The Fit Nation

https://ift.tt/9GR8Jbv I mentioned previously that I’ve been following Dr. Peter Attia’s suggested aerobic exercise protocol for longevity. The part of the protocol I’ve least enjoyed is the 4×4 intervals for maximum aerobic intensity, because they lead to soreness the next day. http://www.Amazon.com/books Recently I read The Quick and The Dead by Pavel Tsatsouline, which offers an intriguing alternative. It gets into some exercise science to explain the rationale, which I’ll get to below for those interested. The bottom line is that you do sprints, about 20 seconds long, of your activity of choice, with a lot of easy recovery time in between (more than 5 minutes). I have tried this and the sprints are challenging and it feels great. And very little soreness afterwards. For biking I just cruise along in a brisk aerobic pace. Then I do a 20 second sprint as hard as I can, followed by a but over 5 minutes of brisk cruising. I repeat this sprint/cruise 10 times, and finish with a ...

https://ift.tt/BWR9r0n My local bike group is part of the larger Almaden Cycle Touring Club ( ACTC ) from San Jose. I’ve been meaning to branch out farther afield and go on other ACTC rides, and Friday was my chance because they were doing what looked to be a fun ride in Monterey. My friend Kris from Morgan Hill was also going so we were able to carpool over. The ride started in Sand City which is next to Monterey on the coast. There is a paved bike path that runs along there (the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail , 18 miles long, which starts in Castroville). We took that to its end in Pacific Grove out on the Monterey peninsula, then took coastal roads in Pacific Grove around to the start of 17 mile drive which runs through Pebble Beach to Carmel. We then took local roads in Carmel, then had a lunch break there. Then we looped around on the coast in Carmel till we ran into a different Pebble Beach entrance further inland, and took 17 mile drive back to Monterey, then on back roa...

https://ift.tt/9bxLD3T Yesterday I did about 30 minutes of upper body workout, then joined my group as we rode to the foothills by Gilroy, southeast of Morgan Hill. We saw the goats and pigs at a small farm along Crews road. Then we rode up to Bridal Path Road to visit Aladdin the camel and his buddy, an Ethiopian Bull with big horns. We finished back in Morgan Hill for lunch. It was a nice brisk ride, we formed a paceline on long stretches with headwinds. I was happy to be able to keep up well with my non-assist upright, even on some steeper sections in the foothills. This is a great group and fun to ride with. Stopped near the little farm on Crews Road Two huge full-grown pigs. I don’t know the boys name, the girl (pink, in front) is Petunia. Aladdin, looking majestic but a little disappointed we’ve run out of carrots.

https://ift.tt/knogWEx We got a good soaking this weekend. I rode for two hours in the rain and thoroughly tested my rain gear. Mostly ok, some things soaked through towards the end. But the next day was nice and sunny, and it’s always clearer after the rain has “rinsed” the sky. So yesterday I went for a delightful long ride on the Coyote Creek trail followed up with my upper body workout. Taking a break at Metcalf Park

https://ift.tt/HsCQIWd I’ve recently had some interesting medical test results. The first was my yearly echocardiogram. I saw my cardiologist today and he confirmed that all is well, except that some leaking around the edges of my replacement aortic valve, classified as “mild to moderate”. I first found about that a year ago, and my doctor confirmed there is nothing to be worried about because I am asymptomatic and there is no noticeable diastolic murmur. He confirmed this at the time by discussing it with my heart surgeon. Concerning symptoms would be fluid retention or getting out of breath, or declining exercise capacity, I have none of these. If the leaking does progress enough in the future, it might be necessary to get surgery to redo the valve replacement. Leaking is around the edges of the replacement valve, see the arrows ( https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aortic-valve-regurgitation/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353135 ) My cardiologist also went over my blood...

