Week 1 with PureSport

So I took a week off to househunt and train for my first upcoming race back here in Canada. While I did not have any luck with the offers I put in on homes (others beat my price) I did have great success with my week of dedicated training.

As I had posted earlier last week I have taken on a new sponsor in the sports supplement category with www.puresport.us , and was going to keep some detailed notes as to its effectiveness. I have to admit i got very excited the first few days of training, but resisted the temptation to post right away. I did this with the hopes of gathering a full weeks worth of data to have a diverse results to post.

So this week was a SOLID training week that would have been impossible with out the aid of supplements to help rebuild for each coming day. The workouts were long and at times arduous, and I am sure i would have given up on many of them without support. Here is a quick and dirty outline of what I did:

================================================================
Saturday
Morning
2.0 hr baseline ride
Evening
1.0 hr Chest max weight
================================================================
Sunday
Morning
1.0 hr run
Evening
1.5 hr Arms endurance weights
================================================================
Monday
Morning
1.5 hr interval ride
Evening
1.0 hr Back power weights
================================================================
Tuesday
Morning
1.0 hr active recovery ride
Evening
1.5 hr Shoulders range of motion weights
================================================================
Wednesday
Morning
2.0 hr baseline ride
Evening
Yoga
================================================================
Thursday
Morning
1.5 hr VO2Max ride
Evening
1.5 hr Back reverse pyramids
================================================================
Friday
Morning
2.0 hill ride
Evening
1.5 hr Chest incrementing pyramids to burnout
================================================================

So, what did I find with using PureSport product? Let me see if i can summarize by splitting it up into the two products I used......

Workout drink mix - This blend supersedes pure carbohydrate base drinks by a longshot. While on my long baseline rides, or VO2Max days I calculated a gain of 18 - 23 % increased time in my heartratezone. This is a significant achievement, and anyone who trains seriously knows this is not due to simple human improvement (normally expecting a 2% gain each time). Also the workout formula helps my body keep running without cannibalizing muscle tissue for proteins. Overall great product, and will definitely be kept in my regiment.

Recovery drink mix - Here is the product that is harder to measure in terms of quantitative scientific measures. Most of the effects are simply "how you feel" type observations rather than hard facts. All I can say is that each day when I woke in the morning (and expected to be in pain from the prior days workout) I was relatively chipper and ready to go out of the gate. I believe that the drink helps replace absolutely vital glycogen stores for the next day much faster than any other product I have used to date.


Also had quite a few people asking me what the product was, and where they might be able to get some to try. I think I wight need to talk to my friends in the south to see what plans they have for getting it into Canadian markets, and help them with finding a distributor.

I will post again after another few weeks of training as to how the training is going, and will summarize the training log as to how it is helping out.

PS, did I say how much I love PURESPORT today !
www.puresport.us

First Haircut

Well, yesterday was Gaven's first haircut .. and he loved it! He is such a great little guy, never crys, never complains, just a very easy going domineer .... He was actually more curious than anything else. He kept turning around trying to figure out what the lady with the scissors was doing ?

I now have some curly golden locks for my keepsake book, and the little guy looks more like a little man!

Each and Everyday ?

I have often wondered, as I am reasonably sure most males in their 30's have, if I could have played some sport full time or professionally as a career. Just about every guy I know has sat and uttered the words "I bet you I could have gone pro if it wasn't for ...xxxxx " just fill in the blank with some scape goat reason like kids, wives, injury ... you get the picture.

Well ... as I have the week off and am training pretty fiercely for my race in 61 days I am here to remind everyone of just how silly those comments are. Here I am at the 4th day of solid hard (3 -4 hour day training workout schedule) realizing just how difficult doing this as a career would be. Think about one of those days when you get a truly great workout in and the next day you end up cramped, soar, or unable to sit properly. Well now take that feeling, amplify it, and put yourself in a situation where this is perpetual! I am at only day 4 of 9 and already considering a day off to rest .... sheesh !

The other half of this situation that I am finding aggravating is the body fat content monitoring. Today's athletes are not simply just strong people. They are well balanced machines, great BMI, powerful muscle tissue, low body fat, and extremely flexible. As I am hoping to do well is my return to bike racing, I have been paying special attention to my body fat level .... that had got above 9 % while eating Texas steer and drinking Mexican beer and living in Dallas. I have been keeping a food journal, paying special attention to my cardio workouts, and logging my body fat each and every day hoping to get down to 5 or 6 % again. Not so easy now that we are above 30 let me tell you. You may make strides one day and drop a percent, but your body seems to want to balance back off at a higher number and will invariably put some back on.

