Upside of Jackson's Death

The King of Pop's legacy might stretch beyond moonwalking, odd adult behavior, unintentionally choreographing the world's most popular film genre, and defining the modern meaning of prodigy. The premature death of one of the world's most iconic figures may finally challenge us to stop turning a blind eye to the abuse of prescription medications.

Since I harp on this subject regularly I’ll spare y’all my opinion and offer you the perspectives of a couple of famous MDs.

High on Fame: Michael Jackson and Enabling Doctors

The article was written by Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Drew Pinsky. Here's the tagline:

Being a celebrity does not change the simple fact that the user is a drug addict. And having an M.D. after your name does not change the fact that if you supply the addict you're still a drug pusher.

above and below: bollywood does michael jackson

Childsplay

I’ve been beaten down all week. Last weekend was long and work has been busy and somewhat frustrating, a combination that has made my training week rather dismal. Despite long days I’ve barely been outside. My one ride hurt my back and my only gym session was uninspired. Today I serendipitously got my motivation back.

Beata’s been wondering what’s happened to her training partner all week. Today, feeling guilty, I took her down the street so she could stretch her legs in the park. She seemed a little low on motivation herself so slipped out of my flips and did a barefoot lap around the park to get her going. The resulting sensation was shocking.

From the first stride, the sensation of bounding shoeless on the soft grass brought me back to being a kid. I don’t know when the last time I’d run barefoot was but the feel and smell brought on sensations of my youth. I’ve been training in barefoot-simulation running shoes but it’s not close to the same thing. After a couple hundred meters of striding slowly I felt like a different person. Another lap and B was beaming, knowing she had me back. I finally had to stop myself. Barefoot running is something you should approach slowly. And the last thing I need is another injury to deal with. But the switch had been turned on. We came home and started scheduling the next phase of training.

It’s funny how sometimes you lose perspective during a training program. I’ve been doing this stuff all my life. I know the drill because it’s happened before, many times. But I still manage to get overly focused during training programs; allowing myself to grow stale when all I need is a change of scenery.

The trick is in figuring out what kind of scenery change will work. From now on I'll consider the power of youth.

Sun, Sand, and Stars

This weekend I climbed 10 stars of sandstone (or maybe 9), and far too much of it in the sun. Our objective was to climb a couple of the best multi-pitch free climbs in the world. The result was good training. And that’s cool with me.

Mick and I decided to use the longest weekend of the year to attempt the Rainbow Wall. The plumb line up the north face of Red Rock’s most impressive formation has been called the best route in the world. Praise across the web could not have been higher. Comments included it being “the pinnacle of my climbing career, makes Cloud Tower and Levitation 29 (two very famous long free climbs) seem like warm-ups, most amazing route I’ve ever done,” and so on. We left Salt Lake’s unseasonably-wet spring and headed south towards a perfect weather forecast.

Passing Kolob Canyon I recited the tale of Sand, Sand, and Sand. My friends Kevin Thaw and Scott Cosgrove, fresh off ticking the hardest aid climbs on El Cap’s perfect granite, decided to put their stamp on Zion. Their experience on the soft sandstone was less than stellar. After 5 days of “sand in our hair, sand in our sleeping bags, sand in our food…” they bailed one pitch from the summit in disgust. They called their route, Sand, Sand, and Sand in a parody of what was supposed to be the ultra classic in the canyon, Wind, Sand, and Stars. I had no idea our weekend would have a similar result.

Saturday morning we headed to Snow Canyon to try The Richness of it All, a four pitch “5-star” route. This had also received comments such as “the best multi-pitch route I’ve ever done.” We figured it’d be a perfect warm-up for the Rainbow. After driving ‘til the wee hours, we’d woken up late but still had time to squeeze it in before the afternoon sun would turn the wall into a microwave.

The first two pitches were nice. The rock was a tad soft, and often hollow, but the protection was fine and the climbing excellent. After dispensing the crux we had two 5.11 pitches to the summit. The first followed “beautiful wind-sculpted features” according to the guide. This, I suppose, was true. However these features tended to be hollow so the climbing had to be delicate. Near the top of the pitch my luck ran out as the sculpted features were gone and all I was left with was a series of sandy holes. I fell a few times trying to figure it out, blowing my onsight, and with the sun coming didn’t have time to re-do it. I hoped Mick would have better luck but he didn’t. Despite its meager rating, we both felt this pitch in its current condition was much harder than the crux. Climbable, for sure, but on soft sandy rock that was less than inspiring.

We dispensed with the last “amazing” pitch just as the sun came around. It was pretty good, but not nearly as hard or great as advertised. Mick’s comment as we arrived back to the car was “that was disappointing. I wouldn’t do it again.” No worries. We had bigger fish to fry. Little did we know we were the ones about to be fried.

We drove south and by late afternoon were nestled in a small cave at the base of the Rainbow Wall. Our plan was to get up at first light, have a leisurely breakfast, and warm-up as we waiting for the wall to go into the shade. We had heard to expect this by around 9am.

The next morning it wasn’t too hot in the sun so we started climbing. 10 pitches later we were still waiting for shade. We’d been sandbagged by our beta, which told us it was impossible to see the Red Dihedral in the sun unless you slept on Over the Rainbow Ledge. But here we were, melting on the ledge below the route’s crux, and wondering what happened to the shade that should have been on us hours ago.

While we waited it came up that neither of us was particularly impressed with the quality of the climbing. It was okay. It has some good pitches, for sure. But it also had a lot of hollow sandy rock. It was a great line, had a great position overlooking Las Vegas, but pitch by pitch it wasn’t great climbing. It was also hot. Really hot. Maybe it was a better route when it “never sees the sun.”

Finally the shade hit and we were off. However, our feet, swollen by our black boot rubber’s contact with the rock, were killing us. Still, I was somewhat hopeful as I ascended towards the routes crux. At least until I saw the move.

Not being too flexible, stemming is not my favorite thing to do in climbing. This crux was an absolutely brutal stem move up an overhanging corner on miniscule footholds with nothing at all for the hands. Mick, a much better stemmer than I, seemed to have a better chance so I lowered and let him have a shot. No go. And not even close.

Now maybe we could have done this in proper conditions. It’s not my kind of move, so I can’t really say. But rubber loses strength in the heat and, with our feet in their current condition, power-stemming on the tiniest of rugosities was just not in our bag of tricks. Mick pulled through and climbed the rest of the pitch. I followed, not able to sort the move, even on top rope.

After our failure, we couldn't be bothered to do the final couple of pitches. We weren't here force our way to the summit but to free the route. Nature had beaten us, so down we went.

Except for our feet, and a little sunburn, we felt pretty good. We figured if we hurried down we could make the six hour drive home in time for a decent sleep. From the base of the wall, we made it back to our car in about 1:15, sore feet and all. Getting up had probably taken 1:45. The guidebook said to plan 4 to 8 hours for the approach, and one of the trip reports we found said to plan 6 to 10 hours. On the descent we talked about whether this info was a joke, and then whether maybe all of the hyperbole surrounding the Rainbow Wall was a joke. It’s a good route, for sure. But a far cry from the best we’ve been on. It wasn’t even our favorite route in Red Rocks.

