With the recent launch of GARMIN's latest Premium GPS running/triathlon watch, we asked Trifactri athlete and GARMIN Brand Ambassador Jade Nicole to give us a little insight to this incredible training device..

Recently Trifactri were given the opportunity to give away one of these awesome Garmin Forerunner 935 devices to one of our athletes. 

​When it comes to getting the best out of a wearable device, Garmin have all the bases covered

​Oh, the classic Swim, Bike and Run- I would say that we are all pretty familiar with the drill. The fourth discipline is fondly known as Transition, sometimes forgotten and neglected, yet when mastered can shave minutes off your time. (I speak for myself, who basically sets up camp in transition.)

My 5th discipline is called Type One Diabetes (T1D) and without careful attention to this domain, completing a triathlon would be a pipedream. T1D is an autoimmune disease that manifests after the body self-destructs its own insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, resulting in the complete loss of carbohydrate metabolism. Talk about self-sabotage. There is no cure and I play full time pancreas- balancing administering insulin injections and carbohydrate counting. 

Managing T1D for the last 4 years has taken endless planning and experimenting, it has brought tears, challenges and failures but it has also made me acutely aware of not only the capabilities of our bodies and their intricate, varied response to nutrition and exercise, but ultimately the confounding power of the mind.
A diabetic’s aim is to maintain blood glucose readings between 4-8 mmol/l, which is achievable, thanks to carefully calculated insulin injections and sugar monitoring. However, insulin comes with its complications. Too much insulin will bring your blood sugar too low, leaving you confused, weak, disorientated, shaky and if severe will manifest in seizures, result in brain damage and death. 

​For race day of 70.3 Ironman Durban, I had two nutrition plans. A plan structured around low blood glucose which involved carbohydrates and gels as well as a plan for if my sugar surged high, which included low sugar, low carbohydrate alternatives from Keto Sports Nutrition. Confidence comes in the form of preparation. Everything else on race day was beyond my control. I had a low carb dinner the night before so that my sugar levels stayed in range while I slept and to ensure waking on a good blood sugar.

Breakfast was a smoothie comprising of a carefully measured 20g of carbohydrates. I injected 4 units of insulin, a higher dose than normal, but I expected my nerves and adrenaline to shoot my sugar high.

I arrived at transition with the perfect blood glucose reading, celebrating with little inside victory dance and a few childish, internal cheers “Nailed it, Trace you da bomb, Diabetes you lose, I win.” To which diabetes casually smirked, “Oh really?” Within 15 minutes of arrival the nerves took residence, adrenaline and cortisol pumped around my body and my sugars shot to 14mmol/l and continued rising. 

Diabetes: 1 Tracy: 0

With limited time until the start, I prayed to the Diabetes Gods, had 3 units of insulin, popped my CGM and insulin injections on the “medical” table that stands at the front of transition, suited up and headed to the beach.
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The most potent moment of 70.3 was running into that dynamic, golden ocean. The sun breaking on the horizon, the frothing waves illuminated silver and yellow. Every single concern was forgotten and I could not contain a giggle and smile as the true beauty of the morning unfolded. Yet so magical was the sun that it had to remind me of its glaring, blinding presence for 840m as I am a dominant right-sided breather. Nevertheless, the water was phenomenal, my wetsuit the ideal floatation device and the buoys perfectly visible.

After slogging up thick sand to transition, I grabbed my CGM off the table and in the pure breathless panic of sand and wetsuit, did a finger prick and manually tested my sugar which was a pretty good-looking 8mmol/l. I injected 2 units of insulin in order to be able to eat along the bike course and then proceeded to run 5 thousand metres with my bike, thanks to the world’s longest bike transition, before heading off excitedly on my noble steed. 

Diabetes: 1 Tracy: 1. The playing ground was levelled.

​I couldn’t eat on the run as my sugar was on the higher end of normal and didn’t show any signs of dropping.  I simply drank water along the 21.1km and indulged in every icy-cold sponge I came across. It was amazing seeing pink and blue Trisuits blazing along the run route, I couldn’t help but admire the immense talent within Trifactri, while I was personally dying. I finished on a blood glucose level of 6mmol/l in a time of 05h55. Throughout my life I am sure diabetes will provide a multitude of challenges, losses and victories. But I feel it’s safe to say:

Diabetes: 1 Tracy: 2
Diabetes, I won this one bro.

​Durban 70.3 2017 

I entered this race for one goal ..okay maybe two and that was to get a slot for worlds 2018 in PE as well as dance somewhere on the podium, this was no secret to anyone who knows me or cared to listen.

