so inspiring to me.

What do you do for work?

GOTHR coach and Type 1 Diabetes mom.

How does your work life affect training and how do you balance work and training?

My 12 year old daughter has Type 1 Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is 7 days a week 24 hours a day for 365 days. It never sleeps and it never has a vacation! I have not slept a night since her diagnosis 20 months ago. I carry my phone with me on the trails and monitor her blood sugar while on runs. My runs are often interrupted with phone calls from school about her high or low blood sugars and I talk them through it from my runs. Thank goodness for technology.

Any tips/tricks as to how to balance work and training?

Not let work get in the way of training. Booking your workouts as appointments with yourself. or with training partners.

Do you have kids?
Twin 12-year old girls. 

How does having kids affect your training? How do you balance it all?

My daughters are my biggest cheerleaders! I train after I drop them off at school during the week. On weekends in the summer, they hike 14ers with me and in the winter, they telemark ski with me. They run at night with me and we decorate ourselves in cool flashing lights and call ourselves "FIREFLIES."

What tips and tricks do you have for other athletes who struggle to balance training with family? 

Incorporate your kids into your training. 

How do you balance your training with your partner? Any tips or tricks for keeping your partner happy while you train to reach your personal goals?

My husband and I both race, so he trains early in the morning and on some nights after work. We are lucky that my parents live near us so we can drop our girls off at their house and have dates on the trails (it's our HAPPY PLACE!!!)

Do you have a recent race result, notable performance or lesson

learned that you'd like to share?
I always wanted to run 100 miles and in the Emergency Room, at Hailey's diagnosis, it was then that I decided to run the Leadville 100 to raise money for Type 1 Diabetes. I raced Leadville 100 Trail Run August 20, 2016 to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I had 30 hours to complete the 100 mile trail race in the Collegiate Peaks of Colorado with almost 18,000 feet of climbing. I finished in 29 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds. I was the last finisher to get in at the 30 hour mark and only 50% of racers finished in 30 hours! And I raised $16,776.20 for JDRF!

 

What are your top tips for athletes, as it relates to staying happy, healthy and performing well?

1. Set a goal.
2. Always have fun with training.
3. Include your family members in your training.

How would you define athletic success as it relates to your personal journey?

Setting a goal that you are committed to and stay determined until you conquer it! "I will not quit and I will not give in until I reach the END!" is my motto. Keep putting one foot in front of the other until the end.

What's your favorite post-race meal, drink or food?
Frozen yogurt with sprinkles and a 7-11 coffee.

                                           

What key races do you have planned in 2017?

I just completed the Boston Marathon. I will be racing the Run Rabbit 100 in Steamboat, Colorado in September.

What are your athletic goals for the next 5 years?
Running the Boston Marathon every year and running Ultra races, in exciting new places.
Anything else? 

During training, I learn more about myself than I ever know. The long training runs give you plenty of time for self introspection. Training has taught me discipline, time management, and mental toughness. It has also built my self confidence and has made many of life’s big “obstacles” seem not so big any more. Training is very difficult at times, but I love every minute of it. I feel so alive. And, I make a lot of new friends on the way who have the same goal orientated attitude and zest for life as I do.
You can follow Kara on social media: 
Instagram @ karamarathoner

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Boost your pre-race mental game

When was the last time you had a workout when everything clicked and you felt unstoppable?
Although we all looooove that feeling and hope for it on race day, it's natural to doubt yourself and to feel unprepared before an important event. Certainly, in our always-connected world, it’s also very hard to keep things in perspective as it may seem like everyone is doing more than you and you are not doing enough. 

Regardless of how your training did or didn’t go, I encourage you to adjust your mindset so that you can confidently say, "I am ready!"

Here are some ways to boost your mental game before an important race: 

1. You control your thoughts – Feelings come from thoughts. All conflicting and negative thoughts start internally, in the mind. The next time your mind starts racing and you notice self-doubt, anxiety, fear or stress, try to let go of the negative feelings and uncertainties. Choose positive, quality thoughts that will help you excel on race day. And never let another athlete or person get inside your head. 

2. Feelings are not actions – Every time you let yourself think that some type of feeling, whether it is a niggle, low energy, heavy legs or nerves, will turn into an action, like not being able to perform on race day, you’ll find yourself doubting yourself before you even have an opportunity to prove yourself otherwise. Putting blame or excuses on scenarios before race day is easy but the truth is that the only day that matters is race day. Never let your thoughts be confused with actions. You can still have niggles, a previous setback or heavy legs and perform amazingly well on race day.

3. You got yourself ready – When something is important to you, you will find the time and you will put in the work. It takes a lot of hard work to be prepared for an event but the truth is that nobody ever feels 100% ready for something that is meaningful. Since you can't go back in time, you need to reflect on all of your previous training to remind yourself that you have the necessary skills to execute on race day. Even though race day may be tough, struggling does not mean that you are having a bad race. Trust that you have done the work and remember that every great success requires some kind of struggle to get to the finish line. 

4. Try your best - Your greatest fear should not be fear of failure. Not trying is failing. Great things come to those who work hard and never give up. Always race with your current level of fitness and remember that you are a developing athlete, getting to where you want to be, one race at a time. An athlete who makes mistakes is the person who willing to fail in order to win. It’s better to have a season of small mistakes to learn from, than a season of playing it safe, with regrets of never really trying.

5. Be thankful – Don’t worry about anyone else. Everyone person fights a battle or has to overcome some type of obstacle before a race. What incredible battles have you overcome this season? 

The next time you notice self-defeating thoughts filing your mind, or you find yourself overwhelmed with thoughts that you are not good enough, ready enough or prepared enough, take a pause so that you can put things into perspective. Always choose to focus on good things in life, that make you feel great, and surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you.

Final St. George 70.3 training - weekend recap

A few months ago, I reached out to my friend Katie (Thomas) Morales to see if we could arrange a weekend of training together here in Greenville. Not only did I want her and her hubby Chris to come and visit us so that we could all hang out, but I thought it would be great to train with Katie, since she is extremely fast and strong. Although we both favor hard, hilly and challenging race courses, I race as an age grouper and she races as a professional triathlete. She is one fast and strong female!

Katie and I have been friends for many years. Just before she turned pro, we raced together in Lake Placid and then again in Kona in 2013. 

Katie, Kendra and I before the awards at 2013 IM Lake Placid.

Looking ahead and thinking about the timing of training, I thought it would be so fun to be pushed by Katie and to have some company in town while enjoying our amazing cycling roads two weeks out from St. George.

With this being my final weekend of big training before IM 70.3 St. George on May 6th, Katie and her hubby were able to take time off work to come and visit us on Thursday evening and stay until Sunday. Not only did Katie celebrate her 34th birthday with us but we had 3 full days together, for some swim, bike, run fun. 

Although our work at Trimarni never stops or slows down (especially with 5 of our athletes racing IM Texas this past weekend), we were able to squeeze in some training and finish off our last big training block with lots of fun, great food, smiles and a little bit of suffering. Thankfully, we had great weather on Friday and Saturday and minus the rain and cooler temps on Sunday, we were able to get in three days of quality training. Next week is all about recovery and starting the sharpening phase of our training to help us feel sharp, fresh and fit for the hills of St. George, Utah. 

Here's a recap of our training::

Friday AM: 
4750 yard swim

500 warm-up

Pre set:
6 x 100s (25 kick, 50 swim, 25 kick) w/ fins
6 x 100's (25 kick, 50 swim, 25 kick) no fins

MS 3x's:
16 x 25s on 25 seconds
200 swim EZ w/ paddles/buoy
1 min rest

Post set:
3 x 100's as (25 strong w/ 5 sec rest, 50 build to fast w/ 10 sec rest, 25 fast) into 50 EZ

Rest 1 minute

Friday late morning: 
2:27 hr ride (43.7 miles), 2864 elevation gain
Social ride, exploring the roads and having fun on two wheels. Karel and I rode our road bikes.

Saturday morning: 
4:09 hr ride (76.3 miles), 7755 elevation gain
Double bakery route starting from our house with a stop at Flat Rock bakery.

20-25 minute progressive run off the bike (each on our own)

Sunday morning: 
Katie had her own workout (trainer bike + run) so Karel, Chris and I all did our run workout outside. Karel ran 75 minutes (very EZ) and Chris joined me for 90 minutes (1 mile run, 30 sec walk - all conversational with about 600 feet of climbing) and then he finished his run at 2 hours. 

Here are some snapshots of our training weekend. Can't wait to take pictures in St. George in a week from Tuesday! 

Post swim smiles. Katie made me work hard and I could hardly keep up!

Group pic with a mountain photo bomb. 

We love to climb!

Enjoying the views.

Quick stop to refill bottles. 

Starting our Saturday ride in the fog with perfect weather for a long ride. 

Chasing the mountains all morning. 

Heading to the Watershed to start our climb into North Carolina. 

Paparazzi 

Starting the climb

Bakery stop to refill bottles. 

Stop at Hotel Domestique to refill bottles/bathroom.

No pictures from our Sunday morning run due to the rain. 

Don't be afraid to be competitive on race day

On race day, every athlete will have a reason for enduring the pain and the physical challenge that comes with racing.  I encourage you to love competition for competitive feelings help you feel energized, confident and ready to take on a challenge. 

Far too often, athletes get in their own way before and on race day. Nerves, anxiety, fear, self-doubt can shift a race ready body into a frozen body that is unable to perform.  

The thoughts in your mind may play ping-pong between positive and negative but this nervous energy is totally normal and needed. Gloria (Dr. G, my mental coach) believes that nerves are a good thing as it means you are ready and that you care. 

The beautiful thing about competition is that the stress that is felt before a race is a sign that you are willing and able to face a big challenge. This nervous excitement can be a great thing as it is a sign that you are ready and willing to stretch your physical limits and possibly, do something that you have never done before. 

  

Embracing the competition means that you will let other athletes have the race that they trained for without feeling bitter, jealous or upset. Never should you compare yourself to someone else and decide that you are too slow, too heavy or that you will never be that good and you don't belong out on the course.  Every athlete at a race can be competitive. No matter how long it takes you to get to the finish line, not only do you deserve to be there but you worked hard to be there. 

It's good to put a little pressure on yourself with a no expectations attitude. Never lose trust in your abilities. Be confident and enjoy the race experience. 

In a recent article by Dr. G, she discussed some simple tricks to stay mentally tough, no matter what obstacles get in your way. 

For anyone who is racing in the near future, here are my two favorite paragraphs from the article (I recommend reading the entire article):

"Only you know what got you to the race and will get you to the finish line. Everyone has character strengths and experiences that they can capitalize on in challenging situations. First, have awareness of what your strengths are and secondly, use them. Embrace your competitiveness, your humor, your grit. Remember, it was your time, money, training, and planning that got you to the race, so own it. Enjoy the process and focus on doing you on race day!

Successful athletes know their goal so well that they can close their eyes and create a mental picture of it in their mind. The more vivid and clear your goal is, the more your brain and body know where to aim. Motivation increases when you know where you're are aiming your efforts. This means creating a picture in your mind, putting visual cues of your goal in your environment, or writing it out specifically and clearly in your training log. Then leading up to the race, you can recall your goal to help focus and direct all that energy so you're more excited and less freaked out."

Share the road tips for motorists

Every time I get on my bike to go for a ride, I feel safe. Understanding that accidents do happen, I always ride cautious and alert. Although my reaction time on two wheels is not as stellar as Karel's, I do feel like I have the skills to ride safe on the open road.

Prior to moving to Greenville, I felt scared on my bike. With limited options to ride, I always felt like I was risking my life on two wheels as it seemed like every car needed to get somewhere fast and the person behind the wheel was distracted. 

Although we, as cyclists, can not control every person behind the wheel of a car, I do feel strongly that we live in a very bike friendly area and that the cars share the road with cyclists. From our door step, we have an unlimited amount of routes that we can ride, at any time of the day. Although we know the routes to avoid during higher traffic times, we select country roads (and the roads less traveled) as the drivers are less distracted and less rushed and the views are breath taking. 

One of my favorite things about riding in Greenville is that it is fun. Although it is very challenging to ride where we live, it's always an adventure to see the mountains, say hi to all the animals and to look at all of the scenery. We can change our route on the fly and thus, we never have to repeat our routes if we don't want to. Riding in Greenville has given me a great love of cycling because the riding is never boring. For someone who loves nature, being on the bike is great therapy, even when I am working hard and trying to stay on Karel's wheel. 

Greenville has a very active bike community which means we often have bike-related events. For example, this Friday, in celebration of Earth day, to raise awareness about alternative transportation options in Greenville, a cyclist, bus rider and motorist will see who has the shortest and quickest morning commute in downtown Greenville. For more info about this event, visit this link.

