What is healthy eating?

Healthy Eating -  A way of eating that maintains or improves overall health and makes you feel good. There is no one-size-fits-all definition when it comes to "healthy eating." While similar methods and ideologies may work for the masses, every individual is on his/her/their own nutritional journey. Depending on who you are, "healthy eating" could mean..... Making homemade almond milk, grinding your own nut butter, or picking produce from your home garden Only eating GMO-free and organic foods Not eating meat, dairy or fish Doesn't eat meat but eats dairy and fish Portion control Not eating out of boredom or emotions Not restricting food in order to prevent binge eating Eating enough to support training for a long distance triathlon Making nutrition changes to reduce the risk of a cancer recurrence Making nutrition changes because a disease runs in your family Practicing intuitive eating after overcoming a decade of disordered eating or an eating disorder "Healthy eating" is not a diet plan. It's a way of eating that works for your mental and physical health, right now in your life.  Healthy eating is not..... Buying food that you don't like (or don't know how to prepare) just because someone told you it was healthy.  Following food rules and avoiding "off limit" foods. Following a diet plan, despite not liking how the "diet plan" foods make you feel Ignoring hunger cues  Selecting food with the primary goal of weight loss. Purchasing expensive specialty foods just because they are trendy As you progress in your individual life journey, be mindful that your definition of healthy eating will/may change overtime. You may go from being extremely rigid and strict in your diet to allowing more food freedom and food flexibility. Or, you may celebrate that right now, you are "at least" eating breakfast and consuming a few veggies throughout the day. Or, you may find that you are in a food rut and you are eating out a bit more often in order to get inspiration from different cuisines.  If you are trying to eat more healthy, here are a few suggestions to get you started: Create a plan for what you will eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks, before that day happens. You can keep this extremely simple by eating similar foods each day to get started. Be mindful of your hunger and fullness cues to help with portions. Don't bring a diet mentality (or off limit food list) to your food choices. Allow for flexibility and avoid having an all-or-nothing approach.  Spend 30 minutes each day planning for tomorrow's eating. Reflect on today and what worked/didn't work and make small tweaks so you feel more control, satisfied, energized and comfortable with your eating choices. The more food that you have prepped and available in advance, the easier it is to follow through with your plan.  Consider your life obligations (ex. work, family, exercise, extra-curriculars) so that eating is not too complicated, time consuming or difficult. Don't let meal and snack time become an afterthought or pushed aside because it's something you don't have time for. A well-nourished and energized body functions well in life. Give yourself time to eat a meal (at least 20 minutes). Give yourself a life pause to be present at meal and snack time. Don't rely on willpower to initiate a change. Set yourself up for successful eating behaviors.  Always maintain a healthy relationship with food and your body.

Seeing is believing

Representation Matters

These are pictures from 2021 Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga. These pictures were taken on the same day, of the same body.  I share these pictures side by side as it's a reminder how the media and advertising has brainwashed athletes to believe that there is an ideal body type for sport. And without good self-esteem, body love and confidence, it becomes normal to be ashamed, embarrassed and disgusted by the body on the left. As a result, your body becomes something that you need to "fix" often through overexercising and undereating.  I came across this IG post from Katie Moon and it got me thinking about representation.  How many times have you been proud of your athletic performance or workout but ashamed of how your body looked? As a result, you didn't share the picture of yourself performing. Or, perhaps you blamed a poor athletic performance or workout on your body? Or, your awesome athletic performance was dismissed because you felt like you didn't look like an athlete.  When it comes to sport, having relatable role models is extremely important. Seeing is believing.  Many athletes struggle with body image issues. In today's society, mainstream media has an unhealthy obsession with the "ideal" body type. Far too many athletes are bombarded with unrealistic images of how an athlete body should look. Thin arms, toned legs, firm butt, defined abs. Constant exposure to an idealized body type can lead to lower self-esteem and eating disorders. And now it's getting even worse with AI. For example, take Aitana Lopez. She has 302K followers on Instagram, earns over $10,000 a month and she's not real. Yes, you read that correctly. She was created by a computer. She is not a real human. She's completely fake.  This sad truth only confirms that our society is hyper-focused on appearance. We continue to hear (and see) the same message that smaller is faster, happier, healthier, better, and more successful. Instead of empowering athletes to become the best versions of themselves by showcasing a variety of body types and shapes, athletes are constantly in pursuit of a specific body image due to the bombardment of images showing a unrealistic body standard. Trying to achieve this unrealistic "ideal" image only increases the risk for restrictive eating, dieting, underfueling, disordered eating, overexercising or an eating disorder.  Representation is very important. Seeing someone who you can relate to is everything. When we see a variety of athlete body sizes, shapes and colors, this helps to create positive images and messages as to what it means to be an athlete. It's very difficult for a self-conscious athlete who does not have an "ideal" body to believe in her/his/their abilities when there is no one to relate to. The same goes for minority groups. Athletes and human beings come in all types of sizes and shapes. The wonderful thing about sport and exercise is that there does not have to be specific acceptable body type. Sport provides an opportunity to celebrate individuality. Let's stop the irrational thinking that there has to be a "typical" body type for every sport.  Because representation matters, here are some ways that you can be part of the change:  Don't edit your pictures. Share the real version of yourself.  Stop the negative body talk. Show that there is more to sport than an image. Refrain from complimenting weight loss (or criticizing weight gain). Celebrate the diverse range of body sizes and shapes. Let go of judging a body type as "fast" or "race ready." Become aware of your own biases around weight, body composition and health. Get rid of size or appearance assumptions. Acknowledge that bodies are allowed to change. Celebrate your strengths and abilities. Thank your body daily.

“It’s often been said that “seeing is believing”, but in many cases, the reverse is also true. Believing results in seeing.” ― Donald L. Hicks

Intuitive Eating for Athletes

 

Many diet plans follow a restrictive eating model with specific 'good' vs. 'bad' foods. This type of restrained eating demands rigid control.

Food is an essential requirement for survival. When you diet and feel hunger, this isn't a lack of willpower, it's a biological drive to protect you. Interestingly, there is no drive for eating too much but rather, if the body senses extreme weight loss, it will kick in physiological mechanisms to slow down your metabolism (and energy) or the brain will send signals to get you to eat as soon as possible. Stomach growing, irritability, inability to focus, lightheadedness, headache, fatigue, and sugar cravings are all signs that your body is asking for food. 

Although stress, trauma history, certain medications, extreme exercise (especially in the heat) and life chaos can supress your appetite, dieting makes it difficult to understand your hunger cues. Diets require that you ignore your hunger cues as most diets require you to limit or control the foods that you eat, often sticking to a strict schedule of eating. 

Intuitive eating goes back to the basics. Learning to eat when hungry and stopping when full. It focuses on body cues like hunger and fullness and also recognizing cues caused by emotions or external triggers. Diet culture sees hunger as a symptom that you should learn how to overcome through willpower and discipline. But hunger is your body's way of communicating a basic survival need. Eating is necessary to live. 

Keeping your body biologically fed with adequate nutrients and energy is the best way to reduce the primal drive to overeat but it's also imperative for athletes to keep the body (and brain) fueled and nourished to support intentional training stress and sport demands. 

Although intuitive eating is a great approach for most people, it can be very difficult for athletes to meet their body's increased energy needs simply by respecting physical hunger. 

As examples: 

• Eating too close to a workout may increase the risk for GI distress during the workout and may negatively impact how your body uses fuels during exercise. 
• You may not have acess to food before, during and after workouts. 
• Learning to supress hunger cues during workouts in order to not overeat/fuel.
• You may crave certain foods after workouts but sport nutrition guidelines may advise different foods to optimize recovery
• You may not have an appetite after an intense or high volume workout. 
• Heat stress may impact your ability to eat.
• Busy schedules may remove the drive to eat. 

Eating enough to support your training and timing food appropriately with workouts is how you will perform at your best. This means you will often need to eat even if you don't feel hunger signals at that moment. 

Simply put, if you are an athlete and you are only eating when you feel hungry, you are likely undereating. Therefore, the intuitive eating principle of "honor your hunger" doesn't fully apply to athletes. However, you can use the principle of "gentle nutrition" to remind yourself that "even though I'm not hungry, I need to support my body with proper nutrition before or after my workout." 

Athletes have specific sport nutrition recommendations, guidelines and strategies that are designed to protect health, optimize performance and increase race readiness. Intuitive eating provides a useful set of tools for athletes as it can help you remove the diet mentality and improve your relationship with food and the body. 

I was interviewed for an article on Intuitive Eating by Angie Dye with Today's Dietitian.
Here's the article if you'd like to check it out. 

Cannondale Bike Specs - Paris-Roubaix

 

When Karel was selecting what type of  Cannondale bike he would be renting from the EF Coaching Team, he wanted his bike to be as close to the professional riders as possible. In other words, Karel wanted to experience the Roubaix cobble sectors with a true race bike to get a better appreciation of what the professional riders experience at Paris Roubaix. 

Karel is riding: 

• Cannondale Super Six Evo Lab71 EF Pro team bike (it's Rigoberto Urán "spare" bike)
• Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace 12sp
• Cranks FSA SL-K
• Vision wheels and cokpit
• Gearing 54/50 front and 11-34 rear
• Prologo saddle and tape 
• Vitoria Corsa pro control tires 30mm mounted on 50mm deep carbon vision rims. Mounted with tubes. 
• Pressure: 45 psi rear, 42 psi front. 

Karel really likes the feel of the bike. Today he rode 30 miles and although it was another cold and wet day, he felt much more confident on the cobbles. 

