Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

As you go from winter to spring to summer, it takes much more effort and energy to maintain a "normal" pace as the temperature rises. As a way to keep your exercising body safe in the heat, your body increases your sweat rate to remove heat from your body through evaporative cooling. As you become dehydrated (from fluid loss), blood volume decreases. In turn, more blood going to the skin means less going to your heart. To maintain cardiac output (the amount of blood pumped by the heart minute), heart rate increases in order to supply the working muscles with blood. But due to a decline in blood availability (for cooling), less blood is available to go to the working muscles. When the body can no longer take care of all of its responsibilities (remember - all of this is happening so you don't die in the heat), your body begins to shut down to keep you safe. If you ignore the signs of overheating, heat builds up in your body, your core temp increases and you are at risk for...

The unfortunate truth is that most endurance athletes underfuel in training and overfuel on race day. Sure you completed your training sessions but did your physiology change? Did you get stronger, more resilient, fitter or faster? Were you able to recover properly to gain the necessary fitness for your upcoming event? Did you gain confidence in your race day fueling and pacing plan? Underfueling can be from many reasons: Fear of gaining weight A desire to lose weight Trying to be more "metabolically efficient" Not knowing how to use sport nutrition products appropriately Worrying about the sugar from sport nutrition because its not "healthy"  Not feeling that (more) calories are needed during training session Getting by with minimal nutrition Not planning stops accordingly to refill bottles Poor meal planning/feeling rushed to get in a workout Not knowing how much energy/fluids are needed to support the trianing session  Underfueling does not enhance performance an...

Practice, practice, practice.  I can't tell you how many athletes arrive to a long distance race without confidence in their fueling and hydration plan. A precise balance of carbs, fluids and electrolytes are needed to delay the onset of fatigue by sparing liver glycogen, maintaining blood glucose concentrations and off-setting excessive fluid losses from sweating. You can't 'fake it 'til you make it' when it comes to fueling during a long distance event. It's not uncommon for athletes to underfuel/hydrate in training and then overcomplicate fueling strategies on race day due to fear of running out of energy. Whereas too little of an energy intake (carbs, calories) is detrimental to performance, not having a well-practiced nutrition plan may result in GI issues, or more serious health complications. It seems obvious that if you are going to do something on race day, you should repeatedly do it in training, but far too often is this not the case. Rushed and busy...

Preparing for a triathlon is much more than registering for a race and training to improve fitness. Sport nutrition plays an important role in race day readiness. Whether you are traveling to compete in a full distance triathlon or participating in a local sprint triathlon, dialing in your race day nutrition is key.How you fuel during a race primarily depends on the duration of the event, the weather and your racing intensity. No matter your experience, proper fueling will help you maximize your performance without compromising your health. While you may be able to get away with a haphazard sport nutrition strategies (or not fueling at all) during your workouts, an enjoyable race day means avoiding these common performance limiters - extreme fatigue, cramping, dehydration, gastrointestinal issues. Because proper sport nutrition should be part of your training and not something you only do a few times per month (or in the two weeks before your race), I'm providing some easy 'get...

There are several scenarios in which athletes do things that may appear unhealthy to an "outsider" in order to keep the body in good health. For example, someone who exercises 60-minutes a day does not require 200+ calories to fuel the workout. But an athlete preparing for a 4-hour ride will plan for at least 60g of carbohydrates per hour in the form of sport nutrition to prolong endurance capacity.  Another scenario athletes apply is drastically reducing fiber-rich foods (like vegetables) in the 24-72 hours prior to an endurance event. If you've ever had an upset stomach, you have a gastrointestinal condition such as Crohn's or diverticulitis or prepared for a colonoscopy, there's a good chance you understand the purpose (and benefits) of a temporarily limiting dietary fiber.  Before discussing the benefits of a low residue diet, first it's important to understand how poop is made.  The digestive system includes the liver, pancreas, gallbladder and gastrointe...

The gut is a very important athletic organ because it is responsible for the delivery of nutrients and fluids during exercise. The gut is highly adaptable and should be trained repeatedly in training - just like the muscles and heart. Unfortunately, many athletes are reluctant (or afraid due to body composition concerns, previous GI complaints and 'they sayers') to take in recommended amounts of carbohydrates, calories, sodium and fluids before and during long workouts. Sadly, this results in underfueling in training and far too common, overfueling on race day. By practicing your pre-race and race day nutrition many times prior to race day, you can improve absorption of nutrition, improve gut tolerance and learn what works (and doesn't work) to reduce the chance of GI distress and to improve performance. Although GI distress is common among endurance athletes, race day performance-limiting upper- and lower-gastrointestinal (GI) issues are highly preventable. Although causes...

"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...

Preparing for a triathlon is much more than checking off workouts to improve fitness and booking travel accommodations. Nutrition plays an important role in race day readiness. Whether you are training for an Ironman distance triathlon, half marathon or a local sprint triathlon, nutritional preparation is key. How you fuel during a race primarily depends on the duration of the event and your racing intensity (which is based on your fitness level). Proper fueling will help you maximize recovery, fuel your workouts appropriately, boost your immune system and to maintain a healthy body composition, alongside building confidence for race day. While you may be able to get away with a haphazard sport nutrition strategies (or not fueling at all) during short workouts, competing at your best requires you to constantly fine-tune sport nutrition strategies to help minimize the fluid, electrolyte and fuel depletion that will occur throughout the event. Because proper sport nutrition should be par...

