Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Yes, we like to wear funny hats when we go out to dinner. Karel's birthday was a special day for us. Well, I guess a special day for me! We had a great dinner at the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse (perfect for a vegetarian like me!) and we were in good company with 10 of our closest friends in the area. People who we ride with and have been part of my life since I started cycling with Gearlink. After an entertaining dinner and yummy food (yes-tofu and veggies can be yummy) the restaurant crew embarassed Karel by singing happy birthday to him and making him wear the funny hat. The atmosphere in the restaurant was just perfect and there was a lot of noise, clapping and laughs from people at the other tables who were enjoying their dinners. As we waiting for the bills, Karel stood up at our table and thanked our friends for coming and spending his b-day with him. Next, he looked at me and thanked me, as his girlfriend, for planning the dinner. Then, the unexpected came! He next mentioned th...

He is an old man. He may as well race in the Master category now! Just kidding. Happy birthday Karel! I will update soon about my current concerns with my piriformis syndrome. I am on some heavy meds right now which seem to be working as of yesterday. Lots of tears and emotions during the last two weeks but I must say that I have been taking really good care of myself. Thanks to everyone for support and encouragement during this time in my life. With Kona in 3 weeks and an expensive flight to Kona leaving in 14 days, you could only imagine the stress in my life right now. I understand that triathlons aren't everything in life but I seek triathlons as a stress-reliever in my life. Training for triathlons gives me balance and teaches me so much about myself. I gain confidence, strength and determination when I train. Since I haven't ran in two weeks you better believe I have been cycling and swimming when possible. Weekly swim yardage last week was around 14000 and I really enjoy...

Triathlons are a drug and I, Marni Rakes, am addicted. For those who know me (one who loves to talk and write about anythin tri-related) there is a reason why I have not posted anything on my blog in the last week. After returning from Karel's race, my right hip was a little sore. I ran on tues and wed morning but decided to take it easy on thursday after a great 5000 yard morning swim practice. Cycling went well all week and I after a 40 mile ride on friday I went for a painful 30 min. run. After 10 min. of running I questioned if I should keep going and after 5 more minutes I was forced to turn around. After running very awkardly I returned home and immediately put some ice on my hip. I was in so much pain I could barely walk. After resting all evening, I was convinced by karel and my parents (the people who know me the best and are willing to tell me the truth even though they know I don't want to hear it) that I shouldn't train all weekend. WHAT!!! two days off!! I don...

This past weekend was just what I needed. After an up-and-down week of recovery and having to make myself not train as much as I was use to, I really needed a bit of a break. Traveling is something that Karel and I both enjoy and if it involves cycling, we both truely enjoy being together. Because we know each other pretty well and we never fight the long road trip to and from Atlanta was smooth and easy. After checking out of the Days Inn we headed to the Cumberland Mall to kill a little time before heading to the Doubletree. With a quick stop at Starbucks we were on our way to our next hotel. Without getting into too many details, we were both so bummed when we saw that the Doubletree was under construction as they were renovating!! There was no way that we could stay in a hotel with paint fumes in the air and loud noises while Karel rested so I made a call to hotels.com. After almost an hour on the phone talking with a very helpful Customer Service rep, we ended up changing hotels a...

A little swimming, a little running and very little cycling. That pretty much sums up my week. Only road on wednesday afternoon (about 25 miles) on the road bike and saturday morning w/ the Gearlink Group (66 miles). No two-a-days on Tuesday and Thursday like usual and swam Tues, thurs and friday. No brick workouts, around 22 miles running as of today and I'm feeling really refreshed. The first couple days this week were great but as the week went on, I got a little ancy and i felt like I needed to do more. Actually, not that I needed to do more, but that I wanted to do more. I was glad to be on seduza for the 3 1/2 hours on saturday morning but friday was tough. I planned on doing a long bike ride on Friday but because of the rain (which has been on and off all week!) I went to the Y and did a nice 4000 yard workout. Main set was tough but I was feeling good. I feel like the body is healed from my big volume weeks of training and more than anything, my mind is refreshed and I'...

As usual, I didn't sleep well on sunday night. The body was extremely tired and I just couldn't sleep. Oh well, it happens almost every sunday. I took all of Monday off and spent the day working on nutrition consultations. I was at my parents house for the day and we talked a bit about our kona plans. My parents support me so much (as they always have) and I couldn't ask for more devoted parents. Of course a trip of Kona is hard to turn down (funny-they just mentioned that I should do Ironman France or New Zealand next year????Hummm, can you say VACA for the parents???). My bro and I are very lucky that my parents enjoy sporting events 'cause they have been to so many swim meets, triathlon races and gymnastics meets (Aaron). Monday is always a quick day no matter how much I try to enjoy a full day off from training. This morning I was a little unprepared that our masters/triathlon swim team had to share the pool with the High School swim team. Divided in half, we all sh...

I had a lot of time to think about what to name this blog but in the end, the current title sums it up and I have pictures to show for it! For some reason I wasn't as nervous for the "110 mile" ride today as I was for the 20-mile run yesterday. I guess with the hard century I did last sunday I had much room for improvement. The morning started around 5:10a.m. w/ coffee, water, oatmeal w/ raisins and 1/2 banana and a rice cake w/ a little PB. I pumped up the tires, loaded up my jersey w/ Hammer Gels and other goodies and filled up the water bottles. It was 6:15a.m. and I was out the door listening to my music. I forgot to mention that yesterday's run was a mental booster for me...no music for 2 1/2 hours due to the batteries in my sony radio shack radio dying at the beginning of my run!!! BOO for a 20 mile run w/ no music. But, I survived and I actually enjoyed the peacefulness of my run. But for today, new batteries in the radio! The beginning of the ride was a typica...