You are never too old to stop dancing!

Watch this wonderful 87-year old woman rock the house. You go girl. I love it!

Women's average body weight increases 29lbs since 1960

If you were a woman age 20-29 in 1960 the average weight for your age category was 128 pounds. By 2000, the average weight for a 20-29 year old woman was 157 pounds.

If you were a woman age 40-49 in 1960 the average weight for your age category was 140 pounds. in 2000, the average weight for a 40-49 year old woman was 169 pounds. Although I have no data at my finger tips to support it, from observation I would surmise that the average weight has again increased over the past nine years and the weight gain for men is similar to that of women.

It's been all about super-sizing. The paradigm must shift to down-sizing, mini-sizing. Think Mini Mouse (waistline), Mini Pearl, Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Olive Oil! It's easy...just begin with small portion sizes, small plates, small cups, splitting meals when dinning out, no second servings, no refills of sodas, Small changes - one day at a time. PASS IT ON!

Hold that candy bar....

According to a recent study presented at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, rats that are given unlimited amounts of junk food had similar addictive behaviors as those addicted to heroin.

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/health/stories/junk-food-junkies

Kids just getting more sedentary and fatter

A Nielsen Co. study released Monday reported that children ages 2 to 5 watch more than 32 hours of television each week. Coupled with another recently released report that kids watch an average of 642 sugary cereal commercials a year before entering kindergarten it's quite apparent why childhood obesity continues to rise. Yes, the least nutritional foods are getting the biggest advertising bang, and the networks know kids are tuning in. Even when it has been clearly demonstrated that children will eat low sugar food choices when presented to them.

Parents, what can you do about this? It is quite simple. Start by unplugging the TV and purchasing fewer DVDs and video games - this means regulating the amount of viewing time. Spend more time in active or even quiet recreational games with your child. Don' buy sugar laden cereals. Offer low sugar options with fresh fruit and yogurt. These three simple steps can make a BIG difference over time in your child's health.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/study-kids-watch-over-one_n_335073.html

Is it still FUN?

Someone recently asked me "How long are you going to keep doing all this training?" My response...as long as it's FUN. Well, training is hard work, and not exactly FUN. I admit that each year it gets a bit harder to put in the time, commitment, and serious bouts of training to achieve specific goals. So I am thinking that a more relaxed, enticing, and adventuresome type of cycling may be next.

Here's what's required...

To ride a strong 67 El Tour. Leg speed, power, endurance, mental toughness, and a team of domestiques.

WANTED: domestiques - big strong bodies, not interested in a PR, into teamwork, and will get Gwen over the hills and back with the pack. Will pay registration fee.

Increase physically activity with the FUN theory

Sometimes you have to make physical activity FUN to get people involved. Check this out and see what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Eurovans are the only way to GO!

Hit the open road in a Eurovan and you are bound to find adventure and have FUN...especially if you travel with Gwen. Enjoying life!

Keep Training Fluid

Successful athletes understand the necessity of a structured training program. They have also developed a keen awareness of how their body is tolerating the workload, the effect of the training on performance, and when adjustments to the plan are necessary. Training is meant to be fluid - that means you make corrections and leverage the ability to be intuitive based on how you are feeling and responding to the training stimulus, ideally with the help and guidance of a coach.

This week begins the last build phase before El Tour - it's a 4 week build and 1 week taper. I am starting off gradually with only one strength training workout this week and not jumping too heavy on the milage. The Tumacacori Century is Sunday and will be a good baseline for the 67 mile El Tour. My intent is to ride it fast and flat and stay with the strongest pack possible. The plan for the next 4 weeks is to gradually increase milage, with a focus on leg speed and climbing, and to lean down 2-3 pounds by El Tour.

And I intend to remain fluid for the next 5 weeks!

Serious teamwork out there today!

A week off the bike and my legs were feeling it! But Syncardia riders provided amazing teamwork, assistance, and encouragement throughout the 80 miles of mechanicals, heat and heat stressed riders. Great work everyone!

Girls know how to have FUN

Yes, the 9 wild women have returned from their 4 day trek into Havasupai Canyon - through the village, past Navajo and Havasupai Falls - 10 miles to the campground, 3200 feet of elevation change. Sent the gear in and out by pack horses. Spectacular Mooney Falls, camp food, hammocks, good books, swimming in the crystal blue waters, laughing, wine, deserts...Oh yeah we know how to have FUN! Oh and don't forget the blisters and moleskin.

It's all about energy balance!

33% of women and 35% of men are overweight or obese
40% of Americans are on some type of diet
$37 billion dollars was spent last year on weight loss products and programs
We live in an obesogenic environment
Eating calorie dense and nutrient poor foods
There are too many opportunities not to expend energy (remember when you had to physically roll down a car window or push a lawnmower)
There is a 6-fold increase in bariactric surgeries (bariactric surgery is the largest surgical growth area)

Heavy statistics regarding the state of our nation’s weight. So what can one do about this to control weight surge?

