Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

With Ironman Chattanooga in just two weeks, I was a little nervous about how Karel would manage his effort at the IM 70.3 WC as he is no stranger to giving a hard effort when he races. But I could tell from his attitude, especially after what happened to me on Saturday, that he was not going to take any risks and he was going to give a good effort, without leaving it all out there. Never has Karel raced a half Ironman just two weeks before an Ironman but there's a first for everything.  I set my alarm for 4am and slooooowly, got myself out of bed. Karel went through his normal pre-race routine of coffee (espresso), bathroom, food (for this race it was oatmeal + granola + almond butter + frozen raspberries) and then a short jog outside to help him move everything through his system. Karel also sipped on a scoop of OSMO pre load in water before we left the house. At 5:15am, we headed down to the race venue. Although I was still bummed about not racing on Saturday, I was ...

On Friday morning, I woke up feeling excited that I only had one more sleep until race day. While I loved the idea of having women and men race on separate days, it was a little strange to think that I would not be racing with Karel, on the same day. But at the same time, I was super excited to give my best effort on race day (Saturday) and then get back out there on Sunday to cheer for Karel. The morning started with us driving a few miles downtown so that we could get in a bike and swim workout. As we were driving to the race venue, I felt a little short of breath but I simply contributed it to nerves and my menstrual cycle (day 3). In other words, everything that I felt on Friday felt very normal to me. Once we got on our bikes, I felt much better and the excitement replaced the nerves/anxiety and I was itching to race. After our 70 minute spin on the race course, we followed it up with an open water swim. We heard the water temp had dropped and there was a good chance it would...

Sometimes you will be able to address something specific that negatively affected your race performance and other times, you may have done everything right in training, yet on race day, the results were what you hoped for. When things do not go your way on race day, you are presented with a unique opportunity to learn about yourself as an athlete. Here are few tips to help you learn from a race that did not go as you had planned. Reflect: If you constantly dwell on what should have/could have happened, you will never accept what you need to change or be able to move on. If you went into your race healthy, injury free and fit, you may see your race as a failure if you did not meet your predicted race outcome or feel a certain way on race day. For other athletes, who may have experience a setback, inconsistent training or a challenge in the training journey, you may find yourself unappreciative for your current abilities, considering all that you have been through in the past....

Life can be interesting. There are many times in life when we can plan, prepare and perform. Times like these make life easy and fun. And then there are times when life throws you a curve ball and you can't help but think "this sucks." As a lifelong athlete, I have experienced a lot of success in sport but I have also learned many important life skills and lessons. The hardest lessons are often the most valuable ones, as it's never easy to overcome obstacles and to manage a setback. This weekend was filled with highs and lows. As much as I wish I could be writing two race reports from the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, I can only write Karel's race recap and not my own. As you may have heard on social media, on Saturday morning (race day for me), a few minutes after my 4am alarm went off, I blacked out and ended up on the kitchen floor. My face took a good beating and since this has never happened before, it was very scary. I was alone when I got out of bed s...