2023 Trimarni Coaching - Apply Now

It's that time of the year where you may be looking into a new coach or different training methodology to help you prepare for your 2023 races. 

Coaching isn't just about training. Coaching isn't about the training plan.
It's about building a healthy coach-athlete relationship. 

The coach-athlete relationship is a partnership. 
You are not our client. You are our athlete. 
And you are much more than an athlete, you are an incredible human being. 

For our coach-athlete relationship to work, you need to understand us and we need to understand you. We are willing to put in the work. But we cannot work independently of you. As the athlete, you must be willing and ready to be in a partnership. 

How can we help you get the most out of your triathlon journey? 

We take our job as "coach" very seriously. 
We respect you. We listen. We are available. We communicate. We support you. We believe in you. 

At Trimarni, we want you to maintain the same passion for the sport as when you started. We care about your mental and physical health. We want to help you grow and develop. We want to challenge you and help you safely stretch your comfort zone. We are an ego-free team where everyone feels included and accepted. We care about you, your life, your family/relationships, your career, your goals and your personal well-being.

Athletic success with a strong healthy coach-athlete partnership produces physical improvements and personal growth. 

If you are interested in being part of the 2023 Trimarni Coaching Team, our application period for 2023 is only open until October 31st, 2022. We only accept a few new athletes once a year. Do not miss out on this one-time opportunity to apply to be a Trimarni coached athlete. 

If you are not interested in one-on-one coaching but would like to be part of the Trimarni team, consider a Trimarni training plan and joining our team.

To apply for coaching click HERE.
To join our team, click HERE. 

For the Coaches - when an athlete wants to lose weight

 

With so many ways to enhance performance and to optimize health, two of the most popular sought-after strategies include diet and body composition changes. When done correctly, performance may improve. However, it’s not uncommon for athletes to engage in unhealthy weight control methods, resulting in great emotional and physical consequences. Whether for aesthetics, competitive leanness, body dissatisfaction or in pursuit of an ideal “race weight,” athletes often place unrealistic expectations on performance and their bodies. What may start as an innocent attempt to lean-up or to lose a few pounds, can easily spiral out of control, undermining health, training, recovery, performance and mental well-being.

If you are a coach, you have a responsibility to take care of your athlete - physically, emotionally and mentally. 

When your athlete feels pressure to achieve a leaner body composition, an increased fascination with nutrition, body fat, weight and calories can develop into an unhealthy group of eating behaviors called disordered eating. Typical disordered eating behaviors include obsessive counting calories, clean eating, carrying out food rituals, fasting, avoiding sport nutrition products, having an off-limit food list, or avoiding certain foods or food groups for non-medical reasons.

If you are concerned that your athlete may have an unhealthy relationship with food and the body, start the conversation with a non-judgmental tone in order to make your athlete feel safe and cared about. Making it clear that you care about your athlete’s health and well-being, you may say, “I’m worried about you because I’ve noticed that you are struggling to complete your workouts lately.” You may also say, “you’ve been experiencing a lot of injuries/sicknesses lately. It may be best to consult with a sport dietitian to make sure you can adapt to your upcoming training load.”

The most common precipitating factor in the development of an eating disorder is dieting. What starts as a well-intentioned diet plan, slowly transforms into skipping meals, undereating, removing specific foods or entire food groups from the diet and sacrificing calories before and after workouts. An eating disorder is a serious psychiatric condition that affects all types of individuals. Eating disorders are complex and multifactorial. Interestingly, athletes are at higher risk for an eating disorder compared to the rest of the population. A disciplined, goal-oriented athlete can be guilty of chasing perfectionism. Feeling great pressure to succeed, restricting food can become an easy way to exert control. Constantly pushing the body to the limits, athletes don’t realize how much energy is needed for training. Lastly, many athletes believe that leanness is an essential factor in improving performance. But as we can see in today's society, records are being broken by all different body types.

With several different genetic and socio-cultural triggers, risk factors for an eating disorder include dieting, need for control, weight stigma, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, anxiety, biochemical imbalances, traumatic life events, behavior inflexibility, nutrition misinformation, low self-esteem, and being teased or bullied. With a strong stigma behind eating disorders, it’s important to show support to those who are struggling and to emphasize that help is available.

As a coach, routinely remind your athletes that optimizing performance should not require excessive training and restrictive eating. Resorting to destructive methods of manipulating body composition will only sabotage performance and health.

