Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Last weekend we had our friends/athletes Anthony and  Peggy  in town (and their furry child Brutus) and we had a lot of fun. The primary reason for traveling from DC to Greenville was to get a RETUL fit/re-fit from Karel on their new tri bikes but we also did a little working out (exercising) and a lot of eating. With every meal, there was a lot of yumming. Like us, Anthony and Peggy share a love for home cooking but we couldn't resist going out for crepes at  Tandem Creperie  on Sunday morning after an hour run (our longest and 2nd run since IM Kona). After our "brunch", we picked up the doggies and we headed downtown for a few hours.  The dogs were almost exhausted as we were (we all hiked at Ceaser's Head on Saturday morning so our legs were a bit tired) so by 3pm, we drove back to our place with a quick stop at Publix to get some ingredients for our pizza dinner. Here are a few pics from our beautiful hike:  An...

When Karel was growing up in his small town of Znojmo, Czech Republic, eating out was a very special treat, only enjoyed on very special occasions. Eating out was also an opportunity for Karel and his siblings to practice their good table etiquette. Eating out wasn't cheap either. But at the end of the day, nothing tasted as good as his mom's home cooking. Over the past few decades, our society has changed in terms of how we live our life. It seems like everyone is so busy these days with extra curricular activities, we never have to worry about being hungry thanks to limitless options to get food and with many families having two working parents, home cooking is difficult to accomplish most nights of the week. Has our society become comfortable with living a lifestyle that doesn't emphasize home-cooking or, do we have easier ways to nourish and fuel our busy lifestyle that we don't need home cooked meals? And by the way, what is home-cooking these da...

We are all aware of how diets work - follow rigid food rules and you will lose weight. If you can follow the diet for a specific period of time, you will lose weight. It's as simple as that. With every diet, there are certain foods that are allowed at certain times of the day, a specific amount of food that is allowed to be eaten and foods that are forbidden. This is why people love diets - they are nothing more than a plan telling you how to eat so that you have a reason to avoid certain foods and to ignore biological hunger cues. With a diet, you don't have to learn how to be a mindful eater or how to eat with intention. You become a robot in that you only have one program for x-weeks and that is all you have to focus on. Ask any person who has followed a diet plan and she/he will likely say that food rules offer boundaries or perhaps a level of discipline that the person wasn't able to do on his/her own and this is why diets work so well. Whereas once a ...

The  off-season weight debate  is a serious topic of conversation at the end of the racing season. Year after year, athletes, dietitians, nutrition experts personal trainers and coaches continue to justify the reasons for intentional (or unintentional) weight gain at the conclusion of the racing season, which is then often followed by the dietary rules and methods of intentional weight loss/maintenance in the early phases of the training season. Yet rarely, if ever, do we hear about the importance of having a healthy relationship with food and how your relationship with food throughout the entire season affects overall health, sport nutrition choices/methods and daily dietary choices.  If anything, all athletes should FIRST learn how to have a healthy relationship with food prior to even discussing methods of improving sport nutrition, body composition or overall health. Before talking about how to improve your relationship with food during the off-season...

After receiving my medal and swag, I waited and waited around the food area for Karel.  Karel and I typically don't have a "meet-up" place after an Ironman because by the time Karel crosses the line ahead of me, gets some food/drinks and possibly changes into clean clothes (from his pre-swim bag), he is waiting for me to finish. But this time around, Karel did his normal post race to-do's..... Smile for the camera for his sub-10 hour, IM Kona debut performance of 9:55 2.4 mile swim - 1:13:47 T1: 3:36 112 mile bike: 5:06:50 T2: 4:04 26.2 mile run: 3:27:12:29 57th AG (35-39) 252 Male 271 Overall And almost pass-out. After Karel waited for over an hour, he heard from a friend that I had DNF'd soon after the energy lab (as that is what it showed on the IM tracker). Karel became very worried about me and he went to the timing people inside the Queen K to figure out what was going on with me. The timing people had...

After transitioning from bike to run, I jogged out of the transition area, started my Garmin 910 (which I powered on in the last mile of the bike - already set on the run function) and was feeling a lot of energy from the crowds. My plan was to use the first 5 miles or so to find a good rhythm as I had no pace goals for this run. My Garmin was simply there to record data but it was not controlling how I raced my race. While shuffling my way up Palani, before turning right onto Kuakini Hwy, I tried to not confuse feelings with actions. Even though I didn't feel great coming out of the transition tent and my Ironman swim and bike performance had me feeling as if I was not having a good day, I did everything in my power to not let it get to me. I told myself that I could still put together a great run and amazing things could still happen. I suppose I had two options at this point - to settle for the day that was far from my best or to convince myself that today was a...