Day 90...Workout of the Day

Hey all, just rolled in from great ride!  The best part about it is the fact that I nearly turned around about 1-mile into it.  I've learned (the hard way!) that with mountain biking, if you don't feel good about your riding skills on a given day, or if things just didn't go smoothly preparing for the ride i.e. forgot to bring your shoes, left your helmet at home, forgot gloves...things like that...your chances of crashing that day are much higher.  I have had my share of pretty bad crashes over the years, and as I looked back at the hour or minutes prior to my ride, something has always gone wrong...either I just didn't feel like I was riding good, or I forgot something.

Today started out bad...right out of the gate.  Normally, it takes me about 15-minutes to get ready, load the bike, and head out to ride.  Today however, I was trying to mount my video camera on my bike to give all of you another view of riding.  I struggled to get it to work...45-minutes later I was heading out.  I got on the trail, and realized that I had forgotten to swap over the magnet for my cycle computer from my training wheel to my real wheel.  Strike two.  About a mile into the ride, the camera fell off...and I just didn't feel confident about my skills.  I was picking bad lines, and I had to put me foot down twice during a relatively easy technical climb. 

I got off my bike, put my camera in my backpack and argued with myself about just turning around, heading home, and hopefully avoiding leaving skin and blood out of the trail today.   The proud side of me won, and I kept going.  Things got better, I started feeling good, and I ended up riding nearly 18 miles.  I only know how far I rode, because I have tracked it before.  My heart rate monitor was working, so I had an idea of my energy expenditure, which showed 1386 kcal.

I made it home safe and sound!  Thank you God!

Day 90...Let's Get Back to Nutrition!

Ok, I'm ready to get back to our nutrition discussion...but with a caveat or two.  Remember, I am not a nutritionist, dietitian, etc.  The field of nutrition is so vast, and can be so complicated, that I dare not delve into the majority of it, and how it relates to anything but performance...and only performance for those who lie outside of the special population groups.  What do I mean by this?  This means that what I write in this blog about nutrition is focused solely (for the most part) on improving athletic/sport performance for healthy individuals...not people with disease processes such as diabetes, thyroid complications, morbid obesity, and the likes.  It's not that I don't want to help these people, it's simply that I am not professionally qualified to do so, and it is outside my scope of practice as a Fitness Professional to do so.  My area of expertise is sports performance, so it is within the confines of that arena, that I am legally allowed to provide nutritional information.

So...that being said, let's talk a little more about carbohydrates, and their role in performance.  I think we have covered, for the most part, the role that CHO play in not only sport performance,  but our daily lives.  CHO provide fuel for the body...fuel that supports our activities, as well as our brain function.  So really, all we have left to discuss (from a performance standpoint) is how much CHO, what kind of CHO, and when.

I know these types of posts can be pretty boring, so I'll do my best to keep your yawning to a minimum.

Let's start with how much.  To understand how much CHO is needed to support sport related activities, we need to have an understanding of how much energy CHO really provides us.  We'll discuss aerobic activities first.  Depending on how long this post gets, I may choose to cover glycogen usage during anaerobic activities on another day.  Those of you who participate in endurance (aerobic) activities such as running and cycling, recreational tennis, etc. might like to know that muscle glycogen provides roughly 50% of total energy needs.  Yep that's right...not ALL energy comes from CHO stores.  There is some degree of 'bleed over' where the use of proteins and fat also contribute to meeting the energy needs of the activity.  Realize however, that this is true only during moderate intensity exercise, which the National Academy of Sports Medicine defines as activity that is performed at an intensity of 60% VO2 Max.  VO2 Max...what the heck is that?  Those of you who have had your VO2 Max identified know what I am talking about.  Those of you who haven't...don't worry.  There is another way that you can monitor exercise intensity...the RPE scale.  RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion...in other words, what is your perception about the level of intensity of your activity?  There are a number of RPE scales that can be used, some more detailed than others.  I use a simple scale of 1-10.  The number 1 represents a level of activity that is not very physically demanding...think of something easy like carrying in groceries, or taking out the trash.  BTW...while zero is not represented on the scale, it represents the level of intensity equal to that of sitting on the couch, watching TV.  Ten, on the other hand, represents an intensity that you would equate to the hardest work you have ever done.  This should be something that requires you to put forth every ounce of energy you have, to perform the task.  Got it?  Good.  So...an activity that you would rate as a 6 out of 10 would (roughly) represent a work capacity of about 60% of your max.  This can be loosely (good enough for weekend warriors or fitness enthusiasts) related to 60% of VO2 Max.  BTW...VO2 Max is a measure of cardio-respiratory fitness levels.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is high-intensity aerobic exercise.  Activities of this sort are often the same as those that I listed above however, these intensities are are usually achieved by those who are competing or training at a higher level than the typical weekend warrior.  High intensity exercise is defined as activities performed above 79% VO2 Max...or an 8 out of 10 on the RPE scale.  These are the activities, or the performance level of those activities that leave you breathing hard, sweating, and unable to hold a conversation while performing them.  During activities performed at this level of intensity, muscle glycogen (stored CHO) provides nearly 100% of the energy. 