As part of the camp, the team mechanics wash and service the bikes every day. This is a true treat for Karel who always takes care of our bikes. He loves that the bike is like brand new every morning. 

Bottles are made with a mix of your choice (Amacx Sport Nutrition). Karel starts with 80g carbs and another of 40g carbs. On race day (tomorrow) he will start with 2 x 80g carb bottles. There will be aid stations along the course and the EF Coaching team soigneurs will be at 2 additional places on the course, handing out bottles....just like the pros. 

Karel is enjoying trying out the different sport nutrition products (ex. bars, gels, chews, drinks). 

At the end of every ride, he immediately receives a recovery nutrition bottle from the EF coaching staff. Then the mechanic takes the bike, he gets his rainbag back from the car, he goes to shower and then he gives his dirty clothes to the team staff. Talk about professional service! 

Tomorrow is the Paris Roubaix Challenge. Karel will be racing all of the cobbled sectors for 170km in his new EF Team jersey.

The race starts between 7-7:45am (self seeded) and over 6000 cyclists are set to participate in one of the three distances. 

Paris-Roubaix Trouée d'Arenberg

Day 2 of the EF Coaching Paris-Roubaix camp started early, around 9am. Sadly, the weather was not ideal and the ride was cut short due to cold and rainy conditions. Karel said he was so cold from the wet conditions. The group rode ~27 miles to the Arenberg Forest and got shuttled back to the hotel in the team vans. 

According to Cycling News,

"The Trouée d'Arenberg is infamous for being the first five-star cobbled sector in Paris-Roubaix. The path is technically called the Drève des Boules d'Hérin, and the 2,300 metres (1.4 miles) of rough cobblestones are some of the worst in all of professional cycling.

The road was laid down in the late 18th century and subsided since then due to mine workings beneath the forest. Jean Stablinski is credited with suggesting the inclusion of the sector in Paris-Roubaix and the Trouée d'Arenberg was first used in the 1968 edition.

Since then, it has become a fixture of the race and prime viewing for spectators, with tall trees lining the sector to bring visual drama along with the race excitement. Coming with around 100km to go, it is typically where the first decisive splits of the season's biggest cobbled classic are formed."

Karel was one of the few members of the group that managed to ride the entire cobbled sector today. He said it was incredibly hard. Although there isn't a lot of elevation on this course, the cobbles are extremely slippery. Especially in the rain. Karel said he had to keep riding because even if he wanted to unclip and stop, he would slip and fall. There is a paved path on the side of the sector but that will be lined with spectators on race day. 

Cycling UK perfectly described Arenberg as.....

"‘You ride through there and you think, “This is just ridiculous”,’ says Hayman, now a sport director at Jayco-AlUla. ‘Your bike feels as though it’s about to fall apart at any moment. You don’t know how carbon fibre can even take that kind of shock. Anybody who’s gone over there – including those who’ve done the sportive – will understand. It’s by far the worst section of cobbles in the race, and if there’s any kind of moisture in the air, you know it’s going to be slippery.’

Karel riding through the famouse Arenberg Forest.

These aren't random goats on the side of the road. GCN reports that "for the second year in a row, a herd of animals are ensuring the cobblestones are in race-ready condition, in an environmentally and socially friendly way." "On a few days in the weeks leading up to Paris-Roubaix, around 40 goats are driven to the Arenberg forest and encouraged to fill their bellies. With an estimated 2,500 cobblestones on the 2.3km sector, there's plenty to go around."

After they returned back to the hotel, it was time to warm up their shivering bodies. They had lunch around 2pm and then Karel had a massage (free with the camp) around 5:30pm. 

Tomorrow is another ride and then one more sleep until Karel takes part in the amateur Paris Roubaix 170km challenge on Saturday. 

Karel is at Paris-Roubaix!

 

A year ago, our good friend Joe emailed us about the Paris Roubaix EF Pro Race Camp from April 4-7th, 2024. Immediately, as soon as I read the words Paris Roubaix, I knew this was something that Karel had to do. 

Since a very young age, Karel has loved the sport of professional cycling. He got this love from his dad. Karel watches all the grand tours and classics and knows a lot about the sport and the riders. He also loves anything bike related so he regularly stays up on bike tech by reading various websites. Having grown up as a cyclist, he also knows a lot about the 'early days' of cycling. 

Check out these pics of teenager Karel. 

Behind the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix is one of the most recognizable events in cycling. Known as the Queen of the Classics and the Hell of the North, this event dates back to 1896 and has taken place 120 times since then. Paris-Roubaix is arguably the hardest one-day cycling race in the world. At almost 260km (161 miles), the unpredictable weather and wind conditions add an extra layer of difficulty to the 29+ cobble sectors which make up around 55km (34 miles) of the race. Although the course is flat, the vibrations from the cobbles require a tremendous amount of power which means a great amount of energy is expended within each sector. And all of this is done on a road bike. There are three five-star sectors on the course (the start show the difficulty of the cobbled sectors), which are the Trouée d'Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre.

The race finishes in the iconic Roubaix Velodrome. 

In other words, Paris-Roubaix is a legendary bucket list event for any cycling enthusiast. 

Karel traveled to Europe on Monday from Charlotte. He flew to Newark on United and met Joe there. They flew on United to Brussels. They arrived to Brussels airport around 7:30am on Tuesday and were greeted by someone with the EF coaching staff. They were shuttled ~90 minutes to their hotel in Lille Grand Stade. When they arrived, they received their Cannondale bikes that they rented for camp and checked into their rooms.  Karel was exhausted from very little sleep on Monday night but they venture out for a shake out ride on Tuesday to experience the cobbles (and wind). After a good night of sleep on Tuesday, the camp officially started around noon on Wednesday. They received some really cool swag at the hotel, had lunch and then listened to a presentation about riding on the cobbles (Karel really enjoyed it). Then they were off for day 1 of camp - a 55km ride, finishing in the famous velodrome. When they arrived back to the hotel, they had snacks and then a late evening dinner. 

The camp package includes:

• Four star accommodation at Park Inn by Radisson, Lille Grand Stade, near Roubaix velodrome - the start and finish of the sportive and finish of the pro race
• All meals and ride nutrition
• Daily training rides and sportive preparation with Team EF Coaching trainers
• Team car supported training rides with mechanic, nutrition and spare kit
• VIP pro race package including exclusive team access at the World Tour race
• Daily bike maintenance and cleaning by team mechanic
• Paris-Roubaix Challenge race entry and insurance
• Massages by team soigneurs
• Daily laundry service for cycling kit
• Pre-camp access to our training library
• Personal race-day nutrition consultation with nutritionist Spencer Miller
• Secure bike storage and ride preparation room
• Transfer from Brussels airport or Roubaix train station

After 3 days of riding parts of the course, Karel will participate in the Paris-Roubaix Challenge. On Saturday morning, thousands of cyclists get to ride the same course as the pros. Although ~90km shorter than the pro race, Karel and Joe will be racing 170km (~105 miles) and will cover all of the cobbled sectors, just like the pros. When Karel finishes the race, he will get to watch the professional women finish the race in the velodrome. Then on Sunday, he will get VIP access to watch the male professional race. 

I'm so happy for Karel to have this experience. It's going to be a challenging 4 days as riding the cobbles (on a road bike) is no easy task. Karel said that it was so much harder than he expected. But like we experienced at the Haute Route Alps 7 day stage race, this experience will give him a greater appreciation for what the professional cyclists experience when they race (just at much slower speeds and with much less pressure to perform).

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Endurance sports - why are GI issues so common?

 

Every endurance (and ultra distance) athlete wants to show up to an event/race feeling physically prepared. But what about being nutritionally prepared? 

A long distance event places a lot of stress on the human body. Extreme environmental conditions further exacerbate the physiological (and mental) demands during physical activity. While physical preparation can improve the chance of completing the event or setting a personal best time, gastrointestinal issues are likely to cause the body to underperform. Or even worse, you may not be able to complete the event due to a nutritional complication. 

Research states that around 30-70% of endurance and ultra endurance athletes experiences GI issues on race day. In other words, at an Ironman triathlon of 1500 athletes, around 1050 athletes will experience some type of GI issue. This is a very alarming statistic considering how money, time and effort go into preparing for an endurance event. 

I've worked with many athletes who have come to me after struggling with nutrition issues on race day.  While I can feel the frustration and sadness coming from the athlete (after the race that they prepared so much for, didn't go as planned), I typically see several common trends of what the athlete did before/during the race that contributed to the uncomfortable and performance compromising GI issues. 

With so many endurance and ultra distance events happening throughout the year, here are a few reasons why GI issues occur and how you can reduce your risk on race day.

How to stop negative thinking

I consider myself a happy and positive person. I can usually find the bright side in almost any situation. I love riding my bike outside. 

However, during our bike ride two weekends ago, I was filled with negativity.

It was windy. And I can't seem to quiet my mind when I bike in the wind. 

While I could rationalize that the strong headwind was incredibly challenging to ride through, my mind found it incredibly easy to tell me how horrible of a cyclist I was, how slow I was riding, how much my legs were hurting and so on and so on. The negative thoughts wouldn't stop until we turned around. It was at this point that my mind had no trouble staying quiet while soft pedaling at speeds over 25 mph in the tailwind.

I feel like I need a sign that reads "I'm sorry for what I said when I was riding my bike in the wind."