Pay attention to any warning signs that your athlete may be eating too little and training too hard. Fatigue, anemia, compromised bone health, hormonal imbalances, hair loss, notable weight loss, lack of energy, a decline in muscle mass and strength, mood changes, amenorrhea, restless sleep, and overuse injuries are common signs of an energy imbalance. Inadequate caloric intake relative to energy expenditure (RED-S) will result in extra stress on the body – increasing the risk for injury, sickness and burnout. 

Encourage athletes to maintain healthy training and eating behaviors that will favor long-term health and longevity in sport. It’s encouraged to partner with a Board Certified Sport Dietitian to provide effective, safe and personalized nutrition advice to athletes. If you are concerned about an athlete’s weight or health, a Board Certified Sport Dietitian can counsel athletes who are struggling with the physical and emotional consequences of dieting. 

As a coach, how much emphasis do you place on body image?

Do you often talk about weight loss, body fat or dietary trends to your athletes?

Body composition is a sensitive and personal issue yet far too many coaches share an overvalued belief with their athletes that a lower body weight will improve performance. Inadvertently, you may be placing your own values and attitudes regarding weight, dieting and body image on your athletes. As a coach, you should never assume that reducing body fat or weight will enhance the performance of your athlete. Every athlete has his/her own optimum performance weight where the body functions the best and this body type is achieved through consistent training, nutritious eating and proper fueling and hydration. Acknowledge an athlete’s strengths beyond the physical, for athletes are more than just a look. Making remarks about body composition and performance can trigger or exacerbate disordered eating thoughts and behaviors. Don’t be the coach who makes stereotypical assumptions about the ideal body type for athletic greatness.

As a coach, use your power and authority. In today’s fad-diet, body image obsessed society, it can be difficult for athletes to keep a healthy perspective on body image. Help your athlete understand the importance of maintaining a healthy body composition – even if that image doesn’t look like the idealized image seen on social media. Protect the physical and psychological well-being of your athletes by discouraging dieting and enforcing health and performance-promoting eating habits.

Extreme nutrition habits are extremely trendy while discussions of health are lacking. Be a role model and encourage your athletes to care for their mental and physical health. Eating is not cheating. Meeting daily nutritional needs and supporting training sessions with proper sport nutrition is a necessary component of athletic success, and it keeps sport fun, long-lasting and health-promoting.

2020 Trimarni Coaching: APPLY NOW!

It's that time of the year again!!

If you are interested in joining the 2020 Trimarni coaching team as a one-on-one coached athlete, now is the time to apply. We only accept new athletes once a year and the deadline to apply is October 14th.

At Trimarni, we are a team of hard working, caring, supportive and fun individuals who are passionate about triathlon. We care about your health and want you to maintain your enjoyment for your swim-bike-run lifestyle. We are an ego-free team where everyone feels included and accepted.
We care about you, your life, your goals and your personal well-being. 

As a Trimarni team member, you can expect to receive: 

• Motivation 
• Inspiration
• Education
• Team support

We are much more than a coaching business - we are a team. 

Please note, we only have a limited number of spots for 2020 coaching. We always give first priority to our current coached athletes and team members (educational team/training plan athletes).

If you are interested in joining the Trimarni team but are not ready for one-on-one coaching, we also have training plans (20-week Ironman and Half Ironman, as well as our 8-foundation plan and NEW to 2020, 12-week Sprint and Olympic) and our educational team membership. 

Learn more here about our coaching services. 

APPLY HERE for coaching. 

Meeting your coach's expectations

With only four weeks left until we kick-off our 2019 triathlon season, I have been thinking a lot about the athlete-coach relationship. With nearly five solo, music-free hours of swimbikerun training spread over Saturday for me, let's just say that I had a lot of time with my own thoughts.

Coaching is a mutual commitment. The athlete expects the coach to be professional, experienced, encouraging and communicative. But coaches have expectations of their athlete in order to optimize performance, maintain optimal health, to get the most out of the athletic journey and to get the most out of the coaching relationship.

When I think about the expectations that my coach has for me, I believe she wants me to be honest, responsive and engaged. I also believe she wants me to stay in good health - never restricting food or compromising sleep, or jeopardizing my ability to perform well in training and recover quickly from training sessions. Instead of trying to impress your coach with your ability to handle a high training load (and have data that shows that you are improving), training only works if you are able to positively adapt to training sessions - without compromising your health. Therefore, coaching is much more than checking off workouts.

