Keep Showing Up - Trimarni Athlete Spotlights

 

"Keep showing up."

You've probably heard the saying that 80% of success in life is just showing up.

What does showing up mean?

Being in the right place at the right time is a key to success. But when you show up consistently, you create more chances that you are in the right place when opportunities appear.

Showing up means being present and consistently appearing for things that matter to you. It means being present by living in the moment. This can be showing up for a family/friend in need, showing up despite having overcome a physical/mental health issue/injury or showing up despite all of the odds against you. Setbacks haven't stopped you because you are dedicated to showing up to life. This has allowed you to recover from obstacles in your path. Because it's better to take the smallest step than take no step at all, keep showing up.

With over 20 Trimarni athletes participating at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, we would like to introduce you to some of our inspiring athletes and why they "keep showing up."

Travel Day to St. George, Utah

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The (Best) Worst Timing

 

We got sick and our PCR test results came back COVID-19 positive. 

Karel had his worst symptoms (flu-like body aches, night sweats, fatigue, no energy, but no fever) from August 27th-30th. I had my worst symptoms (flu-like body aches, sinus congestion, running nose, wet cough, fatigue, low energy, but no fever) from September 1st-3rd. It took us both another 3-4 days until we started to feel more like our normal self. I am still without taste or smell and my sinuses are still very congested. After waiting three days for an appointment, we both tested positive on September 3rd. 

Thankfully, we were not in close contact with many people over the past two weeks. We don't eat out, we don't go indoors without a mask (grocery and post office are the only two places we go indoors) and Karel only had three bike fits in the two weeks before he was tested positive. We have two training partners (Alvi and Kristen) so we notified them and they both tested negative. I told my mom and her boyfriend and three other people who stopped by to see Asher (our newest kitten). No one has reported any positive tests since interacting with us. 

With the Ironman 70.3 World Championship just eight days away, we are happy to report that thankfully, we are both out of our quarantine/isolation period and we will be safe to travel (and race) race week. 

There's never a good time to get sick but this COVID experience has been the (best) worst timing. If we would have gotten sick this week, we wouldn't be traveling or racing at the IM 70.3 World Championship. Certainly we would have preferred to not have gone through this but at this point, we are just so thankful that we were fully vaccinated when we were exposed and thanks to the vaccine doing what it was designed to do, our symptoms were not severe. Although I have had to drastically change our expectations for our race day performance since I am still struggling with heavy legs while running, sinus pressure and overall, I still don't feel 100%, I am just so thankful that I was able to race so much this year without having to overcome any major obstacles. 

A younger version of myself would have felt as if my Ironman 70.3 World Championship experience was ruined due to a sickness 2.5 weeks out from the race. But over the years, I've learned not to associate my self-worth to one race. The truth is that happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them. Struggling doesn't mean you are failing. 

Although I am disappointed in the timing of this sickness, it's still the best worst timing in that we will still be able to travel to and participate in the race. Sure, this virus took away some of my strength, my taste and smell and time away from structured training but what counts is what you do with what you have left - not wasting energy on what is taken away from you. Worrying and complaining changes nothing. 

Life's best lessons are often learned at the worst times. Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your best. 

Taper and Body Image Dissatisfaction

In the week or two before your big race and you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror while you are trying on your race day outfit or you come across a recent picture of you training and racing. What thoughts go through your head as it relates to your body image? 

No matter how you think you look like or how you feel about your body, don't let negative body image thoughts sabotage your taper. 

Body image is the mental picture that you have of your own body but also how you see yourself when you look in the mirror. It also refers to the way you believe others see you. Self-esteem is how you respect and value yourself but also how you take care of yourself physically, nutritionally and emotionally. 

Because body image and self-esteem are closely related, when you have a healthy body image, you know how to and want to take care of your body. When you are dissatisfied with your body, you will not feel comfortable about your body and will not make smart choices to take care of your mental and physical well-being. 

Athletes who are vulnerable of attaching self-esteem (or self-worth) to one's athletic performance (or feel judged by how well or don't well you perform) may find themselves with a heightened sense of body dissatisfaction - and vice versa. One big reason for this is that if your performance doesn't match your predicted outcome, you may feel as if your body weight/size/composition is to blame. 

For many athletes, a drop in volume and a change in routine may cause a heightened sense of awareness of body image. Self imposed pressure to perform and worrying about the many things out of your control may lead to self-defeating thoughts about your body. If you find yourself in this place, I encourage you to change this thought process immediately.

A vulnerable athlete who feels uncomfortable with body image is likely to look for coping strategies, like dieting and over-exercising, in order to gain control. Never is intentional undereating/underfueling or overexercising performance enhancing.   

If you are getting ready for a race but struggling with body acceptance during taper, I encourage you to change your focus on what your body looks like and instead, go to a place of what your body can do. When was the last time you thanked your body for allowing you to train for your upcoming event? 

Direct your energy to your body strengths ­that have nothing to do with looks....

• What are your personal strengths and positive qualities?
• Have you improved your skills or technique? 
• What are you able to do now that you once could not do with your body? 
• What's amazing about your body?
• What do you love about yourself?

What's making you feel so negative about yourself? 

• Take a self-image inventory. 
• Confront distorted or unhealthy thoughts.
• Challenge misleading assumptions about body appearance.
• Refrain from comparing yourself to others. 
• Give yourself positive affirmations.
• Accept who and how you are. 
• Be comfortable with your body.

If you begin to get nervous, worried or anxious about how you think others will see you on race day, remind yourself that the opinions of others do not matter. You are bringing your prepared body to the race start and you should be proud of all that your body allows you to do. It's not what you look like that matters - it's what you can do with your incredible body.

Your taper is the culmination of many months of training. It is a very critical time in your training plan where you intentionally change up your normal training regime to sharpen your body for race day 

A drastic change in your training schedule, alongside changes in your appetite, sleep pattern, body signals, lifestyle and mood can make you feel a little "off." This sudden, yet expected, time in the season can bring question, doubt and uncertainty, alongside an intense fear of athletic readiness. While a different phase in your training as you change your "typical" routine, taper is not the time to try to change, stress or worry about your body composition. 

Taper is an uncomfortable time for many athletes as it means that your big race is quickly approaching. But it should be a time when you celebrate all that your body has accomplished - not bashing your body for what it looks like. 

Embrace your taper. Embrace your body.

Taper is an important time in your athletic journey. Be sure to take good care of yourself mentally and physically. 

Remember - you trained yourself to do something amazing with your body on race day. If you are training because you want to change how you look or how you want others to see you, you are training for the wrong competition. 

Your body is not an object. You are so much more than an image. Be amazing with your amazing body.

IM 70.3 World Championship - Knowing You Belong

With less than two weeks until the 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, there's a lot of nervous energy going around. This 70.3 "World" Championship event is a bit unique in that the majority of the participants will not be international athletes but instead, representing USA. Certainly this is understandable as we are still in a global pandemic and each country has different guidelines, rules and regulations for travel and quarantine. When an event is in your home country, it makes it a bit easier to travel to. 

Although there was still a qualification process for every participant in this event, I've encountered many athletes who feel less deserving of qualifying because of the greater number of slots available at North America 70.3 events. 

At Trimarni, we will have over 20 athletes participating in this event (including me, Karel and our assistant coach Joe). We ordered team shirts and tanks, we have team events planned and we are super excited to share this experience with our athletes. When several of our athletes received a "roll down" slot or a Women for Tri slot, it was as if they felt they didn't belong at the event because they didn't "earn" it outright - let's say by placing in the top 5 of their respective age group. Some athletes received a slot after what they would describe as a "horrible" race whereas others received a slot several months later, and felt too embarrassed to take the slot. But for each reason to not take the slot, we encouraged our athletes to accept their slot to the 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George, Utah on September 18th. 

If you are an athlete who feels as if you don't belong at a World Championship event or any other event, especially due to unique circumstances, it's important to know that you belong. 

You worked hard to get to a higher level in your sport. 
You made the time to improve your skills and technique. 
You put in the many hours of training. 

And you were in the right place at the right time. Sure, it could be a bit from a bit of luck or based on chance but being in the right place at the right time is not just a matter of proximity. If you aren't prepared, it doesn't matter what situation you find yourself in. 

You belong and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. 

As an athlete, believing in yourself is important. Without confidence, it's easy to look for reasons why you don't belong or excuses as to why you will fail. 

You belong. To perform to your full abilities on race day, list the reasons why you belong. For example, you hired a sport dietitian to work on your nutrition. You put in extra time to work on your skills. You are mentally strong. You have worked really hard to get to where you are today. 

Remind yourself that you may make mistakes, things may not go as planned, you will have obstacles to overcome and you may struggle. These things don't happen to athletes because they don't belong. Ever athlete has setbacks and struggles before and on race day. 

Rise up to the level of your nearest competition instead of feeling intimated by others. Don't waste your precious energy by making comparisons, worrying about how you think others will think of/about you or doubting your abilities because you feel you don't belong. 

Don't feel the need to seek social approval from others. Avoid the tendency to throw out excuses before you give yourself an opportunity to test your abilities. Believe in yourself. Trust your training. Race for yourself. Celebrate this special opportunity. 

You belong. 

Body Shaming and Fat Talk

 

"Too big." "Too small."

Your body is not an object.

Let's stop shaming the body of an athlete. Including your own body. 

It's crazy to think that so many athletes believe that they must attempt to train the body to succeed in sport while simultaneously maintaining a specific body type idealized by social media.

Whether you criticize your own appearance through comparison or judgement, criticize another's appearance in front of them or criticize another's appearance without their knowledge, this is a form of abuse.

The first step in overcoming body shaming is to appreciate your body just as it is.

We can all do better to love ourselves and our bodies just as we are.

When you have a healthy relationship with your body, you are more likely to respect and value the bodies of others.

Exercise burnout and how to overcome it

Although it's normal to experience motivational highs and lows throughout the year, the risk for burnout is always a concern. Typically, the symptoms occur gradually.... you can't seem to find the motivation to exercise, you've hit a fitness plateau and/or you notice a loss of enjoyment for the activities that were once enjoyable for you. You may also find that you are struggling with an injury, health issue or mental health change.

Burnout is not always predictable but life, work, an injury, health issue or a family stress can certainly increase the risk.

If you are struggling with motivation or struggling to find your "why", it's time to change your relationship with your training/exercise regime. Here are a few tips to help you return to a place of joy and excitement for exercising:

• Avoid just checking off your workouts and simply going through the motions. If you feel obligated to show up to a workout, but gain little enjoyment or satisfaction from the process of completing the workout, get back to your "why."
• If you feel physically and emotionally exhausted, find a different way to move your body. Exercise is a great way to improve your mood so don't scratch off exercise from your to-do list just because life is stressful. Give yourself permission to move blood, participating in an exercise that makes you feel good, for 20-30 minutes a day.
• Change up your routine if your daily grind is becoming monotonous. Go somewhere new, join a group or invite a friend to join you for a workout. Sometimes a mind/body recharge can serve as a great motivational boost.
• Join a group or go solo. Depending on your "normal" exercise routine, perhaps you need the fun factor of training with a group. Or if you are used to always training with others, you may just need some alone time.
• Do a nutrition/hydration check-in. If your energy or hydration intake is not meeting your needs, your body may be shutting down to prevent a health issue. Look to your daily diet and hydration practices to see if your body is in need of more food and water.
• Keep goals realistic and processed driven.
• Remove the pressure on yourself that you have to improve with each workout. Far too many burnout stories stem from pushing through fatigue. Added pressure to beat your previous workout session brings stress and anxiety.
• Get your Zzzzzzs. Sleep is an amazing recovery tool but when you fall short on sleep or try to function in life with restless sleep, it's easy to feel run down.
• No structure workouts are in order. Sometimes you need a break from showing up to a specific workout. Go for a run without a watch, ride your bike for fun (and stop at the local coffee shop) or do an open water swim and enjoy the freedom of not following a black line. Or, do nothing related to your sport without guilt.
• More is not better. Don't let your fitness routine control your life. If you have found yourself in a training rut, grinding away the miles and feeling an intense amount of guilt if you miss a workout or don't hit your expected watts or paces, it's time to rethink your drive. 

Exercise is a much-needed way to keep you in great health - physically and mentally. Take a step back as doing less can help you get more out of your body. 

Choosing Happiness

I'll be honest. This week has been tough.

As an empath, I feel the emotions of other people - good and bad. With so much going on in the world and in our close network of friends, I found myself absorbing so many different emotions this past week. It was often hard to show up to workouts but I knew that once I got myself in the pool or outside for a ride or run, I would be able to center myself. Nature rejuvenates me on so many different levels so my workouts are not just an opportunity to gain fitness, but a much-needed reset and recharge. 

With only three more weeks until the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George, I am feeling healthy, strong and confident. As I said before, sometimes it's hard to get a workout started but once I get going, I am so thankful that I got myself going. 

During my Sunday long run, I couldn't help but think about happiness and the importance of choosing happiness. My love/hate relationship with running is in the love phase so I have been running really happy lately. My workout was ~50 minutes of best easy pace running followed by 4 x 3 min hill runs w/ ~3.5 min EZ jog back down between. Then best easy pace home for a little over 13 miles and around 1:50 of running. 

Sometimes we have to give up something good to achieve something great.

But you should never give up everything that makes you happy in exchange for nothing.

It’s not selfish to not want to give things up, especially if those things make you happy. You should feel happy when you do what you love, even if it’s a hobby.

Never feel bad about prioritizing your needs. If what makes you happy is part of your self-identity, taking that thing away means you stop being yourself. Don’t become a shadow of yourself.

Choosing to be happy is hard when you stop being yourself in order to please others.

Understand that it’s impossible to serve, give and to take care of others if you are not taking care of your own needs.

You are not selfish for taking care of yourself, for wanting to be happy, for setting boundaries, for choosing a lifestyle that you love and for wanting to grow, learn and to experience life.

Even when life is dark, challenging and difficult, choose not to give up on you happiness.

Getting better by failure

Back in May 2006, Karel and I met on a group ride. I had never been on a group ride before and I was very inexperienced as a cyclist. I was 24 years old, training for my first Ironman (IMFL) and much of my riding was indoors on a spin bike or on a trail. I only had a tri bike, which was still a bit scary for me as I didn't feel comfortable on it. I was a total newbie. 

I was so nervous for the ride that I backed out a few times before I finally committed to showing up for the ride. When I finally did show up, I didn't even make the warm-up loop for the group ride. I felt embarrassed and upset. The next week I showed up again and once again, I didn't even make it through the warm-up loop before getting dropped. After a few more attempts, I had a bit of a breakdown and out of frustration, I told Karel I would never do a group ride again. Committed to my decision, I eventually stopped showing up to the ride that summer. Instead of trying to get better, I stayed within my comfort zone and rode by myself. 

Had I stayed true to my decision to never ride in a group again, I would have never improved as a cyclist. More so, I would have missed out on so many incredible group riding opportunities with Karel. Thankfully, I was stubborn enough to show up again. Eventually I made the warm-up loop. And then I made the first loop. Because I kept showing up, each time I found myself going a little further in the ride. Although we moved out of Clearwater (to Jacksonville) before I was ever able to complete the entire group ride, I got better because I failed. 

I couldn't help but remember this experience while riding in a group ride this past Tuesday evening. Although this was only my second time in three weeks participating in the Spinners Perimeter A-group ride, it has become a favorite workout for me. The ride is challenging and uncomfortable and it really takes me out of my comfort zone. My strength is steady-state riding and the longer the better for me. My weakness is generating high power for a short amount of time. Rather than try to do sprints on my own, I would much rather be forced to do them in a group. This ride not only stresses my anaerobic system but we turn this almost 90-minute, 35-mile ride into a "long" ride by riding to and from the group ride. Nearly 70 miles on a Tuesday evening makes for a spicy long ride. For me, it's really about the comradery of being around other cyclists. Plus, nothing makes me feel more alive and grateful than being on my bike, riding while the sunsets and finishing the ride in the dark with only our lights to guide us home safely. 

On this last ride, Georgie Hincapie and Bobby Julich were part of the ride, alongside a great group of other riders. I was the lone female as the local pro and elite female cyclists are racing at this time of the year. The ride had at least 50 riders to start. With a police escort to lead the group, we completed 5 x 7ish-mile loops. There were some breakaways and a lot of surges. I struggled a lot. Although I am not scared riding 25 mph on my road bike in a group, it's still a bit uneasy at times. There's a lot to focus on - like the riders around me, what's going on in the front, drinking, changing gears and responding to different moves - but that's what I love about group rides. I am ok to fail because I am trying. And each time I try, I am getting better. 

Although I finished the last two rides (and didn't get dropped), it was super challenging for me. I actually got dropped on the 4th loop on Tuesday but somehow willed my way back as the group slowed down. I was using all of my Ironman distance racing mantras to not give up and I couldn't help but think about the swim and run that I did earlier in the day. But I didn't let any excuse get in my way. I just kept giving my best effort, refusing to give up. 

Failure.

It's through failure that we learn the greatest life lessons. Failure is our best teacher. Failing hurts, but it's necessary. It's important to fail at something before you can succeed.

If you go through life without failing at anything, you are not really living life. Taking risks, trying something for the first time or stepping out of the comfort zone is part of life.

Sport culture loves to celebrate success but it's in the highlight reel that we learn that every journey toward success is filled with upsets, setbacks, obstacles and failures. The behind-the-scenes moments are never as glamorous as the finished product. Every time I finish something that I wasn't able to do before, I can't help but think about all the times I failed before. I didn't just "show up" to this group ride and finish the ride. This was 15-years in the making. 

If you've recently failed at something, you are doing something right. Ignore the naysayers. Living a life that is always safe, predictable and easy isn't really living life.

With only a few weeks left until my last race of 2021, I can't help but think back to all of my failures. I have so much gratitude for my body right now and every day I am thankful for what I am able to do. I've overcome so much over the years to get to where I am right now.

The more you fail, the more you learn, the more resilient you become and the more you grow.

It's ok to fail. But don't give up.
You didn't get this far to only come this far.

6 Fixes for Sport Nutrition Sabotage

 

Self-sabotage has a simple definition - making choices that undermine your own goals and values.

As a dedicated athlete, as it relates to nutrition, you may be making choices that directly conflict with your commitment to training - this is self-sabotage.

For example, are you guilty of any of the following?

❓Intentionally undereating before a workout in order to "save" calories.
❓Forgetting to fuel before an afternoon workout, only to cut the workout short because of low energy/fatigue/hunger.
❓Saving calories to validate consuming sport nutrition products during the workout.
❓Intentionally underfueling during a workout in order to indulge post-workout.
❓Restricting food in order to lose weight.
❓Skimping on recovery nutrition because you are pressed for time or not hungry.

Whether your self-sabotaging behaviors are intentional or unintentional, everybody engages in self-sabotage at some time. If done occasionally - such as indulging in a big meal or forgetting your sport drink during a workout - the consequences may be minor.

But for some athletes, self-sabotaging behaviors become a chronic pattern negatively affecting training, health and life.

To stop your self-sabotaging behavior(s), take some time to understand why you are doing what you are doing and to determine a more constructive way to fix the underlying problem.

When you understand the need that your self-sabotaging behavior is filling, you can learn alternative behaviors to fill that need. As an example, if you are afraid to fuel adequately (consume enough calories) during your workouts because you are unhappy with your body composition/image, recognize that this belief is not serving you well. While intentionally restricting fuel/calories is your choice method to help you feel control over your diet and body composition, this behavior has negative consequences to your performance and health (and body composition.

Do you self-sabotage?

Belgian Waffle Ride - North Carolina Event Recap (Karel)

Picture source

On Wednesday morning at the aquatic center, a fellow triathlete asked Karel if he was participating in the Belgian Waffle Ride: North Carolina. As a new location in the BWR event series, Karel didn't know about the event. Later that evening Karel looked into the event online and sent me a link via text. I didn't see the text until the next morning as I was being interviewed for a panel discussion for the OC marathon. If you missed the expert round table, you can check it out here. 👇

Since the broadcast didn't start until 9:30pm (about our bedtime), Karel was fast asleep when I finished close to 11pm. 

When I saw Karel's text the next morning (Thursday) about the BWR, I instantly responded that he should do it. With online registration closing on Thursday evening, he registered in the afternoon. I guess when you register for an event two days out, there's little time to overthink. Karel knew it was going to be a very challenging event, especially after reading the race bible (scroll down on the website to read it - it's rather hilarious) and other social media posts about the event. He had ridden on most of the segments of the course but a few routes of the almost 100-mile course with nearly 10,000 feet of elevation gain was new to him. 

On Friday afternoon, after I finished my run and Karel got finished with a bike fit, we made our way ~40 minutes north to Ride Kanuga. This was our first time visiting this location and we were really impressed with the beautiful lake, small cabins and event facility/hotel. 

With this being our first time at a BWR expo, we didn't know what to expect but the expo had a lot of great vendors. The registration process was very smooth and Karel received a pre-race swag bag of goodies from the expo booths and received a t-shirt (and beer) at the finish line. We visited each expo booth and enjoyed being in the laid-back gravel scene. It is definitely much more chill than a long distance triathlon. Campy received a lot of butt rubs and we saw a few familiar faces while we were there. Around 4:30pm we made our way back home so that Karel could get his gravel bike and gear all ready for the ride. He uploaded the event route into his computer and prepared his bottles/nutrition. It was then early to bed for Karel as he had an early wake-up alarm set for 4am. 

Karel left for Hendersonville, NC a little after 5am. I woke up around 5:45am and received a text from Karel that he had arrived with plenty of time before the 7am event start. 

As much as I wanted to join Karel in his gravel adventure, I haven't been on my gravel bike in a while and I knew it would be too risky for me to jump into this race. Instead, I stuck to my planned training and joined my buddy Alvi at the Donaldson center for a 3.5 hour ride followed by a 45 minute run. 

We did the country loop first (~1:40) and then restocked our bottles at the car and started our main set: 
3 x 30 minutes as (#1: 20 min IM effort, 10 min HIM effort. #2: 15 min IM effort, 15 min HIM effort. #3: 10 min IM effort, 20 min IM effort). Each with 5 min EZ spin between. The perimeter loop where we did our main set is about 7 miles and changed up directions for each loop. 

After the ride, we did ~45 minutes worth of 1/2 mile best EZ pace, followed by 1 mile tempo. We did 4 rounds. I was only planning 3 rounds but Alvi was having a solid workout so when I saw him continue after the 3rd round, I felt like I had to keep going. It was a great morning of training. Nearing the end of our workout I received a text from Karel saying "Just finish. Holy crap that was hard! Probably should have removed the auto stop. Garmin thought I was stopped while I was just slow."

As for the BWR, Karel lined up near the middle pack as he knew "racing" this event wouldn't be smart. This was only his second ride on his gravel bike since breaking his hand mountain biking in May so this event was all about having fun and enjoying the experience. Additionally, this event brought a lot of professional (and past-professional) riders like Ian Boswell, Jeremiah Bishop, George Hincapie and Bobby Julich. 

After 20 minutes or around 7 miles of riding, Karel started his first climb toward Mount Olive. The next segment of around 16 miles had a little bit of everything, which was nice after the first climb. Although around this time, Karel started to feel his back tighten up, which is nothing abnormal for him when he rides. He kept up on his hydration (2 bottles on the frame and a hydration back) and also stayed well fueled with solid food, bars, gels and chews. He also had a vile of salt to help with cramping in his inner thighs - which is also nothing abnormal for him when he rides. 

Some of the segments around Saluda were new for Karel but when he got to a segment that he was familiar with, it definitely helped with pacing. Karel often found himself riding with similar people - although he wasn't able to always keep up on the climbs but he could use his skills on the descends. The course was around 60/40 - road/gravel - which helped when there was a descend as he knew he could catch back up to a group if he got dropped on the climb. 

Karel was very familiar with the Green River Rd and Pinnacle Mountain road, which starts off with gentle incline and then once you turn at the church to Pinaccle, it just goes up and up on very rocky and loose gravel. Pinnacle mountain started around mile 60ish in the ride so by this time, the legs were tired. Gravel riding requires so much full body strength and mental focus but thankfully (or not so much) Karel knew what was coming. This was actually my very first gravel ride segment back in the winter (and it was on snow!). This segment was a long one - 13.2 miles and it took an hour (13 mph). Karel stopped at the top of the climb as there was an aid station and he knew the next segment would be technical with switchbacks on the descend down into Dupont State Forest. Karel was riding with some local guys and people that he knew so he would often get ahead on the descends - and this Pinnacle descend segment was one that he has a lot of experience with. 

The next hour had some familiar segments - one of my favorite segments of the ride that I have done is by the dam and there is a beautiful waterfall near the top of the climb. It's a gentle climb and one that is not technical. For this event, they reversed the direction so there was a road climb by Dupont to start and then they descended by the waterfall and Dam.

Karel was starting to get close to the finish as another hour (18.3 miles) had passed. Karel turned onto Crab Creek Road, but not the direction he was familiar with. Once he turned on to Jeter Mountain Road, he started climbing and climbing and it didn't stop for 2 miles. Thankfully it was on the road (and not gravel) but it was steep. And hitting the climb at mile ~87 did not make that climb easy. Karel said many people were walking their bikes and while that looked like a great idea, he just wanted to get it over with. I have a feeling this climb will be in my near future....once Karel forgets about it and has the desire to do it again with me :) 

After the last big climb, the finish line couldn't come fast enough. Around 7 miles later, Karel rolled into the finish and was announced as he crossed the finish line as "the legend Karel." Apparently the announcer had fun announcing everyone who came across the finish line. 

Power is not accurate, Garmin made this up. Karel doesn't have a power meter on his gravel bike. :)

Karel was exhausted but he had a great time. He enjoyed a pork sandwich from the venue and passed on the beer (he hasn't consumed alcoholic beer in a few years). He then made a stop at the Flat Rock bakery for, you guessed it, a pastry. He also got me a cinnamon roll - yummo! 

This event was organized very well. The signage was great, the volunteers were amazing, the event staff was enthusiastic and the overall vibe was really encouraging, competitive and friendly. It's a different atmosphere at the gravel and mountain bike events, which is a nice change and provides a great opportunity to meet new people, see old friends and to try new events. 

Karel said that the 14-mile run he did on Thursday made his legs a bit toasted going into this event but he's just happy that he could be back on his gravel bike, doing what he loves on and off the road (albeit, not as fast/strong as he wishes he could go), all on two wheels. 

Bike Specs
Bike - Ventum GS1
Wheels - Enve AR 3.4 SES
Tires - Panaracer gravel king SK
Groupset - Shimano GRX Di2. w/ Sram Force 165mm crankset

Gearing - 1 x setup, 42 front chainring. 10-42 cassette. 
Pedals - Shimano XTR SPD
Shoes - Bont 
Saddle - Fizik Argo Vento

Handlebars: Ventum NS1 integrated bar/stem combo 110/42

Bartape: Supacaz Sticky Kush 

NEW! Trimarni shirts and tanks

NEW TRIMARNI TEAM SHIRTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

Show your support for the Trimarni team with a comfortable tie-dye tank or short-sleeve shirt. Perfect for recovery, travel, and pre/post race. Don't forget to also order a shirt for your family/friends to sport on race day.

These items are only available for pre-sale. 

The order will be placed on August 20th, 2021. Please allow 2 weeks for production.

As always, $1 of every order will go to the Humane Society of Greenville.

ORDER HERE.

Dealing with toxic food and body discussions

You've been there before. You are minding your own business, enjoying your leftovers during your lunch break. And then it happens. Either you overhear it at the table next to you or the conversation you are in suddenly changes topic. Fat shaming. Diet talk. Body image.

