Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

We made our way down South to Alabama on Thursday. It was a long 5.5 hour drive (thanks ATL traffic) but thankfully we gained an hour and had an exciting pit stop to look forward to. We left around 10am and arrive around 3pm local time.  A bit of a backstory.  About two weeks ago (just a few days before Karel raced the Peachtree International triathlon) I had mentioned to Karel about Xterra Oak Mountain after hearing about the effect on That Triathlon Life (from Eric Lagerstrom). I've always wanted Karel to do an Xterra event because 1) they take place in really beautiful places 2) I think he'd really have fun. Karel was interested in the idea and after sleeping on it, he became more and more excited about trying something new. Karel loves off-road biking but his mountain bike is a little over 10 years old and a bit too small for him - causing back pain on top of his already underlying back issues. Knowing that he was due for a new mountain bike, he started searching around. H...

After a strong weekend of training, I looked forward to my recovery day on Monday. I take my recovery days really seriously so if I am not up to purposeful movement, I don't. But on this past Monday, I felt like an EZ swim would be good to loosen out so after a good night of sleep, I went for a 40-minute, ~2400 meter swim. The meal picture posted above is the delicious dinner that I had at the end of my recovery day. A meatless burger topped with cheddar cheese and guac, roasted salty potatoes, salad w/ yogurt ranch dressing and chips.  On Tuesday, I was excited and recharged. I met my good friend Kristen at the aquatic center for a swim workout. She was able to join me for half of the workout before she left for work. I finished with 5000 meters and the main set was 3 x (7 x 100's on 1:45 tempo, holding 1:28-1:29 followed by a 300 smooth pull). It was one of those swim workouts where I never ran out of energy and just kept wanting to swim. I finally made myself get out at 5000...

  A few days after finishing IM 70.3 Florida, Karel was itching to race again. He enjoys racing a lot more than training so his ideal strategy is to race himself into great fitness. Knowing that our athlete and good friend Alvi was racing an Olympic distance triathlon just outside of Atlanta two weeks after IM 70.3 Florida, Karel decided to join him (I stayed home with the furry kids).  After a solid night of sleep on Thursday (allowing extra time to sleep in knowing that race night is never a good for sleeping), Karel had his daily pre-workout oatmeal before heading out on the tri bike for an hour ride. He followed it up with a 20 minute treadmill run. I packed up a cooler and bag of food for him (also booked them a hotel with a microwave and fridge) and he left around 11:30am to pick up Alvi.  Knowing that they had a long drive ahead (well, only a planned 3-hour drive but one that included Atlanta traffic), Alvi made sure to bring along some pastries. And if you ever wa...

  There's a good chance that you have a box of pasta in your pantry. This affordable and easy-to-make dinner staple is a great source of energy (carbohydrates) and nutrients - such as iron, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, manganese, folate and selenium. Over the years, nontraditional pastas have made their way on to the grocery store shelves. Plant-based pasta alternatives offer many health advantages. With the main ingredient being chickpeas, edamame, beans or lentils, these unconventional pasta blends are loaded with protein, fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals. And without compromising taste, quality or nutritional value, nontraditional pastas offer a great alternative to traditional pasta if you are looking to boost your nutrient intake. Here are a few plant-based pasta options: Explore Cuisine Banza Tolerant Organic Ancient Harvest POW! Barilla Modern Table To learn more about these plant-based pasta brands, you can read more here.  For more education, inspiration a...

  1.2 mile swim Marni: 31.57 Karel: 32.48 After entering the warm water of Lake Eva, I slowly settled into my swim stroke. Still a bit shaken from the morning fainting incident, I swam with caution and gratitude. Despite not having any outcome goals for this race, I always enjoy building my swim and finishing strong. Although we had to line up according to "self predicted" swim times, I found myself passing a lot of people throughout the first segment of the "M" shaped swim course. I'd consider this course an easy swim but a technical one. The water is fairly calm and murky, but the course layout makes for a lot of turns and need to carefully navigate as you make your way to the inside of the course. We passed through a timing arch in the middle of the swim which was a new experience for me, but neat to see us passing under what felt like an inflatable bridge. Ironman did something similar for IM Florida in 2019 when the race was moved from Panama City Beach to ...

  After a 60-minute, ~3600 meter long course swim on Wednesday, we returned home to pack up the car and we headed down south to Jacksonville, FL around noon. The ~6 hour drive (with stops) was fairly uneventful and it was nice to listen to triathlon podcasts, knowing that we would be participating in a triathlon event in just a few days. Thank goodness for hot spot as we both could get some work done as the other person was driving.  When we arrived to Joe's house (our good friend, assistant coach at Trimarni and long-time athlete), we were greeted by his son Weston, Erica and my favorite Weimaraner Reagan. Karel and I ate our Chipotle that we picked up just before arriving to Joe's (we both got Sofritas on rice, w/ black beans, veggies, cheese and guac). I had a bit more work to get done after dinner and Karel and Joe put the final touches on our athlete's new Scott Plasma tri bike (Karel built it up the days leading up to our trip and we brought it for our athlete) in Joe...

  Typically when I blog about a race, I find myself comparing it to the last race, reflecting on my race specific training and putting the race in perspective with my upcoming season goals. Well, this year has been a bit different......very different.  Karel and I are very satisfied with our recent race performances at Ironman 70.3 Florida. This was my 4th year competing in the event and we kinda lost track for Karel (sixth time maybe?). We love this race venue as it is very spectator friendly (pre-Covid), the race itself is all within one venue (swim/bike/run/transitions), there's plenty of lodging options in the surrounding neighborhoods and the community supports the race (and the volunteers are always amazing). While we still love this race venue, the emotions in route to this race were a bit different.  Navigating the past 12+ months has been difficult for many athletes. For our team, we have encouraged them to train with the focus of maintaining a solid level of fit...