Although the easiest solutions to safer roads is to stop the distracted driving by prohibiting the use of cell phone usage while behind the wheel and enforcing harsh penalties if a cyclist is hit, I believe that education of sharing the road with cyclists is very important. As an example, in Europe, specifically in Czech where Karel is from, cars and trucks understand how to safely pass a cyclist. Many times, the cyclist has the right of way. The cars work together on both sides of the road so that the cyclist can ride safely, without harm, to get to where he/she needs to be. Seeing that a bicycle is used as a form of transportation in many places around the world, it's understandable that the bike is more than just a form of physical activity but it is also an inexpensive and environmentally friendly way to get to places quickly and easily. 

Whether you are riding a bike for fun, to commute, to enjoy the fresh air or for training/exercise, you should never have to ride scared. Instead, ride on bike friendly/accessible roads, be seen and always make sure to be alert, skilled and prepared for the unexpected. 

To help improve the safety of cyclists on the road, here are 10 important safety tips from Yield to Life. 

10 Safety Tips for Motorists from Yield To Life

1. Different but Equal

In all states, cyclists are deemed by law to be drivers of vehicles and are entitled to the same rights on the road as motorists. Expect cyclists on the road. Watch for cyclists on the road. Treat them as you would any slow-moving vehicle.

2. Patience, not Patients

Patience, especially on the road, is a virtue, and can save lives.

Your patience may involve:

• Waiting until it is safe to pass a bicycle and refraining from tailgating.
• Giving cyclists the right of way when the situation calls for it.
• Allowing extra time for cyclists to go through intersections.
• Recognizing road hazards that may be dangerous for cyclists and giving cyclists the necessary space to deal with them. In conditions where there is not enough room for a cyclist to ride to the right, they are allowed to ride closer to the lane of traffic, and sometimes even in the lane of traffic.

Never engage in conduct that harasses or endangers a cyclist. Above all: Be tolerant. Be understanding. Be careful.

3. A Passing Grade

Do not pass a cyclist until you can see that you can safely do so. You should allow ample space between your vehicle and the bicycle and make sure you do not place the cyclist in danger. If you pass too closely the drag from your car can pull a cyclist off course and cause the rider to swerve out of control.

4. The Right Behavior

Watch out for cyclists when you are turning right. A bicyclist may well be to the right of you and planning to go straight at the same intersection. Do not speed ahead of the bicyclist thinking you can negotiate the turn before they reach your car. The cyclist may be going faster than you think and, as you slow to make the turn, the cyclist may not be able to avoid crashing into the passenger side of your vehicle.

5. To The Left, to The Left

Also look for cyclists when making a left-hand turn. Cyclists who are crossing straight through the same intersection in the opposite direction may be going faster than you realize. It is particularly dangerous on a descending slope, when cyclists pick up more speed.

6. A Back-up Plan:

Bicycles, and the people who drive them, come in all shapes and sizes. When backing out of your driveway always look to see if someone is riding in your path. Children on small bikes might be hard to see. Drive slowly and look carefully.

7. Egress Etiquette

After parallel parking, make sure the coast is clear for opening the car door to exit. Make sure there are no cyclists riding alongside your car or fast approaching. By using the rear view mirrors and by turning around, a driver can spot an approaching cyclist and circumvent a disaster. A cyclist cannot anticipate when a driver will open a door, but a driver can easily detect a cyclist who may be in the line of danger.

8. Respect

Cyclists have a rightful spot on the road. Cyclists also positively impact the environment with each revolution of their wheels by opting to ride rather than drive. Do not resent cyclists. Replace frustration with a smile every time to see a cyclist.

9. Honing Your Horning Habit

Do not to honk unnecessarily at cyclists. If the need does arise to honk your horn to alert a cyclist that you are about pass, do so at a respectable distance. If you are too close, the noise itself can cause a cyclist to lose his or her bearings and create a hazardous situation for both you and the cyclist.

10. Try it, You’ll Like it

If you can’t beat them, join them. Ride a bike. It may just change your life. Riding is good for you and good for your environment. At the very least, it will give you a better appreciation for the problems cyclists face everyday on the road with respect to motorists.

Read 10 Safety Tips For Cyclists.

Riding 107 miles in Greenville - a milestone!

Ride stats: 

5:53 total ride time

107 miles covered

7274 elevation gained

18.1 mph average speed

2 refueling/hydration stops

Too many animal friends to count but I said hi to all of them.

After 11 years of endurance triathlon racing, I am still finding myself improving in training and on race day. I remember back in 2004, while in graduate school and training for my first marathon in January 2005, I was told by several exercise professionals that I would struggle in endurance sports as a female vegetarian athlete. While endurance training/racing is not easy for any individual, I don't see myself as a female vegetarian athlete but instead, an athlete, who happens to be a female and a 25 year vegetarian.

Without a doubt, self-improvements have kept me enjoying each season of triathlon racing and training as I never feel bored or stale in a 3-sport sport. Although there have been many setbacks since I started endurance racing, I've learned that development from season to season and training consistency are key components to experiencing success on race day. In order to continually experience performance gains, my health has always remained my #1 priority. With a healthy body and mind, performance gains will come. Knowing that I can't always do the same things over and over and expect different results, every year as life changes, I carefully pay attention to better, smarter and more effective ways to nourish my body, fuel my workouts, train and race, never with rigid rules, methods or strategies. To me, training is a fun hobby that allows me to use my body, explore nature, travel and I use it to help me manage life stress and release energy, so I never like to put added pressure on my training/eating when it comes to performance improvements. Finding this balance between great dedication and just enough flexibility has been extremely important to my athletic development over the past 11 years. 

On Saturday, Karel and I ventured out to Lake Keowee,, which is the start of the Mountains to Mainstreet bike course. Since the start is ~45 miles away, instead of driving, we rode our on our tri bikes. Because the M2M triathlon course is a point to point to point course, we decided that the best way to pre-ride the 58 mile bike course was to bike to the start and then bike home. This made for a long ride but we were both mentally and physically excited for a morning together, on two wheels. Plus, we absolutely love exploring new roads/routes and the scenery and mountain views that come with riding in Greenville, so we knew the ride would be just as fun, as it was long. Oddly enough, the ride went by really fast! And the M2M course is so beautiful and scenic but also very challenging - just what we love in a bike course!

As athletes, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the journey of training as it's normal to have an outcome goal in mind for race day. Without specific goals, it's difficult to find the motivation to train, especially with those early morning wake-up calls and squeezing in a workout with a tired body/mind after work. 

Knowing that race day success is the sum of many small efforts, repeated over and over, it's important to always consider your own fitness journey and that every day, you are getting closer to building a better, smarter, stronger and faster version of yourself. Instead of wishing for quick results or comparing yourself to other athletes, celebrate your own accomplishments in your own journey.

There have been many times in the past 11 years when I have said to myself "I feel so strong" or "I have never felt this fit before." Just when I think that I can't feel any fitter or any more strong, I develop and find myself capable of even more with my body. Patience, hard work and consistency bring results and while it is great to have big goals and dreams, you must celebrate the small improvements and victories to let you know that you are making progress. 

Since moving to Greenville, SC in May 2014, I have only completed one ride over 100 miles (summer of 2014). Despite training for four Ironman's since we moved, riding 100 miles in Greenville was never a focus as the terrain is extremely challenging and the miles go by very slow here. We always go by time for our long rides as this makes for quality training and a better return on our training investment.

Throughout our long Saturday ride and especially after our ride, I couldn't help but think, over and over, where I am with my cycling fitness and where I was in 2014 and even more so, in 2006 when I did my first Ironman. I kept telling Karel after the ride "I can't believe I did that!"
Now, I can ride with Karel and he doesn't have to wait for me. Now, my skills allow me to ride safe and efficiently. Now, I feel one with my bike.

As much fun as it is to PR, stand on the podium or qualify for an event, every small achievement in training moves you closer to becoming better than you were yesterday in training and even closer to achieving something with your body, that you never thought was possible. In the big picture, athletic development and athletic success is not about the results but it's about progress.

It's easy to lose motivation and enjoyment for your sport if you believe what you are doing isn't working or if you don't see big improvements so the next time you find yourself questioning why you do your sport and why you should continue to put in the work, take a moment to reflect back on the progress you have made over the past few weeks, months and years. Thinking about big goals can be overwhelming so make sure to celebrate the little milestones and track and share your progress along the way. 

When training becomes excessive and obsessive

Every athlete needs a high level of dedication, passion, desire and commitment in order to perform at a high level in training and on race day. For many athletes, the motivation to athletically succeed is borderline obsession. Since training for an athletic event may resemble excessive exercise, an unhealthy obsession with exercise may go unnoticed by a coach, training partner or friend. You may even think that your commitment to training is normal and even encouraged by your coach and those who look up to you as a fitness role model.

For every athlete, it can be difficult to understand whether or not your motivation and commitment to your sport is "normal", especially since many athletes are interested in diet and training strategies in order to improve health or performance.

Excessive exercise has many health consequences, such as bone and muscle injuries, hormonal issues, cardiac and other organ problems. On the mental side, the addiction to exercise may cause withdraw, isolation, loneliness, depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and guilt.

Since the need to train (or exercise) is necessary to help you mentally and physically prepare for your upcoming event(s), all athletes should recognize that something is not normal when training becomes unenjoyable and instead feels like a chore or obligation.

Athletes who tend to overexercise will use exercise as a way to feel a sense of control over their body. In other words, life feels so out of control that diet and exercise need to be tightly regulated to avoid feelings of guilt and anxiety. For the athlete who is seeking performance gains, it's completely normal to want to become more dedicated to training and healthy eating, in order to feel athletically ready for an upcoming event. Persistence and consistency are two sure ways to gain fitness and confidence for race day.

However, now a days, it seems like more athletes are tying self-worth to physical performance and/or a body image, while obsessively comparing to a "successful" athlete or a past version of themselves. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, coaches can add fuel to the obsession by encouraging the athlete to train harder or longer or to adhere to a strict, rigid or controlled diet in order to reach x-goal by race day. When a coach (or magazine article) suggests that an athlete can become a better athlete through training and nutrition, it's easy for an exercise addicted athlete to exercise more and to restrict food and create food rules, in an effort to perform better.

As a sport dietitian who often works with athletes who are experiencing the negative mental, emotional and physical consequences of severely altering the diet and training excessively, it's important to explore the shift, when a natural desire to be better turns obsessive and excessive.

For example, here are some symptoms of Anorexia Athletica, which co-exists with disordered eating patterns and is characterized by obsessive and excessive exercising and often co-occurs with calorie restriction, induced vomiting and body image issues.

• Overexercising to the point that fulfilling sport-related goals become more important than almost anything else in life.
• Exercise is specifically used to control body weight. 
• Exercise provides a sense of power, control and self-respect.
• Constant obsession with food and weight. 
• Refusal to miss a workout.
• Difficulty scaling back workouts due to sickness, injury, fatigue or poor sleep.
• Conflicts between family, friends, kids and/or training partners or feeling alienated. 
• Anxiety and guilt when a workout is missed or if exercise volume isn't "enough".
• Little to no enjoyment for exercise but continues to train/exercise. 
• Haphazard training with little structure/quality. 
• Self-worth is tied to physical performance and body image. 
• Constant comparison to other athletes. 
• Lack of satisfaction with personal achievements. 
• Rigid food rules and dietary restriction
• Feeling out of control in many areas of life. 
• Denial that there is a problem. 
• Never feeling good enough.

Whereas many athletes take diet and training to the extreme in order to improve performance, other athletes may use exercise to feel better about body image and weight, thus creating an addiction to exercise, often along with calorie/food group restriction, in order to boost self-esteem. Athletes may even use words like "eating clean" or "getting back on track", never realizing that there is an underlying issue that needs to be explored. 

Understanding that it is very difficult to define "excessive and obsessive" exercise among highly competitive, dedicated and motivated athletes, I encourage you to explore your current lifestyle to determine whether your current eating patterns and training regime is helping you achieve (or move closer) to an optimal level of performance and athletic readiness without sabotaging your health and quality of life. With far too many coaches wrongly encouraging athletes to lose weight and increase training loads in order to become faster or stronger, you should never ever have to take extreme measures to become a better athlete. 

What you believe about your appearance, how you feel about your body and how you feel in your body are important components to athletic success. Exercising more, adhering to rigid food rules and restricting calories will never help you appreciate and feel proud of your body. To get to the root of your exercise addiction issues, explore your feelings of self acceptance and athletic worthiness to understand if your dieting desires and inner belief that you are not training "enough" are tied to your body image and poor self-esteem. 

