Syncardia pres and team mom

Marv and Gwen.

Thanks for making Syncardia possible!

Team estrogen looking good!

They not only ride strong, they are good looking too. What a wonderful group of diverse, healthy, and fit women cyclists who have come together to ride for Syncardia. It's a pleasure to be on the road and in the pace line line with em! Love You All.

Did Sarah Palin ruin your Thanksgiving dinner?

I have heard of more then one Thanksgiving dinner conversation going rouge this year when someone began expounding on the virtues of Sarah Palin. You can imagine my thoughts when my own mother said, "but I like Sarah Palin". Well the conversation deteriorated from that point as the merits and demerits of this political Barbie doll were sliced and diced, heated to boiling and past the point of civility.

Yes, for her fans she is the embodiment of vitality and truth, but for everyone else she is a political train wreck. And bringing her up at the the Thanksgiving dinner table was a sure collision course and recipe for disaster. How can one woman stir so many virulent emotions?

What is it about this absurd woman that is so fascinating to so may people? Well, the one thing Palin seems to know how to do is use the media's infatuation with celebrity, hotness and women's bodies to aggrandize herself. I mean, she has most of the Nascar nation racing for a glimpse of her as she media blitzes across the USA promoting her book full of juicy details of the timeline of Bristol's pregnancy, how many hockey games she attended, how many moose she shoot, and the real scoop behind Levi Johnson and the the McCain campaign. Yes presidential issues and stock indeed. Best thrown out with the turkey carcass and not left on the dinner table.

Hope your Thanksgiving dinner wasn't impalinieated with palinful conversation about SP.

Post El Tour - Holiday time approaching

Ok - El Tour training is over - this means duration and intensity of exercise and caloric expenditure is reduced. Holiday time is approaching quickly - this means more food around and caloric intake increases.

So beware - this doesn't happen when you go to get back on the bike.

Anyone cramp during El Tour?

Anyone cramp up out on the road during El Tour? Rattlesnake Pass – 20 miles out from the finish – tends to be my nemesis. As soon as I get up out of the saddle to get over the top, my legs revolt with intense muscle spasms. I fueled early and frequently, electrolyte tabs, shot blocks… so what’s going on?
Well, let’s consider the intensity and duration factors –
Cramps are most common when you use your muscles beyond their accustomed limit (either for a longer than normal duration or at a higher than normal level of intensity) - which explains why cramps are more common at the end of a long or particularly strenuous ride. In fact cramps are among the most frequent complaint in marathon participants (18% in one study), and of cyclists competing in a 100-mile event (70% of male and 30% of female participants experienced cramps).

Early research suggests that muscle cramps are brought on by disturbances in electrolyte and fluid imbalance, associated with heavy sweating. Although this may be the entire story as individuals involved in activities requiring sustained contraction of muscle without sweating (musicians for example) will also experience cramping. The pain appears to be brought on by continuous, intense, active contraction of the muscle cells and study of the neurophysiology of muscle cramping gives us the best insight into why we cramp during strenuous bouts of long duration exercise.

Disturbances at various levels of the central and peripheral nervous system and skeletal muscle that involve sustained motor neuron activity appears to cause a lack of control of the muscle spindles and golgi tendon organs. Muscle fatigue causes an abnormal neuromuscular response by disrupting the balance between neural input and feedback causing too much excitation of the muscle and not enough inhibition. Without this balance, a single contraction can become hyper-excited (loose it’s ability to relax and veer out of control) leading to cramping.

Here are the four factors to consider in the prevention of muscle cramps:

training - training to the level (durations and intensity) of the anticipated activity will decrease the possibility of cramps

dehydration - the second most common cause of muscle cramps after exerting beyond your training is hydration

electrolyte replacement -A sports drink, with adequate ratios of electrolytes and glucose might help, but it is likely that maintaining adequate hydration is more important than the small amount of electrolytes they contain. The role of other micronutrients and vitamins are still inconclusive. In a recent review, it was suggested that magnesium might be the most important of the electrolytes (after hydration was attended to).

muscle glycogen reserves - replenishment of ATP is important for proper muscle cell functioning with adequate caloric intake needed to achieve optimal physical performance. However the role of adequate glycogen reserves in preventing muscle cramps is speculative.

What a day to ride!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciated having my two domestiques with me out there on the 66-mile El Tour course today. I never would have made a PR (3:19) and top 10 overall women’s finish without their help. They were there on the hills, pulling me back up to the pack. They were there when I couldn’t get recovered, when I started to cramp, when I just wanted to get off my bike and lay down. Tim and Dave it was an honor to ride with you both. I love you guys!

Kicking back the day before El Tour

Yup, easy, relaxing morning. Short, peppy spin ride to limber up the legs, prep the bike, fuel, and equipment for Saturday, and pasta dinner tonight with a few friends also riding tomorrow. In bed early and ready to ride tomorrow.

