First Week Back!

So this week was my first big week back to training.  I didn't do any running because I'm still trying to nurse my knee a little.  But I did get in 3 bike workouts and 3 swim workouts to go along with another easy mountain bike ride. I did the Triclone swim and bike practices this week. Swimming on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday and biking on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The easy bike ride was to the ISU football game on Saturday afternoon with Chelsey.  The Cyclones won their homecoming game against Kansas 28-16. Only one more game til bowl eligible! GO STATE!

Here are my workouts for this week:
Monday: - Bike Practice - Spinervals "Bending Crankarms" (1 hour)
                This workout consists of intervals in the hardest gear at low RPMs and some off-the-bike squats to build strength. Basically it is a real leg burner that'll have you thinking twice about taking the stairs for a couple of days.
Tuesday: - Swim Practice -
            Warmup: 300 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick
                   8x25 underwater kicking   w/ 45" rest
                  6x50 drill @ 1'
            Main Set: 7x100 @ 1:45
                              5x100 @ 1:35
                              3x100 @ 1:25
              Cooldown: 200 easy
Wednesday: - Bike Practice - Spinervals "Suff-o-rama" (55 min)
              This workout isn't quite as much of a muscle killer as "Bending Crankarms", but it has a lot more high-intensity intervals and some all-out, 100% effort intervals that come one after another to really make you have to work hard.
Thursday: - Swim practice -
            Warmup: 300 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick
                8x50 drill @ 1'
            Main set: 2x200 @ 3:40
                             2x400 @ 7:20
                             1x600 finish under 9:30
             Cooldown: 100 easy
Friday: - Bike Practice - "All Request Friday" - (1 hour)
           We listened to some music and I made up a workout to the songs including some fast super-spins and some ab exercises.
Saturday: - Easy Bike to the football game with Chelsey
Sunday: - Swim practice -
              Warmup: 300 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick
                    6x50 drill @ 1'
              Main set: 4x500 descending @ 7:30
                        My times: (6:39, 6:27, 6:19, 6:17)
               Cooldown: 100 easy

This was my biggest workout week since the week of the Pigman Half Triathlon in the middle of August. It felt good to have a full week of working out.  special thanks to Coach Jon Saxton for a great set of workouts for the week.  This was the first week he has been our official Triclones Coach and he is very eager to help our team in any way possible. If the rest of the year goes as well as this week we should be looking at some tremendous results this year.

Thanks for reading!

                  

Back in the Swing of Things

It has been quite a while since my last post.  In the past month, I have taken a much needed break from the triathlon world (except for the interaction with the ISU Triathlon Club...).  I have started taking a daily dosage of glucosamine-chondroitin (GC).  Many of you might know that this is a supplement that is said to help with joint pains and tissue repair.  I am going to go into a little bit of the science of GC and why it is supposed to be helping me with my recurring knee problem.

Glucosamine is an amino sugar that is part of the building block of something called glycosaminoglycans. These glycosaminoglycans make up the primary structure of cartilage.

Chondroitin is a very hydrophilic (water-loving) polysaccharide (sugar) macromolecule.  Its properties convey much of the compressive resistance of cartilage.

When doing research on this supplement, however...I found that in studies done by independent research institutes, there is little to no evidence that this supplement will help relieve any sort of joint problems.  There have been several outliers of these studies that have shown some improvement over the course of taking GC, but the numbers only equal about 5% of the entire study.  The only studies that support a drastic decrease in pain in joints was funded by commercial companies that are in to make a profit off of the prescription of GC to arthritis patients and other clients with joint complications.

This being said, there is little effect of the GC pills except as a placebo effect.  This means that taking the pills is more of a psychological benefit than a physical benefit. 

Taking time off from exercise is probably helped more than anything else with my knees.  I will continue to take the GC pills because I feel like they have had some sort of effect, even if it is psychological.


Now that I am back in the swing of things, I feel much better.  My knees are feeling pretty great, my muscles are feeling nice and used again, and overall I'm feeling a lot better.

Thanks for reading!