Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Karel’s thoughts on Kona…… My 20th Ironman and sixth Ironman World Championship is complete. Kona has been part of my triathlon journey five times now, and while I have plenty of Ironman experience, this race reminded me that experience only takes you so far. You have to respect the course, the conditions, and what your body is capable of on that particular day. This year’s race was tough, as it should be. After years of relatively calm conditions, we finally got the full Hawaii experience: heat, humidity, wind, and a challenging ocean swim. I was relieved to cross the finish line in 10:11:02, finishing 37th in the 50–54 age group out of 249 athletes. Getting to that finish line, however, was far from straightforward. Pre-Race Going into the race, as you probably know, I was still dealing with a partial tear in my upper hamstring tendon that I sustained near the end of the marathon at Ironman Lake Placid. My training was far from ideal. For several weeks, I couldn't bike or run con...

As you may know, Karel won his age group at Ironman Lake Placid in late July. With about eight miles left in the marathon, he felt something pop in his leg. At the time, we didn’t know exactly what had happened. Two weeks later, an MRI confirmed a partial tear in his upper hamstring tendon. And suddenly, the Ironman World Championship was in question. Sometimes, the hardest part of racing isn’t the race itself. It’s accepting that the race you had planned may no longer be possible. Karel had already registered for Kona (which happens at the award ceremony the day after the Ironman) but after he received the diagnosis of the injury (2 weeks later), he regretted the decision. He knew he wouldn’t be able to prepare the way he normally would, and there was a very real possibility that he wouldn’t be able to participate at all. Saturday October 10th will mark 12 weeks since the injury. For many athletes, returning to running after an injury can take a lot of time. It’s not just the time to ...

  I'm still feeling the positive energy from this past weekend.  For the first time in the history, the biggest triathlon stage in Kailua-Kona hosted the first dedicated women’s VinFast IRONMAN World Championship race (the men's race was on September 10th in Nice, France). In a world where women are much less represented in sports media than men, the spotlight exclusively shined on female age group and professional triathletes for the entire Ironman World Championship coverage. And not suprising (because I know how strong and powerful female athletes can be), every athlete who entered the water at the women’s 2023 Ironman World Championship exited before the swim cutoff time and 97% of age-group women who started the race finished it! When I participated in my first Ironman World Championship in 2007 at the age of 25 years, the event had 1800 participants - and there were just under 500 women! In 2019, for my 5th Ironman World Championship, 663 females finished the race out of...

When looking back at the past 12 months, we have had our share of highs and lows. Memories were made and tears were shed. With every high, there seemed to be a low. But through it all, we tried to stay positive and optimistic. Life can be difficult, unfair and tough to understand. If I had to use a word to describe our 2019, it would be strength. We had to find strength to experience the highs and we had to find strength to get through the lows. Triathlon provides us with many life lessons but in 2019, life hit us hard. Throughout the year, there were several occassions when our hobby of triathlon was put to the aside in order to deal better with the hard times. As athletes, it can be difficult to stay positive, hopeful and focused during stressful, sad or difficult situations. Uncomfortable feelings can leave us with doubt, anger and anxiety. Struggle to balance stressors appropriately and health (mental or physical), joy for sport and motivation can quickly diminish. There wer...