Sunday 26 June 2011

Day271 \ Homemade Hypoxia.......

Right not long to go now infact 3 weeks today i will be pedaling round the Veneto in a state of exhaustion.... The pedalling has been a mix since i did the Granfondo Collieuganei and two weeks i managed to rattle out a big week of training although it probably has lost a bit of variety in my attempt to ramp up the Km's.

Last week i was off at summer camp by the beach and the roads were perfectly flat. Managed to rattle out 3 runs with the longest of 75km in 2hrs and 40mins. managed to average 90rpm and a speed of 28km/h the last 40mins was tough as it was straight into a headwind and my average speed dropped right off.


acute responses to hypoxia apparently.....

I have also started some hypoxic training, subjecting myself to between 15 and 30mins each evening. It's easy to build your own device only requiring some medical grade soda lime sponge and some yoghurt pots. You will also need a finger oximeter to measure your % saturated in you blood and hence estimate your altitude.

The benefits of Hypoxic training is essentially and improved capacity to deliver oxygen to the muscles. This can occur through several mechanisms.

  • Improved blood chemistry
  • Increases in Growth Hormone
  • Changes in size and number of mitochondria
  • alterations to enzyme activity
The protocol I'm using is pretty straight forward. General recommendations are to perform this type of training intermittently ie. 5mins on 5mins off , x6 however i'm going to perform the 30mins straight through using the following protocol.
  • 2 Days 15mins @ 90%
  • 2 Days 20mins @ 85%
  • 2 Days 25mins @ 80%
  • 8 Days 30mins @ 75%
I did a cycle before starting the programme and recorded the HR and will perform the same cycle after to see what changes have occured.

Thursday 2 June 2011

Day263\ Supplement Review.....

Right you will be able to see from my photo below nutrition selection for the Granfondo Colli Euganei. They were as follows


nutritional mix....

Bananas- Plenty of carbs and +K easy to eat plus you can throw away the wrapper. Down side was the wrapper seems to have stained my sweater!!!!

Optonia Cereal Bars - Easy to eat and no problems digesting, bit dry however and can't through away the wrapper although some naughty people do.



Optonia Hydra recovery - Sold as recovery drink with 10g of protein per 100g but retails for a third of the price of other hydration solutions with BCAA's. Easily drinkable and doesn't repeat certainly seems to enhance perception of fatigue after long cycles.

Optonia Gel - Totally rank far to sweet which isn't suprising as it is totally comprised of Corn Sugar which not to put to fine a point on it is poison.

Nutrition Addicts Raspberry Fruit Bars - Although these were a bit pricey they were great, 100% natural, moist and easy to chew while riding, winner.

The r-pro recupero i used the other day and it was fine, interestingly the ingredients says 0g protein but there are 4-5 BCAA listed?

However bigger news on the nutrition font is that the lovely people at BIKEFOOD have kindly provided us with support for the ride in July. ROCK ON, organic supplements can't wait.


Wednesday 1 June 2011

Day 262\ My 1st Granfondo

Right sunday i did it, my first Granfondo, well almost. I had decided to make a call on whether to do the medium course or the long course depending how i felt. I was pretty determined to do the full 144km and 1800m climbing. However the day provided a far greater service than just rattling up km's as it was fairly disastrous but a good learning experience.


What 800 cyclists look like...

Arrived late therefore no warmup. Ate too much and when combined with some anxiety the call of nature was more frequent than anticipated. Heart rate was elevate before the start and then went straight into a 4km climb and never settled for the duration.

Would of happily gone home at 20km just felt terrible and i'm pretty sure part of this was nutritional. Need to be more precise in timing and volume of carbs in the 3 days leading into the event and then during consuming fluids and food in particular more regularly. I reeached the first feeding station and my sides were aching like when i used to go out and do 2hrs without any food. However some bananas and a load of water later i did pick up. Filling my water bottle up with sugary peach tea also helped.

In summary lots to work on. Need to factor in trying to do a long run with race prep prior to Lapinarello.