Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

There's no denying that a cancelled race, shortened distance or course change will evoke a lot of emotions for the athlete who has invested time, money and energy in to participating in the upcoming race. Although no athlete can predict or control modifications and cancellations, it's part of the game when preparing for an outdoor activity which requires a venue that is impacted by outside forces. As a coach who puts on triathlon training camps, I empathize with race directors. While athletes may feel otherwise, I can't imagine that any race director wants to put time, energy and money into a race, only to cancel it. Because many race directors are athletes themselves, there's nothing fun about cancelling a race, changing the course or venue. Recently, Ironman made the decision to cancel Ironman Florida in PCB due to the devastation of Hurricane Michael. Prior to that, Ironman 70.3 North Carolina was cancelled. This was the right thing to do as each city tries to o...

When the alarm went off at 3:45am, I stayed in bed for another 15 minutes to let Karel have the kitchen to himself as he made his espresso and pre-race meal. When I got up, I was quick to go outside to the patio to let Karel do his own thing without getting in his way. Karel’s mom stayed in bed as we told her to watch the swim from behind the building in front of us as it would be too crazy for her to go down to the finish line area. Karel was incredibly calm and I couldn’t sense any nervous energy from him. It was a mixture of excitement, readiness and confidence and of course, gratitude that he had a healthy (and injury free) body at the end of a very successful season of racing. Around 5:15am, Karel was ready to head to the race venue. My job was to carry his special needs bags (and drop them off) and to grab his pump from him after he pumped his tires.  Due to the rain the night before, Ali’i drive was a little wet but the air temp felt very comfortable. Crowds...

In sport, every athlete is seeking that perfect race. The race where everything goes smoothly, the weather is perfect or your strengths outweigh your weaknesses compared to your competition.  The "perfect race" scenario played out for many athletes at the 2018 Ironman World Championship. Records were broken, PR's were set and dreams came true for many athletes. Crossing a 140.6 mile finish line should never be taken for granted and even for those who did not reach personal goals, the achievement of crossing the Ironman World Championship line is now embedded into the memory bank of every athlete. Karel did not have his perfect race. For the first time ever, Karel had a mechanical issue on the bike. His electronic shifting was not working as soon as he left T1....less than 75 minutes into the race. Six years of riding with electronic shifting and never has he had an issue. Talk about bad luck. Because of this, Karel could not change his gears. He was stuck in an ...

Karel and I live together, train together and work together. But when it comes to racing, we both have a different strategy for feeling "race ready" in the 24 hours before a big event. Whereas I like to talk, watch funny videos/shows on the computer, laugh and socialize, Karel likes to hibernate with techno music, visualizing his race. Respecting Karel's pre-race rituals, I planned a long ride on Friday so that Karel could have time to himself, doing whatever he needed to do to relax without any distractions.  As for my ride, I biked the course! Well, all but 6 miles in town.  Whereas I've had an unfriendly relationship with this bike course for each of the four times that I have raced in the Ironman World Championship (2007, 2011, 2013, 2015), I wanted to cover the course (to Hawi and back) all by myself.  And wow, the roads were rather empty from athletes! Although I did see a handful of athletes scattered over the Queen K and a few in Hawi, mo...

The past two days have been incredibly busy. I am not even racing and I have found myself with a packed schedule! On Wednesday morning, Karel and I both ventured out for a run workout. Karel had a few 1K efforts followed by a 15 min IM effort. I gave myself a workout of 3 x 6 minutes with 1 min rest followed by a 15 min at IM effort just to spice it up. I'm noticing that I have acclimated to the heat over the past week as my breathing is much more controlled, I can run "faster" paces at a lower heart rate and overall, I don't feel like I am running through a blow torch. We both ran along Ali'i drive and as usual, the shoulders were packed with cyclists, walkers and runners.  The nice thing about not racing is that I can deviate from my training anytime I want, which means stopping to take pictures, especially selfies with friends. This is my athlete Dana who lives in Greenville who is here spectating. It was fun to "run" into her along Ali...