Cycler’s Confession

May 26, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

As each day passes, I am that much closer to the cycling trip that will take me across Canada this summer. In fact, as of this writing, it is a mere 58 days until I leave! I am fully aware of the importance of training, but since the purpose of my ride is to raise money for a charity, I have been able to avoid thinking about the actual biking aspect by keeping busy with various fund raising projects and promotional events – until now!  It is only in the past few weeks that I have really started to think about training, and I realize that for each day I sit around and think about it,  I put off an entire day’s worth of preparing my body. Nonetheless, I am human, and  I will be the first to admit:

There are some days I just don’t feel like biking -  At all.

Now, biking isn’t just something I do for recreation. Like many folks in Vancouver, my bicycle is also my main method of transportation. Because I teach and work in various areas of the city, my average commute can range anywhere from 25 to 40 km per day. On a day off (which is a rarity), I will usually have to travel at least 10 km just to accomplish the simple errands of my daily life. In other words, there never really is a day where I am not required to be riding whatsoever.

However, on the days where I am only required to travel a short distance, I like to find ways to change up my fitness routine. To keep things “fresh”, while continuing to build the strength and endurance I require for my trip, I head to the park for a fun and energetic work-out.

Here is the circuit I created this week using the various play structures, paths and benches at my favourite park. Enjoy!

  1. Run to the park (5-10 minutes). Warms up body and gets cardiovascular system ready for work-out.
  2. Perform approximately 20 walking lunges (6 meters) along side of the community center: From standing with hands on the hips, step one foot approximately one meter ahead of the other, like you are taking a long stride, and bend both knees to a lunge. Your back knee should be about 2 inches from the ground, and your front knee does not go over your toes. Keep your upper body still. Works entire lower body and core.
  3. Perform 10 bench dips. Sitting on the edge of a bench, place your hands on either side of your hips with the fingers pointing forward. Walk your legs away from the bench, either with knees bent and feet flat on the ground about hip distance apart (easier) or legs fully extended and heels on the ground with the legs together(harder). Slide your bum off of the bench and bend your elbows 90 degrees. Press your body back up. Make sure your arms stay parallel to eachother and don’t over-bend or hyper extend your elbows. Works back of arms.
  4. 4) Perform 10 bench push ups. Place your hands on the back of the bench a bit wider than shoulder distance apart. Walk the feet back until you are in a plank position. Bend the elbows like a push up, and straighten, without locking, the elbows back to a plank. Works biceps and chest.
  5. Hip exercises: Lean over and place your hands on the back of the bench. Ensure your spine is straight, and bend your knees if you need to. Lift your right leg directly out to the side and lower down. Repeat for 5 reps. Continuing with the right leg, take our right leg directly behind you. Lower down and repeat for 5 reps. Repeat on other side. Works hips and glutes.
  6. Repeat exercises 3, 4, and 5 for one or two more sets.
  7. Perform 20 walking lunges away from bench.
  8. Monkey lifts: At the play structure, hold onto the monkey bars and let your legs dangle below you. Without moving your upper body, bend your knees and lift your thighs towards your chest. For more of a challenge, keep legs straight, and lift legs 90 degrees straight ahead of your body. Repeat 10 times, for 2 or 3 sets, taking a 60 second break in between. Works abs and stretches arms.
  9. Stretching on the grass: Take 10-15 minutes to cool down and stretch. Make sure to stretch the arms, the legs, the hips and the chest and hold each stretch for 30 – 60 seconds.
  10. Light jog back home (5-10 minutes). Cools down the body.

* The suggestions given in the above article are not meant in any way to be taken as medical advice or in place of a physician’s course of treatment. Please consult your doctor before beginning a new fitness regimen, like yoga, and always respect the limitations of your own body!

* Interested in learning more about my ride this summer? Check out “The Moon Cycle” page on facebook, or email me at yogabee@live.ca

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Heat and Running

May 14, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

The longest event of my life, Western States 100, is a mere 49 days away. On a day where there are going to be many uncertainties, there is one thing I know for sure, it is going to be hot! Year after year, I read stories about how the heat in Squaw Valley (California) was the one factor that ruined someone’s race. The heat affects so many different aspects of a persons performance- pace, hydration, ability to take in food (nausea), blisters, etc.

