Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

A smoothie can be a perfect recovery beverage.  This blended (or shaken) beverage can be a good source of carbs, protein, electrolytes and fluids, and makes for a well-tolerated snack when fatigue, exhaustion, and dehydration linger post-workout. But does every workout require a protein-packed smoothie? ❌Skip the engineered foods and expensive shakes and make yourself a nutritious well-balanced meal if: 👉You only exercise once a day and have long recovery periods between two workouts. 👉Your workout is neither intense or high volume. 👉You can eat a meal within 45 minutes of the workout. ✅Certain situations justify a recovery drink before a real meal. Go for the post-workout smoothie if: 👉There are less than eight hours between two workouts. 👉Your workout is high intensity or high volume. 👉Muscle damage has occurred (ex. plyometrics or weight-bearing activity). 👉You can’t eat a meal within 45 min of your workout. 👉Your workout included eccentric movements (downhill running, s...

I've heard some recent talk by athletes of their concerns of a post-workout smoothie containing berries and greens. Athletes are hearing that they should avoid berries and greens for at least 4 hours post workout in order to optimize recovery. The case for avoiding antioxidant rich foods immediately after exercise is based on research saying that "antioxidant supplements seem to be working against the beneficial effects of exercise: Promoting, rather than reducing, oxidative stress." In other words, antioxidants can actually increase inflammation, rather than decreasing it. As a Board Certified Sport Dietitian, I'd like to share my thoughts on this topic. But first I'd like to say that this is a topic that needs much more quality research before we (nutrition experts) can make a general recommendation to apply to all athletes. A free radical is an unstable molecule that’s missing at least one electron in its outermost orbit, which causes it to be negatively c...

In case you didn't hear...... It snowed in Greenville, SC! It was so pretty to wake up to a white backyard.  However, Campy was NOT happy when he woke up Saturday morning and discovered all the white, cold stuff outside. Clearly, he is not impressed with the snow.  Campy was not interested in walking anywhere that had snow on the ground so it made for an interesting morning for him to find the perfect spot to do his morning business.  As for the rest of the day, Campy made himself comfortable in the warmest spot in the house.  Since Campy stuck to his routine of resting all morning, we stuck to our routine of training.  Karel stationed himself in the fit studio where he was entertained with multiple screens and his Cyclops virtual training and Bkool Pro Smart Trainer app for a little bike trainer fun. I had our  at-home-gym  all to myself to suffer and sweat with nothing but me and some jamming mu...

Julia Child was fearless and creative in the kitchen. If there was one person I wish I had the opportunity to meet, passed away or alive, it would be Julia Child. I could not think of a cooler experience than being in the kitchen with Julia Child and then yumming over a meal with her. She had this special gift of helping people feel comfortable in the kitchen. And no matter your cooking skills, she made cooking easy and fun no matter the recipe or food. I have been challenging myself in the kitchen by making homemade soups. I sure do love Amy's Organic soups  but my New Year resolution was challenging myself more with recipes. And since I am not one for resolutions, I started this challenge a few weeks before the New Year. I found this recipe on the  Whole Foods Market  website and actually followed the entire recipe. I'm not giving up my creativeness in the kitchen as I am not one to follow a recipe or all the ingredients included but I gave this one a go and it came ou...

Strawberry chocolate ginger smoothie Ingredients 30g  protein powder  (grams are protein amount. Vegan, soy or whey protein are fine). 1/2 tsp chopped ginger 1 large celery stick (chopped) 5 baby carrots 1/2 cup organic soy milk (or your choice of milk) Dash of cinnamon 5 coffee beans (optional) 1 square dark chocolate (I used  Ghirardelli 86% Cacao ) 4 pineapple chunks 4 large strawberries 1/2 banana 1 tbsp chia seeds 3/4 cup water 1 cup ice cubes 1. Place ingredients in blender (except protein) and blend until ice is crushed.  2. Add protein powder and blend until you reach your consistency needs (the longer you blend, the more volume you will make for a thicker smoothie).  3. Optional - top with a little granola for a crunch in your glass. Serves 2 people (16 ounces each person) I recommend to treat this as a "meal" per person. This is a great way to recover from a workout or to just enjoy a smoothie as a balanced, wholesome meal, f...

Pomegranate smoothie 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds 1/2 large orange (without peel) 1 large celery stick (chopped) 1/2 large banana (very ripe) 1 tsp ginger chopped 1 tbsp chia seeds 1/2 cup  milk 1/3 cup greek yogurt (Fage 0% plain) Small handful spinach 1 tsp cinnamon ~25g protein powder 10 ice cubes water to meet consistency needs. 1. Blend ingredients for 90 seconds to make a smoothie meal that is thick enough to eat with a spoon.  Zucchini pomegranate banana bread 2 bananas (very ripe), mashed 1 egg 1 tbsp olive oil 1/4 tsp salt 1 tbsp vanilla extract 1/3 cup skim milk Pinch nutmeg Pinch all spice 1 tsp cinnamon 1 cup zucchini (shredded) 1 cup pomegranate seeds. 2 tbsp white sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1 cup oat flour 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8 x 1 1/2 inch pans with non stick spray. 2. Combine all ingredients except flour and mix well. 3. Add the flour until evenly combined. 4. Pour batter in one pan until 3/4th filled. Pour leftover batter ...