https://ift.tt/APbl82V We had another nice late fall day yesterday for a group ride up in the hills southwest of Morgan Hill. The rest of this week is supposed to be rainy so this was good timing. We went on a beautiful ride out to the end of Redwood Retreat Road and back. We ended up having an extra adventure. One of our members left her pack hanging from a sign at Chitactac-Adams park where we had taken a break. She didn’t notice it till we got to the turnaround at Fernwood Cellars at the end of Redwood Retreat, and this was made more urgent by the fact that her wallet was in it. That is a distance of 4.4 miles. Fortunately, I had ridden my e-bike so this was an opportunity to show off “turbo” mode. And the story had a happy ending because the pack was still there. A Ranch Off Day Road Regroup at Entrance To Kirigin Cellars Vineyards at Fernwood Cellars

https://ift.tt/A3846mQ Meditation is a scientifically verified technique for lowering stress, improving health, and making positive changes in the brain. But it is often associated with religion, or has a “new-age” air (like sitting in an exotic position and burning incense). There is certainly nothing wrong with religious-based or exotic techniques, which work fine for many people. But some are turned off by it or it makes them skeptical of meditation. For the latter group, Rick Heller has written Secular Meditation , a useful down-to-earth guide. http://www.Amazon.com/books Rick is associated with the humanist community at Harvard University, where he teaches meditation. I enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it for anyone who has previously been skeptical of meditation. Rick admits that some people are critical of trying to come up with a secularized version that extracts it from religious roots. That is why he uses the more generic term secular meditation instead of so...

https://ift.tt/5ydLOIV My group did a ride yesterday heading East of Morgan Hill then north on the Coyote Creek trail to Metcalf park. While taking a break in the park, I thought I saw a bunch of dogs off leash coming into the park and wondered whose they were, but when they got closer it turned out it was a wild mama pig and her half grown piglets. Mama is the big black one to the right of the garbage can that says “San Jose” on it. We were close enough to get a decent picture but when we tried to edge up closer they ambled off: Wild pigs are a problem to homeowners in this area. They dig up lawns to get at grubs living underneath. I don’t if that is what this family intended. Maybe they would try the grass in the park first and then move to lawns of nearby lawns. After our wildlife adventure we headed back to Morgan Hill for lunch downtown. It was a nice ride on a pretty warm day for this late in the season.

https://ift.tt/EuWPjSo A couple of days ago, fellow blogger Tony posted this: Most forms of exercise are overwhelmingly safe – but don’t ignore the dangers . Thanks, Tony. It is based on an interesting study recently published in the journal Injury Prevention [1]. By analyzing accident statistics in England and Wales in the period 2012-2017, they came up with injury rates for various exercise-related activities. Cycling had an injury rate of 2.8 per 100,000 outings, while walking had 0.03 per 100,000, and fitness activities (e.g. gym participation) had 0.21 per 100,000. All of these are relatively low, I’m only likely to get injured about once every 33,000 rides, and it can be argued that the health benefits of the activity outweigh the injury risk. But note that cycling had 100 times the injury rate of walking. So it makes sense to do whatever possible to minimize the risks. For cycling, here are some obvious measures: Accident risk higher at night than during the day, so if poss...

https://ift.tt/oblCxZv My first ride outside since my accident a couple of weeks ago worked out well Last Tuesday. So I decided to try an easy long ride on my recumbent yesterday. I went out in beautiful late fall weather on the Coyote Creek trail, for a round trip total of three hours and ten minutes. This was really enjoyable and relaxing. I’m looking forward to more long easy rides in this weather. Looking South From Metcalf Park Looking Northeast

https://ift.tt/wFjWeAn Today was two weeks since my bike crash and possible concussion. My discharge instructions from the hospital said to avoid riding for two weeks so I was good to go today. My group had it’s annual Halloween ride out to the local Spina farms pumpkin patch. I was warmly welcomed back at the start, some of the riders had last seen me being transported away in an ambulance. I was glad I brought my e-bike because the group rode briskly. I thought I’d kept my stamina up by riding on my stationary bike for the last two weeks. But while I did throw in some higher intensity intervals, those rides were all less than an hour and this was almost three hours. I guess a lost a bit of my steady-state pace so compensated with the motor. I’m sure it will come back quickly. It was a nice late fall day for a ride. The gang taking a break at Chesbro reservoir The entrance off Santa Teresa Blvd I loved my friend Molly’s “biker babe” costume Marigolds, a pumpkin pyramid...