Training for an athletic event should be a challenging, fun and enjoyable experience for your body AND for those around you, who care, love and support you. Sport does not discriminate among body types or fitness levels. If you have recently found yourself paying more attention to your appearance than to your own health and/or performance or comparing yourself to other athletes, never feeling fast, strong, lean or good enough, your desire to become a better athlete may have shifted into an unhealthy obsession. Too much of anything can be negative so it's important to be able to differentiate between an unhealthy addiction to exercises versus a healthy desire to perform at your best, with great self-esteem and a great relationship with food and the body. 

Recovering from a half ironman distance triathlon

After Ironman 70.3 Florida, Karel and I were pretty sore. Like usual, we tossed and turned all night after the race and woke up exhausted. On Monday after the race, our almost 10-hour drive was rough. By Wednesday, we started to feel a little bit more normal and by the weekend, we felt mostly recovered. Oddly enough, we both felt like we recovered really quickly after the event, despite the normal post-race insomnia and soreness.

Being sore, exhausted and a little run-down after an endurance event is normal. And to be honest, I think many athletes enjoy the feeling that comes with racing in an endurance event as that post-race feeling signifies the effort that was needed to get from the start to the finish. It's kinda like you earned that feeling and you are proud of it. Thinking back to my very first half ironman 11 years ago, the feeling was unlike anything I had ever felt before. As the years went on and I had more half ironman distance triathlons under my belt, I could anticipate what my body would go through after a race. In other words, I became much more comfortable with understanding my body after an endurance triathlon event.

Although there is no one specific guideline, rule or method to speed up recovery after an endurance triathlon event, I feel it's important to walk you through some of the factors that contribute to recovery time after an endurance event, some of the mistakes that athletes make when recovering from an endurance event and a few strategies to help you get back to good health after an endurance event.

Why is recovery important? 

In training for an event, we welcome (and need) intentional and residual training stress for proper peaking and then we need to provide the body with a taper, in order to reduce the psychological and physiological stressors of consistent training in order to optimize performance and enhance previous training adaptations.

After a race, recovery is the time when the body returns to a normal state of health and mind, so that you can once again, consistently do high-quality training sessions with no residual fatigue from the last event.

Many athletes make the  mistake of training for one race at a time and not seeing the season as a progression of fitness from race to race. In other words, you can actually gain fitness from race to race, so long as you properly recover and continue with well-planned, structured training. Take too long of a break and you lose what you gained in previous training but come back to soon, and you remain stale, tired and fatigued with little ability to take fitness to that next level.

Factors affecting race recovery

How fast or effectively you recover from an event depends on many factors. For many athletes, a fixed training plan allows for no individualization that are relative to the factors affecting the athlete before, during and after the race. Even within one season, recovery time for one athlete may differ race to race, whereas some races require a longer recovery time than others.

Factors affecting race recovery include: 

• Distance of the event
• Athlete experience in the sport
• Finishing time
• Racing intensity relative to distance
• Racing intensity relative to race priority/season planning
• Race preparation and ability (or lack thereof) to remain consistent to training
• Life stressors (family, travel, personal, work)
• Age
• Athletic ability/resilience
• Length of taper
• Health status leading up to the race
• Nerves/anxiety before the race
• Nutritional status leading up to the race
• Fueling/hydration execution during the race
• Pacing during the race
• Difficulty/ease of race course
• Environmental conditions on race day
• Terrain management on race day
• Type of course layout 
• Setbacks on race day (ex. dehydration, cramping, bonking, nausea/fatigue)
• Post race nutrition, including refueling and rehydration
• Post race sleep habits
• Post race stress
• Post race travel
• Timing of next race
• Mental state post race

Although you can not control every factor listed above, it's important to consider that your post race recovery doesn't simply include what you do (or don't do) in the 24-72 hours after a race. Although completing an endurance event should bring you great satisfaction and confidence, prolonged activity (specifically in a race environment), plays a signficant role on your health and fitness status going into the race. And in addition to the muscle, tendon, bone and joint stress on the body during an endurance event, there is great stress on the heart, organs and brain. Therefore, recovery after an endurance event should not be taken lightly, nor should it be assumed that just because you complete a race that you will return to 100% health in x-days so that you can get back into training again. 

Common mistakes made by athletes post-race
The 48-72 hours after an endurance event, like a half ironman, are critical for optimizing recovery. Seeing that poor sleep, poor hydration and nutrition, extreme muscle soreness and travel will all impede recovery, athletes should be aware of the consequences of returning back to training too quickly. Considering that racing is a great stress on the human body, returning back to training too soon, without optimal recovery, may negatively affect metabolic and hormonal health, central nervous system functioning and mood, not to mention lingering fatigue. In other words, if you rush the recovery, you may dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of for several weeks, if not months - or the rest of the season. 

Here are some common mistakes made by athletes post-race:

• Using anti-inflammatories to reduce inflammation 
• Not executing a rehydration and refueling strategy in the 24 hours post race
• Eating "too" healthy in the 24 hours post race
• Eating "too" unhealthy in the 24 hours post race
• Resuming "normal" training, despite being sleep deprived 
• Resuming "normal" training, despite form being affected by soreness and niggles
• Being too sedentary in the 3-4 days post race
• Returning back into intense training because a race didn't go as planned (ex. didn't PR, podium, etc.)
• Returning back into intense training because a race exceeded your expectations and you are itching to get back into training for the next race
• Returning back to training because you don't know how to function in life without training
• You hate resting/recovery
• Following a fixed training plan and not listening to your body post race. 

Get your body back into good health after a half ironman distance triathlon

As a general guideline, I don't believe that any athlete can fully recover in less than 72 hours after an endurance event as glycogen needs to be resynthesized, hydration status needs to normalize, tissues, muscles and fibers need to heal and sleep patterns must return to normal before any type of training (for physical adaptations) is initiated. However, moving blood can certainly help to expedite the recovery process. Here are a few suggestions to help you recover from a half ironman distance triathlon. 

• Give yourself 4-6 hours to rehydrate and refuel after the race. Understanding that it may take time for your appetite to return to normal, it's OK to eat what you crave but just be sure to eat and rehydrate with water and electrolytes. Not eating/drinking for 6-8 hours after a race is not good! 
• Continue to focus on good refueling and rehydration methods for the next 48 hours with permission to indulge as you wish, within reason. By this time, you should be slowly returning to your normal eating habits, emphasizing real, wholesome food options.
• Don't sit in the car or get on an airplane in the 4-8 hours after a race. Ideally, give yourself one extra night of rest before you are forced to sit for an extended period of time, so that you have an opportunity to move your body. 
• Avoid getting a massage in the 48 hours post race. Rehydrate yourself and focus on daily mobility for the next 48-72 hours. Schedule a flushing massage at least 3+ days post race. 
• Consume anti-inflammatory foods, like pineapple, fish and leafy greens in the 48 hours post race.
• Wear compression post race. Graduated compression socks (and not calf sleeves) will help with blood flow. 
• Use a safe and muscle relaxing cream (ex. we use Mg12) on any tight/sore muscles after a race. Avoid taking any anti-inflammatories in the 48 hours post race. 
• Avoid alcoholic beverages in the 48 hours post race. Avoid caffeinated beverages in the 6-8  hours before bedtime. 
• Try to get yourself into a good sleep routine as soon as you can. Do not allow yourself to return back into structured training until you can get a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep without waking up throughout the night. 
• To hurry the recovery process, it's advised to do something non weight bearing and very light  on the body in the 24 hours after a race (if you can spin on your bike for 15 minutes in the hour after finishing a race, that would be recommended). Instead of recovering by being sedentary, try to move blood through swimming and bike riding. 
• Give yourself 3 days to not follow a training plan but instead, exercise as it comes natural to you. When you have the time, go for a swim or spin but avoid setting an alarm or returning back to your structured training regime too quickly. There's plenty of time for that after you recover. 
• Avoid running for at least 72 hours. Since running is very corrosive on the body, it's advised to keep your runs short (ex. 15-60 minutes) while including walk breaks and running every other or 3rd day for the next 5-7 days (ex. if your race is on Sunday, your first run should be no earlier than Wednesday or Thursday and then for the next 5-7 days, you should be running 15-60 minutes every other day or every 3 days). 
• Understand that some body parts will recover faster than others but there is deep damage inside you that you can't feel. Generally speaking, you will not make any additional training adaptations for at least a week and for the less trained/fit, it may take at least 2 weeks to fully recover so that you can begin to train for physiological gains. On the flip side, an elite or trained athlete who is on the verge of overtraining or is racing very intensely, may require 2 weeks to feel fully "healed" after a race. 
• Accept that age, previous fitness and racing execution will affect your recovery. Don't compare your recovery to another athlete, focus only on yourself. 
• If you can't keep good form during a workout, stop immediately. Poor/inefficient form is a sign that your body is not yet recovered and you could risk further damage or injury. 
• Have fun in the 5-7 days after your race. There will be a time to push hard again. Enjoy the lower intensity workouts and having a bit more free time, as you slowly ease back into structured training. 

Athlete Spotlight: Katja Reed Lackey - Art teacher conquering fears and chasing goals - always with a smile.

Name: Katja Reed Lackey

Age: 50

City/State: Dover, Delaware

Primary sport: Triathlon

How many years in the sport: 6 years, my first Tri was June 2011, almost 6 years

What Trimarni services have you used: RETUL, training plan, coaching

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Describe your athletic background and how you discovered your current sport?

I was an active child and continued being active as I got older, playing 3 varsity sports in HS and I was on the ski team. I played volleyball in college for 2 years. After college and in my early married years, I was not very active. After the birth of my twins I needed an outlet and to get my body back in shape. Running was the logical release. I built from 5ks to marathons, all the while I was fascinated with Ironman Triathlon. I just loved the idea of a multi-sport event. I rode my bike and biked a 50 miler and loved the idea of long rides. I signed up to swim at the local Y and soon all the basics led me to my first race....a sprint Triathlon. I was hooked!! I volunteered for Eagleman 70.3 and was impressed with the distance and the dedication - the distance scared me but I needed that goal!

What keeps you training and racing in your current sport?

I am inspired by the variety of multi-sport. I need the constant change of sport and focus. There is so much to learn about each discipline and I love to learn what my body can do at the race venue, based on the race distance There is a lot of growing through the sport. All the variables keep me motivated. Plus the age groupers running with the pros is so thrilling.

What do you do for work?

I am an art teacher that is hired in the schools to work with children with disabilities. The children range from 2-15 yrs and are afflicted with lots of disabilities. I am also working with adults with Alzheimer's and dementia.

How does your work life affect training and how do you balance work and training?I am inspired by my students and how they deal with severe physical and psychological disabilities. I am also reminded that I GET to swim and bike and run! The release of exercise feels so good when I hit my workouts before I hit the classroom. I travel to many schools and I need the stamina - triathlon training provides that for me.

Any tips/tricks as to how to balance work and training?

I am early riser! I set my alarm for 4:44 =am and usual start my first workout at about 5:30am. I do like to have at least one workout in the week to meet a friend. That friend keeps me accountable and keeps the workout fun!! Fun in life is balance!

Do you have kids?Yes! I have twins! A boy and a girl, both in college.

How does having kids affect your training? How do you balance it all?

My children have always motivated me to be a better person. I try to lead by example . My step into Ironman was purposely organized and planned so that I had a goal while my twins headed off to college so that I could handle the "empty nest" feeling. I am so grateful for the goal and the joy of crossing the finish line and surviving the 140.6 mile distance...and my kids freshman year of college! That big goal brought me back to myself!

What tips and tricks do you have for other athletes who struggle to balance training with family? 

My kids have gone open water swimming with me (or paddling the SUP), they have been on bikes while I ran and did core work with me. These are the moments that give me the fuel for the long solo training or racing day.

How do you balance your training with your partner? Any tips or tricks for keeping your partner happy while you train to reach your personal goals?
My husband is wonderful! We are celebrating our 28th year together! He supports me and encourages me to do triathlon. He and I will run 1/2 marathon events together and he will bike with me during my longer workouts when I ride in my easier zones. He is a pilot and he is gone 3-4 days a week so I make those days long, if possible as I like to train harder and longer when he is away. If I need to complete a long day of training with him in town, I will get up early and knock out 50% while he sleeps and then when he wakes up, he may join me for the rest.

Do you have a recent race result, notable performance or lesson

learned that you'd like to share?
I raced the Watermans Tri in Oct as a late season race (thanks to the push from coach Marni) She reminded me that I had fitness and confidence from completing my Ironman in August (IM Mont Tremblant). She gave me a lot of confidence going into that race and I raced really well and was first in my AG and I PR'd! I would not have raced at all because I thought my season was complete after the big Ironman distance, but she was right. I had the fitness, confidence and race mentality to do well. Triathlon is a true metaphor for life...so so many lessons learned about yourself that help you grow throughout life!

