Well I successfully completed my 2nd longest bike ride today!  My best friend, who has rode in the Tour for Kids (multi-day event for cancer camps) the last 3 years came to visit and we rode from my home in Sarnia along Lakeshore Rd to Egremont Rd thru Camlachie, onto Oil Heritage and then Aberarder to 5 km outside of Forest.  We took Michigan on the way back due to missing our turn off.  Our avg speed was 26 km/h and we went 65 km in total.  There was a north wind, it was 5 or 6 celsius and light/medium rain.  I realized I need to eat more while biking as I was quite dizzy when we got back, and I need a water bottle with a squeeze lid, as I crashed trying to screw the lid back on my iced tea bottle, lol, got a nice raspberry on my left leg, right at the head of my fibula.  All in all, I was happy, and I got training tips for my duathlon on July 26th which will be 2.8 km run, 40 k bike, 10 k run :) 

Friday night at the YMCACycling:0×0x0 (PR) Incline Bench Press:140×6x3 (PR)Pec Deck:130×10x3 (PR)Leg Press:250×10x4 (PR)Pull Up:148×6x1 (PR)Push Up:148×6x1 (PR)Incline Flys - dumbbells:40×10x3Push-Up:148×30x1 (PR)warmup then 5 minutes of hard (80-90% heart rate) cycling to get heart rate upDuration: 45 minutes

Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting! I am a student of naturopathic medicine, and we learn quite a bit about the mind body interaction, in face it’s a scientific field called PyschoNeuroImmunology, now isnt’ that a mouthful You adrenal/pituitary/hypothalamus axis is the control centre of your endocrine system, the system that uses hormones to exert physiological influence. One example of how your mind affects your body is stress. Stress invokes a fight or flight response, and when our thoughts are stressful (anxious, nervous, scared), our adrenal glands release cortisol to deal with the perceived stress, whether real or imagined. Cortisol is good in that it enables the body to react by increasing blood pressure, mobilizing glucose for energy, raising heart rate among other things, but over time and too much stress, the adrenal glands can become exhausted, leading to Adrenal Fatigue, a very common condition in our hectic world. Techniques can be used to address stress. Proper diaphragmatic breathing, visualization, guided imagery, anything to put the body into a relaxed state, where the parasympathetic nervous system is used. Perhaps, instead of thinking about how your body is going to hurt after your workout, think of the good feeling you get after going to the gym, the endorphins pumping, the sensations you experience while doing your yoga, whatever you like about working out. In this way, your mind associates the working out process with positive results and you will look forward to the gym, rather than feeling lethargic. Of course, sometimes your body needs a rest, and perhaps instead of weightlifting, you focus on detox, light cardio, sauna, swimming, hot tub whatever. Learning to listen to one’s body is the most important part about being healthy!! the muscle

Yesterday (April 24) I took my Miele 18″ 18 speed racing bike on my second outdoor biking trip this spring.  I started out just before lunch and stopped at a park with a hill to do some training in full speed handling.  I launched from the hill and got to top speed by fierce peddling and then navigated my way around obstacles and back up the hill to repeat.  In between I sun soaked  After this, I biked on the trail for a few km, watched a baseball game, had lunch and a double latte with 100 mg ephedra, 200 mg ginseng (siberian and korean), 100 mg cordyceps and 100 mg rhodiola.  Then I biked across the city on the roads and back home, probably 10-15 km.   I still have to pump up the tires, but I am loving my bike more than ever and can’t wait to get out again! 

I ran into this site from Heather http://strengthandbody.com/jinxmi who worked at the school I went to.  I spent a lot of time running on the treadmill in our small gym in the basement, and working on mostly the bench press.  It was my first real serious effort at ‘working out’ and since that time (3-4 years ago), I’ve gotten really excited about different training techniques, as well as principles behind strength conditioning.  Prior to this experience, I had focused mainly on running (I ran track and cross country in high school) from time to time, as well as doing push ups, which I believed to be the best form of exercise from seeing my dad do them :DA few months ago I started aggressively lifting weights, doing interval training on the treadmill, biking and swimming a bit with sauna/steamroom for detox purposes.  I have largely focussed on upper body, mainly chest as well as legs, with more recent emphasis on back.   The exercises I mainly do are inclined bench press (3-4 sets of 6-8 reps @ 130-140 lbs), pull/push ups, pec dec (3 S of 10-12 R @ 130 lbs), leg press @ somewhere around 200 lbs, and lying crunches and push ups to end my workout.I am incorporating more conditioning training for an upcoming duathalon (run and bike) in July.  For example, today I ran a quick 3-4 km outdoors on a hilly terrain, and then did 30 min fairly intenses biking, with quick 1 min bursts at a high intensity, followed by a 1 min break (interval training).  Part of the reason for my focus on cardio is to tonify my lungs, due to long time exposure to second hand smoke (I smoke occasionally myself, but don’t always inhale).I am looking for specific training tips based on sound practice.  With my background in naturopathy, and interest in muscle physiology and strength training principles, I can offer advice based on science, and specifically, natural healing techniques (ie. homeopathy, hydrotherapy, botanicals, nutrition).  I take numerous supplements, inc. protein (Muscle Stack by Interactive, the choc flavour I highly recommend for it’s great taste, easiest of any protein shake I’ve tried to mix, and effects for gaining muscle mass), adaptogenic and tonic herbs like ginseng and rhodiola, multi-vitamin, as well as ephedra/caffeine combo prior to my cardio stuff.  I am open to any who have questions on supplements, or anything on sports injuries, or detox principles (which I take a great interest in).Much happiness and health to you!Russellps. this site looks awesome, I think I’m going to love it! Thanks to Heather http://strengthandbody.com/jinxmi for blogging, and introducing me