My wife often makes fun of me because I do things for “training” that are objectives to most people. The routes I do are training. My rides and runs, no matter how long, are always just referred to as training. I spy a long line up a mountain and say, “look at that. It would be great training!” I guess I don’t care that much about ticking off what most call accomplishments. I like getting outside, testing my body, and feeling tired enough to earn my beer at the end of the day. Mick is similar, which is probably why we climb together. What started as an objective was now just training and that was fine by us. As we arrived at the car, Mick raised a lukewarm homebrew and made a toast, “good exercise weekend.”

pics, bottome to top: a peregrine on over the rainbow ledge who was making little noises that, we're sure, was laughter directed at us; mick, a tad sweaty, and happy to see shade on the way 'if only it'd move a little quicker'; me on the first pitch. devious climbing, exacerbated by warmth; view of vegas from our bivy; mick enjoys a mug of wine in our cave; mick dealing with what once were, apparently, beautiful, sculpted features; me on the "crux" of the richness of it all; even hemlock's broiled steak couldn't save our day. now maybe if we had some wild turkey on the rocks to wash it down..."

What's In That Stuff?

My status as a human lab rat means that I must indulge in all of life’s various avenues, whether healthy or unhealthy. Last night’s little foray into the lower depths seemed innocuous. My wife sandbagged me with some new weird flavor of M&Ms. Both last night and this morning I felt awful. I’m very healthy most of the time but I also experiment with virtually any diet or training program that comes across my desk. In the name of science I drink, smoke, exercise for hours without food and sometimes water, and have been injured so many times from testing the limits of a training regimen I can’t begin to count. I’m a human test tube. But not much affects me as negatively as good old American junk food. What is in that stuff?

This will be turned into a more scientific article or series. Today I just wanted to cite some anecdotal observations. I think the last time I felt as bad as I did last night was when Ben and I ate a bunch of Halloween candy. The problem here isn’t sugar. I eat sugar all the time. It’s usually in a sports concoction of some kind but I also indulge in desserts and nice restaurants and, occasionally, eat a little chocolate or Nutella. But there is something different about standard candy that you find on any convenience store rack. Every time I indulge I feel awful, even if it’s for sporting purposes.

Last fall, after a long ride (hours longer than I was planning) with no food I was sugar crashing. I pulled into a Circle K and went for some candy items on sale. I don’t remember what they were, exactly (Twix and Reece’s come to mind) but eating a few hundred calories of this crap didn’t provide the same type of glycogen recharge as, say, Recovery Formula or a bunch of Hammer Gel would have. In fact, I don’t think it gave me a recharge at all. I went from feeling famished to feeling sick.

If you read the labels of these foods, as well as much of what you can get in fast food restaurant chains, it may not look too bad. The macro-nutrient profiles can look similar to healthy foods. A Snickers bar, at first glance, looks somewhat balanced. It’s under ingredients where things get fuzzy. Here we have an assortment of stuff you can’t pronounce, and most of it is some type of food processing by-product that we’ve found a way to add into our foods that has received very little scrutiny and testing.

One side of this argument is that the food scientists are trying to use Eskimo-like efficiency. The difference is that we were probably meant to consume every part of a whale but our creator never ran the calculations on the effects of genetically modified corn. Those scientists are using us as lab rats and, unlike me, most of you are being used unwittingly.

I once ran some experiments on food combined with long bouts of drinking. Those of you who went to college—especially those who participated in the Greek system—are fairly well-versed in late night eating. The entire chain of Jack-in-the-Box wouldn’t exist without this demographic. My experiments including getting schlossed and fueling to the best of my ability, not eating anything, or hitting the post-tavern fast food establishments. On all counts, I fared far worse when I ate junk food.

These experiments could be quite extreme. Drinking seven martinis, chased by only water, yielded a much lighter hangover than seven (or six or five or four) martinis chased by fast food. (Btw, using proper nutritional strategies, such as hydrating with an electrolyte replenisher (Recovery Formula fits this profile), could lead to virtually no hangover.) I then tried the late-night eating without the drinking. What do you think happened? The result was a bad night of sleep and a hangover.

These are just a few examples. I’ve got a life full. The weird thing is all of this is that eating after drinking doesn’t necessarily end badly. Eating normal—but not necessarily healthy food—at home, like cereal, some good cheese (unprocessed) and crackers, a sandwich, etc could have a positive effect. But eating fast food, whether it was from Jack-in-the-Box, 7 Eleven, Winchell’s or whatever, always led to worse results. What, in God’s name, is in that stuff?

Viva la France!

Back to now-not-so-recent trip, here is Romney's account of France. Tres magnifique!

Assault of Western Europe, Part IV: The French Revolution

It's a long report, with heaps of pics. Enjoy!

In spite of their reputation for rudeness, I've always enjoyed the French people and their county. Very much so. This trip was being hosted by Americans. Namely, my friends Bruce and Alisa, whom I knew from my climbing days and, also, from hangin' out at the art studio they opened just down the street from where I lived in LA. Like me, they were climbers turned cyclists. Like me, the loved the French lifestyle.

Bruce and Alisa were on taking a year off work and living in France. Actually, they still are. They have a blog that's worth checking out, if just to make you jealous:

Our Juicy Life

After a few years of riding and racing I began climbing again. This hadn't yet happened with Bruce or Alisa and it just seemed wrong given there were living amongst some of the most beautiful limestone walls in the world. One of the coolest things we did was to get Bruce back on a rope. He was a super strong climber, as well as a climbing instructor, back in the day. It was fun watching him, not only get psyched himself, but how his instructor-ness came back also. I think he taught Lisa more in a couple of days out than I have in a year.
bruce, attempting a F7b on his second climbing day in a decade. rad.
Actually, everything we did was super cool. The trip was amazing. It's always hard to leave Europe and this time was no different. It was probably harder than ever. On our last days we were looking at bed and breakfasts. I hope they buy one because I can't wait to go back.
our hosts and les artists at the incredible museum of the absurd.

Best Urban Ride in the US

Yesterday I used our still-spring-like conditions to put the finishing touches on Ronde van Salt Lake City. It’s got to be the best urban ride in the US. Seriously. Okay, so I always say that everything I'm currently doing is the best thing ever. But... seriously. I’m going to organize a group ride in the coming month or so and add coordinates on the web. Everyone should do it. No, really, seriously.

It’s called the Ronde because it’s my version of the Tour of Flanders (or Ronde van Vlaanderen). To mimic the ride (race course that’s marked for the public who ride it regularly), I tried to include all of the elements that make that course so amazing. This includes:

Great scenery
Very few traffic stops
Small winding roads with character
Lots of famous landmarks en route
Great places to eat en route
All of the famous “bergs” in an area (short steep climbs)
Sections of cobblestones
slc pave

It took me a while, and a fair amount of exploring, to concoct this. But there are very few sections of the entire ride when I’m not looking around and thinking about how cool it is. It’s hard, but not impossible for a weekend warrior. And it’s laid out in a way where those wanting to abridge the challenge can skip hard climbs or sections of “SLC pave”.

