Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

After 19 consecutive years of long distance triathlon, it's crazy to think that I am preparing for my 24th Ironman distance triathlon. 😮  I can tell I'm carrying around a lot of fatigue but if I would have listened to my body (and mind) every day this week, I wouldn't have finished any workout (let alone started the session).  Fatigue is an important component of endurance training but it can be a slippery slope. You need to endure challenging workouts and accumulate training stress to optimize fitness but if you push your body too much, you put yourself at risk for getting injured, sick or overtrained. While some athletes are guilty of ignoring noticeable signs that the body is experiencing unexpected fatigue, others are guilty of constantly skipping and modifying sessions during times of good (and needed) fatigue.  Are you good at knowing when to push through and when to back off?

Carbohydrates receive a lot of attention among the endurance athlete community. Recently, endurance athletes have reported consuming well above 90g carbohydrates per hour. As a result, athletes are demonstrating impressive performances during extreme endurance exercise. Because energy needs are high and carbohydrate stores are limited in the muscles and liver, high carb intakes have provided great value to athletes who are expended a great amount of energy during continuous efforts of long duration and/or intensity.   However, with "high carb" being all the rage these days, daily fiber intake has become an afterthought. This doesn't fair well when a significant portion of Americans consistently fall short in meeting dietary fiber goals due to diets high in processed, refined and fast food. Although we know fiber is an essential component of a healthy diet, consuming fiber around (and during) workouts is well, not so healthy.  As with most sport nutrition guidelines, ...

This weekend we held our third gravel skills camp in DuPont State Forest. We welcomed former gravel skills campers and a few new faces. We spent over 11 hours, spread over two days, discussing, demonstrating and applying important bike handling skills for riding off road.  On Saturday, we met at Fawn Lake parking lot and discussed PSI and puncture repair kits. We then rode out to the airstrip and spent the next two hours discussing and working on specific skills (ex. cornering, descending, stopping, heavy feet/light hands). We took a break for lunch and ate in the parking lot and around 1pm we headed out on our adventure ride through Dupont forest and around Cascade Lakes. It was a beautiful day with warm temperatures in the upper 60s.  On Sunday we met at Tuxedo park in Zirconia, NC. We started off with a refresher of skills around the lake and then headed out on an 8-mile road ride before hitting the gravel into Dupont. We had a 4 mile steady gravel climb and then did a loop...

On Saturday Feb 22nd, we participated in 6 Hours in the Ridge. After Hurricane Helene, we weren't sure if our favorite mountain biking trails would ever open (or be the same) again but local organizations and volunteers have worked tirelessly to get the trails back in great condition.  However, over the past few months, our winter conditions have not been in our favor for staying consistent on our mountain bikes. We've had a lot of rainy and cold days which means closed trails. I've done very little mountain biking in 2025 following not being on my mountain bike since May 2024. Although we registered for 6 hours on the ridge a few months out from the race (it sells out at least a month out) I was feeling very unprepared. Karel and I did a 2:20 hr ride at The Farm (a great new trail system a few miles from where we live) on January 5th and then I did a panic recon ride at Pleasant Ridge (race venue) on Tuesday of race week. We also did a 1-hour pre race ride at The Farm the ...

You don’t have to be a “dieter” to be caught up in diet culture and, as a result, struggle with a diet mentality.  A diet mentality refers to the thoughts and beliefs that come from past dieting experiences, or current ideologies reinforced by diet culture.  Diet culture is a system of beliefs that worships thinness, equates health to weight and demonizes certain foods while glorifying others.  Because thoughts and beliefs influence behaviors, a diet mentality can significantly impact athletes by promoting a harmful focus on body image and weight control, often leading to restrictive eating habits that can detrimentally affect athletic performance and health.  It's time to check in with your thoughts.  Is your diet mentality negatively impacting your health and performance?

It often starts well-intentioned or unintentional. You want to lose a few lbs or you find yourself too busy to eat so you don't worry about skimping on calories and carbohydrates.  You feel great during your workouts......until you don't anymore.  Training volume and intensity increase and now you are struggling with low motivation, niggles and fatigue. You dug yourself into an energy deficient hole.  If you want to perform at your best, you need to give your body the energy it deserves. Intentional or not, failing to eat enough energy to support training demands can lead to serious health consequences.  It's time to stop underestimating what your body requires in order to recover from your training sessions and to function optimally in life.