I’m not very talented but I’m as stubborn as a goat.  Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard … and boy did I work hard.  Early Hours, Late nights, Long Weekends.  Day in and day out … all greens where I could help it. 

I had a year of consistent training through summer, into winter through another summer and right into the mouth of winter again, and I loved it.  My training partners take turns to keep me entertained, some in the pool, others on the run and a few keep me company on the bike, mostly they only enjoy having coffee with me as this is the only place I’m not competitive unless we make a race out of it.  Our East group all have fun training together, it’s always a jol and we are a very close knitted group, like siblings.  We are in harmony and our Leader …Desi always find fun ways to keep everyone interested and challenged, that alone is an art.  It is such a privilege to be part of Trifactri, Coach Luc’s spirit is what makes the group what it is, she is gentle, tough, hard, challenges you further than you think you can go and inspires every single athlete. Desi as you all know is a legend, behind her athletes lies a lot of hard work, motivation, picking up pieces of self-doubt, knitting together blankets or confidence and leading with a fearless invitation to challenge your deepest desire of greatness to come out to play.  The core of this Club, my coach, my training partners – you are all giants in my life.

​You know how it is leading up to a race, “are you ready?” “How has the training been?” “Are you nervous?” “How is the body feeling?” and for the first time in a very long time my answers weren’t, “ah we’ll see on the day won’t we,” “The training has been ok hey,” “Nnnaaaa not very nervous,” “Ya the body is fine thanks,” it was, “Yes, I am ready,” “The training has been really good thanks,” “Yes I am very nervous,” and “The body is feeling great!”
The training was consistent and I was as ready as I could be, but an athlete’s worst nightmare before a big race is either getting sick or getting injured. On the Tuesday before the race I did my EASY indoor, you know how tapering is ;) and as I started my EASY run my hamstring did something funny. Needless to say the next few days it was a continuous repetition of ice, heat, ice, heat, panic message to Lucie, ice, heat, ice, heat, transact patch, pray, ice, heat, ice, heat… well you get the picture!
 
Arriving in Durban is always very exciting, you start seeing all your training buddies at registration, nerves are flying sky high, the above questions are being thrown around, the wallets are shaking in the expo, the bike mechanics are fixing bikes (athlete’s worst nightmare), athletes are walking around wishing they had someone else’s bike and THEN, the Trifactri dinner arrives J
Always a fun night out with food getting mixed up, Trifactri shirts getting thrown around, peeps being all gangsta with their flat caps; THIS is definitely a great evening. Laughter was heard throughout the restaurant and amazing memories were being made.
We do our usual warm up on the Saturday, this time trying to muster up the courage to plunge into the Durban surf because, we all know what happened last year ;) but this is all done to get us race ready for Sunday! We all make our way, in our own time, to the transitions to rack our bikes and hang up our bags. I finished doing everything I needed to do and then I saw coach!
 
This was a lecture I needed and I think it had been lingering for a while and Lucie finally gave that lecture to me (in a nice way of course). Too many races had passed where I had raced too comfortably, where I would only push the last 2/3km of the run, where I would ‘race’ and stay away from the hurt locker, but basically the summary of Lucie’s lecture was, “enough is enough.” I have trained too hard to just sit in the comfort zone, I have trained hard to sit in the ‘hurt locker.’ 

​I haven’t had a good swim in a while but this one felt great, I came out the water in 29min, which I was super chuffed with, but no time to be happy just yet, it was the dreaded run on the beach to transition, oh yes and then the dreaded run to your bike, where you needed a bike to get to your bike. The bike was a lot harder than what I thought it would be, the head wind coming back was not so nice, but I stuck to my nutrition plan (which I don’t normally do) and it worked like a charm! A new feeling for me was coming off of the bike and starting the run where there were hardly any athletes on the run yet, most of the supporters were still on the road for the cyclists and it was quite a new feeling! Now the run is the reason why I was so nervous before the race. Luc had been working me hard in training for it, because now it was time to race! The hurt locker became a real thing when previously I would back off, but now I wasn’t allowed to. I went onto the run with a guy named Mike, we ran together, pacing off each other for the first lap, Mike unfortunately got cramp and told me to keep going, I slowed down a little bit, which was probably a good thing because the machine #Desi ran up next to me on the last 8km of the run. Now I had to run with her and boy did she push me! It was really starting to hurt now and wow it was a good feeling! I thought I was going to just collapse to the floor with 3km to go, I kept the same pace, but Desi just got faster and went on to dominate, what a champ. I can’t actually describe the feeling that I had in those last 3km, but the hurt locker was real and amazingly enough I could still push and finish strong! My last 3km were my fastest in the run and I crossed the line in a run time of 1:45 and an overall time of 5:09 (PB by 11 minutes). My legs we finished, I collapsed at the finish line, they put me onto a stretcher just to lie down for a bit. I had tears of happiness.
 
