Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

We live in a culture that emphasizes, rewards, worships and celebrates lean, toned and fit bodies. Individuals with an unhealthy relationship with food and the body may seek extreme events to train for and restrictive methods of eating and fueling in an effort to control weight and to justify excessive exercise patterns.   Many athletes succeed in sports (especially endurance events) because they are great at doing things in extreme. But extreme thoughts, attitudes and beliefs about food and the body (especially as it relates to performance improvements) can become obsessive and may lead to more serious disordered eating habits. If your self-imposed rules, regulations and guidelines about what to eat and not to eat around and during workouts are taking precedence of what your body actually needs (and even with alarming symptoms like low blood sugar, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, blurred vision, headache, dehydration manifesting into your workout or day), you are manip...

                                   We ate a lot during the two weeks that we were in Florida for our training camp in Clermont + another week in Jacksonville for RETUL fits (Karel) and I spoke to the Delafina Women Cycling club. Despite eating a lot of food, no meal left us feeling bad, stuffed, bloated or guilty as we always eat with good intentions and have a great relationship with food. (even when Karel eats his frozen chocolate "recovery bar" - inside joke, ask us about it when you see us in person :)  During our trip, we had a nice combination of food prepared at home (well, our homes away from home) and a few inspiring meals from restaurants. After our Clermont training camp, we spent a week in Jacksonville, FL (where we use to live from 2008-2014 and stayed with our friend Shawn B. and his family. On Thursday evening (3/24), Karel, Shawn and I left the house around 5pm a...

Fueling the Vegetarian Athlete – nail the basics In the current (May) issue of  Triathlete Magazine  (pg 64), I discuss some of the important considerations in fueling the vegetarian athlete. This month I am celebrating 24-years of being a vegetarian (lacto-ovo). In the month of April, when I was 10 years old, I came home from school one day and told my parents that I didn't want to eat animals anymore. I've always loved animals and even at a young age, it was my love for animals that prompted me to be a vegetarian. I'm pretty sure I didn't call myself a vegetarian in my early years as that word wasn't part of my vocabulary but instead I just told people "I don't eat meat". My diet has evolved over the past two decades, especially as I learned more about nutrition and sport nutrition. But in all reality, my diet is no different than yours except for that I don't eat meat or fish. I'm assuming you eat a lot of plants too, right? Even thou...

It's a completely different mindset to go by time instead of by miles. Just think about the many different outcomes that could occur if a coach tells all his/her athletes: Workout: Ride 100 miles. Do you know how long it would take Karel and I to ride 100 miles in Greenville? Well, we have ridden a century just a few times (2 for me) since we have moved to Greenville in May 2014 and the miles do not go by quickly here! Regardless of where you live (mountains, hills, flat, by the beach, etc.), it's important that your workout has specificity, especially if you are training for an endurance event. Seeing that changing your physiology and adapting to training stress is paramount to being physically prepared for race day, if your training plan asks you to complete x-miles and there's minimal structure or purpose to the workout, you are delaying the opportunity to experience significant gains in fitness. Additionally, your training will become monotonous and...

After two weeks of training in Florida, it was nice to be back by the mountains. On Saturday morning, a small group of friends joined Karel and I for a long ride, which included almost 90 minutes of intervals on a rolling hill loop near Caesar's head mountain. Warm-up: ~45 minutes (ride to the start of the loop), constant rollers and a few short steep climbs MS: 6 x 10 minutes at Z3 mid to upper (odd: heavy gear, slower than normal cadence. Even: high cadence, higher than normal cadence) w/ 4 min EZ in between. Compared to the ride I did the previous Saturday in Florida (picture below) which included a short warm-up on flat roads, a 40-min TT effort on flat roads (drafting behind our friend Shawn and two other strong girls), a group ride (with about 30 riders) on flat roads, followed by a solo steady effort on flat roads (while the rain was falling) and then a cool-down in the pouring rain with puddles all over the ground (on flat roads), this is evidence that ...

Goals give you the motivation you need to put in the work. If your current eating habits or training regime is inspired by a goal, be sure to not associate happiness with the end result, assuming that the present isn't a fun, enjoyable and happy place to be in. Happiness isn't found in an outcome. Happiness is the process. Engaging in the process (rather than being overly focused on what the end result will feel or look like) will allow you to enjoy life more fully. You will also find it easier to be more flexible as you welcome many opportunities to experiment, learn and develop your skills and knowledge. We can not control the future but you can control your current process. Rather than putting all your energy into the results, focus on meaningful changes that will give you better life satisfaction, empowerment, confidence and higher self-esteem. Let's be honest - many times, life does not turn out how we expect it to. This can be good or bad. This isn't a negative...

Every workout should start with a proper warm-up. If you think your warm-up is taking away your precious training time or slowing your overall pace/speed of the workout, you are missing the point of a warm-up. A warm-up is to help you execute better during your main set of your workout. In as little as 5-15 minutes, you can increase blood flow, send more oxygen to the working muscles, prepare your muscles and nerves for an upcoming effort, improve range of motion, and most importantly, help your mind prepare for the upcoming effort. Although a warm-up will not prevent injuries it can certainly reduce your risk. Even if your workout is focused on skills, form or recovery, it's important to give your body the time it needs to gradually increase the intensity/effort to ensure that you perform your best. Now you may be thinking that a warm-up includes a little dynamic stretching or light foam rolling before you start your cardio workout and you...