Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Photo: Jay Baker If I had one complaint about this course, it's the first few miles on the bike path. Even though the course was altered a bit due to recent flooding, it's still a technical way to start the bike in a race. Thankfully, it's not more than a few miles of navigating cracks, turns and bumps and a railroad track before you are on an open road and heading out to the country. With the temp around 50 degrees, I was happy I had my arm coolers on as they were keeping me warm. I felt very comfortable (body temp) when I started the bike but I still gave myself a few miles to wake-up my legs and to settle into a nice rhythm. I always start the bike with my helmet shield up so it doesn't fog and then after a few minutes I snap it in place as my "sunglasses" for the rest of the ride. It's also a lot easier to get on this way. After losing both my rear bottles at Ironman Chattanooga last year in the first few miles of the bike, I was extra paranoi...

Pre-race I was looking forward to my 30-minute swim on Friday morning at the Pinaccle Health Club. Karel joined me but swam about double my distance as he is still in training mode for his upcoming races. Because two days out from an Ironman is a relatively light day of training for me, I was really looking forward to connecting with our 13 athletes who were racing IMWI (and seeing their family members). In usual Trimarni fashion, we had our pre-race pizza party + course talk as a way to connect everyone and provide last minute advice and tips. Our athlete Lisa lives in Madison and offered up her rooftop deck/clubhouse for our party. The views were incredible. Plus, you can never go wrong with pizza two days before a race. We ordered pizza from  Pizza Brutta  and it was amazing! The rest of the day was very low-key for me and it was early to bed to try to get a good night of sleep as you never know how sleep will go on the night before the race.  Saturday...

It’s no easy task to train for and race in a 140.6 mile event as it is huge undertaking for the body and requires a big commitment in life. I can’t believe that in the past 14 months, I have crossed 4 Ironman finish lines. For three of those races, I had 3 consecutive PR finishing times (10:43, 10:37, 10:17). Incredibly, in 2013 I raced two Ironman races within 14 weeks from one another and in 2014, I raced two Ironman races within 11 weeks of one another. My body has not only let me  finish every Ironman I have started but I also recently qualified for the Ironman World Championships twice, within the past 14 months. In the past 14 months, Karel (who just learned how to swim 2 years and 2 months ago) has progressed extremely quickly with his triathlon fitness and is now racing at the top of his age group. As Karel and I continue learn more about the sport of endurance triathlons, we continue to train and race smarter. And the biggest contributor to us getting faster...

Every athlete dreams of the perfect race.  The race when there are no mechanical issues, the tummy stays happy all day, the legs feel fresh and the mind stays focused. The race when the weather is perfect and the pacing plan works perfectly. And the race when you don't even get kicked once on the swim (Ok - now you are just thinking crazy thoughts :)  Is there really such a thing as a perfect race? Well, let's back up.... is there even such a thing as a perfect training session?  How many times have you found yourself in the middle of a workout and feeling as if you are getting nothing out of it and just counting down the minutes until it is over? How about the workout when you feeling super tired or you are feeling stuffy in the head (or perhaps on the verge of a cold) and you can't help but lace up your shoes and get your workout done because it is on your training plan?  How about the workout that you felt super run-down but still managed to feel ...