Looking back on the race, the support was beyond this world. Sorry guys that I showed no facial expression what so ever, but I promise you it helps like you can’t believe, knowing that your team mates, family and friends are cheering you and everyone else on is something we look forward to. You guys are incredible!! Watching all the Trifactri athletes race is amazing, seeing Audrey have the most fun ever, watching Robsie getting a sub 2 hour half marathon, seeing all my athletes push through the pain with smiles on their faces and watching every single Trifactri athlete support each other out there! Everyone has their own goal and is pushing their own limits. I couldn’t walk to save my life for the next 2/3 days, but man, it was worth every second! A massive thank you to Lucie for the amazing support and the tough love before the race to get my head in the game.
 
Yes hard work does pay off, but you have to believe that you are stronger than you are and that you can push your body a lot further than what you think! It took me a few years to figure this out, but it finally clicked and in the end, for me, it was all a mental game!  

If anyone had said to me that before I reach my big Four Oh, I would have completed a triathlon, I would have divorced myself from the friendship immediately with a heartfelt laugh!  And yet, today I’m writing this blog having completed two triathlons and one of them being Ironman 70.3 Durban.

Prior to joining Trifactri, my only goal was to fit in my clothes (comfortably) and to look good by the time the big Four Oh arrived.  Each day I would go to the gym and essentially plod along (can one truly do anything properly without a coach? Nope).  A fellow running friend of mine asked if I wanted to join him for training sessions as he is training for Ironman 70.3 East London.  Having nothing to lose and frankly there is never anything wrong with running behind a man who has killer legs for motivation, I agreed and unbeknown to me, the triathlon journey began.  

One Saturday we agreed to run with our usual Saturday running group, then spin and end off the morning with a swim.  As I make my way down to the pool and not quite sure what to expect, I meet my now dearest friend and fellow training partner, Kirsty Standing.   I manage for the first time in over 15 years to do 600m.  When I got out I sincerely thanked God I didn’t drown.  During the entire December, we spent every morning and afternoon training.  It was exhilarating, my legs got skinnier and my butt tighter and I was feeling alive.  Each training session ending with a cappuccino.  A habit I never thought would become an addiction which it now has.

After a long training session one afternoon, Kirsty asks me:  “So what are you training for?”  My only answer was to fit into my clothes.  The look on her face was an indication that perhaps it’s time I start focussing on something meaningful with all the training I was doing.  It’s sometimes easy to forget that there is still so much that can be conquered and life doesn’t end when you get to your late 30’s.  

January 2017 rolls around and it dawns on me that my big Four Oh is just 9 months away and the only goal achieved is having enrolled to start my LLB but still nothing on the sporting front.

It’s a Wednesday afternoon and Kirsty informs me that she is doing hill repeats with Trifactri and I should join in.  I have the pleasure of meeting a small crowd of Trifactri members namely Lucie, Werner, Johan, Richard, Jono and Karl.  Afterwards, we all went for coffee and everyone is talking about East London and their training plans and what they’ve entered for.  I’m embarrassed that I still haven’t entered any races of any nature.  I’m quiet.

East London comes and goes…
With East London behind everyone, it becomes apparent that MiWay Ultra is the next race to take part in. My interest is peaked when I hear it’s a sprint and the short distance it is.  So I pull the proverbial plaster off and enter.  It’s done, I’ve paid and there is no backing out of this one.  The build up to Sun City and this being my very first triathlon, has me extremely excited and nervous at the same time.  Have I put in enough laps in the pool?  Is swimming in open water that bad?  What happens if I drown (I never knew you couldn’t drown in a wetsuit)?  Can I do this?  Yes Therena you can!  You can do anything!  Who would have thought at my age I would be doing my first triathlon, not me I tell you! Having chatted to the Trifactri clan at coffee, they’re all like, don’t worry you’ll be fine.  

Sun City is here and the tension is high not knowing what to expect. My son is doubtful but trusts that his mom has got this.  I called my friend Melissa Cook a few days prior and chatted to her extensively about what to do and not to do, extremely helpful and sound advice.  Bless her soul for her patience with me but I’d picked Kirsty’s brain mercilessly and Google’d just about every YouTube video about transitions, getting in and out of a wet suit and how to combat fears of open water swimming (I didn’t have a fear that I knew of – just yet!).  Eventually it just came down to:  1. Flap your arms continuously to ensure you don’t drown.  2. Pedal as if you stole the bike and 3. Run as if you’re chasing a chocolate cake. 