This situation had me thinking about how our thoughts are often so closely linked to how we feel and act. Riding in the wind had me thinking that I was not a strong rider and because of that situation, I wanted to stop my workout. Certainly this thought process wasn't productive (or true).

This past week was a big week of training for myself. I've increased my swim, bike and run volume and my body is feeling more sore than normal. I started a lot of workouts questioning how I would be able to start the workout but thankfully, my body continued to impress me. 

We all have uninvited, negative thoughts at times. Typically they aren't a problem in and of themselves. They only become a problem when we believe (and act on) those thoughts. The more you think negatively, the quicker negative thoughts can spiral into overthinking. Constantly thinking that you aren't good enough, that things will never get better, you are worthless, nobody likes you or trying isn't worth it..... well, this is when negative thinking becomes an issue.

Just because you have a thought, this does not mean it's true.

Because negative thoughts can impact how you feel about yourself, remember the three Cs.

• Catch
• Challenge
• Change

1. Catch - In order to change your negative thinking, you first need to recognize that you are thinking negatively. Because many thoughts are automatic, it can be difficult to catch yourself starting to spiral into negative thinking. You may find yourself thinking negatively because you are trying to predict the future and using words like "what if." Or you may be thinking all or nothing. You may find that you have high expectations for yourself which are unreasonable.
   
   
2. Challenge - Now that you recognize your negative thoughts, you need to challenge them. Do you have any credible evidence for or against your thoughts? Give yourself a pause and think objectively about the situation.
   
   
3. Change - Finally, replace the negative thought with a more positive one. Try to approach a situation with a curious mindset (instead of a fixed one). 

Hopefully these strategies help you out the next time you find yourself biking in the wind......or dealing with negative thinking

Maximize performance without overemphasizing weight

Whether you are an athlete or coach, you know there are constant conversations in sport discussing weight and performance. The constant narrative says that you must lose weight in order to improve as an athlete.  It's as if the only way to be a successful athlete is to be a smaller version of yourself. Although there are truths in the weight and performance discussion, there are also many false beliefs and misunderstandings. While there are healthy ways to optimize body composition and to improve health, the influence and pressures of diet culture, social media, old school coaching methods and beliefs and sport body sterotypes make it difficult for many athletes to maintain a healthy relationship with food, the body and exercise. 

Self imposed beliefs about being "too heavy" for sport are reinforced by the media, coaches, influencers, "experts" and commentators who often highlight an athlete's body shape, size or weight over skill, performance or effort. These messages influence how an athlete feels about his/her/their body and as a result, a vulnerable, self conscious athlete may look to unhealthy, unrealistic and impractical methods to achieve an ideal "race weight" for sport. 

In today’s fad-diet obsessed society, it can be difficult to keep a healthy perspective on your body image. You can still be an athlete even if your body doesn’t match the unrealistic images seen on social media. Athletes come in all shapes and sizes. Every athlete has a "race ready" body weight weight where the body functions the best. This body is not determined by a number on the scale but achieved by consistent training, nutritious eating and proper fueling and hydration.

Weight (and body composition) is one factor of many that may influence your performance. Many factors impact how your body will perform in training and on race day. Sadly, the more time, mental energy and focus that you give to manipulating your weight in order to optimize performance, the less energy and focus you have on the factors that will actually have a direct and more powerful impact on your performance. 

Your training and diet should promote long-term mental and physical and longevity in sport. Eating is not cheating. If you need personalize nutrition assistance, reach out to a Board Certified Sport Dietitian for help. 

Source: https://www.mccallumplace.com/about/blog/optimizing-sport-performance/

No more Gatorade Endurance at NA Ironman Events?

 

I recently heard/read some rumors that at the upcoming Ironman Texas event, Gatorade Endurance will be replaced with Mortal hydration at the bike and run aid stations. The Gatorade Endurance Formula has been on all Ironman and 70.3 U.S. race courses since 2015. The exclusive multi-year partnership took effect on January 1, 2015.

I have never been a big fan of Gatorade Endurance as I feel there are better, well-formulated products on the market. I've only used Gatorade once on race day. It was 2017 Ironman Chattanooga and two of my three bottles bounced out of the cages as I rode of the railroad tracks. Although I didn't enjoy deviating from my nutrition plan, I knew I needed a replacement for the fluids, carbohydrates and sodium that I lost in my bottles. I was thankful I had three more bottles of my own nutrition at Special Needs. Thankfully it all worked out ok as I finished as the overall female amateur of the day.
I am a big fan of being self-sufficient at races and the majority of our coached athletes are also self-reliant in that the only use the aid stations for water and bring their own sport drinks with them on the bike and run. After 19 Ironman events (and 2 XTRI), I can't think of a time when I used on-course nutrition (sport nutrition) aside from the example I just gave at IM Chattanooga, using water for sipping and cooling, sipping coke on the run and if I remember, I do think I used gatorade at my first Ironman in 2006. I've worked with hundreds of athletes over the past decade and many of the athletes who express GI issues on race day also exclusively rely on Gatorade as their primary sport drink. Although it may work for some, I do feel strongly that there are better products available that support current sport nutrition guidelines.

However, with the average Ironman participant numbers ranging from 1,000-3,000 athletes and twelve North American Ironman distance events spread out throughout the year, a well-established company that has a lot of money to sponsor large scale events (requiring a lot of sport nutrition bottles/powder) is needed. Gatorade makes sense. 

Plus, Gatorade Endurance is fairly inexpensive and easy to purchase. You can find a bottle of Gatorade (not necessarily the gatorade endurance formula which has twice the amount of sodium and three times the amount of potassium as Gatorade Thirst Quencher) at almost any gas station and grocery store. I feel that if a product is available at a global series event, it should be easily accessed for most - if not all - participants so that every athlete has the opportunity to practice with it repeatedly in training. 



Rumor is that Gatorade Endurance (nutrition profile and ingredients above) will be replaced by Mortal Hydration. If you haven't heard of Mortal Hydration, you are not alone. It is a very new product that is only available at some Sprouts grocery stores and available at The Feed. 

As you can see from the two "hydration" products that Mortal Hydration offers, it is not a sport drink. It is simply a sodium-rich beverage similar to Pedialyte or LMNT. Could you add fructose or maltodextrin to the drink and make it into a well-formulated drink? Sure (although it still contains Stevia) but there are many other products on the market that are already doing that for you.

I would never recommend an athlete to consume a 460-900mg sodium beverage (each hour) that only contains 8-10g carbohydrates and to use that as their "sport drink" on the bike or for the run.  Furthermore, this drink is sweetened with Stevia which may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain in people who are sensitive to sugar alcohols. Gatorade Endurance is much safer and practical option compared to Mortal hydration.  

If the rumors are true and Mortal Hydration will be the primary "hydration" beverage at the aid stations at Ironman Texas, I advise the following: 

BIKE

• Do not rely on Mortal Hydration on the bike. It is NOT a substitute for Gatorade Endurance as you will not be receiving the carbohydrates that you need to support the Ironman bike and run. 
• Do not concentrate your bottles of your planned sport nutrition to make a 3 or 5 hour bottle (in other words, putting 600-1000 calories worth of powder in one bottle) because you will not be using Mortal Hydration at the aid stations. 
• Do use your practiced, well-formulated sport drink and plan for 1 bottle of sport drink per hour. If you aren't sure if your product is well-formulated or if you are using sport nutrition properly, you can check out my blog for articles on the topic (I have many of them) or reach out to a sport dietitian for a personalized consult. 
• Use special needs (~56 miles in an Ironman distance triathlon) to grab three more bottles of your well-formulated sport drink. 
• Do not worry about the extra weight of carrying 3 bottles of sport drink on your bike. A well-fueled and hydrated body that isn't struggling with GI issues will outperform the athlete who has "less weight" on his/her/their bike. 
• You can bring extra powder (or an empty bottle of only powder - I do this in ultra distance gravel events when I don't want to carry extra weight but want to make my aid station stops quick and efficient) and use aid stations to refill your bottles. 

RUN

• If you plan on using Mortal Hydration on the run, you will also need to consume adequate carbohydrates to meet your individual hourly needs. I highly recommend practicing during your long runs to understand how your body tolerates the mixture of mortal hydration and your planned nutrition (ex. powder, chews, gels) at race type intensities in similar weather conditions. You will want to wear a hydration belt/pack or set up aid stations similar to race day to mimic race day scenarios/situations. 
• If you do not plan on using Mortal Hydration on race day, use a hydration belt when you run. You can carry your own nutrition and drink on your own schedule. It's very easy (and quick) to refill your flasks/bottle at an aid station with water and powder. 

