Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

Working out or training for more than an hour today? Consider the benefits of a pre and post workout snack. During exercise, energy demand is high. Your body will experience an increase in skeletal muscle blood flow and to get stronger, it will release anabolic hormones (like growth hormone, testosterone and IGF-1, epinephrine) to assist in protein synthesis. Insulin concentrations will also increase post workout as an anabolic "side effect" whereas during exercise insulin sensitivity increases. On the flip side, however, every time you place stress on the body via exercise, catabolic (breakdown) effects take place like glycogen depletion, increased cortisol concentrations, decrease net protein balance and possibly dehydration. Take advantage of at least 30-60 grams of carbohydrates and a little protein pre workout, along side a post workout snack of 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein (grams) to help the body fuel and re-fuel for a more consistent exercise/trai

I was really excited to provide my insight on how to fuel for night races when asked by a member of the Palm Harbor Tri Warriors Club.   Although I don't personally enjoy evening races (unless it involves crossing an Ironman finishing line around 6pm), being married to a category 1 cyclist has given me many opportunities to understand how to to eat on the day of an evening race. There's nothing more thrilling than watching an evening criterium and for the past few years, Karel has taken part in some big National Racing Calendar races, which involve racing at your max for 75-90 minutes. With the Athens Twilight being the mack-daddy of them all (Karel has finished it for the past two years, 80K on a 1K course), the only way I can describe the intensity is imagine running 1 mile all out for around 90 minutes, with only a second or two rest here or there - if you are lucky. With Karel racing at a high intensity in the evening, I always took mental notes on what worked/didn't wo

SLEEP       The other day I posted on my Trimarni  facebook page  about how much I value sleep. Appropriately, there was an excellent article from the Washington Post showing and explaining how sleep can affect disease, appetite and other health problems.                                         I highly encourage you to read the article if you are someone who struggles with getting a restful night of sleep, most days per week. As for how much is enough?  I think that differs person to person but it also has to do with your lifestyle routine. We know that the body is constantly repairing when we sleep...and working. So for an age group athlete who not only trains for races/events but has a full-time job (parent or in an office), sleep is vital for consistent gains in life and to minimize risk for illness and injury. You do not have to prove you are a superhero by being able to function with only 4-5 hours a sleep. Additionally, as you will read in the article, a r

  It took many of swim sessions to brainstorm about the topic of my Iron Girl monthly column, December article. With so much emphasis on tips and rules throughout the holiday season, I wanted to bring focus to a very important component of healthy living....knowing your numbers.   Although body composition can give some insight on your overall health, it doesn't paint the entire picture. Since being involved with the Baptist Heart Wise program as a clinical RD, I've heard some amazing stories from women who were screened for their heart age and never realized that they had a cardiovascular-related issue because they felt "healthy". I love working with athletes and fitness enthusiasts for that very reason. Health is something that you feel. I've received many emails from my nutrition and coaching athletes telling me how their lab values have changed due to exercise and nutrition modifications (thus impressing their primary physicians) but these changes