Thankfully, my training has been strategically and systematically designed for gradual progress, without compromising my mental and physical health. With my personal feedback from each training session reported immediately into Training Peaks, she is able to keep me on the right track.

Trust in the coach-athlete relationship takes time to achieve. If you don't completely trust your coach, you may find yourself constantly training with a sense of doubt, always questioning workouts. This doesn't mean that you can't ask questions, express your concerns or make suggestions. If a coach is invested in you as the athlete, she/he will keep an open mind and adjust training as needed/appropriate to foster growth in the sport.

When it comes to coaching, I feel that many athletes and coaches see training as an entity unto itself - simply check off workouts and fitness/race readiness will improve. The attitude is "get it done" - often while in a chronic state of being physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted.

As an athlete, I want to stress that training is a piece of your life. Therefore, if you want to perform well in sport, you need to make decisions that contribute to sport enjoyment and improvement. In other words, when you aren't training, your eating, sleeping and lifestyle decisions play an important role in your response to training stress. Training is so much more than just checking off workouts.

As a coach, I want to stress that you (and your coach) need to have reasonable expectations for sport-related decisions that also work well for the rest of your life. Communication is key. For driven individuals, it's easy to set very high expectations for yourself as an athlete, often feeling a tremendous amount of pressure to perform to achieve a certain result. Be realistic with the time you can devote to training. By focusing on quality over quantity, you'll achieve much more than trying to function with an overworked mind and body.

Remind yourself that expectations influence thoughts and thoughts influence behaviors. This relates to training, racing, body composition. Being overly ambitious with your expectations can easily cause you to make extreme or unhealthy choices that negatively affect your fitness and health. More so, if your expectations are too extreme, you'll quickly lose your passion for the sport, destroy your athletic experience and negatively affect your self-confidence.

Do the training/racing expectations that you have for yourself align with the expectations that your coach has for you?

2018 Trimarni Coaching Application will close TODAY!!!

At Trimarni Coaching, we only accept new athletes for one-on-one coaching in September/October for the following year. Although we have training plans and an educational membership for athletes who want to train under our guidance throughout the year, there is only one opportunity out of the year to be coached by us as a Trimarni athlete for the following year. While this may sound a bit strict, as it requires new/potential athletes to think about coaching for the next season well before the New Year, there are a few reasons why we do not add new athletes to our coaching roster throughout the year. 

1. Athlete/coach relationship - It takes time for us to get to know an athlete so we start building this relationship early in the year (Nov/Dec). Effective coaching is so much more than workout delivery or being great workout writers as we need to understand athletes on an individual and personal level. We also want to start opening the lines of communication so that the athlete feels as if she/he is in a safe, trustworthy and supportive coach/athlete relationship. 
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3. Team building- Although online coaching is not for every athlete, we make sure that our new athletes understand that they are joining a team. At Trimarni, we consider our athletes as family. Our athletes are not our "clients" but they are teammates. Triathlon is an individual sport and with busy work/family/life schedules, it's very easy to feel alone and isolate from other people. We make a strong effort to make sure that every Trimarni athlete feels part of a team, with caring, supportive, fun, passionate, judgment-free and ego-free teammates. We not only offer camps and key races throughout the year to bring our athletes together, but we use social media in a positive way, to help connect our athletes to one another. By welcoming new athletes to our team all at once, everyone has an opportunity to get to know one another.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Education - A big component to Trimarni coaching is education. We don't want to tell our athletes what to do but to make sure that our athletes are doing things well. Over the years, we have learned that triathletes are great at training but when it comes to race day, athletes struggle to effectively put that training to good use when it counts. Therefore, we make the effort every week throughout the year to educate our athletes through weekly FB live chats and weekly check-in educational emails. There is no shortage of education for our athletes as it relates to training, nutrition, racing and so much more.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Development - If an athlete is focused on training for one race, we have a Trimarni training plan that will allow for smooth progression and race day readiness. We take great pride in our training plans as we update them every year to keep them current and fresh. But for our coached athletes, we believe that a long-term relationship is imperative to allow for development, while keeping the body in good health. To reach athletic excellence within a racing season, an athlete needs patience, a hard work ethic and consistency. The process is not quick or easy but when done right, our athletes can maintain a sense of athletic-identity without feeling like training is taking over their life. Above all, we want to keep training fun and exciting as it should be a health-promoting hobby that enriches your life. When a new athlete starts with us, we have time to develop the athlete and work through the different phases of training to build resilience, strength and the necessary skills to work from year after year. We take great pride in building strong, healthy and happy athletes.
   