I’ll post the exact course later, along with a date for a group ride (which will be a Sunday in the next 6 weeks or so). For now, here is the general scope.

Probably 75 miles.
16 bergs, the longest of which is less than two miles and many are very short.
10 sections of SLC pave, the longest of which is less than two miles and many are very short.
20 or so bridge crossings, most of which are short (over the Jordan River), but all are made of “wooden cobbles”.

It passes by many of SLC’s famous landmarks, including great views of every canyon from City Creek to Little Cottonwood, a bunch of mtn bike and hiking trailheads, a few climbing areas, The Jordan River Parkway and most of its parks, most affluent neighborhoods, the hip neighborhoods, the burbs, the hood, downtown, every major sports venue, the U of U, a quarry (you have to ride through a quarry for full Utah experience), and, of course, the crazy downtown LDS complex.

atypical views for an urban ride

The first 40 miles or so are mainly flat, at which point you’re only about 15 miles from where we’ll start. This makes it a pretty doable ride for most people. Over the next 40 or so you hit most of the climbs and all of the pave. It’s brutal. Over the last 20 or so miles it’s almost never flat. If it were a race, any attack here could succeed as there’s never a point where a group would have a huge advantage for long. During this last section there is only one stop light to deal with, and probably only 20 or so over the entire ride.
cobble sector 8

I picked some of the steepest roads in town, including Zane, K Street, and I Street, but the climbs were chosen more for aesthetics then pure difficulty. One of the coolest climbs winds steeply through a cemetery, another is closed to cars, covered by trees and next to a river. Many crest the benches and offer incredible views. On almost every climb and every cobble section asked myself “how could this be any better?”

It could be better. It could have real cobbles. It could have Belgian food. But they don’t have our scenery, so it stacks up. Because this course doesn’t go into the mountains it’ll be best as a spring ride. Fall will probably come with too much puncture potential (stickers and such). Summer, when I’m doing it this year, can be brutally hot. So this modern classic will officially begin next spring, though I’m giving it a test run soon. And everyone should come. Seriously.
section of single track that's better on a road bike than a hippie bike. seriously.

Work

I made a little video of the type of things that go into a first ascent. Generally you do all of your cleaning hanging from a rope. This presents its own set of challenges but at least you don’t have to dig stuff out of the ground.

The work you do on first ascents can be grueling. We generally never climb on work days because we're completely exhausted. In fact, we used to schedule work phases into our training. Nothing burns calories like building new lines on an overhanging wall. It’s like combining aerialist training with construction work. It can also be a little dangerous as you’re often wielding heavy machinery. We used to lament that we should be paid for public service. Climbing activists generally have little in the way of funds but spend countless hours doing what is considered highly skilled labor for free.

My friend Micah was in town this week so it became a transitional block as I showed him around the local crags. This worked out well as my tendonitis has really calmed down. I think I’m ready for the next phase of hard training. This I’m going to need. Badly. The above little work session added about 10 reasonably hard moves to my project. And it’s not like it wasn’t going to push my boundaries already.

Open Discussion on Health Care

At dinner last night with my wife and one of her co-workers we were discussing the declining state of health in our society. There is no longer any question that most of this is due to poor health habits. We eat bad food, we eat too much of it, and we don’t exercise enough. The result is that type 2 diabetes and other related lifestyle-induced diseases are the fastest growing illnesses in the world.

I’m in favor of a national health care system of some sort. Dave’s main problem with this is covering people who don’t bother to try and keep themselves healthy. On this point, I concur, but I pointed out that we do this now. While we don’t have an actual health care plan we do have a national system. In this system anyone can use an emergency room. So now our ERs are filled with people who have minor ailments, which interfere with those who need emergency treatment.

While the above paragraph somewhat summarized to talking point of the left and right on health care, the actually issue lies elsewhere. The solution is health practice. As a nation we could easily afford to take care of those who are sick and injuries if we could get rid of the problems associated with poor eating habits and lack of exercise. We’ve done it in the past, with both alcohol and tobacco, when we realized the national impact it was having. It’s high time we begin doing the same thing with other lifestyle behaviors that are costing society.

I’m not going to cite any numbers or details yet. These are just my opening thoughts. I’d like to start formulating a plan. If we can formulate a compelling argument we can use to three or so million of us associated with Beachbody to make ourselves heard on a national level.

Part I of the plan: Food labeling

We need to make the next step in food labeling. Our current macro-nutrient profiles can hide how our foods are often devoid of phytonutrients. What we need is to have every packaged food to be given a grade by the FDA: A – F.

Then, like using Michi’s Ladder, you’d be encouraged to eat higher grade foods. Of course we’d have corporate lobbying and disputed grades but, for the most part, good foods would still be obvious. For example, maybe a good potato chip would get a C while a bad one got an F, but no potato chip could ever get better than a C because no matter how you look at it these have no place in your diet other than as an indulgence. Ditto for ice cream and most desserts. All fruits and veggies would be A or B. No sense splitting hairs here. We’ll want to do this as consumers but veggies from nutrient depleted soil are still better than the best French fry.

Next, the government only allows food stamps to pay for A and B grade foods. If we don’t allow them to be used for beer and smokes, how can we allow them to be used for Coke and Cheetoes, which are arguably worse for you? There is no way a person on assisted living should be able to be obese. Yet this demographic is now highly obese and putting a huge strain on our health care system because of it.

The insidious reason why is because their diets are mainly made up of cheap processed food. There is no logic to why processed foods should be cheaper than those that take no processing until you understand how large scale food companies operate. Most “convenient foods” are made up of many bi-products from corn and soy production. These ingredients, such as high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, etc, etc, should be waste products but we’ve clever found ways to not only use them in our foods, but make entire foods out of them. Oh, the wonders of what chemical flavoring agents can do with what is essentially trash.

Most of this doesn’t have much nutrient merit so we fortify with just enough cheap vitamins and stuff to label it food. Obviously, this gook will be lacking some of nature’s subtleties but, hey, if it’s crunchy, tasty, and fills us up who’s to question it? Maybe the FDA can step in here and do some good.

We may be eliminating health class in school, or having our nutrition taught to us by the soda companies, but it’s not going to take an educated person to understand that if their cupboards are filled with D and F labeled foods that they probably could eat a little better. I think this one step would end up saving our country billions of dollars in health care costs. And it’s just step one. Next time I’ll present my exercise ideas.

Monkey Feet

Since I'm not doing any reviews on my own yet, here's a link to something that looks pretty cool:

Vibram Five Finger Shoes

I'm intrigued enough to give these a look. A lot of this barefoot simulation that's a new trend in footwear definitely has some merit. I've been using Nike Free's and Newton running shoes since December. Since I've been injured I haven't given them what I feel is a proper test. But will do soon enough. So this is part one of the barefoot trend in footwear.

Hell Of The North

For part III of our European adventure, as well as a much higher quality version of this video, head over to Romney's Blog:

Assault on Western Europe: Part III: The Hell of the North

If you like cycling, you've probably read many accounts of Paris-Roubaix. But you probably haven't read a tourist's account of the race, which Lisa has summed up with her usual style.

