Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

\ Dr. Seuss makes it sound so simple and easy. Although at times, I am sure we all feel like the following... Source As an athlete, I always tell myself I am teetering on the edge: the edge of injury, burnout, exhaustion, over-commitment, stress, anxiety, etc. etc. etc. the list goes on and on and on. We (as athletes and fitness enthusiasts) are very comfortable with a lot on our plate and while some people may struggle with one or two daily tasks, we love to see how much we can handle until we break. Of course, we never expect to break, right? Really no point in the beginning of this blog post except to continuously remind yourself as to the best balance in your personal life so that every night you go to bed feeling satisfied with the day and excited for tomorrow. Find that right balance between diet and exercise so that your days aren't wasted but rather used with a purpose. As you reflect on your daily routine, here are a few recent media links of mine, that I w...

On Monday evening I had the opportunity to teach the  Baptist HeartWise  nutrition class to a room full of 20 passionate, energetic and open-minded women who want to improve their cardiovascular health.  I don't feel as if a meat-free, vegetarian-style diet is the best diet for everyone but there is a tremendous amount of research that a diet strong in plants will provide the necessary vitamins and minerals to help keep the body well. You can't prevent disease but you can certainly minimize the risk.  I feel our society needs a little kick in the butt when it comes to de-emphasizing the processed, convenient food and emphasizing a more wholesome diet. When I speak to people about eating a more plant-strong diet, I avoid telling people what not to eat but instead, speak in a way as if you have no idea what you are missing in consuming a more real food diet.  But with this great attention placed on eating more wholesome food, this can also be a do...

Fear-based training. I have mentioned it in the past and it is something that is very familiar to athletes who are training for individual-sporting events. I think of it like a college student with a big exam on the radar. Two months to prepare seems like an eternity so it is unlikely that one would start studying that far in advance. Plenty of time, right? So instead of studying a little bit every day in order to retain information, days slip by and the student begins to get more fearful of the big day. One month away and the motivation is there but it is a bit sub par - the book is open but there is more goofing around and scratching the surface than really accepting the challenge ahead and that time is running out. Two weeks left and it is crunch time. Eek! Long hours, exhaustion in both mind and body but there is not other choice at this point. Try to squeeze in 60 days worth of studying into 14 days and the only thought is "I wish I would have started s...

Are you in the beginning phase of your season training? Likely you have been told that your training should be long and slow. Especially if you are an endurance athlete, in order to build aerobic capacity, you should be training at a very low heart rate, teaching the body to metabolize fat for fuel and should teaching your body how to get more comfortable being aerobic in order to prepare for your upcoming next phase of training. Unless you are a very new athlete to the sport of triathlons  and are learning how to get more comfortable on the bike or in the pool, the focus right now in this "base" phase should not be 100% long, slow distance.  (I don't believe in "slow" running if it comes with poor form due to purposely trying to run slow as that can be damaging to the body. Keep in mind, the word slow is relative..what is slow for you may be fast to others.) If anything, steady is a better word and slow should be removed from your training vocabulary. Also -...

In light of all the Lance Armstrong talk that is going around, I couldn't help but think about the "win at all costs" philosophy that keeps our society driven to reach the standards of others. Certainly, we feel pressure to please others or meet expectations and then we feel like failures if we come up short. The pressure that we put on ourselves is often unbearable yet we do it all the time. Beyond competitive athletes, our society is built on standards. Living a certain way, acting a certain way, looking a certain way. The interesting thing is that we all live in our own community bubble so depending on who we surround ourselves with on a day-to-day basis, that is our standard. Live in a runner or triathlete bubble? Perhaps you are constantly comparing your body, training schedule, paces or performance to those who are better than you. Live in a wealthy bubble? Perhaps your lifestyle isn't "good enough" for your neighbors or coworkers. Live in an...

If you are currently training for a triathlon event and wanting to improve your swimming, the most important thing you can do right now is to get into the water. Depending on where you live (weather), pool times and accessibly and overall motivation to jump into water, only to swim the exact same distance, over and over again for x-amount of time, it's likely that many of you will put off swimming until you start to freak out that it is time to start working on your swimming. As a coach, I call this fear-based-training and it isn't limited to the triathlete who is not comfortable in the water. Fear based training also applies to individuals who do an excessive amount of mileage or volume on the weeks leading up to a race because of the fear of not feeling prepared and thus, the need to "test" themselves that they are physically prepared for race day. Sadly, they end up wasting their best performance in training and end up feeling overtrained, on the verge of injur...

Two weeks ago I braved 20 degree temps in Utah at an altitude of 8000-11000 feet. I stayed extremely active in the snow, both on my board and a few times on my butt. The Oakley Women product testing summit was amazing and I had such a great time stepping outside of my comfort zone.       The following weekend (1/11-1/14) I braved even colder temperatures and traveled to Iowa to speak to the Missouri River Runners group for their yearly banquet. Despite living in Kentucky for the first 21 years of my life, I have become quite soft in the cold..or as we like to say in Florida - when it gets "down to 40 degrees outside". An average temperature of around 10 degrees each day, with a few flurries and a few gusts of wind making the wind chill drop below zero.     My talk was on "Common mistakes made by runners: train smarter to reach success faster." I met so many new people and got to know some of my Trimarni Nutrition athletes (from the web)...