  

What are your top tips for athletes, as it relates to staying happy, healthy and performing well?

1. Remind yourself of the "why." 
2. Smile and be joyful.
3. Power nap. 
4. Trust the plan (following a plan works). 
5. Have a mantra that is simple so that you can repeat it over and over on race day. 
6. As my body ages I do more stretching and yoga than ever before. 
7. Thank your body!

How would you define athletic success as it relates to your personal journey?

My athletic success is crossing the finish line of my first 140.6 with a smile on my face and healthy body (October 2014) That Ironman journey gave me the belief that I can plan, train and succeed in a long distance triathlon. Goal setting and overcoming obstacles is the life lesson you gleam. I also saw, this year, that I do have fears but I can push through them and I can win on the other side of the fear! And that fact is so AWESOME- overcoming my fears and chasing my goals keeps me smiling and looking for more multi-sport events! I'm so grateful for triathlon!

What's your favorite post-race meal, drink or food?

Ice cold " Blue Moon" beer in a frosted mug!

What key races do you have planned in 2017?
Rockhall triathlon, MD International tri, Trimarni Camp, and Ironman Atlantic City 70.3

What are your athletic goals for the next 5 years?
I want to stay fit and healthy in my 50s so I plan to continue to race in triathlons. This sport is fun and challenging. I also want to knock some time off of my 70.3 and olympic distance events over the next few years, and race in a few different locations.

Anything else? 

I recommend getting a coach, attending a tri camp and joining a team! The inspiration and motivation is huge when you feel part of a group. Attending the Trimarni triathlon camp was also a game changer for me. It was very intense (took me out of my comfort zone) but it gave me time and supreme focus on the sport. You also bond with other triathletes/teammates and coaches. I grew so much in all three disciplines and that confidence was essential prior to my big race in Mont Tremblant. 

You can follow Katja on social media: 
Instagram and Twitter @ Katjasart

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IM 70.3 Florida - Race Report

TRAVEL
After a morning swim workout at Furman on Thursday morning, we packed up my car, said good-bye to our furry crew (staying with "Grandma", 1 mile down the road) and headed down south - first stop, Jacksonville, FL. About six hours later, around 5:30pm, we arrived at Tricia's house (our friend/athlete) for a quick overnight stay before making the rest of the trip to Haines City. It was nice to be able to stretch out and have a nice dinner (from Native Sun) and catch up with Tricia and her husband Brandon (and 3 furry children). Karel received his new Alto disc wheel when we arrived to Tricia's so he glued on the tubular tire on Thursday evening.

Seeing Karel with his new wheel was like seeing a kid at Disney World store - big eyes, full of excitement.

We did a little work on the computer to get caught up from traveling all day but then it was early to bed as we were exhausted from sitting in the car all day. We woke up without an alarm around 6:30am, which was nice to get a good night of rest. After a short shake-out run (~27 minutes), we ate breakfast, packed up the car again and made the rest of the trip (~3 hours) down to Haines City. 

Minus the Orlando traffic on I-4, the trip was uneventful and we stayed well-fueled with lots of snacks/food from home and podcasts for our listening entertainment.

When we arrived to Haines City, we went straight to our rental home, which was booked by our long-time triathlete friend Roger from Key West. It was nice to have a place to stay (Southern Dunes subdivision), just 2 miles away from the race venue, along with a full kitchen. Although Karel and I like our privacy to get into "the zone" before a race, we both enjoy the social aspect of racing so we don't mind sharing a house with others, especially positive athletes with great attitudes. After unloading all of our stuff, we drove over to the race venue to check-in and to listen to the first athlete meeting. It felt so good to be warm outside and the weather was just perfect, with low humidity. With lots of places to park (streets), the race venue has just one transition and everything is close (water, transition area, athlete check-in, etc.), which makes it a great location for athletes and spectators.

After the athlete meeting, we headed back to the house so that Karel could get himself ready for a little spin on his bike. Instead of joining Karel, I headed to Publix to get groceries for the house. By the time Karel came back from his ride, I had dinner all ready and we were both ready to eat.
Karel at chicken with rice and salad and I had pizza and salad. This meal is pretty typical for both of us, two nights out from an endurance event.

After a great dinner, we settled into bed around 8pm and it was early to bed for a good night of sleep. Over the weekend, we watched Triathlon LIVE (ITU race) and Paris Roubaix cycling race for a little inspiration.

PRE RACE
With no mandatory bike check-in on Saturday (only optional), our only "to do's" on Saturday were to exercise and get our gear ready for race day. It was nice not to have to rush on Saturday morning but we wanted to be out on our bikes by 8pm so that we could get back in time to eat before heading out again for the open water swim practice between 11-2pm.

Roger joined me and Karel for a 28 mile ride on the race course. We biked the 2ish miles to the race course start and then took a short cut so that we could ride the start and the finish of the bike course. I really enjoyed the preview of the course and it felt so good to not only spin my legs, but to ride on flat roads, without hills. I noticed during the ride that my power meter (Vector pedals) were not registering as my power was low, despite staying on Karel's wheel for some harder efforts.

While I mentioned this to Karel and he changed the battery when we returned back to the house, I didn't get too bothered by the chance that I would not have realistic power numbers during the race. Although I would have liked to have seen my true power on my Garmin, I was not wasting energy over this issue as power meters love to not work only on race day (or in my case, the day before the race).

After the bike course preview, we rode the run course loop (~4.3 miles) so that I could see the run course. Since Karel and Roger have raced here before, it was good for me to have a visual as to what I would be running on off the bike. Of course, with the hills on the run, I was getting more excited for race day as my legs love hills - flats, not so much.

After the ride, it was time to ride home. We finished with just under 2 hours of riding and 35 miles. I went for a little jog off the bike just to shake out the legs. I felt a little niggle in my lower calf (inside) which I was a little concerned about but I had to remind myself about those phantom taper pains that happen before a race. After the run, it was time to eat!

After resting for a little bit, Karel and I headed to the race venue for a little dip in the lake during the optional open water swim practice (chip and wrist band required to enter the water). The lake was well supported with kayaks and volunteers and lots of athletes in the water. Although the water was dark, it was around 73 degrees and felt refreshing with our long sleeve Xterra wetsuits on. We met up with Trimarni athlete Stephanie before the swim and it was nice to swim together and scope out the swim course.

If you aren't familiar with this swim, it looks like a M (or a pair of pants). At first, I was a little nervous about all of the buoys and turns but as we were warming up, I felt more confident with the swim layout and it wasn't too hard to master.  After the swim, we met up with Trimarni athlete Chris and gave Stephanie and Chris a few last minute race suggestions for race day. Later that evening, Trimarni athlete Kim stopped by and I called Trimarni athlete Julie. (I always try to contact or see my athletes before a big race).

When we arrived back to the house, it was time to eat again. Although I had practiced my pre-race nutrition prior to the race, I had lots of food options in the fridge/pantry, just in case my appetite changed. As much as we (athletes) like to plan, sometimes you have to be flexible. Instead of my breakfast tacos, I had a lunch of rice and cooked tempeh with mushrooms, topped with cheese. It hit the spot! For an afternoon snack, I had granola cereal with yogurt and sipped on OJ throughout the day, here or there (and with my morning meals). For dinner, I kept it light - tomato soup with rice and saltine crackers. I had a glass of Bolthouse vanilla protein before bed but went to sleep satisfied and not full. With dinner super light, I woke up super early, ready to eat my pre-race meal.

RACE DAY

RACE MORNING
After a not so good night of sleeping due to tossing and turning, I was ready to get up when my alarm went off at 3:45am It was nice to wake-up and have other athletes in the house as the energy was positive and the mood was good. I found it easy to get down my well practiced pre-race meal (pancakes, syrup, bananas, butter, peanut butter and a hardboiled egg with salt and glass of OJ, cup of coffee and glass of water) and I was excited that it was finally race day. Karel had a bowl of oatmeal and then a croissant and a few sips of a Bolthouse chocolate protein drink (in the car, after we put our stuff in transition, around 6am while hanging around until he did his pre race warm-up). Although an Ironman feels a bit longer with all the waiting, I was anxiously awaiting getting in the lake as that would be the point when my nerves would subside. Although I had no pressure on this race, I was nervous. I always get nervous before a race but it's good nerves (as Dr. G tells me), that remind me that I care about my performance. Karel had a lot of confidence in me that I would be able to put together a good race and he was cool as a cucumber for this race, with no expectations or goals. It was nice to be around him as he was super calm, which gave me a lot of positive vibes.
Since we packed up our bags, got our gear ready and prepared our sport bottles with powder on Saturday afternoon, it was an easy morning of getting ready for the half Ironman. Karel and I did a short jog outside our rental home around 4:45am, just to get the blood flowing before we left the house. And by short, I mean about 5 minutes just to move some blood.
We left around 5:15am, with just enough time to park the car, get body marked and rack our bikes. There was a little bit of a line getting into the transition (which closed at 6am) but it wasn't stressful as it moved quickly. After setting up our transition area, we walked back to the car, parked a few streets away on 7th street in a restaurant parking lot.
Since my wave was at 7:05am and Karel's wave wasn't until 7:40am, he was in no rush to get in his pre-race warm-up. As we walked back to the car, I felt a little rushed so I gave Karel my transition bag as I jogged around to start my pre-race warm-up (and added in some dynamic stretching). After I felt warmed up, I grabbed my wetsuit, swim cap and goggles and said good luck to Karel (with a hug and a kiss) and walked to the swimming pool, by the lake. Although it was in the low 50's on race morning and getting wet before the race didn't seem too inviting, I knew it was necessary to get in a good warm-up before the swim start since the lake was not open for swimming before the race. I took advantage of this option and swam in my wetsuit, in the pool, along with a few other athletes. I was surprised that more athletes didn't see this as a great opportunity to warm-up as an open water swim requires some type of warm-up and you can also use that warm-up as an opportunity to adjust the wetsuit so that it feels comfortable in all the right places. I swam about 10 minutes easy and added in a few 25's with break out speed and at 6:45am, I got out of the water and with my throw away plastic bottle w/ Clif Hydration, I walked to the swim start.
My feet were a little cold in the sand but with the adrenaline starting to rush, I didn't feel too cold. I lined up with my wave and by 7am, we were in the water, counting down the minutes until our wave start.

1.2 mile SWIM
I noticed that there was a section in the water where athletes were standing before the in-water start but I choose to start by treading water so that I could keep my blood moving and muscles working a little before the start. With my jog warm-up + pool swim, I felt really relaxed in the water and ready to go. The time was finally here to race!
The gun went off and it was a quick acceleration for me to swim hard to get near the front of the pack. I noticed one pink cap swimming away and I was unable to stay with her. My focus was on staying on course but also trying to swim in the straightest line possible to avoid overswimming while catching up to the other swimmers in the earlier waves.
There was a lot of weaving in and out but certainly not as much as Karel experienced in his later wave. Although the M-shaped swim course required a lot of sighting, I actually really enjoyed it as it kept me engaged during the entire swim (I couldn't really zone out for I had a lot to think about).
We kept the buoys on our right until the first turn buoy and then after the 2nd turn buoy, we swam toward the middle of the lake. At this point, we made a left to keep the buoys on our left, before making another left turn and then swimming out again to keep the buoys on our right. There were kayaks out and a few jet ski's (creating some wake) to keep an eye on everyone. This was one of the most fun swim courses and it went by super fast.
I felt like I only had one speed in the water (common theme for me lately with swimming) and later did I learn that once again, Karel beat me out of the water by 6 seconds! Karel has improved so much with his swimming and as much fun as it is to have a swim partner, the swimming rivalry is strong in our house these days. However, for every second that Karel swims ahead of me in the open water (with a wetsuit), I feel like I am getting 1 minute closer to him on the bike.
I tried to swim as long as I could before I had no choice but to stand but little did I know, that my first step up was not the shore but a little pocket of water. I was warned that the sand is not even all around so I happened to step into a deep section right before the exit. Luckily, it didn't catch me too off guard and I was able to step right out and jog to the sand to get out of the water.
I passed a lot of athletes on the swim but had no idea of my age group or overall place at this point in the swim. I glanced at my watch and saw 31 minutes and some change but it didn't mean much to me as I didn't care about my swim time but instead, my competition. Once the gun goes off, I am in race mode!

T1
I quickly took off my cap and goggles and as I was running through transition, I removed my arms from the sleeves of my wetsuit and stepped out of my wetsuit at my bike. With no other females around me, I put on my socks and cycling shoes, powered on my Garmin Edge and grabbed my bike. Opps - my helmet! Oh, such a rookie mistake. Luckily, I didn't make it far (the end of my bike rack) before I went back to get my helmet. Once again - this is why we do these tune-up races!
I ran my bike out of transition and over the mount line to the far right barricade and then got on my bike. As soon as I got on my bike, I was so excited to ride.