I didn't think that I would be writing a blog post about race day nutrition in 2020 but here we are, just two sleeps away from our first triathlon race of the season. Although it's September (which would be viewed as late season racing in years past), it's surreal to think that this will be our first triathlon race in 11 months!  While not every race day nutrition mistake is a limiter to performance, athletes are quick to place the blame on nutrition when a race day performance doesn't go as planned.  Here are some common race day nutrition mistakes that may compromise your race day performance (and health):  Overfueling - With pressure to perform at your best, it's understandable that you want to optimize performance. With this comes a need to fuel - a lot - in an effort to offset a slow down. Overfueling before and during the race can leave the belly uncomfortably full and cause lethargy. It's understandable to fear running out of energy during the race but o...

Preparing for a triathlon is much more than checking off workout to improve fitness and booking travel accommodations. Nutrition plays an important role in race day readiness. Whether you are training for an Ironman or a local sprint triathlon, nutritional preparation is key. How you fuel during a race primarily depends on the duration of the event and your racing intensity (which is based on your fitness level). Nevertheless, proper fueling will help you maximize recovery, fuel your workouts appropriately, boost your immune system and to maintain a healthy body composition, alongside building confidence for race day. While triathletes can get away with a haphazard sport nutrition strategies (or not fueling at all) during short workouts, competing at your best requires you to constantly fine-tune sport nutrition strategies to help minimize the fluid, electrolyte and fuel depletion that may compromise your performance and health on race day. Because proper sport nutrition should...

Training is easy. You feel great when you get your endorphin boost, you can control your environment (or select your terrain), there is no pressure because no one is watching or tracking you and you know that if a workout doesn't go as planned, you always have tomorrow to try again. On the other hand, race day is stressful! Feeling pressure to perform - especially in an unfamiliar and/or uncontrolled environment - brings anxiety, nerves and expectations. It's easy to compare yourself to other athletes and experience a heightened fear of failure. Never in training do you feel what you feel on race day. Far too many athletes complain that they can train better than they race - finishing a race feeling like they underperformed, relating back to all the amazingly great workouts that they crushed, yet feel defeated as to why they were unable to perform on race day, despite feeling so prepared.  One of the great challenges for triathletes is translating training into a great...

We have all been there - that unpleasant race-day incident that you hope will never happen again. Although we'd like to think those "oh-no" moments are no big deal (hey, no one is perfect), it's not easy to move on from the Worst. Mistake. Ever. As you think back to your most embarrassing race-day moments, check out a few of my nutrition tips in my recent Triathlete Magazine article (July 2018, pg 66), to help you successfully recover from the most humiliating situations. 

Don't you love it when everything comes together on race day and you feel incredible at the finish line? Ha - as someone who has raced 12 Ironman events, 4 Ironman World championship events and countless half IM events, I wish I could say that everything always comes together on race day. Some of my "best" performances have included race day mishaps and obstacles to overcome in order to reach the finish line. For endurance athletes, it's rare to hear of an athlete who never experiences nutrition problems on race day. While not every nutrition issue is a limiter to performance, it seems as if athletes are quick to blame nutrition when a race performance goes wrong. Recognizing that endurance events place extreme stress on the human body, the athlete who develops, fine-tunes and perfects a fueling and hydration plan in training and practices in key long workouts and low priority races will naturally be at a competitive advantage come race day for nutrition is a cri...

The nutrition goal for any performance-minded endurance athlete is to create a fueling and hydration strategy that delivers carbohydrates to the working muscles based on event intensity and duration and to minimize major dehydration and body mass losses. Carbohydrates and fluids play a very important role in your ability to adapt to training, while keeping your body in good health. By incorporating sport nutrition and proper fueling methods (pre and post workout) into your daily regime, you will not only improve health and performance but you will gain confidence for race day, all while keeping your body in optimal health.  As simple as it sounds to "eat lots of carbs" before your race in order to load liver and muscle glycogen stores with carbohydrates to delay fatigue, pre­-race fueling is a personalized science that requires time and trial and error. Although I am a proponent of carbohydrate consumption before race day, if you have yet to fine-tune your pre-worko...

Many athletes blame a poor race day performance on nutrition, which doesn't surprise me since most athletes underfuel in training and guess their way through race day sport nutrition. As it relates to long-distance racing, nutrition is a critical component to race day success. While what, when and how you consume sport nutrition during the race can optimize your ability to perform with your body from start to finish, equally, if not more important, is your nutrition going into a race. From my personal experience as a Board Certified Sport Dietitian, who specializes in working with endurance athletes, here are some of the common pre-race nutrition mistakes that I see often, that keep athletes from reaching athletic excellence. Unhealthy relationship with carbs - A fear of carbohydrates can keep athletes from properly loading muscle and liver glycogen stores going into a race. On the other edge of the spectrum, eating every carbohydrate in sight can leave you feeling lethargic...

It’s no easy task to train for and race in a 140.6 mile event as it is huge undertaking for the body and requires a big commitment in life. I can’t believe that in the past 14 months, I have crossed 4 Ironman finish lines. For three of those races, I had 3 consecutive PR finishing times (10:43, 10:37, 10:17). Incredibly, in 2013 I raced two Ironman races within 14 weeks from one another and in 2014, I raced two Ironman races within 11 weeks of one another. My body has not only let me  finish every Ironman I have started but I also recently qualified for the Ironman World Championships twice, within the past 14 months. In the past 14 months, Karel (who just learned how to swim 2 years and 2 months ago) has progressed extremely quickly with his triathlon fitness and is now racing at the top of his age group. As Karel and I continue learn more about the sport of endurance triathlons, we continue to train and race smarter. And the biggest contributor to us getting faster...