The Fit Nation

https://ift.tt/iMubW7r I did a ride down to Gilroy yesterday, mostly standing for the first couple of hours. The wind was from the south so it was good resistance on the way down. Then it was fun cruising back with a tailwind. I finished off with some brisk intervals for a good workout. It was cloudy for the first part of the ride, but right after turning around the sun was coming out. It looked really pretty over the Gavilans.

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https://ift.tt/EhMkw6t Yesterday I decided to do a two-hour time trial with my heart rate controlled to my maximum aerobic pace !!. This is inspired by the Maf-test (for “maximum aerobic function”) developed by Dr. Phil Maffetone, one of the earliest proponents of training to develop this capacity. His version is only 30 minutes. I made it two hours because it is a good way to come up with a longer challenge without overdoing it. The problem with longer challenges is that you can get exuberant and go at a pace that feels good at the time but is actually at a moderate intensity steady state pace, which is not thought to be good for long-term health. By holding yourself to the upper end of your aerobic zone this is avoided. So I went out and back on the Coyote Creek trail to Metcalf park in just over two hours (2:03:33) at an average pace of 13 mph. Now the idea is to repeat that once a month or so and see if the speed improves. It felt great, challenging but not too much, and I didn’...

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https://ift.tt/SPTAlZt Yesterday I rode my e-bike to Santa Teresa park (about 10 miles one way) and did an old favorite route, the Ohlone trail to the Coyote peak trail (pushing the bike up), and rode back down on the road. The bike worked great, 38 mm tires are enough to handle the unpaved trails even though this is a hybrid, not a mountain bike. And “walk-assist” mode helps on steeper sections, instead of having to push a 35 lb bike, it gives enough assist that it feels feather-light. Start of the Ohlone trail There are a lot of pretty oak groves along the lower section of the Coyote peak trail Coyote peak (where the antenna is) looks deceptively close from here but there is still a good bit of distance on some switchbacks to get there

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https://ift.tt/deAyTtn I consider my “fit and trim” weight to be 165 lbs (which is a nice round number of 75 kg, or a not-so-round 11.79 stone). I tend to drift a few pounds above that when I allow too much junk to creep back into my diet. I’ve corrected that recently and stuck to much more “ whole foods ” eating, and got rewarded for it today on the scale at 163.8 lbs (74.3 Kg). In the past this has also correlated with good blood numbers like cholesterol, A1c, triglycerides, etc. (I hope to confirm that in a few more months when I get retested). Now to keep eating this way and be vigilant against the sneaky voice of compulsion…

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https://ift.tt/jLMbyiB www.Amazon.com/books This is an entertaining book by Tim Lebbon about him becoming physically active in his early 40s. The book is written in an enjoyable and witty manner. Like many of us, Tim had tried to stay fit in adulthood but could never make it “stick”. The turnaround for him was getting talked into participating in the UK’s “3 peaks challenge”. This is climbing the highest peak in each of England (Scafell Pike), Wales (Snowdon), and Scotland (Ben Nevis), all within 24 hours. It is an odd hybrid adventure because in addition to the hours spent hiking the peaks, there is substantial driving time in between. The author accomplished this task and was hooked on outdoor adventures and getting fit to be able to do them. This eventually led to him doing Ironman triathlons and other extreme challenges The book is a mixture of tips on getting in shape and entertaining reports of various challenges and races the author participated in. He was in his early fi...

https://ift.tt/hIFkMsg It got to 99 F (37 C) in Morgan Hill yesterday, but thankfully not until the afternoon. I went on a shorter warmup ride on my own then joined my club ride at 10:00 AM. We went on a beautiful ride Southwest of Morgan hill up in the foothills, to Chictactic-Adams Park, then along Burchell road to pick up the Gilroy bike path at highway 152, then back on Santa Teresa Boulevard to lunch. I especially enjoyed Burchell which was a shady treat on a hot day. It was still cool enough at the finish. I didn’t notice the heat too much until after lunch, when I still had to ride 3 miles to get home. It was nice to have electric assist for that last bit, to generate a breeze. Short gravel section leading to the start of the Gilroy bike path from highway 152 with the Gavilan mountains in the distance

