Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

The period between the end of the previous season (training/racing) and the start of the next season is called the "off season." For northern hemisphere athletes, this usually occurs in the winter, between November and January.  The off-season is a very important time for athletes who train and race consistently throughout the year. Never giving your body and mind an intentional break from training stress will increase the risk of burnout, overuse injuries, fatigue, early season fitness plateau and sickness. A planned break provides the ideal stimulus to rejuvinate and repair the body and brain. Another way to view the off-season is to think of it as a reset.  For several months, you've placed a lot of stress on your body. Your immune system was compromised, your muscles, tendons and joints were stressed, you were regularly sleep deprived (or never fully rested), you never let your body fully recover, you were constantly rushed, often your body was underfueled or dehydrat...

For every sport, the season has a start and an end.  Over the past two weeks, there has been a dramatic shift in my life from setting an early morning alarm, training regularly and living a life of structure and planning to a lifestyle of flexibility and freedom. From a performance standpoint, the off-season is the foundation of athletic growth and development. To reduce the risk of injury, burn-out or a fitness plateau, the best approach to the off-season is somewhere between a time of leisure and relaxation and staying healthy and active. A good perspective on the off-season is to think of it as active rest while maintaining health-promoting lifestyle habits.  As you enjoy some well-deserved physical and mental rest from sport specific structured training, seek out new or different exercises or activities for your body and mind. As a tip, look for exercises and activities that have little to do with your sport you train for you and certainly keep it light and enjo...

Although my last triathlon was Ironman Wisconsin in early September, since returning home from Kona, Hawaii on October 17th, I've done little structured triathlon training. I did, however, participate/race in two events (Hincapie Gran Fondo on 10/21 and the Spinx Half Marathon on 10/27) over the last two weekends in October just to use some of my leftover fitness as my mind and body still wanted to race. While I did keep up with structured swim sessions until Karel raced Ironman Florida on 11/4 (moral support :), it feels like forever ago when I had workouts in my Training Peaks. Over the past twelve years, I've given myself all different types of an off-season break. I've failed at many and have succeed at several. I've learned that taking "too long" of break didn't work for me (4-6 weeks) but return too soon (1-2 weeks) and well, that didn't work either. In reflection on what worked or didn't work, I think about the season that followed. Whe...

The off-season is a very important time for athletes. Consistent year-long training with no time off can increase the risk of burnout, overuse injuries, fatigue and sickness. A temporary and planned break can help rejuvinate and repair the body and brain. Every athlete has her/her own approach as to the best way to tackle the off-season. While athletes recognize that a mental and physical break is needed, it can be difficult for a lot of athletes to worry about the loss of fitness that you worked so hard for during the season. A bit of de-training is needed as your body deserves rest to appropriately recover from the past months of peak training and racing. As an athlete, you train to make physiological adaptations. This takes many many months. Training is something you need to do day after day, week after week and month after month. Thus, when you are not training, this doesn't mean you do nothing. You simply take a break from the structure, the early alarms, the sacrifice...

                                                 The off-season /foundation phase presents itself with a unique opportunity in your season where training volume and intensity is relatively low and thus, you don't expend a great amount of calories. This is a perfect time to break away from relying on engineered sport nutrition products to get you through your workouts and to see your daily diet as the fuel for your workouts. In other words, sport nutrition will play a very small role in your training routine.  However, I feel this is where many athletes eat and train with confusion. I'm sure you have been told that you don't need to eat before a workout in the off-season/foundation phase or you should avoid all sport nutrition during workouts, to burn more fat, in the off-season/foundation phase. While there's scientific research to support that worki...

Look...mountains!  It's crazy to think that it was just a week ago when we were swimming with fishes in the ocean, and sweating in the lava fields. This past Saturday, we returned back to our mountains (with arm warmers) and explored a new route on two wheels (on road bikes). I absolutely LOVE cycling this time of the year - the tree leaves are so pretty! Our route was familiar to me as I had rode it at the Purple Patch Fitness (PPF) Greenville camp but it was new to Karel. It's crazy to think that we have lived here in Greenville for 2.5 years and have never done the   Green River Cove loop  together!! I am absolutely in love with this 20-mile loop! The beauty, the switchbacks, the descends, the climbing, the flat roads, the river views, the nice pavement, the quite roads, the mountains...it has everything a cyclist should love when riding on two wheels! Seeing that we will ride this loop at the end of the 80-mile Hincapie Gran Fondo next Saturday...

There are many names to describe the phase that occurs between the end of a racing season and the start of more structured, specific training stress.  For the sake of the masses identifying with this blog topic, I used the word "base" phase in this blog post but as you may know, we use the word " transition " as well as " foundation " to describe the first phase after the off-season. Other coaches have different names for this phase. For example, Matt Dixon with Purple Patch Fitness uses the word "post-season". The transition (base) phase of training is critical to athlete development. As I mentioned in my previous blog post , preparation for an event is more than just putting in the miles. As athletes, we are always developing and we are always training in some capacity. In order to maximize fitness, season after season, it is important to follow a periodized training plan that allows for progression. There must be specific emphasis on pea...

After spending the past 10 years living all over Florida (Davie, New Port Richey, Dunedin, Jacksonville) I welcomed our first experience (in a long time) of seasons when we moved to Greenville, SC in May 2014. By October, the trees were changing colors and the weather was getting cooler. We are now getting our second opportunity to enjoy the fall season and like most triathletes, the fall coincides with the off-season. Whereas cyclists often swap out the road bike for a mountain and/or fixie for cross training, the off-season for triathletes is a great opportunity to improve cycling skills and to have some fun on two wheels....without being in an aero position.  Although it is not required that you rush out and buy a road bike (the sport of triathlon is expensive enough as it is with one bike!), if a road bike purchase is an option or you have been neglecting your road bike in your garage/storage room over the past year, I highly recommend giving your triathl...

The  off-season weight debate  is a serious topic of conversation at the end of the racing season. Year after year, athletes, dietitians, nutrition experts personal trainers and coaches continue to justify the reasons for intentional (or unintentional) weight gain at the conclusion of the racing season, which is then often followed by the dietary rules and methods of intentional weight loss/maintenance in the early phases of the training season. Yet rarely, if ever, do we hear about the importance of having a healthy relationship with food and how your relationship with food throughout the entire season affects overall health, sport nutrition choices/methods and daily dietary choices.  If anything, all athletes should FIRST learn how to have a healthy relationship with food prior to even discussing methods of improving sport nutrition, body composition or overall health. Before talking about how to improve your relationship with food during the off-season...

I'm currently finalizing the last parts of the newest pre-built plan at Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition. The Trimarni 5-week off season transition phase training plan includes 5 weeks of strength training, hip/core work, specific workouts for swim, bike and run to improve form and efficiency as well as 5 weeks of nutrition tips!! This plan has taken a while to put together but I am so excited to offer it to athletes and fitness enthusiasts in the next few weeks to help everyone improve the chance of having a great consistent 2014 season. In the mean time...enjoy my latest article from my monthly column at Irongirl.com Reflect, Rejuvenate, Refuel in the Off-Season By Marni Sumbal, MS, RD, LD/N Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition, LLC Hard works feels amazing when it pays off. Although training for an event can be hard on the body,  the positive energy that you receive at a finish line is worth all the sacrifices.   It's important that your off-season compl...