   
   
6. Commitment - Our job as coaches is to help athletes reach personal athletic goals and to maintain a healthy lifestyle. When an athlete applies to be a Trimarni coaching athlete during our 2-week application submission period, we immediately know that the athlete is committed to the journey. On the flip side, as coaches, we are committed to helping every athlete on our team and it is important for us to carefully select our athletes so that everyone is a good fit for our team and so that we do not coach more athletes than we can handle. Although there are three of us (Me, Karel and assistant coach Joe) and coaching is our full-time job, coaching is much more than writing workouts. We are committed to all areas of coaching, which most importantly, means communicating and being there for our athletes. It's very important to us that we make sure that every athlete that we coach will benefit physically, psychologically and emotionally from our coaching. We are looking for individuals who are committed to the process of development in an effort to achieve athletic excellence with a healthy and strong mind and body.
   
   
   
   
   

If you are interested in joining the 2018 Trimarni coaching team, TODAY is the last day to apply.

To learn more about our coaching categories and to apply, CLICK HERE. 

Your coach is watching you

It's easy to cut deals with yourself when you train alone. When no one is watching, you can go a little harder/easier when you feel like it and you can modify a workout based on your mood and energy. You can skip the parts of the workout that you don't like and you can add/shorten a workout based on what you feel makes you feel the best on that given day. Although coaches would like to assume that athletes follow training plans as written (with only necessary modifications applied based on time constraints and energy to ensure quality training), I think any athlete would agree that a group training environment (or having a coach with you when you train) forces athletes to give an effort that they wouldn't do on their own, not to mention complete the entire workout as planned. Seeing that training alone gives an athlete a tremendous amount of freedom to mentally check-out, modify or adjust a given workout as the athlete feels fit, you may find that you are limiting your athletic capabilities when training alone. An easy fix to this is to pretend like your/a coach is always supervising your workout.

Here are a few tips to bring to every training session.

-Show up "on time" -Don't cut the warm-up short

-Understand the workout purpose before you start the workout

-Don't make excuses

-Don't be afraid to fail

-Give your best effort, on that day

-Only compare yourself to a past version of you (not another athlete)

-Don't stop the workout until you complete the entire workout (unless you are sick, injured or form suffers)

Far too many athletes fail to reach their full athletic potential simply because they lack the motivation and discipline needed to execute well for every given workout. 

If you follow a training plan, it's important to not let yourself think that you know better than your coach and that it's ok to modify workouts based on what you feel like doing each day. 

It's important to trust your coach and trust your training plan as every workout (and week of training) has a clear purpose in your individual fitness journey. If your gut tells you that your training plan is not ideal for you, discuss with your coach before you begin to coach yourself by modifying your assigned training plan workouts. It's far too common that athletes will feel the need to do more intensity or volume thinking that the harder and longer you go, the fitter and faster you become. 

Sadly, this is not always true as specific workouts are needed at specific times in training. At Trimarni coaching, we focus on getting our athletes strong before we get them fast and then they are ready to go long. Too much volume and intensity will often lead to injuries or overtraining. 

A smart and well-laid training plan ensures development and proper physical adaptations to prepare your body and mind for race day.

Always give your best effort and hold yourself accountable to the work that needs to get done to help you get your fitness and health to where you want it to be by race day.

If you are interested in a Trimarni training plan, visit our website to learn more about our Olympic, half and full Ironman 20-week training plans. Every Trimarni training plan is designed to help you develop your skills and fitness to properly prepare for race day. We can assure you that you will never get bored with our workouts and you will be able to fit your training into your life as you prepare your body for your upcoming event. If you are in need (or love) triathlon education and are looking for a team environment (even if you train alone), consider joining our Performance Team with the purchase of your training plan. For only $50/month, you have access to our private Trimarni team Facebook page, Trimarni sponsor discounts, discount to our training camps and you receive a weekly educational "check-in" email (either as a handout or video) from Karel and myself. Every week we discuss an important topic that will help you become a smarter triathlete. Even if you join the Performance Team now, you still receive all past handouts (since December). Check-in topics already discussed include:

-Sport nutrition -Daily nutrition -Long run nutrition -Race day execution - olympic, half and full Ironman -Motivation -Bike skills - ex. riding in the wind

-Staying accountable to training -Swim skills -Planning a race-cation -Team approach to training -Training stress -Training metrics -Mobility -Sleep And more!

