The Fit Nation

https://ift.tt/O6aegn0 I have developed water on my left elbow. It’s a painless but weird symptom. From a search on Google I found this is actually “Olecranon Bursitis”: the bursa, or lubricating sac, on the elbow has been irritated or inflamed somehow, and is accumulating fluid. I’m trying to get into see my doc about this, but I’m not in a hurry because it is not causing any problems. In the meantime I am following the web advice of icing it several times a day, and letting the elbow rest. That means no upper body workouts for now. Fortunately I can still get my biking in. Olecranon Bursitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olecranon_bursitis I had just found out about a new AI-based research tool that’s part of Google’s Gemini called “deep research”. To use is you start up Gemini and change the model type to “1.5 pro with deep research”. This normally requires a paid subscription but you can try it out for free (I recently got a Chromebook, and a one year paid subscription to Ge...

https://ift.tt/vXLFPlR On Tuesday my group did a brisk ride to the Southeast, visiting a small farm where they have two large pigs along the way. It was a cold but nice day, and warm soup at lunch was welcome afterwards. I just caught the top of the female pig Petunia. Her companion Harold was impatient for lunch, so was busy picking up a large metal feeding trough in his mouth and banging it on the fence. Unfortunately I didn’t catch a shot of that. Yesterday was one of my hard rides, all the way out to Hellyer Velodrome on the Coyote Creek trail then back home, for a bit under 3 hours of riding. I did a fast cruising pace for almost the first two hours, then did intervals and on-bike training on the way home. I was definitely tired after I got home, pleasantly so for the most part. Outside of Hellyer Velodrome A nice day at Hellyer Park

https://ift.tt/U0vO6HV I’ve gotten up to about 2 hours a day of training recently, mostly riding but also strength training and my PT for my back and hips. My body seems to be tolerating it well and it feels good. Redwood retreat route. This is one of our local favorites, beautiful scenery Some memorable rides included last Tuesday when I rode with my group out to the end of Redwood retreat road and back, posted here on Strava. Then on Sunday I did a hard workout consisting of upper body strength training and PT, followed by a brisk ride out the Coyote Creek trail to Bernal road, switching to Monterey highway on my way back. I also threw in some hard intervals. That felt great at the time but I was pretty tired afterwards so I took it easier yesterday. At the top of scenic Sycamore Ave yesterday. with some friendly strangers I encountered on the left I’ll be visiting my brother in a couple of weeks in Phoenix, and I want to rent a bike while I’m down there to ride some of the ...

https://ift.tt/RFo5uxp Yesterday I headed south through rural roads east of Morgan Hill through San Martin to Gilroy. I was on my recumbent with electric assist. The wind was light so I was able to maintain an average of just under 20 mph, an exhilarating brisk pace. This covered 27 miles in a little over 90 minutes. I enjoyed seeing our green hills from the recent rain. Green Foothills in San Martin We are fortunate that our vegetation isn’t so dry here up north. Our friends down south weren’t so lucky, it is much drier down there, and they had severe Santa Ana winds bringing warm dry air which has made the fires worse. I don’t know anyone personally that has lost their home, but we are thinking of those who have. Firefighters from up here have gone down to help out, just as SoCal firefighters have helped us in the past. We are all in this together.

https://ift.tt/2pfZ3tB I found an important study on Clarence Bass’ website here . A study of strength training among retirees found that hard training is essential for preserving muscle mass. The study compared a group doing heavy resistance training vs a moderate intensity group, and also vs a control group that did not exercise. Muscle mass was only effectively preserved for the heavy resistance group after four years. The heavy resistance group used weight machines, while the moderate group used resistance bands and bodyweight exercises. I’d like to clarify that you can still lift heavy using resistance bands, you just have use more of them. Bottom line, go heavy! Clarence emphasizes this all the time and I’ve mentioned it a time or too also. It’s nice to see it proven, specifically for us older folk, in a clear study like this one. Clarence Bass lifting heavy- at 86!

https://ift.tt/TR64CEI Last Tuesday I went on my group ride, and was able to keep up just fine, with no electric assist on the flats and assist in the hills. This was a fun ride. Wednesday I went on an easy two hour cruise on my recumbent. Thursday was a combination of a hard upper body workout and a hard ride, for a total of two hours, which was thankfully tolerated well (no flare-ups!). Friday and Saturday were both 90 minute easy rides, on my upright Friday, and on my recumbent Saturday. Yesterday was a repeat of Thursday’s workout, but this one was for two and a half hours. I was a bit tired later but feel fine today. It’s great to be back. But I do need to keep doing my PT to keep my ortho issues under control, and back off if there are any symptoms. Taking a break at Uvas reservoir on Tuesday