You can fine tune your bicycle training to become a better, faster rider by creating your own personalized training zones. The YMCA is offering lactate threshold field testing sessions on your choice of three upcoming Saturday’s to help you estimate your own training zones. I will be conducting these sessions and I urge you to consider participating: June 30th at the Waukee YMCA, July 7th at the YMCA Healthy Living Center in Clive and July 14 at the Walnut Creek YMCA.
If you are not currently using heart rate training zones, you should consider them. Knowing your own proper heart rate for recovery, base building, tempo and max efforts will allow you to fine tune your training - indoors and out. It will allow you to create a plan and live within that plan rather than making everything random.
The bottom line is that knowing your own zones will allow you to get faster, burn more calories and avoid training ruts.
If you are using heart rate training zones based on an age-based formula, you should know that these formulas are notoriously inaccurate for up to two-thirds of users.
You can determine your zones with more elaborate laboratory-style tests that take blood draws or oxygen samples but they are invasive, painful and expensive. The protocol we will be using creates an estimated result, but research has shown it to be a reliable estimate when the test is properly administered. I believe this is the most appropriate test for a serious recreational or occasionally competitive rider.
How is the test administered? You come to the test well-rested and well-hydrated. I will lead you through a warm up and then supervise your effort during the twenty minute test. The test is hard-going but not all-out. You should be confident you are able to safely withstand a twenty minute sustained hard effort. We will then spend a few minutes doing the math to create your own zones for your own best training and talk about how to use them in creating a training plan.
Come to the test prepared for a ride i.e. shoes and shorts etc. And you must bring a heart rate monitor that has an average heart rate feature. (If you don’t have one, let me know. I have a couple to loan on a first-ask, first-serve basis for each location.) (If this becomes your reason to finally buy a heart rate monitor, I understand Fitness Sports offers a 15% discount to YMCA members. Look for a Polar brand model that offers average heart rate.)
The tests are being offered to YMCA members at the following locations and dates.
Clive YMCA Healthy Living Center, Saturday, July 7, 10:30AM.
West Des Moines, Walnut Creek Family YMCA, Saturday, July 14, 10:30AM.
You can come to any of the sessions regardless of your YMCA home branch. Register at a YMCA service desk. The workshops are in the computer system as "Fine Tune Your Cycle Training". There is a $10 fee and a limit of 10 per class. If you have questions, write me at bill.roach@mchsi.com or call me at 515-201-6496.
HOW BICYCLES ARE MADE: A friend sent me this link that I thought was charming and interesting. Go to the link and you will see an old video produced by the British bicycle industry trade organization in 1945. Note that all the characters, even the boy, speak like Basil Rathbone. http://vimeo.com/39401575.
SITTING: Regardless of how much you exercise, prolonged sitting appears to dramatically increase the risk of dying according to a large new study of over 200,000 adults. The study found that subjects who sat 11 or more hours a day were 40% more likely to die in the next 3 years vs. those sitting less than four hours a day.
Other study findings have also shown that prolonged sitting is bad for your cardiovascular system and your metabolism. It seems that in addition to regular exercise we also need to consciously get up and move around a bit every 15 minutes or so. Studies show that the benefits of movement kick in within as little as 30 seconds to a minute. If you’re sitting reading or watching TV, just try to pop up regularly and move around - just not to the refrigerator.
RIDING IN THE HEAT: It’s hot out there and I’ve had a lot of comment from riders as well as an increase in class attendance. The first truly hot week or two of the year present some special challenges as our bodies learn how to adapt. I’ve had some truly miserable rides over the years trying to get through some of those first hot rides. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Lesson One: Pre-hydrate. The most important thing you can do to prepare for this weather is to hydrate beforehand. It is important to begin your workout fully hydrated. Drink until you need to urinate. This pre-exercise hydration helps you control your body temperature and also assists your cardiac output. The goal is to drink enough before your workout so you can start exercising fully hydrated.
Lesson Two: Stay constantly aware of the heat. Monitor your effort and be sensible. Don't be afraid to stop and cool off when you can. Be smart about your speed and distance. Stop and have a cold drink. Lowering your temperature will improve your performance.
Lesson Three: Continue drinking throughout the ride. Water is needed for every metabolic process that occurs during your ride, including energy metabolism. The Spinning program recommends you drink 40 ounces of fluid in conjunction with a 40-minute indoor class --- one ounce per minute before, during or after the ride. You need to drink as you can carry outdoors in this heat. Remember that you don't get thirsty until AFTER you are already dehydrated so you must remind yourself to drink often.
Lesson Four: Re-hydrate. Immediately after the ride, begin to re-hydrate for the next workout. Chocolate milk has the same mix of carbs and protein as the fancy energy replacement drinks and it is available at every convenience store.
Several days of exposing yourself to the heat and humidity stimulates physiological adaptations that lessen the stress of hot weather exercise. If you haven't been riding in the heat already, take it especially easy. Give yourself time to acclimatize. While you need to acclimatize to the heat, you should also work in more friendly i.e. cooler environment. You can do this by training during the cooler parts of the day or by attending Spinning classes.
Give Mother Nature the respect she deserves and you'll be able to keep working in the heat
YMCA HOURS: YMCA’s are open from 8:00AM to Noon on July 4th . There will be no group exercise classes on July 4th.
QUOTE: "Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." John Wooden.
Note: I particularly love this quote in the context of people working in medical programming at the YMCA Healthy Living Center. They set the bar for us all.
RESOURCES: Recent past issues of this newsletter are available at http://billroachblog.blogspot.com
Thank you.
Bill Roach, NASM-CPT, CEx
Star 3 Lifetime Certified Spinning Instructor
Certified Personal Trainer, National Academy of Sports Medicine
Corrective Exercise Specialist, National Academy of Sports Medicine
bill.roach@mchsi.com
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