Falling off the bike...figuratively

So this past week has been somewhat interesting in that I have not spent every day putting in sometime on the bike to keep the legs up. Finding that motivation to hop onto the bike, load up something to watch and then spend an hour or two and just spin is difficult.  So where does that motivation come from? Well for me , it came in the form of a very white space.

 That very white space would be my training peaks calendar showing that I have not done any running, nor have I done anything other than coming for the daily visits to the gym. Now being able to track information about your workout can be amazing for helping keep you track with your goals.




Kel's top tips for indoor training
1) Plan in advance - when you're going to work out, what you're going to do, stuff like that. Here is a cliche but true proverb; "fail to plan, plan to fail"
2) Keep track - what you're doing, how much, how long, how you felt, how you feel, essentially keep a       training log
3) Stuff that goes BOOM - Finding movies, stuff to watch, or just something to keep the boredom at bay while you tirelessly spinning away on a bike going nowhere.

So with that it is now goodbye from school and time to get back on the bike.

~Cheers

Hydration Pt 1.

So I was thinking this is supposed to be a blog about my experiences, pit falls and successes, so let's write about a real topic that is usually encountered at some point by all people.  Hopefully this will be a 3 part (or 4 part if I can find enough to write on):

Tentative Plan:
Part 1 - Why we need water
Part 2 - What to drink and when
Part 3 - Exercise paradigms
Part 4 - Random tidbits and other facts

Water is the most basic fluid that your body requires and although it has many uses, we don't usually realize the significance of it.  A big factor is temperature regulation, allowing your body to thermo-regulate.  A big problem with getting dehydrated is your body begins to heat up and body doesn't like this warm environment.  Now there is an optimal range, so it's not like you shouldn't keep your body warm because that's good for muscles, just don't overcook yourself.  In simpler terms, when you lose water you are decreasing your overall blood volume.  If you lose more than 2% it starts to occur and then your heart works harder to pump the blood and thus you can start feeling dizzy lethargic etc.  Getting to a point where you are dehydrated usually is correlated with a relatively lengthy time to recover and bring your body back to a point where it is adequately "hydrated" again.  Oddly enough, the opposite holds true as well.  For you to load your body with more water, you have to do this in bits and pieces as opposed to just chugging water like mad.  This usually just results it going through your body really quickly.

So how much water should one drink? A rough calculation is half an oz. for every lb you weight.  For example that would put me at just over 70 oz's a day which is not a whole lot (Think two big nalgene bottles).  Now lots of people don't end up actually drinking enough water, but for those that only drink when you're feeling thirsty, it's already a wee bit too late.  Now this type of fluid intake doesn't always have to be taken in as water itself, but fruits, other drinks etc....(But not coffee or alcohol) works too. There are a few things that change this, such as altitude, temperature, sweating and exercise duration/intensity.  The higher altitude that you are training at, the more fluids you will have to ingest to stay hydrated.  Same goes for temp, greater temp = more water needed.  The last two usually go hand in hand, upping your exercise duration or intensity will result in more sweating accounting for the need replenish with fluids. 

Now there are many papers out there that have documented quite clearly a direct correlation between dehydration and a drop in performance.  Maybe it's just the science in me, but scientific papers are awesome, because they lay out specifically how stuff gets done and what the results were.  One study tested the effect of using a diuretic drug on long distance runners, and tracking changes in time over distances.  It varied with the distance but there was always an increase in time required to run a certain distance.  So that brings us to things like coffee or alcohol.  Coffee in excess amounts is bad for you (we'll revisit this in pt. 4 hopefully) because it just makes you need to go to the washroom excessively, essentially undoing any proper hydration you have been undertaking.  Alcohol on the other hand results in the sequestering of water to process the alcohol and break it down.  So at the end of the day there is less water for your body to do other things with. 

So hopefully one now has a greater appreciation of staying properly hydrated and we'll look at the different things you can take to stay hydrated.

Random Tidbits

So I've really been more or less of a hermit these past few days and there's a really a good reason for that, I've been living in what amounts to essentially an igloo for the past week..... Don't trust me? Well I'll upload some pics that should've gone in the (Un)Happy Winter post.  Oh that and the expected high tomorrow is going to be 20 degrees below, friggen fantastic. I love Calgary for our usually warm summers (This years was ABYSMAL).  Unfortunately due to a fantastic weather phenomenon called La Nina, we're expected to have a crappier than usual winter, and that's saying something, thank god for Chinooks.

So today's post covers random things, not a whole lot on actual athletic pursuits, but more ramblings about me

My current disdain for Calgary sports teams 
So I follow sports with a certain amount of dedication, cheering, hooping and the usual hate on edmonton if they have a team.  But one thing that I have realized in all my years growing up in Cowtown is that we can not have both of our sports teams doing well at the same time.  Now this usually held true, Stamps win the cup, Flames suck, and more or less the same vice versa.  Fast forward to November 21, 2010 and you have the Stamps which are playing in the western final, and the Flames playing a regular season game.  Now the flames have been SUCKING as of late, like I mean REALLY REALLY sucking.  We're below .500, so logic based on past observations dictate that we should do well in this football game right? WRONG.  We ended up losing to the 'Riders and there were some objectionable calls,so second year in a row, we've been defeated in the Western Final.  So any hope on hoisting the Cup due to the Flames miserable performance has gone out the window, now does that mean the Flames will stop sucking? Lets hope so.