If you are new to this blog or you aren't familiar with my sport nutrition philosophy, I am a big proponent of sport drinks. A sport drink provides a practical and easy way to obtain fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates, in the right formulation to optimize digestion and absorption, to help meet your individual needs to delay central and muscular fatigue while also minimizing the risk of GI issues and dehydration. Because you will always need to consume fluid (water) when you train and race in warm/hot weather, a sport drink makes the most sense as the most practical, convenient and easy-to-replicate source to meet your fluid, sodium and carbohydrate needs. Far too many athletes overcomplicate sport nutrition by consuming multiple products at random intervals in training and fail to replicate these strategies on race day - or fail because of GI issues. I believe that endurance athletes over obsess about consuming enough sodium, under-hydrate (don't drink enough fluids) while run training (and expect the gut to tolerate fluids at aid stations on race day) and do not know how to select sport nutrition products properly for specific workouts (either underfueling or overfueling). When applying the topic of sport nutrition, it's important to understand that just because you are consuming carbohydrates, sodium and water, this doesn't mean that your muscles are receiving what you are consuming. If a product is not consumed properly (or formulated properly when mixed), it'll simply hang around in the gut - causing bloating, a sloshy stomach, heart burn, belching, vomiting, gas and/or diarrhea. fluid ingestion. This can further lead to dehydration and glycogen depletion.
Water is absorbed in the small intestines and by the time it enters the large intestines, roughly 80% absorption has occurred. The rate of gastric emptying and intestinal absorption are dependent on the volume and formulation of the beverage. The greater the concentration, the greater the osmolality. This is why you should never concentrate your sport drink – like putting 400-600 calories (2 or 3 hours worth of calories) in one bottle that only has 28 ounces of fluid. When you drink water, there’s a drive for the water to dilute the blood (water moves toward blood) but if you drink a more concentrated beverage than blood, like a hypertonic sport drink or soda or juice, water will move from inside the bloodstream and into the gut – which is dehydrating. The inclusion of electrolytes and glucose in a beverage promotes retention of fluids. When you add a little sugar with sodium (as in a sport drink), you can pull a great amount of water across the small intestines, optimizing water absorption. To help with fluid and electrolyte loss, it's not just about the carbs. You also need to ingest water and electrolytes from a sport drink to keep plasma volume at normal levels.

There's also an added benefit of a sport drink having multiple carbohydrates for better digestion and absorption. Exercise shifts blood flow away from the GI (Gastrointestional tract) towards the active muscles and lungs. Digestion is compromised during exercise. This is why it's important that your carb choices during exercise do not require a lot of digestion. The quicker and easier those carbs are emptied from the stomach, the quicker those carbs can be used by the active muscles. Also, the more digestion that is required, the greater risk for GI issues.
If you are simply consuming carbohydrates without the awareness of how much you are consuming, what types of carbs you are consuming and how often you are consuming them, there's a good chance that you are not optimizing absorption - which means a greater risk for bonking, early fatigue, dehydration and GI issues.

To increase the capacity to absorb carbohydrates, it's critical that your sport drink has the right formulation. Simply eating/drinking whatever you want, whenever you want, does not guarantee that what you are consuming is being digested and absorbed.

A weight loss journey reminder

The way you feel about your body can fluctuate over time. So can your body shape, weight and size. It's normal for your body to change throughout your lifespan.

However, at any one time, more than 160 million Americans are on a diet. The human body is designed to protect you from extreme weight loss and starvation. Losing weight is not easy because it is a complex and multi-faceted journey. 

I am a anti-diet, body positive sport dietitian. I accept all bodies and I never tell athletes that they need to lose weight in order to improve performance. Even if an athlete comes to me wanting to lose weight, I never make weight the primary focus.Before you set out on your effort to lose weight, make sure you keep the following in mind. 

• You may long for a flatter stomach, leaner arms and slimmer thighs but looking a certain way or dieting your way to a smaller version of yourself will not make you happy - or happier. You can lose weight and struggle with your mental health, experience joint pain, find it difficult to run or bike up hills, not like the way that you look and lack self confidence. If you are struggling with your body image, unhappy with your weight or in pursuit of the ideal body, a different body will not give you love, acceptance, a better relationship, a more enjoyable career, a more enriching social life, fulfilment or self worth. Weight loss alone isn’t a prescription for happiness. Your weight does not determine your self-worth. Your body does not define who you are. Dieting into a new body and making yourself smaller won’t make you happier.
  
  
• In a world where unrealistic body standards are everywhere, developing a positive relationship with your body and a healthy relationship with food can be challenging. It's easy to compare yourself to others, believing that losing weight will make you healthier or achieving a specific body composition will make you a better athlete. In our body obsessed culture, which normalizes disordered eating patterns, it's easy to prioritize appearance over health. Negative self-talk is one of the biggest barriers to body acceptance. It's very difficult to want to take care of (and respect) something that you hate.
  
  
• Dieting can easily turn unhealthy and dangerous. It's easy to take a diet too far. It's not uncommon for people to make extreme changes - like not eating grains, dairy, sugars and processed foods - severely restricting calories and nutrients all in the name of weight loss. A "diet" may offer quick fixes and a black and white method of dictating what you can and can not eat but the truth is that these methods are extreme and impossible to maintain in the long term. Plus, they teach you nothing about changing your lifestyle habits which is how long lasting weight loss is achieved.
  
  
• Sustainable weight loss means making sustainable habit changes. You can take a pill, injection, supplement, purchase a meal replacement kit, fast for 8-12 hours or follow a fad diet. But if your weight loss method isn't sustainable, the weight loss you achieved will not last. Furthermore, with many extreme weight loss methods, there may be long term risks associated. It's easy to think that weight loss happens from eating less and exercising more but adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors is key to living a long and healthy life. 
  
  
• Health is physical and mental. Although changing your eating behaviors may improve your physical health, your efforts to change your body should not bring on mental fatigue. Overthinking your food choices, counting and recording every calorie consumed and constantly feeling deprived are not ways to improve mental health. More so, when you are severely restricting your food, you will be fatigued, hungry and only able to focus on food. 
  
  
• It is hard to feel good about yourself if you hate your body. And if you hate your body, it's hard to take care of yourself. Because weight is so closely connected to self-esteem, when you feel bad about yourself, you are more likely to overeat or under-eat. Your thoughts about food matter. Seeing food as an enemy can make it difficult for you to eat for fuel and nourishment. In our diet-crazed society, constantly eating too little, eating too much and never eating with pleasure can cause serious physical health issues. Undereating and a cycle of restriction and binging can have serious mental effects, especially when this style of eating becomes a way of life. Considering everything your body can do and everything it does for you, it's so easy to take your body for granted - especially when you are having a "bad body image day." (yes - that's a thing and it's normal). It isn’t until your body stops working properly (sickness, injury, illness) that you really begin to appreciate the greatness of your body. The body is complex and is constantly changing. Every day your body is adjusting to it’s environment and the stress placed on it. As you move through life, you will experience many wonderful changes - intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. It’s only natural and normal that your body will change along with you.

Is your sweat rate negatively impacting your health and performance?

 

As the weather gets warmer, I often get emails from athletes asking me about my recommendations for sweat testing or if I can review sweat test analysis. Interestingly, almost every time I speak with an athlete in regards to sweat rate and sodium loss, they give a lot of focus to sodium. While sodium is important and plays a role in sport drinks (and in your daily diet), you can't load your body with sodium and expect your body to perform well if you are exercising in a dehydrated state.

The sweating response is a thermoregulatory mechanism designed to help cool down the body. Dehydration increases in hot conditions. Dehydration occurs from sweat loss. When you sweat you lose fluids. If you don't replenish these fluids as you are exercising, your blood volume drops, which causes your blood to get thicker. This makes it harder for your heart to supply blood to your muscles. As a result, your heart has to work even harder to pump that blood. Additionally, when fluid levels drop, you have a harder time controlling body temperature which causes the core temperature to rise even faster.

You are going to lose more fluid through sweating when your body gets warm. But you DO NOT lose sodium without fluids. Dehydration is fluid and sodium loss - not directly from sodium loss. If you are simply focusing on sodium, but not drinking enough water (fluid) each hour, the sodium will not benefit your high sweat rate.

You must drink enough fluid - in the right combination/formulation of sodium and carbohydrates - for those nutrients to be properly digested and absorbed, in order to keep you properly hydrated and fueled. 

When it comes to understanding your hydration needs in order to devise a personalized hydration and fueling plan, you need to take into account the following: how much fluid you are loosing each hour (ex. your sweat rate—usually measured ml/hr) and how much sodium you’re losing when you sweat.

You can't just focus on sodium and neglect water (and carbohydrates). They all work together to keep your body performing well and to stay in good health. 

To help keep your body functioning well as you advance your training en route to your upcoming endurance events, do the following:

• Keep yourself well-hydrated during the day. ~90 ounces of fluid for women, ~120 ounces of fluid for men.
• Rehydrate after sweaty workouts: ~16-20 ounce water + pinch of salt
• Follow well researched, practical sport nutrition and hydration guidelines before/during and after workouts.
• Do..... not ration your fluids to minimize stopping or try to "save weight" when biking by limiting how much fluids you have on your bike. 
• Make sure you are comfortable drinking while moving (ex. biking, running, between sets while swimming).
• Wear a hydration belt/pack everytime you run outside. I love my Naked Running band. Karel likes this belt (PYFK Running Belt Hydration Waist Pack with Water Bottle Holder)
  as well as the one he has from Compress Sport.
• There are a variety of sport nutrition powders on the market to help you take away the guessing to ensure you are meeting your needs. As a reminder, gels and chews are sodium low, concentrated sources of carbohydrates. If you are prioritizing gels, chews and solid food over sport drinks, you are likely falling short on your sodium and fluid needs. 

3 days in Cape Town South Africa

 

After the 4-stage PE Plett MTB event, we were shuttled back to the PE airport. Safair doesn't allow you to check in for your flight at the airport until 2 hours prior to departure so we had to wait almost 2 hours in the airport lobby before our early evening flight. We were pretty exhausted as we had a 7am race start that morning (Sat Feb 24th), raced for almost 3 hours, finished the race, showered, got our awards, waited a few hours for the shuttle to leave, sat in the shuttle for 90 minutes and then arrived to the airport. Although we had our bikes (and cases) driven to the race thanks to Manic Cycles, we flew back with our bikes to Cape Town. 

