Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

A training camp sounds like an awesome experience....and it is!! But it's important to consider the purpose of your training camp in the context of your season so you benefit positively from the camp training. At our recent Trimarni advanced endurance camp in Greenville, the majority of our campers were training for an Ironman event in the next 4-8 weeks. With months of accumulated training behind them and a lot of resilience and strength, we gently overloaded them with intensity and duration but nothing that would risk injury, burnout, sickness or a health issue. We carefully stretched comfort zones but strictly enforced proper nutrition before and after every workout, sport nutrition usage during all workouts and adequate rest and recovery between sessions. Each workout was planned with the mentality that we will challenge but not break our athletes. We had no issues occur at camp in terms of injury, GI issues or bonking and many of our campers felt stronger as the camp went on...

As a former high school and college competitive swimmer, I had the unique experience of participating in an individual sport that often felt like a team sport. In the sport of swimming, although athletic development is made individually, there comes a point in every swimmers athletic journey when you want to train for something more than yourself. I would always show up to practice with a couple dozen of my teammates. We would laugh together, support one another, eat together and make memories together. These were my people - they "got me." While I always enjoyed training to improve my personal best times and to race the clock, I never felt like I was alone in the lane during a swim meet. In practice, I was always pushed by my teammates to be a better athlete.  When I was having an off day, I was proud of a lane-mate who was feeling strong that day. And at meets, as soon as I was finished racing in my event, I couldn't wait to cheer on a teammate.  After graduating...

Tomorrow we will welcome 21 campers to Greenville for 4.5 days of endurance training as part of our 2018 Trimarni advanced endurance camp. While a stressful and exhausting experience for us coaches, it's extremely rewarding to see our campers break out of their comfort zone and stretch their physical and mental boundaries. These campers will be swimming, biking and running for several hours a day (and multiple training sessions) as we put them through challenging training sessions while also addressing skills, sport nutrition, form, pacing, execution and terrain management. Without a doubt, these athletes will be tested mentally and physically but will gain valuable tools to use in training at their home environment, and on race day. Interestingly, many people struggle to self-identify as an athlete despite training for and participating in athletic events. And then there are those who struggle with motivation to stay active when they give up the identify of being an athlete be...

I had an incredibly tough past four days of training as I gear up for Ironman Wisconsin in 34 days. While no workout was "long" per Ironman-training standards (my longest bike was 3.5 hours and longest run was 1:21), I tested myself both mentally and physically with very structured workouts at a high intensity. While I shocked and impressed myself with the ability to perform my workouts as planned, Karel was unable to follow through with his scheduled training as he was feeling very fatigued and empty inside. Rather than pushing through or training with an ego, Karel listened to his body (that was screaming "rest"). While he still trained, it was loosely structured, low volume/intensity than planned and he based it all on feel. He didn't complain or worry about his season as he knows all too well that the body is worth listening to when something feels off.  As athletes, listening to your body can be rather difficult. For if you listened to it every tim...

Have you ever noticed that on some days you feel healthy and strong and other days you feel fat? Interestingly, the feelings that you have toward your body may have very little to do with your actual body size. You may actually be at a very healthy weight, with a very healthy body composition, but feel "fat" and desire a change in body composition through dieting and/or exercise.  When it comes to self-image (the mental image that you have for yourself), it can fluctuate a lot from day to day or even minute to minute. If you are having an awesome day or workout, your perception of your body may be really good. You don't worry about what you eat and you carry on with your day with positivity and confidence. But if you had a bad day or workout or someone said something to you that made you feel less worthy, your self-image may get stuck into a negative setting, which makes you feel fat.  Sometimes your self-image can quickly change in an instant. For example, y...

Home sweet home. It's so nice to be back home. While we haven't been home for more than 48 hours, we are already back to our daily routine of training, eating, working and of course, giving love to our furry crew. While our trip to Europe gave us lots of stress with our lost bikes, the trip home was not without stress. It was an exhausting 30+ hour trip home but we have our luggage and bikes and we made it home safely and in good health. Five weeks was a long time to be in another country but it was well-worth it. We never felt home-sick or had a "bad" day but we sure did miss our furry crew. Despite the time, energy and money that is required to travel to and from another country, I have learned so much from traveling and it enriches me greatly. Meeting new people, tasting new cuisines, seeing new sights and breathing the air in a new city can teach you a lot....if you are willing to step outside of your comfort zone. While most of us athletes love our/a rou...

It was the strangest feeling to not be rushed on race day morning. We set the alarm for 7:30am, even though we knew we would be up well before the alarm went off. After an ok night of sleep (we are really missing the AC!), we took our time getting out of bed as we had several hours until the race start. Around 8am we made our way downstairs to the hotel breakfast ( Hotel Merlin ) and enjoyed eating as much as we wanted without worrying about an upset tummy as we had plenty of time to digest our pre-race meal. I found myself eating much more than I would compared to a 7am race start which actually was a great thing as I knew that every extra bite of food was more energy for race day. I had a pastry, granola with milk, 2 hardboiled eggs with salt and a banana with peanut butter (I brought the PB which I purchased at the grocery store in Znojmo). Karel had a similar meal minus the banana w/ PB. We went back to our room and finished getting ready for the race - filling our bottles...