Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

I love to swim! At a very early age, my parents knew I belonged in the water. I started swimming competitively when I was 12 and have loved the water ever since. I did have 1 year in college (junior year) when I was burnt out from swimming but after running cross country in place of swimming for the first part of my senior year, I realized how much I loved swimming. I did end up swimming my senior year and very glad I stuck with it in college. Over the past two years I have been swimming with "master teams" in order to keep myself in the water for more than 2000 yards and to have some company at 6 in the morning. I also find myself pushing harder when I have a coach on deck and other swimmers in the pool. Over the past few months, there have been more and more people in the pool. I love meeting new triathletes but overtime, my confidence in the pool has dwindled a bit. I have always loved "triathlon" swim practices because I feel fast. As a triathlete, I think we al...

Karel and I were so happy to have our family with us for a few days after the wedding that we decided not to go on a honeymoon. However, the honeymoon was planned for 3 months down the road and well, it is time! That's right...I am leaving my shorts and flip-flops for long pants (hope I have some of those somewhere), warm jackets, scarves, hats and gloves. We are heading out west! Karel and I leave on Wed (1 week from today!) to head to Lake Tahoe for a magical and relaxing vaction. We will be there a full 6 days before flying home on Tues. Magical because I have not seen snow since I moved from Kentucky in 2004 and Karel hasn't seen snow in a long time. We are super greatful to my grandparents for giving us a plane ticket for our wedding gift. We wanted so bad to visit them but we knew two flight tickets would be a stretch for our budget. However, it all worked out and we couldn't be more excited! I promise my blog will be loaded with pics and I'm sure I will have lots...

This morning I had my Tuesday morning bike interval workout. 5 x 3 minutes w/ 1 minute recovery. Just like last week and the week before, but this time I had to do it 2 times through with 15 min. recovery in between the intervals. I have specific power zones, heart rate zones and cadence zones to stay within and riding outside, rather than on the trainer, didn't make it any easier. After my 26 mile ride (which went by SUPER fast) I had a 3-mile run. I like these runs a lot because Shawn has me do the runs "embarrassingly" slow. Now that I have my heart rate monitor I can really run "slow". Although the HR monitor is great for hard training, a recovery run can become intense if the HR gets up too high, even when you think you are running slow. I decided to take Campy with me for me run. Since Karel was out on his bike, I just hate coming home and then leaving again. Those puppy dog eyes really get to me. I put Campy's harness on and we headed out for our run....

Today is a recovery day. Sometimes it is a day off, sometimes it is active recovery. However, it is never running. The best part about a recovery day is no alarm, no time management and no specific workouts. Two of the last 3 monday's I have been in the pool. Only once did I ride my bike on a monday. I just love a nice and relaxing swim. This morning I woke up around 6:30...nice! That is generally the time that my body gets me up so I know I am rested when I can just wake up without an alarm. Anytime I roll myself out of bed before 6am, I know my body can use a little more sleep. Even though I go to bed around 9:30-10pm, I know my body can't get stronger without a restful night of sleep. When I got to the pool at 7 I was in no hurry to start swimming. I chatted with another girl who I swim with on w,f with the master team and I probably spent 10 min on the side of the pool (holding my cap and goggles) just chatting away about ironman's and other tri-related stuff. Ok, a con...

Ok, so I didn't go anywhere. Still here in Jacksonville. Do you ever feel like life is like a bunch of puzzle pieces and although a few fit together, you just can't seem to put all the peices together? Karel and I have good days and bad days. Sometimes it is a good day of budgeting our money and other days it is quite stressful. Then there are days when nothing seems to go right at work and then other days when the days go by fast and without a missed beat. We like to say that when we have few good days in a row, we know something is bound to happen. That is just how life works. Lately, I have been struggling with my training. This past week was the first week since January 1st that I felt like everything came together. My problem has nothing to do with getting out there and being active (I have no problem with that!) but I have had such a big mental block of getting comfortable with my training. Every workout seems SO long after 2 hours. Now granted, a 2+ hour workout is a lon...

This morning I had a speedy swim and a fast run. Both were hard and I am learning how much I don't like speed...nor have much of it in my body. I think I need to devote an entire week to speed workouts. I just feel like I only have one speed no matter if I am trying to go fast, tempo or slow. Yesterday Karel fixed my Polar HR monitor watch which has been dead since Oct 2007. We ordered batteries for my chest strap and monitor from radioshack.com because Karel said that he could fix it himself, rather than send in the watch to Polar. Well, Karel didn't let me down and I have my watch back!!! I loved that watch for the entire time that I wore it in 2007 and it became a big part of my training. I love training with HR! There was an exciting moment when I started changing the settings of the watch last night on the couch. After I set the time and date, I went to the File setting and realized that my last workout was still stored in the watch. The date read October 13th and the time...

I guess I am doing something right because my muscles are getting stronger as I walk a little slower during the day :) I only say my muscles are getting stronger because I am doing a lot of work in the pool, on the bike and on the treadmill...so all this hard work better pay off! Most of all, I am finding myself finally looking forward to training sessions because I always have a scheduled workout and goals to meet. Even if I don't reach/meet those goals, I feel like I am overcoming a lot of mental barriers by having a coach (and supportive husband) to hold me accountable to my workouts. But, I have to say if I didn't like what I was doing, I wouldn't do it...so it all worth it no matter what happens in the future. I love having a healthy body. 27 degrees this morning! Yes, warm and sunny Jacksonville, Florida was in a freeze watch last night. BRRR. My alarm went off at 5:20am and I couldn't wait to have my warm coffee in my body. I grabbed a quick snack (1/2 sheet Wasa...