Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

This morning we said good-bye to our master swim coach who has been instrumental in helping so many people around our area with their swimming fitness, while also sharing his contagious passion for swimming.  Bill - our masters swim coach - is leaving us in Greenville to be closer to family in the Midwest. 😢 For the last few years, having Bill on deck kept me accountable, having fun (I love social kick!) and working hard. Going into my 30th year of swimming, I’m still showing up to swim “practice.” I will often modify his sets depending on my training needs but he’s always there for on-deck coaching. I’ve had some of my best Ironman swim times over the past few years (first time breaking an hour at IM Kona without a wetsuit in ‘19 and going 55:43 at IM Lake placid last summer). I swim often and my sweet spot is around 3500-4500 yards 3-4 times per week. I don’t like being out of the water for more than a day. Bill has given me so many good cues to help my stroke/technique. He als...

  I consider myself to be a good cyclist. But it wasn't always this way. There was a time - not too long ago - that I was terrified to ride my bike on any type of road that resembled going downhill. I would squeeze my brakes and feel so unstable and this caused me to absolutely dread going downhill. Although I could have avoided going downhill by selecting races and routes that were flat, the problem was that I love climbing. And when it came to tight turns, switchbacks or roads where I couldn't see what was coming next, I would find myself frozen with fear, often with tears in my eyes. Pretty much, if the road wasn't going up or it was flat, I was freaking out.  When we moved from Jacksonville, FL. to Greenville, SC. I had no choice but to work on my bike handling skills. I was an experienced triathlete with really poor bike handling skills and this showed on our challenging terrain that is littered with punchy climbs, twists, turns and steep downhills.  With Karel havin...

  I can't remember when it happened but Karel told me he registered us for The Whole Enchilada MTB event at the Whitewater center in NC. I was excited for the opportunity to test my new skills (thanks Lon!)  and to use this event as a "long" training ride. Although the GPS shows 44 miles, the accurate distance (wheel measured) was 50 miles - which would be my longest ever MTB ride.  Earlier last week Karel and I went to the pump track in TR (a few miles away) and practiced some of our skills. While it feels like we are playing, there is some fear, discomfort and anxiety that is produced when practicing/learning new skills. I was proud of myself for finally getting the rhythm of "pumping" and conquering my steepest ramp. I struggled on some other areas but I know that I will be an ongoing work in progress. Karel is still struggling on the jumps as he is very fearful about crashing. I know he will get it one day but right now, his recent crash last May is still pr...

  Today is my dad's birthday. He would have been 75 years old.  I can't believe that I've lived the last 8 years without my dad in my life. I really don't know how I've made it this long as my dad was such an important person in my life. It also makes me sad that I don't have any pictures with my dad after the age of 31. It's just not fair.  I often wonder what he would think about my current lifestyle, my career and all the bikes we've accumulated over the past few years. I wonder what he would think about Greenville, SC. We had only been living here for a few weeks before he passed away after a 10-month fight with cancer. I wonder which one of our four cats would be his favorite :)  It's been a tough day today. I really miss him. I miss his advice, his stories and how proud he was of my accomplishments.  During my long run this morning, I couldn't help but think about my dad and what his passing taught me about life. I know that his death reall...

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 you crushed a hard 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 are stressed and anxious, you made a mistake, had a bad workout/race or someone said something to you that made you feel less worthy, your self-image may become negative - which makes you feel fat. Additionally, during moments of high stress and anxiety, a preoccupation with your body is not uncommon. When things/life feel out of control, you may direct your focus to food and exercise as a coping mechanism. The next time you experience a "I feel fat" thought, give yourself space to get to the root of what triggered this misinterpreted feeling. As a reminder, diet culture has taught you how to use food to gain a feel...

If you are a long distance athlete, you've likely experiences several pronounced and uncomfortable symptoms related to unsuccessful fueling/hydration methods. Headache, dehydration, swelling, bloating, sleepiness, lethargy, lack of appetite, nausea, chills, fatigue, deep muscle aches, moodiness and dizziness are not just performance limiting but they are also extremely risky for your overall health.  Proper fueling during intense or long duration exercise can help you sustain a desirable effort to maximize training adaptations.  Proper fueling/hydration also minimizes the stress load to help keep your body in better health. Proper fueling/hydration in training also helps you practice fueling strategies for competition as you can train the gut to tolerate nutrition while exercise at various intensities. Contrary to the opinion of other nutrition experts, I'm a huge proponent of prioritizing sport drinks during training. I've also had great success prioritizing liquid calorie...

  I'm a big fan of repeatable workouts. I feel there is great value of doing a workout several times over the course of several weeks as you know what to expect and you can focus on executing better each time (especially under fatigue). I also believe that certain workouts are worth repeating year after year. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.  When training for a three-sport, ultra endurance event like an Ironman distance triathlon, I feel that the best training approach is to find the least amount of training needed to produce the biggest training gains. However, among the endurance triathlon community, I find that far too many athletes are doing the same workouts over and over, hoping for different results. Every weekend is a long ride (5-6 hours) followed by a run (20-40 minutes) and the next day is a long run of around 2 hours (and maybe a swim or bike before or after). The training is somewhat predictable for the majority of long distance triathletes and this often r...