Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Training for an endurance or ultra endurance event is similar to a dose-response assessment.  The goal of this type of scientific test is to determine the required dose to produce a specific outcome (or response). Sadly, when it comes to endurance athletes, far too many athletes are doing work without eliciting a positive or beneficial response.  As it relates to training, the right amount of stress can produce significant fitness gains but too much stress results in high risk of injury, sickness, overtraining and burnout. Not enough stress is simply exercising and doesn't induce favorable change in physiology for race readiness. Training stress shouldn't be associated just with weekly volume as the athlete training 8 hours a week can be as vulnerable to overtraining as the athlete training 20 hours a week.  So why is it that so many endurance and ultra endurance athletes are training so much and so hard but struggling with recovery, body composition, health issues and/or...

  As a long-distance triathlon coach, I realize that there will be a time when an athlete will no longer need my coaching services. When this time comes, my hope is that my athlete is not leaving the sport with resentment but instead, due to a new life chapter. It's also my hope that the athlete continues to swim, bike and run, even if it's not to be competitive or to participate in events. Far too often I hear of athletes leaving the sport of triathlon on bad terms. Instead of reflecting on all the great experiences, accomplishments and memories when moving on to the next chapter, the athlete sees triathlon as a waste of time/money/energy, the athlete sells all equipment/gear and family/friends are very bitter about how time/money/energy was spent over x-years/months on a "lifestyle" hobby.  As a collegiate swimmer, I experienced a bit of burnout before my senior year.  I didn't hate the sport of swimming but mentally I needed a change. I picked up cross country ...

It may come as a surprise to many athletes but when you are on a mission to get faster, training long and  fast is not a safe combination. Many times, this leads to overtraining as there is an imbalance between training and recovery. Be mindful that training beyond your body's ability to recover is not correlated to a specific number of training hours. As examples....  "But I don't train 20 hours a week, I only train 8 - how can I be overtrained?"   "But I train much less intensity than I use to train, I don't understand why my hormones are all messed up?" If your body can not recover, adapt or tolerate your given training load, your body is going to give you signs that you are overtraining. When your hormones are out of whack, your bones are becoming weak, your mood is unstable, your body is becoming fragile, you find yourself constantly sick, your appetite has drastically changed, your weight has unintentionally changed, your sleep is disr...

                               Sports are not for everyone, especially endurance sports. Successful age-group, elite or professional athletes and those who seek or crave endurance training carry specific traits and characteristics that are found in highly ambitious individuals. If this speaks loudly to you, ironically, the same traits that help you stay dedicated, committed, consistent and goal-focused in your sport may also help you function at a high capacity in life, with your career, relationships and family. As every endurance athlete and coach understands, there is a specific type of training stress that needs to be applied on the body to encourage physiological changes to improve athletic performance. As a coach with a background in exercise physiology, I can't stress how important it is to place repeated stress on the body in the form of specific workout frequency, intensity and dura...

As a coach, I find that my hardest job is telling athletes to rest. Certainly, my athletes are not seeking an expert to tell them how to take a day off from training but instead, to give well-designed, challenging and well-placed workouts in a periodized, individualized training plan in order to take their fitness to the next level.  When an athlete begins to adapt to training stress, the consistency in training can be very motivating.  Athletes know that to improve fitness, there must be a consistent load placed on the body and often with intensity and at an uncomfortable volume.  So in addition to rest and recovery days, I now have a great respect for rest in the off-season.  And this doesn't mean a few weeks of swim,bike, run workouts without gadgets or group workouts "just for fun." For the past 6-weeks I have done minimal exercising. Less than an hour a day and much of it was not related to swim, bike and run.  Lucky for me, I...