Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

  Over the past few years, I've celebrated my birthday with some type of cycling. Last year  I was joined by Karel and my friends Garrett and Alvi for a 101 mile ride (with scenic views) and a little over 10,000 feet of elevation gain.  A few weeks ago I started to think about where I wanted to go for my birthday ride and I wanted to do something I've never done before. I was chatting with my friend Garrett and I asked him about riding to and on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Garrett is all for epic rides so he is a great person to consult when it comes to creating routes. Several of my cycling friends have ridden on the parkway but they usually start from the Flat Rock/Dupont/Brevard area. I asked Garrett if he would create a route that included the Blue Ridge Parkway from our area.  The first route  he created started from Marietta (~10 miles from where we live) and included a loop around/on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was exactly what I was looking for. However, I...

I was really looking forward to our Saturday long ride. We are continuing to build up our weekly cycling mileage as we prepare for our first attempt at the 7-day Haute Route Alps from August 21st-27th. In addition to our triathlon training (Note to self: IM Lake Placid is in a month), we are putting in a lot of quality riding. Whereas two weeks ago I was on the struggle bus getting back into structured training, this past week I felt really strong and fresh. My body came around and I felt like I was recovering well from my training sessions. On Monday we did an EZ 1 hour spin, Tues was the Spinners A-group ride (3:43/69 miles - we ride to/from the group ride) and Wednesday we went mountain biking for almost 3 hours (24 miles). Thursday I had a private bike skills session with an athlete (90 minutes). In total, before Saturday I had ridden for almost 10 hours.  On Friday evening, Karel mapped out our Saturday ride and called it Cesta Z Mesta - in Czech it means "The Road Out of T...

Ride stats:  5:53 total ride time 107 miles covered 7274 elevation gained 18.1 mph average speed 2 refueling/hydration stops Too many animal friends to count but I said hi to all of them. After 11 years of endurance triathlon racing, I am still finding myself improving in training and on race day. I remember back in 2004, while in graduate school and training for my first marathon in January 2005, I was told by several exercise professionals that I would struggle in endurance sports as a female vegetarian athlete. While endurance training/racing is not easy for any individual, I don't see myself as a female vegetarian athlete but instead, an athlete, who happens to be a female and a 25 year vegetarian. Without a doubt, self-improvements have kept me enjoying each season of triathlon racing and training as I never feel bored or stale in a 3-sport sport. Although there have been many setbacks since I started endurance racing, I've learned that developme...

It's crazy to think that this is my 11th year of endurance triathlon racing and for the last five years, I have been sharing it with Karel as my training partner. We have had highs and we have had lows but that's all to be expected when you are a competitive athlete, always wanting to give your best, stretch your comfort zone and push your limits.  Over the past few years, I have learned that it requires a lot of work and time to see performance improvements, so I am never quick to assume that my training is or isn't working. I continue to focus on the process and with so much gratitude to my strong and healthy body, no workout is taken for granted. Some workouts are so-so, some I want to quickly forget and others go into my memory bank to be remembered on race day.  I've also learned that time goals, paces and watts are not worth chasing nor is a specific body image, but instead, I must continuously focus on something more subjective and meaningful to keep...

It was a rather late night for Karel and I after our first day of camp but as coaches, we wanted to make sure everything was taken care of for our athletes. Karel had assembled a few bikes on Wednesday when the athletes arrived and we also made sure that we had everything and anything that we would need/want during a long day of training. I had about two weeks of food shopping/prep behind me but still a bit more finishing touches for the pancake buffet on Friday. Thankfully, when it came to refueling after workouts and a few extra snacks throughout the camp, I had a lot of help thanks to fabulous  companies  who helped out with the first ever Trimarni camp.  The weather was much nicer for us on Friday although it started out a bit chilly for Florida (upper 40's) but we would warm up quickly thanks to our long ride on the hilly roads of Clermont. The workout for Friday was as follows: 3-4 hour ride (two groups based on fitness - looped course) Interval run ...