The Fit Nation

https://ift.tt/SYnuvy6 Tuesday’s ride was a long hard one so yesterday was an easy recovery day, just over 90 minutes near home. It was pleasant and my legs felt better afterwards. The ride is here on Strava The east foothills across Hill Ave Periodization Periodization is varying your training during the year to emphasize different things. Now I’m entering a phase where I’m increasing my mileage, so it’s a good idea to compensate by cutting back on intensity. On hard biking days I was doing more than one type of intervals, plus some sprints, plus “ on-bike strength training “. I’m dropping the intervals for now and just concentrating on aerobic training with more steady riding. But this neglects the larger fast-twitch muscle fibers in my legs, and at my age I can’t afford for them to atrophy. So I’m still doing the sprints and on-bike strength training, both of which target fast-twitch muscles. After I’m done in a couple of months or so with my longer distance challenges, I can ...

https://ift.tt/sbZE1ei Yesterday I went for about an 80 minute ride before my group ride. I wanted to see if eating breakfast made a difference so I tested my speed on an out-and-back course to the Southeast of Morgan Hill. Yes it did- I was over half a mile per hour faster. I started skipping breakfast because of the idea that doing so before a long ride was supposed to make your body learn to use fat for fuel better . Then I learned that there are health benefits to time-restricted eating so I started skipping breakfast everyday. But in Dr. Greger’s research for his book How Not To Age , he found the health benefits are more for skewing your eating toward earlier in the day, like making dinner lighter or skipping it, not for skipping breakfast. So now I’m back to eating breakfast most days, with just a couple a week for the original fat adaptation idea. After the warmup ride I headed to the start of the group ride. We headed Northwest into the hills, around the first reservoir ...

https://ift.tt/sbZE1ei Yesterday was hard upper body day so I did that workout first at home. Then I went for an easy spin on my e-bike which has fat tires, so I went looking for off-road trails. I proceeded up Main street east of town and used its dirt and gravel shoulder, which runs past Guglielmo Winery. Next I headed over to the canal trails next to US 101. This is a cooperation with Morgan Hill and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, who owns the canals and adjacent right-of way. The city developed trails, some paved, the rest packed gravel. The budget wasn’t enough to make underpasses at highway bridges so you have to make your way back to an adjacent frontage road (Condit Ave), cross the street, and then reenter the trail. This would be awkward if you were doing this for commuting but is fine for recreation purposes, especially at times of light traffic. I got off the canal trail at Cochrane Ave and rode some dirt trails on some undeveloped land before heading home after a bi...

https://ift.tt/QnBlcYO Yesterday I did a long ride (3 hrs 51 min, 46 miles) that included 3 local trails. I rode out Santa Teresa boulevard north to Almaden Lake park where I picked up the Guadalupe river trail, which I took as far north as Chynoweth. Then I backtracked to the park and took the Los Alamitos Creek trail south to its end at Harry road, then got on McKean and took it down to Bailey ave. I picked up the Coyote Creek trail and rode it tois end at the visitors center, then home from there. My average speed was just under 12 mph because there was significant climbing on this ride, slow on my recumbent. I posted it on Strava here . Almaden Lake Park Los Alamitos Creek Trail McKean Road, near the base of Calero Dam

https://ift.tt/EQ6jXNx Just an easy ride yesterday (average heart rate 107) because I went harder the day before. I rode out Coyote Creek trail as far as the flooded-out section, then detoured around the flood on Monterey highway to Coyote Ranch Road . This was a nice pleasant ride because it was warmer today. Here it is on Strava .  Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark . Members fly some cool radio control planes from here next to the trail, some with wingspans up to several feet. Zooming in on someone preparing for flight Loma Prieta From the trail A nice old barn on a working ranch next to the trail Flooded out at the ford. Last year the flooding was worse and it took until late April for it to clear. Hopefully it will be a little sooner this year. I backtracked from here to Bailey Ave where I detoured to Monterey Highway

https://ift.tt/EQ6jXNx http://www.Amazon.com/books The Year by Dave Barter is the amazing story of cyclists through the years who have ridden as many miles as possible in a year. To start out he describes his own attempt to ride a double century (200 miles) in a day. This is clearly a grueling task, including grinding it out riding in the rain (the furthest I’ve ridden in a day is a century, or 100 miles). It sounds like something you might want to do, scratch off your bucket list, the rest for a week or so. Now put your head around the fact that Tommy Godwin of Great Britain rode an average of 200 miles a day, every day, for a year, in 1939. He then continued on to 500 days to set the record for riding 100,000 miles. This is of mind-boggling difficulty, especially considering he rode through the British winter, And during the last part of the ride, after September 1 when war was declared, it was awkward to ride at night because of blackout restrictions. The history of this goes...

https://ift.tt/6Flp57d Today should have been my Tuesday group ride but rain was forecast so we didn’t do one. I rode anyway and got all geared up for the rain but it turned out not to arrive till after my ride was over. I managed to sneak in a brisk 35 mile ride in pretty nice weather. Still sunny as I was heading home Today was “hard” day on the bike so after riding at a quick but manageable “ zone 2 ” tempo for a bit over 90 minutes I threw in some faster long intervals to improve lactate threshold and then some fast sprints with long recovery in between, then finished with an easier cooldown. This is what I’ve been doing for hard day recently, and it feels challenging but great. In the words of the great running coach Bill Bowerman, a good workout should leave you feeling “exhilarated not exhausted” and this one does. I did all this on my Corsa recumbent in the configuration with 20″ wheels front and back. I’ve been really enjoying this, it makes for a compact but fast littl...

