Oh my Aching Knees!

I was feeling quite run down yesterday morning, with a sore throat and sniffles, the classic signs of an oncoming cold. So I took the day off, napping in the afternoon instead of exercising and taking it easy. I was also careful to eat really well, and it showed in my near perfect stats for the day: Less than 1800 calories, good ratios of nutrients, high in fibre and produce, and no white carbohydrates. With any luck I will have beaten back whatever virus I had and can avoid getting sick!

I also managed to take three tablets of glucosamine sulphate yesterday. Glucosamine sulphate is a supplement which has been shown in several studies to improve the mobility and lubrication in joints, particularly in the knees and hips. It taken by older people to relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis and by athletes to prevent wear and tear injuries. I take it because I have bad knees from years of gymnastics as a child. Oddly enough, my knees are at their most painful in my first run after a long rest, and then in the first half of my long runs. The pain almost always eases up with regular running and after a good warm up. However, I’d like to skip the painful warm up part so I started taking glucosamine sulphate a few months ago. The problem is you need at least 1000mg a day over several weeks for it to be effective, and I usually only remember to take one 500mg tablet a day. Hopefully I can get into the habit of taking a tablet after every meal during my rest week this week, so that by the time I go back to running next week, I can do so with less knee pain!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
1722.77	101.77g	206.34g	54.0g	0	30.22
	24%	48%	28%
Calories burned through exercise:		Rest Day

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:45	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson's Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Nairn's Gluten Free Porridge oats	50g
	with Sultanas	20g
	and walnuts	10g
	Dole Pineapple slices in juice	2 slices
08:30	Black tea	300mL
09:30	Black Tea	300mL
10:15	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
11:00	Irish Yoghurts Diet Apricot and Nectarine	125g
	Cox Apple	150g
	Butterkist butter flavour microwave popcorn	15g
12:00	Lemon and ginger tea with honey	250mL
13:45	Lee's Hippy Farm Beans (Leon's Recipe)	350g
	Alpro Soya Original	200mL
	Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa dark chocolate	20g
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill
16:45	Sponser Protein Snack bar	1 bar
18:45	Orange, mango and cinnamon tea	250mL
19:15	Pork steak	90g
	Merchant Gourmet Red and White Quinoa	100g
	Frozen green beans	80g
	Essential Waitrose Bramley apple sauce	about 20g
22:00	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.