My boyfriend, who is also doing the race, has begun to heat train in a sauna. I have only been twice now. No, we don’t run in the sauna, nor do we even jog on the spot, we simply sit there and count down the minutes until we can get out! Oh ya, and we drink A LOT of water!

I have been a little sceptical in regards to when exactly we needed to start acclimatizing to the heat. It seemed a little odd to be starting 3 months out of competition when from what I have learned in university, it only takes 14 days to acclimatize to factors such as heat and altitude. I came across an article on heat training and running and I thought I would share some of it with you here:

How Heat Affects Running Performance (by Bryon Powell, irunfar.com)
There is little doubt that exercise performance is impaired in hot environments. While the effect of heat on performance varies with the sport (for example, less effect on cycling than running), there is a great deal of empirical data showing a link between ambient temperature and performance. Various authors have suggested performance impairments of between 1.6 and 3% in marathon times for every 10 degrees above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Below is an interesting table from a paper by Scot Montain and colleagues at the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine illustrates the relationship between elite marathoner finishing times and course temperature in the New York City Marathon.

times vs temp

New York City Marathon: Top Times vs Temperature (right)

How We Acclimate to Heat
If it is plasma that is the essential cooling component, is it possible to improve this problem by increasing our total plasma volume? Yes, and that is exactly what happens as we adapt to heat over time. Whether you acclimate naturally to higher temperatures over the course of a season, or in a heat chamber, the most significant change that occurs is an increase in plasma volume. Other things occur as well (such as changes in sweat sodium concentration, resting core temperature and heart rate), but plasma volume expansion is the key. After extensive acclimatization, plasma volume can have expanded by as much as 2 liters!

This may explain why the fittest athletes adapt to heat stress more quickly than the less fit. One of the by-products of endurance training (especially at high intensities) is an increase in plasma volume. So just by training hard, you can derive some amount of heat acclimation. What about specifically training in a hot environment to improve performance in a hot race? There is extensive evidence that it is possible to improve our performance in hot environments by training in similar conditions prior to competition. Several studies have demonstrated performance improvements in terms of maximum work rate, perceived exertion, time to failure at submaximal work rates, and time to complete a specific distance.

In the last few paragraphs we’ve explored a bit about the effect of heat on performance (bad) and the effects of acclimation on this (good). The most meaningful physiological adaptation that occurs is an increase in plasma volume (a lot like adding more radiator fluid to a car). However, there are some other adaptations that occur – changes in sweat rate, changes in sweat sodium concentration and changes in core resting temperature, to name a few. The various adaptations occur with different amounts of acclimatization. Here’s a graphical representation of the times over which an athlete can gain these benefits:

A timeline of various heat acclimation adaptations (right).

Heat Acclimation Methods and Considerations
The work needed to achieve the benefits heat acclimation is reasonable. Most laboratory based heat acclimation protocols have athletes spend about 1 hour a day in a heat chamber for 7-10 days. Importantly, this needs to occur as close to the time of the competition as possible, as the adaptations conferred by acclimation decay rapidly without ongoing exposure. So there’s no point in spending 2 weeks in a heat chamber a month before the race – the effects will decay in 1-3 weeks.

As previously mentioned, the benefits of heat acclimation decay rapidly if you do not maintain heat exposure. Estimates vary, but it’s possible that you could lose half of the benefit in 10 days without ongoing heat exposure. This raises some logistical problems for athletes living in cold environments who are attempting to acclimate for a hot weather event. To benefit maximally from acclimatization, the heat training sessions should occur as close as possible to the event. That seems pretty straight forward. The problem is that acclimation is quite physically demanding, and most athletes attempt to taper in the week(s) prior to a big race. So, if you want to acclimatize optimally, it needs to occur during your taper – which may cause overtraining, or at least minimize the benefits of tapering.

As with all training, the more specific, the better. When it comes to heat acclimatization this means that your training climate should reflect the competition environment as closely as possible – the same temperatures as well as humidity. Why is humidity important? As anyone who has survived an East Coast summer knows, humidity makes it harder to lose heat via sweating. Training in a humid environment does confer some benefit it you are training for a dry, hot race, but not as much as training in a dry, hot chamber. Interestingly, there is better “transfer” of acclimation if you train in a dry, hot climate and then race in a humid, hot race than the other way round. So, as much as possible, match humidity and temperature of your acclimation phase to your race environment.

