Protein for Performance

Protein is a highly marketed nutrient with a bombardment of nutritional information available for athletes today. After all, it is the building block for making your body stronger and healthier. Protein repairs and grows muscle tissue after participating in any type of training activity that breaks down muscle tissue. When you are training hard toward your goals, you must pay special attention to protein for recovery. I'm often asked, "what kind of protein do I eat and how much?" If you read online, you will likely get ten different opinions from ten different articles. From my experience, here are a couple tips to keep your recovery quick, efficient, and complete.

• I recommend eating protein from a variety of sources. Protein comes from many different sources with varying health benefits and absorption rates. Protein variety is always best! Lean meats, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds are some of my favorites. If you are choosing a protein powder, simply choose a product that contains the fewest "extra" ingredients. Less is more in protein powders. My favorite protein source is the egg. The protein from egg whites have a medium digestion rate and provide essential amino acids that your body cannot produce.
• The amount of protein needed by an individual is debatable. In my opinion the range of 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight is ideal. I do emphasize to try and avoid dipping below the 1 gram/lb of body weight. Typically, I see athletes' diets lacking an average of 50-75 grams of protein per day. The most common mistake is they are substituting 50-75 extra grams of carbohydrates to compensate for the calorie deficit. Simply make a conscious effort to replace 200-300 calories of your daily carbohydrates with 200-300 calories of protein. You will notice a difference immediately with recovery and lean muscle gains. It's a great way to trim excess body fat and compete stronger and faster! Spread your protein intake evenly throughout the day for best results because your body can absorb and utilize protein in smaller increments more efficiently. Take in 20-30 grams every few hours for optimal effectiveness!

TRIYON Fartlek on the Treadmill

Run an easy 12-15 minutes on incline 2. At the end of the warm up add 3-4 15 second pickups to increase your heart rate and to get more blood flow to the working muscles. Run easy :45 between each pickup. Stop for some light stretching and get ready for the workout!

Main Set: Run all pace efforts at a 5k race pace effort. Complete the 1st set on incline 3. Follow up with a second set on incline 2 at the same effort. Complete a final set done on incline 1. Your pace should increase each set as your incline decreases.

• Run 2:00 at pace, 1:00 easy run recovery
• Run 1:40 at pace, 1:00 recovery
• Run 1:20 at pace, 1:00 recovery
• Run 1:00 at pace, 1:00 recovery
• Run :40 at pace, 1:00 recovery
• Run :20 at pace, 1:00 recovery

Take an additional 1:00-2:00 recovery before beginning next set. Always maintain good posture and do not exceed 5k effort. Maintain a foot plant underneath your body and practice good hip extension and finish kick!

1/2 - 1 mile easy cool down!

Run Hills For Speed

Hill workouts are one of the best ways to build run strength and speed for any race distance race. When we use gravity to increase the challenge of a run workout, we improve the efficiency of our run stride and eliminate wasted energy from poor form. Benefits of running hills are:

• Improved run strength and endurance.
• Less injury and faster recovery by reducing the force of impact.
• Increased power in the pushoff, which increases your stride length without the dangers of over striding.

These are just 3 of the many benefits of running hills at a fast effort. If you are new to running hills, start by incorporating five 60 second 10k efforts up a moderate hill. Recover down the hill with short easy strides before starting the next repeat. Make sure to maintain a run cadence of 180 steps / minute for best results!  Hope to see you at Freedom Park tomorrow for hill repeats!

Fighting Injury with TRIYON!

For most triathletes and runners, injury is inevitable. Battling back from injury is both physically and mentally challenging . Always remember that the road to recovery is shortened by eliminating the specific movements that cause your pain or discomfort. Training through the pain of an injury is very risky and can lengthen your recovery period. Patience is a virtue but we can be proactive! Pain free movement is good and will increase blood flow to the healing injury. Find a cross training activity that causes no pain and then complete the TRIYON workout listed below.  You will get back into action quickly and have added strength when you're healed. Allow a day of rest between attempts. Eliminate any exercise that causes pain initially. Once you can complete the entire set without pain you are on your way!  TRIYON athletes always learn from their mistakes and come back stronger!

TY Workout

Carry 20% of your body weight in 2 dumbbells

• 24 Walking Lunges
• 24 Bench Step ups
• 24 Deep Squat Thrusters
• 24 Single leg bench lunges (12 each leg)
• 1:00 Wall Sit with weights in lap
• 24 Good Mornings
• 24 Single Leg Dead Lifts (12 each leg)
• Drop weights
• 12-24 Pushups (pause 3 secs at top of pushup)
• 12-24 Tricep bench dips (pause 3 secs at top)
• 24 Single leg pelvic bridges (12 each leg)

Why TRiYON Strength Training?