• I shouldn't be eating this, I am so bad.
• My friend started this new diet and she lost so much weight.
• I wish I could eat that but it's off-limit in my diet.
• Ugh, I must have gained 20 lbs over vacation.
• Did you see how much weight ___ lost/gained?
• I could never eat as much as you do or I would get so fat.
• I start my diet on Monday, who's with me?

Working in a body-inclusive environment is not the norm as much of the workplace culture is submerged deep in diet culture. Despite feeling uncomfortable in this type of environment, it may be difficult to avoid these situations.

To change the culture at work and to help others build a healthier relationship with food and the body, here are a few tips:

• Set your boundaries - If a certain topic is triggering, it's important to set a boundary for yourself. When this topic comes about in a discussion, this is your sign that you need to speak up and change the conversation. A boundary is the limit you set with other people as to what you find acceptable and unacceptable. Staying true to your boundaries shows that you have a healthy sense of self-worth and you are not obtaining your self-esteem from pleasing others. Stay true to you and your beliefs.
  
  
• Create change - As much as you may want to call someone out in a group setting, this approach is ineffective. Instead, it's important to change the workplace culture. Consider speaking with your boss/supervisor, bring up the issue in a staff meeting or invite a professional to come and speak to your team.
  
  
• Prioritize your mental health - Most people don't think twice before making a comment about food choices or weight. We've been conditioned to shame food and body as acceptable small talk. Most people don't realize the impact that these words have on others, especially those who struggle with developing a healthy relationship with food and the body. Make sure your mental health is always a priority. Respect yourself and leave the conversation. You deserve to eat in an environment that doesn't make you feel shamed.
  
  
• Speak up - If you feel comfortable to share your own experiences, speak up. Let others know that you are working on healing your relationship with food and you'd appreciate if they would be more respectful about food and body talk when you are around. While this may be awkward at first, it also makes you very brave (and you may be speaking up for others who don't have as strong of a voice). If you have a cynical personality, tell others that you have more important things in life to focus on than changing your body, feeling guilty over what you eat or counting calories. Lead by example and be the voice for change. As a reminder, no person should ever feel ashamed or be shamed for eating in public - no matter your size, weight or what you are eating.

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For a delicious Risotto with Salmon and Asparagus recipe, check out our recent newsletter here.

Back To Structured Fun

I enjoyed a 2-week mid-season break after Ironman Lake Placid. Although I was pretty smashed for the 48 hours after the race, I bounced back pretty quickly on Wednesday. By the weekend, I was itching to get back into structured training. However, I knew that I needed to respect my body (and mind) for what it allowed me to do for 140.6 miles and give it the rejuvination that it deserved. 

My approach for my two week mid-season break was unstructured fun. Without a schedule as to what to do each day, I let my body and mind decide what it was I would do, and for how long. Aside from swimming, all exercising was kept at a low intensity and included stops as needed. 

Here's a recap of my 2-weeks of unstructured fun: 

July 25th: Ironman Lake Placid
July 26th: Walking around town
July 27th: Fly home
July 28th: Road bike (90 min, 4PM)
July 29th: Long course swim (~3700 yards, 8:13AM). 40 min run (5:40PM).
July 30th: Long course swim (~4300 yards, 9:04AM)
July 31st: Bike (~1:20, 10:11AM), Run (59 min, 11:54AM)
August 1st (private training session with an athlete): OWS (9:31AM), Bike (2:58, 11:20AM)
August 2nd: Long course swim (~4300 yards, 8:58AM), 45 min run (4:23PM)
August 3rd: Long course swim (~3900 yards, 9:11AM)
August 4th: Run (1:10, 9:40AM), Bike (1:11, 4:27PM)
August 5th: Long course swim (~4000 yard swim, 7:45AM)
August 6th: Road bike Blue Ridge Parkway (4:01, 10:39AM)
August 7th: Spectate Karel at Lake Logan Half
August 8th: Run (1:25, 10:34AM)

It was a nice mix of swim, bike, run but without any structure or routine. I made sure to keep every workout fun but without a purpose. 

With a little over four weeks left before Ironman 70.3 World Championship, I am back to structured training. My tri bike made it's appearance after 2.5 weeks in the travel bike box from Ironman Lake Placid. The focus switches from unstructured fun to purposeful fun. Although not every day is easy, I make a conscious effort to always have fun when I train. It is something I choose to do with my body and mind and the benefits extend far beyond a race day performance. 

If you have been struggling with finding the "fun" in your training, I encourage you to explore the following topics to see how you can bring yourself back to that beginners joy for training and racing. 

• Obsession with metrics - miles completed, weekly distance, paces/watts/speed
• Dissatisfied with body image 
• Rigid and ritualistic with training (and eating)
• Pressure to perform 
• High expectations 
• Fear of failure 
• Inadequate recovery
• Monotonous training
• Isolated training
• Dull workout environment 
• Workouts without purpose or meaning
• Too high volume/intensity
• Not enough intensity
• Training without gratitude 

Chicken Ov-Un-Fried Tofu

 

Check out this delicious recipe made by my friend Joey Mock, RD, LD, CLT. For more recipes, education and motivation, be sure to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter HERE.

Ingredients

• 1 block (14 oz.) extra firm tofu
• ⅓ cup plain bread crumbs
• ¼ cup panko
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp parsley
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp sage
• ⅛ tsp onion powder
• 2-3 dashes cayenne pepper (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ cup low fat milk
• 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Cooking spray (olive or canola oil)
• Coconut oil (optional)
• Your favorite barbecue or sweet chili sauce (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Drain water from tofu and gently squeeze/blot out any excess liquid using a few paper towels.
3. Turn the block of tofu on it’s side and cut into two symmetrical sheets. Cut each sheet into medium to large sized squares. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together breadcrumbs, panko, and seasonings.
5. In another small bowl, mix egg and milk together.
6. In a third small bowl, add the flour.
7. Dip each tofu square into the flour, then the egg mixture, and finally the breadcrumb/seasoning mixture to coat with breading. You may need to press the breadcrumbs gently into the tofu squares to evenly and thoroughly coat.
8. Spray the top of each tofu square with a little cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet that has been lightly greased with coconut oil.
9. Bake at 400F for about 33-35 minutes or until crisp, flipping the squares halfway through baking (at about the 15-20 minute mark).
10. If desired, dip in your favorite barbeque or sweet chili sauce and enjoy!

Adapted from Peas & Crayons Baked! Chicken Fried Tofu recipe.

Changing eating habits without fear of weight gain

Are you tired of living with a rigid and restrictive style of eating?

Do your food-related habits affect your relationships?

Do you want to stop feeling so anxious, stressed, overwhelmed and conflicted around food-related events and decisions? 

Are you wanting to make food choices that help fuel your active lifestyle, help you feel good physically and satisfy you mentally? 

Are you ready to break free from food rules and build a healthy relationship with food and your body? 

If you said yes to any or all of the following, you may find that there is one thing that is holding you back from feeling controlled by food.....you are worried about gaining weight/body composition changes. 

Unfortunately, we live in a world saturated with diet culture. We are conditioned to group food into "good" and "bad" categories and it's almost universally acceptable to fat shame. Even worse, nutrition experts often encourage disordered eating strategies as a way to improve health, lose weight or enhance fitness/performance. 

Trying to maintain a lifestyle with food rules, rituals and restrictions means you are not living to your fullest potential. The more energy you expend on your food choices, the more distracted you become mentally and physically. Letting go of food-related fears is how you can live a more fulfilling lifestyle. 

But if you are worried that a flexible and varied style of eating will result in a body type that would be seen as unhealthy, unacceptable, unattractive or performance limiting, I must remind you that as an athlete, you need full physical and mental freedom to perform at your best and to keep your body in good health. Restricting the food in your diet, placing food rules on when, how much and where you eat and obsessing over your body will not allow for that freedom. To truly put this 'diet' mentality behind you, you must get over your fear of weight gain. 

• Identify the source of your weight-related fears
  -Comments made by coaches, athletic outfits and performance, a culture that emphasizes leanness.... it's important to identify who or what is making you feel how you feel about your body.
  -Most weight gain fears initiate from cultural weight stigmas. 
  -Success, beauty, attractiveness, ability, happiness, social standard are often tied to what the body looks like. 
  -Food is often used to control stress and to reduce anxiety. Rituals and regimes around food may give you the illusion that you have more control over a situation, making you feel more at ease around eating. Being able to eat without feeling restricted, regimented or ritualistic is a way to challenge the fear of weight gain. 
  
  
• Rewire your thoughts
  -The brain can be retrained. If you constantly think that if your body changes, you will no longer be successful, happy or attractive, it will be difficult to change your behaviors. 
  -Positive affirmations and mantras can help build new thought patterns. 
  -Recognize the triggers for when your thoughts become self-sabotaging. 
  
  
• Change behaviors
  -The purpose of the first two steps is to recognize that there's a close connection between how you think you will look, perform and be treated if you step away from a rigid and restrictive style of eating. 
  -Take a step back to consider how your current style of eating is helping or harming your heath, performance or quality of life. 
  -A healthy weight supports the metabolic demands of your training, while protecting your physical and mental health. It's not controlled, it just happens. 
  

You may be wondering what will happen to your body when you get rid of the food rules? 

The truth is, I don't know and you don't know. The unknown can be scary - thus the constant need to feel controlled by food. While the idea of not being able to tightly control your weight can be scary, your reasons for giving up control over food must be stronger than your fears over weight gain. 

And if that is too hard for you to think about right now, I'll remind you where that fear of weight gain came from.....diet culture! 