After checking in for our flights, it was a breeze through security and then we went to the Bidvest Premier Lounge to wait until our flight was boarding. I was really excited to have some good food options after 4 days of not-so-great vegetarian options. 

Our flight arrived at 8:20pm in Cape Town and after collecting our suitcases and bikes, we were greeted by our hotel shuttle driver. I arranged a shuttle pick up with our hotel so that we didn't have to get an Uber or Taxi. The shuttle was a little pricey ($22 USD or 430 Rand) but it was worth it for the no-stress airport to hotel transport in the evening. 

We arrived to our hotel - Onomo Hotel Cape Town - around 9:30pm. I found this hotel online and I got a great deal around $100/night (including breakfast). We were a bit hungry so after checking into our room and unloading our stuff, we walked to a convenience store next to the hotel to get some yogurt and bottled water. 

We had a great night of sleep (after 4 days of camping and racing) and used Sunday as a recharge day. 

We slept in, ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel (which was included in our stay). I second guessed myself with our hotel location as I wondered if we should have stayed by the ocean but I realized our hotel was in the perfect location for us. 

After working on the computer for several hours in the morning, we ventured out for lunch and then explored the city. 

We ate lunch at Le Petit Cape Wines and Tapas Bar (at Green Market Square, where our hotel was located) and it was absolutely amazing. We then walked to the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. We saw some amazing art and I saw a kitten so it was a great day ;) 

Karel got his flat white fix at Kimili Coffee, which was located next to the Red Bus Sight Seeing offices. When we were ready for dinner, we walked to Hudson's Burger Joint. There were several vegetarian burger options. Our meal was delicious. 

As we walked back to our hotel in the early evening, I couldn't believe how many locals were out at the bars/clubs on a Sunday night. 

On Monday, after eating breakfast, we bought out tickets for a day on the Red Bus and started our journey around Cape Town. 

I highly recommend doing the Red Bus tour if you are visiting Cape Town. Not only do you get to see a lot of the area but you also learn a lot with the headphones and informative story-telling throughout the ride. You can stay on the bus and jump off at any of the 24 stops. Just make sure to hold on to your hat if you sit on the top level of the bus as it can get windy. 

We rode the bus to shuttle stop 11 and got off at Sea Point. We hadn't swam in a week and I was really missing the pool. I researched pools in the Cape Town Area and came across the Sea Point Swimming Pool which looked amazing. A 27 meter outdoor pool by the ocean. 

We got off the shuttle, paid $1.80 to enter the pool area and I could not wait to swim. Well, that was short lived as the water was freezing! It was not heated and very cold. I managed ~400 meters and then I couldn't take it any more. I went to the diving well to swim until 700 meters. The diving well was a little less cold but the water was green and looked like a lake, which was a strange feeling. 

Karel was able to swim a bit more than I could but nonetheless, it was still a cool experience. Karel got ice cream after the swim (I took a while to warm up) and then we waited for the bus to hop back on (every 20 minutes a bus arrives to the designated stops). We finished our ride around Cape Town and got off at stop 5 (the Tour office) which was where our hotel was located. 

Our hotel was in the prime location of the town as it is also where all the vendors set up their shops every morning (and take it down every evening). If you want to buy gifts and souvenirs, this is a good spot to shop. You can negotiate with the vendors but just be aware that the items are similar at each vendor tent. 

We were pretty hungry when we arrived back to our hotel a little after noon so we decided to go back to our new favorite restaurant Le Petit Cape Wines and Tapas Bar for another delicious lunch. 

In the early afternoon, we jumped back on the bus and took the blue line bus to stop 22 - World of Birds and Monkey Jungle. There weren't a lot of people there which made it feel like a private visit to the largest sanctuary of birds in South Africa. It was really neat to be so close to the birds. We spent around 90 minutes walking around and it was a really cool experience. The monkeys were extra cute. 

We got back on the blue bus and finished off our daily tour. I really enjoyed the information that we learned on the blue bus line so I highly recommend getting on that bus line, even if you don't plan to get off at any of the stops. 

For dinner we had the most incredible dining experience at Madam Taitou. This Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant was amazing. We ate with our hands, the restaurant was filled with culture and the food was amazing. I got a vegetarian sampler dish that had a variety of different food selections. The lentils were my favorite. 

The US dollar goes very far in South Africa so for all of our meals, we never paid more than $25 - total. 

For our last day in Cape Town, after eating breakfast, we got in some activity by running 2.3 miles to the Lions Head Parking area. We fast hiked up to the top and back down. Then ran back to the hotel. In total it was 7.6 miles, 2100 feet and took us an hour and 48 hours. It was a beautiful, fun, adventurous 3 mile round trip hike with amazing views along the way. As the locals say, it was lekker!

The hike had a few technical sections with ladders and there was a few "climbing" up and over rocks which made forr a fun hiking experience. It was really cool to see different parts of cape town as we navigated our way around Lions Head. 

After we cleaned up in our hotel room, we walked to Clarke's for lunch. I had a delicious salad and Karel had a sandwich. 

As for the rest of the day, we packed up our stuff and did some gift shopping. We got a late checkout by paying for 1/2 day and arranged another shuttle to the airport. Around 6pm we took a walk around the garden area. We left for the airport around 7pm for our 11pm, 16-hour flight back to the US. 

We had an incredible experience in South Africa. This was our second time visiting and we just love the people, nature, animals, food and culture. 

Reunited after 2.5 weeks. 

'24 Gravel Skills Camp Recap

 

On Friday at noon, we welcomed six athletes to Greenwood, SC for a 3-day gravel camp. Our good friend Alvi was also present as he helped us out throughout the weekend.

Gravel riding is not like riding on the road. Sure, you are on a bike that feels similar to a road bike but the skills needed for off road are more similar to mountain biking than road riding.

Friday was a true skills session. We only covered 13 miles in four hours but the campers learned a lot. Heavy feet/light hands, body bike separation, and body position were repeated and ingrained into our campers with many opportunities to practice. We sectioned specific areas of the Southeast Gravel Greenwood course. Prior to the camp, our campers completed a questionnaire so that we could better understand what our campers wanted to work on. Here were their responses:

-Descending
-Riding on loose chunky gravel

-Riding on single track

-Riding in rain and mud
-Cornering 
-Not crashing/falling 
-Riding in a group
-What is rideable vs. not rideable
-Quickly dismounting

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On Saturday, our campers put their new and improved skills to the test at the Southeast Gravel Greenwood Event. We love this race venue and knew it would make for a great race to included in our gravel camp. It rained throughout the night and throughout the race, which made for a very muddy and dirty day of racing. But our campers had their new skill sets to apply to the unfavorable conditions. We are happy to report that all of our campers finished the race (5 completed the 44 mile and 1 completed the 74 mile) and nobody experienced any significant issues during the race (no major crashes or accidents). One of our campers, Leigh-Ann even made it on the podium and placed 7th female overall in the short course!

After we all got cleaned up and scrubbed all the gravel off our bodies, it was time for our pizza party and race discussion. We got pizza for everyone from The Mill House (it was delicious) and we spent some time talking about the race - what went well and areas that still need to be worked on. 

I booked the cutest Airbnb which happened to be on a farm. I never pass up an opportunity to stay close to farm animals. 

On Sunday, we had one last opportunity to work on skills and to get in a bit more off road riding. We met by the Long Cane Horse Trail/Fel Hunt Campground at 9am. It was chilly in the morning (40s) but we warmed up quickly. We rode for 24 miles (~2 hours) and it was a great opportunity to shake off the soreness from the race and to also continue to work on more skills. Because the conditions were different than on Saturday, we had the opportunity to work on a few different features, like peanut butter mud. 

We've been putting on training camps for the past 10 years and over the years, we have realized how many triathletes lack basic bike handling skills. And I can attest as I was one of those athletes! I was one of the many triathletes who were indoor fit with poor bike handling skills. 

Can you relate?
You spent countless hours on the indoor bike trainer (or on familiar roads) and your power is where you want it to be but because you lack basic bike handling skills, you constantly perform below your bike fitness abilities on race day.

🚲 You feel uncomfortable approaching or passing athletes.

🚲You waste energy in and out of corners because you are not confident at taking a corner at speed.

🚲You don’t feel confident grabbing or rotating bottles and taking in nutrition.

🚲You get a lot of anxiety when it comes to descending.

🚲You worry about tight u-turns.

🚲You are constantly afraid of your surroundings and have a fear of crashing.

🚲You don’t know how to safely stop on demand.

🚲You were never taught how to use your gears (outside of the big chainring) for hilly/rolling terrain.

And the list goes on.

These aren’t “racing” skills. These aren’t professional skills. These are basic, fundamental, critical bike handling skills that will keep you safe on the road.

We enjoyed working with our campers at our recent gravel skills camp as they became more aware of the proper bike handling skills needed for a variety of off-road terrain conditions. And the great thing is that they can now ride even better on the road. 

If you are interested in taking your bike fitness to the next level so you can ride faster and safer, we are offering three more training camp opportunities for triathletes.

⭐Early Season Triathlon Camp - April 26-28th (Greenville, SC)

⭐Off-Road Triathlon Skills Camp and off-road triathlon - May 3rd-4th (Whitewater Center, NC)

⭐Long Distance Triathlon Camp - July 12-14th (Greenville, SC. Perfect for anyone who has a hilly long distance triathlon on their summer/fall race schedule).

'24 PE Plett 4 stage MTB event

We enjoyed our experience at PE Plett. Instead of writing a recap of each stage, I'll provide some thoughts on our overall experience from this 4-stage MTB event. 