56 mile BIKE
As much as I wish I could give you an eventful, suspenseful and exciting bike report, the bike course was well, pretty uneventful. I felt strong and fast, I loved the bike course and I rode most of the course by myself. My power meter did not work (it showed low power numbers from the first pedal stroke) and I didn't wear my HR monitor so I went all by feel - which is exactly what I had planned to do. I lapped my Garmin every 25 minutes and focused only on 1 x 25 minute segment at a time. I made sure to start my fueling around 15 minutes into the bike to let my tummy settle after the swim and every 10 minutes, I took 3-4 gulps of my sport drink from my primary cage between my aero bars. When one bottle was complete, I rotated my bottles (grabbing from the rear cage) to always have a bottle between my aero bars for sipping. I did not take anything from the aid stations as it was rather cool out. My hands were a bit cold when I started but I warmed up just fine in about 25 minutes. Karel and I both consumed almost 3 x 24 ounce bottles of our sport drink but Karel took in some additional calories from his gels during his ride. Whereas I felt amazing throughout the entire ride, Karel felt strong but had a few niggles in his hip/inner thigh during the bike (nothing abnormal for him) that limited his ability to push even harder as he had to ease up several times during the bike ride to keep from cramping. We both felt like this course was easy relative to what we ride in Greenville but there's nothing easy about racing. Since I broke the course down into 25 min segments, I never thought about "Oh, I can never hold this effort for the entire ride" but instead, just stayed present and in the moment. As the course changed, I experienced different wind and terrain conditions, which also affected my effort and RPE. I was kinda hoping for some more company during the bike to keep me engaged in racing but instead, I felt like I was out for a 56 mile TT.
There were some gentle rollers near the back end of the course and with the wind picking up a little, which made the ride a bit more exciting. Nearing the end of the bike, there was a stretch of road of chipseal with a few rollers, which reminded me of our bumpy roads in Greenville.
Throughout the ride, I was passing a lot of guys but also was passed by several of the younger guys. I wasn't passed by any females but after catching up with one lady in the 45-49 age group (Rachel), we played cat and mouse for the last 10 miles or so. Finally - some fun racing on two wheels!
Rachel and I entered T2 near each other but I think I managed to get over the line first, which meant first female into transition. Although I didn't have the fastest female bike split of the race (3rd fastest I think), I was shocked and excited to see my bike computer when I switched over my interval screen to show total time, average pace, total distance, etc. Although I didn't ease up until the last 1/2 mile of the bike, for a moment I thought I would break 2:30 but I ended up with 2:31.27 which is a big improvement for me on the bike. Needless to say, I got off the bike feeling confident!

T2
With my rack near the front of the transition, I didn't have far to run before getting my bike to the rack. I spotted my friend Roger in the transition area and he gave me a big cheer. The announcer told the crowd "we have our first females in transition area with Marni as our virtual leader." My theme of the race was stay present so I didn't let that announcement get to my head as I new I would be running a bit scared with fast girls behind me. I put on my running shoes and hydration belt and grabbed my hat (with glasses resting on the bill) and then as I was walking, I put on my bib number belt. I made sure not to sprint out of the transition so I walked myself to the far end of transition and then when I rounded the corner, I slowly jogged, making sure not to run too fast out of transition. As I crossed the timing mat, I hit lap on my watch and not until the end of the race, did I look at my watch again. For the next 13.1 miles, I would run 100% by feel.

13.1 mile RUN
As I started running, my legs felt good. But seeing the amount of brick runs and hilly runs that we do in training, I had confidence in my running legs off the bike. As for how I would feel racing this run, that was a pure unknown since most of my long runs are around 8:20-8:45 min/mile average with a lot of climbing. As I was running, I was beside Rachel and she told me to go win the race. I gave her a high five for her awesome bike ride and I thought I would be running away from her, thanks to her confidence in me. As much as that was a great boost of confidence, she made sure not to leave my side for the next 1.5 miles.

With the lead biker next to me, I managed to run a bit ahead of her up the hills and would extend that lead over the hills in the first section of the run course. But anywhere that was flat, she was able to get ahead of me. As much I wanted to stay with her, I knew she wasn't in my age group (she was 45-49) so I let her go so that I could focus on myself. I really wanted to focus on my form in the first loop (about 4.3 miles) before taking any risks with my effort.
I waited until I got to the end of the first hilly section before sipping my flask and I made sure to grab water from every aid station for sipping and cooling. I didn't have a strategy for fueling on the run but instead, to fuel immediately when I needed a boost of energy and to make sure to not go more than 10 minutes without sipping my flasks. Since I like to drink when I want to drink (and often on a schedule - at least every 10 minutes), I used the aid stations to break up each mile instead of focusing on my fueling to break up each mile. This worked well because I always looked forward to the aid station and I felt like I had good energy between the aid stations.
If you know me, I love love love looped courses. Three loops is such a mental boost because when 1 loop is done, you only have one more loop until you only have one more loop to go. At least this is how I think about it. Never did I look at the mile markers (or my watch) but instead, I just focused on where I was in the course and broke down the course into sections.
Although I loved this run course, my least favorite section was a flat part on the far end of each loop before an aid station. This occurred before the last loop around the block before heading back to a little hill (with another aid station) before entering the crowds by the lake. I would say this was around 3 miles into the loop. It was a long flat stretch and although there was shade, I did not like it. But I kept telling myself to just keep one foot in front of the other and that sooner or later, I'd be on the hills again (which is my comfort zone). And even though I suffer when I race, I almost always have a smile on my face because I love using and moving my body.

I had lots of cheers from the crowd and saw some familiar faces but wow, being by the spectators near the lake gave me a huge boost of energy! I was a little nervous about Rebecca and Gin (in my age group) behind me so my plan for loop 2 was to run steady and strong but to still make sure to have a reserve for the last loop in case I got caught and needed to run alongside a competitor in my age group. At this point, I was passed by a 30-34 year old girl who was on her first loop and she was running super fast. I let her go. I was also passed by another lady who was in an older age group who was flying. By now, I was not focused on winning overall female but instead, just hoping to stay in the front of my age group. Ironically, the thought of winning my age group didn't keep me racing hard but it was the fear of getting caught that kept me present and in the moment. I didn't let myself think about winning my age group during the race and I never focused on my pace or overall time. It's hard to describe but I was completely focused on my running form and moving my body forward that I didn't have much energy to think about anything else. As Karel always says when he runs "rhythm, rhythm, rhythm!"

One of the best things about this race on the run was the feeling that I had throughout the entire run. Although I slowed down by about 10 sec per loop, I never felt like form fell apart. And having the bike escort next to me didn't change how I was feeling as I was totally focused on myself. I was laughing inside a few times as my bike escort was coasting down the hills and I was pounding away. I couldn't help but think how nice it would be to just coast down a hill right now.

I felt strong through the entire run. I certainly had some low moments and had to stop twice (once on loop one near the end and once on loop two near the end of the loop just to stretch out my hips) but I kept on focusing on good form running, knowing that soon the terrain would change and I would get a high again. And anytime that I felt like I was in a low moment, feeling really uncomfortable, I just started to count my steps - one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four as this helps me shut off my brain so I don't think about the pounding of my legs to the ground.
On the last loop, I was excited to be almost at the finish and completely surprised by how fast this race went by! It was getting a bit warm on the hilly section and I really needed the aid station to keep myself cool. I never passed up an aid station for water, even the last one, less than 1/2 mile from the finish.
I guess with my steady pace, I caught back up with Rachel, who dropped me in the first loop and for the entire third/last loop, I was escorted by a volunteer on a bike, who was leading the 2nd female over the line (me!). I wasn't sure how I would finish overall once the other female age groups started to roll in, I was running as strong as I could. I actually looked over my shoulder a few times in the last 1.5 loops because I could see Gin running strong behind me. And how do I know that Gin can run strong and fast, you ask?
Well, I am her sport dietitian (coached by Haley Chura) and we have been working on her daily and sport nutrition for the past 8+ months. After her overall femalewin in IM NC 70.3, she has been running so much better off the bike, thanks to some hard work dialing in her daily diet and fueling. So yes, I was racing ahead of one of my nutrition athletes (and Karel has fit Karel and we did a private training camp with her) so I knew how strong she is on bike and run and that she was getting closer to me with each mile.
Once I made it to the last aid station on the hill, I zipped up my jersey and felt so relieved that I was running my way to the finish. Oh boy, did I sprint to that finish line!

FINISH
As I crossed the finish line, it was not even a second before my legs collapsed beneath me as I can't tell you how many times during the run did I bargain with myself "you can rest when you are done, you can rest when you are done." Finally - done. I fell to the ground and just laid there for what felt like forever, until a volunteer helped me up. I was announced to be the 2nd female across the line, only to later learn that I was the 3rd overall female winner - wahoo!

As I waited for Gin to cross the line, I chatted with my friend Elyse who gave me some updates on Karel. She told me that she yelled to Karel that I was in the lead off the bike and he gave her a big smile. I was disappointed that I never saw Karel on the run but then again, if I saw Karel, one of us was would have been having a bad race as he started 35 minutes behind me.

Gin crossed the line 2 minutes behind me and I told her that she had me running scared for the last loop because she looked so strong.

After Karel crossed the finish line, I told him that I won my age group. After hearing some results from our spectating friends with phones, we also heard that Karel finally broke 4:20 in a half (4:19) and he ran 1:24. I was so surprised with my run as I have never ran so fast off the bike in a half this early in the season so I was super pumped with my 1:39 run split (without any metrics). Oh the freedom to run by feel! Karel said he pushed hard on the run and with his run as his secret/not so secret weapon, he brings a lot of confidence to the end of the bike as this born cyclist loves running off the bike.

While we were both exhausted after the race, we didn't feel too beat up. Certainly, the 48 hours after the race are the worst when the inflammation starts to subside and you feel niggles in different places as some body parts take longer to heal than others.

My favorite part about racing is exchanging stories about the race with Karel. It's always fun to hear each others perspective of the race. About an hour after we finished, we changed our clothes in the car and walked back to the race to look for our athletes. We weren't able to find anyone so we grabbed our bikes and gear and drove back to our rental home. Thankfully, we were able to talk to all of our athletes later that day and everyone did great!

After we cleaned up with a shower and ate some food back at the house, we all (in the house) exchanged our stories before heading back to the awards and received our slots for the 2017 IM 70.3 World Championship.

While this race report may be long and wordy, it's really hard to describe all the details that happen in 70.3 miles. With no expectations for this race, we both raced by feel. I have to be honest and say that after many years of endurance triathlon racing, I feel I am fitter than ever before but I am racing smarter than ever before. As Karel keeps telling me, since we finished the race, "Marni, you finally know how to race a triathlon!" I guess it only took me 11 years to learn how to race a 3-sport event!

I'm so glad that this race is out of the way and we were able to build confidence, test our fitness and take some risks and get that spark back for racing. As I continue to recover and slowly build back into training, I am counting down the days (3 weeks from Saturday!) until we get to do it all again in St. George, Utah!

A BIG thank you to our 

2017 Trimarni sponsors and affiliates:

-Run In - for helping us with all of our running needs
-New Wave Swim Buoy - for keeping us safe and seen in the open water
-Mg12 - for helping our muscles stay relaxed
-Clif Bar - for quality ingredients in quality sport nutrition
-Cheribundi - for providing a safe, natural and delicious way to reduce inflammation
-Veronica's Health Crunch - for the most delicious hand made crunch - ever!
-Infinit - for customizable sport nutrition
-Levelen - for helping us optimize our hydration needs through sweat testing
-Hot Shot - for keeping Karel cramp-free!
-Solestar - for maximum stability, better power transmission
-Boco Gear - for helping us race in style
-Canari - for the most comfortable, functional and stylish gear

-Xterra - for the fastest wetsuit ever (so fast, Karel is now beating me in the swim!)
-Alto cycling - for enginnering the fastest race wheels
-Swamp Rabbit Inn and Lodge - for keeping our campers happy with perfect lodging options
-Salem Anesthesia - for your Trimarni support

Ironman 70.3 Florida - quick recap

When planning out our 2017 racing season, Karel and I thought long and hard about our 2017 and 2018 season goals as we are all about the developmental process and thinking long term as athletes. Once we established our goals, we selected races that featured courses that would best suit our individual strengths as endurance triathletes.

