Computrainers and energy bars!

Hi everyone, the video has been recorded! However my demo of Final Cut has expired.  AGH! I tell you, it's like the universe is trying to hold me back or something.  Wednesday!
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Everyone knows that with the winter season comes indoor training.  Whether you're on a trainer in your basement, or an exercise bike, or a spinning bike... You know that sooner or later, you're going to get bored and it's going to be hard to stay motivated.  Two hour endurance classes are no exception to that rule, believe you me... (O_O) Whipping your legs around at 90-115 RPM for two hours with the occasional sprint isn't exactly exciting training.  A necessary evil though for sure.

That is, until RPM Total Fitness brought in "Real Deal Performance" and their computrainer systems.

Honestly, these trainers are a bit of a headtrip!

First off, what makes them different is that you use your OWN bike.  Your seat, your gears, your everything.  You just mount your bike into the trainer bracket and you're ready to experience the closest thing to outdoor cycling as you can get!  Unlike conventional trainers that just stick to one difficulty, these trainers are computer driven.  What does that mean for you as a rider?  

Well the two screens at the front of the area display all sorts of information. At the top of the screen you see your course, and yes, if the program shows a you're going uphill you have to WORK. It keeps track of how far you've ridden a la little horse and squirt gun games at the carnival too... and believe it or not, you can actually DRAFT like you do on the road!  It's truly unbelievable stuff, and so hard too!  In just over an hour, I ended up burning over one thousand calories!  

Now don't get me wrong, I like spinning classes, but there's just something so much more satisfying about training on your own bike and having everything "just so" versus having to fiddle with spinning bikes since the fit is never 100% to your liking.  I really can't wait to go back, it was so much fun to see everyone's competitive streak come out to get their little dot to the end of the course first.

If you have a chance to check out Real Deal Performance at RPM in the Junction, please do!  You'll be glad you did.

Want to help conquer cancer in our lifetime? Click here to make a donation today!

Skratch Labs: Exercise Hydration Mix review!

First off, let me first acknowledge that I didn't get the video up this weekend... My camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger!  I'm going to be doing it with Lisa's help with my phone's camera instead.  Sorry guys!  With that in mind... Here's a review instead!  I'm determined to keep up a posting schedule!
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Being a cyclist that's almost 100% vegan, it's tough to find a decent way to hydrate and replenish during intensive spinning workouts and rides without having something that has animal products in. "Animal products?" You might ask? Indeedy! Taurine is an amino acid derived from animals... No thanks...but I promise that there will be no soapbox lectures here about all of that though... So let's move on.

For the last two years of my endurance cycling career I've been an avid user of Vega Sport products. I was fan of plant-based nutrition for before preparation, on the road, and for post-ride recovery. However, while they got me where I needed to go, powering me over 800km, the taste never sat well with me. I always felt bloated and I had an upset stomach more often than not... Not exactly what you want to be dealing with on an endurance ride of over 200km.

Enter Skratch Labs hydration mix.



After seeing an ad for them on YouTube I figured it was worth a shot to try their mix out. Flavoured with REAL fruit, is light on calories so it easily replaces electrolytes that you sweat out and it's vegan friendly? BAM! I'm on board.

Available in single serving pouches or in 454g "bulk" bags, it's available to try before you invest in a bag of the stuff.  It averages about twenty servings per bag, and I paid $24 at Dukes Cycle so it nets out to $1.20 per bottle... not too bad at all! It ends up being about twice as much as a bottle of Gatorade or Powerade or Powerthirst or whatever (roughly $0.50 per 500ml), however it's not nearly as harsh on your system!  The price is certainly worth having something naturally flavoured and doesn't taste like salty fruit punch.

So what do Lisa and I have to say about it you might wonder?

TASTE:
We love this stuff! Even though it has over 200mg of sodium in it, you really don't have that weird salty taste from other sports drinks... Since it's a powder mixed with water you don't need to keep shaking it along your ride to keep everything mixed up like you do with gels and other denser powders. Top it all off with the fact that it's flavoured with natural ingredients (plus a little bit of dextrose) rather than 15 syllable chemical compounds? I don't know about you guys, but we're sold.

EFFECTIVENESS:
This stuff works pretty much on par as other products to get you through your ride.. But Skratch will get you across the finish line feeling MUCH better. As mentioned in the video above, it's only 80 calories per bottle, so your body doesn't have to expend energy so it can get energy from what you're drinking. Makes sense right? Since the Ride to Conquer Cancer I've used Skratch products almost exclusively (except for when they run out of stock at the local bike shops), and I definitely notice the difference between mixes.

If you have the opportunity, get yourself some of this stuff and give it a shot!  You'll be happy that you did.

Want to donate to the cause of punching cancer in the face?
 

Welcome to 2014! Going for a RTCC hat trick!

I've really fallen down on my posting schedule eh? Arg... Life happens.  BUT THIS IS WHEN I MAKE MY COME BACK!

Starting now, I'm beginning a training schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Saturday (weekend).  This way I'll be able to post something after each of my training sessions and hopefully have something insightful to say.  You know, inspiring as well as informative!.. Well that's the idea anyway.  These posts might be a video blog, a brief break down of how fundraising or training is going, ideas about nutrition and more!

TOPIC #1: How do you train for the Ride to Conquer Cancer?

The first week of training, we established what's called the "Lactate Threshold Heart Rate." Which is:

The lactate threshold (LT) (or lactate inflection point (LIP) or anaerobic threshold (AT)) is the exercise intensity at which lactate (more specifically, lactic acid) starts to accumulate in the blood stream.

Essentially we cycled as hard as we could push for eight minutes straight twice. Every minute we'd record how fast our heartbeat was and average it out.. because science! My threshold averaged to a whopping 183 BPM. That means that my heart was beating just over three times A SECOND.   What this number allows us to do is train in "zones"... Each week, we pick various zones or percentages of that threshold and cycle faster/slower or harder/easier until we settle into that number..  Then we do that for TWO HOURS STRAIGHT.

STATS FOR NERDS

• Zone 2 (Basement) - 150 BPM
• Zone 2 (Ceiling) - 161 BPM
• Zone 3 (Basement) - 163 BPM
• Zone 3 (Ceiling) - 170 BPM
• Zone 4 - 170 and up
• Lactate Threshold average - 183 BPM
• Highest ever in spin class - 194 BPM (!!!)

TOPIC #2: Why the heck are you putting yourself through that?

Allow me to answer that question with three simple reasons...

1. To get your butt used to being on a bike seat for two hours or more at a stretch
2. To prepare your mind and body to cycle over 200 KM in two days and to bike up Hamilton mountain, which is a category 3 climb (Read: STEEP UPHILL)
3. To punch cancer in the flippin' face...  Really, that's the reason we're all here.

TOPIC #3: How the heck do you survive?

Thankfully, at this point I'm pretty used to cycling long distances and have amassed a pretty decent selection of cycling gear (perhaps a topic for a later date?).  But the most important factors in cycling in my mind are hydration and nutrition! Because really, if you're sweating like crazy and are burning a boatload of calories you'll only be able to do so much until you 'bonk' or just expend all of the energy you've got stored up!

I'll save those two topics for the next post which will be a video blog.  Watching is easier than reading you know?

Want to donate to this epic ride of epic epicness?

Remember, I can't do this without your help!

Talk to you soon guys, and don't worry not all posts will be this long!
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