Diet culture is constantly selling you methods for how you can and should control your weight to be leaner, lighter or smaller. This puts great pressure on you that your moral obligation as a human being in this world is to control your weight. And if you fail, it's a personal failure. With every diet, restriction, regime and ritual, it's the illusion of control. You must trust yourself that when you eat enough to fuel and nourish your body, while also feeling food freedom and flexibility, your body will be at the weight that it needs to be to function at its best. 

There are many layers to your relationship with food, weight and your body. And these layers change in different times of your life.

But now is a great time to start learning (and unlearning) your food, body and weight related thoughts and behaviors, while challenging those thoughts and deciding what food related decisions are helping you and should stay, and which ones need to be tossed out as they are keeping you from living a meaningful and quality-filled life. 

Lake Logan Half Ironman Race Recap (Karel)

 

The past 12 weeks have been difficult for Karel. After a hard impact mountain bike crash, he broke his right (dominant) hand. While the bones healed according to schedule within 6 weeks, the nerve pain and weakness has been slow, frustrating and painful. It took over two months for Karel to feel somewhat comfortable riding outside because the vibrations of the road caused tremendous pain in his hand. Because he still has a lot of weakness in his hand, this affects his grip while riding and how he swims (he doesn't have much of a "catch" in the water). The pinky and ring finger are numb and this numbness continues down his hand, which can be painful and annoying. There is also a lot of scar tissue in his palm and elbow which causes pain if he touches or hits it in the wrong spot.

Throughout this journey, which has been filled with a lot of low, discouraging moments, Karel kept showing up. Not knowing when or if his hand would fully heal, there were a lot of really tough days over the past 12 weeks. But he kept showing up. He focused on what he could do and sometimes that meant training with discomfort, frustration and a bruised ego. He regularly felt slow, out of shape and disappointed by his lack of progress. But he kept showing up. He did what he could with what he had.

As an outsider (who lives with Karel), I could see his progress on a daily basis. Karel could not fully see the progress as it never felt quick or big enough. But over the past few weeks, he started to finally recognize the progress and felt like he was finally at a place where he could safely race. And lucky for us, a popular SetUpEvents half ironman distance was still open for registration when Karel decided he was ready to race a few weeks ago. With the venue a little more than 90 minutes away and a challenging race course that I have done twice but Karel has always wanted to do, it was the perfect race for Karel to make his comeback. 

We traveled up to Canton, NC. on Thursday afternoon. We originally planned to leave around lunchtime after a morning swim, but as Karel was tuning up his bike, he had to change his rear brake as it suddenly broke, which took a little time. And as the last-minute packer of the household, he also had to pack. We finally hit the road around 2pm and after a little traffic and construction around Asheville, we made it to our Airbnb around 4pm. I was able to find us a cute rustic cabin just 4.9 miles away from Lake Logan on Lake Logan Road.

Campy enjoyed his trip and all the new smells. This was the first trip for Campy since he fully lost his hearing (old age) so it was a little more stressful for him (and us) to be in a new place but he settled in after a few hours. Karel was a bit frazzled from the brake incident and the drive (traffic) so I encouraged him to go for a spin after we unloaded the car and it did the trick and he felt much better after seeing the beautiful scenery around Lake Logan. I made pasta for us and we enjoyed dinner on the porch while watching the Olympics on my iPad (YouTubeTV). We didn't have internet but our Hot Spot worked great. 

On Friday morning, Karel did his pre-race warm-up (ride and run) and after he returned home around 10am, I headed out for my ride. I ventured out by myself from our cabin to the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed the incredible views throughout my 4-hour, 61 mile ride. I returned home just after 3pm, showered and ate and then went to the race venue with Karel and Campy around 4:30pm for Karel to get his packet and to do a quick swim in the lake. It was great to see some familiar faces at the venue. 

After we arrived back at the cabin we ate dinner and watch the women marathon for the Olympics (SO exciting!). Karel had a great night of sleep. The alarm went off around 4:30am and shockingly, Karel was in a good mood for it being so early in the morning - even before his morning coffee. Yannick (our athlete) and his GF stayed with us and Campy instantly became BFF's with their dog Boston. After Karel did his normal pre-race routine: Espresso, oatmeal, kit-up, jog, bathroom, we made our way to the venue around 5:45am. 

Karel got body marked, racked his bike, laid out his transition area and then made his way to the swim start. After not racing for a few months, Karel wasn't nervous but he certainly had to make a few last minute adjustments due to his weak hand. Instead of doing a flying mount, he opted to put his cycling shoes on in the transition area as he doesn't have the strength to hold on to the bars with only his right hand. He also can't use his right hand to tighten his shoes so that takes a little more time to do it with his left hand. He added some gel tape to his tri bike handlebar to help reduce the pressure on his hand. He also cut the legs of his wetsuit a little shorter to make it easier to remove. 

After Karel went for another short jog, I helped him put on his wetsuit (again, he doesn't have the grip with his right hand to pull up the left sleeve of his wetsuit) and then he went into the water for his warm-up swim. At 7am, the advanced category started along with the 45+ age group men. 

1.2 mile swim: 31:34 (8th advanced out of the water)

Karel had an OK swim. He was a bit frustrated by how he felt and performed in the water but he knew it reflected this current level of fitness right now. The biggest struggle was feeling like his feet were going to cramp as the lake water went into the river water (10 degree drop from 72 degrees) and then completely out of it and disoriented when he tried to get on the dock to get out of the water. He hobbled his way out of the water and into the transition area. He was then frustrated by his transition area which he felt was super slow as he couldn't get his shoes fasted tightly with his right hand and it took him a little longer to take off his wetsuit. The hand was already giving him issues but he just did the best he could and was relieved to finally get on the bike. Out of the other guys, his transition of 2:05 was not that slow but for Karel, who always says that nothing good happens in transition area, he felt like it took forever. When I yelled at him that he had a great transition, he mumbled "no I didn't" which I took as he was frustrated in the start of his race. Later I learned that Karel was just off from the swim and he wasn't upset at what I said but just frustrated with how he felt in the swim and with his transition. 

55.6 mile bike: 2:31.11 (2nd fastest advanced bike)
Once Karel made his way up the climb out of the race venue, he was already loving the twisty, punchy, technical nature of this race course. I gave Karel a few suggestions as I had raced here twice before so Karel kinda knew what to expect on the course. He also loaded the course map into his Garmin so that he wouldn't get off course as this smaller event didn't have as much signage as an IM-branded event. There were a few times when he questioned if he was still on the race course as a few other guys got off course. There were also a lot of issues with dropped chains, flat tires and a few crashes as this course is super challenging but also really technical. We had 6 athletes out on the course so I was hoping that everyone would be safe. I was actually not worried about Karel as I knew his bike handling skills would be just fine for him to race this course. Karel later told me that he loved the course and he had so much fun riding. His hand wasn't a limiter on this course as he can still get out of the saddle and change gears (electronic shifting) so that allowed him to ride a really strong race. He passed several guys over the course of the race. The last kicker of a climb around mile 44ish was tough and he got a bit rattled as a truck pulled out in front of him on the descend but he stayed upright and didn't overreact. When I saw our athlete Yannick arrive back into T2 after a blazing 2:24 bike split, I was shocked to see Karel as the 3rd advanced athlete (there was one guy who came in right behind Karel but DNF'd as he was just doing the swim/bike) off the bike. Another local athlete from Greenville was 2nd after Yannick. Karel came in about 7 minutes after Yannick and I was so surprised to see him. This course really suited him with all the climbs, twists and turns. He just loves dynamic race courses. 

13 mile run: 1:23.30 (3rd fastest advanced run)



 

After Karel transitioned from bike to run, it was time to do what he loves, which is chase people down on the run. I wasn't really sure how Karel would run as he hasn't really been doing any race specific training lately for the run but you can never take the competitive nature out of Karel. After the first loop, Yannick was flying and had a huge lead. Karel was now just 5 minutes after Yannick as the 2nd place overall athlete. The run course was a slight uphill and slight downhill out and back with a loop around gravel and a grassy field to end the first of two loops. By the end of the first loop, Karel was in 2nd place and was getting a little closer to Yannick. Over the next half of the run course, Karel was able to close down the gap to our athlete Yannick to just over 2 minutes and extend his lead over Scott by almost 5 minutes. Unfortunately, Scott took a wrong turn on the bike which put him back a bit - otherwise, I think it would have been a tighter battle between first to third place overall. Karel found the first loop to be a cruise-effort but the 2nd loop felt a little more tiring on miles 6-9 but he just broke the course up into segments and said that this was one of his "easiest" run performances in a half. Karel had his race nutrition on him (Skratch Matcha) and didn't need any water at the the aid stations for cooling. One of the aid stations had coke so he had one small sip on each loop. Although the weather went from cool and cloudy to warm and sunny, Karel didn't feel warm on the run thanks to the shade from the trees and the breeze from the creek water. Karel kinda shut it down near the end of the run as he felt his 2nd place was secured. He finished with great satisfaction with his return to racing and just so much gratitude to be back out racing again with his friends and fellow competitors. Karel absolutely loves racing so it's been really tough to be on the sidelines for the past three months. This was just the boost that he needed going into IM 70.3 World Championships. 

Finishing time: 4:29.39, 2nd overall. 