Back in the states, I'm still exploring roads, bike paths, steep streets, and other more eccentric places to ride your bike for my upcoming Ronde van Salt Lake City. Took Trent our for some exploration yesterday where we got a couple of "I've never seen a road bike out here" comments. Trent says the ride is going to be stellar. I concur.

Getting Worse To Get Better

Finished my virtual Giro yesterday near the back of the pack. I’d say it was expected but think my lack of winter conditioning made it even worse than expected. I’m tired, of course, but also a weaker climber than when it began.

Training doesn’t yield improvements all the time. Sometimes you’ve got to lose fitness in one area in order to gain fitness overall. This month’s concentration on base conditioning and volume has reduced my absolute strength. It’s frustrating, but necessary. For one, my overall goals include long hard days and require a strong aerobic system. Also, my focus on climbing exclusively had resulted in a tendonitis flare-up, which also needed (and needs) to be addressed.

At the beginning of the virtual Giro I’d hoped to be able to have long climbing days. I had one, but as my tendon issue wasn’t getting better I needed to axe these, as well as the pull-ups, in order to focus on rehab. I did manage about 10 times as much riding and running as I’d done all year. I’m still pathetic in both of those areas, compared to where I’ve been the last decade or so, but starting to come around.

Dr. Fred Hatfield said, “Power and endurance, ne’er the twain shall meet.” My ultimate goals require both, so I want him to be wrong. But he’s right in that you can’t train both simultaneously. At least not effectively. So for phase two of my 90-day program I’ll be heading back into the gym to regain my climbing strength, while maintaining the aerobic gains I made in May, which will actually improve these areas because as I recover I’ll get stronger. And my virtual Giro beatdown has the old body screaming for recovery.

pic: I live in a beautiful place. Here's the view from part of my latest concoction, The Tour of Salt Lake, an urban ride that mimicks the Tour of Flanders. With 16 of SLC's steepest bergs, lots of miles, dirt, and SLC pave, this, too, will require improvements in both power and endurance.

Cola Causing Problems

For your weekend enjoyment, here's something I posted over on The Real Fitness Nerd.

I shortened to title of the latest study to blast our soft drink habit to make more colloquial sense. A Greek study showed that people who drank between two and nine liters of cola could suffer muscle problems, from minor weakness to serious paralysis. Yet more bad news surrounding the world's number one source of calories.

Too Much Cola Can Cause Muscle Problems

Really, people were having issues from drinking on two to nine liters a day? Shocking. And y'all thought Denis was exaggerating about how much Red Bull Americans drink.

The two examples used in the article drank three and seven liters of soda a day and suffered from muscular weakness, as well as appetite reduction, heart blockage, and persistant vomiting. Both were female.

Well I'm no Greek scientist but it doesn't take a PhD to figure out one of these women was drinking more than 100% her RDA for caloric intake from cola. And, gosh, she didn't feel good on a diet with a primary component is all sugar, with zero proteins and fats?! Go figure.

What this study concludes, more than anything else, is that people can withstand a massive amount of torture. It's really a testament to the human body that it can survive for so long while being poisoned daily.

Riding Cobbles

Cobbles

(click on photo for a slideshow)

Travels with Romney, Part II, is recorded here:

The Battle of Belgium

When I heard my friends Bruce and Alisa were spending a year in southern France and had a house with plenty of room for visitors, the only choice became which bike race to visit during. Like me, they’re both climbers turned cyclists, and there was no question that our holiday had to be during a race. Having been to Le Tour, the next choices were the spring classics or the Giro. Given Bruce was a cobble crazy as I was, we set our dates to include Paris-Roubaix, better known as the Hell of the North.

The trip had originally been set up to include loads of training as my final prep for the National Championships at the end of April. Post injury, the schedule changed to include loads of eating and a recreational climbing & riding schedule to build up our appetite. But back injury or no, if I was in Belgium, I was going to have a go at some cobbles.

Riding in Belgium, well, specifically Flanders, is amazing. Everything is set up around bikes. There are cafes, museums, bike shops (that are a lot like museums), and bike routes everywhere you go. All of them include stretches of famous bike races that take place on tiny rural roads. And almost all of them include cobbles. We had our choice of a stack of different classic routes, each marked by an artistic colored plaque. We began on the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) but once we’d had a taste of cobbles, we amended it to include the steepest and most famous sectors we could get to the quickest.

On the longest sector of the day, we were passed by a guy hammering in his big ring. Bruce and I were quickly on him, my own curiosity being how it would feel to ride these things at race pace (the girls were having none of such nonsense). I was worried about my back, but after a kilometer of rattling along my vision was blurred, my head numb, and my hands, arms, and shoulders felt like I’d been going full bore with a jackhammer, so much so that I couldn’t be bothered to think about the back at all. Paris-Roubaix includes over 100k of cobbles. We’d just raced one. The horror of that race is so acute that I absolutely must come back and try the amateur version of it sometime.

The Koppenberg was, by far, the hardest climb we did. It’s not even 500 meters but the cobbles are uneven, wet (I’m sure they never dry in Belgium), and hit an angle of 20%. I quickly realized why there were so many pics of pro racers walking up these inclines. It wasn’t that they couldn’t ride them. It’s just that they’re so steep and rutted that anything causing you to lose you line or change cadence might force you off your bike. And in a pack these things are constant. And once off your bike you can’t remount, so you’re best off to just run to the top and get back on. You’re not riding that fast anyway.

Well, at least not on the Koppenberg. For our next ride we scanning the distances and grades of the cobbled climbs and choose the Muur de Geraldsberg as one that looked the fiercest. Cobbles for 1.3K that hit 19% promised to be horrible, so we tooled around at a pedestrian pace for most of our ride so we wouldn’t burn out all those fast twitch fibers we’d need to ride all the way to the Muur’s famous summit church.

Turns out that cobbles aren’t created equal. Those on the Muur are smaller and closer together. Not only could we ride it but we could hard. On a subsequent ascent, in my big ring, I could hardly imagine how fast Divolder must have been going on these narrow roads to drop everyone, as he had done a week prior en route to winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Food and beer are at least as important in Belgium as riding. And, of course, there’s a pub at the top of the Muur. We recovered with Frittes and “the world’s best beer” (according to our waiter), and contemplated if Heaven was just a bit like Belgium.

Amore di Giro!

The Giro is featuring some exciting and brutal racing. It may not be a traditional grand tour this year but I'm in total agreement with this perspective.

Amore di Giro

The virtually Giro has turned more into a prep phase, but given it's the first block of the 90-Day Challenge, that's what it's really supposed to be. The pull-ups and all the climbing had aggrevated my elbow, so I'm in full and agressive rehab mode and I'll post that program if it works.

Yesterday it rained, postponing climbing plans and giving me a serendipitous rest day. Well, not rest exactly. It is the virtual Giro, meaning that I needed some aerobic training. So besides my rehab and core work, B and I went out to explore some new trails in the mud/rain. Good stuff.