With Karel focusing on two Ironman distance triathlons this summer (IM Placid and IM Chatty), I am focused on half IM distance racing to get more experience racing before returning back to the Ironman distance in 2018 (likely, Ironman Austria to try to break 10 hours). With this being my 11th year of endurance triathlon racing (and a new age group as I turn 35 in May) and Karel now entering his 5th year of calling himself a triathlete as a 40 year old, we both realize that we may be nearing our prime as endurance athletes and we don't want to waste a day of being able to use, push and challenge our healthy bodies. It's such a gift to be able to do what we can do with our body and seeing that we both love living an active lifestyle in Greenville, SC, triathlon is the perfect outlet for us to set goals and to work hard for them. Plus, the sport of triathlon is so much fun and it allows us to meet inspiring people, to connect with other like minded individuals, to travel and to escape from our daily life stressors and to do something that makes us feel alive and in the moment.

With Ironman 70.3 St. George on our must-do race course bucket list, we decided that this would be the year that we would tackle the difficult course with a handful of our Trimarni athletes so we registered last summer. But, we decided that we needed a tune-up half to dust off the rust and cobwebs since it had been a while since we both raced a long distance race. Thus, we selected Haines City as the venue for our tune-up half in early April, which would leave us a few days to recover and then tune-up again with some final prep for St. George. IM 70.3 Florida featured a wetsuit legal (73 degree) 1.2 lake swim, a mostly flat 56 mile bike course with a few gentle rollers and  13.1 mile 3-loop hilly run.

For us, racing hurts. Although we love racing, it is much more than us showing up and completing the distance. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, Karel and I show up to every race to compete among the competition. We dig deep, take risks and put ourselves into very uncomfortable situations on race day in order to test our fitness and to see what we can accomplish on race day. There is nothing "safe" about how we race. We physically and mentally go to places on race day that we never get to experience on race day.

Regardless of your reason for participating in a triathlon, for every triathlete, the nerves, anxieties, unknowns, pressures and emotions that you experience in the 24 hours before a race and on race day can not be experienced in training. No matter how much fun you have in training or how much you love racing, race day brings nerves and nerves can certainly negatively affect how the body performs on race day.

Race week also brings phanton taper pains. Yes, this is a real thing. In the days leading up to a race (especially an important one), you suddenly feel like you have a cold, you have the flu or you are injured. But ironically, on race day, you don't feel a thing (thank goodness for endorphins). It is important to go through these feelings (that are only felt on race day/week) as you need to build confidence that these things are normal and expected but will not keep you from performing well on race day. Thus, you have to go through them to mentally feel prepared for race day so you can physically perform with your trained and fit body. More than anything, a tune-up race gives us an opportunity to be in a race environment to go through the motions of swimbikerun when there is absolutely no expectations on the outcome. Seeing that every race is different, putting pressure on yourself to achieve specific goals at every single race can create an overwhelming amount stress and can make you lose the joy of racing. Although some races may be of more importance to perform well than others, racing is all about the experience of trying your best and giving your best, regardless of the priority. But without tune-up races, you miss out on the important opportunities to simply "test" things out before the races that really count.

One of the most liberating experiences about racing is having no expectations about the outcome. This means not chasing a goal time, goal paces or goal watts. When you have expectations, you become attached to these preconceived outcomes of how things are expected to go. This can create fear and a tremendous amount of pressure. But as any athlete knows, racing is unpredictable. There is absolutely no way that you can expect certain things to happen in a certain way or in a certain time. Things "come up" on race day and you just can't plan for everything. Additionally, when you have expectations and big goals, it's easy to feel defeated and disappointed if you don't meet those goals. Racing is a reward in and of itself for it shows that you put in the work and got yourself to the start line of a race and hopefully, made it to the finish. The last thing you want is to beat yourself up for having a "bad" race because you were so heavily focused on the outcome. While big scary goals help us all get out of bed in the morning and train when there are many distractions in life, it's important to not get attached to an outcome when you are racing for the outcome will fall into place, in the right way, by simply remaining in the present moment and constantly taking care of what needs to happen during each mile of the race.

Ironman 70.3 Florida was a race of no expectations which meant that there was absolutely no way that Karel and I would experience a sense of failure on race day. Certainly, this approach gave us a lot of freedom to take risks and to test our fitness. And as the saying goes, good things come when you least expect (and don't plan for) them. 

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RACE RESULTS - 
1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike/13.1 mile run

MARNI

Swim: 31:25

T1: 2:56

Bike: 2:31:27 (22.19mph)

T2: 2:43

Run: 1:39.32 (7:35 min/mile)

Time: 4:48.03

Overall place (female): 3rd

AG place (35-39): 1st

IM 70.3 World Championship qualifier

KAREL

Swim: 31:19

T1: 2:34

Bike: 2:18.59 (24.18mph)

T2: 2:26

Run: 1:24.28 (6:26 min/mile)

Time: 4:19.46

Overall place (male): 17th

AG place (40-44): 3rd

IM 70.3 World Championship qualifier

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GEAR SPECIFICS

MARNI:
Swim: 

Goggles: TYR Pink 2.0 special ops 

Wetsuit: Xterra Vengeance long sleeve
Gadget - Garmin 920
Kit: Canari custom short sleeve Trimarni tri suit
Sport Bra: Oakley Women continuity bra
Pre-race fuel: 3 homemade pancakes w/ syrup, banana slices and butter and peanut butter. Hardboiled egg w/ salt. Glass of water and cup of coffee. 1 scoop Clif Cran Razz hydration in throw away plastic bottle sipping in the 45 minutes before race. 

Bike: 

Bike: Trek Speed Concept 7 series custom (pink rocket) w/ Shimano ultegra Di2 shifting.
Tires/tubes: Specialized S-works turbo tires and vittoria latex tubes
Gearing: Front: 39/54. Rear sprocket: 11/28, 11sp

Wheels: Alto cycling. Front: cc56. Rear: cc86
Chain: KMC X11SL Pink
Saddle: ISM PN 1.0
Bottle cages: Xlab turbo wing with 2 Gorilla cages (rear), Aerobars - Bontrager pink cage

Helmet: Lazer Wasp Air with shield

Fuel: 3 bottles each with Infinit Trimarni base blend (230 calories per bottle, grape) 

Socks: Swiftwick 

Shoes: Bontager RXL hilo
Power meter: Garmin Vector 2 pedals
Bike computer: Garmin Edge 810

Run: 

Shoes: New Balance Zante (Pre-race warm-up shoes: Hoka Clifton 3)

Hat: Trimarni Boco gear performance trucker
Sunglasses: Oakley women radar lock with vents

Hydration belt: Nathan mercury 2 (2 x 10 ounce flasks)

Fuel: water and 1 scoop EFS grape per flask 

KAREL
Swim: 

Goggles: Michael Phelps (MP) XCEED

Wetsuit: Xterra Vengeance long sleeve
Gadget - Garmin 735XT
Kit: Canari custom short sleeve Trimarni tri suit
Pre-race fuel: Bowl of oatmeal w/ brown sugar 3.5 hours prior. Espresso. Croissant with jam and a few sips chocolate protein Bolthouse drink ~2 hours prior, sipping 1 scoop LEVELEN in water bottle. 1 Hot Shot pre race. 

Bike: 

Bike: Trek Speed Concept 8 series custom w/ Durace Di2 shifting 

Wheels: Alto cycling. Front: ct86. Rear: Disc CT311. With CeramicSpeed bearings.
Tires: Tubular S-Works turbo
Gearing: Front: 55/42. Rear: 11/25, 11sp
Chain: Ultra Optimized Chain
Saddle: Pro Aerofuel Carbon
Bottle cages: Rear: Profile mount with Gorilla cages. Front: Bontrager 

Helmet: Giro aerohead 

Fuel: 3 bottles (1 with Infinit Trimarni base blend, 1 with 2 scoops INFINIT Speed and 1 with 1 scoop LEVELEN). 1 Hot Shot (~1/2 way), 1 powerbar gel, 1 Enervitene cheerpack before the end of the bike. 

Socks: None

Shoes: Bontager RXL hilo
Power meter: Garmin Vector 2 pedals
Bike computer: Garmin Edge 810

Run: 

Shoes: New Balance Zante breathe (Pre-race warm-up shoes: NB vongo)

Hat: Trimarni Boco gear performance trucker
Sunglasses: Oakley radar lock
Socks: Swiftwick 

Hydration belt: Fuel belt helium (3 flasks )
Fuel: 1 Hot Shot in T2. 1 Enervitene in T2. Flasks: 2 with EFS Pro, 1 with Enervitene diluted with water)

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A BIG thank you to our 

2017 Trimarni sponsors and affiliates:

-Run In - for helping us with all of our running needs
-New Wave Swim Buoy - for keeping us safe and seen in the open water
-Mg12 - for helping our muscles stay relaxed
-Clif Bar - for quality ingredients in quality sport nutrition
-Cheribundi - for providing a safe, natural and delicious way to reduce inflammation
-Veronica's Health Crunch - for the most delicious hand made crunch - ever!
-Infinit - for customizable sport nutrition
-Levelen - for helping us optimize our hydration needs through sweat testing
-Hot Shot - for keeping Karel cramp-free!
-Solestar - for maximum stability, better power transmission
-Boco Gear - for helping us race in style
-Canari - for the most comfortable, functional and stylish gear

-Xterra - for the fastest wetsuit ever (so fast, Karel is now beating me in the swim!)
-Alto cycling - for enginnering the fastest race wheels
-Swamp Rabbit Inn and Lodge - for keeping our campers happy with perfect lodging options
-Salem Anesthesia - for your Trimarni support

Pre-race nutrition: Train like you compete

Training is easy. You feel great when you get your endorphin boost, you can control your environment (or select your terrain), there is no pressure because no one is watching or tracking you and you know that if a workout doesn't go as planned, you always have tomorrow to try again.

On the other hand, race day is stressful! Competition, and being in an unfamiliar and/or uncontrolled environment, brings anxiety, nerves and expectations. It's easy to compare yourself to other athletes and experience a heightened fear of failure. Never in training do you feel what you feel on race day and that is why only a select number of athletes can compete better than they train. Far too many athletes will finish a race feeling like they underperformed, relating back to all the amazingly great workouts that they crushed, yet feel defeated as to why they were unable to perform on race day, despite feeling so prepared. 

One of the great challenges for triathletes is translating training into a great race day result. With three sports to master on race day, in unpredictable environmental conditions, this can be difficult. Thinking back to this quote posted above, far too many athletes are overly confident in training yet lack the necessary confidence, physical skills, nutrition readiness and mental strength on race day.

Competing like you train seems like an obvious strategy to bring confidence on race day but a better approach is to train like you compete.

If you think about all that you (try to) do on race week/day in order to set yourself up for success, why not put that same focus, energy and attention to detail into training? 

• Restful sleep
• Organized and planned diet
• Good mobility
• Relaxation and visualization/meditation
• Good warm-ups
• Proper fueling
• Great daily hydration 
• Reviewing the course maps
• Rehearsing race strategy/execution
• Ensuring gear/equipment is in great condition

It seems obvious that if you are going to do something on race day, you should repeatedly do it in training, but far too often is this not the case. Rushed and busy schedules, poor planning and lack of application causes athletes to gain confidence is subpar performances by the body. In other words, you are simply getting by rather than making physical investments for race day. 

If you want to perform well on race day (who doesn't?) it is important that you nail the little things in training. In reference to this blog, this means practicing your pre race and race day nutrition many times in training to ensure confidence for race day. The purpose of training is to build physical and mental skills, habits and strategies that will translate into an optimal performance by your body on race day. Sadly, many athlete get really good at performing workouts underfueled and undernourished and expect to put together a fail-proof pre race and race day fueling and hydration strategy. I think of this like riding a bike - if you are always riding with poor bike handling skills, you can't expect to master bike handling skills on race day, simply because it's race day. The same is true for nutrition. If you are putting together a complex, detailed and precise diet and fueling/hydration strategy for the 48 hours before a race and for race day, but you never practice this approach in training (repeatedly), you've been training half prepared but you are expected to compete 100% prepared. Unfortunately, success doesn't happen this way. You must give 100% to your training if you want to compete well on race day.

The more you treat training like it's race week/ race day, the easier you will find it to perform at your highest level when it counts. Simply put, don't do anything drastic on race week/day that you didn't practice in training. 

In route to my first half ironman (IM 70.3 Florida) to kick stat my 11th season of endurance triathlon racing (with Karel also racing), I made the effort to practice my pre-race fueling strategy similar to what I plan to do this coming Saturday (4/8), on the day before the race. With a 3:45 hr brick on Saturday this past weekend, Friday was the perfect opportunity to gain confidence in my well-practiced meals for race day. Considering our travel logistics (staying in a rental home with a full kitchen), knowing the area (Publix grocery store near by) and traveling by car, I put together three meals to ensure that I would easily meet my carbohydrate needs without feeling too full or uncomfortable. All of these meals have been consumed prior in training, but never all in one day. I gained a lot of confidence in practicing my nutrition for a full day as it kept me from overeating or second guessing what/how much I was eating.  Because I never worry about eating too much on a daily basis, I always want to make sure I am eating "enough" to ensure that my body is primed and fueled to perform in every single training session. I gain a lot of confidence from high quality workouts with my healthy, strong and fit body.

