Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

There's no reason for posting this picture except for the fact that it makes me smile. I came across this quote the other day... "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live" How true is this quote???? Yet for many, there are very few "thank you's" given to the human body. As athletes we love having great training days. We also love good training days as well as tough training days. But when things feel a little off or the body is tired, we often feel defeated, as if our body has failed. However, I see otherwise. This morning I had a tough workout. All three sports, swim, bike and run on tired legs and with a tired body. I respected my body by allowing a full day off from training on Tues and a easy swim + light strength on Wed. After a massage on Wed and the "ok" from my amazing massage therapist Marjorie (http://marjorielmt.blogspot.com/) she cleared me to resume training as she said my body had no hot spots and I had recove...

Odds are that you know someone who is racing this weekend. This week I have found myself counting down the days until my friends and athletes partake in x-race and leave everything out on the race course - racing their plan and enjoying the experience. With Ironman Wisconsin, The Nation's Triathlon, Rev 3 140.6 (Ohio), Iron Girl Seattle (running race) and the Ironman World Championships 70.3 (Vegas) as some of the BIG events, I can't help but feel inspired by so many dedicated athletes. As we approach several more notable triathlon events in the next month or two, there will be no shortage of inspiring and motivating blogs from athletes all around the world. But with the Ironman World Championships in 30 days, I find that preparing my mind is just as important as preparing my body for this upcoming 140.6 mile event. This same passion, dedication and excitement that I have for this upcoming triathlon is combined with a similar passion for nutrition and coaching. For triathlons i...

Karel just sent me my last BIG build before Kona. Yesterday was a lovely day off from structured training and it included hip exercises, stretching and 3 LONG walks with Campy. Today I had a wonderful swim which followed a moderate intensity strength training session (around 20 minutes). My body is feeling good (much better than a few days ago) and I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. I have been staying super busy throughout the day so I find myself welcoming my training as it is a time to clear my mind and brainstorm. Tonight I will be speaking at the Trek Store of Jacksonville (San Jose location) for an event that is open to the public, but is also the monthly Hammerhead Triathlon Club meeting. I am so excited to speak to so many triathletes and future triathletes/runners :) A common thought that continues to pop into my head is the idea that I am a vegetarian training for the Ironman World Championships. Certainly I don't feel that I am healthy because I don't...

That's right, I'm just as surprised as you. There's a day 4 of the Trimarni Kona training camp. However, the last day of the camp was specific to swimming. Thankfully, no more weight bearing exercise as my body has done more than I could ever expect and I could not be more delighted with my endurance, speed, power (specifically my power to weight ratio on the bike) and ability to overcome mental and physical fatigue. Today was about putting in just one more quality workout when my body and mind wanted to scream "no more" but I found myself also hungry for more. I have to admit, my body is tired (can't wait for some quality sleep!) and a bit on the sore side. My body feels somewhere around day 3 or 4 post-Ironman. I found this saying on a website http://potential2success.com/develpomentaltoughness.html: Mental Toughness- Having a physiological edge that enables you to be consistent, confident, focused, and determined during high pressure situations in order to ...

There are a few sets from my College and High School swimming days that still make me cringe when I think about them. There is one specific set from college that I will never forget as the set required complete focus and the right mentality in order to successful complete. The set was 8 x 50's on no interval, however if you wanted to get out of practice in time for dinner you had around an hour to complete the set. Sounds simple until the coach reminds us that the set is "NO BREATH" from a start and you must complete 8 of them. The funny thing about this set is if you think about it, swimming for 30ish seconds (my time back then for a 50 yard easy swim) while holding your breath shouldn't be that hard. However, it never failed that I would always end up taking a breath with no more than 5 strokes to the wall (around where the flags hang). Why was it that I couldn't make it to the wall? Sure, my body was filling with lactic acid as I was holding my breath and...

First triathlon 2004 IMWI 2010 As athletes, there's no getting around the fact that we love working hard for our goals. Sometimes we don't have a specific goal in mind, but rather a list of possible outcomes but I think we would all agree that we all have dreams of finding personal success in our sport of choice. One thing that I have learned over the past 7 years is that it takes time to build an athlete. Because we all have different strengths, weaknesses and differing lifestyles, we all have unique ways of achieving our goals. I have voiced my opinions on nutrition and training, in terms of quality, many times in previous blogs so I find it important to say that the building of an athlete is not simply dependent on being athletically gifted. I don't believe that success has to do with finishing times, pace or speed but rather how you compare yourself to years past in terms of becoming a smarter, fa...

"A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there" For those who know me, there is no getting around that I am a planner. I love setting a goal and working months and months towards that goal. I would think of myself more of a long-term than short term planner because I like to give myself time to put together all the pieces which help to make my dreams come true. I find that if you rush time with your goals, you will often forget pieces to you puzzle (goal) and sometimes, never find them or take a little extra time to locate them. What may surprise you is that I am not good about logging workouts on Training Peaks and it sometimes takes a day or two to upload my power meter to WKO for Karel and me to analyze. I also don't make grocery lists and I don't religiously use a calendar to keep track of important dates. But somehow, it all works. Sometimes I wonder if my head is filled with too much information b...