Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Sadly, sport, science and exercise are still dominated by men. For example, women are grossly understudied when it comes to research on exercise physiology and sport performance. A big part of this is due to menstrual cycles. When a female has monthly hormone cycles, there are two phases to consider when it comes to exercise physiology and performance. Although it's well-documented that menstrual disturbances (ex. amenorrhea) can result from chronic energy imbalance (either increased energy expenditure or insufficient caloric intake), most research on performance, nutrition and exercise is done on men - with no menstrual cycles to plan for or fuss over. So where does this leave female athletes who have to train and race with fluctuating hormones? How many coaches talk to their female athletes about their period and how to manage training and racing during this time of the month? What about the uncomfortable symptoms that female athletes experience before and during their cy...

A hearty bowl of stew in the winter and a refreshingly cold bowl of fruit in the summer. Have you noticed how your appetite changes based on the season? This change is partly as a result of the body needing less calories to function at an optimal body temperature - less energy is needed to maintain homeostasis. Even though in the heat, the body slows down a bit to try to conserve energy to not overheat, if you are an athlete who trains high volume/intensity and you only listen to your appetite to direct you when to (or not to) eat, your loss of appetite can result in a massive energy deficit. While you may think that this energy deficit will help with weight loss/body composition changes, training in an extreme energy deficiency affects normal body functioning, which can affect metabolism, immunity, heart health, bone health, menstruation, endocrine health, recovery, muscle strength and power and mood changes. Another reason for a loss of appetite in the heat relates to ...

I've had a long-term love-dislike relationship with running. As a lifelong swimmer, weight bearing sports have never come easy to me - specifically running. For many years, I struggled with how to hold my body on land as I felt like my upper body wasn't connected to my lower body when I ran. My hips/glutes have had the most niggles so I'm lucky that I've never had any lower leg issues due to running. In the water, I immediately know how to hold my body. Interestingly, before I was a triathlete I was a runner and I loved running and it did come easy to me. But then, like many of you, I got injured and since then, running has had its highs and lows. Sometimes my body doesn't enjoy running and it's really really hard for me, but that doesn't mean that I give up every time it feels hard or that I've convinced myself that I can't improve as a runner. Like with many things in life, I'm on a quest of continued self-development as I strive to improve ...

There's no right time to focus on your sport nutrition and daily diet as it should be an ongoing focus. Unfortunately, many athletes neglect proper eating until a setback occurs. It’s never too late in your life (or season) to appreciate the power of food and proper fueling. By staying up on your sport nutrition, macros and micros and hydration needs, you can protect your health, delay fatigue and consistently improve fitness. When it comes to performance, nutrition alone doesn’t limit performance but it can certainly affect how your body performs. The best fitness routines and training strategies are only beneficial if your body is fueled properly. Upon writing my book, Essential Sport Nutrition , my goal was to create a go-to source of practical and effective nutrition strategies to fuel and nourish your active lifestyle. On a basic level, nutrition is important to reduce risk for disease and to provide a source of energy to perform activities of daily living. For...

How fitting that today is World Bicycling Day today as we spent much of our weekend on two wheels. Not only do I love riding my bike but I absolutely love riding my bike in and around Greenville. Our terrain forces you to improve your skills (mental and physical), resilience and endurance - there's no easy riding here.  Our athlete Robb flew from LA to Greenville to spend two days of private training with us in route to IM Ireland and IM Whistler. Robb is a strong cyclist (who loves challenging courses) so we made sure he got his money worth with lots of time in the saddle, exploring all that our challenging terrain has to offer. Our coach gave us the ok to load the up the weekend with cycling miles so it was a win-win for us all. On Saturday we set out for a long ride up and over Cesar's Head. The weather was a bit "cooler" (in the upper 70's) which made for a refreshing start to the ride. Up in the mountains it was even cooler which was a great relief ...