Victory in the house as the Irishman aced his supersprint triathlon at Cambridge Beaches last weekend. There has been much excitement and the medal is enormous. Size matters after all! It was well deserved after lots of training, although I’m convinced he’s been fit since the day he was born. With a big passion for athletics, by the age of 17 he became a decathlete … because why do one sport when you can do ten?

I’ve always been impressed by the super-fit. The mental grit it takes to push yourself to another level is just breathtaking. At Waterfront Wellness, one of our star trainers – Christina Dotson – is known for her next-level mindset.

She has run three self-supported ultra-marathons achieving third place in the Sahara Race Egypt (155 miles), fourteenth place in the Jordan Wadi Rum Ultra (155 miles) and thirteenth place in the Grand to Grand Ultra (175 miles).

How impressive is that? The farthest I have ever run is the Bermuda half-marathon (13 miles), albeit one time pushing a couch on wheels the whole way – surely that earns me extra credit?!

To top it all off, last night we watched Nyad (Annette Bening, Jodie Foster), the true story of Diana Nyad who at the age of 60, commits to achieving her lifelong dream of completing a 110 mile open-water swim from Cuba to Florida – something she attempted to do at age 28, but failed.

I don’t want to ruin it for you, but would you swim even one mile (even a metre?) if you knew you’d be surrounded by sharks and Portuguese Man O War?

This gritty mindset is something that we ask our Beat the Couch beginner runners to try and tap into. When people say “I can’t run any more!” it’s often not quite the truth.

Because if a lion was chasing you, would you be able to? Yes! Of course, there’s a handy dose of flight or flight adrenalin that makes that happen, but the reality is, we often stop before we have to. Ultimately, we have to want to not stop, more than we want to stop.

That’s not to say we don’t see impressive fortitude with our runners. We really do.

These are all busy people, with their own intricate and demanding lives, facing universal obstacles (such as demanding work schedules) and Bermuda-specific obstacles too (humidity, hurricanes and the rain, oh my goodness, the rain!).

Every week, we see people doubling down and pushing themselves further than they did the week before. As the weeks go by, we see physical fitness growing and we see courage and determination building too.

There are several factors that influence how successful people are on Beat the Couch and mindset is definitely one of them.

Another is their nutrition. Simply put, nutritional choices can make the journey much easier or much harder.

That’s because – for example – your diet can either be inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. It can either put you in the mood for exercise (good energy levels) or in the mood for the couch (fatigue and apathy.)

We give people lots of nutrition tips as they go through our programme, but there are four key tips that I think are helpful for anyone who is exercising but maybe not seeing the results they want.

If you are hitting the roads or the gym regularly but not seeing progress, check out the tips below. Rectifying these can make all the difference!

Working out? Four mistakes you might be making:

1, Not eating enough

Many people cut calories and increase exercise and although that sounds sensible, it doesn’t always work. If your caloric intake consistently undercuts your performance needs then you run the risk of plateauing and underperforming.

Often metabolism drops to compensate for inadequate calorie consumption, meaning that you eat less than before but without making any more significant progress.

Solution? Most active people should be eating three good meals and two healthy snacks a day. Skipping meals and putting in an extra class is not going to get you leaner, faster. Especially not long term.

For the calorie counters among you, we use the InBody technology at Waterfront Wellness which helps us zero in on your requirements and ensures you are getting enough. InBody also measures your visceral fat too – an amazing marker to track as it focuses on the health of your body vs the size of your body.

2, Not enough fruit and veg

Skipping antioxidant rich fruit and veg can throw off your hunger cues. Even if you’ve technically eaten enough, your body is still looking for micronutrients … and so you stay hungry (and more likely to snack on junk.)

In addition, antioxidants in fruit and veg are important for neutralizing the free radical damage triggered by exposure to everyday toxins and by exercise, too.

The solution is not to avoid exercise but just to eat your fruit and veg! Note that free radical damage contributes to premature ageing and the development of chronic disease, so there’s some extra motivation. Best sources: darkly pigmented fruit and veg e.g. dark green veg/leaves, berries, peppers and kiwi.

3, Incorrect carb ratios

Generally, one quarter of your plate should be protein, one quarter complex carbs and half non-starchy veg or salad.

Vegetables that should actually be considered carbs include sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, beets, pumpkin and butternut squash.

So you can have – for example – carrots and/or corn but that’s your carb and the total should be one quarter of your plate. Most often, try and choose carbs that are vegetables too as they contain more antioxidants … so having butternut squash or carrots as your starch is way more nutrient dense than having bread, rice or potatoes.

Examples: chicken (protein) with butternut squash (carbohydrate) and half a plate of salad. Salmon (protein) with roasted carrots (carb) and half a plate of broccoli and green beans.

4, Missing your protein window after training

If you work out without adequate food in general (as per point 1) then you won’t have enough energy to fuel your activity and you won’t perform as well.

If you don’t have enough protein circulating afterwards then you won’t have enough bioavailable amino acids for muscle recovery. You can then miss your window and inhibit recovery, wasting your workout.

Rule of thumb … eat protein within 45 minutes of finishing your training, which is especially important if you haven’t eaten protein two hours prior to your workout (eg on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.)

Easy fixes – scrambled eggs, a protein shake or chicken breast. Note! There’s a lot of controversy around protein timing in sport, with some people saying it’s important and many others saying it’s not.

I think how important it is likely comes down to your specific genes; the interplay between your genes and your nutritional environment (Nutrigenomics) is a huge new field of study!

I prefer to err on the side of caution and pay attention to protein timing. I certainly find it helps many of my clients significantly.

• The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns BA Hons, Dip ION, BNTA is a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist trained by the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in the UK She works at Waterfront Wellness in Bermuda. Join Catherine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nutrifitandnaturalnutritionbermuda or instagram @naturalbda