Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Most athletes have heard that weight affects race day performance and the lighter you weigh, the better that you will perform. Or the opposite - the heavier that you are, the harder your body will have to work. While it's easy to assume that you will perform the best when you are near the bottom of your weight range,  an "ideal" race eight is not a guarantee of having your best performance on race day. I can assure you that even if you lose fat from your butt, thighs or stomach, you won't become a better athlete on race day just because you weight less You still need fitness and good health to perform the best with your body so the idea of "weighing less" is not effective if you are just chasing a number on the scale. Karel and I have never ever chased a "race weight." Our goal is always to arrive to a race with a body that is resilient, strong, healthy, injury-free, fueled and fit.  We have no rules in our diet and we never assume that wei...

Picture Source In the August 2017 "off-road" issue of Triathlete Magazine, I wrote an article on how to fuel for an off-road triathlon. This was an exciting article to write as I often imagine what it would be like to participate in a triathlon that occurred off-road. Oh the thrill to ride and run through nature! Although my cycling and running skills are not yet ready to trade the pavement for the dirt, I saw this as a great opportunity to educate triathletes on some of the nutritional differences between off-road and road triathlon racing. Note: In the print issue Pg 55, there were some formating issues with the staff at Triathlete Magazine that affected my article (in the 2nd column - the print words are not my words) so I wanted to take the opportunity to share my entire article with you. Sometimes these things happen in print so it's no fault to the dedicated staff at Triathlete Magazine.  -------------------------------------------------- Rock hoppin...

After 2.5 tough days of training, we just wrapped up our private training camp with Trimarni athlete Lisa Comer.   Lisa timed her private training camp perfectly with her key race (IMMT) as this camp was the perfect opportunity to intentionally overstress her body with training but to also remind her of the important skills that are needed to put together a great Ironman performance. Seeing Lisa in action allowed us, as her coaches, to fine-tune her skills and to break a few bad habits so that the next 6 weeks of training will be as effective as possible.  Lisa is an extremely resilient athlete. She has great bike handling skills, she is a fast swimmer and a strong runner. Over the past 2.5+ years as a Trimarni athlete, she has worked very hard to get to where she is right now in her athletic journey as she has been able to train consistently for the past few years all while managing a job, while being a wife and mother. She is positive, hard working and brings a ...

A few days ago, Karel and I registered for the 2018 Ironman Austria. If you didn't know, this is my absolute favorite course because I love everything about this race. The mountain views, the silky smooth pavement on the bike course, the crowd support and the overall race atmosphere. This will be our 3rd time racing at Ironman Austria and I have a few big goals that I hope to achieve at this race which will be years in the making. With a two year intentional break from Ironman racing, I can't wait to complete my 12th Ironman in Austria next July 1st. To be honest, it has been incredibly difficult to resist the urge from signing up for an Ironman over the past year. Even now, I am itching to race a 140.6 mile event and there were a few times that I debated to sign up for IM Lake Placid and race with Karel. BUT, I have remained patient as my intention for taking a break from Ironman racing was to fully develop my skills, resilience and fitness so that when I return ba...

Preparing for a triathlon or running event requires a lot of time - often alone time This leaves little time for socializing with others who share the same (crazy) passion with you. Although your spouse/friends may support your training, the enthusiasm at a group camp is often much greater than what you would experience alone.  While you may be 100% personally invested into your athletic journey right now in your life, you are more likely to stick with your sport when your enjoyment factor is high. Although we all need to embrace the solo grind that is needed for self improvement, your sport allows you to live a active, happy and healthy lifestyle - thus, it's important to find ways to keep that “fun” factor going and you can do that through a training camp.  When most of your training is done by yourself, it allows you to focus on your own journey. Your training environment becomes very controlled and familiar and you know what to do to deliver yourself...

When an athlete lacks mental toughness, it's easy to give up, give in or give less. We see this a lot when athletes train alone. But in a group setting, athletes are willing to do just a little bit more than what they would do alone. Regardless of talent, a mentally tough athlete has what it takes to get through a tough workout. Day 4 of camp was all about attitude and every camper brought a great mindset to the last day of training at camp. After three challenging, exhausting and long days of training, our campers arrived to Lake Jocassee around 8:30am for one last workout. A 1-hour open water swim workout followed by a 90-minute hilly run. At Trimarni, we have a special group of athletes. We feel incredibly lucky that our athletes/campers bring great can-do attitudes to every workout as this fosters a positive, ego-free, supportive environment. When you feel good about yourself, you think, act and train in a way that is good for everyone.  Instead of doing things...

We saved the longest and hardest camp ride for day 3 of camp . This route included between 4000-6300 feet of climbing. Our campers knew that this would be their last day of riding at camp and we wanted it to be a ride to remember. We have said it over and over again but we just love our cycling playground. We have endless cycling routes and we never get bored on our variable terrain. The views are spectacular, the roads are quiet (and car friendly) and you are forced to become a stronger, more skillful and smarter rider just by riding in and around Greenville. Knowing that our campers would be mentally and physically exhausted on day 3 of camp, we gave our campers two options for rides. One ride started at Hotel Domestique (~50 miles) at 8am and the other ride started at 7:30am from the camp lodge. Although we had two ride options, we selected which campers would be in which group. We wanted to make sure that day 3 of camp made sense for every athlete, since it was going to be...