Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Fueling the Vegetarian Athlete – nail the basics In the current (May) issue of  Triathlete Magazine  (pg 64), I discuss some of the important considerations in fueling the vegetarian athlete. This month I am celebrating 24-years of being a vegetarian (lacto-ovo). In the month of April, when I was 10 years old, I came home from school one day and told my parents that I didn't want to eat animals anymore. I've always loved animals and even at a young age, it was my love for animals that prompted me to be a vegetarian. I'm pretty sure I didn't call myself a vegetarian in my early years as that word wasn't part of my vocabulary but instead I just told people "I don't eat meat". My diet has evolved over the past two decades, especially as I learned more about nutrition and sport nutrition. But in all reality, my diet is no different than yours except for that I don't eat meat or fish. I'm assuming you eat a lot of plants too, right? Even thou...

Hello, my name is Marni and I am a 9x Ironman finisher, 4x Ironman World Championship finisher, USAT coach and the female winner of the 2014 HITS Ocala half ironman, the overall amateur female winner of the 2012 Branson 70.3 triathlon and overall winner of the 2012 Iron Girl Clearwater Half Marathon. This month I will celebrate 23 years of eating a meat-free. I eat carbohydrates like grains, potatoes and even cereal. I use sport nutrition when I train - always. I drink milk and eat yogurt - daily. I love fresh bread and I eat dark chocolate. I love real food. My name is Marni and I am fueled by plants. And my hubby Karel eats meat but I'll still call him a a plant-strong athlete because his diet is rich in fruits, veggies, whole grains, dairy and a variety of plant strong proteins.  When you see a meal like this (above), a meal of 5 different kinds and colors of veggies tossed in olive oil, baked tempeh, cooked lentils and quinoa, do you think unhealthy athlete who ca...

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 ...

Fueled by plants   With so much information on healthy eating, sport nutrition and dieting, I really enjoy writing about topics that I know a lot about from first-hand experience. When   Girls Gone Strong   approached me to write an article about fueling the vegetarian endurance athlete, I was super excited about the opportunity to introduce others to my plant strong lifestyle.  As a 22-year vegetarian and 9x Ironman finisher, I think it is safe to say that my diet is not a temporary fad and perhaps I know a thing or two about fueling the plant-strong athlete.  I hope you find that my   article   is an informative way to help you understand how to eat to be a healthy endurance athlete and how to do so, if you choose vegetarianism. This article  is not persuading you to become a vegetarian athlete to boost performance, nor is it telling you that your health and performance will automatically improve should you c...

It's National Pancake Day!!! It was very important to me that my campers at the Trimarni endurance triathlon camp had food that would help their bodies stay nourished and fueled throughout camp. It was never even a thought to get lunches catered, to order pre-made meals from a restaurant/fast food establishment or to buy pre-made options at the grocery store. It gives me great joy to enjoy food around others and I wanted my campers to enjoy food that makes them yum, with their fellow campers (and new friends). So, since I was providing food for the campers at the Trimarni camp for lunch on Day 1 and Day 2, I wanted to make sure that I could accommodate all dietary preferences that were listed on the camper questionnaire (provided pre-camp). As a dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition, it was important to me that I also provided food that would be easy to digest post workouts, would help with refueling and repairing post workout and would ensure happy tummies through...

I'm sure you can only imagine the fun I had at the grocery stores in Czech Republic during our  trip in May.  And oh did it all taste great too! Have you been adding to your "off limit" food list over the past few months/years? How about rethinking your meals as you learn how to develop a healthy relationship with food? It's time to free yourself from food rules and "bad" food. Trimarni Tip (from the Sumbal household who always has a loaf of fresh local bread in the house at all times): Pics from our Czech Republic trip in May I find many people are all or nothing. Either you LOVE bread and eat it all the time or bread is bad and it is off limit. I think the same is true for any food or food group. People hear low and they think no and if they hear something is good, it is consumed in excess. Since when did our society become so extreme with everything? The key is balance for any meal but hopefully you are looking for easy ways to cr...

Every day we go to bed with happy tummy's  and wake up with a body that is energized and ready to train and have a great day. We owe it all to real food that fuels our active lifestyle and keeps our immune system healthy and our brain thinking clearly.  No matter how many legs you have in the Sumbal house, we all love real food.  I created the plant strong meal for Karel  (see below - my entire dinner) and he finished it off with Kuřecí řízek (chicken schnitzel) and local sourdough fresh bread. Nothing like European food that brings memories from home.  So simple yet so delicious. Frozen mixed veggies with fresh mushrooms and sliced onions sautéed in olive oil with toasted quinoa and brown rice. I can't believe my 21 year plant strong diet is gearing me up for my seventh Ironman in 32 days. Yay for real food that makes my tummy and body happy. And for my little furry child who is not a fan of any type of dog food (we've tried so many!), even...

When I started triathlons, I was rather obsessed. My life revolved around training morning and night. Twice a day, everyday. The training lifestyle was not too much different than my college life of swimming twice a day, 5 days a week and then a long workout on Saturday, day off Sunday. Although I had about a year of discovering triathlons after college in 2004, I welcome my new triathlon lifestyle when I was in graduate school as I loved having something to prepare for and look forward to every day, all day.  That passion, excitement and motivation has not gone away for if it did, I would not be doing triathlons now 7 years later. But instead, my approach to training has changed as I have discovered that triathlons is not my life, but instead my lifestyle. Life has presented many obstacles, highs and lows over the past few years and as much as I had my swim-bike-run routine to look forward to every single day, I had other commitments in life that required more of my att...

Salads don't have to be boring unless this is your idea of a salad. And certainly, you don't have to be the party-pooper if you bring a plant-strong meal to a holiday event. Certainly, there will be plenty of options to enjoy a little of everything and of course, I want you to enjoy your options and feel great about whatever you put into your body. But, perhaps, as you happily indulge in some occasional treats/eats, you may inspire others by your delicious, nutrient-dense creation. Growing up as a competitive swimmer, I was never a salad eater and didn't really focus on eating a lot of veggies..... unless they were drenched in ranch dressing and covered with croutons and cheese.  And even though I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian at the age 10ish, my definition of plant-strong was "I don't eat meat"....so that meant, bring on the cheese and anything that doesn't have meat or fish in it! Oh how times have changed. Still a competitive athlete but I have...