Hydration drinks, energy drinks, energy gels. With so many different products on the market, it's important to know how they compare (and differ) in their respective functions.  For endurance athletes, it's in your primary interest to maintain a state of hydration (fluids and sodium) while consuming adequate fuel (carbs) to optimize health and performance in training and on race day. Therefore, it's important to understand that not all sport nutrition products are created equal.  By understanding the formulation and application of sport nutrition products, you can select your sport nutrition products more effectively, knowing that the product(s) you are using are being quickly digested and absorbed.  Otherwise, there's a good chance that what you are consuming is sitting around in the gut, potentially causing GI issues, dehydration or bonking (and a waste of money).

"I pretty much eat the same things everyday."  In my sport nutrition practice, I often hear this response from athletes.  While the monotony and repetition can help with meal planning, there are two main concerns. The first is lack of nutrient variety and the second is not adjusting your diet to meet the demands of your training. If you stick to a limited food selection, you are likely missing out on essential vitamins and minerals found in different food groups.  If you aren't systematically altering your macronutrient intake to support higher volume and/or more intense training sessions, you may be in a constant state of low energy availability.  By strategically adjusting your meals and snacks, you can better support your training by providing your body with a full spectrum of nutrients and energy to support proper muscle function, immune system support and bone health while reducing the risk for nutrient deficiencies, fatigue and injury.

  Although we have a tremendous amount of research on sport nutrition strategies to optimize performance in runners, there's very little research on long distance triathlon.  It's impossible to isolate one variable in a triathlon-focused experiment. For example, with so many different environmental, physical, mental, terrain, pacing, fitness and physiological factors contributing to performance in a 70.3 or 140.6 mile event, it's impossible for research to create specific sport nutrition guidelines for swimming, biking and running when there are so many unpredictable and uncontrollable variables. We must recognize that running off the bike for 13 or 26 miles in a half or full distance triathlon (respectively) is very different than running a stand alone half marathon or marathon. For example, a stand alone endurance runner will start the race is cool or cold conditions, first thing in the morning with a body that is glycogen loaded and well-hydrated. Marathon races are oft...

It was 19 years ago when I trained for my first Ironman. I was 23 years old. I knew about the Ironman from the NBC coverage of the Ironman World Championship in Kona but I only knew a few people who had finished an Ironman distance triathlon. Back then, I felt alone in my Ironman journey. In 2006, I wasn't actively involved with social media. Facebook was still in it's infancy and Instagram didn't exist. As I was preparing for my first Ironman, I didn't find myself comparing my journey to anyone else because I had nothing and no one to compare it to. I didn't feel inclined to buy fancy gadgets or use specific nutrition products. I wasn't being "influenced" to buy certain things on social media. After the race, I had to call my friends to let them know how I did in the race. I didn't feel any pressure before or during the race because there wasn't a way to track my performance. Social media has become a standard part of our lives. I'm incred...

As an athlete, you have unique nutrition needs compared to the inactive. The interrelated roles of macro- and micronutrients, along with hydration, impact your health and physiology. As an example:  • Water is needed to maintain body temperature, remove wastes and lubricate your joints.   • Carbohydrates provide energy for your muscles, maintain blood glucose levels and fuel the central nervous system.   • Proteins are the building blocks of your muscles and help with rapid recovery.   • Fat is an essential nutrient that provides energy while supporting body functions necessary for human health.   • Vitamins and minerals optimize immune system health and provide the flame to metabolic reactions to help you turn food into energy during exercise.  No single food will help boost your health or performance but instead, it’s the synergistic role of all the foods in your diet that affects the functioning of your body during exercise. Your di...

  As you begin to plan out your 2025 triathlon racing season, we hope to see you at a 2025 Trimarni camp. We have three different camp experiences for you to choose from. Since our very first group training camp in Clermont, Florida in March 2014, our focus has remained the same. Our mission is to provide you with an unforgettable camp experience, empowering you to stretch your athletic limits while providing you with a great amount of education and skill focus to help you become a better athlete. When you participate in a Trimarni camp, you will learn new skills and training techniques (and break some old bad habits) to ensure that you can train smarter and race better. We have the perfect training playground in Greenville, SC and we can't wait to share it with you. At a Trimarni camp you will leave your stressful and busy life behind you. Your camp investment will give you the opportunity to train in a group format (alongside two hands-on coaches) while learning a lot. You will e...