The next thing you should know, is that CHO contain 4kcal per gram.  Fat contains 9kcal per gram, so why wouldn't we want to consume more fat than protein...I mean, come on...fat has nearly twice the amount of energy per gram than CHO!  Here's the deal...first of all, remember that glycogen is used more readily therefore, shoveling in more fat would simply result in greater storage of unused calories...fat.  Second, increasing fat intake actually results in lower glycogen synthesis...or use.  So don't fall into the trap of thinking that fat is actually a better fuel due to its calorie denseness.

Okay, this is getting a little long, so I'm shutting it down!  I'll talk about anaerobic exercise and CHO use another day.

Thanks for reading!

Day 88...A very busy day!

Hello everyone!  Today has been a very busy day...in fact, the past two weeks seem to be somewhat of a blur.  I have noticed that the frequency of my blog posts has slowed somewhat, and I have not been keeping up on my friend Scott's blog the way I was before.  Sorry Scott!  I promise I will catch up!

It is amazing at what can take your focus off of things that seem important...until something else pops up that is obviously more important, that needs to be given higher priority.  I know that many people (including myself) struggle with that same thing when it comes to staying healthy through proper eating habits and regular exercise.  Now wait a minute...I'm not saying that staying healthy is not important...hear me out.  What I am saying is that there are situations, and special circumstances that often require our immediate attention, and as a result, tend to 'win out' when a choice needs to be made.  This is real life folks, and these are the hiccups that I referred to in an earlier post.  Just so you know...I have had the hiccups for a little while now, and just like the real thing...they're a little tough to overcome at times.  So what is the fix?  Tenacity...yep, that's right, good 'ol fashioned tenacity.  The kind that makes you pick yourself up by your bootstraps, and get back in the saddle.

Tonight is a great example, and one that I am happy to say that I overcame...thanks to good 'ol tenacity.  I am on duty today, and we have been very busy running calls.  So busy in fact, that we had run our 15th call by 8:00 pm.  That's a busy day!  Aside from the call load, the day also presented me with some other stressful situations that I had to deal with.  So...to say the least, I wasn't real keen on the idea of riding on the trainer for an hour.  I knew however, that if I simply blew it off, would just make it that much easier to make some lame excuse the next time I just didn't feel like doing it.  So I hopped on the bike at around 9:20 pm, hammered out an hour ride, burning nearly 800 kcal over 19.46 (stationary) miles.  I felt great afterward...like I had stepped up and accomplished something.  What was the lesson learned?  Like the Nike slogan says...Just Do It!

Until next time.

Day 86...Take a Ride With Me!

The last couple of days haven't been very productive in terms of training.  Easter was a day of rest, that turned into a day of feasting!  Enough said about that.  Yesterday I was pretty busy all day long at work, so I wasn't able to get in a very good workout, without getting interrupted.  To make matters worse, my nutrition wasn't very good yesterday either!

The good news however, is that today is a new day!  A day to put the past two days bad habits behind me!  So...am I off to a good start?  

This morning I got off work at 8:00 am, and by 8:30 I was lying on my back, on the therapy table, trying to hold back the tears.  Yep...deep tissue massage of the forearm and triceps muscles...much pain.  I have decided to do a garage/trainer ride this evening after my last training appointment, so that I can give my forearm and elbow some rest after the beating they took this morning.  Tonite's ride is only scheduled to be an hour, so it wont be as much of a mental challenge as my last trainer ride (nearly two-hours).  I'll let you know how it went when I post tomorrow.

I put together a little video of my last ride, and I thought you might enjoy watching it.  For those of you who watched my last video (Porsche racing), I am sorry...the music is the same.  I didn't want to take too much time to search for some new music...so I just re-used the same track.  

This video was taken using an HD GoPro video camera, strapped to my chest.  So...the perspective is pretty much what would be seen by a mouse who had decided to take a ride with me...in my pocket!  I hope you enjoy it.  The majority of it was ridden at what I refer to as a race-pace.  Unfortunately, this camera angle does not do justice to the steep grades of the climbs or descents.  Hope you enjoy!

