Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

  I think it's safe to say that most endurance athletes love physical activity. Certainly it would be difficult to train for a long-distance event if there wasn't a strong passion for working out. But with great enthusiasm to exercise comes a caveat - just because you are exercising, this doesn't mean you are becoming race ready.  Exercise (or physical activity)  is commonly defined as anything that requires you to move your body and burn calories. Training is viewed as working toward adequate levels of strength, endurance, speed and/or power for successful participation (and completion) of an athletic event.  To make the difference easier to understand, exercising satisfies an immediate need and is done for the effect is produces today. Exercise is done for its own sake - either during or immediately after. But when you have a specific performance objective in mind (ex. preparing for an event), you must change your physiology to prepare for the demands of your even...

If you are on a quest to change your body composition or boost your health, you may find yourself overwhelmed by all the different dietary approaches.  Traditionally, the word "diet" describes how you eat. However, over time it has evolved to mean "restriction" or "elimination" - often in attempt to lose weight.  To help you out, I want you know that the perfect diet doesn't exist. There is no one "best" diet that works for every person around the world. Every human being is different - different genes, lifestyle habits, nutritional needs, emotions, activity regimes.....and so much more.  While there are several universal nutrition principles that have consistently shown to improve health, reduce risk for disease, maximize longevity and to help with weight maintenance, I'd like to offer a different way of thinking about food. In other words, if you are on a quest to improve your health or change your body composition, there's much mor...

In my previous blog post , I discussed the struggles that many athletes and coaches are facing during this time of cancelled races.  Before I offer these tips, I want to remind you of a critical component of sport longevity and achieving athletic excellence.  I've been a competitive endurance athlete for the past 14 years. I've had my share of setbacks but I have never lost my love for training. I contribute this to one thing: maintaining joy for the process and letting the outcome take care of itself.   Many athletes experience burnout when preparing for an endurance event. The training journey rarely starts this way but when an athlete feels tremendous pressure on an outcome (race day success), the training becomes stressful, monotonous and tiresome. Although not every workout will be inherently enjoyable (improvements require hard work and stretching the comfort zone) and there are struggles in every athletic journey, maintaining joy for training is an important e...

                    This pandemic has required coaches to think a bit differently about how to best train athletes during a time of cancelled races. Although coaches often wear more than one hat, selecting which hat to wear at what moment has been tricky. Now more than ever before, we have had to be incredibly creative and flexible to keep our athletes engaged, motivated, emotionally well and physically healthy. In lieu of races, our athletes have completed several different types of challenges since March. We started with a 10-day spring challenge and then a mini challenge in the early summer. Over the past few weeks (and into September), many of our athletes/team members are completing a 2-day summer challenge. We created a document for our athletes to select two of seven workout combinations (or they could create their own 2-day challenge) and to pick the dates for their challenge. We then provided the specific workouts within each se...

                    Staying positive and optimistic in such an unpredictable time is tough. We could all use some good vibes right about now.  If you are in need of a mood boost, give these simple tips a try: Cultivate gratitude - It's difficult to feel positive about your life if you are constantly making comparisons. We've been culturally conditioned to focus on what we don't have, instead of appreciating what we've already achieved or received. To turn your mood around, change your outlook. When you are grateful for what you already have, you'll feel more joy and contentment - no matter what you have or don't have in your life. Make a list - Bad, upsetting and dissapointing news is everywhere right now. If you spend a lot of time watching, listening and reading, you'll feel sad, negative and emotionally depleted. Everyday, write down at least five things you are grateful for. If you feel stuck, start by being thankful for the f...

  Your diet describes the kinds of foods that you habitually eat.  Dieting describes that foods that you choose to restrict or regulate yourself of, typically for medical, ethical or weight loss reasons.  When embarking on a dietary change, the outcome should serve you well in all areas of your life. Rarely does this happen when dieting.  If you are seeking a dietary change in order to improve your mental and physical well-being, manage your weight, change your body composition or improve athletic performance, it's natural to connect to a popular/trendy style of eating that promises results that are quick and easy. Fad diets (even if labeled as a "lifestyle") only work for a short amount of of time. Unless lifestyle habits are changed and maintained for the long-term, the diet will fail you. Keep these important reminders in mind when you consider a new/popular diet as a new way of eating: Diets are extreme and rapid. Too many changes occur at once, leaving you depri...

  We finished our trip to the Smokies with our longest-ever hike. Nearly 11 miles to one of the tallestmountains in the Eastern United States. For this hike, we set an alarm to ensure an early departure. I was concerned about parking for this popular hike, as well as weather and avoiding the crowds. We arrived to the trailhead just after 7:15am and started our hike around 7:30am. The first mile of the hike was pretty mellow. It felt like we were in a rain forest. I dressed in a tank top and shorts and felt a little cool to start but warmed up quickly. I brought a sweater for the summit. The first part of this hike was to Alum Cave (around 2.3 miles into the hike). The pictures online were impressive but seeing it in person was jaw-dropping.  I liked the first part of this hike (to Alum Cave) because it was broken into a few different segments. It took us 56 minutes to get to the Alum Cave and the time went by really quickly. The first segment was Arch Rock (around 1.3 miles in...