Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Around 4pm on Friday April 4th, I told Karel that I wanted to spin my legs. Typically Friday’s are my swim-only days but it was warm and sunny outside and I was itching to be outside. I rarely ride my bike on a Friday afternoon but when I do an easy spin by myself, I typically ride on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. However, something was pulling me to ride up and over Paris Mountain so I told Karel I was going to ride my bike on our Paris Mountain loop. I left a little after 4pm and headed up the mountain. After 1.6 miles, I was nearing the top of the 2-mile climb and I was looking forward to a fast descent to the other side of the mountain. As I was climbing, I was shocked to see a small cat and two kittens in a muddy ditch on the side of the mountain. The cats didn’t move when I stopped as they all seemed to be in shock by the situation. I quickly called Karel and told him the situation. He was planning to go for a swim that evening but he stopped what he was doing at home and drove the ca...

  Stats:  Route 72.6 miles 4:07 ride time 6234 feet elevation gain  17.6 miles average speed  Paris mountain climb: 13:15 (2.2 miles, 9.9mph,1580 elevation gain) Sunday was an exciting group ride. Not only was it the final ride of the 2-month Greenville Winter Bike League  but it was also the 2nd annual Junior Challenge. At the end of the 72 mile ride, junior riders (up to 18 years old) would battle it up the 2.2 mile Paris Mountain climb to win a prize. There was a payout of $1650, a Woodward GFB3 Single Speed bike (for the male and female junior winner) and a custom made trophy made from a piece of Paris Mountain (made by AJ). The ride was supposed to be on Saturday but it got rained out. Typically, Rocket Revolution have their group ride on Sunday but the GVL WBL ride was moved to Sunday. We have so many amazing cycling groups in our area. So many rides to choose from!  I started the morning with an easy 2 mile run. I timed it perfectly so that I would ...

  Most popular running races occur in the winter and spring, which doesn't work well in our triathlon training. We are either working on building our foundation for the upcoming season or we are deep in a training phase in route to the first race of the year. However, there's one race that always gets us excited - the Paris Mountain Road Race . As the oldest and most challenging road race in South Carolina, we are lucky that this event starts less than 2 miles away from where we live and it is usually held in Nov/December. Not only doesn't this make for a logistically easy race to get to/from but we know the course very well (primarily from biking it). The reason why we love this race is that it suits us as triathletes - it's a strength-based course.  My training has been going really well over the past few weeks. On average I swim 4x week, bike 3-4x week (one trainer session on the tri bike and the rest road and mountain bike outside) and run 3x week. The focus has bee...

What you need to know before climbing Paris Mountain: Distance:  The actual climb from the bottom of Paris Mountain (starting on Old Buncome) is 2.17 miles. You can also climb Paris Mountain starting on State Park Road/253, which is a 3.69 mile climb. In total - from one side to the other, it's ~5.8 miles. With a climb to start and a descend to finish, there's a little bit of everything between (rolling). Elevation gain:  From the Old Buncome side (which is where we usually start as it's closer to our house - ~10 min bike ride away) - start at 1168 feet and finish at 1972 feet (total gain = 1565 feet). From the State Park Road side - start at 1283 feet and finish at 1972 feet (total gain = 1690 feet). Grade:  According to my Garmin, the average grade (Old Buncome side) is ~6% but there are only two steep pitches (the first is around 7% and the last one at the top is ~10%. The climb has a few segments where you can change your cadence and pick up some speed -...

With Paris Mountain standing just a few miles away from our house, we have the opportunity to bike (or run) up the mountain anytime we want. Here's a picture (below) of my ride on Thursday, when I did 4 x 9 min heavy gear (45-50 rpm) intervals up Paris Mountain (and descended 3 minutes down between each interval). With no lookout point to stop at on the mountain, it's an added bonus to bike riding when we can enjoy the views and get in a great workout at the same time. Once a year in Nov/Dec, the Greenville Track Club puts on the "toughest race in the south" with a 20K road race that goes up and over Paris Mountain and covers 2500 vertical feet of elevation gain, 89 curves and a few hills over 15% grade. For any athlete who likes a challenge, this is the race for you. This year, the race was the host of the 2017 Road Runners Club of America South Carolina 20K championship. In 2015, Karel and I participated in the race and enjoyed using our triathlon resilie...

e Before getting into my race report from the 20K Paris Mountain Road race that happened on Saturday, I wanted to make sure that everyone understands that I am triathlete. I am not a runner. I absolutely love calling myself a triathlete. For almost 10 years, my passion for swim, bike, run training grows stronger every year, as well as my education of the sport. As mentioned in my last blog post,  Karel and I are triathletes, not runners. We train for the sport of triathlons. Our entire season is devoted to triathlon training and every year builds on the previous year. When there is the opportunity to train in a running race environment, we consider the pros and cons and whether it not the race/event "makes sense." Karel and I wanted to do this epic race last year but it didn't make sense to do it. We were just getting back into structured training after a 6-week off-season break and neither of us had worked our way up to longer distance runni...