Private Trimarni training camp

I took this picture on Friday evening while driving to dinner at Restaurant 17 with our athlete and private camper Jim.

While driving, I wanted to capture this moment because I just can't get over where we live. If it's not obvious, I just love Greenville, SC and everything that we can see and do. The living is affordable, we have endless options for local foods, there are countless restaurants that take pride in supporting local farms/farmers, our roads are bike friendly (seriously - we often have to wave to cars to pass us as they will just patiently ride behind us until we give them the ok to pass), people are so nice, we have the BEST downtown and we have endless mountain and nature views. 

This picture just reminds me how great it is to live close to the mountains and how lucky we are to call Greenville our home.

And because we love Greenville so much, we want you to enjoy it with us!

If you are interested in training with us, send us an email. Our private training camps are a great way for you or you and your spouse/friends to experience some unbelievable training terrain and beautiful scenery. 

Our private training camps are ideal for all ages and fitness levels. We take pride in catering to your individual needs. Above all, we want to help you become a better, smarter and stronger athlete but we are mindful of your personal developmental processes. We will give you the most appropriate advice, at this time in your journey, that will help take your fitness to that next level.

Although our group camps provide the perfect mix of challenging workouts, fun and socializing, our private camps give you the individual attention that you need to improve your skills, form, confidence, mental strength, nutrition or any other area to help you reach your goals.

For Karel and myself, we love coaching our athletes. Coaching is extremely rewarding and we load our athletes with education every single week (check-in emails are emailed every Sun/Mon throughout the entire year). But the best way to coach an athlete is to see the athlete in action. This way, we can focus on specific areas that we feel are of concern or improvement.

Some of key areas that we discuss at our private camps:

Swimming - how to hold the body in the water, changing old swimming habits to learn a more appropriate style of swimming that will transfer well to open water, how to love swim training, how to use swim toys more efficiently and much more.

Cycling - (with Karel's expertise and lifetime of cycling experience, athletes will gain so much from riding with Karel) - how to change gears, how to descend/climb, how to ride on rolling hills, how to ride in turns or bumpy terrain, when to stand, sit or stay aero, how to ride in side or head wind, bike fit/position, how to ride more comfortable on the bike, how to ride with more power, how to race smart to still have the legs to run off the bike, what are the best tires and wheels for the athlete, how to ride safer and more confident and so much more.

Running - discussing common running myths for triathletes, learning how to run like a triathlete (not a "runner"), how to run more efficiently, how to run on hills (up and down), how to incorporate walking into running, how to pace better in training and racing, how to stay comfortable running longer distances, how to love running off the bike and much more.

And in addition to all the topics discussed above, I cover daily and sport nutrition in great detail.

When I work with athletes, I am very focused on how athletes fuel so that they can maximize performance. Sport nutrition can be complicated and I try to make it simple.

Far too often I see athletes not bringing the right (or enough) fuel when we train and it shows during a workout. Although our workouts may be challenging at times, I can see how comfortable (or not) an athlete is with his/her fueling. Many times, athletes are slowing down because they are not fueling adequately and this delays improvements in fitness.

This is important because we try to provide the best training environment for the athlete at our camps and we are focused on the best execution possible. When athletes train alone, it's easy to get by and not realize that your nutrition strategy (or lack thereof) is not helping you improve. You are simply getting more comfortable with a given effort but not making the necessary physiological changes that are needed to take fitness to that next level.

Far too many athletes don't realize that they can perform better, more efficiently and go longer if sport nutrition was better planned and executed. Some athletes are scared of sport nutrition and I am here to educate on the best way to fuel to ensure that sport nutrition is used properly.

That is my job as a sport dietitian, to help the athlete learn how to fuel smarter to train harder (and recover faster). I can't tell you how many athletes have told me that their nutrition strategy is just fine....until we train together. I can see all the little limiters that are not helping the athlete get to the next level. When athletes don't feel comfortable grabbing bottles while cycling, bringing or consuming nutrition while running, have complicated fueling strategies (that are difficult to replicate or execute in training and racing), are not fueling "enough" or not eating well before or after workouts, the athlete is not adapting well to training stress.

