Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Ask me to train at an aerobic effort for several hours and I will gladly say yes please. My body was  trained/built for endurance and I love going the distance. As for intense workouts, they scare the heck out of me! Sprint - no thank you! Whenever my heart beats out of my chest, I can hardly catch my breath and my body aches, I feel so incredibly uncomfortable, my first thought is to lower the intensity or just give up. There have been countless times when I was training with Karel and I tell him "I can't do this, I need to give up" (or think those things in a race) and by simply saying this outside, I immediately call myself out on my negative thinking and stay persistent until I finish what I started. I have learned that if you want to excel in something, you have to step outside of your comfort zone and do the things that you are not good at (or what scares you). Nothing great will come from always doing what you are great at. As it relates to training/working out,...

Comparison stings.  Compassion motivates you to go out of your way to help others.  Comparison negatively affects your confidence and self worth. Compassion focuses on others instead of yourself, trying to understand another person's perspective.  If you find yourself in a daily competition with people who make you feel inadequate, direct your energy elsewhere and start caring about the things and people in life that give you a bigger meaning and purpose.  There are far too many people in this world who experience sadness, stress, pain, disappointments, insecurities, anxiety or depression on a daily basis, which is far from the picture-perfect life that is often depicted on social media. Compassion helps us recognize the good in people and reminds us that we all want to be loved, safe, healthy and happy. Be mindful of where you spend your energy. With less comparison and more compassion, you will put yourself into a world where there is less judgement...

It's difficult to put "healthy" and "dessert" into one category.  For me, if I am going to indulge, I don't need the item to be classified as "healthy" as I want all of the real goodness that comes in an indulging homemade treat. The idea of a healthy brownie is a bit of a paradox but I suppose there is a bit of a nutritional boost when you add black beans to a brownie recipe.  Black beans are an excellent source of fiber, folate, iron and magnesium, while also providing a good amount of protein per serving. They also contain high concentrations of anthocyanins, which give foods a dark color and a heart-healthy benefit, like acting as an anti-inflammatory. I was scrolling through an old recipe from the 2013 September/October issue of Food and Nutrition magazine and I came across a Fudgy Black Bean Brownie recipe on pg 19. I was craving a treat so I gathered all the necessary ingredients and went to my kitchen to start baking. Enjoy! If you a...

We are very lucky that we live in a southern city that provides us with all four seasons throughout the year. But even better, we can train outside year round. However, once or twice a year we get a beautiful snowfall in Greenville, SC. which forces us to train inside. On Friday late morning, after our morning swim and strength session, we were shocked to see the rain turn into fluffy white snowflakes. We had over 24 hours of constant snow falling from the sky and it was absolutely beautiful. Although I was loving the change of scenery in our tree-filled backyard, Campy was not impressed as he is not a fan of anything cold and wet. I suppose when you are a 12-lb dog and live in a world where you can never be too warm or have too many blankets on top of you, there's nothing fun about voluntarily stepping outside, onto the cold, wet ground. As for training, it was a nice change to spend two hours on my Tacx trainer with an hour of very specific variable cadence work. The main se...

It's a pretty cool experience when you can learn from an Olympian and Ironman champion. On Tuesday evening, we had the honor of hosting an event at the Carolina Triathlon store with guest speaker Dirk Bockel . Recently retired professional triathlete, Dirk brings 27 years of experience, knowledge, stories, wisdom and strategies to help triathletes feel prepared for a race. But this isn't just another triathlon training book. Dirk's passion for the sport of triathlon has helped him navigate through the stressors of life, surviving many lows that went along with his highs. In his book, he shares with us his strategies for how to create a successful and enjoyable triathlon journey. During the talk, there were a few big takeaways that I found very beneficial for athletes: Dirk performed at his best when he switched coaches and reduced his weekly training volume almost in half. Dirk placed 3rd in his first Ironman and ran sub 3 hours after overcoming a foot i...

Picture source For much of my career as a Board Certified Sport Dietitian with a Master of Science in exercise physiology, I have spent a great amount of time and energy helping athletes with their relationship with food and the body. Knowing that athletes feel a strong relationship between food and body composition relating to athletic success, I have never refrained from speaking about this topic openly and honestly for many years in an effort to help athletes stay healthy throughout a sporting career (and for many more decades to come). I have even reached out to many magazines (and publishing companies) to write more about the topic of body image and athletes but my pitches are often denied and in exchange, I am asked to write about the latest diet fad or nutrition strategy to help athletes gain the competitive edge. In light of another recent social media  post involving a professional athlete discussing body image struggles and restrictive eating measures, I am remind...

Over the past few weeks, Karel and I have been enjoying the occasional longish swim to start our Saturday morning. There's something about a long swim that revs up the appetite (not complaining). I remember back to my high school and college swimming days when that Saturday morning swim was complete it meant two things: 1) I could officially start my weekend. 2) Eat. All. The. Food! During our swim this past Saturday, the image of cinnamon rolls kept popping into my head. If you know me well, you know that I love cinnamon rolls because well, I love cinnamon and bread. Rather than heading to a bakery to buy a cinnamon roll, I decided to take my first attempt at making homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch. I found a recipe that was super easy to follow so after my recovery drink, I started baking (well, first I had to make a quick stop to the grocery when I realized we were out of flour!). Enjoy this tasty recipe! Super simple homemade cinnamon rolls        ...