Category Archives: Personal stuff

Can I get a waiver on the “how much do you exercise” question?

Personal stuff
I never need an excuse to use a Sunflower picture.

My newfound appreciation for medical care does entail one significant and constant annoyance. That series of questions concerning exercise, which beings easily enough, do you smoke, do you drink.. no to both… and then they try to quantify something they just do not understand. How many times a week do you exercise? For how long? Well, the easy thing to tell them would be that I commute by bike each day to work, so 25 minutes/day. That they could relate to. But just try and explain that for “exercise” what you do are two 30 mile 2-hour rides with 30 minutes at 90% of your V02Max, and a third ride of 60 miles at a bit lower intensity.

It doesn’t translate. It would sound a bit arrogant to just tell them to write that I’m “off the chart” but, for their charts, I am. I could give them total watt hours, average power, weighted power, or Strava Suffer Score. I could give them watts/kg for a general view of my shape. But below are the guidelines they use, and for the life of me, I just can’t translate them very well-

Guidelines for Adults

The guidelines advise that:

  • Some physical activity is better than none. Inactive adults should gradually increase their level of activity. People gain health benefits from as little as 60 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.
  • For major health benefits, do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week. Another option is to do a combination of both. A general rule is that 2 minutes of moderate-intensity activity counts the same as 1 minute of vigorous-intensity activity.
  • For even more health benefits, do 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of vigorous-intensity activity each week (or a combination of both). The more active you are, the more you will benefit.
  • When doing aerobic activity, do it for at least 10 minutes at a time. Spread the activity throughout the week. Muscle-strengthening activities that are moderate or vigorous intensity should be included 2 or more days a week. These activities should work all of the major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders, and arms). Examples include lifting weights, working with resistance bands, and doing situps and pushups, yoga, and heavy gardening.

Maybe they should just use a Strava Suffer Score! Seriously, how should I answer their question, which demands a quantitative answer? Can’t they just look at my treadmill V02 data and write a waiver for me?

Riding well despite anti-EPO drug!

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

I approached today’s ride with a bit of apprehension, based on this week’s bloodwork showing that the stuff I’m taking to lower my too-high platelet count is also depressing my hematocrit level (as is expected to happen). For those not in the know, keeping your hematocrit level high is what doping is all about in competitive cycling. That EPO stuff you hear about, the stuff Lance was using, artificially raises it above your normal level, which allows your blood to carry more oxygen to your muscles. Normal hematocrit levels run between 39-48% or so. You don’t want to go too high, because your blood gets sludgy and your heart may decide it’s had enough and stop working. My hematocrit had been around 43-44% since the beginning of time, but has been gradually dropping due to the anti-EPO I’m taking, and on Friday’s test, came to 38%. Yuck.

So as I began this morning’s ride with Kevin, I wasn’t sure how slow I’d be on Old LaHonda, but figured it wouldn’t be terribly fast. Turns out I didn’t have to worry; Strava showed 22:19 which is my faster time in well over a year, and if I’d just been 4 seconds faster, it would have been a two-year best. Strange thing, that. I don’t know that this is a trend I’ll be able to buck much longer though; it’s likely my dosage is going to be increased soon, which will drop my hematocrit even more, and at some point, something’s gotta give. Either that or my body is re-wiring itself.

Just another great day for a ride in the SF Bay Area. Mid-70s, so a bit cooler than France, and no fancy French pastries or cheap huge bottles of Orangina, but the Pescadero Bakery does a good stand-in.

Tunitas? Well, we didn’t attack Tunitas like we did Old LaHonda. Seems like we both ran out of gas at some point, but a nice ride up the hill.