After Karel finished, he chatted with his buddies Yannick and Steven before making his way to the cold creek to cool off. Karel wasn't exhausted or overly sore but just tired from the race effort. Campy, on the other hand, was exhausted. I was too! But it was great to be out there to cheer on Karel and our other athletes. After the award ceremony, we said good bye to this beautiful race venue before making our way back to Greenville. 

IM Lake Placid RR - 26.2 mile run

 

I was really looking forward to the new run course. With the first two miles net downhill, it was easy to find my running rhythm. At home, we live on the bottom of a hill so every run is always starting uphill. Although my transition was a bit long, that extra time (plus potty stop) contributed to quickly finding my running legs after a really exhausting and challenging bike.

I had no time or pace goals for the run as it’s nearly impossible to predict how the body will feel and perform in a marathon after 114.4 miles of racing. And there’s just no way to simulate the mind and body fatigue that you feel when you start the run. I’ve had Ironman runs where the fatigue doesn’t hit me until mile 18-20 and others where I feel it on the first step (which makes for a very, very long marathon). Although I have had a lot of experience running a marathon after biking for 112 miles, participating in the 3-day, coast to coast, Xtreme triathlon really gave me a lot of confidence with my running as I went through a lot of highs and lows while covering 50 miles spread of 3 days (18 miles day one, 18 miles day two, 13 miles day three). While I may not be the fastest runner, I consider myself a very resilient, efficient and strong runner. And my experience with long distance triathlon racing as given me a lot of opportunities to troubleshoot situations to keep me running strong until the finish line. Some races have more obstacles to overcome than others but I really do love the decision making and mental toughness that is needed to run a marathon at the end of an Ironman.

I grabbed water at the first aid station, took a few sips and dumped a cup of ice down my sports bra (which works great for holding ice). I did this at every aid station so that I could always hold on to ice to help keep me cool (plus I like to hold something when I run in a race). I saw my athlete Ericka and she gave me a big cheer in town. As I made my way down the in-town hills (thankfully we only had to go up them once this year in route to the finish versus twice in years past), I was feeling so much energy from the crowds. I felt a lift in energy and before I knew it, I was a few more miles down the road in the equestrian park. This was also a new section of the run course and while I thought I’d like the short 0.7 mile loop in and around the horse park, it felt hot and windy. But I did enjoy it when it got more crowded as I like seeing other athletes during the race. However, having Karel at the entrance/exit was great as I looked forward to seeing him each outbound and inbound loop. It was also a great place to see other athletes. It was a little confusing to navigate at first but after the first loop it was clear where to run in and out of the park.

I felt like my energy was good and I started drinking from my flasks at around mile 2 – enough time to let my body settle into a good running rhythm. I had two flasks filled with 1 scoop each of Orange Skratch. While I typically don’t like the flavor Orange, the Orange Skratch seems to sit the best in my belly when I run compared to the other flavors. I brought along two extra small baggies of scratch if I needed to refill my flasks, as well as a packet of TUMS. I didn’t bring any Aminos on the run as I knew I wouldn’t take them. It just gets too hard to complete tasks while running so I try to keep my fueling strategy as simple as possible.

Karel told me that I was still winning my age group by over 20 minutes and the first place overall amateur was way ahead. He told me that 2^nd place was within my reach so I kept that in the back of mind. At this time I was still holding on to 3^rd place overall amateur. Although there are no awards for overall amateur (or top 3 overall amateur) at the Ironman branded events, I really enjoy racing near the front of the race as the competition brings out the best in me and I explore my limits and capabilities by racing against those who are faster than me.

As I made my way down the hill by the ski jumps and turned left onto River Road, I had already completed 4.24 miles and those miles went by really quickly. I would look at my watch every now and then but the metrics didn’t mean anything to me. Again, I was not chasing anything and I have learned through Ironman racing that you can’t get frustrated or try to control paces in a marathon at the end of the Ironman. There is just too much to focus on in and out of your control and you have to work with your body, not try to force it to do something that it doesn’t want to do.

The next almost hour or 6.6 miles were beautiful, but lonely. I saw the top three leading female pros and a few that I was biking around had passed me in the early miles of the run. I saw the first place overall amateur female and she was in a league of her own so I kept my focus on the 2^nd place overall amateur, who was still running really strong. There were a lot of guys around me, some that I passed and others that passed me and gave me cheer. The road was undulating which helped break up the running rhythm. I stopped at every aid station and grabbed a sip of water and ice. After the turn around, I was hit with that Ironman fatigue that I know all too well. I was a bit bummed that it hit me so early (around mile 8) but that’s part of Ironman racing. You just gotta deal with what comes your way.

Although my mind was in a good place and my legs didn’t feel deep fatigue, my body felt hollow inside. It was like my body was moving on its own but I didn’t have much of a say of how hard or easy I could go – it was just running. I’m familiar with this feeling – it’s kinda like bonking but without the loopy feeling in the head. Again, just a normal feeling in an Ironman. I knew I needed a bit more calories at this time to get out of this empty feeling so after I had a sip of water from a cup at the aid station, I grabbed a cup of coke at the next aid station and took two small sips. I continued to grab ice and pour it down my sports bra so I could keep holding it to keep cool. Although it wasn’t hot out, it was warm. I was happy that I had my cooling towel and very comfortable running with my sports bra on (as that is how I always run at home in the summer).

I gave myself a mile to see how the coke sat in my belly before taking in anything else. It felt good so at the next aid station, I did the same thing again – water, two small sips of coke, ice down the sports bra. The volunteers were not handing us cups but instead, we had to grab them off the table so my walk breaks were incorporated at each aid station to get what I needed and then to keep on running. After two miles of the coke sitting just fine in my belly, I waited about ½ mile and then took a sip of my Skratch from my hydration belt to see if I could mix the two. Although I would never recommend this strategy to athletes because of the concentration in the gut, I was being very strategic and careful, listening to my body and also always diluting the coke with water (and whenever possible, taking a sip of water before consuming the Skratch). Once I realized that my gut was A-ok, I continued with water/coke/ice at the aid stations and then the Skratch as needed between the aid stations. This seemed to work well because by the time I got off River Road and back on to the main road by the Ski Jumps, I felt a bit more controlled with my effort. I was actually really looking forward to that climb as I had just gotten off a flatter section of road and I needed to change up my running rhythm. The climb felt really good and it almost gave me a bit of a pick-me-up.

Twelve miles had passed after I left the equestrian park and Karel gave me another update that I was still staying in 3^rd but the 2^nd place amateur female was not looking too good. For the first loop, my focus was just on the first loop. Just do what you need to do to feel good on the first loop. I knew once I made it back to the equestrian park (which was actually mile 14, kinda like a bonus that special needs was at mile 14, a little more than half way), I could start breaking the course down into segments and checking off each segment one last time. I continued to use my go-to Ironman mantras “you trained to hurt” or “never give up on an uphill” and really absorbed the energy from the crowds. As I made my way to the turn around (which was on a slight incline), I felt a rush of energy with so many people out cheering.

When I got to the equestrian park for the 3^rd time (outbound for the 2^nd time), I stopped at special needs to grab my two filled flasks (each with 1 scoop Skratch Orange). Although the equestrian park was not my favorite part of the course, it was fun to see other athletes and to have so many spectators on the road where we entered/exited the park.

Karel gave me another update that I was getting closer to 2^nd but the girl behind me was running very strong. He told me just to stay strong and to not give up. I had been battling a side stitch on my right side for a few miles (it would come and go) but I could feel my right side getting tight and my right leg starting to shuffle a bit. I contributed the side stitch to my right side getting tight so I took a moment to just stop, lift my hands over my head and stretch it out. Karel was right there next to me and he told me “good stretch it out, you are looking great and so strong.”

Thankfully, I was in a good place mentally and I was actually really enjoying the suffering that I was feeling as I checked off each mile. I also really enjoyed watching the pro women race as they were really fighting strong until the end.

When I got to River Road one last time, my focus was to get to mile 20 (which was just after the turn around).  I saw my athlete Ericka there cheering and she brightened my day as she told me I was doing awesome. I am pretty sure I had a smile on my face all day, even when things got really tough on the run. With only 6 miles left, I felt like I was still holding good form but I was taking a little more time at each aid station. Because I am used to taking walk breaks when I run, I actually don’t have much trouble getting going again when I stop. My body is trained for that so once I start running again, I am good until the next aid station. There were a lot of mind tricks happening as I just focused on one mile at a time. I loved seeing my athletes out on the course and even though I didn’t have a lot of energy to share with them, I would give each of them a big smile or a little wave. I even gave one of my athletes (Stephanie) a nice pat on the butt as I passed her.

I never doubted myself and I knew I would get to that finish line but the River Road 3 miles out and back segment felt really really long. But I kept telling myself “imagine you are on a training run and how awesome it is to run here.” My body was very tired, each running stride got a bit harder but I knew it would be worth it. Once I finally finished the River Road section, I had only a little more than 3 miles to go. I needed to be strategic and smart as that is still a long way to go in Ironman racing. The body/gut could still shut down at any point. I opted to run the last hill as I felt like I needed to use my strengths whenever possible.

I saw Karel one last time as I made my way in and out of the equestrian park and he told me that I was in 2^nd still but the 3^rd place girl was really close to me. I made one last stop before leaving the equestrian park and for the last 1.8 miles, I gave it all I could. Another motto I like to use is “you didn’t come this far to only come this far.”