My awesome grammar (or lack thereof)
Those that have read this blog will have noticed a few things about me.  I like run on sentences, and I also like the opposite, fragments.  So I apologize in advance for subjecting you to the horribleness that is my writing, but that's how I am, really all over the place!  If it really does bug you, drop me a comment and I shall try my best to improve upon that.

Winter Training
So for those that are crazy enough like me, or have no other choice, you need to train through the winter, I'll hopefully write a post about that next, maybe in the next few days (I always seem to over promise, under deliver, so I'm building myself some more leeway this time)

100th Visitor
And then some, we passed out hundredth visitor a while back, and that's awesome to see, hopefully we can hit more visitors this month.  Maybe we can even double it, now that would be awesome.  I shall try to write some other posts that are not all complaining about the horrible weather conditions that we have here in Calgary, and maybe give some inspiration to all those that undertake athletic endeavors like Jess and I.

(Un)Happy Winter

So in Calgary, over the past four days,  mother nature has decided to turn Calgary into a Winter wonder/waste land.  It's really cold now so you can't even go outside and do runs.  It's only indoor training for now.  Pics will come up when I get home

Marathon programmes

So today's one is going to be a little shorty, because I'm running off to yoga in a bit.

My program is pretty much finalized, I'll probably post a copy online in a little bit, but it's going to be starting off in the first week in January, and it'll be lots and lots of running over the next 5 months.

I've managed to get actually convince quite a few other people to run this one with me (Jess included) so it should be a fantastic year, and hopefully this year we'll get warmer weather than we did last year.

Jess's program is done too, and it's sitting on my computer so we'll probably take a look at that and see if everything's alright, and if it is fantastic, but knowing me I've probably made a boo boo somewhere.  It's now been emailed, and we'll talk soon.  Speaking of which, we're both sitting in class, clearly paying riveting attention to the indispensable knowledge that is arthropods.

On a sad note, there is currently a winter storm warning in place for calgary, so barring mother nature letting up on us, there shall be pics of first real winter weather in Calgary.

Oh and Jess says she'll get gmail.... soon, oh and says HI!

Winter training

So as the weather continues to get colder, one has to resort more and more to indoor training.  Unfortunately for cyclists, that means many hours on the bike, either doing spin classes, or watching many many movies while putting in the hours on the bike.  I have been doing the latter, and I'm getting to the point where I'm running out of movies to watch, I guess I'll have to start watching stuff on the computer.  I haven't posted here in a little bit, there's a few things that still have yet to get written.  One of those is the "o" story, that should come sometime....hopefully.  I'll also hopefully be writing about nutrition stuff in the next little bit and then maybe about a certain new gadget that is making it much easier to train during these long hours.

Today's post is about the indoor bike setup. 

Indoor bike setup
So those that want to continue staying fit and keeping the legs fresh about  the biking options, have a couple options.  They can cross-train (x-country skiing, running, etc), they can use rollers, which is essentially a rolling pavement, but in a much more compact form, or you can get a trainer, where you essentially hook your wheel up onto a flywheel and you spin.   Right now, my brother and I use (read: commandeered) the basement as our place to spin.

The basement with the bikes, mine's the one on the left

It's actually kinda deceiving, because this has been many places, my dad used to watch his videos and what not on here.  Then it became the family's gaming area where we had a bunch of games for our play station 1.  Then I got a play station 2, and it kinda become my gaming area.  One thanksgiving we got rockband and then it become the rockband area.  Now fast forward a few years and it has now become the winter training area.  This spot suddenly looks really small once we put two bikes into there...... weird.


So anybody who has spun on a spinner (at the gym) or spun a bike (at home) will realize that in very little time you will get very warm.  Cycleops (the people who make these trainers) came up with a brilliant idea, and it is essentially this towel that covers the top of your bike, and it absorbs anything that happens to make it from your face and fall due to gravity.  But it's also got fantastic thing on the bike which holds two remotes.... it's BRILLIANT.  So not only do you know have access to your remotes while on you're bike, your paint won't corrode on your bike so it's a fantastic thing.

You can put two remotes on the front of your bike.... SCORE

Another thing that usually goes along with a trainer is a block of some sort that holds your wheel so that you can angle your bike and it's a wee bit more stable.  Now the block that I had been using before (a friends) was a pretty basic design, it's essentially a star, and there's three different positions that you can put your wheel at.  So when the new trainer came with these new blocks, they looked BIG.....and MANLY, so one would think they would last... right? Well you would be wrong, and my brother who was using one this morning, managed to crack it while sprinting.  Just for reference, the one that I"m using is the one on the right on the pic above, and the one that is BIG and MANLY is on the left... see I wasn't joking.  So lets look at the after pics:

Yikes

Yikes (Side view)

This just goes to confirm something that I've been realizing over the past few years, stuff made today is for the most part, of a cheaper quality.  Good thing they gave us two of these, but I have the distinct feeling that it's just going to crack again, so for now we will just keep on using the old one.