 I never want my athlete leaving our camp without an improvement in fueling and daily eating.

Oh, and did I mention that when you come and visit us, I prepare all recovery snacks/drinks and we make sure to visit a few of the many great restaurants in Greenville. And we do not rush you after the end of the workout. We spend as much time needed talking about your needs, concerns and goals as an athlete and what changes need to be made to ensure great health and progress as an athlete.

We can help arrange lodging, travel and anything else you need. And our private campers have the opportunity to be RETUL fit (or refit) by Karel.

We take care of all the routes and workouts so all you have to do is show-up and do what you love to do - TRAIN!

Since our private camps are customized to your fitness level, all you need to do is contact us and we will start planning your perfect camp environment.

Here are a few pictures from 3 great days of one on one training.

Thursday:

3.5 hour interval ride (3500+ feet of climbing, specific focus)

40 min T-run (hilly run with short walk breaks)

Friday:

90-minute interval run (specific main set)

90 minute T-bike (specific focus)

1 hour swim

Dinner at Hotel Domestique

Saturday:

4.5 hour ride (6500+ feet of climbing)

15 min T-run

Dinner at Tupelo Honey

Train smart and enjoy the journey

Thank you to all the athletes who applied for 2015 Trimarni coaching! We reached our capacity before our deadline and we look forward to the opportunity to work with an amazing group of inspiring, motivating and hard-working age-group triathletes in 2015.

If you are interested in applying our coaching methodology to your training, we will be offering our NEW 8-week transition plan in the next few weeks, which features specific strength training exercises that will yield positive results in swim, bike, run fitness. The transition plan will also help you build a strong foundation as you work on form and skills.

We will also be offering the transition plan WITH our pre-built running and triathlon training plans.

Stay tuned!

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What comes to mind when you think of the word “smart” in relation to an athlete? Perhaps doing this well or perfect or being able to execute or not miss a workout? Well, certainly smart athletes are not perfect and are not necessarily the best at everything.

Smart athletes are patient, they do not rush the journey, the focus on the little things and they do not continually search for a better/quicker way. 

As a coach and age-group triathlete, it’s wonderful to see a rise in the number of race-seeking, active individuals. However, with a growing community of athletes, you may find yourself immersed in a triathlon or running-bubble with SO many tips, tricks and suggestions. I can honestly say that there are way too many "coaches" out there with way too much information available as to how to train "right". This doesn't mean there are way too many bad or unprofessional coaches as I feel there are many wonderful, caring and passionate coaches but certainly with so many experts comes a lot of "smart" ways to train. Seeing that there are many paths that one can take to get to the final destination, the ultimate goal for an athlete is to always determine the best road for your goals, your body and your lifestyle.

By knowing a coaches philosophy and how he/she coaches athletes, you will be able to identify the best coach for you in order to train "smart."

From the goal-focused newbie who is determined to cross a finish line with a smile, to the elite who race for bragging rights, prize money and podium awards, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed when it comes to taking the smartest road to success. 

Bottom line is that it’s important that your extremely active lifestyle is bringing you closer to your goals. Therefore, training for a race requires more than just checking off assigned workouts and finishing a workout with sweaty clothes and sore muscles.

Now a days, it seems like there are a lot of heavy exercisers out there who are training for races. The training is haphazard and the plan is not periodized or even favorable for optional performance goals. There are a lot of hours spent training that do not correlate to subpar race day performances.  There is a quick rush toward volume and there is little emphasis on strength training, recovery, sport nutrition and most importantly skills and form. 

When was the last time you fully rested your body before starting a training plan? And then, when was the last time you spent 4,6 or even 8 weeks perfecting your strength, form and skills before starting your "real" structured training?

Depending on how you answered these questions, do you think that you are doing things the "right" way or focusing too much on the end results instead of the journey?

There is a large number of athletes out there, of all fitness levels, that never take the time to create a solid foundation before training stress is applied. In other words, before you start decorating the house (the fun stuff) you must make sure the foundation is strong (which takes time and patience).