1. Avoid injury that can occur due to the repetitive training of the same muscle groups. By strengthening the core and opposing muscle groups we can establish balance and stability that will support your performance muscles to their full potential. 

2. Increase power that will increase your speed. By adding resistance training (extra stress) to your performance muscle groups you can increase the force applied at the same effort level. Additional power applied to the road, the pedal stroke, or the water will allow you to run, bike, and swim faster! 

3. Increase your endurance.  The wear and tear from road impact while running or continuous cycling or swimming will break down muscle tissue. By increasing your overall strength, your body will withstand the tiring effects much longer during training and racing. Being durable under stress allows you to hold form and speed to produce new personal bests!

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Swim Faster Easier

Hip rotation is very important with freestyle swimming. When it is in sync with shoulder rotation, it ensures a long stroke that will maximize your efficiency. Initiate the rotation from your hips and this will help your core and lats power the stroke. 

Try a couple of drills that can help you get started. The 636 drill (my favorite) starts by pushing off the wall on one side with the bottom arm out stretched in front of your head.  The other arm is resting on top of the hip along the leg. Perform 6 kicks on your side and then take 3 strokes to get to the other side. I prefer to take a breath during my 3 strokes and then hold my breath during the 6 kicks. Another quick drill to help you add awareness to your hip rotation is kick board pulling. Place a kick board vertically between your upper legs in place of a pull buoy. Begin swimming using good hip rotation and try to feel the top end of the kick board touch the water at full rotation. Incorporate these drills into your warm up and cool down and soon you'll be swimming more efficiently and faster!!

Neuromuscular Massage: Ready Your Body, Set Your Mind, Go for Gold

In your time with TRiYON you’ve probably become accustomed to a few things. The first is the high level of training that keeps our team members in tip-top shape. The second refers to the aches and pains that nag you due to this training.

Recently I posted about Zen Massage South Park, the company I’ve partnered with offering exclusive deals for TRiYON members. Now if that wasn’t enough to get you motivated about the best way to recover as a high-level athlete, then this should.

Due to the high level of triathlon training, most athletes are highly susceptible to factors that cause “trigger points” for our pain. These can be caused by the stress of a hard competition, the constant worry of training, the strenuous movements, or even poor posture towards the end of a workout.

From my experience, neuromuscular massage is by far the most effective and relaxing therapy to utilize in order to relieve this trigger point pain.

During a neuromuscular massage, the therapist will alleviate specific areas that are causing the most pain by correcting postural and muscular imbalances using advanced concepts in pressure therapy.

After a session your body will feel as light and loose as it ever has, thanks to the compressed nerves and muscles in your tightest areas being meticulously massaged. This will increase circulation and restore muscular balance throughout your body.

The benefits of a neuromuscular massage are boundless but some of the most immediate and beneficial impacts it has include alleviating specific areas of pain, creating better posture, and releasing tension throughout your body. These will not only impact you as an athlete by allowing you to move better, but your everyday life allowing you to live healthier and pain free.

Being an athlete of any kind is one of the best things you can do, but don’t let the pain you are experiencing hold back your passion.

Go try a neuromuscular massage and rejuvenate your entire body.

Remember: Members of the TRiYON team get 20% OFF at Zen Massage SouthPark and 10% OFF thereafter.

Do yourself a favor and check them out, your body will thank you.

Help with Electrolyte Loss

Welcome the hot Summer months! Maintaining proper fluid balance is imperative for your success as the temperatures rise. Endurance athletes continue to run into problems due to forms of dehydration in this heat. Training in the hot conditions takes special hydration planning in order to avoid muscle strains, fatigue, and cramping.  

Sweat is not just water loss. It's electrolyte loss also! Electrolytes keep your body running smoothly and at peak performance. I like to compare electrolytes in the body to the motor oil in your car. It does not fuel the car but it's necessary to keep it from breaking down. Pay attention to the simple signs of electrolyte imbalance like early fatigue, cramping, and in some cases, swelling. Start to experiment with different amounts of electrolyte replacements and find out what works best for you. Running or cycling in July/August throughout Charlotte can make you lose 1000 plus mg of sodium/hour!

I’ve recently teamed up with Gatorade Endurance to maximize the replacement of my electrolyte levels, and the results have been awesome! Check them out here!