What about passive acclimation? That is, will sitting in a sauna at the YMCA get us ready for running in Death Valley? Essentially – a bit, but not much. Acclimatization is vastly greater (and more rapid) is you exercise during the heat exposure. Whether this is again the principle of specificity, or whether it is simply that core temperature rises faster with active acclimation (increased core temperature is probably the stimulus for the adaptations that occur) is not clear.

So, in my experience, heat acclimation based on well documented scientific principles can give athletes a significant performance enhancement in hot environments. However, it is important to recognize the effect of acclimation on the tapering period and to plan accordingly.

I was chatting with a friend last weekend as we were adventuring through the mountains in Squamish. She has run one of the hardest footraces on the planet, Badwater, where the temperatures reach somewhere in the 50’s. To acclimatize, she heat trained the 2 weeks leading up to the event. She started with 10 minutes and worked her way up to 2 hours. She didn’t move around in the sauna and she said by the end she was drinking 4L of water. She said the heat wasn’t a problem for her during the race. In the end, if you are doing a race in a hot climate, it is best to prepare yourself accordingly and try and mimic that environment as best you can before getting to the start line.

Nicola Gildersleeve
Athlete Ambassador

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Optimizing Oxygen for Better Performance!

May 11, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

As I write this, it is exactly 84 days until I leave. On July 22nd, I hop on my bicycle and begin a 2500 km eastward-bound journey from Vancouver, BC to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Each day that passes, I realize the growing need to get serious about training!

Although I am on my bike every single day of my life, and usually do no less than 25 km per day, I know it is necessary to do both distance- and incline- related training. My journey across this large landmass is sure to demand a much greater supply of energy and endurance than does my daily commute through the city; hence, it is time to get my butt in gear (in this case – quite literally!).

It is clear that I must prepare both my body and mind for the physical and mental obstacles or challenges that are sure to arise along the ride. As a yoga teacher (and student!) I have experienced the benefits of breathing, relaxing and increasing body awareness and am finding ways to incorporate these yoga techniques into my training.

In today’s blog, I will explain the importance of breath and how learning to breathe deeply can benefit your performance.

Importance of Breathing:

Simply put, in order to convert fuel into energy, muscles require oxygen. When oxygen is used in this way, it is called ‘aerobic (with oxygen) metabolism’ and it is the ideal process for the body to use during exercise. Any activity that demands a great deal of energy use will require a greater oxygen supply to enable this form of metabolism.

Sometimes, the body is unable to keep up with the demands for oxygen, and this is when ‘anaerobic (without oxygen) metabolism’ occurs. For example, in the first few minutes of exercise, when the body has not yet increased the heart rate or breath rate, the demands of oxygen temporarily exceed the supply. Lactic acid begins to form in the muscle as a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism. Ideally, enough oxygen is soon available, and the acid is removed from the system. However, if you continue to exercise strenuously, or over an extended period of time without rest, lactic acid will continue to accumulate and eventually the muscles will fatigue.

Learning to increase the availability of oxygen through proper breathing, therefore, should be an important aspect in any athlete’s training programme!

Breathing Techniques:

Full belly breathing:

Practice this exercise for 5 – 10 minutes every day during training. Do it at a regular time each, such as first thing in the morning, or immediately before bed, to help build it into your regular routine. Read through the instructions a few times before practising, or allow a friend to read them aloud to you as you close your eyes and follow.

Sit on the floor in a comfortable positon that enables you to have a straight and relaxed spine. If you need, sit in a chair, lean against a wall, or even enjoy this breathing exercise lying down (as long as you’re not tempted to drift asleep!). Take both hands onto the belly and allow the middle fingers to connect at the center. Close your eyes and begin to notice your breath. Notice where the body feels naturally open and relaxed, and where the breath is moving in the body. Is your breath moving more into the belly or into the chest? How does the inhale compare to the exhale in length and smoothness? With each consequent breath, allow the breath to slow down, and the inhale to become even with the exhale. If it is helpful, breathe in to a count of 4, and breathe out to a count of 4.

