Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Not too long ago I overheard a conversation with a personal trainer and his client at the gym. The trainer had been away on vacation and the client asked her trainer where he went and if he went to any good restaurants when he was away. As I was working my core on the captain chair, I couldn’t help but listen to this conversation about food. I remember when I was growing up in Lexington Kentucky, there was a place downtown that had the biggest, most scrumptious cinnamon rolls that would put any cinnabon to shame these days. A cinnamon roll the size of my head and a belly that would get sick if you ate the whole thing (of course, speaking from experience). But oh were those cinnamon rolls the best…when my mom and dad would take me to get them for a treat once a year.                      ( Source ) It wasn’t that the cinnamon rolls were off limit or “bad” food but instead, my parents would reward me after my piano recita...

8.5 quality, "train smarter to train harder" hours of Ironman World Championship training this weekend. My whole wheat pita bread pizza topped with marinara, cheese, BRAGG powder and oregano and olive oil, stir fried veggies (mushrooms, mixed frozen veggies, red and yellow sweet peper, garlic) with tempeh hit the spot tonight. Body and mind are feeling strong, healthy and happy. Another week of training is behind me and I am excited to recover tomorrow. I am always amazed that with one recovery day per week (sometimes two) that my body can recover from 6 previous days of training and be strong for 6 more days of training and keep this cycle going for x-weeks. One thing that really helps me stay balanced is constantly changing up my routine and only limiting my "key race training" to around 10-12 weeks at a time. When I started endurance sports, I was like many athletes and had a specific schedule Mon - Sun and would repeat that same routine week after week,...

This body is not disappointing me despite pushing it to higher limits and challenging workouts. Thanks coach Karel! Today's workout was a breakthrough. I owe it to two great recovery days last week (Mon off, Tues 3000 recovery swim) and a balanced training plan since IM Lake Placid that has allowed my body to train hard but recover harder. I still don't forget that I didn't run for 90 days in Feb  - April but I thank my body constantly. Sometimes I even do it out loud.  Wednesday - UNF masters swim team (joined Karel who has really benefited from this group and Coach Mel's assistance with his stroke) Main set: 100 fast, 50 EZ 2 x 100 fast, 50 EZ 3 x 100 fast, 50 EZ 4 x 100 fast 50 EZ The goal was to get faster with the fast as the set went on (2 minute cycle) but to be consistent. I really woke up my fast twitch fibers and oh boy was my body filled with lactic acid. I went from 1:16 to holding 1:14 on the last 4 and I was done after that. Whewww. ...

With so much nutrition advice available, how do you know what to believe?  For example, my friend Jason  asked me if I heard about Almased, not because he was interested in it but because he was shocked at the diet plan and that it was endorsed by a Registered Dietitian (RD). So, if a MD and RD recommend Almased, does that mean that you should use the product to lose weight and follow the diet plan?  At the beginning, you only drink vegetable broth, water and three Almased ® shakes per day. For each “meal”, eight level tablespoons of Almased ® with cold water (bottled or filtered) or milk (skim, unsweetened almond or soy). The weight loss during this phase may be higher than for the rest of the diet. You can stay in this Starting Phase for a couple of days or up to 2 weeks if you feel good. Then you begin the Reduction Phase, during which you replace two meals (preferably breakfast and dinner) with an Almased ® drink and eat one healthy meal. This phase l...

Every day we go to bed with happy tummy's  and wake up with a body that is energized and ready to train and have a great day. We owe it all to real food that fuels our active lifestyle and keeps our immune system healthy and our brain thinking clearly.  No matter how many legs you have in the Sumbal house, we all love real food.  I created the plant strong meal for Karel  (see below - my entire dinner) and he finished it off with Kuřecí řízek (chicken schnitzel) and local sourdough fresh bread. Nothing like European food that brings memories from home.  So simple yet so delicious. Frozen mixed veggies with fresh mushrooms and sliced onions sautéed in olive oil with toasted quinoa and brown rice. I can't believe my 21 year plant strong diet is gearing me up for my seventh Ironman in 32 days. Yay for real food that makes my tummy and body happy. And for my little furry child who is not a fan of any type of dog food (we've tried so many!), even...

My legs were tired, it was hot and humid, the wind was blowing and I was riding behind Karel on his new Speed Concept. 33 days until Kona and I think I just finished one of my hardest training blocks ever. Thank you BODY! -Sunday's workout- 5 hour ride + 15 min run Bike: 1 hour warm-up, building to 10 watts below IM pace (legs took a while to warm-up thanks to the stress I placed on my body from Saturday's 3:15 bike + 9.5 mile run). 35 min IM pace w/ 5 min EZ Main set 3x's: 35 minutes @ Half IM pace (watts) w/ 4 minutes in between (see below of details of this set) Steady riding upper Z2 until finished Total hours: 4:58 Miles: 99.3 15 min run off the bike (RPE 75-80%, ended up holding 8-8:15 min/miles) Since Karel is training for a half IM (Miami 70.3 in the end of October), his training is a bit different than mine right now. He ran 1 hour before the bike and then joined me on my 2nd interval. After I did 35 minutes of riding at my IM pace and then ...

Over the years, my training has changed tremendously. I wasn't sure how to approach the training as an endurance athlete so I followed the crowd and trained twice a day, long workouts on the weekends and dreaded the recommended "off" day on Monday.  It worked for my first Ironman, so I decided that if more is better, I should do even more than before. However, I became injured and extremely fatigued for my second Ironman and now I pay for that race (2007 Ironman World Championship) a few times every year since. With Karel's thinking outside the box, we have adapted a philosophy of "train hard, recover harder". Training is periodized so that we peak at the right time and training stays balanced with life. Every workout has a purpose, there are no junk miles and we have fun seeing progress. Sometimes there are off days but there are a lot of great days. The off days finish with the mindset that we accomplished something that we almost didn...