Day 84...Resurrection Sunday of rest!

Most of you are aware of my Christian faith, and therefore, understand that today is a very special day for me...it's not just the normal Sunday, day of rest.  In fact, it probably wont be very restful at all!  We have a good size group of family coming over to celebrate Easter with us this afternoon, and there are still some last minute things that need to be done around the house...not to mention Church at ten.

Yesterday I was able to squeeze in a short ride after I got home from work.  I knew I only had time for a short one, so I figured I'd run it at 'race pace' to get the most out of it.  I felt good as I set out on the trail at full speed, hammering in the big-ring right off the line.  Before I knew it, I was at the quarter-way point...in 7-minutes and 4-seconds...my fastest time ever to that point on this particular trail!

I reached the halfway point, only to find that the pickup for my cycle-computer had loosened up again, and was no longer reading time or distance.  I think it is time to get a new one...I have had so many problems with it!  I stopped briefly to adjust it, tightening the set screw that holds it at an inward angle, towards the spokes on my rear wheel.  Once it was tight, I was off again, hammering back down the same path I had just come up.  Then suddenly, I heard something hit my wheel and immediately felt something hit the back of my left calf.  I knew I had just lost the pickup that I had just tightened.  Now I had to stop, turn around, and backtrack to find it.  I should have just left it out there and bought a new one!  There it was...sitting right in the trail...just begging to be rescued.  I picked it up, stuffed it in my pocket, and rocketed home at full speed.

Without a working cycle-computer I had no way of knowing how long it took me to complete the ride, at 'race pace'.  I do know however, that the trail I rode is just over six miles, and I think I completed it in just under 40-minutes...including my two stops...so not too bad.

To make things even better, when I got back to the house, Donna told me that someone had called to say that they found my keys...the one's I lost a couple days prior!  My keys have a little plastic tag on them from the fitness center we belong to.  The guy who found them called the fitness center and got our number.  I'm a little concerned that they would give out my number so easily...but at least they didn't give out our address...but it's nice to know that someone would go through the trouble of tracking me down to get my keys back to me.  That's the 'brotherhood' of mountain bikers!

Happy Resurrection Sunday to all!

Day 81...Workout of the Day...somewhat of a disaster

I had a pretty good ride this morning, but my elbows are paying for it now.  Oh...did I say elbow(s)?  I sure did...both of my elbows are hurting now! It's just one thing after another these days.  Oh well...just part of the deal I suppose.  What started out good, ended in disaster...okay, maybe disaster is too strong of a word...you be the judge.

Today's ride was short but hard.  Just over ten miles with quite a bit of technical climbing on loose, slippery, off-camber terrain.  I actually need to do more rides like today's to improve my technical riding skills.  Time on the trainer builds stamina, strength, and power, but there's nothing like the real thing when it comes to training for mountain biking.

I forgot to wear the chest strap for my hear rate monitor, so I don't have an accurate count of my caloric expenditure...not a disaster, but a stupid mistake.  The ride began with me feeling pretty strong, and being able to make some tough, short technical climbs with ease.  In the past, these little sections have given me some trouble, but today I cleaned these sections with ease!  As I was nearing the halfway point, the Boulders (as I call the spot), I noticed some movement in the brush off to my right.  Not wanting to take my eyes of the narrow, cactus lined single-track (for fear of crashing into a cactus again), I wasn't sure what was moving around. 

This is what happened the last time I took my eyes of a narrow, cactus-lined trail...ouch!

These days, the majority of the riding I do is performed alone...for two reasons.  My riding partner Mike, crashed hard a couple months ago, fracturing his left scapula...that's right, his shoulder blade!  It takes quite a bit of force to break your shoulder blade.  The second reason...I'm training, so I have specific things in mind that I need to do when I ride these days.  Its no fun for anyone to ride with me right now, because I leave them in the dust!  I'm not trying to be cocky or arrogant about that (although that does come naturally for me), I'm just saying that most of the people who I ride with regularly, haven't been training like I have, and ride at a pace that is enjoyable...a non-training pace.  So it's not that I'm that much better than them...I just need to ride harder and faster right now.

So anyway, when I'm riding by myself, its a little unnerving to see something relatively large moving around in the brush right by me.  I'm only a few miles away from houses on this particular ride, but I have seen deer, javelina, bobcats, free-range cattle, etc.  My belief is that where those animals roam, so too do mountain lions.  I've never seen one out there, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.  So needless to say, movement in the brush puts me on alert...somewhat. 

