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Do athletes need regular blood tests?

A few millimeters of blood holds a vast amount of personal information. Although a blood test may appear costly and inconvenient, blood testing offers a quick, reliable and straightforward way of receiving a powerful amount of personalized information that can help you maximize health, overall well-being and performance.getting your blood analyzed with careful interpretation by a sport-specific professional can show how your genetics, training, nutrition, recovery and lifestyle factors impact your biomarkers.  Why guess when you can test?  Let's look into a few reasons why athletes (and fitness enthusiasts) should get routine blood tests:  Health - Blood tests are not just for optimizing performance. First and foremost, a blood test can check for certain diseases, conditions and deficiencies. Because every biomarker has a range or specific number that represents "normal," you can learn if you have a shortage or excess of a specific factor in the blood. A blood test i...

The grand finale - GVL WBL #8

  True to its name, the last GVL WBL was a cold one. Like really really cold. The location changed to Donaldson (~7-mile loop) due to possible ice/snow on the planned route. The start time was also moved back to 11am to give time for it to warm up. However, when we started the ride, it was ~32 degrees F and the wind chill was in the 20s (and the wind was gusty!).  It was one for the record books for me - I  have never biked in such cold conditions before!  I was really proud of myself for doing the group ride and collecting a few more points before the podium ceremony at the Think Tank Brewery. The ride was "only" 35 miles (1:46). We did one warm-up loop and then it was time for the action - each loop had a designated group that was "sprinting". The women went on loop 3 and 5. The last loop also included the QOM/KOM. It was a spicy ride and the strong wind and cold made it even tougher. And just when I thought I was done and ready to defrost in the car, a group of ~...

Understanding fatigue as an endurance athlete

After completing 17 Ironman distance triathlons, I have become good friends with fatigue. Over the past few years I have become much better at tolerating fatigue. Winning my age group at IM Chatt ('17), IMWI ('18) and IMLP ('21) and qualifying for the Ironman World Championship six times has proved to me that becoming a better long-distance triathlete is all about consistency, patience and strength.  Over the past few years, there's been a great amount of talk over fat burning as a metabolic approach to delay fatigue and to improve endurance performance. Carbohydrate fuels are limited in the body and glycogen (stored carbs) depletion is a major cause of fatigue during high duration activities. Therefore, by increasing the reliance on fat for fuel (because fat fuel supplies are unlimited in the body), endurance athletes can delay fatigue through increased fat burning. To increase fat oxidation during exercise, athletes often resort to fasted training, a high-fat/low carb...

Should you become an intuitive eater?

Mindful eating. Intuitive eating. Both approaches are used by Anti-Diet and Health at Every Size dietitians. While these two eating approaches complement each other, there are some important differences. Intuitive eating is a framework created by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch based on their work with eating disorder recovery. They are most known for the 10 principles of intuitive eating, which center around making peace with food, rejecting the diet mentality and to learn how to develop a healthier relationship with food. Intuitive eating goes beyond the eating experience to encourage people to change their relationship with food and the body. Mindful eating is awareness that arises from paying attention, eating with purpose, eating non-judgmentally and being in the present moment. Mindful eating encourages you to use your senses in choosing to eat food that is satisfying and nourishing to you and your body. It means you acknowledge your likes, dislikes and neutral respon...

Must Watch YouTube: The Impossible Route series

  Several weeks ago I came across a YouTube documentary series called " Impossible Route. " I started watching the first few minutes while on the bike trainer but stopped myself from continuing as I wanted to share the viewing experience with Karel. We both love watching endurance events, especially when it involves cycling.  I would highly recommend giving it a watch. If you are like us and you love endurance events, I have a word of caution.....you will quickly find yourself planning your next impossible route as you watch each episode. I don't think it's possible to watch this documentary series and not feel motivated about doing something incredible with your body.  The mission of this series is finding adventure, pushing your limits and going beyond what is thought to be possible. What I love about each episode is that it's not about racing.  After 16 consecutive years of endurance triathlon racing, I still love the race day experience. When I train, I rarely...

2022 Trimarni Endurance Camp - July 7-10th, 2022

We are very passionate about providing our campers with instruction and education throughout the entire duration of camp. Although it's great to be able to check out of life and train like a professional for 4 days, we feel the best investment of time away from your normal training is to receive instruction from a coach so you can do things better in your home environment.  Although we will always provide education at our camps, we understand that some camps serve the purpose of safely accumulating a lot of quality training miles to build fitness and confidence for your long distance triathlon. Being able to check out of life and having time (and energy) to focus on your recovery, nutrition, sleep and mobility are top reasons why you can gain a lot of fitness from an intentional overload of training at a group training camp. Our “Endurance” camp is designed for athletes who are preparing for a half or full distance triathlon. We expect our campers to arrive to the endurance camp w...

2022 Trimarni Early Season Camp (+ sprint triathlon race)

We held our very first triathlon training camp in Clermont, Florida from Feb 27th-March 2nd, 2014. For several years I had dreamed about putting on a training camp but it took me several years to have the confidence (time and energy) to finally make that dream come true. After six years of Karel working as the GM of the Trek Store in Jacksonville, FL. there were some changes with upper management and we decided that the timing was right for him to take the courageous leap to work with me at my small business, Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition.  To be honest, we really had no idea what we were doing when we put on our first camp. We had no experience holding group triathlon camps and we had never attended a group triathlon camp. But somehow, we made it work. We learned a lot and found new ways to making the camp experience even better for the future.  Thankfully, our campers had fun, they learned a lot, everyone was safe and we continued to coach all of our campers for many more...