If there are two things that you should carry with you throughout your season (starting now), here are two that should always be on your mind: 

It’s not just about the miles –  Consider the many variables in your life that can positively affect your training consistency and health and can contribute to a balanced lifestyle. Among the top priorities: Sport nutrition before, during and after training to assist in intentional physiological stress. Strength training to enhance your cardio-focused routine. Stretching to encourage proper range of motion and injury prevention. A restful sleeping routine to help control appetite, quicken recovery, assist in stress and attitude management and to encourage stable energy throughout the day. There is no magic number of hours that you need to train a week to prepare for x-distance run race or triathlon. What's important is how you use your available hours. You must accept that the hours you have to spend on training are enough because any more hours would compromise sleep, diet, work productivity, family and social life. Periodize your season so that each phase builds on the last.
  Don’t rush the journey- To make the most physiological training adaptations with the least amount of training stress, focus on your individual response to training. Training adaptations vary between individuals and there is no perfect training (or diet) plan. A properly planned training routine, alongside a carefully mapped-out racing schedule will ensure well-timed, peak performances thanks to a progressive, individualized overload. Develop a training routine that takes into account your current level of fitness, frequency, intensity and duration of workouts, past season successes and regrets, current lifestyle requirements and available hours of daily/weekly training, number of weeks/months until your A-races, short and long term goals, past or potential injuries/health issues and ability to recover properly between workouts. 

Happy Training!

IMFL - Proud coach and inspired spectator

We ran 2.5 miles from our homestay to watch the IMFL swim start. 

We couldn't wait to see our friends and athletes start their Ironman day. A day that was months in the making and the culmination of many miles and hours of training. Most people would say that the Ironman distance triathlons is hard.
Absolutely. 

But getting to the starting line is one of the most rewarding experiences that any athlete can receive. 

Although choppy waters, the day was absolutely perfect for PR's and great performances. There is no "easy" Ironman course or day so the understanding is that for those who are mentally strong, they are the ones who can take their trained body to the finish line knowing that it won't be easy - BUT it will be worth it. 

With soaked shoes and socks, standing in calf high water, we waited to see our athletes finish the first loop of the two loop swim course. I couldn't believe that Karel could spot so many of our friends and athletes after running a few yards along the sandy beach to re-enter the water. There's nothing better than hearing your name as you are about to swim in the sea, all alone with your thoughts and 3000+ other athletes thinking the same crazy thoughts with you "Why am I doing this?"

                                   

We waited in the transition area for 20 minutes to secure the perfect spot to cheer on our friends and athletes as they grabbed their swim-to-bike (Transition 1 bag) after exiting the water and then cheered for them again after changing in the men/women changing tent before running to grab their bike from the racks. I couldn't believe how many people we knew doing this race (over 30 from Jacksonville!) alongside our own coaching and nutrition athletes so it was so great to cheer for those who inspire us.

We drove 30 minutes to see athletes on the out-and-back section of the course, around mile 90-97. Knowing that you have only 20 miles or so to go is a great feeling but from experience, the last 2 hours of the Ironman 112 mile bike ride can be lonely with a lot of lows. 

Out and back sections are one of the best places for athletes...

IMFL 2007 - my first Ironman.

In 2007, Karel (my boyfriend at the time) wanted my parents to head to the course to see me on the bike. My mom was worried they would miss me on the run but Karel insisted that I would enjoy seeing them on the bike as 112 miles is a long way to go when there are not as many spectators as there on the run course.

He was right.

I was so surprised when I saw them and it totally made my day. I was in a low spot and when I saw my family and Karel as I was heading out on the first out and back section, I think I sprinted on my bike because I was just so excited to head back to see them again!

Campy and I and Karel stayed in two separate spots so that our athletes would see Karel first and then Campy could give them a cheer. It worked perfectly and I think I saw a lot of smiles on faces to hear a cheer from Iron Doggy Campy. 

Wheatberry salad from Panera (without Chicken)

After a quick take-out as we headed back to the race venue, we were excited to cheer on our athletes and friends and everyone else to the finish line.

There is something really incredible about the first mile (and last) of the Ironman and the crowd support at PCB did not disappoint.  The music from the Atlanta Tri Club was contagious as it was hard to not want to dance and cheer for every single athlete who was running - from the pros who finished in record time (the sub 8 hours!) to the very last finisher at midnight...and even the handful of athletes still on the course after midnight. What's so amazing about the Ironman is that although you have to finish before midnight, the staff at Ironman will wait til everyone finishes...even if at 12:10pm. And the spectators LOVE the last hour so there are no shortage of cheers past 11pm (after 16 hours of racing).

From 3pm until midnight, we were on the run course. We hung out a bit at our friend's RV but aside from that - Campy, Karel and I cheered on everyone we knew....and even those who were friends by association (in the triathlon world - we are all family).