With the hands on the belly, begin to deepen the breath. As you inhale, feel the belly expanding as the middle fingers move away from each other. As you exhale, allow the belly to soften back as the fingers come back together. Inhale feeling expansion. Exhale feeling softness. Continue breathing like this for as long as feels comfortable.

If you are not used to deep breathing, you may become dizzy as the body takes in more oxygen. If this occurs, return to regular breathing. As with any new exercise, especially if you have any underlying conditions, please contact your physician to ensure that deep yoga breathing is a safe practice for your body!

Incorporating Breath During Training:

  • Begin each training session with a few minutes of breathing to supply the muscles with an abundance of oxygen
  • When challenged (riding to the top of a hill, sprinting the last few meters of your race, etc), focus on deep belly breathing
  • Incorporate breathing into your pre- and post- session stretching. Breathe in deeply, and as you exhale, allow the body to deepen into the stretch. Be sure to hold each stretch long enough (at least 30 seconds, ideally 1-2 minutes) to allow the muscles to release.
  • Complete each training session with a few minutes of breathing. This will help the body to remove any lactic acid build up that may have occurred during exercise.

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Yoga for Cyclists

May 10, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

I have been both an avid cyclist and yoga teacher in Vancouver for nearly two years. Naturally, I have come across many people in the cycling community looking for a good stretch! Many have expressed an interest in yoga, but have felt intimidated by the thought of attending a class at a studio. The picture of a cliche yoga class (a large, sandalwood-scented room full of only the uber-flexible, moving as one unit, and chanting in another language) can be daunting to someone who might feel they are less flexible, coordinated, or knowledgeable about human anatomy. This is unfortunate, because it is often this intimidation that keeps the people who need yoga the most from giving it a try.

The most common question I receive from the yoga-curious is “Am I too inflexible to do yoga?” A legitimate concern, perhaps, but in reality, being too “inflexible” to do yoga is almost as illogical as being too hungry to eat! With that said, it is important to choose a class with a teacher that will provide modifications for beginners and those with injuries. Look for a yoga studio or a class at a community center that offers an introductory class for beginners, and if they don’t have one, ask what teachers provide a slower or more gentle class.

For now, here are three simple yoga postures you can do in the privacy of your own home. These postures will help to improve the flexibility of your hips and legs, as well as strengthen your lower back.

Two knee twist – Lie on your back with your knees together towards your chest (modify by keeping the feet on the ground). Inhale with your knees in center, and exhale to take the knees over to the right side. Place your right hand on top of the knees, and extend the left arm to the left, looking out over your left thumb. Stay here for 5-10 breaths. Switch sides.

Supine pigeon – Lie on your back with your feet on the floor directly below your knees, hip distance apart. Pick up your right foot and place the outer blade of your foot on your left thigh. Flex your toes towards your knee and let the right knee move forward (shin is parallel with the floor, and is moving forward to become parallel with the wall in front of you). If you feel a stretch, stay here. Optional: pick up the whole piece and interlace your fingers behind your left thigh. Inhale to relax and draw your tailbone towards the ground, and exhale to draw the legs closer to the chest. Take 5-10 breaths, and repeat on the other side.

Butterfly – Sit up and take the soles of the feet together. If your low back is round (ie. slouching), use some height (a block, firm pillow, or a rolled up blanket), and slide forward to come to the tops of your sitz bones. This should help to move the low back in. If it doesn’t, take your hands behind you and lean back until you can feel your tail bone lifting and your low back moving inwards. If the pelvis is directly upright and you feel balanced, hold on to your feet or ankles and let your knees move towards the floor. Take a deep inhale, and only if your knees are relatively close to the ground, begin to draw your chest towards your toes, keeping your low back in. Stay here for 5-10 breaths.

* The suggestions given in the above article are not meant in any way to be taken as medical advice or in place of a physician’s course of treatment. Please consult your doctor before beginning a new fitness regimen, like yoga, and always respect the limitations of your own body!

* Interested in attending a “yoga for cyclists” class in Vancouver? Email Brenna at yogabee@live.ca for more information on current classes, or to get one started near you!

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