https://ift.tt/I41KhgC Yesterday I went my longest ride of the week, just under 40 miles in 3 1/2 hours. This was at a brisk pace for an average heart rate of 116. The weather forecast was for overcast with no rain but it turned out to be unexpectedly sunny instead, a very pleasant surprise that made for a relaxing ride. Loma Prieta in the distance from a high point in the Coyote Creek Trail The trail is blocked by flooding so there is there is a detour over hilly Malech Road. This is the view from the top The vineyards at Guglielmo Winery

https://ift.tt/47CsflW Athlete at Heart: Learning to live with heart disease and find joy again , is an inspiring and entertaining autobiographical account by Kristina Bangma, a personal trainer and athletic coach from Vancouver, B.C. Much of her story struck close to home for me, because I too have had severe heart arrhythmias, and I know what it’s like to have exercise be a major source of enjoyment in life and have it taken away from you. Kristina was an endurance athlete at a pretty elite level, having completed marathons, ironman triathlons, and cycling races. At the age of 40 she was participating in a cycling challenge in Vancouver. While pushing hard up one of the steep climbs, she got so lightheaded she almost fainted and actually had to get off the bike and lie down for a few minutes. She recovered and finished the ride, but knew something was not quite right. She was also having occasional severe vertigo episodes at this time, which were mistakenly thought to be an issue...

https://ift.tt/n9i3z4m We’ve had enough of a break in the rain that I was able to go off-road riding without the trails being muddy. There are nice trails near Coyote Creek that are used a lot for walking or horseback riding but are also nice for mountain bikes or hybrids like my upright that have fatter tires. I spent a fun hour playing around on these. The next storm is on it’s way so this was my last chance for a while. Nice Spot near the creek which is still high and muddy. The Coyote Creek trail is blocked in several places by floods.

https://ift.tt/4vpIJZh http://www.Amazon.com/books I recently read Work Out: The Revolutionary Method of Creating a Sound Body to Create a Sound Mind By Dr. Jason Karp which provides good motivation to exercise, with plenty of scientific evidence for its health benefits. Dr. Karp, who has a PhD in Exercise Physiology, especially emphasizes the importance of exercise for mental health. He believes that various higher brain functions evolved to support our ability to do physical activity, so exercise is crucial to keep our brains healthy. There are various areas in which it has been shown to help. For example, exercise is superior to medications in alleviating depression, and it helps stave off cognitive decline. The first part of the book is devoted to inspiration and scientific evidence, while the remainder gives a complete guide to both cardiovascular and strength training. I found this to be a very useful book.

https://ift.tt/BMpsnZl After all the recent storms we’ve had, it’s nice we’ll be getting well over a week of nice weather. I took advantage of it yesterday with a little over two hours of brisk riding to the west and then southeast. It is feeling pretty spring-like, at least temporarily, for February, with our Magnolia tree in bloom. Oak Glen Ave, Heading up the hill towards Llagas road I have my recumbent set up in a new configuration with two small 20″ (iso 406 mm) wheels and the seat from my old bike. This is comfortable but considerably more aerodynamic than the old bike so it is faster. Yesterday was my first long test of this setup and I really like it. With skinnier (28 mm) tires it is fast on smoother roads. With fatter tires like 32 or 38 mm it can handle rougher roads. If I want to be faster, like for doing a Strava record attempt, I can put the bigger 28 inch (700c or iso 622 mm) wheels on and the new seat which is much more reclined. Switching among the configuration...

https://ift.tt/86FvPdL http://www.Amazon.com/books I recently read Alex Dowsett’s fascinating biography Bloody Minded . It starts out with Alex’s attempt on the hour cycling record in 2015 at the Manchester velodrome. He makes you feel what it is like to go round and round in circles for an hour, in an uncomfortable position, while consistently putting out prodigious amounts of power. He also describes how the pain kept increasing until he finally got in a state where he was detached from it. This was enjoyable but dangerous reading for me, inspiring the part of me that likes to push really hard. Only after the story of this attempt is complete does he let us know he was born with haemophilia, and is the only elite pro athlete in any sport with this condition. Haemophilia is also spelled hemophilia, but I am using the British spelling in honor of Alex, who is from Great Britain. The remainder of the book takes us back to his childhood coping with the disease, how he got into cyc...

https://ift.tt/dC93gqn It’s been raining since wednesday and will continue until the middle of next week, for this series of storms. When storms line up like this out in the Pacific, waiting their turns to come in, it’s referred to by meteorologists as an atmospheric river, or colloquially as the “pineapple express” since a lot of them are making their way over from Hawaii. I was pleased there was a break for a couple of hours yesterday morning so was able to sneak in a ride outside without being all dressed up in raingear. I will be able to also today but then it’s back to rain on Sunday. One of the first signs spring is on its way- mustard grass growing under an Orchard on Half Road