Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Can you feel that?  The warm weather is finally here!! For the past few months, it's likely that you have been just fine with your fueling/hydration strategy while training/exercising. Perhaps you feel like you have been just fine getting by with little to no fluids or electrolytes when you train.  Well, when summer arrives, it's extremely important to make sure that you are focused on preventing dehydration and heat-related illnesses by making a huge effort to fuel and hydrate during every workout.  As an athlete, you should never ever feel like you are just getting by. If you do not make an effort or do not know how to fuel/hydrate properly for your workouts you will limit your ability to progress with your fitness as you work your butt off to get stronger, faster, fitter and more powerful.  You want to tweak, perfect and nail your sport nutrition and hydration regime all the time to ensure that you are getting the most out of your training and keepi...

One year ago today, the world lost a very special man.  This man was a mentor, an educator, a great story teller and the chief optometrist of the New Port Richey VA clinic.  He was a husband, father and son. A lover of life and someone who lived his entire life happy, patient, kind and supportive.  This man was my dad.  When a friend looses a family member/spouse, it is within our heart to be compassionate, sympathetic, empathetic and loving.  When you are the one who loses a family member, your heart becomes empty because someone so very important to you, that you see or talk to all the time, is no longer sharing your life with you.  Life presents many challenges but nothing was as hard as saying good bye to my dad one-year ago today. My dad lived his entire life as a strong, hard working, determined and busy man but sadly, he could not win on his 10-month fight with cancer.  But as a lover of life, he sure fought hard....

On Monday morning, I joined a master swim group for an open water swim at Lake Jocassee (Devil's Fork State Park). I was super excited for my first open water swim practice of the season here in Greenville and excited to swim/train with others. Because the lake is about 1 hour away from where we live, I decided to make a morning out of the swim and combine it with an EZ 30-45 min run that I had on my training schedule.  Karel stayed at home since he just returned from 4 days of RETUL fits in Jacksonville.  I packed plenty of fluids and snacks and had my run gear, Nathan hydration belt and had everything I needed for two great workouts. I was super excited and had all the motivation I needed to have a great morning swim/run.  I swam pretty hard for our 1-hour swim (out and back) as I was trying to keep up with three other super fast master swimmers. After the swim, I was really cold (we didn't wear wetsuits and the water was a bit nippy) and was tired from t...

My game plan for the first few miles of the run was to establish good-form running as quick as possible and then run as strong as possible for the remainder of the race. It typically takes me around 15-20 minutes to warm-up my legs in any given run and race day was no exception. I didn't look at my Garmin for the first 3 miles (even with it auto-lapped each mile) and I just focused on good form, tall posture (for my 5-foot frame), quick cadence and light on the feet. I did set up my Garmin to show the following on the interval screen: Lap pace average   Current pace Lap distance     Total time When I got to the first aid station, I stopped to take a drink of water from the volunteers and to take a few deep breaths to try to get my HR to lower. Like many athletes, my HR goes up in the first mile but then if I can stop and take a few breaths, it will lower to normal levels. To ensure that I had plenty of fuel in my tank for the later miles, a high heart rate in t...

After mounting the bike, I quickly realized that all of us athletes were in for a very wet and rainy bike ride.  Not familiar with any mile of this bike course, my main goal was to ride as strong as possible. And to define strong, I wanted to feel really good throughout the entire bike. I anticipated low moments which are normal in long distance racing but I wanted a strong sustainable effort.  As we made our way on a main road and then over an overpass to the other side of the river, I began to become more aware of my "why" as to why I was racing. For many athletes, training and racing is all about the results on race day. For me, I love the journey. I try to take mental notes of where my fitness is when I start a training journey and then where my fitness is on race day. For Challenge Knoxville, I felt confident and strong on the bike and if someone were to ask me on the bike "why are you racing?" I would proudly respond (with a smile) "because t...

As we were walking toward the transition area around 5:50am, I felt sprinkles of rain falling from the sky. From what I heard from other athletes, there was a chance of rain that morning.  The atmosphere at the Challenge Family Knoxville event was all positive - you could just feel the energy. The transition area was not massive and there were plenty of potties for athletes to use without long lines. I really enjoy the lower-key events and seeing all the athletes that come from all different backgrounds and fitness levels.  When we entered the transition area, I helped Karel pump up his disc wheel (it's a two person job for one person - me- to hold the extender valve inside the disc wheel opening and the other person-Karel-pumps) and then I headed toward my bike in the far end (bike out) of the transition area.  I laid out my gear on my pink Oakley towel.  I placed my Brooks Pure Flow 4 shoes on the right of my towel with my dad's Corvette hat behi...