Taking it out fast with my two team mates, Tim and Dave. Plan to ride strong, ride safe, and finish fast along the Frontage road with the help of my esteemed domestiques. We've worked our strategy and going for a kick ass ride!
Goal time 3:20

The most important meal of the day

Yes, breakfast. It fuels you through the morning, prevents sugar plunges followed by sugar binges, and provides essential nutrients for daily functioning and performance. People that eat a daily and healthy breakfast have also been shown to maintain weight with out seismic weight gains over the years.

And now the food industry is making it easier for us to have that so important meal of the day - But beware! I'm not convinced that liquid cereal fruit punch, or milk shake pop tarts - even with added calcium - is the way I would choose to start my day.What do you think?

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22145/87525-seven-terrible-ideas-breakfast

Tres Amigos

I am so fortunate to have two of my Syncardia teammates, Tim Murphy (you are riding so strong and consistent Tim) and Dave Tiers (thanks for coming out of retirement Dave) riding with me to help on the hills and keep me with the with the pack, or pull me around if we get out there on our own. Yesterday we worked on climbing, pacing, pulling up, communication, and overall strategy. Good energy, good synergy, good stuff.

It was great to see the entire Syncardia team (missed you Marvin) ride together for the final group training ride before El Tour. There was so much camaraderie, support, communication, teamwork, and just good vibe going on the entire ride.

Now the hard work is over....time for rest, rest, rest, heathy foods, hydrating, more rest, change out the tires, and kick back and be merry. For saturday we ride.

Taper Smart

The tendency is to want to get in one more long ride, one more hard bout of exercise before El Tour, believing that fitness is improved only by hard work. But it isn’t so. Fitness improves during rest. It’s unlikely any long duration, high intensity training done in the last week before the big event will boost your performance.

Now is not the time to further tear down muscle tissue, but to let it recover and adapt to its full performance potential. Rest improves glycogen stores, increases aerobic enzyme levels and activity, boosts blood volume, and allows for muscle and connective tissue repair and adaptation. I recommend slicing total training volume about 50% 7-10 days out.

Do continue to include short bursts of high intensity training (race pace intensity) followed by long recoveries to maintain muscle recruitment patterns, fire those fast twitch muscle fibers, and keep the legs snappy. And just a reminder, with the decreased workload, you need fewer calories.

Which ever ride you decide to do on Sunday – the GABA 75 miler or the Syncardia 55 miler – keep in mind - taper smart for a PR performance in El Tour.

Will Cardio Exergames make you fit?

Wait, before going out and buying one of those new cardio exergames for the holidays. Watch this. They don't all meet the minimal levels of caloric expenditure as recommended by the American Sports Medical Association or the American Heart Association. There is a difference in fitness levels between the HOT new games - Wii, Eyetoy, DDR, and Gamercize.
Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYybRY6wh7U&feature=player_embedded

For Love of Chocolate

Oh, I do enjoy chocolate and now there is good news for all of us chocolate lovers - The American Chemical Society's Journal of Proteome Research recently published a study that found eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed.

Got that one and a half ounces - no more. So, go ahead and indulge.

http://generalpsychiatry.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-evidence-that-dark-chocolate-helps.html

It was a great day to be on the mountain

Dialing in for El Tour

Another sweat fest workout with coach Norman tonight. Lot's of short rpm bouts - calling up those fast twitch muscle fibers and finishing off with an out of the saddle power set. It's a cleansing!

What will the beverage industry think of next?

Kick Ass Ride Today!

Syncardia Team Estrogen set the pace today - and there were some serious hormones cursing through the legs of the women Syncardia riders - WOW - good stuff! Two weeks and counting and everyone is riding strong and looking fit. The 30 stroke rotating pace line was cranking out some wattage and keeping a brisk pace. With the wind from the right direction there could be some fast finishes coming down the frontage road.

Our domestiques, Tim and Richard, were awesome and rode it in with 4 strong women...Maria, Judy, Gwen, and Candice - well done!

Anyone for up for Wall Jumping?

Here's some athletic moves check it out -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PxoqdBNtY

Get "Faster, Higher, Stronger"

Just go for one of the remaining 5,000 2008 Beijing Olympics condoms at this upcoming auction.

HEY Gamers - let's keep moving!

Microsoft's new XBox project Natal (who chose that name?) may challenge the Nintendo Wii active gaming to a real contest and elevate more gaming couch potatoes into action. A new game called Ricochet, where you punch, kick, and head-butt a ball down a corridor to break apart bricks at the far end is just one of the action-oriented, let's get that body moving games to debut.

It's very cool because the XBox Natal game has a camera that tracks the exact movement of each limb going after the careening ball, so you really needed to move that body and reach for each shot. It will make the some of the Wii active games look like limp warm-ups. Hey what ever gets you off the coach and into physical activity!

Appreciate Each Day

Some days just click, especially when they start with that wonderful clicking in sound of the bike cleat to the pedal. A ride up Mt. Lemon, perfect weather, relaxing at LeBuzz, power nap, exciting and productive afternoon work, intellectually stimulating evening presentation. Just the right dose of physical, intellectual, work and personal stimulation. Life is good. Savor it, appreciate it!