Here is what I plan to eat next Saturday on the day before IM 70.3 FL. 

I will first have a small snack before my pre-race workout, likely some saltine crackers w/ nut butter and a hardboiled egg and ~200 calories of sport drink on the bike and run for a ~75 minute morning brick. After the workout, I will have a recovery drink w/ a pre-made protein/carb mix along with milk. Then, I will have homemade pancakes (which I will make ahead of time and then freeze for our travel) topped with lots of syrup, butter on some and nut butter on the others, topped with fruit.

For a mid morning snack, I will likely snack on more fruit. Of course, lots of water and I will salt my food.



For lunch, breakfast tacos w/ eggs, spinach, avocado spread and cheese with a side of pretzels (or chips) and fruit. This goes down really easily and sits better in my belly than a sandwich or wrap. I will make the stuffing for the shells ahead of time and bring the tacos shells with me.

For an afternoon snack, I will likely snack on some granola and raisins along with a little nut butter (probably straight off the spoon) and some more fruit. I try to keep my veggies low in the 48 hours before the race to reduce the residue in my gut.



For an early dinner, I will either have pasta w/ tempeh and marinara topped with cheese or basmati rice. Although I practiced with pasta to see how it sat (felt fine), Karel and I both like pizza/pasta two nights before a race so I may stick with rice on Saturday evening. 

I'm looking forward to using IM 70.3 FL as a great opportunity to dust off the rust, take some risks, put the past 5 months of consistent training to good use and experience the hurt of half IM distance racing (I haven't raced an endurance tri since winning Lake Logan 70.3 in August!). Although my mind keeps taking me to St. George 70.3, which is on May 6th, I'm trying to keep myself in the moment, understanding that this race is a great opportunity to be in the race environment and compete like I train.
I'm also excited to share the course with Karel, along with several of our Trimarni athletes (Chris, Stephanie, Kim, Julie and Freddy).

If you are racing, volunteering or spectating at IM FL 70.3 next weekend, I hope to see you. I don't mind hellos pre-race or cheers on race day! :) 

Athlete spotlight: Elizabeth Kenny: Police Chief inspiring her daughters to always "tri" hard and never give up.

Name: Elizabeth Kenny

Age: 48 years old

City/State: Saint Johns, Florida

Primary sport: Running and triathlon

How many years in the sport: 9 years

What Trimarni services have you used: RETUL, training plan, nutrition consult, coaching

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Describe your athletic background and how you discovered your current sport?

I have been an athlete all my life. I grew up participating in team sports like basketball, volleyball, and softball. I played basketball in college and then I coached high school level basketball for 5 years. I always ran to stay in cardio-shape for other sports, so once my basketball days came to an end, it was an easy transition to become more serious about running. I started with local 5k's and then progressed up to marathons. At the age of 39 I had a neighbor talk me into entering my first sprint triathlon. I had never done organized swimming or been on a fancy bike but I figured, why not? I'm always up for a new challenge and experience! I talked another friend into allowing me to borrow a bike (which was too big), but it had two wheels and meet my basic needs at the time. For the first few times at the pool, I would inevitably pop myself in the face while putting my swim cap on - I was a fun site to see! But I showed up on race morning ready to give it a go. To say I got hooked right away is an understatement. I have since completed 3 Ironmans, 7 Half Ironmans, and several Olympic and Sprint triathlon races.

What keeps you training and racing in your current sport?

I keep training because my body, mind, heart and soul crave the entire experience. It is a part of who I am and what I want to be. Not only is it the satisfaction of pushing the body to a certain limit and realizing that you are more than who you thought you were, but the other athletes and spectators involved in endurance sports are a special breed. We have a uniqueness that is so inviting and attractive to anyone introduced to the sport. It is the one sport that welcomes every level of athlete to participant with open arms. What other sport has as many, if not more, fans for the last athlete that crosses the finish line last compared to the winning athlete? With this atmosphere, in some special way, we all become family and build strong friendships that last beyond swimming, biking, and running. So I train and race not only for myself and my teenage girls but for all the others that I have met in my journey in the sport of triathlon.

What do you do for work?

Police Chief for Jacksonville Sheriff's Office

How does your work life affect training and how do you balance work and training?
Now that I am permanent M-F, my work schedule does not interfere with training like it used to. There are times when there are emergencies, such as in the hurricane season or unscheduled meetings that pop up, which require me to pull long shifts for several days in a row, which kept me from training. This happened a lot in the past. It was hard when I was on shift work, with hours at night, because there were days when I just did not want to train. But now I find that as long as I make a schedule, stick too it, and am flexible with emergencies (without stressing), I tend to balance my life and training pretty well.

Any tips/tricks as to how to balance work and training?

Allow yourself flexibility. Make a schedule and be dedicated to it, but know that there will be days when you have to adjust. Be honest with yourself and your training progress. Don't make goals that you are not ready for in your development. Be willing to change goals if life happens.

Do you have kids?2 teenage girls (Blake and Peyton)

How does having kids affect your training? How do you balance it all?

My kids schedule affects my training more than my work schedule. I have two active teenagers that participate in sports. They have practice 4x a week and travel every weekend. This calls for early morning training sessions and indoor trainer rides. Again, the balance comes with a set schedule and being flexible if something important comes up.

What tips and tricks do you have for other athletes who struggle to balance training with family? 

First the schedule. That goes for all of family activities, as well as your own. But most importantly, remember that you need time for yourself. Do not feel guilty about taking time out of your day to train and to make yourself better/healthier. When you feel better about yourself, you are able to help your children and family feel better about themselves. I want to be a positive role model for my girls. I want them to see that I can set goals and work hard for them.

How do you balance your training with your partner? Any tips or tricks for keeping your partner happy while you train to reach your personal goals?
I am not married but in a relationship. Be honest with your partner about your goals. Take them and their needs into consideration when you make your schedule and the races you enter. Even during the key parts of your race season, do not forget to take time for them. I would encourage athletes to have their partner be a part of the journey so that they do not feel like an outsider.

  

What are your top tips for athletes, as it relates to staying happy, healthy and performing well?

• Consistency
• Rest
• Don't put too much pressure on yourself.
• Don't worry about other peoples goals. Define your own goals.
• Have fun!

How would you define athletic success as it relates to your personal journey?

Athletic success to me is not quitting!!! Actually quitting is NOT an option! Life happens and roadblocks get in our way at times, but never give up. Even if you have to adjust your goals, DO NOT QUIT!

What's your favorite post-race meal, drink or food?

Post race I really like to treat myself to a Yuengling Light beer.

What key races do you have planned in 2017?
Currently I am only registered for Augusta 70.3 this year. I just had shoulder surgery at the end of March so my race calendar will depend on my recovery.

What are your athletic goals for the next 5 years?-1st goal is to focus on recovery from shoulder surgery in a smart but aggressive way. Included in this goal is to get stronger and more fit.
 -2nd goal is to compete in and finish another full Ironman - not certain of the race venue. -3rd goal is to reach out get as many new athletes, of all ages, involved in the sport of triathlon.
-4th goal is qualify for World's at the 70.3 and/or 140.6 distance.

You can follow Elizabeth on social media: Facebook @ Elizabeth Kenny
Instagram @ ewkenny
Twitter @ ewkenny7059

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Weekend workouts - Building confidence for race day

Confidence as an athlete is having a strong belief in your ability to achieve your athletic goals. Confidence keeps you focused, motivated, focused and positive, even when obstacles are in your way or setbacks occur. Confidence keeps you excited to embrace challenging and pressure situations/workouts as you remain emotionally in control.

Confident athletes think differently about workouts, obstacles and uncomfortable situations. Confident thinking is key for athletic success. For many athletes, negative and doubtful thinking influences performance, ultimately sabotaging your potential to improve and to perform to your ability. Whether it's low self esteem, self doubt or fear of failure, it's important to explore your inner doubter that is keeping you from thinking positively in order to build your confidence. 

One of the best confidence boosters is preparation. While training and checking off workouts counts as preparation, athletic readiness also includes the technical, tactical, gear, nutrition, equipment and mental aspects of your sport. Thus, putting in the time only to train will not make you as prepared for your upcoming event compared to putting time into every aspect of training. Imagine arriving to your upcoming event thinking "I am as prepared as I can be!" - now that is confidence speaking! 

Athletes often make the mistake thinking that completing workouts provides athletic readiness but what is missing is the ability to learn and to grow from the failed and subpar workouts, which are needed in order to succeed. How an athlete responds to situations is just as important, if not more important, than building confidence from perfectly executing a workout and nailing the metrics in perfect environmental conditions. 

Most athletes would agree that confidence comes from success. When you are succeeding, you feel validated that your hard work is paying off. When a setback occurs, you feel defeated and question your abilities. Although success encourages you to continue to train hard and to put in the work, success as an athlete is much more than just training and racing. If you are constantly chasing great workouts and beating yourself up for the days when you don't excel, you will never experience true success. Little victories, like showing up for a workout on a busy day or when you are exhausted, or finishing a workout despite your legs/arm feeling like they can't move a minute longer, are the winning moments that build confidence. Improvements build confidence. Overcoming adversity builds confidence. Small victories in training accumulate so that every day, you can move closer to your big goals.

If you constantly find yourself thinking negatively or expecting yourself to achieve your high expectations  in training and on race day, reduce the negative and pressure cooker thinking and replace it with positive self talk and process driven, in the moment thinking. Understanding that adversity increases your belief that you can respond positively to difficult, uncomfortable and tough situations, I encourage you to not fear adversity, especially when a setback occurs during those "why now" moments. 

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Saturday morning was our last "long" ride before we compete in Haines City 70.3 this coming weekend. Karel and I are anxious to shake off some rust and go through the motions and emotions of endurance racing as we kick start our upcoming endurance triathlon race season. Although Haines City is not a key race for us and we won't be prescribing to a normal taper for this race, we will adjust our training this week in order to execute to the best of our abilities for this strategically planned race. As you may (or may not know), St. George 70.3 is in 4 weeks and that is a very important race for me. This race has been on my to-do list for many years as I love difficult race courses. Due to the challenging course, it is a race that I would like to place overall female amateur. The course suits me very well so I will gather confidence and take some risks here at Haines City as it is a stepping stone in my developmental plan for St. George, before I continue on with the rest of the season of training and racing. 

Our Saturday ride was a little eventful as Karel's rear bottle cage got unhinged from his saddle after our first interval. This broke our momentum during our ride and it turned into a frustrating situation as that cage held Karel's two other bottles. We both stopped and tried to assess the situation and instead of calling it a day due to the obstacle, we continued on riding to finish off our intervals and then we would pick up the cage on the way home.

For some reason, Karel and I both felt off on the bikes. The bumps on the road felt bumpier than before, it was hard to feel comfortable and it was just one of those rides where we both felt blah. BUT, we continued on with the workout. 

Bike workout:

WU: ~45 minutes
MS: 3 x 20 minutes at half IM effort as
(5 min <65 5="" min="" rpm="">95 rpm, 5 min <65 5="" min="" rpm="">95 rpm)
6 min EZ in between

Then:
1 x 20 minute half IM effort (choice cadence)

Total: 2:55, 50.6 miles, 3547 feet elevation gained

Off the bike, it was time to run. Our run was very effort specific and we performed it on the rolling terrain outside of our neighborhood. We have been doing more effort specific runs and I really enjoy them because they go by fast as you are constantly thinking about what you are doing and what is next. Of course, our hilly terrain makes it nearly impossible to go by pace when we run so the effort specific workouts are more practical for our training. Although I can't keep up with Karel, we did out and backs on a stretch of road (with two turns and two u-turns) so it was nice to see each other throughout the set. I always get a boost of confidence when I see Karel running.

Brick run workout: 10 min build to half ironman (HIM) effort

2 min endurance effort

5 min at HIM effort 

2 min endurance 

4 min at HIM

2 min enduranace

3 min at HIM

2 min endurance
5 min HIM effort, build to strong
EZ cool down jog

Total: 46:24, 5.88 miles, 381 feet elevation gained

On Sunday, our athlete Thomas, who is training for his first IM in September (Chatty) joined us for our long run. If you may have noticed, our long runs are very specific and only but a few times do we sprinkle in a run where we simply just run. The long runs are always based on time and pace is rarely, if ever, a focus. I hardly ever run on flat terrain so my focus when I run is always on my form vs what is on my Garmin. To be honest, when I finish a run, I have no idea how far I go because I do my warm-up, then do my pre and main set and then I cool down. When my main set is over, I simply need to get home and that is my cool down. This approach provides a lot more fun to running for it keeps me engaged on what I am doing in the moment vs having to chase prescribed miles or paces to hit.

