Sunday, January 10, 2010

GU Energy Partnership...Week 8 Training Summary


I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the team of triathletes sponsored by GU Energy for the 2010 triathlon season. I was hoping to find a partner that would aid in my nutrition for training and racing through my first professional season in the sport. I believe I found the best products available for keeping athletes fueled in GU Energy. GU Energy has been revolutionizing nutritional products for athletes since 1991 and they set the standard in nutrition. GU makes the best gel hands down with their Roctane Ultra Endurance Energy Gel. One serving of this gel is packed with 1200 mg of amino acids. Roctane contains the amino acid Histidine which acts as a buffer to slow down the lactic acid build-up in muscles. It is also the only energy gel on the market that contains Ornithine Alpha-Ketoglutarate (OKG) which limits the body's tendency to break down muscle protein tissue during extremely intense training and racing. In addition to Roctane, GU Energy also manufactures electrolyte and recovery drinks, energy chews, and the standard GU Gel which I carry on all my training rides to ensure I don't bonk. All of the GU products can be found at Healthy Habits in Bettendorf, IA. If you are looking for top of the line nutrition please think about supporting the people who have helped me in this journey. I am super excited to have another great company who believes in my abilities as I begin my professional career in triathlon. GU Energy supports a number of professional triathletes...most notably Craig Alexander, winner of the last 2 Ironman Hawaii World Championships. Check out all the great GU Energy products at http://www.guenergy.com/
This week was a great week of training. I finished my week of no running since the cortisone injection on Wednesday. I ran Wednesday and Thursday and my achilles was pretty swollen. After doing much research on the internet I think I found what my injury is...Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome. It is basically a nerve entrapment through the tarsal tunnel which is located near the achilles. Dr. Ellis was correct that my tendon is not the problem. I began massaging the tarsal tunnel a lot to try to break up the adhesion and whether or not that did the trick I'm not sure but I had great runs on Saturday and Sunday with no swelling at all. It was the first time in over a month I've run without swelling. For the week my total training time was 18 hours. I ran 25 miles in 4 runs, biked 120 miles, and swam 14,000 yards with 3 days of swimming. I lifted weights and did lunges 3 times, did speed drills, strides, and plyometrics twice, and core work 6 times. On Saturday morning I had my best workout of the week when I swam a set consisting of 10x 75's on 2:00. I did this set a year ago and averaged 54 seconds. Saturday I did the set with an average time of 50. I'm pretty excited about the improvements I'm making in the water. Saturday I put in a 5 hour training day and followed it up with close to 4 hours on Sunday. Those are the types of days where I build my strength in preparation of the 1/2 Ironman distance. If I continue to have no swelling I will begin to build my running mileage up to where I want it to be this time of year...about 50-60 miles a week. Last Monday, on my weigh in I was 159 lbs, down 9 lbs. since I began training 8 weeks ago. That tied the lowest weigh in I had all of last year. I typically raced at about 164 last year. 2 years ago I hit my all-time high on a weigh in when I was 202 lbs. in January of 2008. Right now I am stronger than I've ever been so I know I'm losing body fat which was one of my big goals to improving performance. My confidence grows by the day. I am dreaming of big success this summer. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!

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