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https://ift.tt/NowEfus In my last post, I talked about the idea of doing lots of aerobic-paced training and a smaller volume of high-intensity training, which I think of as “superpolarized”. I tried it out today which was scheduled to be a harder day. It was enjoyable, first a long pleasant cruise, then finishing up with some strength training and brisk-paced intervals. It’s good to know that science supports this being a healthy way of training because it seems to be something I can readily keep up, especially since there are easier recovery days in between. Early in the morning, and the marine layer is starting to move in, just hiding the peak of El Toro Later in the day, the goats are performing their “organic mowing” service next to the Coyote Creek Trail

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https://ift.tt/TtlUyOA How would you train if your objective were not to excel in a sporting event, but to remain vibrantly healthy to the end of a long life? I have mulled this over for some time, and talked about it on this blog in the past. I got the title for this post from Rich Roll’s podcast where he interviewed Dr. Peter Attia, an endurance athlete, MD, and longevity researcher. Dr. Attia is well-known for accomplishments like an open-water swimming round-trip crossing from Maui to Lanai. He has now turned his attention to training for longevity, or as he calls it, “winning the centenarian decathlon”. I also recently read about a similar theme on Clarence Bass’s website , which also lead me to the book Longevity Simplified by Dr. Howard Luks. www.Amazon.com/books All these sources point to a similar theme. Important aspects of fitness include remaining flexible, proper movement techniques, and retaining good balance. Aside from these, the main idea is to use resistance t...

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https://ift.tt/Lo1YfdA I’ve recently read about two separate canoe adventures across Canada. The first was chronicled in the book Canoe for Change: A Journey Across Canada by Glenn Green and Carol VandenEngel, a married couple who do their trip both to celebrate retirement and to raise money for the charity Loving Spoonful (which provides healthy food for people in need of it). www.Amazon.com/books They split their voyage over two seasons. In the first, they covered the eastern half of Canada, from Ontario down the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic, This involved a lot of paddling and also portaging around obstacles like dams. For portaging, they were often able to use a canoe cart on adjacent paths, providing interest and amusement to pedestrians and bicyclists they encountered. In year two they started on the West Coast and headed east. Starting on the wrong side of the Continental divide involved challenging upstream paddling. They quickly found this too daunting on the Fra...

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https://ift.tt/kidRr76 Yesterday was my first combined bike/hike in a while. I rode my Vado (electric-assist bike) to Harvey Bear bike then hiked uphill and rode back down. I tried some side trails I’ve never been on before which offered pretty smooth off-road surfaces (the Vado is a hybrid, not a mountain bike, with fairly fat tires but no suspension). The start of Willow Springs trail, Southern branch The Savannah trail branches off Willow springs and has pretty smooth single track that is fun to ride on. This is the Northern branch of the Willow springs trail I rode out to Harvey bear park mostly standing with no assist which took 45 minutes, then spent about an hour in the park. I used assist to buck a headwind on the way home. Next time I’ll allow more time so I can do more exploring.

https://ift.tt/VHZ9jfw Today was “Taco Tuesday Ride” with my group. Our leader was going to cancel because she was away but I offered to pinch-hit as leader so I wouldn’t miss my tacos. It was a great ride of 35 miles. It was just getting too hot as we finished lunch because there was no breeze, but the ride back was fine with our “self-generated” breeze. At the Golf Course For Lunch.

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https://ift.tt/RM0ECXD I’ve decided I need some local challenges to motivate me. One I have done in the past is climbing the Thomas Grade on my bike. This is only 1.5 km, but at an average grade of 9% with a max of 12.5%. I used to be able to do it in about 10 minutes years ago. This is a Strava segment , so I’ll be able to compare my time against my age group (which will be 70 in a few months). The Thomas Grade is to the left off E. Dunne Ave where the two cars are . A lower Slope on the Thomas Grade Another local challenge is walking up Barnard rd, which is 1.1 km but steeper, with a max grade of over 16%. I don’t have a standard to compare this one against other than my previous times. My best was 11 min 43 seconds a little over a year ago. Yesterday I did it in 13:45, so I have a ways to go to break my record. This is a good example of “training is specific”: I’ve been working out pretty seriously lately, but mostly biking. I need to throw in more hiking and uphill walking ...