Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

I'll be honest. This week has been tough. As an empath, I feel the emotions of other people - good and bad. With so much going on in the world and in our close network of friends, I found myself absorbing so many different emotions this past week. It was often hard to show up to workouts but I knew that once I got myself in the pool or outside for a ride or run, I would be able to center myself. Nature rejuvenates me on so many different levels so my workouts are not just an opportunity to gain fitness, but a much-needed reset and recharge.  With only three more weeks until the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George, I am feeling healthy, strong and confident. As I said before, sometimes it's hard to get a workout started but once I get going, I am so thankful that I got myself going.  During my Sunday long run, I couldn't help but think about happiness and the importance of choosing happiness. My love/hate relationship with running is in the love phase so I have bee...

  After we returned home from an  eventful gravel ride , I spent the rest of Sunday licking my wounds (not figuratively). Although I discovered a small crack in my helmet, I'm thankful that I didn't have any issues with my head or neck. My arm, leg, knee and hand were uncomfortable due to the scratches and wounds but otherwise, I was grateful and thankful that nothing worse happened during my crash. Even my bike was ok!  After the impactful crash, I knew my body needed a lot of sleep to start the recovery process so I went to bed earlier and tried to sleep as much as possible. After a somewhat productive Monday, the beautiful weather was begging me to get outside. Karel joined me for an easy spin on our road bikes and my good friend Kristen also joined us. We saw our friend Thomas on the trail and he joined us as well. It was great fun to ride together on the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Traveler's Rest to downtown Greenville.  After we arrived downtown, Karel was ready f...

Thanks to the Greenville Winter Bike League, I had reason to get on my road bike at 10am every Saturday for the past eight weeks. I also had the accountability to layer-up and venture out in the cold weather for 3+ hours week after week. I only missed one ride due to the weather (we had a rain/snow the night prior and the roads were a little icy so I went out on my own solo ride). What started out as an opportunity to socialize with other people turned into so much more than I had imagined. I met new people, stretched my comfort zone, challenged myself in the designated QOM and sprint zones, improved my cycling skills, discovered new bike friendly routes, won some money (woot woot) and braved the cold winter conditions - all on two wheels. Here's the schedule (and routes) for all eight of the GVL WBL  group rides. Here are the route links to the last two rides:  GVL WBL #7 GVL WBL #8 The last ride was a tough one. It was a smaller group of around 30 cyclists and we covered 63 ...

  Photo by Yannick Over the past six weeks, Karel and I have been participating in the GVL WBL (Greenville Winter Bike League) group ride. The ride starts and finishes at Trailblazer park, which is a convenient 2.9 miles from our house (we bike there and back).  Every week I anxiously check the website for the upcoming route and mileage. The ride is put on by Debbie Milne and Andrew Crater and it's a very well organized, safe and well-supported ride. Thankfully, we have such a bike friendly community so having a group of 30-80 cyclists isn't a problem on our quiet country roads. We have been introduced to new routes - which is always exciting for us to find new bike-friendly roads. The riding options here in Greenville are endless! Each ride also has a designated stop around half way (to fuel/refuel) and there is always one or two SAG support vehicles that follow us along and mark the KOM/QOM or sprint zones with signs. Like I said - it's super organized! Everyone brings a...

Whether you are a competitive athlete of fitness enthusiast, or going from couch to exerciser, it's important to ease yourself into any type of exercise/training regime. While you may feel extremely motivated to whip yourself into great shape, too much too soon can lead to injury, health issues or burnout. No matter what level fitness you were before you gave yourself a break from exercise/training, remind yourself that you can't just restart where you left off.  It's important to put your ego aside as you keep these tips in mind to ensure a safe and sustainable exercise routine. Don't expect too much of yourself.  Be kind to yourself.  Don't look for quick results.  Focus on the process - consistency and frequency.  Don't neglect lifestyle habits.  Create realistic, attainable short term goals.  Stick to a schedule that works for you right now in your life.  Keep it simple. Stretch your comfort zone, don't jump out of it....