COST

• Total cost: $2171
• Event: $690 per person (includes 4 days of riding, 3 nights luxury tent accomodations and 10 meals)
• No hassle package: $134 per person (shuttle pick up/drop off at Port Elizabeth airport, pre-event luxury tent accomodation, dinner and breakfast)
• Hotel in Port Elizabeth (Courtyard Port Elizabeth): $93
• Hotel airport shuttle: $12 each way 
• Bike transport: $96 one way (bikes and bike case transferred from Cape Town Giant Bike Store so we didn't have to fly with the bikes to the event)
• Flights (Cape Town to Port Elizabeth): Safair $280 ($140 per person, round trip)
• Safair Bike fee from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town: $30 ($15 per bike)
  
  
  

LOGISTICS
As with most stage races, the start and finish are in different locations. I would say that most people who were local had someone drop them off at Kurland on Wednesday morning before the start of stage 1 and then pick them up at Zwartenbosch on Saturday, at the conclusion of the event. The distance was 84 miles between the two locations. There was also an option to drop off your car at Kurland and pay someone to drive it to the finish. People who were not from the Plett or Port Elizabeth area used this option. Then there was the shuttle bus option (which we used) which was very convenient and affordable. The drive from Port Elizabeth airport to Kurland took about 3 hours (140 miles), which includes a 30-minute stop for road construction. From Zwartenbosch to the airport, it took a little less than 2 hours (64 miles). We opted to use a service to transport our bikes (and bike cases) from Cape Town to the start of the event (instead of flying with our bikes) because we didn't want to risk anything happening to our bikes or dealing with the hassle of transporting them around. We had paid for our bikes to be transferred back to Cape Town but there was an issue with not having enough drivers so we ended up flying back with our bikes, which wasn't an issue. Cape Town holds the biggest timed bike race in the world in March (35,000 cyclists) so the smaller airlines (like SAFAIR) are used to transporting bikes. We were allowed one luggage each to be transported from stage to stage. We packed one suitcase and Karel brought his Trimarni transition bag. We left our other suitcase of items we didn't need at our hotel where we would be staying for 3 nights in downtown Cape Town after our event. With over 200 athletes participating in the event, I'd say the staff did a great job with organizing everyone with all of the logistics of this stage event. We flew into Port Elizabeth on Monday evening and it was nice to see the area (home of IM South Africa and the host of the 2018 IM 70.3 World Championship). 

Morning run in Port Elizabeth 

Photo from PE Plett

Routes/Courses
This was my first mountain bike stage race, my 2nd stage race event and my first time camping. I really enjoyed the experience. Although my mountain bike skills are improving, this course was not very technical in that it was primarily jeep roads with very little single track. The first stage had the most single track, which was only a few miles. The event could have been a gravel bike stage race because of the vast amount of gravel/dirt/forest roads and trails. There was a lot of climbing which I enjoyed. Whereas I really enjoyed each stage and felt like I was able to keep up with the race dynamincs and feel confident with my skills, Karel would have preferred more single track as that is where his strength lies. We both have a lof of experience with group riding (Karel has much more experience than I do but I learned from him) which helped us perform well on each stage. The scenery was beautiful as we rode through the garden route and Tsitsikamma Forests and had many views of the Indian Ocean. Karel and I found ourselves riding with similar people for each stage and we got to know others while also getting to know their strengths and weaknesses. Because Karel and I were riding solo (not as a mixed team), we both had to look out for ourselves, whereas other riders were on a team and could look out for one another. I found myself with 2-3 other teams (one was the leading women's team) and another solo rider so I often had to work extra hard as I knew no one was going to be there to help me out if I got dropped or had any issues. Stage 1 was the most enjoyable stage for me as I felt like I wasn't really racing but just riding my own race. Stage 2 was the hardest stage for me as I felt like it was full on racing and the descends were fast and there were several switchbacks (descending) on loose gravels. Stage 3 was nothing like I assumed it would be as I thought it would be flat and fast until the final climb but it ended up having a lot of technical climbing (loose rocks/steep short climbs). Stage 4 was challenging with the wind and a lot of short steep climbs and with it being the last stage, there was a lot of fatigue in the body. Karel had two mechanicals on stage 2 (seat post dropped down and a chain link got stuck) which cost him a lot of time and he moved from 3rd solo male to 4th. I heard a clinking noise throughout most of stage 2 and after the race when I told Karel he realized I had broken a spoke in my rear wheel. I would have preferred slightly longer stages. Stage 3 was supposed to be a little longer but forest fires caused the route to be shortened. 3-3.5 hours is still a long time on the mountain bike as the miles go by slowly (10-15 mph). The terrain was mostly dusty and sandy. There were a few muddy sections.

Food
I had paid a little extra for vegetarian meals throughout the event but at our first dinner (Tuesday, pre event) they forgot to prepare me a meal. So I ate salad and rice. For two lunches I had vegetarian 'sausage' (which was just ok) and for dinners, my vegetarian meals were veggies and cheese (which I am learning is what most people associate with the vegetarian diet). With so much great vegetarian food in South Africa, I was really disappointed with my meals. Breakfast was fine as I could eat eggs, yogurt, granola, fruit and toast but the lunch and dinner meals were really lacking in protein (and flavor). Karel enjoyed his meals and there were plenty of meat options. I had brought protein powder (which I had after every race) and I also had a few Honey Stinger protein and nut/seed bars. There was plenty of food for lunch and I never found myself hungry after a meal but the meals were not well balanced for me. I did enjoy all of the options for lunch, especially the fruit. I was also disappointed in the lack of bottled water. There was always a big jug of water to fill our bottles but there was an endless amount of free Heineken beer (including non alcoholic) and wine but water was not as easy to access. 

Photo from PE Plett

People/vibe
We met a lot of people throughout the four stages. It was easy to get to know those who we rode with each day. Most people were from South Africa. We met a couple from Germany and a few guys from France. We were the only people from the United States. The event had a mix of fitness levels. There was a category for E-bikes which was great because it allowed for a variety of fitness levels. There were several couples participating in the E-bike team category and several older individuals who may not have been able to complete an event like this without the added assistance. There was a battery aid station for the E-bikes and most people used the assist on the climbs. The E-bikers were also very nice and supportive to us "muscle" assist athletes. Cape Epic is a popular 8-stage MTB race in March and a lot of teams were using PE Plett as preparation for Cape Epic. This brought the competition level up as there were a lot of very fit and skilled mountain bikers. But there was also a large handful of people who were completers. They were not racing for a podium spot but they were there to have fun, chill and socialize. I'd say the majority of participants were between the age of 40-65. In the afternoon, there was a lot of relaxing happening. This was a little challenging for me and Karel as the Wifi wasn't strong and we really wanted to use the afternoon period to work on the computer. We did a short run of 3-4 miles in the late afternoon of stage 1 and 2 to add in a little more training stress to the event. The weather after stage 1 was cool and drizzly so we didn't take advantage of the pool at the lodge. We dipped into the cold pool after stage 2 as the weather was a little nicer. Stage 3 was hot and the pool was crowded. There were stretch classes in the late afternoon and we joined in for a 45 minute session after stage 2. Dinner was at 6pm (lunch started at 12pm) and the award presentation was at 7pm. We loved the beanbag chairs for relaxing. There was also a charging station for our gadgets (we brought portable charging banks as well). I will say that when I had the solo female leader jersey on for stage 2, 3 and 4, I felt like I had more support/respect in the field as a solo female, compared to stage, 1 so that was a nice feeling. 

Event staff
The event staff was awesome. With these smaller events, the event staff got to know everyone on a first name basis. As the women solo leader, I received a leaders jersey and got to line up at the front of each stage (2, 3 and 4) and I was often greeted with nice words from people of the staff. The photographers and media crew were amazing and they did an exceptional job with pictures and highlights on social media throughout the event. We received a lot of cool stuff in our registration packet and we also received pillow gifts in our tent in the afternoon of each stage which was a nice surprise. We got a nice water jug, headlamp and drip drop nutrition. Everyone was really nice and really helped to make this event extra special. The courses were well marked and Mike and his family really put their heart and soul into this event (which has been happening for 12 years). This year they also added a Tour (more laid back, non competitive version of the 4 stage event) which started the day after we finished. One of the coolest parts of the event was the helicopeter that followed the racers around for each stage. They took some great pictures! 

Camping
I really enjoyed the camping experience. It was nice to have our tents set up for us and the tents were large. Karel and I could have easily shared a tent (like the teams did) but we received our own tents as solo riders. We had a cot in our tents and comfortable pillow and beddings. Our tents were assigned to us. It was easy to get our luggage to and from our tents before stage 1, 2 and 4. I liked that we stayed in the same place after stage 1 and 2. Immediately after each stage we went to the showers. The showers were cold and we were limited (encouraged) to a few minutes to help save water. There were several portopotties and they were incredibly clean. There was a company there cleaning after every use. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a shower. There was a bike cleaning station where we paid $2 per bike (the money went to the Kwamo cycling academy). There was a coffee truck to purchase coffee, drinks and snacks. There was also instant coffee available at breakfast. The only issue with the tents was where they were placed. They were near the race venue and this meant that trucks would drive through the tent area early in the morning or there would be a lot of noise from staff workers in the evening. I slept just ine but Karel is a lighter sleeper and he really struggled with sleep. The weather was great in the evenings and I was never hot. It was the perfect temperature to snuggle under the blankets. Stage 2 was the coldest night and Stage 3 was the warmest night (but still comfortable). 