It turned out that what I was hearing, and now seeing, was a pair of javelina running around.  Actually, they were trying to run away from me, having sensed my long before I had seen them.  For those of you not familiar with Javelinas, they are a type of wild pig...blind as a bat, and sometimes as mean as a snake.  They have been known to charge when they feel threatened, so I fully intended to give them some space.  I did however, want to see them a little more closely so I could take a picture of them.  Having ridden this particular trail many, many times, I knew exactly where they were going, and knew that I would intersect them in a few hundred feet if I hurried.  I didn't want to hurry too much though, as I didn't want to come around a blind corner, and run right into them.  I had done this before, a couple of years prior...but with a big 'ol cow!  I had to slam on my brakes to keep from running into him, and it actually happened on the same section of trail, probably within just a few feet from where I figured I run into the Javelina.  Amazingly, it is the same area that I witness three big mule deer, crossing the trail, making their way into the rocky mountain that I was traversing.  So...as I was saying, I didn't want to come up on them in such a way that might threaten them....

Look closely in the middle of the picture...that's a Javelina

But that is exactly what happened...not the threatening part...just the part about coming up on them right around a blind turn in the trail.  It was almost the exact same spot the I had almost broad-sided the cow, and seen the mule deer!  As I came around the turn, there they were...surprised to see me (remember, they have horrible eyesight).  I grabbed a handful of brake, and skidded to a stop, as one ran through the brush to the left, his hooves clicking on the rocks.  The other, darted of to the right, but came to a stop not too far from me.  It was as if he was trying to stand very still so that I wouldn't see him.  "Funny" I thought, "He must think my eyesight is as bad as his!"  Actually, that's really not far from the truth, but fortunately I had my contacts in!

I looked left, to make sure his buddy wasn't sizing my up for an attack, but didn't see him anywhere.  I slowly removed my hydration pack, and pulled out my iPhone to take a quick picture.  I was able to snap a couple shots of him before he realized that I could actually see him...then he darted off.  I actually felt bad for the little fella, and wondered how hard it would be for the two of them to meet up with each other after I had left.  Oh well...I'm sure they figured it out!

The remainder of my ride was pretty much, unremarkable...until I returned to the car.  As I took my pack off to grab my keys, I noticed that the small mesh pocket where my keys are usually stashed...was unzipped and empty!  That's right folks...somewhere out there, on that ten mile loop that I rode, were my car keys...unhappiness set in rather quickly!  

It's always humbling to have to call your wife to come pick you up, or bring your spare keys to you...and it's happened a number of times.  Thankfully, I have an amazing, supportive wife, who also happens to work from home quite regularly!  Thanks for always being there...well, except for that one time when I had to hike my bike home about three miles :)  Every other time though...you've been there.  I'm the professional rescuer, yet you seem to rescue me quite often...thanks, I love you!

Disaster or not?   You decide.

Day 81...Here Comes the Pain Again

Nutrition will have to wait again...

Yesterday started much like many of my days have in the past...key word...past.  Once again, I was lying on a well padded treatment table at my favorite physical therapy clinic.  Yep...that's right, the elbow is hurting once again (and boos and hisses were heard from the crowd).

I began noticing just a smidge of discomfort a couple of weeks ago, and it has progressed to a point that is now painful.  The look I received from my friend Al, the Physical Therapist was priceless!  That little crook of the head, raise of the eyebrows, and slight little smirk, as if to say "I thought you might be back"  My response..."I know, I know...now let's get busy getting me back on track!"

After the usual evaluation, Al got right to work on the deep tissue massage...at least I thought it was deep tissue!  Apparently I was more tender than I had thought, because the pain was pretty intense, and he was barely applying pressure...not a good sign.  The pain, while intense, wasn't as bad as before....I had caught it before it had progressed too far...that is a good thing.

So it looks as though I will be spending some more quality time with my good friend Al for a few weeks.  We have decided that once the pain is relieved again, I will continue to come in for regular treatments until after the World Police and Fire Games are over...then it's time for some serious rest to let my elbow heal completely.  Oh well...playing hard keeps you young right?  Hmmm....

Alright...how about some good news?  I have some new numbers today...and they are good!

Today's weight...186 lbs

Today's bodyfat..12.6%

Fat weight........23.43 pounds 

Lean weight.....162.57 pounds

So here's the breakdown...

Since my last weigh-in on 3-24-11, I have lost just over 1-pound of fat, and gained about 2-lbs of lean muscle.  I'll take that!

More soon...