Northwood Hike & Bike: One Year Anniversary Edition

Written by the Bobster

The title for this article was: Northwood Hike & Bike: One Year Anniversary Edition, it's been that long and I've got no excuses for why this article is delayed other than life got in the way with my old computer dying and just not being able to get things going again like they were. So although this is from an alternate address the sharpner address still works although a bit challenged (major overhaul). I feel a bit challenged...I'm almost positive I've have lost track of some email addresses, as it is these addresses were imported from Gayle's address book, so if you can think of someone that is not on the list above please forward this to them so they don't feel out of the loop. So sorry, no fancy graphics and hike and bike logos from this address, but we're still active. BTW if you don't want to receive this sort of athletic spouting all you gotta do is say the word and I'll 86 your address from the list.

Yes, we had our one year anniversary back in September with a big celebration at the Caulkins/Montagna Ranch in Vance lots of people, lots of fun, lots of plans for the upcoming year (more on the plans in a future email - yes, you gotta wait).

But, (there's always a big butt - but then that's why we're here - I know I need to downsize) lots has happened since we last communicated via email. I coming to understand the mysteries of the human brain. Sometimes we just need time for ideas to germinate and take root or develop further. Sorry, I'm meandering again.

Anyway, one of our own has had a terrible debilitating injury and we feel for you especially being part of such an active family.

Another one of our own has been to the beach and taken the road(s) less traveled. Most sensible people would hop in the car and drive down. Nope, not good enough, this person commanded a cast of thousands. What a magnetic personality! I hear God even answered her prayer for rain and a lightshow to accompany her travails. Many of us have trained hard without hardly noticing that this year is nearly gone. Some of us may have had some challenges getting things going or keeping things going. And some of us gave up because life got in the way. Races were done, triathlons were done, tours were done, walks were done, new workout centers were opened.

Whatever the case may be it's time to think of the future and how good it will be in the year to come.

"Bashana haba a" or "od tire, od tire kama tov yiye bashana bashana haba a!"

In the year to come, ... you will see, you will see how good it will be in the year to come. Loosely translated from a Hebrew text. (Yes, my kiddos are singing it so it's on my mind!:-)

"A time to rest, a time to..."

Recharge! The season's over, now what? What season? Whether you raced, got sidetracked or just trained your butt off. You took yourself, your body as far as you could in the time within the circumstances that you had to devote to training. So, now what?

Realize that one cannot maintain a level of training attained one season and carry it into the next without a couple of bad things happening such as injury (God forbid!), fatigue and burnout.

Athletes that work hard at their endeavor one week a month reduce the workout load to allow for rest and recuperation. The same is done at the end of the season. Except instead of one less week the athlete has one whole month at reduced workload (some coaches recommend 2 to 4 weeks of fun exercise or time off) from their normal endeavors.Even if you decide, "this is not for me," I have found that your body will get its rest in one way or another! I remember, when I was running like a big dog, but a less experienced athlete, trying to work through on my swimming or my running and inevitably my body would get its wish to have time off or time at a reduced level of effort. Either I would get hurt and have to take time off or I would not be able to train at the effort that I had intended because my body was not ready for it. One time burnout set in and mentally I was not able to complete the training I had intended.

There are reasons why your body needs this time. One, your immune system needs to rebuild as so do your muscles. Ever have the feeling of fresh legs or arms? Why? Because you had time off. Yes you may have lost some training effect by taking more than two days off, but you make up for lost training with the freshness and your ability to do more because you're fresh. Psychologically you also need a break. One cannot continue at a high level of stress 100% of the time. Remember, stress on one level in your life relieves stress in another. But, then high stress in the one level that is supposed to be relieving stress in another level will just tip the scale in the other direction. Balance is necessary. Rest, even our Father in heaven rested!

Some of you know how lost I was during the rest time! If you don't here goes. I've been following a prescribed program out of a book on triathlon. So, basically I just do whatever the book tells me I need to be doing. Makes it easy for me, just go out and do. But then came the time of active rest. Contradictory? I couldn't figure out what to do. The book gave very little detail as to what to do. It even said unstructured so if today I feel like a massage instead of going out and riding thirty miles that's fine. Or if Joe wants to kick my butt across the court at five sets of tennis then so be it. But in some things I'm type A, so I was pretty clueless what to do and ended up almost putting a goose egg in my cycling journal (BTW how's your journal looking - about this time I take a look at what I've done and what I need to fulfill my goal for the year and fine tune what I still need to do and go for it). One of my training goals for the year was to remain consistent in my training to lessen or do away with goose eggs for the year. Hard for me to do. Seven days without exercise makes one weak or is it one week!? Finally after looking for way too long and fretting over it, I read it some where. I need to be working at a lesser level, duh! I need to be working aerobically if that's a word. So I found some workouts that I can do that with without stressing the heck out of my body.

So now the period of active recovery or unstructured activity or fun activities is over. Even if your training wasn't the most consistent of the pack fret not. It could be that you've already had your four weeks off and now it's time to rebuild. When we rebuild we take out anaerobic workouts and emphasize strength and endurance done at an aerobic level. In English that means take out those workouts where you can't talk to save your life and work on those that you can talk through. Work on weight training and long training bouts during which you could carry on a conversation. This is not the time to zoom by, it is the time to slow down and enjoy your surroundings.

Let's talk a bit about strength training. The strength you're trying to lay your best solid foundation on is core strength. Your core encompasses your quads, glutes, your abdominals, torso and shoulders. This is where your endurance rests on at the end of a lengthy exercise bout. In the off season you want to increase strength by working with higher weight to increase power. In season you want to increase repetitions with lower weights to build endurance. This can also be achieved with other activities, yoga, work with an exercise ball, calisthenics, plyometrics, stairclimbing and free weights. Remember not to do too much too soon. No more than two strength training sessions per week. A hilly workout counts as a strength session. A training ride on the mountain bike counts as a training session. Weights start with just the weight bar, then build. Stairclimbing 15 stories high is the most you need and you take the elevator down or run down every third stairclimb after building up that far. Exercise balls are hard, don't underestimate the light plastic sphere. Plyometrics if done without proper warm-up and cool down can kick your butt in more ways than one. Research shows that plyometrics are better done after a 10 minute or 1 mile warm-up. Stretches should not be attacked without a warm-up.

A lot of what this article is about is periodization. Getting the mix or the balance right is imperative to build on the gains you have made this year. Cycling Plus' Joe Beer puts it this way in chart form with five columns or components: End of the season, fun exercise/time off, rebuild phase, start training at base level with less than 10% anaerobic focusing on technique rather than pace.

End of Season....Fun Exercise/time off..........Rebuild Phase...............Start/Base Phase

Sept....................Oct (2-4Weeks).....................Oct/Nov(2-4Wks).........Nov/Dec

Oct......................Nov(2-4Weeks).....................Nov/Dec(2-4Wks).........Dec/Jan

Nov.....................Dec(2-4Weeks)......................Dec/Jan(2-4Wks).........Jan/Feb


End of season Sept latest start = Mid Dec; End of season Oct latest start = Mid Jan; End of season Nov latest start = Mid Feb.

If you read this far, thanks! Get out there, click-in and stay fit!

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