Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

After racing the Lake James 50 (1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, 8.4 mile run) just a week before Rev3 Knoxville, I wasn't so sure about how my body would recover. I had trust in my body that I would be able to feel fresh again after a few days but it wasn't until Thursday (5 days post race) that I finally started to feel a little (and by little, I mean tiny winy) pep in my step. This had me a little worried but Karel assured me that I was just fine. I trusted him and stuck to my sharpening (aka "taper") plan so that I didn't go into Rev3 too rested and after every workout, I was feeling a bit more race ready. Friday was a very wet and gloomy day which made it difficult for me to get into race mode. However, after joining Karel and our friend/athlete Meredith (who was doing the half aquabike - her longest race distance ever) in downtown Greenville at the Mountains to Main Street expo, I found myself getting excited. There's something about a race environment ...

I've always been under the impression that to be a great coach, it's very difficult to coach and be an athlete at the same time. While many great coaches were former athletes, it can often be challenging to develop athletes to reach their goals while you, the coach, are training for your own racing goals. While I have been an athlete longer than I have been a coach, I am still learning as an athlete and as a coach. As the sport of triathlon changes every year, I also find myself racing differently to adapt to our ever evolving sport. With this being my 10th season of endurance triathlon racing, I can honestly say that it was only a few years ago that I started to really understand how to "race" in a long distance triathlon. Ever since Karel got his feet wet in the sport of triathlon just 4 years ago, he has taught me so much about racing. I absolutely love watching Karel race and I feel so lucky to share the behind the scene racing moments with Karel. As a former cat...

Performing at your best requires an effort that goes beyond your old limits. This new limit (or unexplored territory) means that you will ask your body and mind to do something unfamiliar on race day. If you are racing this weekend, you are capable of achieving something incredible on race day.  However, first you need to get past all the self-doubts, fears, insecurities, pressures, anxieties and nerves that are possibly holding you back from achieving greatness on race day.  While there is nothing wrong with pre-race nerves, it is important that you believe in your fitness and your ability to overcome anything that comes your way on race day. Trust that you have done the work that you needed to do and be confident in your abilities.  Do not take your race day for granted, especially if you are not sick or injured.  Don’t live your life waiting for a better time to do something or assuming you will have another opportunity.   Racing is h...

Racing is fun but it is also very stressful. Stress can be a response to things out of your control whereas nerves can mean you care about your result. I hate to be the party pooper but every athlete is going to have challenges before and/or on race day - whether it's the weather, terrain or something outside your control or feeling really, really uncomfortable because you are giving a hard effort. While it is important to focus only on things within your control and to not waste energy on things out of your control, trying to control everything can increase anxiety when things don't work out like you had hoped for. My suggestion......stop worrying about what's completely out of your control and put positive energy into trusting yourself, your fitness and your ability to overcome anything that comes your way before and on race day. Race  day is an opportunity to show off your consistent training efforts - not besting or matching what paces or watts that you h...

Enjoying the basil strawberry lemonade from  Laughing Seed . I have spent many, many years figuring out the role of food in my life. While I want my food choices to positively affect my health and athletic performance, I have also worked hard to discover a way that I can eat, perform well, and still function well in life to enjoy the things that mean so much to me, like being with Karel, traveling and spending time with close friends and family. Ultimately, my diet enhances my life and it does not control my life. Seeing that my career and formal education both revolve around food, it would be easy to assume that I am obsessed with food. While I am passionate about food and have dedicated my life to learning about food and how it impacts the physiology and health of the human body, food is not my life. I eat when I am hungry, I feel satisfied and I move on with my life. OR, I eat when I need the energy to perform, I train to maximize my performance, I recover and I stay consist...

Although the Lake James 50 race was not a key race for me and Karel, we gave it our best effort as that is what race day is all about. No training session will ever prepare you for all the emotions that you feel on (and before) race day when you want/expect your body to perform and no workout will take you through all the motions of racing as race day is dynamic and you are constantly trying to be proactive to set yourself up for a better next mile, all while trying to delay fatigue. As I mentioned in my last blog, this venue was absolutely beautiful. The challenging bike and run course allowed us to race and to not be tied to any metrics to control or time goals to achieve. Rather than writing about the race, I thought I would document this special double win occasion with a video. And rather than just me giving all the play-by-play details, Karel joined me for a special video blog recap from the Lake James 50. A few extra details that we left out of our recap: PRE RACE...

I heard about the Lake James 50 event (by Set Up Events) from a nutrition athlete of mine (thanks Stephanie!) a few weeks ago. After giving it some thought and talking it over with Karel, I figured it would be a great opportunity for me to get out some nerves before Rev3 Knoxville. It was only 2 weeks ago when Karel mentioned that he was interested in the race too so we thought it would be a fun opportunity for us to both race together on a tough course. And for only $100 as the registration fee, it was hard to turn this race down, even if just for a "tune-up" race. The event featured a 1 mile swim, 40 mile bike and 9 mile run (although it was shortened to 8.4 miles on race day due to logistics of the run course in the state park) which was just long enough to test our endurance fitness before our key races next weekend. Seeing that Karel and I will only be racing together in Ironman Austria this year, I looked forward to the opportunity to race with Karel - as he has...