Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Even though our camp didn't start until Thurs and ended on Sunday, a few of our athletes wanted to arrive on Tues so we rented the  Swamp Rabbit Lodge  from Tues until Monday. This gave our athletes a little extra time to relax before the camp and to not feel rushed after the last workout of camp. We had athletes drive and fly-in for camp so the lodge was just perfect to accommodate our great group of campers (a mix of non-Trimarni coaching athletes and Trimarni athletes).  The lodge was in a perfect location for our camp - just off Roe Ford road and right next to Furman University, we could start and finish all workouts at the lodge which eliminated the need for our athletes to drive anywhere to ride or run. Our house is just 2 miles down the road so it was perfect for me and Karel as we were just a short car ride or bike away.  The lodge had everything - a big kitchen with 4 Keurig Coffee makers (plenty of Starbucks pods provided) and a huge counter ...

The stats are in!!! SWIMMING: ~2.5 hours BIKING: ~10 hours and 11,600+ feet of climbing RUNNING: ~4.5 hours and 3,300+ feet of climbing TOTAL: 17+ hours of training and over 14,900 feet of climbing in 4 days!!! They swam...... They biked..... They ran..... The 2015 Trimarni Greenville training camp is now complete and our exhausted campers are just a few days of recovery away from a mega boost in fitness!!! When Karel and I moved to Greenville last May, we quickly discovered that Greenville was a beautiful place to live but our new training playground was not easy.  Easy is not a word that we can use in our vocabulary when it comes to running or biking outside and because of our terrain, we have no choice but to adapt to our training environment.  For over a year, Karel and I still find ourselves feeling/getting stronger with every workout. And you have no choice but to learn to become mentally tough here in Greenville if you cho...

      Almost every triathlete wishes to be a faster runner off the bike. Perhaps if the swim was the last sport in a triathlon, athletes would all wish to be faster swimmers and would spend more time in the water doing speed work and long workouts. I use to wish to be a faster runner. I would create workouts in my endurance training plan that I felt would help me be a faster runner. I would add more miles to my weekly and long runs to make myself feel more ready for race day. Sadly, I found myself either injured or never able to run what I felt was my "true potential" on race day.  Rather than changing my goals, I changed my plan. I learned how to train and race smarter.  For the past few years, I have developed a great appreciation for seeing what my body is capable of achieving in training without getting too stuck on the end result. I enjoy goal setting to keep me motivated but rather than training at all costs to move closer to my go...

I had only one goal for this race on the bike and that was to break 2:40. In 10 half ironman races, I can't recall myself ever riding faster than 2:42 in a half ironman and based on how strong I felt at  Challenge Knoxville , I went into this race with confidence that I could achieve a PR bike. All I wanted to see was a 3 behind 2 hours and I would be happy.  Aside from my first three half ironman races (at Disney), the majority of my races have been very low-key events. Rather than racing with 2000+ athletes, the typical athlete count is around 500 or less.  Because of the low number of athletes on the course, this always provides a very fair race yet also an very individually paced race (with minimal drafting).  With most of my rides averaging around 16.5-17 mph in Greenville, I went into this race with excitement to see what my body could do on flatter terrain. Karel has worked really hard to help me learn how to "chase" athletes but still sta...

My alarm went off at 4:05am which gave me 10 minutes to make some coffee with the help of our home electric kettle that we brought + instant coffee (Nescafe Classico), take Campy outside and then fill my Nathan hydration belt flasks (2 of them) with cold water. I sipped on aminos + electrolytes in a small bottle of water and a mug of coffee w/ milk and grabbed my T2 gear (in a drawstring bag that I brought) which included: running shoes, my dad's Corvette hat, race belt,  number (safety pinned), Nathan hydration belt + flasks (with extra nutrition in my belt pocket: margarita Clif blocks, salt tube  and Clif Bar Gel)  and a small towel and headed 10 minutes down the road to T2. I parked and made the 10-15 minute walk to transition. I decided the night before the race that I would go to T2 first thing in the morning (it opened at 4:30am) to drop off my run gear by myself. Since my mom was driving us to the beach (T1/race start) we did not need to board the bus shutt...