Ask me to train at an aerobic effort for several hours and I will gladly say yes please. My body was  trained/built for endurance and I love going the distance. As for intense workouts, they scare the heck out of me! Sprint - no thank you! Whenever my heart beats out of my chest, I can hardly catch my breath and my body aches, I feel so incredibly uncomfortable, my first thought is to lower the intensity or just give up. There have been countless times when I was training with Karel and I tell him "I can't do this, I need to give up" (or think those things in a race) and by simply saying this outside, I immediately call myself out on my negative thinking and stay persistent until I finish what I started. I have learned that if you want to excel in something, you have to step outside of your comfort zone and do the things that you are not good at (or what scares you). Nothing great will come from always doing what you are great at. As it relates to training/working out,...

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...

As I was swimming the other day, I started to think about the many, many years that I have changed out of warm clothes and into a swimsuit, cap and goggles, only to jump into a cold pool, to swim back and forth for thousands of yards at a time. Even after starting competitive swimming at the age of 10, I feel so lucky that I still love to swim. However, I can't say that over the past 23 years, it has always been easy to drive myself to a pool, get excited to go from perfectly dry to soaking wet and stay committed to a swim workout. Of course, when there is a coach on deck and your teammates are working hard, you don't make excuses, you just do the work.  But the pool is still my happy place. I love the way my body feels when it is non-weight bearing and the fact that I can get a great cardio and muscular workout in the water.   Now that I am in my 10th year of endurance training and racing (and 23rd/24th year of being a competitive athlete - wow, that is a LONG t...

I recently heard a great saying when it comes to training.  Every workout should help you be more prepared for the next workout.  I couldn't agree more.  With our "train smart" approach to training, our goal is never to destroy the body. This is not limited to just putting training stress on the body with specific workouts but also with nutrition. No workout is performed without proper nutrition before, during and after workouts. Just to make myself clear, Karel and I never  perform a workout without a snack before, sport nutrition during (powder in a bottle of water each hour) and some type of recovery snack or meal post workout. I just see no point in sabotaging a workout by not fueling properly to support the immune system, postpone fatigue and to enhance recovery.    Additionally, we never create a workout that is so "epic" that the human body can not recover within a short time frame. As an age group triathlete, time is not unlimited...

This morning I woke up at 5:30am to thunder which brought in some rain. But after 93 miles (5 hours and 40 minutes) and 6200 feet of climbing yesterday, I was ready to finish the week with my scheduled long run.  After my typical pre-training snack of rice cake + PB + raisins + honey + banana slices + granola and some water and coffee, I was out the door around 7am to start my dynamic warm-up.  7:20am my Garmin 910XT was turned on and off I went.  There have been many new things to get use to in Greenville but one that sticks out (and makes my heart beat a bit faster) the most is: HILLS - and lots of them! Aside from the Swamp Rabbit Trail, everywhere that I run has an incline and a decline. We live about 1 mile from the west end of downtown, 1/2 mile from the HS track, 2 miles from the YMCA and 1.5 miles to Falls Park. All of my favorite places to run to include hills and my quads are slowly getting use to this change.  Some of my favorite r...

" Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses." - George Washington Carver     Saturday morning brick: 2:45 trainer ride 1 hour warm-up (including 20 min of 1 min single leg drills each leg, then both together, etc.) Main set:  3 x 15 min Z3 upper w/ 5 min EZ (cadence 90+ rpm) 10 min EZ 2 x 5 min Z4 low w/ 3 min EZ (cadence 90+rpm) Cool down   30 min (3.5 miles) treadmill 'brick' run 15 min warm-up (last 5 minutes picked up the pace a little) Rest/straddle treadmill for 1 minute Main set: 5 x 2 minutes (90 sec at half IM race pace, 30 sec at olympic distance race pace) w/ 1 min rest/straddle treadmill Cool down walk   Sunday long run (treadmill): 10.5 miles/1:25 Dynamic stretching warm-up 30 min warm-up (stretched out every 8-10 minutes) Main set 3x's: 5 min @ half marathon race pace (+20 sec slower) 5 x 1 min @ Olympic distance race pace w/ 20 sec rest in betwee...