So what is all this ranting for one might ask? Well I am just here to remind all of you armchair athletes that ever utter the words "I bet I could have been ...." of the reality of just how difficult and silly those dreams are. Wives, print this off as evidence, store it away, and keep it handy the next time your ego driven spouse say something along those lines. Use this as a reminder to him of just how hard it would be, heck even have them call me to explain ...

I will leave you with something I heard Lance Armstrong say at a conference in Texas that sums up my thoughts for the day. If you do not share the same sentiment, then you were NOT meant to be a pro athlete so just let sleeping dogs lay .....

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever"

If you cant think like this .... well then stay on the couch ;-) As for me .. in writing down this rant I have recharged, and am ready to head back to the gym for a painful workout .. and get a leg up on my competition !

OLPC

One Laptop for every child, is an organization dedicated to bringing technology to developing countries classrooms where it is needed most

http://laptop.org/en/

For a donation of 199.00 (tax deductible of course) you can provide a single laptop to the program that will go developing country classroom. For some time now a smaller pilot program was launched to study how having a laptop could effectively help teach children in developing countries. Being that the education system was developing in these area's, even the systems that produced instructors was lagging significantly. Through the connectedness of the Internet, many of these programs and instructors have found very innovative ways to get help from around the globe. The have accelerated there learning curve, and have access to such a variety of educational tools, e-textbooks, virtual labs, and things that otherwise would not have been possible with out a PC.

I had been involved with this program over 10 years ago when we started sending old discarded laptops from my university that we had refurbished to send over. I am extremely proud to see how far this has now come and that the people are now dedicated to getting a single laptop per child. I have no doubt this will help the next generation become aware of how humans are intricately related in this world. How we all play a part in keeping our planet green, and can co-operate globally to stop global warming. How we might also fight disease and famine together as humans. I do believe (which is why I helped out over 10 years ago and again today) that education will be the saving grace for the planet, and that we all must understand the impacts we have.

So if you are looking for a way to donate this year and have yet decided, may I suggest the OLPC website for review.

http://laptop.org/en/

Vacation day 1

That's right everyone ...vacation time for me.. It may be rare, but I do take it and have decided to ensure I am technology free (relatively) this week. I will have no blackberry following me everywhere, no email to check, no work period.

I will try to post up here each day (my only technology access I promise ;-) and will find something interesting to write about.

I have some pretty lean plans this week, they are as follows:
1) Spend as much time with my young son Gaven as possible, he is growing so fast
2) Search for a home, and put in some offers hopeful to find a place by weekend
3) Train each and every day for 3 hours (only 62 more days left to prepare for race day)
4) Eat exceptionally clean food, to help the above
5) Post on how the regiment of PureSport product are helping the training effectiveness and recovery

Should be a fun week, and I might need another vacation to recover from all the training !

PureSport

As all of you are aware the bike racing season is coming up rapidly. I have been updating everyone on a variety or topics such as custom bike builds, laying out the race schedule, training regiments and of course teams and sponsors.

I have recently added another great sponsor through a good friend from back in Texas. Training is such a key element to success that I am happy to let everyone know that PureSport (http://www.puresport.us/) will be a welcome addition to my supplement regiment.

Puresport is not just a run of the mill sports drink, but rather an Athlete designed specific training aid. Some of the worlds top athletes have had a hand in developing, testing, and refining the product to perfection. Many Olympians such as Michael Phelps use this product to help them to the podium. I have hopes and aspirations that is will do the same for me in this years Ontario Cup circuit as well as National races.

Happy Valentines Day

I wanted to take some time and wish all the readers a Happy Valentines day. I know it is basically a Hallmark holiday, however the idea of letting your loved ones know what they mean to you is great!

I got a new toy for Gaven today to help him along with his ever growing inquisitive nature, and developing dexterity. He is loving the new box with a different stimulus activity on each side. He spent time today going around to each and every side exploring the options, and curiously figuring out how each and every toy worked. I have to admit, he has his poppa's analytical streak when I watch how he wants to figure everything out. Brings a smile to my face.

I had a great day with the boys today, we played, made cards for people, and delivered them. Funny how elementary school activities like making Valentines can be fun at age 32! I had a blast helping them get everything prepared and explaining that we can pick special people to honor on this day.