Overall, we really enjoyed the event. This was such a cool way to see a different part of South Africa, meet people and make new friends, ride our mountain bikes and be competitive in a race environment.

Here are some pictures from the event (I took the most pictures during stage 1, no pics on stage 2, and a few in stage 3 and 4). 

 

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

RESULTS
Karel - 3rd solo male, 11:03.43
Marni - 1st solo female, 11:36.56
157 miles of mountain biking and over 13000 feet of climbing over four days. 

Here's a video recap from the event, including our tips for racing in an international event. 

'24 South Africa - Day 8 and 9

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'24 Xterra South Africa Race Recap

 

Friday was a chill morning for me. I spent a good amount of time foam rolling and loosening out and Karel went out for a 25 min, 3.2 mile shake out run. Around 12:30pm we loaded our rental car with our bike gear and drove to Elgin Valley Country Club (race venue) for one last recon ride. Karel planned a great route for us so that we could ride on a few key sections of the course, while taking jeep roads in between. I had struggled with my body position and gear selection in a few areas and this ride was the perfect confidence booster for me as I didn't have any stumbles and took some mental notes on which line I wanted to take for each of those sections. The main areas that concerned me where the very tight turns on sand - some where steep uphills and some where steep downhills. I needed to get my body position and momentum just right for going up and then body position and knowing when to brake (and release the front brake at the right time) for the downhills. Conrad Stoltz (Xterra legend) designed the course and did some work in the rock garden to make it a bit more flowy. There were some tough sections between and over rocks and tight turns but I found the rock garden to be a lot of fun. Karel waited for me after each key section so that he could do his own thing and I could focus on myself. I was a little worried that my legs would be tired as I had ~25 running miles (and 12 hours of training) in my legs over the past 5 days but my legs felt surprisingly good. My biggest improvements with mountain biking have come from being able to do things faster - like going over features, going downhills and taking turns. Some of these areas do require a lot of power and strength but the most important skill is body position. Faster turns was an area that I really wanted to work on after Xterra South Africa last January (2023) and although I know I still have a lot more room for improvement, I am really happy with my progress. 

Karel gained a lot of confidence and new skills after participating in the 6-stage Breck Epic in August 2023. That course was so technical with big loose rocks. Karel was able to ride much faster in the technical areas. Although on race day he got caught behind some slower athletes at times, which slowed him down - but that is all part of Xterra racing. 

After our 10 mile, 70 minute ride, we went down to the water to check it out and then picked up our race packet. In our packet we received a bike plate with our number, a bib number for the run, a chip for our ankle and a shirt. We also got an Xterra South Africa Silicone swim cap from 2XU.

After a stop at the corner market/restaurant, we made another stop at our nearby grocery (WoolWorths) to get some food for the next 24 hours. We made pasta when we returned home around 3:30pm. It was delicious. I got all my gear together for the event and then around 8:30pm we laid down for bed. We didn't bring our wetsuits as last year in January it was non wetsuit legal so we took a chance that it wouldn't be wetsuit legal this year in February. According to Xterra rules (similar to ITU) when it's non wetsuit legal you can not wear anything over your kit. Whatever you wear in the water you have to wear for the entire race. Our tri kits are not designed for this style of racing so they do provide a little drag in the water. 

The alarm went off at 5am. I hardly slept at night. I could feel my heart pumping as I was trying to fall asleep the night prior. I was in and out of sleep all night. Thankfully I have been sleeping great since we arrived so after I laid in bed until 5:30am, I felt fine getting up (not sleepy or tired). I was just frustrated that I couldn't sleep. Karel was not nervous at all. I did feel nervous for the unknowns of the event and I still worry about getting in the way of more skillful riders. Thankfully in my 5 previous off road triathlon events, everyone has been really nice and anytime someone is behind me, I always let them go when there is a good place to pass. I was just more worried about making a mistake and causing someone else to not be able to continue riding past me. Thankfully, I had a mistake-free race and conquered everything to the best of my ability on the day. 

We arrived to the venue around 7am after leaving our house at 6:30am. The transition area was rather large so we had plenty of room to lay out our bikes and gear. There were around 200-300 athletes in the full distance and the racks were not crowded. As we were laying out our gear we heard the announcement that it was not wetsuit legal. We could hear the moans throughout the transition area but we were happy with this news. 

Karel was in the rack in front of me and we both had our bikes facing the direction of the Bike Out sign. I put all my run gear in my hat for a quick transition so that all I needed to do was put on my trail shoes. I kept room on my towel to quickly wipe my feet after running on the sand and grass before putting on my Silca socks. I had my sunglasses on my helmet so that I could put those on as I was riding. 

Here are some professional pictures from the race.

As for the race, we gave a full recap in a video discussion a few hours after the race when the feelings, emotions and memories were fresh. You can hear more about all the details from the race - and the difficulty of the run course (with 2 deep water crossings!) - in our YouTube Video. 

Karel won his age group. He was a little dissapointed in his run as he got passed by a few athletes and couldn't find any spring in his legs (which is hard when you are running on loose rocks and sand, with soaking wet shoes). I was 2nd in my age group but because 1st place is an Elite, I also won my age group. I was 5th overall. The first 3 ladies are Elite/professionals and I'm not sure about #4 so I think I was 2nd female amateur. I was really happy with my race as I was able to ride with some other ladies and keep up with them and I even ran away from the overall 6th place lady (which running away from someone is something that rarely happens for me). 

There were several food trucks at the venue so Karel got a burger with a tower of salty potato slices on top. He also got a flat white from the coffee truck. We went back out on our bikes around 1pm for a spin before the awards at 2pm. 

Here is our race recap if you'd like to listen. 

'24 South Africa - Day 4 and 5

 

On Wednesday, we woke up to cooler temps and a cloudy sky. Despite not having AC in our Airbnb, we are sleeping amazingly well - 9-10 hours a night! I absolutely love sleeping and I am feeling so much more refreshed. My recovery from workouts is a lot better too. It's great to not be woken by cats throughout the night. 

After eating and working on the computer, we drove 30 minutes and returned to the race course in Elgin Valley for redemption after a low energy ride and run on Monday. It’s amazing how poorly the body performs when it’s sleep deprived, low in energy and off a normal routine.

I’m happy to report that we both felt 100% better. And the cooler temps in the 70s and cloud cover helped a lot! We each rode the course on our own. Karel did the rock garden twice and waited for me after the big loop before we went to the smaller loop. I made the technical sections fine but I had a few rough patches llike getting stuck in sand, blocked by cow puppies and attacked by bushes, I rode almost 30 min faster than Monday. On Monday I averaged 7.7 mph and my legs were throbbing and my heart was beating crazy fast. But on Wednesday, I averaged 8.8 mph. I felt so much better. 

I went through most of the sport nutrition in my USWE hydration pack (3 scoops INFINIT Fructose in 1.5 L water - we are buying our water from bottles just to be on the safe side) for the 2 hour, 17 mile ride. 

Karel finished with 21 miles and averaged 10 mph. He said that after participating in Breck Epic, the rocks here are like pebbles. It's nothing compared to the "boulders" that he had to ride up and down on in Breck Epic. He said that Breck Epic was the most technical and difficult event that he has ever done but it has given him a lot more confidence for mountain biking. 

After the ride, we each set out for a run. We put the bikes in the car, which we felt was safe as there are cameras around the area, outside the country club. We met a guy from Italy who is here for the race and he followed us for the run. Karel went his own way to backtrack some of the course and I followed the course. I took a short cut to avoid the waist-high creek at the bottom of a hill and ended up meeting Karel.

We made a wrong turn on this road here and later realized that there is a new section of the course that takes us through two more water crossings. Below is us backtracking the course for the last water crossing. 

I finished with 40 minutes of running and 4.3 miles and Karel had 5 miles in 42 minutes. After our successful workout, we stopped at the Orchard to get some bread. Karel also got an apple turnover which he said was perfectly flaky. 

We worked for a few hours in the afternoon and then walked down to the ocean/beach in the evening as the sun was setting. 

Thursday was a "lighter" day of training for us. Our plan was to swim at the indoor 50-meter Strand Pool which was a few miles away. It was raining on and off all day and much cooler outside so we thought swimming locally would be better than driving the 35 minutes to Stellenbosch. When we arrived to the pool the lady at the counter said the heater was broken and we could feel the water to see if we wanted to pay and swim. We felt the water and it was on the cooler side. It would have been doable but not enjoyable. Plus the pool was inside and it was dark and since we are on vacation, we decided that we should swim outside. 

Because the Stellenbosch pool opens at 12pm and it was around 10:30am, we made a few stops at bike stores so that Karel could fix one of his pedals, which he lost the bolt during a previous ride. We first went to Pedal Works, which was a small store and they weren't able to find a bolt that would work. We then went to RA Cycles. They also didn't have the bolt (it's a very specific bolt for the pedal) so he ended up buying a new set of pedals that he has wanted to try out. He got the HT M2 pedals. 

When we arrived to the pool it was raining but it stopped shortly after we got in. The pool got pretty busy but we were able to keep our shared lane to ourselves. The pool was filled with mostly triathletes which was great motivation. I swam 4000 meters and Karel swam 3000 meters. My main set was 4 x 400s - steady strong. I was able to do the last 400 on 5:59. My body position felt a bit off today but it still felt great to be in the water. I didn't want to get out. 

After we swam, Karel got us smoothies from the gym cafe/coffee shop and then we drove back to our Airbnb. 

