Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

As a life-long athlete, I crave competition. I love showing up to a race with the desire to give my best and leave it all out on the race course. But with the temporary removal of "race day" competitions for the uknown future, I continue to seek opportunities to release my competitive spirit. Some workouts are intense. I find myself smiling (or perhaps it's a cringe) through the pain of a challenging workout that leaves me drenched in sweat and completely drained and empty. These workouts are so hard and the suffering is so intense that it actually cleanses my soul. It's a sick type of pleasure that feeds my inner athlete. Having said that, the passion I feel for the sport of triathlon and being part of this incredible triathlon community provides a sense of belonging, purpose, opportunity for growth and pursuit of victory - all without an actual race day start and finish line. Fortunantly, within every workout, I can still give myself a proverbial start and fi...

Picture  Source At the end of 2019, you probably saw a lot of "year in review" stats floating around social media from your fitness-fanatic friends. While a great way to celebrate all that your body has accomplished over the course of a year, it's not uncommon to hear things like “I only need 50 more miles to make it to 5000 miles of biking for the year, I need to run 8.37 more miles to reach my yearly goal or I didn't reach my swimming goals." Not too long ago, GPS watches didn't exist. The website MapMyRide.com (or run) didnt exist until around in 2005. Unless you measured a distance by a bike computer, ran around a track (or marked course) or drove a specific distance in your car, there was no easy way to know your running miles. To track your workouts, you kept a written log in a journal . There was no Strava or Training Peaks to  accumulate your swim, bike or run total distance.  In many ways, life was actually a lot more simple without all of...

Most of the time, workouts put us into a good mood. We feel much better after the workout is complete, then compared to when we started.  But what if the workout doesn't go as planned and suddenly you find yourself grumpy from the workout that didn't go so well? Seeing that we will all have a bad workout, here are a few tips to help bounce back from an "off" training day. Nutrition Look into your diet. Long hours without eating, not using sport nutrition products properly, dehydration, low blood sugar, overeating, undereating, consuming food too close to bed, too much fiber/fat too close to your workout, or poorly planned meals will affect your energy and how your body performs.  Nutrient timing Did you not time your nutrition well with your workout? Address what sport nutrition products are not working for you. What did you eat in the 2-4 hours before the workout. Generally, it is recommended to reduce fat/fiber before a workout  to help with digestion an...

Whether it's traveling, life stressors or multiple events occurring in a short time period, it's easy to feel off track with your diet and workout routine.  A common tendency for athletes is to see the next "normal" day of life as an opportunity to get back on track.  With an intense desire to "be really good" until life feels normal again, there's nothing wrong with this, right?  Well, it's a problem if your "normal" lifestyle habits are so extreme that you can not function well in life when you feel a loss of control over every situation relating to your diet and workout regime.  For athletes who don't feel safe with their thoughts, choices or feelings when they can not control normal life situations, getting back on track may require an extremely disciplined and restrictive style of eating and going a bit longer and harder with training for the next 48-72 hours, all in an effort to regain control over what didn...

Karel and I have always been active....although I think we had our priorities different when it came to bike riding. Since when did it become uncool to ride your bike without a stuffed animal? One of the best parts about sharing an active lifestyle with someone else is seeing each other grow in a sport (or with fitness). We all have great workouts now and then but not always are they shared with others. The other day, Karel had an "off" day on the bike. We did a swim+ bike workout and although he had an amazing workout in the pool, he just had no power in legs on the bike. Rather than try to push through it, I continued on with the workout as planned and Karel did his own thing which involved soft pedaling and a little drafting off my wheel. We all have those days when we feel a little "off" but knowing how to handle those days may be different for all of us. Since Karel and I coach ourselves, it is easy to modify workouts on a whim although making sm...