Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

If you are a long distance athlete, you've likely experiences several pronounced and uncomfortable symptoms related to unsuccessful fueling/hydration methods. Headache, dehydration, swelling, bloating, sleepiness, lethargy, lack of appetite, nausea, chills, fatigue, deep muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness are not just performance limiting but they are also extremely risky for your overall health.  Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise can help you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations.  Proper fueling/hydration also minimizes the stress load to help keep your body in better health. Proper fueling/hydration in training also helps you practice fueling strategies for competition as you can train the gut to tolerate nutrition while exercise at various intensities. Contrary to the opinion of other nutrition experts, I'm a huge proponent of prioritizing sport drinks during training. I've also had great success prioritizing liquid calorie...

  Self-sabotage has a simple definition - making choices that undermine your own goals and values. As a dedicated athlete, as it relates to nutrition, you may be making choices that directly conflict with your commitment to training - this is self-sabotage. For example, are you guilty of any of the following? ❓Intentionally undereating before a workout in order to "save" calories. ❓Forgetting to fuel before an afternoon workout, only to cut the workout short because of low energy/fatigue/hunger. ❓Saving calories to validate consuming sport nutrition products during the workout. ❓Intentionally underfueling during a workout in order to indulge post-workout. ❓Restricting food in order to lose weight. ❓Skimping on recovery nutrition because you are pressed for time or not hungry. Whether your self-sabotaging behaviors are intentional or unintentional, everybody engages in self-sabotage at some time. If done occasionally - such as indulging in a big meal or forgetting your sport d...

"Drink as much as you can and take lots of salt tabs!" This is what I've been reading a lot of lately on social media as it relates to the advice that triathletes are receiving in route to their upcoming hot long distance race.  Racing in the heat is extremely taxing on the body. The biggest consequences include heat stress/exhaustion/stroke and dehydration. Anytime the weather is above 86-degrees F, there will be some type of stress to your cardiovascular system. For the athlete with a hot weather race on the schedule, you must be smart, flexible, attentive and safe when exercising in the heat. Times will be slow(er) than normal and you can't chase metrics. Your primary goal is racing smart and doing the little things well. It probably won't be your fastest race and on paper, the race results may not showcase your current level of fitness but in such extreme conditions, your only goal is to reach the finish line without compromising your health. Most athletes wil...

Remember that time when you were wishing for warmer temps? Well, that time has come. I always run with hydration and fuel in my Naked running belt (all year long) but no surprise - I go through my fluids much quicker when it's hot and steamy outside. Although it can be misearble (and sometimes dangerous) to train in the heat, there are a few ways to help mitigate the physiological response to exercising in hot and humid temps. First off, it's important to understand why exercise feels so difficult in the heat. Blood that would normally go to the working muscles in a cooler environment is now going to the skin for cooling (so heat can be released into the air). Your body is trying to maintain a safe body temperature (homeostasis). If body temp increases beyond a safe level, normal bodily functions can't be maintained and your body will shut/slow down. With a greater risk for dehydration and loss of electrolytes in the heat, your body can not maintain normal phys...

You may be able to get away with haphazard fueling and hydration strategies in the cold winter months but if you are experiencing warmer temps, now is not the time to "wing it" when it comes to utilizing sport nutrition during your long workouts. If you've ever struggled with understanding your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid needs during a long workout, you've likely experiences several pronounced, uncomfortable and performance-limiting symptoms related to underfueling, overfueling, dehydration and overhydration such as headache, no urge to urinate, sleepiness, lack of appetite, nausea, bloating, fatigue, muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness. Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise helps you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations. You can also practice fueling strategies for competition and train the gut to tolerate nutrition while exercise at various intensities. Contrary to the opinion of other nutrition experts, I...