I heard a lot of cheers from people I knew, as well as cheers from the spectators. That really lifted me up. With less than a mile to go, I was passed which moved me into 3^rd place overall amateur. At this point, I didn’t give up but I knew that I wasn’t going to catch her as I was giving all I could. I shuffled up the last two hills and when I made my way into the finisher chute, I was just so happy.

Although the race was far from easy and it involved a lot of troubleshooting and decision making, I was so thrilled to have put together such a great performance. I was so proud of my body for what it allowed me to do. Karel gave me a big cheer before I crossed the finish line and when my race was officially over, I could not wait to finally sit down. I am most proud of myself for caring all day – I wanted to be in the race for all 140.6 miles.

After the race, I found a place to sit on a golf cart and it felt so good to not move my body. Karel came over and he was just so proud of me. I sat there for a while (and ate some salty fries and a Sprite) before hobbling my way out of the finisher area, collecting my morning clothes bag, changing out of race kit and then heading back out on the course for the next few hours to cheer on the rest of our athletes.

As for Kona, I was not planning to accept my slot to the Ironman World Championship going into this race. I stuck with my decision, and I let my slot roll down to another deserving female. I want others to be able to experience the magic on that island and everything that comes with participating in an Ironman World Championship event.

Thank you for all the cheers, support and encouragement. It really means so much to me. I often ask myself why I continue to train and race in endurance sports. Although I love long distance racing, I do it for the comradery, the cheers, the laughs, the stories and the memories that I get to share with my athletes. And a big thank you to Karel for spending all day on his feet (fueled by pastries of course) cheering for me and the rest of the Trimarni crew.

Ironman #17 - Ironman Lake Placid
10:40.40 finishing time
Run: 3:50.50 (2nd AG run, 26th female, 137th overall)
1st place AG (35-39) - won by 22 minutes. 
3rd place overall female amateur

IM Lake Placid RR - 112 mile bike + T2

As I made my way through town, my first focus was to safely get out of town. The first few miles are a bit technical and with the wet roads and rain, I didn’t want my day to be over in the first few miles of the bike. Once I made my way to the first big climb passed the ski jumps, I felt like I could start settling into a good routine. 

The few miles before the Keene decent are very challenging as there are a few climbs that seem to roll but you never get enough momentum on the back of one hill to carry it to the next hill. So it really is a steady climb over several hills that makes it feel like one long climb. I enjoyed the out and back section into the Olympic cross country ski area as it was nice to break things up and see the other athletes in the other direction.

I found myself around a few female professionals and only noticed a few age group riders ahead of me. I knew there was a lot left in the ride/race so I just focused on riding my own race but also using those around me for motivation. There was a female official passing me several times throughout the race – officiating in front of me and behind me so I saw her often throughout the race. Even though I use the other riders for motivation, I made sure to draft legally and to not get too close on the wheel ahead of me. This only applied to the section from Keene to Jay as I spent much of the rest of the first loop by myself.

I made sure to keep up with my nutrition, which is the same that I have practiced in my last few long brick workouts. I recently changed things up starting with the Skratch hyperhydration to front load calories a bit at the start of the ride. Although I didn’t need any Tums, I found myself getting a bit sleepy on the first loop so I was glad that I had the Gu Aminos to give my brain a bit of a boost. Although the light rain was nice to keep me comfortable, the sun came out and it really warmed up. I made not of a the beautiful sun rising from the clouds as I was making my way down the Keene decent. It made me feel like I was in a training ride as the beauty around me was just taking my breath away.

The Keene decent was fun and I was able to really take advantage of that free speed. The scenery was spectacular but for that descend, I really made sure to stay focused on the riders around me as I didn’t want something silly to happen.

The section from Keene to Jay was fast and fun. But I was ready for some more climbing as my style of riding is not so great in flat time trial positions but instead, climbing and changing up my rhythm with resistance of the climb. Once we turned left out of Jay, it felt good to climb again. Those hills are pretty nasty as you just have to grind through them. I had a few guys cheering me on as I was near the front of the female age group race and ahead of a few female professionals.

Overall I felt pretty good throughout the first loop of the bike. It was good that I had rode the climb from Wilmington into town on Thursday as I knew the tougher sections and where I could get aero and pick up more speed. I found myself getting warm so I carefully grabbed water at most of the aid stations after Keene to sip on and to cool myself. I took in a few Clif chews as I could feel myself needing a bit more calories but I made sure to always wash them down with water to help dilute them.

Once I got up to the papa bear climb (the last of the three climbs), I saw Karel and he gave me an update. He told me that I was winning my age group by a lot and that I was 3^rd overall female amateur. This gave me a great boost as I had no personal goals for the day but just to enjoy the day, have fun and race smart. The quick out and back near town was fun as it gave me a big boost with all the spectators.

Once I made my way into the transition area, I stopped at special needs to retrieve my two pre-filled bottles (One was a Trimarni bottle filled and the other was a Smart Water 1.8 liter bottle that I could pour the nutrition into my hydration system and then toss that bottle). I had tossed my other bottle previously on the course at the aid station. I always stop at special needs but this stop was a little longer than normal because I had to get off my bike, rack my bike, get my special needs bag from a volunteer and then roll my bike back to the mount line and continue on. The minute I spent there was well-utilized as I could continue with my planned nutrition and I took a few seconds to stretch out and reboot before continuing on to the second lap.

I made my way through the school, which had a few fun turns before descending back to Mirror Lake Drive. Another fun ride through the town and then back out on the second loop.

At this point it was much warmer and the wind had really picked up. Similar to Kona, the wind is very unpredictable in Placid. Karel rode the course on Saturday and he had tailwind from Wilmington to town (the 10+ mile climb) but for us, it seemed like there was wind everywhere and it was rarely at our back on the 2^nd loop.

Whereas I felt pretty solid on the first loop, I had a lot more low moments on the 2^nd loop. These are expected and I never know how long they will last so my focus was just doing the best that I could despite how I was feeling. The second loop was a lot more lonely for me, even though I was passing athletes on their first loop. I saw a few Trimarnis on the out and back segments and that really picked up my spirits. My low moments were not causing me to contemplate quitting but instead, it was just a feeling of low energy that would come and go. Again, this is completely normal when racing in an Ironman. I stuck with my nutrition plan and just took in a few extra clif chews than I had planned (and washed down with water) to help give me a little boost. I had a bar with me just in case but I relied solely on my liquid calories (and a few clif ginger chews).

I passed my athlete/friend Alvi after the Keene descent (pic above is when he he flew by me on the descent as I was feeling myself getting knocked all around by the wind so I rode much more cautiously than the first loop) and then I was passed by professional Jeannie Hansen. She was riding super strong and my goal was to try to stay with her as long as I could. Having her in front of me was just the motivation that I needed and I found myself getting out of a low and feeling really strong again. Again, I had the official by me but I knew I wasn’t drafting so it didn’t bother me. I am used to having officials by me on the bike as I am usually near the front of the race after the swim (but always getting chased down on the run 😊).

The last segment from Wilmington to town was brutal. The wind was super gusty and it was mostly headwind. As if that section wasn’t hard enough, the wind made it even more difficult. Plus, with only 10-12 miles left in the race, the body and mind play lots of games with you anyways so there was a lot of mental tricks happening to keep myself focused and to continue to ride my bike the best as I could.

I do not chase any metrics when I race but I have a good idea of what I want an effort to feel like for each respective race I do. This past year has included group rides, a gravel race, 70.3 distance races and time trials. All of which have given me a lot of different scenarios to judge my effort, which helps me in long distance racing. I took some risks and biked pretty strong for all 112 miles but I also have a lot of trust in my abilities that even if I bike hard, I know I can find my running legs. Although I may not be fast on the run, I have confidence in my ability to be good at not slowing down (too much) on the run.

I did have metrics on my screen to check-in with every now and then. I used lap time (and hit lap at each segment), current cadence, lap speed, normalized lap power and 10sec power on my screen. I never knew my total time until I stopped my computer in the transition area. When I saw 5:38, I knew it was a hard bike and that it would impact the run times. So any previous running goals were out the window as my new focus was to find my running legs and to never stop caring and to be competitive on the marathon run. When I saw Karel one last time on the bike, he told me that I was winning my age group by over 20 minutes and that I was holding a solid third overall amateur female. I was really holding on to that third place overall amateur slot and it gave me a good boost before I made my way into the transition area.

I was planning to do a flying dismount but with the wet grass in transition area and just being tired from a really challenging 112 mile bike ride, I unclipped and ran my bike through the grass. After a few steps, I regretted that decision and it was really hard to run in my shoes. I eventually started walking as I was just plain tired. When I got to my spot in the transition area, I sat down and had a brief moment of “how in the heck am I going to run a marathon!?!” but I pushed that aside as I put on my running shoes. I had an extra pair of clean/dry socks in my bag but I opted to keep my socks on from the bike. Again, I probably should have changed them after doing a flying dismount and running in my cycling socks.

I always like to go to the bathroom and empty myself as much as possible before the run so I took off my jersey, I grabbed my hat, hydration belt and flasks, sunglasses, watch and cooling towel, and went into the port-o-potty. I know I spent too long in the transition area relative to the other competitors that I was racing against but I needed that extra time to mentally put myself into a place where I would stay committed for the entire run. I felt so much better after I went to the bathroom and much cooler once I took off my jersey. I was happy that I stuck with my plan to just wear my sports bra and use my cooling towel as I have done it in my previous two races and it really makes me feel good to have that cooling towel on my neck and to only wear the sports bra. I am much more comfortable wearing a sports bra when I run.