Travels With Romney: England

Since my blog is all about fitness n’ stuff, I’ll leave it to my wife’s wit to recount our recent excursions. Here is part I of her journal on England.

Assault on Western Europe, Part I – Conquering the Empire

I’ll add a little fitness background on our Albion hosts, Todd and my brother.

In the early days of Beachbody, Brian was one of my earliest test subjects. When we were designing X, we were putting our graduate members through about any combination of exercise and diet as they would stand (which was a lot, I might add). We experimented with amalgams of all of Beachbody’s products to that time, which led to some grueling training schedules. One of the craziest of the bunch was called “Cindy and Pixie’s Really Hard Program”. This became rather absurd in the latter rounds, with a schedule that made P90X look like a warm-up. Of note, the only two people not to finally drop off the pace were Brian and one other girl, who were the only two of the group using creatine daily—a nice bit of anecdotal support for that supplement.

Todd has been my partner on many an adventure, including the making of Icarus Descending. On a fitness note, he’s rather well known for his birthday challenges. They include all sorts of bizarre feats of strength, such as locking off at the top of a two-finger one-arm pull-up and drinking a beer(pic), following probably the hardest bouldering circuit ever done at Devil’s Lake with a 32-mile run that stopped at 16 bars, where a shot of whiskey was consumed at each, and doing 716 pull-ups in an hour.

The Beauty of Being Sore

I’m sore a lot, and I’m getting to like it. When I’m sore I know it’s because I’m training. And while it’s always possible to not be sore, it’s the only true indication that you’ve pushed your boundaries. Not being sore leaves questions about whether you’re training hard enough. Soreness leaves no questions.

The virtual Giro is workin’ its magic. Increased time both in the saddle and running has me in a state of breakdown similar to last year’s X off the couch cycle. This extra work has allowed me to tone down my climbing training to allow my elbow to heal. Pushing on the tender tendon now induces only a dull pain. Another hard cycle is right around the corner.

The latest bout of soreness was induced on Sat morning from this:

Grandeur Fun Run

Having barely started running again it promised to double my longest run and add, oh, about 7,000’ more feet of elevation change. I probably shouldn’t have done it but it’s such an aesthetic loop, and practically in my backyard, that I just couldn’t resist.

To offset my penchant for competition, I left late as to avoid any temptation. I must say, seeing a horde of runners stampeding (hmm, more like crawling or slithering, as there’s hardly a step of runable terrain) up the west face of Grandeur Peak was pretty cool.

Beata and I joined in 20 or 30 minutes later and kept a steady and conversational pace throughout. It was also B’s first long run of the year and she was pretty cooked by the end, but happy to get some training in to defend her title at the Doggie Du. The morning was stellar and I finished with a couple of blisters but barely feeling winded. Seeing Mick’s time (like 3rd overall) made me exceptionally happy not to have started with everyone. He’s one of my main training partners and trying to keep up could have put some serious hurt on. I like to think I would have been restrained, but glad I didn’t put my patience to the test.

As it was, I’m still hobbling around and will be on the bike for a few days. But it was a perfect test run. My back feels great, so do my knees, and my elbow. Definitely, I seem to be on the road back.

pic: "you know, some people wouldn't think this was fun." b looking like a lizard slithering up a very steep game trail.

Out Of The Pack; Not The Race

Like the Texan tailing off in the Dolomites, I’ve dropped the pull-ups from my challenge. I have a twinge in my elbow and, though I’m rattling off pull-ups pretty easily, doing 100 or so a day is making it worse, not better. Like Lance, this virtual Giro’s aim it to train for other objectives. Anything that’s breaking me down to the point that there is no long term benefit is being axed. Training can only be called training if it succeeds in making you better.

Other than that, the challenge is going well. The daily biking/running has me pretty sore. I’m going to swap rehab work for pull-up work since my back still isn’t 100%, nor is my elbow, and running/riding has one of my knees feeling slightly tweaked. I have one “big” climbing day, so far, where I did my traverses into all of the existing routes in Deaf Smith (and even found a new project that should be dispensed with soon). But, like the Giro, there are bigger days ahead.

vid: romney calls this guy “mozart on a bike”. inspiring, even if, like me, you'll never aspire to anything remotely like it.

5 Rides in Less Than 2 Days

Normally my time in the office is spent working long hours where I’m barely able to squeeze in a few sets of pull-ups. With the 90-Day Challenge in full swing, this trip has been a little different. The gym is being used non-stop, the junk is gone from the kitchen, and everyone is walking around drinking Shakeology.

On a previous trip, I’d made a bike swap with a friend which resulted in getting my old race bike back. He needed a cross bike, and I needed something to leave in LA to commute and train on, so it made sense. Especially since this bike and I have a so many memories together. It was good to see her but, last trip, I never found the time to give ‘er a spin. This trip I had a schedule to keep, so I knew I’d get some saddle time, but I had no idea what was in store.

After a long day filming for TBB, I got to Jon’s house with just enough time to dust her off, inflate the tires, and sample the local—very hilly—neighborhoods for an hour or so. It felt great to ride this bike again. The aluminum frame is harsh, but responsive, and the Open Pro wheels buffer a lot of the road chatter. Mainly, it was nostalgic to be back on the bike I’d begun racing on.

The next morning, after a core/pull-up workout in Jon’s garage, we were back together riding on the terrain the used to make up my team’s morning workouts. A swing by the old coffee house led me through Tony Horton’s neighborhood, then through a commute that was very much like the one I did to the office way back when our only product was Power 90.

Lunch hour arrived and I met Carl, Andrew, and Brian for an “easy” spin down to the beach, or so I thought. But Carl had other ideas and we headed towards the beach “hoping to beat my best time”. This resulted in a 55 minute time trial the left my legs feeling like concrete all afternoon.

The commute home wasn’t hard enough, I guess, as I opted for some hills just to check out new routes for subsequent visits. The hills I remembered being “easy” were feeling mighty grim and I was cramping by the time I arrived back at Jon’s, just as he was finishing his evening workout.

In the morning I was stiff and sore but headed out nonetheless. My Giro simulation for their final climb was Palisades Drive, which I never remembered as being so steep. It seemed like the last couple of miles would never end. But the views at the top were revitalizing, and on the ride home I barely noticed the little 20% berg getting up to Jon’s.

I think 5 rides in under 36 hours is a record for me, and it’s certainly the most fitness-oriented work trip I’ve had. I think we might have to turn this 90 day adventure into a standard day at the office.

pic: just like old times, looking out over the santa monicas.

Day 1

High Road upset Garmin by a scant 6 seconds today, putting the 23-year-old Mark Cavendish (England) into the pink jersey. Cav is undoubtedly the best sprinter in the world and will hold the jersey til the race hits the Dolomites in a few days. Twenty-three! Jesus! It's impossible to say what's in store for someone who's already at the pinnacle at an age where most pros are still aiming for U23 palmares.

Unfortunately, my man Z didn't grab the jersey but it wasn't due to lack of style (see pic). But just wait. I think he's become more of an all around rider than people realize. We'll see, but I'm expecting a GC result from the up-until-now time trial specialist (and Utah resident) (and cult movie aficionado)(and all-around odd dude) (don't believe me just follow him on Twitter).