So to each and everyone that I know, have recently met, or are just simply passing by this web page ... have a safe and happy Valentines day. Keep a little corner of your heart open, just in case love makes an appearance like this on special days :)

Downhill Bike is getting closer

So I spent a large portion of my day Sunday up to my elbows in grease, getting my custom build Downhill bike ready for the season. For all those gear heads out there, or people who love fixing things know this is great time spent. I find it almost therapeutic to spend time either creating or repairing with my hands. I cant explain it to those who don't partake in this hobby, but those others are all siting there nodding their head knowingly ;-)

I was so close, but had to stop with only the drive side of the bike left to complete. I hope to get to this over the coming weekend, and get out for a quick ride around the block. I know it is winter, but hey ... I new bike NEEDS to be ridden ..

The need for Vitamin D

So this being my first winter back here in the great white north or Canada, I have noticed a phenomenon my body going through this winter ... the thirst for Vitamin D.

During the winter months up here people tend to stay indoors during long stretches of inclement weather. There skin never gets very much time to soak up the much needed vitamin D that the suns rays provide to us. This coupled with a shorter day and colder weather start to play havoc on a persons mood.

Some of the symptoms this weather effect is having on me are the following. I find that I do not have as much energy when I get to the gym in the morning. I notice a discernible decline in how quickly my body wakes up from slumber, and general lack of drive to become active in early morning hours. I even notice a slight "depression" surrounding obtaining goals that revolve around athletics.

I noticed these things and made a correlation as yesterday was the first sunny and relatively warm day in some time. I got outside and noticed by the end of the day feeling recharged, feeling driven, and even noticed this affect carrying over into this morning. Could it be that the winter "blahs" had taken me captive without me knowing?

Do others out there that have now moved away from cold climates like Canada notice the effects when you return home? Have you had experiences like this of your own? The most pressing and important part of these questions is HOW do you cope with it, or make changes in your life to compensate and combat this phenomenon. I am not willing to let this affect my life any longer !

Monthly Readship Growth

So as promised at the start of every month I will send out some stats on where our readership is distributed. Last month I posted this list in terms of cities, but if I continued this the list might get really long as we know have over 65 cities worldwide! So in terms of ease posting, I have elected to post in country form. Here are our 17 countries we now have people reading from ...

Canada
United States
Switzerland
British Virgin Islands
Japan
United Kingdom
Bulgaria
Chile
Thailand
France
South Africa
Portugal
Australia
Spain
Brazil
Croatia
Indonesia

I must say ... quite a diverse group! Keep the word spreading about the blog, and hopefully someday we can fill that map with orange dots! It is like risk, the game of world domination ;o

Kisses for all !

Well yesterday was another momentous day for my little boy Gaven. He learned two new skills along his pathway to becoming a little "person".

The first of these skills was that he now knows how to kiss people when they hold him and ask for a "kiss". He is so adorable when he turns to face you, puckers his lips (much better than the open mouth kisses most children give) and leans in to kiss you. Absolutely warms you heart to know that he is wanting to share affection with you when he does this. Afterward he is so pleased he smiles glowingly from ear to ear.

The second thing he learned has an ironic twist considering the first item he learned, the kiss. He now also know how to say no, shaking his whole head comically from side to side. When he does this his whole body twists slightly adding to how cute he looks. Why this is ironic is that he now sometimes couples these skills, denying people kisses by shaking his head, and then laughs about it! Priceless!

The Custom Rebuild

So earlier on I let everyone know that I was going to race again this year, and I was looking forward to getting some new bikes and preparing for the year. Along with that comes the uncontrollable urge to take the bikes apart, modify each and every piece looking for ways to make them faster, lighter, stronger, and of course better looking. If you don't look great flying across the finish line, well then you just look bad !

So I striped down the Ironhorse frame, made some modifications with the help of the great guys at http://www.kreater.com/ and also got a great powedercoat / clear coat custom paint job for the frame. Powdercoat is an awesome look for those who have never seen it. They strip the frame down to bare mettle with sand blasting, spray it with a custom mixed powder of paint that adheres to the surface, then bake it around 500 Degrees for some time. this baking effectively opens the porous surface of the frame and melts the paint right on. This leaves an incredibly deep paint color, and after you put on the clear coat for extra shine... well it just looks awesome.

So now that I have the frame back, I am beginning to rebuild the bike and have some other small plans for getting the weight down and strength up. I am adding a full titanium bolt kit to the bike replacing all the old steel bolts to hopefully save around a pound. Carbon seat post should help save some weight as well. I might even have the guys are Kreater C&C me some parts out of aluminium to shave more weight off around the headset and other various parts.

I will keep everyone posted as the build continues, and up to date on my training schedule. For those of you who are interested I am currently running 18 K now on Sundays!

This is the first year I have added running to my training guidelines, so hopefully it helps. It does get boring running alone, so anyone interested just let me know and I will come join you for a run.

Come keep me company people !