I'll post some more detailed thoughts on the trainer when I've played around with it for a little bit more, but for now, it shall be a return to the homework that I love so much.


~ps..... yes I know those couches are awesome, you just wish you had ones with such a SWEET pattern too

Rememberance Day

For all those that have served, to give us the freedom we enjoy, Lest we forget

The first weekend of november

So with November, we've actually had really nice weather for the most part we had a couple days were we had temps of 16-20 degrees, which is quite pleasant, considering that sometimes that was about as warm as the summer got.  The "o" post has been slightly delayed, you can blame that on a Botany lab report that was just written, a joyous 11 pages about Hordeum vulgare (For all you non-latin folk, that is Barley)  So suffice to say, that was an enjoyable 11 pages to write about.  So what happened this weekend?

Well, on saturday there was a charity run, Run without borders, which was run with one of the student associations that I'm part of, some of us did 10k, I wanted the food that my race reg had paid for, so I ran the 5k.  It was about -4 that morning, so not the best of running weather, but you suck it up and run, it ended up being a decent run lasting 23 odd cold, windy minutes.  So that was fun, probably could've done the 10k, but that would have resulted in me not being able to consume five yogurts, two bananas, half a muffin and cup of coffee.  But the rest of the BSA (Biology Students Association) had fantastic runs, and it looks like we're doing another one in February for heart and stroke month, seriously I don't think we had a single race in cowtown that did not have crappy weather, but so is life.  But now it's back to homework, pics from the run will be up soon.

~Kel

Is that an O I spy?

Well it's late, but here's a teaser about what tommorow's post is going to be about

A big one.....

So because I am for the most part done my exams, and I really could not care to start my lab writeups or continue my studying for my last midterm we're going to do a big update....

Why i'm/we're doing this?
So this is a story about a guy named Kel (me) and a girl named Jess (Her.... this used to read Pow, that is in fact her last name).  This story actually started from an afternoon lecture in Biochemistry.  Now you may be sitting there thinking, what on earth does that have to do with this....well that's where I first agreed to do "that" with Jess.  She had had thoughts earlier of doing an Ironman but then life got in the way, and dance, so that never happened, but her friend did end up doing that (Jess is this right).  So that afternoon, I somehow in delusion agreed to do it with her, but I didn't quite realize that yet.  Apparently the deal was I do an ironman with her, she does a marathon with me.  

So fast forward a couple hours and I'm sitting at home contemplating what I've done that day.... and stop... did I just agree to do ironman Canada (IMC) with Jess.

Phone call with Jess
Me: Hi Jess
Her: Hey Kel
Me: Did I happen to agree to do an ironman with you?
Her: Yes
Me: *Silence*
Her: Kel?
Me: Alright, thanks, see you Monday.

So just like that the plan had been set in motion, and we were off... well kind of. We planned to do the marathon this year (2009) and the ironman next year (2010).  Unfortunately Jess had some family thing to do so I solo'ed it.  There's a short summary of what happened in that.... all was well...but not really.

So this year, we've planned to do the marathon next year (2011) and then IMC after we finish University.  So along the way we've decided to blog our pursuits, workouts, musings, and epiphany's and let you know how we do along the way, so that's why we're doing it

So how did that marathon go?
Well that marathon was actually kinda fun, by far the hardest thing that I have done, and I did not train enough, but through a few things I would make it through.  I had my gels, purse clips to hold the gels, my shot blocks, my recovery drink powder, and my race bib... we were set.

Running Goodies

So with all my gear ready, I loaded up the gels around my running tights (on the advice of my pseudo coach Andii) and it actually worked out quite brilliantly.  The run was quite a lot of fun.... but very long and very cold.


The race was pretty much like this after the half way marker, you ran more or less by yourself, every so often you'd get reeled in, or people would reel you in.

Finishing Straight

You become quite unaware of certain things while you're running because you have much more important things to be worrying about... such as how much pain you're in.

Why yes my cap is on weirdly

But at the end up day, you've reached the finish line, and that's all that matter, I went through four hours of suck, but managed to finish it, and my sis also managed to finish her race (The half).

Notice the different looks on the faces

So for putting in that training, for downing nothing but gels, water, gatorade, shot blocks and painkillers for the four hours.  I got a nice belt buckle medal to signify the achievement

This is what it's all about

So that is a highly shortened story about my first marathon.

So whats next?
Well Jess is running her marathon this year, so we're starting up training in the winter for her.
I'm just trying to stay in shape so I'll be riding and running as much as I can over the coming two months. Then we start serious training in January.

Plans for the blog
Hopefully I will be able to do things on a regular basis, and between Jess and I you will have lots to read.
Each week, there's going to be posts on:
Reviews of gear used
How training is going
Revelations
Tips and things learned
Random miscellaneous anecdotes from the lives of two science majors.

That is all.... Happy November guys, I think I shall go and enjoy the weather outside.

No Snow, it's a good thing... really!

~Kel