Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

We are excited to announce a new feature on the Trimarni blog where we will be shining the spotlight on one of our Trimarni athletes (coaching or nutrition) every week. We hope that you will feel inspired by our athletes but also learn a few tips and tricks to help you reach your personal athletic and nutrition goals. Our athletes are normal individuals choosing to do exceptional things with a healthy body. N ame: Alvaro Velez Age: 40 City/State: Greenville, SC Primary sport:  Triathlon (swim is strongest) How many years in the sport: 9 years as a triathlete (30 years for swimming with a 7-year swim hiatus from 2000-2007) What Trimarni services have you used:  RETUL bike fit Trimarni Ironman 20-week Training Plan (IMKY) Race day bike tune-up Educational Plan (monthly) Advance plan custom coaching (after IMKY until Cartagena 70.3) ---------------------------------------------...

You are on a mission. You want results and you are ready and willing to achieve results. You have commitment, discipline, focus and passion. This is the year when you are all-in to experience success. A motivated mind and a body on a mission is the perfect recipe for health and fitness improvements. However, if you are only focused on results, this forward-thinking, result-focused mentality forces you to believe that it's only when you achieve results that you will happy or feel more successful. Consequently, this thinking often influences extreme choices in order to achieve quicker results, like overtraining and underfueling/undereating, as it relates to wanting the result of being a better, stronger, leaner or faster athlete. Although S.M.A.R.T. goals are important, a result-driven mindset can fog good judgment choices. I imagine there are many athletes who aspire to be better, leaner, faster or stronger. But it's the obsessive focus on the end result goal th...

picture source For some people, it's extremely easy to find the perfect holiday gift. But for athletes, gift giving may be tough because it seems as if they have everything that they need to live a healthy and active lifestyle and to succeed in sport. You may be scratching your head right now thinking, what more could she/he possibly need? Oh don't worry. Your athlete in your life can always find something that he/she needs. Here are some of my ideas for the athlete in your life who you think has everything he/she needs: Bluetooth Earphones -  Athletes love music when training. Wireless earphones are great as you remove the cord, that often gets tangled on clothes (or other equipment). Although headphones are great for traveling, earphones are light, resilient and built for exercise. Portable kitchen equipment - There's probably a good chance that your athlete has everything he/she needs at home in the kitchen, like a coffee pot (or espresso machine) and ble...

Our local run store,  Run In , hosted their first annual Chili Cook Off on Saturday afternoon. We could not pass up the opportunity to use our crock pot (and make our house smell yummy) so we entered the cook-off with our "Meat - ain't no body got time for that" chili (vegetarian).   My only role in making this chili was soaking the bag of mixed beans/lentils over night.  Not too hard of a job!  Karel took care of the rest as he always makes a GREAT vegetarian chili for us to yum over. As you can see from the picture above, he includes the traditional chili recipe ingredients, like peppers, onion and beans but in addition, celery root, parsnips and leeks (very European). He uses a mix of spices for flavor but the key is sauteing and cooking all the veggies on a skillet (with olive oil) first before letting the crock pot take over with the beans. Cooking the veggies on the skillet brings out a lot of flavor.  While this may not be your ...

After an EZ form focused run with a few "fast feet" intervals on the treadmill on Tues evening, I made a delicious dinner for me and Karel of couscous, spiced with turmeric and salt, tossed with sauteed veggies (celery, edamame, yellow peppers, onion). Cooked tempeh was my protein of choice. This dish didn't take too long to prepare as I was able to cook everything at once by using three of the burners on the stove. Karel was on the trainer, doing his bike workout as I was cooking, so by the time he was finished, it was time to enjoy this yummy creation, which left us with a happy tummy and well-fueled body. After a great night of sleep (oh sleep, how I love you!), I woke up excited to run outside on Wednesday as this was the first morning in several days that it wasn't raining. Plus, I had a very specific build-run workout on tap and with a building confidence in my run fitness lately, I was excited to see what my body had in store for the morning run. ...

Picture source Over the course of 3 years as an inpatient clinical RD, I learned a lot. With so much textbook literature, research and science packed into my brain over the 4 years it took me to earn my dietitian credential, I quickly learned that in order to properly diagnose and treat my patients, every case study was different. You see, there was never just one clear diagnosis. Every patient was different based on his/her patient history, labs, other co-existing health issues and symptoms. Unfortunately, our society doesn't think like this, especially as it relates to daily nutrition. Our society succeeds at thinking in extreme - you either have a perfect diet or a horrible diet. Food is good or it's bad. You eat well or you cheat. Food is allowed or off-limits. You don't have to have a perfect diet to have a healthy diet.  Sadly, a lot of people feel great anxiety, guilt and judgement when it relates to food, especially if self-worth is tied...

A passion of mine is helping athletes adopt a more real food diet. I don't think I need to discuss the many benefits of eating real food, grown from nature, to support your health needs as you train for your fitness/athletic goals. For many athletes, there's a lot of confusion as to how to eat as an athlete vs. as a non-athlete. Yes, all human beings should adopt a more real food diet but for athletes, there are many times throughout the year when your lifestyle is not normal, and you need to relearn what "healthy eating" means as an athlete. You see, as an athlete, your body processes food differently than your sedentary counterparts and you need a lot of it. You burn more calories, your body requires key nutrients, at certain times, to help assist in metabolism, protein synthesis and glycogen resynthesis and food is not simply consumed for health but it is also your fuel. Far too many athletes think they are eating healthy but in reality, they are underco...