My Giro simulator began on the eve of the event with my longest and hardest run since my injury, a foray up some weird game trail onto a beautiful ridge crest above town. Fell asleep with an aching knee and wondering about getting through even day 1 of my challenge.

Woke up feeling awful. A handful of pull-ups and leg raises warmed me up for a dismal time trial up Mill Creek. But, hey, it was one minute faster than last year's pre-Giro TT and my knee didn't hurt. Plus it was an absolutely stunning day.

An amazing opera via Met HD broadcast (Elina Garanca is off-the-hook--we'd just seen her with Anna Netbrebko in London, but that's another story[shouldn't there be an acronym for this? BTAS]) had me rested for a trip with Mick up to Deaf Smith, where I traversed into all existing routes and sent them all except for one where I broke a key hold and, voila, have a cool new project.

Finished with a fantasticly beautiful dinner that's still on the Bob diet, along with a most civilized addition of wine.

Tomorrow, big day in AF planned. Life is good.

Virtual Giro

Ah, the most beautiful of all bike races begins tomorrow, along with the next phase of my training program. I love the Giro, and think I post something stating this every year, but this year it’s more accessible due to the participation of one Texan.

In fact, something like 12 Americans are lining up for the start and one, Levi Leipheimer, is among the favorites. My money would go on Italian Ivan Basso, but I looking for a surprising ride from the Z-Man, too. In fact, to see him in pink tomorrow night would be less than shocking. You can follow the race at all the usual media outlets but, mainly, check out Universal Sports will be broadcasting every kilometer on both the net and TV!

Universal Sports Giro Coverage

So now I need to announce my virtual Giro, which isn’t going to be in the same scope as last years, at least I don't think. I have two long work trips that are going to make this challenging. But it’s supposed to be challenging, right?

Since riding isn’t my focus it’s going to look a little strange on paper. The goals of the next three weeks are:

Build climbing strength

Build cycling and running base

Increase flexibility

But in mimicking the Giro I also need to commit to something that follows the day in, day out, intensity of racing. I can’t follow their schedule exactly, but here’s what I plan to do.

Base Training

Train aerobically (running or riding) 20 out of 22 days

Do 10% of their kilometers

Time trial on TT days to gauge progress

Flexibility Training

Stretch post workout on 20 or 22 days

Strength Training

Do pull-ups and core training on 20 or 22 days, completing 2000 pull-ups and 2000 core movements (no crunches or anything wimpy)

For the six mountain top finishes, complete six big climbing days (I haven’t had one yet this year). A big day consists of at least 100 boulder problems, 30 easy routes, 20 moderate routes, or 10 hard routes, or something grade IV or above.

I’ll admit, this isn’t my most aesthetic virtual grand tour. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be challenging.

Food For Thought

I have another post up over at

The Fitness Nerd

Since it's a news site, and I've been asked to contribute, from now on I'll make my news postings there and keep this site more personal. I promise all my postings over there won't be so snide. I just couldn't resist blasting the "brain food" article in question a little bit.

In my world, the Bob Diet is settling in and I'm getting used to it. But now Bob tells me he strayed a bit from being only akaline to low fat. So he ate some meat so he could cut down on the fattier not-so-acidic items, like nuts and avocados. So I may push this, slightly abridged, into a second, and maybe a third, week.

Virtual Giro gets announced tomorrow. Still not sure what it is but it's going to be really hard. For anyone planning to join me (Reed?), it'll probably be to train a percentage of time the lads are racing that ramps up each week. So clear some room on the final week of the race.

When Not To Bring It

There are times when you shouldn’t train. Most programs and trainers tell you what to do and when to do it, but we’re all different. And human. And therefore subject to the laws of physiology. “No pain, no gain” aside, there are times when the smart move is to skip your scheduled workout. Yesterday, for me, was one of those days.

Most recreational athletes I know spend their lives in a perpetually overtained state. This is due to two things. First, we tend to think we’re copping out when we slack on our schedule. Second, we tend to be manic to the point that we need to train or our lives feel out of balance.

To train effectively, both of these tendencies need to be overcome. There are countless examples of athletes (recreational and pro) who have reduced the amount of time they spend training and improved their performance. Just yesterday, in fact, I read an interview with professional climber Yuji Hirayama, who just climbed his hardest route at age 40. He said that he doesn’t have as much time to train and climb as he used to and the result is that he’s getting stronger, and climbing harder, than ever.

The best example of this I’ve seen came from Tony Yaniro back in the early 90s. Climbers back then, myself included, tended to train like headless chickens (as well as not eat, but that’s another story), resulting in massive plateaus if we were lucky and injuries when we weren’t. Yaniro—who had a few world-standard ascents in his day—published a workout plan without a set schedule. Each day had a planned workout that began with a lengthy warm-up. At the end of the warm-up, he would assess whether he felt recovered enough or not to proceed. If he felt recovered, he trained. If not, he cooled down and took a recovery day.

Surely, this type of schedule would wreak havoc with us trying to train around busy schedules. If you’ve moved your appointments, kids, etc, around a time slot then, damn-it, you’re probably going to train. But that doesn’t mean it’s what you should do.

Yesterday, when the weather cleared into a beautiful afternoon I became psyched to get outside. I’d actually planned some recovery but my somewhat tender elbow felt fine and I thought about one more hard day before my recovery began. My mindset began to change when I felt lethargic on the hike in. My warm-up left me feeling ready… for a nap. So I bagged the planned session and spent some time scampering around the mountains with Beata at a leisurely pace, scoping the protection possibilities on a line I’d like to climb, and relaxing in the afternoon sun. Training day accomplished.

Oboz

I've been asked to do more gear reviews on this blog so I'm going to begin by reviewing a company. Oboz, a new outdoor footwear company, located in Bozeman, Montana, is getting my vote for who to buy your light hiking shoes from based solely on their company philosophy. They also make trail runners, but I'll wait until I've run in their latest model to comment on them.

Oboz was founded on a different sort of philosophy than the standard corporation. Instead of aiming at massive profits, they are focusing on lifestyle and community involvement. For example, their office runs on 100% wind power and they plant a tree for every pair of shoes they sell.

"Every day and every pair of shoes means another tree will be planted in a far corner of the world where trees are absolutely needed and treasured," said Oboz founder John Connelly.

They've also recognized powder days as national holidays. How can you not embrace that?

Week 2

Things ramp up a bit this week. Last night I filled the fridge with fruit and veggies, while Romney added some raw dairy products, sprouted cereals, and such. Along with Shakeology this will make up most of this week's diet (cleanse, actually, as it's only 5 days so it's not really a diet).

Finished last week off by getting on a 13a and 13b yesterday. I did neither but both are far easier than my project, so they'll go on the list of training routes to gauge my progress. Now I'd better get to some serious weight shedding! I need to get so much stronger it's ridiculous.

