Amazon.com Widgets
Subscribe by Email  |  Subscribe Subscribe
Because when you're out on the course, all that's there is your internal monolog

Archives for Factoids category

Wow… quite the.. um… interesting(?)… tarnished past (and present)…

Monsanto’s Dirty Dozen: The 12 Most Awful Products Made By Monsanto.

This week the City of Toronto is planning to aerial spray for gypsy moths.  Thought they say the spray is safe for humans, we’ve all heard that before.

Aerial sprays will begin on Thursday morning between 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. in seven Etobicoke areas including Humber Valley Golf Course, Valecrest Road and North Drive, Royal York Road and the Kingsway, Thorncrest Road, Herne Hill, Princess Margaret Boulevard, Kipling Avenue and The Kingsway and Edenbridge Drive.

The second spray will take place on Friday morning at Moore Park, Cherry Beach Park, Toronto Island Park and Tam O’Shanter Golf course.

http://globalnews.ca/news/576093/two-aerial-sprays-planned-to-combat-european-gypsy-moth/

Please spread the word and everyone train safe out there!

Nutrition During Intense Training | First Endurance

Nice article from FirstEndurance talking about fueling for intense training.

Nutrition During Intense Training | First Endurance.

Especially well timed as a small hoard of us are heading to Mont Tremblant for a 4 day training camp very very soon now 😉

(Yes, I’m getting excited about the spring training camp ;0 )

Let’s Get Physical: The Psychology of Effective Workout Music: Scientific American.

Another “we knew this” article, but cool reading it confirmed.

I’m Not Competitive …

… and if you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you and some prime real estate in Florida. 🙂

WTC just announced that they’re expanding the Age Group Ranking system that they were trailing in the EU in 2011 and 2012, to the rest of the world in 2013.

From the announcement:

You may race as much as you’d like in 2013, but only the top three (3) race performances are scored. You can improve your ranking by improving on your race performance. (For example, if you have a strong performance in one IRONMAN race and two good performances in IRONMAN 70.3 events, you may choose to race another IRONMAN 70.3, improve your finish time and improve your rank.

The AGR recognizes age group athletes in three different categories: IRONMAN, IRONMAN 70.3 and a combination of both race distances. The AGR is not connected to KPR (Kona Points Ranking) in any way.

The AGR allows IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 athletes the opportunity to see how their race performances compare to other competitors in their age group throughout the calendar year. Rankings will be updated weekly.

Originally from:  Rankings – IRONMAN.com.
One day I hope to see my name in those top AG listings… one day 🙂

The Importance of Carbohydrates and Glycogen for Athletes

The Importance of Carbohydrates and Glycogen for Athletes – Posts – TrainingPeaks Blog.

A good write-up on fueling.  The picture of bread accompaning the article threw me a bit, because obvisouly there are more nutrient rich and less inflamatory sources of carbs than bread and pasta (why is it when people think carbs they think “bread, pasta, rice, potatoes” and not “fruit and veggies” is a mystery to me – social conditioning I guess…)

Anyhow, article generally aligns with my belief that you can go low carb, fuel with fat, and be in ketosis and fat-adapted using ketones for energy, but you’re going to be missing the top-end that glycogenesis provides to muscles that are working hard and need fuel to burn through fast.  Restated: you may be good for a 6 hr bike ride at a leisurely pace, but pick up the pace and try to trash a few hills and you may end up thrashed at the side of the road 😛

Friction Facts

Over at friction-facts.com they do some pretty cool testing. Recently released were findings on dirty vs. clean and properly lubed chains.
5-6watts for dirt is nothing to sneeze at!

Checkout the report here: http://www.friction-facts.com/media/wysiwyg/Cross_Test.pdf

If you like it, consider buying their paid reports – some pretty cool info in them.

2012 Training Stats

Here are some of my training stats from 2012.

Running 1748.36 km
Cycling 7550.2 km
Swimming 312.85 km
Total 9611.4km

Events

  • Around The Bay (30k)
  • 2 Marathons (Toronto Waterfront and Scotiabank)
  • 1 Ultra (The North Face Endurance Challenge San Fran)
  • 2 70.3’s (Panama and New Orleans)
  • 1 Full Iron (Mont Tremblant)

Injuries

  • Shin-splints for IM70.3 Panama – yea this one really sucked
  • Shoulder strain from poor swim form – form fixed, shoulder too 🙂
  • Adductor Magnus strain from 50k mud run in San Fran – repairing 😉

All in all a pretty amazing year.  On tap for 2013?

  • Chilly 1/2 Marathon (C-Race)
  • Around The Bay (B-Race)
  • Toronto Waterfront and Scotiabank Marathons (C-Race)
  • Leadman Epic 125 in Tempe, AZ (A-Race)
  • Ironman Mont Tremblant (A-Race)
  • probably 1 or 2 sprint/oly distance Tri’s for shits’n’giggles (C-Race)

My training focus for 2013 divides the year into quarters, generally in the format of “speed, then endurance, then an A-Race event”.  Need to push to get faster in 2013. I know I can do the distances, now to just do them faster.  Looking forward to some BIG brick workouts leading up to the A-Races in 2013!

Happy New Year Everyone!

No evidence of EPO boosting performances, says peer-reviewed journal

Hrm.. Not sure I buy this 100%, but interesting.  Perhaps they’re just not testing the right indicators? Or maybe all the people who believed they benefited through the use of EPO were just operating under placebo effect?!

No evidence of EPO boosting performances, says peer-reviewed journal.

Wouldn’t it suck to be Lance if it were all just placebo!

For Athletes, Risks From Ibuprofen Use – NYTimes.com

I’m not a fan of poppin pills and generally avoid them as much as possible.  I figure that if I limit my use to when I’m really wrecked, they’ll have more impact.  If you, however, are a habitual user of Ibuprofen, then take a read of this.

For Athletes, Risks From Ibuprofen Use – NYTimes.com.