Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Sitting here drinking my coffee and about to hop on my bike for an easy spin. I can't believe it's been a year since I did this race. I remember swimming in the lake (which I LOVE lake swimming - no waves!) and thinking to myself "wow-56 miles..that is really long!" Then I was on the bike and the first big climb came and I had no idea about the benefits of switching gears. I was pushing so hard to get up the big climbs and even more, last year I had these BIG aerobars (sticking up) on my trek. I also was a bit scared of the bike so the brakes were being used the whole time on the downhill. Then on the run, I was feeling really good and couldn't believe that I did an event that took me 5 hours and 29 minutes. As you probably know, I always get in a zone when I run long-distance and for this run on sunday, I have so much to think about (all good stuff) for the 13.1 miles. I might need to run 26.2 to think about the entire year!! hehe. So much I've put into the b...

If nerves get the best of you.....get yourself a sexy bike! Yep...I get to ride her for 56 miles on Sunday! Right after a 1.2 mile swim and before a 13.1 mile run. Results may (not sure) be found on http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/florida70.3 or you can check http://www.floridahalfironman.com/ for more info regarding the race. See everyone at the Wilderness lodge tomorrow! There are SO many people that I know participating so a BIG BIG BIIIIIIIIIGGGG Good luck to everyone! Remember the hard training you did to get to this weekend and have a safe, fun and memorable race! *Also-good luck to those racing in the Florida State Crit Championships, Columbia Triathlon, Mad Beach Tri, Duathlon World Champs (Celia), Brazil Ironman and any other tris/cycling races! Thanks to my family, Karel and many others for spending your Sunday as a spectator for the race!

Feeling a little heavy..but I guess that's normal with taper. However, I just received a new Giro helmet that I ordered and it is going to replace the pink Bell helmet that I have raced in my entire triathlon career (all of 2 years!). I also received a bunch of AWESOME clothes from my Zoot sponsor and now I'm getting excited to race. If you look good...you race fast, right? At least that's my philosophy! New race wheels are put together!!! Zipp 404's will be on Seduza. Oh, she is looking Nice for the race. Karel is doing better with his arm and I'm super excited that he gets to watch me race for the first time this season! Not sure if he will be able to go to Kona with me, but I know I will have lots of great supporters on the computer for me :) I am cheering on all my friends this weekend and I can't wait to see SOOOO many people on the course! Training buddies, old friends, friends of friends...and probably lots of NEW friends. I've been keeping busy wit...

Things are slowing down and after Karel's crash, I kinda feel like everything is going to be ok again. We've met with a lawyer, doctor and several other helpful people to keep us positive with Karel's injury. Karel and I are in no way money hungry and we live a very simple life so we just want the court case to be as fair as possible. Well, we do spend lots of money on our sports but we love it and we'd both rather spend $100+ on something carbon for our bikes rather than by nice clothes or an expensive electronic gadget. Let's hope fo rth ebest. Karel is in a sling for the next 6 weeks and all our friends have been very generous and kind to Karel. We had dinner last night with about 10 of the Gearlink members at the Old Chicago Pizza restaurant and it was great to see how many people care about Karel. Although Karel is still in pain and his vicodin is slowly running out, we all think he will be out of the sling by mid-june. Hopefully, he can hop on the trainer next...

What a great couple of days. Feeling great on the bike, swimming smooth and long (all of my 5 feet) and running injury free. Wed morning was the normal spin class and there is no stopping my class! It doesn't matter how hard I work them, they keep coming back. It was only a year ago when I started teaching. I can only imagine how strong their hearts are right now! And we have a lot of fun for 5:45am. After the spin class I went for a 40 minute run around Landsbrook. Kept the speed at a little less than half IM pace and put in 5 x 2 minute 10K pace with 1 minute recovery to get my heart rate up. The morning was busy and around 11pm I was stopping at Starbucks for a well-needed coffee (and a capuccino for Karel). I hadn't seen Karel since he got back so I was SO excited to see him. Oh-did I mention I have new Zipp 404 wheels at the Gearlink store that I haven't seen (doubly excited to get there!). After a big hug to Karel we were off to the shippment area of the store to chec...

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/mrakes1/album/576460762400653929 IF link doesn't work you can go to my blog page links and click on photos. Once you are there you can go to Tri 101 Bradenton pics. Things are going well. Karel is back in town but haven't seen him yet. Tomorrow is the gearlink ride and I'm excited to ride with him and the group. Bro and dad are in Spain for a little vaca for 10 days. Training is going awesome and I'm not sure if I should feel this good right now. Starting to taper a bit but still keeping the intensity. Reduced the volume just a bit but I'm running very comfortable, swimming fast and cycling great in the wind. The morning swim was really cold so I had no choice but to swim fast. Main set was 8 x 125 on 1:55. Pretty happy with the 5-10 sec. rest I was getting. Followed the swim with an hour run, with 3 x 5 min Half Ironman pace sets in the middle. Tonight I rode 1:45 in the wind and the main set was 5 x 1 mile Half Ironman pace with .5 mile...

What a busy weekend...nothing new of course! After a quick coffee stop at Starbucks, I headed over to Bradenton on Fri afternoon and arrived safely at the Holiday Inn. Very nice area in Bradenton and it was worth the 64 mile drive over there. I met my roommate for the weekend who was Pro Triathlete Leanda Cave. Her sis Melissa was also staying with us and it was her first time to the U.S. Both girls use to live in the U.K. so I enjoyed learning new phrases and lingos such as sunnies for sunglasses :) Because I tend to talk fast and my KY accent often comes out, I'm always careful how I say things around foreigners. I remember when I told Karel that I was going to run errands and he was a bit confused because my brothers name is Aaron. Honestly, I wasn't going to run over Aaron :) I can't laugh cause when I try to learn Czech from Karel he is very patient with me. Dinner Friday night was on the beach at a Seafood restaurant. No need to feel sorry for the vegetarian. I won...