There were many PR's on this perfect day but there are no guarantees with the Ironman. Just because a day is perfect, fast or the body is trained, you never know what will happen on that day. You may surprise yourself and you may get frustrated. But in the end - you must respect the body. There is nothing easy about not finishing a race so either you keep moving forward, and eventually find yourself at the finish line or find something within you that will light a fire to keep you coming back for more, even if you don't receive a finisher medal.

We had athletes who finished before 5 pm and athletes who finished after 9pm. It made for a long day but just like in an Ironman..it goes by really fast and you have to enjoy every mile (or in our case, every hour).

And I've learned from my expert spectator hubby that ice cream always makes spectating so much better. 

From 6:40am until 12:10am. We ran, we drove, we watched, Karel biked on the run course to cheer, Campy and I walked and we cheered.

 7 years ago, I crossed my very first finish line at IMFL. 

This year I was a spectator - cheering on my athletes and friends.
The energy was the same, the inspiration was there and my love for what the human body is capable of doing continues to grow.

I'm so proud of every athlete who gave the best effort possible at 2013 Ironman Florida - our friends from Jacksonville, the many athletes who let Karel service their bikes before the race, our friends from afar and those who we never met but looked amazing out on the course.

I'd like to take a moment to spotlight the amazing Trimarni athletes who were on the course....

Kerry Mowlam - 2nd age group (40-44), Kona ticket, 9:03 finishing time and 42nd overall (counting pros). We worked on your nutrition with a one-on-one session and tweaked a few things for better absorption of nutrition on the bike, using a gel flask on the run for easier consistent intake and an easier-to-digest pre training/racing snack. I couldn't be more excited for you and your attitude on race day was amazing - you never stopped having fun and it showed! Congrats!

JM Marchand - some people like to say "it wasn't your day". It's not easy when you don't finish a race and devote so much time, money and energy to get to the starting line. But JM - it was your day. Karel had worked with you for many months to lead up to this day and even though the cards (and a 2222 bib number) were not in your favor, this doesn't mean that we didn't gain a lot from this experience. There WILL be another race and I love that you are ready to tweak your nutrition as Karel and I know that your body was trained for this race. We loved seeing you out on the course, racing strong and refusing to give up until the body said enough. Even though you made it to mile 15 or so of the run, consider those extra unfinished miles motivation for next season...plus, I heard you have a 5K to run with your 8 year old daughter for Girls on the Run, next weekend so rest up!

Diane Murphy - Thank you for letting me share this IM journey with you by using the Trimarni race week and race day nutrition service. You NAILED your first IM and executed perfectly with a 10:51 finishing time and 11th age group (30-34). I'm so proud of your well-fueled body and for doing what you love for 140.6 miles. Enjoy your finisher medal!

Josh Griffin - When an athlete wants to be coached and has sights on a PR, we always tell our athletes not to chase a PR. But when your only IM was 12:50 with little structured training, we know there's plenty of room for improvement. Talk about sticking to a plan - in training and racing. After a few months of solid training with Karel and letting me formulate a custom INFINIT sport drink, you did exactly what you came to IMFL to do - execute. And your body did not let you down. 9:54:26 finishing time!!! We are so proud of you!

Maggie Crotty - You purchased the Trimarni 12-week Ironman pre built training plan with hopes to maintain balance and finish your first Ironman with quality over quantity training. We worked together with nutrition first, then tweaked training and I reviewed your files with your monthly pre-built plan phone calls and you dug deep on race day (with your boyfriend sharing the journey with you - way to go MATT!). 14:24 for your very first Ironman - WAY TO GO!!! We are so very proud of you and thank you for letting me share this exciting moment with you. 

Stefanie Swanger - This has been years in the making. I always believed in you but you did the work. Working full time, with a 14 month year old and a husband to give you unconditional love and support. You had an amazing team behind you but it was up to you on race day to make it all happen. I could not have been more proud of you for getting to that starting line but after 14 hours and 39 minutes of racing, you beat your goal time by 30 minutes and your body allowed you to do the incredible. 

Stefanie - you are the reason why I love what I get to do. Athletes like you who make no excuses and just do the work with goals in mind. You dream big and I love that. Thank you for letting Karel, Campy and I be part of your life and we are so incredibly proud of you. Keep dreaming big and I can't wait to see what you have in mind next.....