Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

  When I first heard about the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge in 2020, I was intrigued by the possibility that this race would feature a challenging bike course. When the bike course details described an "epic five-mile climb on Route 43 to the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance" and that "Athletes will experience breathtaking views of the valley, as they ride and descend 21-miles of completely closed roads" I couldn't stop thinking about the race. I love challenging race courses as the accomplishment is in the adventure to get to the finish line. My most memorable long distance races have all been on really hard courses. I've raced in St. George many times, I love IM Lake Placid, IM Austria and IM Wisconsin and I have also completed IM 70.3 St. Croix and IM 70.3 Branson  (two very tough bike courses - both events are now retired from the IM 70.3 race circuit).  Where I live, the terrain is extremely technical. There's a lot of climbing, descending, twists a...

  After two races in 3 weeks (Ironman St. George and IM 70.3 Chattanooga), it felt like we were pros at packing. To be honest, we didn’t really unpack much from racing in Chattanooga 1.5 weeks ago. We left Greenville around 8am and it was a really smooth and beautiful drive to Roanoke. It took us around 5 hours with stops and the scenery was incredible. Instead of heading straight to our Airbnb, we made our way to the town of Buchannan for Karel to do a shake-out ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway (miles 23-48 on the race course). Karel already had his bottles prepared (and in the cooler) so after a quick change at the gas station, he started his ride. He was joined at the start with our athlete Claire who was also shaking out her legs from the travel on the course. It wasn’t the best feeling ride to start after sitting for 5 hours and then climbing for 30+ minutes but Karel took it pretty easy and it was nice for him to be on the course (last year I pre-rode the course and Karel dr...

  Our racing block was a success. We completed three long distance triathlons in 29 days.  May 7th - Ironman World Championship  (St. George, Utah) May 22nd - Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga  (Chattanooga, TN) June 5th - Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge (Roanoke, Virginia) The past 4 weeks have been fun, exciting, challenging and empowering.  FUN Although traveling can be stressful, we love our race-cations. In St. George, Karel re-connected with his friends from Czech. We were reunited with the beauty of the red rocks in and around St. George. In Chattanooga and Roanoke, we had over 20 Trimarni team members participating in each race. It was so great to see familiar faces. We love racing and being able to travel to three different places in a month was a lot of fun. Each race provided us with a different race experience and unique course features. The community support, volunteers and professionalism for each race was incredible and we felt welcomed (and safe) at every race v...

  Saturday - one day out The pre-race routine was a bit different than normal at this race. After a restless night of sleep, I woke up feeling super tired. I was hoping that my morning ride would wake me up but all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I pre-rode the run course twice (which was marked with arrows on the ground) and included a few pickups on the course where it felt safe to do so (it's on the Greenway so there were other bikers and runners/walkers to navigate through). As I was riding, I mentally put myself into certain scenarios and made mental notes of what sections would feel tough and where I would find myself feeling strong. The run course was not flat but instead, gentle inclines spread out throughout the two loop, out and back, out and back course. I received this in my packet when I checked in. After I returned back to our Airbnb, I told Karel that I felt so tired and my legs felt super heavy. Karel suggested that I not run but I wanted to do a short run just...

When I first heard about the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge in 2020, I was intrigued by the possibility that an Ironman branded half ironman would include a challenging bike course. When the bike course details described an "epic five-mile climb on Route 43 to the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance" and that "Athletes will experience breathtaking views of the valley, as they ride and descend 21-miles of completely closed roads" I never stopped thinking about this race. I love challenging race courses as the accomplishment comes in the journey to the finish line. My most memorable half Ironman races have been on really hard courses ( IM 70.3 St. Croix and IM 70.3 Branson quickly come to mind). For the past few months, Ironman 70.3 Blue Ridge has remained my focus. Although my training has been a bit unconventional this year, I felt that I could do really well on the course as it suited my strengths of being a hilly and hot course. I didn't need to be fast, just healt...

  The past two weeks have been a bit hectic. Although I recovered really quickly from IM 70.3 Chattanooga, Karel's broken wrist has been giving him a lot of pain. The broken radius is healing nicely but he is still experiencing a tremendous amount of pain from his ulnar nerve. He doesn't sleep well at night as the pain gets worse. I feel so bad for him. He had a follow-up with his surgeon on Tues (and got his stitches out from the three incisions) and if the pain doesn't get better in the next two weeks, Karel will see a neurologist to figure out what's going on. His PT is going well and he is making some progress with using his fingers (he still doesn't have much strength). We have a good friend/triathlete that is a hand surgeon so he has been incredibly helpful as he has been speaking with Karel almost daily on his progress and figuring out a good routine for his medications to help with the swelling and pain.  So with so much of my emotional energy going to Karel...