This week will be a recovery week so far as climbing goes, while I ramp up my other training a bit. But with the reduction in calories it's going to be a lot of low-level training, gearing up to some sort of simulated Giro beginning on May 9th. Still don't know what this is going to be as I'm assessing what kind of stress my back can handle. It was tired after our trip, but I was tired after the trip. Now that I'm settled in I'll be able to address it properly.

More people have been joining in the challenge each day. Very cool. Romney started her challenge today. She was out the door at 5AM and has something else slated for this evening. She seems to be taking the gung ho approach to my slow and steady. Hey, whatever works is always the best option.

vid: a lame vid i tossed together to decide whether or not to purchase some editing software. someday i'll shoot some real footage. i promise. it has cool music though, borrowed from sigur ros' web site

The Bob Diet

With phase one of the program being just starting, phase II will ramp it up a little with the Bob diet. My friend Bob went on an “anti-acid” diet and lost 10 pounds in the last 30 days. And he was lean to begin with.

It started because he was having some digestive issues. His doc asked if he consumed much coffee, alcohol, and spicy food to which he replied “it’s pretty much my entire diet.” After 30 days of a high alkaline diet he says he doesn’t feel a lot better, though the acid-reflux symptoms are gone so he’ll probably stay on a modified version. But he did lose a lot of weight, so I’m down.

Essentially, our diets tend to be overly acidic, which is primarily because we eat too much junk and not enough fruits and veggies. You don’t want a high alkaline diet all the time. You want a balanced diet. Your body regulates your blood pH levels so that they’re neutral, but when you consume too much acid this process does a lot of tissue damage. This was something that we never had to worry about before fast and convenience foods became a way of life because everyone ate some fruits and veggies, or at least live foods where the enzymes and bacteria weren’t all destroyed, out of necessity. Kudos to Bob’s doctor for recommending a dietary change instead of a medication.

Of note, Bob’s climbing has improved because he’s lost weight. His endurance sports, not so much. He did a paddleboard race on got slaughtered, as he hit the bonk pretty much out of the gate. As I pointed out in my post on the Diet Switcharoo, you’ve got to eat to fuel your endeavors.

Given my training will ramp again at the start of the Giro, this is essentially going to be a five day cleanse for me. Monday through Friday of this week I’ll eighty-six alcohol, coffee, sugar, meat, dairy, nuts except almonds, tomatoes and chilis, legumes, processed grains and breads from my diet.

Since I don’t have acid reflux this is all in the name of self-experimentation. Science is a cruel mistress.

pic: bob and his trademark oly.

The Hardest Part of Training

“The hardest part of training is making the decision to start training at all.”
– Wolfgang Gullich

There are basically three ways to go into a training plan:

1 – gung ho
2 – slow and steady
3 – just do it

At Beachbody our programs try and address all three. P90X attempts the gung ho approach. Step 1 in the diet guide is throw out your junk and it gets tougher from there. This tends to work because people buy the X after doing something else, so they’re ready for round two.

Our more “mellow” programs, like Yoga Booty Ballet, adopt a more mild approach where you start slow and eliminate negative things each week as you ramp up your training.

In between, we have the “just do it” approach where we provide a quick start guide for those who don’t want to bother with a lot of planning and just want to get started.

My general guide for training is the slow and steady. That in no way means it’s the best approach. It’s just the one that works the best for me. My everyday life is fun and active. To actually make up my mind to train requires me to play mind games on myself.

Gung ho is the most fun because it makes you feel like Rocky. Its downside is that when you’re fit to begin with you can end up inflicting a lot of damage, making recovery slower and maore painful than it normally would be. It can leave you feeling as though you’d rather be out playing which, for me, is a healthy option that’s not always the best for obtaining objectives. I also tend to injure myself when I do this. Not because it’s dangerous, in theory, but because I can be kind of an idiot when it comes to seeing how far I can push my physical envelope.

The just do it approach is too random for me. Since I exercise anyway, if I’m not training and I’m in a gym I feel as though I’m just spinning my wheels. I need a plan and an objective.

So I generally opt for slow and steady. When I begin a program I make it easy to stay on it. This way I’ll keep doing it because it’s not too different from my regular routine. As I make alterations to my program, I tend to get more motivated towards the ultimate goal of the training cycle. It also preps my body so that I’m less likely to overtrain once I get into crazy mode.

So this week is easy. I’m just making sure to get my exercise in and trying not to eat too badly. Next week, I’ll make a transition. The following, I’ll ramp this into three intense weeks that will finish off phase one.

But that’s just me. You need to find which approach works best for you. You’ve already done the hardest part, which is deciding to start in the first place.

vid: re-post of my project video to see if it plays better on You Tube or Facebook. This is why it’s easy not to train. It’s fun to just go climbing. But if I really want to do this entire linkage, training is a must. A lot of training.

Challenge Forum Is Live

We've set up a forum specifically for this 90 Day Challenge. You'll find it here:

90 Day Challenge Forum

During the challenge I'll also be answering mailbag questions that are directly related to these questions. So if you'd like a "best of" q & a emailed to you, sign up by sending an email to:

join-edwards@mh.databack.com

Of course you can use the boards anytime but this was set-up to motivate more people to access this great resource. It's primarily for answering fitness and nutrition questions pertaining to your challenge but you can use it to meet training partners, post before and after photos or aspirations, or banter about anything challenge worthy. See you there!

Video Of My Project

Here's a video showing most of my project. Before I left for my trip I had a goal of linking at least one of the two halves of the low traverse, then finishing the upper traverse to cap it off.

The first crux was just getting up there. A series of warm storms made the approach a bit of a post-holing nightmare. Once there, conditions were also fickle as the spring freeze-thaw was keeping things pretty soppy. I only found climbable conditions once, during the late-afternoon of my last day before we left.

The vid requires some interpretation. On the first angle a snow bank obscures my feet, but you'll get the idea. I don't have a tripod so I'm limited to where the camera gets set up. The low and high traverse I'm referring to are very close together. An obvious break forms the higher, which goes at V4. For the low traverse, everything below this break is on, meaning that your hands are often inches from a jug that you can't touch. A large boulder also sits in the way of linking the first few moves. I'll dig it out at some point. There are a few moves to link the two low sections I'm trying in this video. I move up after the first section at a natural transition, which leads into the upper traverse beyond its rest and straight into its crux section, making it a better boulder problem in itself.

For reference, every single move of the low traverse took numerous attempts to work out. Most of the holds are quite small, requiring me to have my body in just the right position to hold on. Some look easy as I've wired them, but I've fallen off every single move at least once. This means that I must fully concentrate on every move. Currently, when I reach the first move of the second half I can no longer hang on the holds--which are the best on the route--much less make a fairly difficult move. Linking this is miles away in terms of fitness needed. At least I have some new boots on the way that will hopefully solve one dilemma.

I Have A Pot

The rest of you is normal. Normal face, normal legs, normal hips, normal ass, but with a big, perfectly round pot belly.

Fabienne, Pulp Fiction

On return from a moveable feast across Europe I’ve grown a pot. My climbing and, hence, my goal for this program will stand a much better chance at realization if I lose it.