It doesn't matter the training session, you'll find me utilizing some type of sport nutrition product. Come race day, I have great confidence and experience in my race day fueling plan, which also helps me reduce the risk of race day GI, bonking and dehydration issues. I have no hesitations or concerns consuming sport nutrition products in all of my training sessions because I feel these products extend far beyond helping my body maximize performance and adapt to training stress. I believe my good relationship with sport nutrition products has helped me ward off illness over the past 12 years (no sickness since 2007!) and help reduce my risk for injury (last injury in 2013!). I've also been able to do a lot of incredible things with my body over the years. Thank you body! In our current society, sport nutrition has come very far. There are so many different types of sport nutrition products designed for your sport and most are very well formulated to provide your body...

Endurance triathlon racing involves many complex physiological, sociological, mental and motivational factors. Therefore, when training for a multi-sport event of long duration, the human body experiences many metabolic, immune, hormonal and mental stressors in excess of what would be experienced in a single event of the same duration. It's often said that triathletes and runners can get away with a lot in short course racing but without a well-practiced, well-planned and well-formulated fueling and hydration plan for long course racing, the body will not perform to it's full capabilities (and health may be compromised).  This is why many athletes struggle in long course training and racing..... how can you expect your body to perform well, hour after hour, if you do not know how to fuel and hydrate it properly? Sadly, it takes a lot more than motivation and will to get you to the finish line of an endurance race (or to successfully execute a long workout). A succe...

As an athlete, you have special nutritional requirements compared to your fellow exercise enthusiasts. You do incredible things with your body on a daily basis and you have high expectations for what your body will do on race day. And unlike research laboratory studies, you are not exercising to see how long you can go but instead, you train to see how fast you can cover a specific distance on a specific date.   As an athlete, you probably experience many challenges when it comes meeting your extreme training needs through the daily diet because you are not like other people who must only meet basic nutritional needs - you must have great nutritional habits on a day-to-day basis but you also have an extra responsibility to your body to ensure it has the right foods, at the right times to give you extra energy, to delay fatigue, to promote recovery and to keep your body in good hormonal and metabolic health. First off, if you are reading this right now, I want you to ...

Thank you  Girls Gone Strong  for letting me share my thoughts on fueling the vegetarian endurance athlete.  As a 22-year vegetarian and 9x Ironman finisher, I had so much to say on this topic so we decided to make it a two part series and finish with a Q&A on the Girls Gone Strong Facebook page!                                                                              To read the articles:  Part 1  &  Part 2  Q&A Q: On Tuesday, in this article  you gave some guidelines   for protein, carb, and fat requirements for female endurance athletes. Do the numbers look different for women who mostly strength train, and whose goals are strength-based?    If so, how do they differ?   A: Thanks for asking ...

Every athlete wants to take his/her fitness to the next level. I believe that we are all born with the trait of wanting hard work to pay off when it counts.  As a dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition and fueling a body in motion, there's a lot of information that can be applied to an athlete who wants to take his/her training regime to the next level. It doesn't matter how you term your fitness - newbie, veteran, skilled, professional, novice - but instead, what are the goals that you aspire for yourself and are you willing to put in the hard work to meet your goals.  I have had the great opportunity to work with many, many inspiring and motivated athletes on their nutrition, both daily and sport nutrition. Also, combing this with coaching so that a well-fueled body can go to the next level of fitness. What's the difference between the two? Here's an  article  that I wrote for Triathlete Magazine that may help explain how sport nutrition is a...

Let's be honest, if you enjoyed this video (and can relate), it's likely that you call yourself a triathlete, runner, cyclist or swimmer. Why? Because you love what you get to do and you enjoy the people who "get you." But in order to keep up this awesome voluntary active lifestyle that takes you to start and finish lines, you have to be sure to properly fuel your workouts so that you can function well in life.   Everything you do with your body requires energy. Did you know it takes energy to digest and process different macronutrients in your diet (thermogenesis). About 10% of your energy expenditure each day may be related to the Thermic Effect ... of Food (TEF). Protein has the greatest TEF and fat has the lowest TEF, whereas carbohydrates are in the middle. I recommend a small carbohydrate-rich snack before your workout to boost energy and to improves fat oxidation. The benefits of food consumption—particularly of carbs—far outweigh any perceived be...