May 4, 2009, 10:11 pm We’ve been planning for a few weeks to take a week’s vacation, and our desire was to head to Bend, Oregon. However, the weather didn’t cooperate (cloudy and sprinkles) and the high country roads were still closed due to snow. So, we headed to southern Utah. That’s quite a difference in environments, but still the great outdoors.
We chose this week to be comfortably before Dan and Janet’s twins were due—we want to be available to offer some help to them when they are adjusting to two new babies at home.
It was a long drive to our motel in Hurricane (a few miles outside of St. George). We hit Las Vegas at dinner time, so I looked for a restaurant using my iPhone and found a Carino’s, one of our favorites. It was quite a ways off the freeway, and I imagine I took the slow way all on surface streets. After at least half and hour we arrived to find the restaurant permanently closed—out of business. What a waste of time.
We finally arrived at the motel around 9 pm, got settled in, and began to think about what to do tomorrow. We think we’ll bike ride into Zion Canyon.
April 21, 2009, 9:07 am As reported in the Science Daily News, former competitive cyclist and University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Robert Motl has investigated for a few years the effect caffeine has on athletes. In a recent study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, he shows that coffee (2 to 3 cups) before exercise decreases pain during the exercise.
There is a perception among athletes that consuming certain substances, like energy bars or sports drinks, before exercise helps metabolize fat more effectively. Motl’s study shows that it’s likely the caffeine in these substances that makes the exercise not hurt as much, so the athlete can push themselves harder. Sounds OK to me. I’m happy to drink a venti coffee before a bike ride—although I will have to make an extra pit stop as a result.
Apparently, more coffee after a hard bike ride is also beneficial. A paper in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that athletes who ingested caffeine with carbohydrate had 66% more glycogen in their muscles four hours after finishing intense, glycogen-depleting exercise, compared to when they consumed carbohydrate alone. Here’s their recipe to recover more quickly from exercise: Finish workout, eat pasta, and wash down with five or six cups of strong coffee. From Science Daily News.
April 20, 2009, 9:01 am According to Science Daily Journal, Ed Chambers et al. show that energy drinks (glucose or maltodextrin) can significantly boost performance in an endurance event, even if the drink is only rinsed in your mouth and not swallowed. Performance gains of 2 – 3% were measured.
Apparently, there is direct signaling from receptors in the mouth to the brain, reducing the athletes’ perception of their workload, and hence enables them to sustain a higher average output. “Much of the benefit from carbohydrate in sports drinks is provided by signalling directly from mouth to brain rather than providing energy for the working muscles,” explained Dr Chambers.
I wonder if just sucking on a peppermint hard candy would have the same effect? I suppose it’s possible since UC Davis did a study showing that sports formulated jelly beans (Jelly Bellys, of course) also increased performance. Maybe I’ll try some Jelly Bellys on my next long bike ride.
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Consider this:“This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23 |