Magnesium supplementation update – I have now been taking Ultra Muscleze for over two weeks and I think I'm onto a winner. I have had minimal problems with cramp at all in that time, other than minor twinges when working for long periods at high intensity. Compared to the bad cramping I was getting this is a huge improvement. I am gaining fitness also, so maybe a little bit of credit should go to that. Still, I can definitely give Ultra Muscleze the "Ironman Cafe Seal of Awesomeness".
Whew! What a big day at work. I'm pretty tired and the next two weeks look pretty full on training wise. The volume and intensity of my Ironman training is increasing significantly. I am a little nervous but definitely excited to see how I cope. I have taken tonight off on my physio's recommendation, because my right hamstring is still a bit tender from the half-marathon I did a week and a half ago. I'll run easy in the morning to see how it pulls up. I am reasonably happy with how my training and fitness is progressing, though I have some that my swimming is not really coming along. This is probably the result of a combination of two things. One is the training fatigue I am experiencing from the other discipline training that I am doing. The other is the fact that I usually share a lane with an absolute fish in the pool. My ego takes a battering (I'm sure there is an unintentional pun about fish and batter in there...) every swim session and I have been finding it hard to sleep the night before swim squad. This is likely an illustration of my personalty, I really much prefer to win than lose and I find it hard to cope with ongoing not winning. I guess I had better get used to it in the near future though, as I will regularly be surrounded by Ironman athletes that can wipe the floor with me from here on in. I think it is important for me to start developing some personal goals in the pool, such as times I want to make or sets I want to do well. That way I can start to see some success in my training instead of loses. One of the pitfalls of being an externally motivated Ironman is that unless you're the world champion or a top end professional, you are going to lose to someone...
Magnesium supplementation update – I have been taking the Ultra Muscleze now for a week and a half. I have had no problems with cramp at all in that time. I had a slight twinge in my calves in the pool on Monday morning but I regularly get cramps in the pool, so I feel there has been an improvement. I have a big brick session on Saturday morning, so that will be make or break time for my magnesium supplementation program. If I have a cramp free morning then I will call it a success and give Ultra Muscleze the Ironman Cafe seal of approval. Stay tuned.
I just finished a nice large helping of fried rice after a 2hr cruise on the bike, with a stiff headwind out and a nice tail wind back. I'm feeling a little tired after a pretty tough week and I am planning to laze around all day and prepare for tomorrow mornings half-marathon race. My coach has told me to run the first 10kms at a firm pace, then if I'm feeling alright, smack it. A couple of guys I train with have similar instructions and they I think may have more staying power than I do. I know I have more pace than either of them, but I think their larger training base and smaller frames (both weigh in high 60kg to low 70kg) may mean they drop me later in the race. I normally have this drop in self-confidence before a race, hopefully I will prove myself wrong...*visualizing myself smashing it* I have been putting a significantly high training volume than the last half-marathon I did, in that one I ran a 1:32:23, so I'm expecting to do better than that, how much better, I don't know, as I have had no taper for this race.
On the subject of weight and running, I have started to work towards dropping weight in an effort to get down to a better race weight by the end of winter, before going into the larger volume training that will be required for Ironman. Losing weight will benefit me both in increased speed and in injury prevention. Carrying extra weight when swimming and cycling is not too much of a problem as they are not weight bearing activities, however running requires that you lug your entire body weight around and every extra gram counts. Right now I am the lightest I have been in probably 7-8 years but I still have a layer of fat that is not required and will start to tell later in my training season. I am aware that I won't get back to my race weight from when I was a teenager because I have grown too much muscle bulk to do that, but I think if I can get into the high 70kgs I will be lighter and faster on my feet. This means that the big carb-loaded dinners followed by ice cream are out the window, and its salads and controlled eating, specific to training loads. I feel my daily eating routine is fine its the the large dinners that have hindered my weight loss despite high training volume. From now on my energy intake each evening will be lower and dependent on my next mornings training plan. I find I get a little depressed if I cant have a nice big carb-filled dinner, so I will need to find a light and healthy treat to cheer me up in the evenings.
Oh, by the way, I picked up some Ultra Muscleze a few days ago and have taken it for three nights in a row, at the moment I have no miraculous results to report, but it doses require a loading phase apparently and tomorrows run may be a good tester for cramping. I will keep you updated.
Thats me for today, I'm going to go put my feet up, I will post a race report tomorrow night.
I seem to have recovered from the head-cold that has been hanging about for the last few days and I'm feeling good. The bit of me that isn't feeling good is the inside of both my quads just above my knees on both legs. Both legs were cramping during the run on Saturday Morning's Brick Session and I had the same problem on the run in the Rotorua Half Ironman in December last year. I think that it was largely due to lack of conditioning to the high intensity and high volume exercise. There is a lot of research and information that says that cramp is often a result of dehydration and deficiencies in certain nutrients. In my reading, top of the list of nutrients are salt and magnesium. Salt is a common additive in sports drinks such as Gatorade and Ironman competitors often supplement with salt tablets during events. I discussed this with my coach and a number of the guys also training for and/or racing Ironman, all of them said that they were supplementing daily with magnesium (among other things). They said that they found that magnesium decreased the frequency of cramping during exercise and recovery and it seems also helps them sleep, which is a big plus in my view. I had a bit of a scout round the Internet and found a couple of informative sights discussing nutrients and Ironman racing, that seem pretty credible. I have put links to at the bottom of this post. One of the guys I train with recommended a particular magnesium supplement called Ultra Muscleze, which sounds promising. I will endeavor to pick some up in the next week or so and will do my own little mini review of it for you.
Here are those sights:
