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 !