And the race begins …
The siren goes and the sprint has started.  About 30m into the swim I hit flat out panic to the point where I’m like, when I get out here I’m selling everything I’ve acquired for this sport and will stick to running, the one discipline I’m truly good at and my feet are firmly on the ground.  Needless to say I remind myself how far I have come and giving up now is just not an option, so I take a deep breath, tell myself to suck it up and I breast stroke the entire 600m.   When my feet touch the ground and I’m out, the relief on my son’s face is priceless, his mom made it!  Karl and Werner just needed pom-poms because their cheering certainly put a smile on my face.  I nailed the cycle and aced the run.  I cried when I crossed the finish line from pure disbelief for having just completed my first triathlon.  Finish time 01:50:23. Not bad for a first timer.  

So what’s next on the bucket list?

Having listened to the chatter and opinions of East London (my next triathlon and first 70.3– the future plan), I decide nope I’m not going to wait until then, Durban is around the corner and why not.  One Saturday evening after a glass of wine (Dutch courage), I enter Ironman 70.3 Durban!  I let Kirsty know and the excitement is overwhelming.  I start laughing at myself for the sheer bullishness I have to take this on, but hey it’s paid for.  It’s done! Ya gotta do this chick!

I wake up the next day realising that I cannot take on Durban without the proper coaching and guidance. God Bless Kirsty for that which she had taught me, but she has her own goals and program and that needs to be her focus!  Seeing what Trifactri has done for everyone around me and chatting to Richard, I join Trifactri and I meet my coach Jessica Dignon! Nothing makes you feel old than when your coach, doctor and dentist are younger than you are, lol!  But hey, she has the experience and I don’t.  I’ve only been at this for 6 months and with 6 weeks to go until Durban, my training program commences and I become part of the Trifactri family.

​Each day of training is taken on with gusto and drive with the mindset of someone who should be aiming for podium (go big or go home as they say).  I’m going to nail Durban and it’s going to be spectacular.
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The week before Durban it dawns on me that I have never swam in the open ocean.  Nerves set in but more so I am permanently nauseous.  Am I going to be able to do this?  Sure, having been assured by my voice of reason Richard that I cannot drown in a wetsuit, all will be just fine.  

​Saturday morning in Durban arrives and I’m a ball of nerves for this sea swim.   Not having slept properly the night before due to nerves, Jess asks if I’m okay.  I tell her I don’t know what to expect nor am I sure I can do this.  Lance appears next to me and offers to swim with me, I feel silly but grateful at the same time.  Lance tells me to listen to him when going in and to dive when he says so.  We go in and I make it to the other side of the breakers.  It looked like I had swallowed a coat hanger I could not stop smiling, I also bounced up from the wetsuit and salt water and suddenly all the fears I’d cooked up in my head disappear.  I made it and tomorrow will be just fine.  Neil Kinsley catches up with me in the water and checks that I’m okay.  I give him the thumbs up.  Now we have to get out, what do I do?  Luckily Jess meets up with me and helps guide me out of the sea.  I feel as though I had conquered the world.
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​It’s race day, I’m up before the birds even know it’s the next day and I’m eating and packing for the long day ahead and also ensuring that my son knows what to do and where to be whilst I’m racing. 
I fetch Kirsty and we lock and load our bikes and check tyres etc.  We are good to go.  
I start making my way down the beach when I suddenly panic as I hadn’t told my son I love him and I’ll see him in a bit.

​The amount of spectators is phenomenal and I realise what a blessing it is for me to be able to stand amongst professional triathletes young and old.  I am in awe.  I hadn’t even reached the start when they announce over the speakers that the first swimmers are out of the water already, talk about pressure.  Before long I’m in the front and off I go.  I get in the water and I can see the ocean floor and all is well, until I get to the first buoy.  When I look up, it suddenly dawned on me how far 1.9km is in the ocean.  I am panicked and I start to hyperventilate.  In no time I have just about every safety marshal around me.  The lifeguard jumps in and asks can he pull me out?  I insist that I need to just breathe and he must leave me alone.  Next to me is a safety lifeguard on a paddle board who very politely offers to stay with me.  I accept the offer and he introduces himself as Dylan.  All I knew was I had a guardian angel paddling next to me.  A small comfort when you’re a small being in such a glorious ocean.