It’s all so very simple – maintain energy balance. Which means that the energy (calories) you take in must be balanced by the energy (calories) you expend to maintain weight equilibrium. Eat more calories then you expend you gain weight. Expend more calories then you take in you lose weight. Not exactly rocket science. Make healthy food choices, eat smaller portions and be more physically active! Absolutely no need to spend $37 billion dollars on weight loss products and programs!

Nothing I would rather be doing

Then riding my bike up Mt. Lemon with my Syncardia teammate, Maria Nunes. What a splendid day with perfect weather, and the best scenery in Tucson. Maria paced me to my best time this year to Molino Basin and on up to 7 Cats. Well done Maria!

Can you be fat and fit?

An interesting question addressed at a recent Nutritional Sciences Research conference at the UA. Steven Blair, PhD and Senior Scientific Editor for the Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, presented compelling evidence to support that overweight and obese persons can be fit and gain health benefits by being physically active. His research is quite definitive in demonstrating that fat guys who are fit are half as likely to die as the thin guys who are unfit.

His second key point was that the dose response for exercise to express significant and beneficial health effects is quite low - 150 mins of physical activity a week or 3-10 min bouts per day. If every American did this amount of physical activity a day the obesity epidemic would stop in its tracks and chronic disease rates would plummet!

The take home messages – even small amounts of physical activity can be beneficial to health no matter what your body size, type, BMI, or body composition. So get moving, go outdoors and play. Pass it on!

Training for El Tour? Best be training your lactate threshold

So what is lactate threshold (LT)? It is the fastest you can continuously perform a steady-state bout of cycling, running, swimming, or any aerobic exercise without fatiguing. Increasing your intensity of exercise just above LT results in an abrupt increase of blood lactate levels and disrupts the equilibrium between lactate production and lactate removal. Oh yea...you know the feeling!

But there is good news...with consistant and specific endurance training you can increase mitrochondria (the metabolic powerhouse in each cell) size and number by 50-100% which results in increased mitrochondrial respiration which can significantly lower the amount of lactate production. Training also increases lactate utilization by the muscles improving the removal of lactate from circulation. And guess what else occurs - you improve capillarization in and around muscles, improving blood flow and enhancing the removal of lactate.

This all results in greater endurance at higher speed with less fatigue - and that's what you are going to need to ride a strong El Tour. So keep doing those high intensity, steady state, El Tour training rides. Push your lactate threshold....it will pay good dividends.

It's not getting any easier...

That's right - those El Tour training rides. 66.5 miles today with a headwind coming south on Silverbell and the Frontage rd. 7 weeks to go and my training plan is right on target... I am getting stronger, but so is everyone else. The curve is going up, the bar is rising and each training ride gets longer and more intense.

Syncardia demonstrated great teamwork today...encouragement at just the right time, great pulls and keeping the pace strong. Thanks Tim, Sarah, Jack, Judy, Marv and everyone for keeping me on. Well done!

Jack LaLanne celebrates 95 years young

Jack LaLanne is often referred to as "The Godfather of Fitness" and is a true fitness pioneer, studying the Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body and concentrating on bodybuilding, chiropractic medicine, and weightlifting, something virtually unheard of in the 1930s.

In 1936 LaLanne opened his own health spa in Oakland, CA, and dedicated his life to encouraging people to better themselves through exercise and fitness. LaLanne designed the world's first leg extension machines, pulley machines using cables, weight selectors, and the widely used Smith machine. Breaking the gender barrier, LaLanne was the first fitness expert to encourage women to lift weights, contrary to the popular belief of the time, which was that weights made women masculine and unattractive. By the 1980s there were more than 200 Jack LaLanne health clubs that were eventually sold to the Bally Company, which later became Bally Total Fitness.

The Jack LaLanne TV Show is the longest running health and fitness show in history, airing from 1951 to 1985. Critics said the show would be off the air in six weeks, but it lasted over 34 years.

At the young age of 95, Jack LaLanne continues to work out every morning for two hours, spending 1 ½ hours in the weight room and ½ hour swimming. Let’s face it…he and his wife Elaine look great, a living specimen of the benefits of healthy eating and a physically active life.

Life is good

Sometimes I am overwhelmed
At how good life is
Riding my bike up Mt Lemon
Fall air, flowers, and colors
An amazing staff
A successful business
Supportive and caring friends
A warm, welcoming living space
That comforts and shelters me
My family – Jim and Shirl, brothers, MacKenzie
Sally dog, my protector
My home away from home - Eurovan
The lickidy split, get me around town, Fit.
I am healthy, vibrant, and active

Take time to appreciate all of the good things life offers up