My fitness is okay. I was climbing grade 7s quickly in Europe, with pot. Sans pot, things should drastically improve.

The plan for the first two weeks will be as thus:

4 days a week of riding and/or running at aerobic pace (mainly) on an empty stomach, C workouts.

2 days per week of synergistic whole body exercising, B workouts.

3 days per week of climbing/climbing training, one A, two B workouts.

Week one will only avoid junk foods. Week two will be severely caloric restricted. Week three will be the start of another virtual Giro. Its plan will be determined later.

I’d also like to make a few improvements to this blog, with more added photo streams and video, as well as adding a lot of info targeted towards anyone doing a three month program.

For an analysis of A,B,& C workouts click here.

above: day one photo, with bruce, sportin’ the pot and looking the part of a craggin’ french baker.

90 Day Goals

My goal is simple; to climb my project at the G-Spot (video coming soon). This may not sound like a full body experience but, given this may be harder than anything I’ve ever climbed, it will be. Until this challenge it was slated as a more realistic goal for next winter. I’m miles away at the moment. It’s going to take plenty of motivation. I’ll need to lose weight, gain power, endurance, power-endurance, and flexibility.

Plus, given I couldn’t walk a couple of months ago it seemed a tad irresponsible to set goals for biking or running. I’ll still try and do these as much as I can, even if just for wait loss, but the goal in this area is to continually make progress with my injury. That is all.

I also have a big agenda for next year and my climbing is further off for this than my biking. So, for now, I’ll focus on getting the climbing strength up to where it needs to be, which is much easier to do if I’m not exerting too much effort on other things. Once the base strength is there, I can maintain it while bring the running and cycling level back up—all provided that I rehab properly, of course.

I’m also throwing in some French study goals. Not sure what they’ll be, exactly, but right now I’m just going to commit to speaking some French each day. Voila!

pic: dope is strictly forbidden!

90-D Challenge: Who’s In?

I’m starting a new 90-day training cycle/challenge and want you all to join me. It’s not a body transformation challenge or any type of money-making scheme. It’s just an offer to provide some accountability while I engage in something that I do all of the time. So I’m throwing a little challenge out there to my friends to pick some sort of goal you’d like to achieve in the next three months. Then, together, we’ll help each other achieve it. It doesn’t need to be anything specific. It can be to improve a sport, lose weight, gain strength, lower your blood pressure, learn a language, do a birthday challenge or kick sand in the face of the bully down at the beach. All that matters is that it’s something that you can’t currently do so that you’ll have to change your current regimen in order to achieve it.

It’s not my idea, actually. Jon and Bryan down at the office have been brainstorming about how to make Beachbody the fittest business in the world. This isn’t for bragging rights. It came about through extension of all the customer success stories. These are infectious, and got Jon thinking about how to get more people involved; just because it’s cool. So what we’re going to try is essentially is the core of what works so well for Beachbody, straightforward motivation and accountability.

My part of the bargain is free online coaching. All you’ll have to do is ask your questions here and in a Message Board thread I’ll start once we get rolling. Remember that you can comment on this blog anonymously (so you can be shy). For the boards, you’ll need to sign up but it’s free.

Over on the boards we’ll do what we do for all our customers, offer fitness tips and diet advice. So you’ll have access to me, Denis Faye, and many of our best coaches. All I ask is that you keep the questions in public. I get too many private emails to answer individually, so board questions always get priority because no matter how individual you think your question is someone else will ask it as well. As unique as we are, fitness and nutrition questions tend to be similar. And I should know, since I’ve been answering them for thousands (millions, technically) of people for nearly a decade.

As for what to do, it’s all up to you. I blogged on a round of 90X last year—tweaked to aid my sports, as usual. Poking around this blog could give you some ideas (try clicking on different labels). And the TBB Message Board Photo Galleries are always inspiring. Or you could have a look at Birthday Challenge. But there’s almost certainly something that you’ve always wanted to do but never dared to commit to. And these are the challenges that are most worth doing because, in the end, having just made an attempt will change your life.

Details will roll out over the coming week. I think the official start date is April 27 but I’m starting tomorrow. Why not?

Oh, and you’ll have to check back to see exactly what I’m doing. All I’m sure about right now is that it’s going to be hard. What fun would it be if it weren’t?

Shakeology Taste Test

This isn't really a Shakeology taste test. Nothing in its class compares so that wouldn't even be interesting. But read on and you'll understand a bit about why. I'm re-purposing something from my Mailbag.

Bobby from Norco writes:

I see that you have some fructose in Shakeology. You also have stevia, fruit extracts, and yacon, which I’ve heard is a sweetener. What’s the function of the fructose?

=================================

Bobby, have you ever tried to drink a greens formula shake for dessert?

This story goes way back. The official Shakeology story begins with Carl getting together with his wife, Isabelle, who chided him about “eating like a second grader.” Indeed, that was probably the catalyst for it to move into development but I’d been working on Carl for years prior. The first time I put a green concoction in front of him he just sat there looking at it. After a long pause he said, “I’m supposed to drink this?” I don’t think he bothered tasting it.

You see, it’s pretty easy to throw a lot of healthy ingredients into the same container. The trick is getting these things to be appetizing. If they tasted great, and were easy to prepare, we’d already be getting plenty in our diet. But up until Shakeology it seemed like anybody making an all-inclusive meal in a bottle was happy enough to fill it full of nutrients and let the taste fall where it may. The resulting formulations tended to taste like sand or—wait--Carl did try one of my concoctions. He said it tasted like he got dumped into a swamp.

Of all the obstacles we faced creating Shakeology by far the biggest hurdle was taste. Yes, Bobby, yacon is a sweetening agent. It’s also the most potent prebiotic known to man. The fruit blend is also sweet, and loaded with polyphenols as well. And stevia is 300 times sweeter than sugar. But any chef knows the importance of not just adding ingredients but balancing them, and that’s what we had to do with Shakeology. The few grams of fructose powder used is to balance the flavor, and we went through many rounds of development before we got this right.

As for the results; I challenge you to pick up a “superfood” shake at the local holistic market and whip it up side by side with Shakeology. The only downside is that you may end up wasting money. I’ve still got a couple of jars of that stuff in my fridge that haven’t been touched since we finalized the Shakeology formulation.

Fitness Nerd

Here's a brand new addition to the Blog-o-sphere that's worth a gander.

The Fitness Nerd

It's going to be a portal to the lastest news and stories in health and fitness, along with a bit of savvy expose. The Straight Dope's already had a shout out, and here's an example of the commentary. Clearly, Denis knows his way around a keyboard.

In a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, over half a million AARP members were surveyed, only to discover that those who ate more red meat and processed meat had a 22% greater risk of dying of cancer and a 27% greater risk of dying of heart disease.

Boy, I didn’t see that coming. No, wait. I did see that coming, because I’ve been told how saturated fat clogs arteries and excess salt causes hypertension since I was five-years-old. Had this article been written in 1954, Ward and June Cleaver might have been blown away, but this is 2009. Come on!

Oddly enough, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association has taken exception to the findings. Yet another hard blow for the American cowboy.

You should all probably make it your homepage.