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Showing posts from April 30, 2017

IM 70.3 St. George - one more sleep!

I can't believe the time is finally here. One more sleep until race day! This race has been on my bucket list for many years and for the past year, I have been training specifically for this one race day. This race venue is incredible and it's hard to describe the beauty and the difficulty of the bike and run course. I'm so excited to share this course with 12 other Trimarni athletes and the rest of the St. George 70.3 participants. As you may know, I love challenging courses. I love feeling strong when I race as it makes me feel grateful for what I can do with my body. For tracking us on race day (note, this is also the North America Pro Championship so be sure to track the pros!): Karel Sumbal - Bib number 132 (wave start 7:27am mountain time) Marni Sumbal - Bib number 571 (wave start 7:54am mountain time) Here are some pictures from the past 1.5 days..... Swim venue Be seen with the New Wave Swim Buoy.   MarniTri for a discount.  Love our Xterra Venge...

Hello from St. George!

Without a doubt, I knew that I would 100% love St. George, Utah. Without ever traveling in or through the area, the pictures and race reviews made me fall in love with the nature and all of its surroundings.  After traveling from Charlotte to Las Vegas, we drove the 2 hours to St. George. I wow'd the entire drive because I was now seeing what I had heard so much about.  After our drive, we checked into our hotel (Best Western Coral Hills) and little did I know that I booked the "honeymoon suite" (which I thought was just a larger room for $10 more when booking online). The reaction was priceless from Karel as our room was filled with lovely decor and lots of mirrors and chandeliers. On Wednesday morning, after breakfast, Karel assembled our bikes and we were off to ride from our hotel, to and through Snow Canyon to ride the last 25+ miles of the bike course.  The dry, hot air was a bit uncomfortable but the views had me riding so happy as we climbed 4+ miles i...

It's all about the race experience.

At the age of 10, I started swimming for a local YMCA swim team. As the years went on, through High School and then into College, I continued to swim competitively. As a competitive swimmer, we would travel a lot for swim meets. Sometimes the meets were in exciting locations like DC, Chicago, Indianapolis and Florida, whereas other times, they were in small, quiet towns. Regardless of the swim meet location, I always loved the experience of racing. Traveling to a new location, staying in a hotel and then arriving to a new natatorium. I actually enjoyed the car/bus/van ride to a swim meet because it meant that it was time to compete. When I walked into the natatorium, I loved the smell of chlorine and being surprised by what the pool would look like. The bleachers, the locker rooms, the warm-up/warm-down pool, the team area...it was all so exciting for me. To be honest, sometimes I looked forward to the meet experience more than the meet itself, which helped me remain calm and coll...

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

Peak performance. What is it?  For most athletes, to perform at your best, you need to be physical ready. However, race day readiness is much more than the physical training that precedes an important race. To allow your body to operate at a level of peak performance, you need your mind to work with your body. An athletically ready body can only perform when you are confident in your abilities and you are calm, focused and determined. To get into this "zone", where you are able to think about absolutely nothing other than what is absolutely necessary to succeed, your body can deliver the desired results. For many athletes, it's likely that before and on race day, you let your mind get in the way of your performance. That is, your mind works against your body, instead of with your body. Stress, loss of focus, self-doubt, competition, inability to stay present, worrying about the uncontrollables and fear of not meeting your expectations are all race day demons...