In the Trimarni house, we eat for fuel and for health. And most of all, eating is a happy time so we also eat for pleasure. The same foods that fuel our active lifestyle, also keep our immune system healthy. Most of all, they are mostly whole and are found in a farm/garden so they also reduce our risk for disease. There are no bad, off limit or temporary foods. We don't diet, cleanse, fast or do anything extreme wit the diet. The only thing extreme about us is that we enjoy racing for 140.6 miles and Campy gets waaaaay too much love (but that will never stop). We love whole foods that offer the nutrients that we need to support our healthy and active lifestyle. We don't count calories, we count training hours. We enjoy the rewards of what a well-fueled, healthy and strong body allows us to do - year round - whether we are training for starting lines or moving for health gains. We don't have a working scale. We eat for fuel, health and pleasure and after a fe...

Oster BRLY07-B 7-Speed Fusion Blender I love my blender.....it is affordable and it durable. Two very important criteria for a Trimarni blender..for any food or gadget in my kitchen must fuel my active and healthy lifestyle. I don't eat for calories but for health, performance and for pleasure.  When it comes to my eating "style", I'd say it is very intuitive. There's a lot of thinking about how food will make me feel as I eat it and afterward, some planning ahead but absolutely no guilty thoughts. I do not lecture or stress about food and eating is a happy time. Certainly, this was a long time in the making for several years of discovering a way of eating that works for me. But for the last few years, I have found myself with food freedom. In other words, food does not consume my life but instead it enhances me life. Food is not bad, overwhelming or difficult to understand but instead, something that I need on a daily basis for fuel and for health bu...

It was a chilly weekend here in Florida - Saturday and Sunday I woke up to low 40's but I didn't let that stop me from enjoying the beautiful "winter" weather here in Jacksonville. Not a cloud in the sky but like usual, the wind was blowing. The workouts went well but I am exhausted. The good kind of exhausting - enough to make my eyes heavy for a great night of sleep but not too much that I can't do it all over again the next day. The perfect amount of training stress in order to adapt.  Saturday - 3:06 ride + 36 min run Group ride in Nocatee followed by 4 x 8 min Z4 w/ 2 min EZ (solo) 4.5 miles off the bike - comfortable perceived exertion pace. Sunday - 2:15 ride + 6.2 mile run  (1 loop in nocatee) Ride was solo - after warm-up, main set 3x's: 5 x 1 min on/1 min off 5 min Z3 w/ 65-70 cadence (heavy gear) 5 min EZ spin. Then repeat. What a leg burner! 1 loop descending run - 3 miles comfortable (perceived exertion - holding around 8-8:10 m...

  Another week is about to come to an end. Branson 70.3 is approaching and life is keeping us busy. After our hilly bike + run workout in San Antonio (Dade City), Florida this AM, I'm in recovery mode so this blog post is very random but a brief summary of the week.   First off, another pic of Campy. Doing his thing - focusing on a good night of rest.   What a workout today! Karel told me it would be tough....and it was. 58 miles in hilly San Antonio - staying on his wheel and keeping his pace. Love my new climbing cassette and enjoyed having Karel in front of me to remind me how to pace my race on Sept 23rd. Love the hills but also need to race smart.     After the bike we went our seperate ways as I can no longer keep up w/ Karel on the run. We both ran for about an hour but w/ Karel holding an average pace of 6:50 min/mile for his 8 miles, I was just glad to do my thing for 7 miles. It was blazin' hot but we both felt good when it...

What a beautiful weekend! The weather forecasted rain all weekend and instead we received clouds, comfortable temps for training and a few sprinkles from the sky. My 2 hr and 45 minute bike on Sat included a lot of wind and with every interval into the headwind, I gave my legs a little pep talk that I would be enjoying the tailwind in a matter of time. This week has been a fantastic recovery week with just enough of tempo work and "schedule" to keep my body fresh and recoverying without too much intensity. After the bike I went for a leisurely jog, monitoring my heart rate as I went by feel on the run. 4 miles later, Campy was ready for his part of the run...a quick sprint around the block. Unlike me, Campy is a born sprinter! This morning the wind was once again howling so decided to do my 90 minute pre-run bike warm-up on the road where I live...riding 4.5 miles each way for a few loops into the headwind and then enjoying the tailwind. I saw so many people outside on the ru...