Our strategy was to follow my coach Jess’s advice and to focus on each buoy as a goal.  I breast stroked, back stroked and crawled, but heck I was going to make it!  Jess’s advice repeating like a parrot in my head, each buoy is a goal.  This was Dylan and my strategy the entire time all the while thinking that my son is waiting for me and I cannot give up at all, I cannot disappoint myself and I need to soldier on.  There were a few moments where I was getting gatvol, but giving up is just not who I am.  As I was doing back stroke, Dylan put his paddle board “between” me and the buoy’s and instructed me that each time my right hand hits his paddle board, I must shimmy to the left.  I finally get to the last red buoy to go into shore and I’m elated, I’m going to make it, I’m almost in tears.  When I thought we were close enough, I asked Dylan whether I could stand.  He tells me to hold onto the board and he happily jumps into the sea and comes up again telling me to keep swimming.  I continue to breast stroke and I can see my son on the beach waiting.  Dylan again tells me to hold on, jumps in and pops up and says 10 meters to go then I can stand.  I finally put my feet down and walk the rest of the way out.  I turn around and thank Dylan profusely for being such a blessing and I wish him only the best.  Did I mention I was the 4th last person in the ocean and I looked like a drowned rat but with the biggest smile on my face for having made it!  I managed to get out with 4 minutes to spare before cut-off!  But I made it so who cares!

At T1 I’m the only soul there so every assistant in sight was helping me get out of the wetsuit and getting geared up for the cycle.  Do you know what’s sad, when you don’t even have to look for your bike as it’s pretty much the only one left hanging on the rack, can’t help but laugh when I think about it now!  I grab my bike and off I go!  As I’m cycling, I can’t stop smiling for having made it out the ocean and realising that I actually stand a chance of finishing this race.  I cycle my heart out.  On two occasions, I stop on the side of the road, eat and drink something and carry on.  I see Kirsty, we holler to each other in passing and I cycle on.  

​Walking onto the beach on race morning, you can just spot the swimmers. They’re an elite bunch. It’s like they smoothly and confidently stride towards the sub 30min self-seeding board with their wide shoulders, narrow waists, unusually webbed feet and mirrored goggles firmly secured by a second swimming cap. *Shivers up my spine*. 

​I felt like I swam like Kim Dovey but as I exited the water and looked at my watch I was disappointed with my 35min+ swim. Bleg! But I put that behind me and confidently hit the run…and by run I mean Transition 1. A long 800m run just to find my precious bicycle. One of the biggest challenges in a longer race is to keep your head and not lose it on the bike. I always remind myself that the race is far from over and that it’s always make or break on the run. So I stayed steady (my favourite word besides steady) and found that I got stronger as the ride progressed. I was 13th out of the water in my age group but managed to work my way to 2nd place by transition 2.

And this is where the fun began. I hadn’t raced since October 2016 and I’d done a LOT of slow, aerobic training with Helen for both Ironman 70.3 Buffalo City as well as Ironman Nelson Mandela Bay. The weeks after Ironman were spent working on power and speed and I had worked particularly hard on my run speed. So, going into the race I was really looking forward to testing my run. I did the loop out to Ushaka and back and saw Kim and Lucie for the first time. That’s when they told me that I had started the run 3 minutes behind the first place lady and that according to the race predictor and the speeds that we were both running, I would lose by 30 seconds! I have not raced like that in a long time. Marisa Ferraris (in 1st place) came out of nowhere like an Italian sports car. I was like the Jack Russel chasing the car down the road! At 18km the predictor said I would lose by 10secs…Lucie ran next to me and said, “Now you’ve got to run.” And I did, passing Marisa just before the red carpet. She had such a good race in all 3 disciplines and it was an awesome tussle between the two of us…much respect.

​I know I always go “deep” in my blogs but seriously people, I can’t explain in words what triathlon has brought to my life. (But I’ll say it again anyway  ) Not all of us compete to win, but I am lucky enough that I stand on the start line as a contender for a podium. If it wasn’t for triathlon and the way the competition is structured where we (and let’s not kid ourselves) compete in 5 year age groups, I wouldn’t get to be so competitive. (I’d only come 7th lol!!) I will be fifty next year and how many of us get to participate in a sport and experience the thrill of competing and racing and sometimes winning after the age of 40. I continue to be so grateful for this. I am inspired by the incredible young talented ladies out there; Jade, Gabriella, Lauren to name a few. I am inspired by Kelly, in her forties coming 3rd, I am inspired by my teammates, I am inspired by one of my athletes that finished in 7hrs59, I am inspired by each athlete that achieved a personal goal. Let’s keep on doing what we’re doing…!

​Thanks for reading!