We worked for a few hours in the afternoon. My Training Peaks account was acting up and I couldn't put up workouts for my athletes so I decided it was a good time to stop working and head outside for a run. I went out for a few miles of easy jogging and finished up with 6 x 25 sec hill strides to activate the posterior chain. The weather was great - it was in the low 70s. I ran for 51 minutes and 5.9 miles. 

When I returned back to the Airbnb, I made a recovery drink and then we rode our mountain bikes a few blocks down the road to order pizza from Mia Bella. The restaurant was super cute with a small brick oven and friendly staff. During our 20 minute wait, we walked over to the SPAR grocery store and Karel went inside to get some fresh strawberries (the produce is sooooo tasty!) and milk. We then picked up our pizzas and rode home (Karel carried the pizzas because his pizza-carrying bike handling skills are much better than mine :) Karel got the Tizka (I can't remember the name) and I got the Margherita (which is a cheese pizza). The pizza was great, especially the thin crust!

I had a hard time falling asleep on Thursday evening but I slept for 10 hours and woke up feeling rested on Friday morning. One more sleep before Xterra South Africa! 

'24 South Africa - Day 3

 

I was really looking forward to today (Feb 13th/Tuesday). I love swimming and I love swimming outside and during my online hunt for an outdoor swimming pool around the area, I came across a 50-meter outdoor pool in Stellenbosch at Coetzenburg University. I asked the open water swim group on whatsapp about allowing vistors and the group said that visitors were allowed. 

I looked online at the lane availability schedule and noticed that after 8am was a good time to swim. We left our Airbnb around 7am for the 15 mile drive to Stellenbosch but there was a lot of traffic so it took us over an hour. Our route took us through Strand, which goes by the beach, so I made a mental note of this route for my run later in the day. 

The Stellenbosch area has a different vibe to Gordon's Bay as the campus as there are several schools and students and the area is very pretty with lots of fields, trees, and paths for biking. As we got closer to the area, we saw a lot of people on mountain bikes as the area is known for the mountain biking (we biked there last year). 

When we arrived around 8:15am we needed to fill out a lot of personal information on tablets, inside the gym. This took about 15 minutes. When we finally paid (80 rand each or $4.20) the girl behind the counter told us that the outdoor pool was only open until 9am. This crushed me. We drove all that way to only swim for 30 minutes. She said we could use the indoor pool at 9am. 

After swimming for 30 minutes straight to make good use of our time in the outdoor pool we noticed that a small group of triathletes moved over into other lanes to free up the reserved lanes for the swim teams. We asked the coaches on deck if we were allowed to keep swimming and they said the first few lanes were open for gym users. I think the "open" swim times for vistors were until 9am but the pool was still open so we continued to swim. Thankfully we didn't get in trouble and we were able to get in a great workout in the outdoor 50 meter pool. 

The water felt great and it got warm swimming. There were hoses emptying cool water into the pool to help cool off. 

I felt pretty blah to start and it took me an entire 2000 meters to finally start to feel better in the water. I felt heavy in my arms (perhaps from the open water swim the night before) and just low in energy but as I continued to swim, my energy came back and my arms loosened out. 

For my main set I did: 

10 x 100s steady on 1:45 (coming in around 1:23-1:25 long course meters which is around 1:13-1:15 short course yards)
500 w/ buoy smooth (we only brought FINIS Agility paddles and buoy for pool toys)
5 x 100 w/ paddles steady w/ 10 sec rest 

Karel finished with ~4400 meters and I finished with ~4800 meters. 
After our swim, we changed in the outdoor changing area and had some food and drinks in the attached coffee shop. The price of food is very reasonable here. We each got a smoothie and I got a bran raisin muffin and Karel got a flat white all for ~$6 USD (or 114 Rand). My banana whey smoothie was so good. It tasted like a cupcake! Karel got a strawberry smoothie (and he brought a croissant that we got from a store yesterday).

Karel needed to get some CO2s for our bikes (which go by the name bombs here ;) so we went to the local Specialized bike store. This was one of the nicest bike shops that we have ever seen. There was a track outside for kids to ride on (and a few specialized kids bikes laying around). There was also a coffee shop with indoor and outdoor seating. The shop was huge and it had everything you could ever need for biking. 

When we returned back to our place around 1pm, we were pretty tired. We worked on the computer for a few hours and then around 3pm, Karel did some mobility and then went for a run. 

I had a very stressful afternoon as I received an email from the organizers for our upcoming MTB stage race (which starts next Wed) that I had booked a flight to the wrong airport. I accidentally booked us flying CemAir from Cape Town to Plettenburg instead of booking Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. The website said PE and because our event was PE Plett I thought we would be flying into Plettenburg. Well Plettenburg is 2 hours away from Port Elizabeth and we were being picked up by a shuttle service in PE (which I now know is Port Elizabeth). I learned a major lesson about checking airport codes. 

Thankfully I was able to cancel our flight and get most of our money back (CemAir was responsive as soon as I emailed which I appreciated) and I also cancelled our hotel room from before and after the race (received 50% money back but thankfully the room wasn't expensive). The good thing was that the new flight from Cape Town on Safair was much cheaper and we only needed a hotel room for one night (Mon) so we ended up saving some money in the big picture. But oh the stress to have to make all of these changes so last minute when I had booked everything back in October. 

When this was all settled, I needed to get outside and exerise to release some stress. I did ECFIT mobility for ~20 minutes to loosen out and then around 4pm I went out for my run. I ran 3 miles on side streets to Strand and I was so happy to be running by the ocean. It was a bit windy. When I got to the beach I did 6 x 1/2 mile pushes with 75 sec EZ between (plus some extra stops for pictures in my recovery). I ran 3 intervals out and 3 intervals back (a bit more wind coming back). It was a very scenic run. The weather was much more tolerable than on Monday as it was in the mid 70s and I was feeling so much better (and heart was more controlled/normal). I was surprised with my paces as well. 

I really enjoyed my run and felt so much better when I returned home. I ran 9.46 miles in 1:14 and Karel ran 8.3 miles in 58 minutes. 

I had a recovery drink (INFINIT custom protein mix) w/ milk after I returned home and then had leftovers (tofu potato stir fry) for dinner. I worked a little on the computer before going to bed around 10:15pm. 

'24 South Africa - Day 2

 

Despite taking a 5 hour nap from 12-5pm on Sunday, I slept for 8 hours on Sunday evening. Karel and I were exhausted from our 44 hours of travel and we needed the sleep. Being in the same Airbnb as last year was comforting as we were waking up to something famliar. We made our coffee, sat outside and worked on the computer and got ready for the day. We were surprised to hear from our Airbnb owners that we will not be impacted by loadshedding (saving energy in certain areas by turning off the power) this stay as the owners installed solar panels on their house. Loadshedding makes it challenging as you have to work your day around when the power will be off in terms of eating, working on the computer and using electricity. 

After we ate, we loaded our rental car with our mountain bikes (Karel had to take the front and rear wheels off to make the bikes fit into our small SUV) and drove the 30 minutes to Elgin Valley Country Club. Karel is doing much better driving on the left side of the road, although he often uses the windshield wiper as a blinker (they are switched as well). 

We parked outside the country club and scanned a QR code outside the trail system to pay for our usage of the trail. It was 80 rand each (or $4.19). We were both looking forward to the ride and being back out on this incredible course. 

But with 2100 feet of elevation gain over ~18 miles, we were quickly reminded of the difficulty of the Xterra South Africa course. And unlike the rocky and rooty surfaces that we are used to at Dupont Forest and Pleasant Ridge, the terrain here is either sandy or rocky (or both). Biking on deep or loose sand is incredibly challenging as the sand either pulls you back or makes you slide. It requires light hands, constant pedaling and the ability to read the sand to know how to keep yourself upright. The rocks are jagged so finding the right line is important. But the scenery is beautiful. There is a variety of flora that makes my feel like I am on a different planet. 

So much sand. 

Biking into cows

Rocks

A proper (sandy) rock garden. 

View of the lake

Looks like a winter snowland. 

Finishing off the course

Karel always looks so much cooler than me :) 

Karel in his element. 

It was nearing 90 degrees and it was dry. Not a cloud in the sky. I went through 1.5 liters of fluid (and 3 scoops INFINIT Fructose) in my USWE hydration pack during the ride, along with a bottle of water for sipping/cooling my body. Karel and I both felt so tired and empty on the ride. But we finished the course in 2:28. We then went for a 2.35 mile run and that was even more miserable. We couldn't get our heart rate down and running on deep sand was exhausting. I had to walk several times as I was so exhausted. We nearly passed out at the end of our run (11:34 min/mile average). It was a semi productive training session as it helped get some of the funk out from travel but it was not a great-feeling workout. 

After our workout we went to a nearby restaurant that solid food, coffee, bread and other items. I got a popscicle to cool off (Karel got a chocolate bar) and we also got some bread, croissants (for Karel), ginger beer drink (not real beer) and coffee. 

We made the drive back to our place and got a little work done before our last workout. 

The neighbor has two dogs (this is Dover) who come inside our house to say hi everyday. 

Catching up with Karel's mom and our furry crew via Skype. 

I connected with the Gordon Bay swimming group on WhatsApp and we walked down to the ocean around 5:10pm to meet up with some swimmers who were doing an open water swim at 5:30pm at Gordon's Bay. We swam to the pier (1000 meters) and back. It was a nice to have some company in the ocean. 

When we arrived back to our place around 7pm, I made a stir fry meal w/ potatoes and enjoyed it as the sun set on our 2nd day in South Africa.