I saw an unopened plastic water bottle on a table in the transition area so I grabbed it as I was walking out and drenched my cooling towel, had a few sips and poured the rest on my head. Oh that was so refreshing. Once I started running, my legs responded really well and I told myself “all you have left is to run a marathon.”

Stats from my bike computer: 

First loop:
Transition to Keene – 17.7 miles, 46.17 min, 161 NP, 22.9 mph average
Keene to Jay – 9.81 miles, 25:37 min, 152 NP, 23.0 mph
Jay to Wilmington – 14.6 miles, 44:33 min, 162W, 19.7 mph
Wilmington to transition – 13.9 miles, 48:13 min, 171W, 17.3 mph
First 56 miles: 2:44, 163 NP, 20.4 mph, ~2600 feet elevation gain, 87 rpm average, max speed 48.1 mph

Nutrition consumed:
-Between the aerobars bottle: 400 calories Skratch Hyperhydration (consumed in first ~75 minutes)
-Hydration system (1.2 liters/40 ounces, 4 scoops INFINIT Trimarni Base Endurance formula Strawberry Lemonade mixed in 1.2 liters of water). Consumed ~10-15 minutes (3-5 gulps) over the rest of the loop.
-Water from most of the aid stations for sipping/cooling.
-2 Clif Ginger chews (washed down with water)
-~7 Gu Aminos

Second loop:
Transition to Keene – 18.0 miles, 49:39 min, 150 NP, 21.7 mph average
Keene to Jay – 9.59 miles, 23:16 min, 157 NP, 24.7 mph
Jay to Wilmington – 15 miles, 47:12 min, 156W, 19.1 mph
Wilmington to transition – 13.6 miles, 53:55 min, 149W, 15.2 mph
Last 56.2 miles: 2:53, 153 NP, 19.4 mph, ~2500 feet elevation gain, 83 rpm average, max speed 41.6 mph

Nutrition consumed (used pre-filled bottles at special needs - Special needs stop: 61 seconds):
-Between the aerobars bottle: 2 scoops INFINIT Trimarni base endurance formula Grape
-Hydration system (1.2 liters/40 ounces, 4 scoops INFINIT Trimarni Base Endurance formula Grape mixed in 1.2 liters of water). Consumed ~10-15 minutes (3-5 gulps) over the rest of the loop.
-Water from most of the aid stations for sipping/cooling.
-3 Clif Ginger chews (washed down with water)
-~5 Gu Aminos

Total nutrition consumed over 112 miles:
~1750 calories
~112 ounce water (+ water from aid stations)

Total according to my Garmin: 112 miles, 5:38.45 time, 158 NP, 6407 elevation gain, 19.9 mph average, 85 rpm average.

Bike time (official): 5:40.48, 1st AG (35-39), 15th overall female, 134th overall 

IM Lake Placid RR - 2.4 mile swim + T1

 

After my alarm went off at 3:45am, I found myself feeling calm and in a positive mindset. I changed into my race kit and went upstairs for my pre-race meal. Although I typically have a bagel, I was really feeling a waffle so had two Belgium style cinnamon waffles and topped them with peanut butter, syrup and banana slices. I had a small cup of coffee (instant Nescafe Gold) and glass of water. I didn't find it too hard to eat which was a good sign that my mind was in a good place. All of the Trimarnis in the house were in the kitchen together so overall, the energy was really positive. 

After I ate, I went down to my bedroom and did some light foam rolling as part of my pre-workout/race routine and then went outside in the light rain for a little jog before one last stop at the house bathroom. Karel was giving me reassuring words and telling me that I always do well in the Ironman distance. I appreciated his words and support. 

Around 4:50am, we all squeezed into two cars (Jodi's husband drove and Karel drove) and we were driven 0.9 mile to the transition area on the backside of the lake. There were shuttles but we opted for our own valet service. 

As we walked to the transition area, the rain started to come down and over the next hour, it went from sprinkles to light showers to no rain to pouring rain. I didn't let it get to me as I had studied the weather and the rain was only predicted to last for a few hours and would stop by ~9am. 

The transition process was pretty smooth and I liked having my bags by my bike. I first dropped off my bike and run special needs and then made my way into the transition area. It was a bit dark and with the rain coming down, I found myself needing to triple check everything but after I filled my Ventum hydration system, put in my other bottle between the aero bars, put on my computer, pumped my tires, checked my breaks and gears and put my run flasks in my run bag, I did one more check and trusted myself that all was good. I did one last walkthrough in the transition area and then we all walked to the swim start. 

The overall atmosphere was energetic as the crowds were still out despite the rain. The closer we got to the race start at Mirror Lake, the harder the rain started to fall. Even though we were in our ponchos, putting on the wetsuit seemed like a logical option since we were going to get wet anyways. Around 5:50am I put on my Roka wetsuit, put on vaseline around my neck, took in two Clif Ginger chews, sipped on my sport drink in a throw away plastic bottle (1 scoop Orange skratch) and then dropped off my morning clothes bag. Around 6am we were allowed to get into the water so I took advantage of this rare opportunity to warm-up in the water before the race start. 

I got into the water around 6:15am and spent some time in the water adjusting my wetsuits, getting the blood flowing and just getting my mind into a good headspace before the start of a long day of exercising. The water felt better than being in the rain so I just stayed in the water until I was ready to line up to the race start. The professional men started at 6:25am, followed by the professional women. I lined up near the front of the age group start, which was gathering by predicted swim finishing times. The day before the race, I told Karel that I felt confident that I could swim around 57-58 minutes so I lined up around that time slot. My athlete Stephanie, who is part mermaid (hehe) lined up next to me so it was great to have her there with me before we started. 

The age group race started at 6:35am and after a few seconds, we were in the water. The water temperature was around 70 and the air temperature was in the 60's so I never felt cold before the race and the water felt perfect after I got into the water. 

The first section of the swim was chaotic. It was a bit rough as everyone was settling into their own rhythm. I was around a lot of pink caps (which for this race, the pink was for the guys and green for the ladies). Even though there is a cable under the water to help with sighting, I had no plans on getting closer to the cable as I wanted to find clean water away from others. But somehow, I kept ending up close to the cable so I just focused on swimming my own effort and finding clean water whenever I could (which often meant accelerating past others or needing to change my stroke to get around others). Since I was near the front, there were plenty of fast swimmers who swam away from me and I was ok with that. 

After the first turn buoy, I felt like I was swimming pretty fast but then I made my way back on the first loop and the water felt a lot more choppy and slow. I reminded myself that we only had to swim this section once since the finish of the swim was at the top part of the lake, so I stayed strong and focused and continued to focus on catching water and swimming strong and efficient. I don't wear a watch when I swim cause I will just look at it and it will mess with my head so when I got out of the water for my first loop, I did some quick math and saw 7:35am on the race clock. My immediate thought was "ugh, 30 minutes for the first half of the swim, this is really slow for me!" And then it took me a few buoys after getting back into the water (quick run on the ground before getting back into the water again) I realized that the first loop was longer than the rest of the swim. I kinda laughed at myself but also had no idea exactly how long the first loop was so I just cleared my mind and focused on my swim. Later I learned the first loop was 1.3 miles. 

At this point I started to catch the slower seeded swimmers who had just started their first loop and this made it difficult to keep a good rhythm as I had to swim around many swimmers and slow down at times to sight for clean water and to stay on course. I found myself on the cable a lot on the second loop which worked out well when I was heading to the shore as I wasn't in the mix of the first loop swimmers. 

After I passed the turn buoy, I continued straight to head to the finish. I felt like the swim went by quickly but it also didn't feel like a "fast" swim for me. As I was getting closer to the shore, I felt like I could pick up my effort a bit and build to the finish. I was with a strong group of swimmers and I couldn't believe that I was swimming away from them. When I got close enough to the shore to stand up, I quickly got out of the water, glanced at the clock and it said 7:30am. As I made my way on the long carpeted run from the swim exit to the transition area (up through the Northwood high school campus), I did some math and I thought "did I really just swim a huge personal best of 55 minutes??" I couldn't believe it if it really happened. I thought maybe the course was short so I wouldn't really know the official results until the finish. I was just so pumped for my swim. It didn't feel hard or fast so I guess I just shocked myself. 

I ran pretty quickly through the transition area and accidentally dropped my goggles. I didn't realize that I did until my nutrition athlete Marcus kindly ran them up to me and gave them to me. Such a thoughtful gesture of going out of his way! My friend/athlete Alvi was just about to get on his bike as he crushed the swim in 53 minutes so I wished him a great race as he ran off with his bike. 

I sat down and put on my helmet, socks and cycling shoes (I had my compression sleeves under my wetsuit). I put a bar, clif chews and baggy of tums and Gu aminos in my jersey pockets and opted not to wear my arm warmers as I really warmed up in the water. 

I ran my bike to the mount line, got on my bike and made my way down to the town. I was excited to see Karel (and Ericka) and Karel gave me a big shout "you swam 55 minutes!" and I gave him a huge smile back. Prior to the race I asked Karel to just tell me things that I would need/want to hear and I think he was really excited to tell me my swim. At this point, my day was off to a great start and I didn't even mind the rain and wet roads. I was so happy to ride my bike on this beautiful and challenging course. 

2.4 mile swim
55:43
1st AG (35-39)
7th overall female
44th overall 

T1
6:24