Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

This past week welcomed a flood of memories as I was staying in the same hotel as a large group of Swimmers for long course nationals. Oh the memories...... Crushing on the boys in speedos Decorating posters for hotel door rooms Smelling like chlorine for days and days Eating, sleeping and swimming....several times throughout the day And just loving the sport of swimming From around 11 years of age until my Senior year of college at Transylvania University (2004), I swam competitively. Despite 11 years of competitive swimming, 8 years later I have been getting in the water 2-3 days a week (although, much less yardage) for my triathlon lifestyle.  What's so neat about triathlons is that it welcomes a new crowd to competitive sports. Perhaps individuals who did not do sports in HS or College or consider themselves "active" for much of their adult years. I know individuals who are in their 50's and starting to learn the skills of triathlon training and then th...

What have I been doing?? I realize I have no obligations to my blog as to how much I blog or how often. But, I feel so incomplete when I don’t “journal” at least once every 2 days. If it was up to me and more free time, I would blog several times a day since blogging is so relieving to me. For if I couldn’t write (blogs, articles, plan for talks), I think my head would explode with information that I want to share with others. But, because life requires balance, sometimes the blog is the only thing on my mind but the thing that must go when I try to make the most of every day. So, why the lack of blogging? Article deadlines. I am so thrilled to see my next two column articles published on Lava Magazine online and Irongirl.com. I think you will enjoy both articles as they both include yummy creations but also some great information that is relevant and applicable. My Lava article is on Zinc and I look forward to your reaction or thoughts as to the approach I took to disc...

I remember a while back when I use to think of the week as 5 days + 2 days. It was easy to look forward to the weekend, whether it was to train, relax, eat..whatever. But one thing I've learned over the years is that a week that becomes chunky, is simply a rushed week. Life rushes by super quickly and I find it important to enjoy every day you are given. Your life, your actions, your results. Since Thurs (or late Wed evening), Karel has been enjoying himself in the mountains of North Carolina with a few of his friends. Yep - he left me and Campy at home and from the looks of it, he is really roughin' it :) But not to worry - Campy got in some quality training and a little vitamin D as I stretched outside...sporting my new Oakley Women Changoever shades Saturday morning was an early start with a 3 mile run. A little change to the normal bike + run, Karel had me running first and right after, getting on my bike for some tempo intervals. It was an akward...

 Everyone talks about the lifestyle component of healthy living. Certainly, it's easier said than done. In looking back at my life over the past 6 years, I have stayed extremely active with  my triathlon lifestyle but I have also created some awesome habits that keep me happy, consistent and healthy. It isn't rocket science to create this lifestyle habits but it's so hard at times because of all the chatter out there as to the right, wrong ways of doing things. It's like everyone is an expert out there as to how you should live but obviously, they don't walk in your shoes. I think one of the hardest parts of training for sports or appreciating a more balanced diet is the trust factor. It's almost as if athlets fail at their continual attempts to live a healthier lifestyle by losing trust in their own actions as soon as someone starts talking about a better, newer, faster or easier way to do things. One thing I've learned over the years is to focus on m...

May 2006. My very first endurance triathlon - Ironman Florida 70.3. I had no idea if I trained right for the distance or what I needed to be aware of on race day. So, the only thing I had control over was my attitude and at the ripe age of 23 (almost 24), I was overly confident and I was stubborn enough to believe I had done everything right to race my first half ironman. As for packing my transition bag - well, that was another story. This is totally a newbie picture. But we all know that race day performances are built on consistent actions. You eventually learn how to train smarter, pace better and plan ahead. Eventually, if you set your sights on your goals - dreams reallly do come true....even if you still feel like a newbie - 6 years later. For when you train the body to perform, your race day performance is solely dependent on your fitness - on that day. When I work with my athletes, I thrive off seeing them progress with their training, only to ge...

Sunday morning was a toughy. Karel kicked my butt...more like, he made my butt work hard!! On my Training Peaks schedule, Karel had "Brick with Karel" .That's it and I didn't ask questions. When I train with Karel, I've learned that to be mentally strong, I have to be willing to try to stay on Karel's wheel and with that, I can't psyche myself out before the workout starts. On Saturday, after Karel's race, I did a Z2 3- hour endurance ride just to loosen my legs from one of my toughest long runs, on Friday (10.5 miles). I had no intentions to run on Saturday for I wanted as much recovery as possible before Sunday's workout. At 6:30am, we were out the door. Karel said he was a little sore but he was glad he had the day off on Saturday from work, to recover from the intense effort of the sprint triathlon. Although it was only a sprint, it was an all out max effort for one hour. I think many people downplay the stress on the body for a sprint ...

I think we can all relate to the unknown that comes with doing something for the first time. Uncomfortable, exciting, weird, awkard, easy.....it's hard to describe what it feels like to do something new because well, it is unfamiliar to your everyday living. I remember when I was less than 24 hours away from my first Ironman - IMFL in 2006. I was so freakin' excited yet a little scared of riding my bike for 112 miles. However, I could hardly contain myself. The only thing that really scared me was my heart and that it would have to beat for over 11 hours for a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. But thankfully, it did just fine since I trained it well and it worked great for 11 hours and 47 seconds. Since I've known Karel, this has been his comfort zone. A frame and two wheels and handlebars for steering. Karel has been racing bikes since a very young age but a few months ago, he was ready for a change. He craved something unknown, new and c...