This run was very specific to the location where we were running so it is a bit hard to explain but I will try to do my best.

We left from our house and ran an easy 23 minutes/2.63 miles to the location of our main set. Which for the locals, we started our main set on Pine Forest Road, which is a .66 mile stretch of road that connects to Little Texas and has 127 feet of climbing. At the bottom of the road, off Old Buncome, there is a park with a sidewalk trail around a park (and public bathrooms).

Now that you understand the location (park with a ~.3 mile loop trail around it and a .66 mile uphill road), I can explain the main set:

MS: 4x's:
~4-5 minutes (or 2 full loops) around the park
Climb to the top of the hill steady/strong with the last 20-30 seconds very strong
Then run down the hill but still keeping a steady effort w/ good form
Then back into another 2 loops or 4-5 minutes around the park to start the next round.

No breaks throughout this entire set. Four rounds total.

The climb took me about 5:30 to complete and another 5 minutes to run down and then we ran about 4.5 minutes around the park so each interval lasted about 15 minutes. Thomas finished each climb about 10 seconds ahead of me but we ran the downhill and park section and almost 1/2 each climb together. It was awesome to have him for motivation to not give up.
Did I mention we had no breaks in between those 4 rounds?

I actually gained a lot of confidence in this workout, thanks to seeing Karel looking so strong and having Thomas as my rabbit/running buddy. I was also super impressed with how my legs were able to run well after the main set, especially on our rolling terrain back home. Although this workout was very challenging, I was so proud of my body for staying so strong throughout the entire set.

After over 7.5 miles of our main set, we had another few miles to get home which gave Thomas and I 1:50 total running, 13.4 miles and almost 1200 feet of climbing. Karel, the speedster, had about a mile more on us since he finished the set before us and ran a little extra and also covered a little more in the park loop during those 4-5 minutes. 

And to finish off the weekend training, a 4000 yard swim on Sunday afternoon. As usual, it's always hard to get to the pool but we always feel better when it's over.

WU: 400

Pre set: snorkel and fins
1 x 200
2 x 150
2 x 100
2 x 50
All with 10-15 sec rest (building effort as the duration decreases)

MS:
500 buoy - smooth
6 x 75's at 90%, strong w/ 15 sec rest
300 buoy - smooth
10 x 50's at 90% strong w/ 10 sec rest
300 buoy - smooth
12 x 25's at 90% strong w/ 5 sec rest
300 buoy - smooth
100 strong

Another great week + weekend of training behind me and now to keep myself in good health this race week as I go into my first half ironman distance event in my 11th season of endurance triathlon racing. 

Thank you body!

Swim smart in the open water and be seen with New Wave Swim Buoy

My favorite open water swim location - Lake Wörthersee in Klagenfurt, Austria. Picture taken before I finally broke 1 hour in an Ironman swim after 10 attemps (IM Austria 2016 - 2.4 miles in 57.04). 

In case you missed it in our latest newsletter, we dedicated issue eleven to swimming smart and swimming safe.

With the warm temps (almost) here, triathletes all over the globe are getting ready for the upcoming race season. This means triathletes are not only biking and running outside more often, but are getting closer to swimming in open water.

For many triathletes, the thought of swimming in the open water can bring a lot of anxiety and nerves, which may discourage you from signing up for a triathlon event or you may find yourself with extreme panic on race day morning.

If you feel intimidated by the thought of swimming in a pack of athletes, in a large body of water, I encourage you to check out our latest newsletter to read about some of my tips and tricks to help you conquer your fears and build confidence in the open water.

Also in our newsletter, we featured the New Wave Swim Buoy, which we have been using for the past year. New Wave Swim Buoy is a 2017 Trimarni sponsor and all Trimarni campers receive a New Wave Swim Buoy at our group training camps. We love this product for many reasons.

Anytime you are swimming in open water, it is important that you are visible and safe. Because the open water is an unpredictable environment and the shore is not always just a few strokes away, the New Wave Swim Buoy is an affordable and practical way to swim with confidence in the open water. Just strap the product around your waist and get swimming. You won't even know you have a brightly colored buoy behind you but you will clearly stand out in open water. 

New Wave Open Water Swim Buoy Provides:

1. Visibility in Open Water. The brightly-colored New Wave Swim Buoy is exceptionally noticeable to boaters, jet skis, paddlers, surfers and other swimmers. Since swimmers are virtually invisible in the open water from a distance, the New Wave Swim Buoy will make you easy to spot for miles away. 
    
2. Safe Place to Float and Rest. Because of the natural buoyancy, the New Wave Swim buoy can be used as a flotation device. You have reassurance that just in case you cramp up, feel tired, want to enjoy the view or simply need to rest, you are able to grab the float and take a breather without needing to tread water. 
    
3. Very light for swimming - The New Wave Swim Buoy is very lightweight which makes it easy for traveling and you won't notice it floating behind you as you swim. 
    
4. Storage of Personal Items. The New Wave Swim Buoy is useful in point to point swims or when you swim alone. The New Wave Swim Buoy has a storage compartment that is separate from the Inflatable Air Chamber, which can be used for sunglasses, sunscreen, body glide, extra cap and goggles, running shoes, socks and clothes, diving mask, snorkel, camera, water shoes, iPod, book, snacks, water, gels, cash, credit cards, medicine, first-aid medical kit, and this list can go on. What would you take with you on a water-journey? 
    
5. Improved Monitoring of Athletes. For coaches and large group practice swims, it is important to be able to see all of your athletes. The New Wave Swim Buoy makes it easy to count your athletes and not lose track of anyone.

To purchase your New Wave Swim Buoy, use Amazon promo code MarniTri at checkout for 10% off any New Wave Swim Buoy. 
Use the following link when ordering with your Trimarni discount code: Click here.

Train smarter with a new approach to triathlon periodization

For many triathletes, training looks similar to this above model.
 Base, build, peak, taper, race, recover. 

But what happens after race day? Can the athlete who is racing in May continue on with training and still improve and peak again? Is the athlete strong enough to withstand another 6 months of training and racing? What if an athlete races in November - can the athlete start training in May and still achieve peak fitness in November?
Want to learn more? Read on. 

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When you think about training for a triathlon, it may appear to be a complicated sport - Swim, bike and run.
Training for a triathlon is much more than simply checking off swim, bike and run workouts because the sport of triathlon is one sport - SWIMBIKERUN and this sport requires great skills, endurance, resilience and strength, as you transition your body from swimming to biking to running.

Although you may feel overwhelmed with the thought of training for a triathlon, it is important to not make triathlon training too overwhelming. Understanding that a huge component of triathlon success is development, it's important to not overcomplicate the sport in the first few years of triathlon training as this can lead to burnout, health issues and/or injuries.

For all triathletes, swimbikerun training should fit in your life. You should find yourself gradually improving your fitness and skills throughout the season and improving, season after season. Unlike a single sport, we can not look for fitness gains to happen quickly as each sport brings a different stressor to the body. Ultimately, consistency as a triathlete will allow you to gain great confidence and fitness, with less setbacks due to injury, health issues and overtraining.

Creating a smart training plan can be challenging as there is no one periodized approach that will work for every athlete. Every athlete lives a different life, with a different physiology, mental capacity, health status and fitness abilities. Simply put, a periodized triathlon training plan should be based on the current emotional, physical and mental state of an athlete, with a well-designed strategy to help the athlete develop throughout the season, without major setbacks, in order to be emotionally, physically and mentally prepared for race day.

Once upon a time, periodized training was all about volume and intensity. These two things have not gone away but we no longer focus on slowly building an endurance base and then slowly increasing intensity throughout the season in order to get faster. As it relates to endurance triathletes, what we now know is that triathletes need to be very strong in order to adapt well to training stress. And a strong body will best achieve results on race day because it can handle the training demands that occur in swimbikerun. By creating a very durable foundation with the body, while establishing basic skills and retraining skills and movements before advancing volume and intensity, a triathlete will find that this periodized approach best suits endurance triathlon training and racing. Ultimately, this approach places training stress on the body all season long but, the physical stress is manageable, even in the biggest training load, simply because the body was trained to be strong. In other words, starting off the season with high volume or intense training will load the body with too much stress and this overload may risk injury, burnout or health issues. Furthermore, as mentioned above, a huge component to smart racing is smart training and when it comes down to executing well on race day, triathletes need great open water, bike handling and running skills and strength, in order to manage the terrain and obstacles that occur on race day.

Hopefully, by now, endurance triathletes recognize that being lean and fast are not primary goals of a periodized approach to training. Yet far too many endurance triathletes are chasing these variables and risking injury, health issues and burnout.

An important component to periodized training is understanding that you are accumulating fitness throughout an entire season. Thus, you can only reach peak fitness but just once or twice, maybe three times in a year. Therefore, your training needs to be designed in a way that you are gradually overloading the body throughout an entire season, with sessions of rebuilding and recovery so that you can continue to experience a higher level of fitness than when you started.

With too much intensity or volume early season, especially with a fragile/weak body, there's a good chance that your body won't be able to handle training as the volume/intensity becomes more race specific.

To learn more about a (somewhat) new approach to periodization, I was interviewed by the Daily Burn on my take on periodized triathlon training. Below is the article to help you learn more about breaking down your triathlon season to achieve peak fitness on race day.

Train Smarter with this 6-month periodization plan
Please note that I was asked to provide a 6-month periodized plan for an Olympic distance triathlete so I don't feel this strategy, of training 6 months, is ideal for an endurance triathlete but hopefully, the article will help you make sense of periodized training, regardless of race distance. 

If you are interested in a Trimarni 20-week olympic distance, half ironman or ironman training plan or joining our educational team, check out our plans on our website here. 
Any questions, just send us an email via the contact form on our website.

Requirements for athletic success

Most athletes want to be successful on race day but success is all relative to the person, in his/her individual journey. Regardless of your definition of success, whether it is to complete a race, to arrive healthy and injury free to the start line, to podium, win the race, have a personal best performance or qualify for a World Championship event, very few athletes truly grasp what it takes to be successful.

The reason for this lack of understanding of "success" is because life is never a smooth path. Many athletes have this idea (in the head) of what it requires to be successful on race day and when life detours in a different direction, it's easy to feel frustrated, with an immediate loss of motivation. In other words, if success isn't easy to achieve, it's easy to quit and give up.

As an athlete, it is important that you are persistent but also see training for an event as more than simply the physical preparation of completing workouts in order to gain fitness. Every athlete needs skills to be successful on race day and many times, we gain valuable skills in our darkest moments, worst setbacks and most frustrating failures.

If you have a race approaching and you find yourself with waves of excitement, anxiety and nerves, I encourage you to search deep inside you to explore your inner WHY. Why are you so passionate about your sport? Why did you get started in the first place? Why are you so invested in doing something amazing with your body that you have never done before? Why this sport?

Commitment to training does not happen by simply registering for an event. You can't buy motivation. If you are ready, willing and itching to go after your goals and dreams, then you must have a clear purpose (a WHY) as to what is driving you each and every day.

I believe that every athlete CAN experience success on race day IF you do not forget your why during obstacles and setbacks. No journey is without adversity and your commitment, persistence and dedication will be tested daily. As an athlete, a requirement for athletic success is expecting your journey to be challenging and sometimes difficult.

If you are an athlete who is not absolutely in love with training and racing, there's probably a chance that you struggle to find motivation to train and maybe even hesitate to register for races. Do you absolutely, without a doubt, love what you get to do with your body as an athlete? Sure, we are all, at times, busy, stressed and overwhelmed but a sport is a hobby, or even better, an outlet to make us happier, healthy and more at ease with life. The more you enjoy what you get to do with your body through training and racing, the easier it will be to put in the time to succeed at your sport.

While your self-identity may be tied to being an athlete, let me remind you that it is ok to take a break from your sport but not from physical activity. While every human being should exercise to reduce risk for disease and to keep yourself in good health, your athletic hobby should be something that you really want to, every day when you wake up in the morning and/or after a long day of work. If your passion in life is shifting, find a physical activity that you are excited about and pursue the activity that makes you happy.

Understanding that every athlete will hit a plateau in fitness gains, will struggle with motivation, will question the time, money and energy needed to improve and will experience adversity, you must trust your training and have a lot of patience in your journey. Embrace the process of success and broaden your definition of success.

Winning is not everything. Sport helps you grow as a person. If your mindset is in the right place, sport can make you feel successful in all areas of your life. As an athlete, remind yourself that you are making a positive impact on others, your kids/family looks up to you, your coworkers envy you and you have the opportunity to inspire everyone that comes into your life.

Above all, it's a privilege to do what you can with your body so don't waste a day in life.