Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Winning my first Ironman as overall amateur female at 2017 IM Chattanooga and giving my body a huge thank you for being oh-so-amazingly strong and healthy. What do you think about your body? Standing on the podium in first place, yet you feel "too fat." Achieving a personal best time, yet your legs/butt feels "too big." Doubting your abilities because your stomach feels "too heavy." Blaming your subpar performance on your weight.  Lacking self confidence because you don't look like other athletes. In each of these scenarios, is an athlete who believes one of two things: That looking differently will improve athletic success or a current look is the reason for lack of athletic success. Despite putting in the training and being physically prepared for an event, actual acceptance of one-self can be a major athletic limiter. Inside, you have internalized feelings of being inadequate because of a look, a comparison or an assumption. Poor body ...

Picture source As a lacto-ovo vegetarian, Tempeh is one of my favorite, go-to plant-based protein sources. An Indonesian staple, tempeh is a cultured food that makes for a protein-rich plant based meal. Unlike tofu, tempeh is dry and densely compact, which makes it great for marinating, crumbling or grilling. And denser than tofu, is is also more concentrated in calories and nutrients. For example, a 3-ounce serving of cooked tempeh (~1/2 cup) contains ~166 calories, 10g fat and 17g protein. In a 3-ounce serving of firm tofu, you will find ~53 calories, 2.3g fat and ~6g protein. Tempeh is also a good source of iron (4.5 mg in 1 cup) and a complete plant protein providing all nine essential amino acids. Although tempeh does contain probiotics, the short fermentation period and cooking decreases the lifespan of the beneficial live bacteria. The process of making tempeh involves fermenting cooked soybeans and binding them together when exposed to a mold culture from the Rhizop...

Every athlete has unique nutritional requirements dependent on the training program, body composition goals, genetics and fitness level. Therefore, there is no one best diet to follow. More so, your nutritional requirements, food choices and strategies will change throughout the year, depending on training volume and intensity. But even during peak training when energy requirements are increased, your food choices should remain nutritious and health-promoting. Leaving your diet to chance or training to "earn" your food may result in nutrient poor food choices, lacking key nutrients. And a diet of restriction, sacrifice and obsession will lead to less-than-optimal energy availability. Being well-nourished puts your body into a state of optimal functioning, helping you become a better athlete. The foundation of building a healthy sports diet is to consume a variety of nutrient-dense foods from all food groups. Your diet should not include an off-limit food list unless you su...

Hot off the press! Infinit Nutrition has a new sport nutrition product for customization...... Protein Powder! I am a huge fan of INFINIT Nutrition for many reasons (ingredient quality, wide range of flavors, nutrition profile of products) but their customizable feature is at the top of the list. I have a few different sport drink custom formulas for the bike that I use for myself (in about 5 different flavors to prevent taste bud fatigue). When it comes to recommending a sport nutrition product for the bike in long distance racing, for my athletes that I consult with (or my coaching athletes), I typically recommend the  Trimarni endurance base formula  for the bike (I also get jumbo bags of this formula - in different flavors - for our camps, along with many other sport nutrition products for our athletes to try out). As with any sport nutrition company, there are products from INFINIT I love, like and rarely recommend but I am proud to align myself with a sport nutr...

Happy 2020! Wow, I can't believe we are a week into the start of a New Year. The weather here has been unseasonably warmer than the past few years, although we have had a few days of steady rain. Nevertheless, training is going well and we are in good health.  On Monday last week, I welcomed a recovery day. When I have a recovery day, I take full advantage of it by getting a lot of work done in advance, catching up with to-do's around the house, enjoying a little extra time in the kitchen, taking Campy for extra long walks and not thinking at all about training. I sure do love my recovery days.  On Thursday, I recruited my swim partner Kristen to join me (and Karel) in a tough interval-focused swim. Kristen is extremely fast in the water so she is the perfect training partner for me to ensure that I don't slack in the water. She isn't training for any events (just training for life) so she keeps training fun for me. Plus, we have managed to find ways to have...