Athlete Vaporists?

[kel]

Thank you! I already did this with yoga and in through the nose and out through the mouth breathing, I was always told not to breathe out through the nose unless doing specific cleansing exercises. So it's just another thing to try.

I definitely find I have a lot more control over the out breath through my mouth - long slow steady, through my nose it seems to expel a lot quicker and with much less control, not sure if that's a thing or if I just need to practice more.

I also noticed a reduction in lung capacity while running even really trying to deeply breathe in through my nose didn't open everything up as much as a big breath in through my mouth. Although I have become aware that I have a little lurgy which will have complicated / confused my observations too, nothing too horrible, just a bit of gunk, I feel okay, just a bit tired and definitely resting today.

I did notice when I went back to nose in / mouth out and mouth in / mouth out, I could boost my performance for short periods, like a power up! But it always drops back. Much more experimentation to be done!

Still no book... I have complained... to no avail, just got to wait until I can raise it with eBay, tomorrow I think. That seller is getting a very negative review, it's not cool lying like that.

 

[EverythingsHazy]

I did notice when I went back to nose in / mouth out and mouth in / mouth out, I could boost my performance for short periods, like a power up! But it always drops back. Much more experimentation to be done!

That makes sense. Hyperventilation via mouth breathing can help temporarily boost performance ability, due to the expulsion of CO2, and the increase of adrenaline, however, consistently training one's body to be able to handle higher levels of CO2 (nasal breathing) should raise one's overall level of respiratory fitness.

A good way to think about it is like this:

If you want to reach something that's up high, you can increase how high you are able to jump off of the floor, start off standing on an elevated platform, or both. Hyperventilation is analogous to temporarily increasing your vertical jump max, and nasal breathing is analogous to raising the floor in your house.

 

[CANtalk]

Who's out?

MTB end-of season is pretty much here... I'm a fair weather recreational MTB cyclist at my age and have already been on borrowed time with a great fall this year. If I'm lucky, there are maybe two rides left (only barely one in the forecast). I did get out again though for another ride recently, ~17 miles and I made sure to include the top two local hardcore trails. It was a beautiful day for weather, fall colors and I ran those hardcore trails clean (no mistakes)... all very memorable . And an excellent way to end the year.?.?. we'll see . I'll share a trail pic when uploading comes back .

I was pretty tired at the end of that MTB ride (again) and checked out my recent ride history, 5 ride in 10 days... yup, checks out . What a year ! Been awesome. Get out, enjoy and have a great weekend.

 

[kel]

Sounds like you are having fun, that's great

Having a few days break here, the last run I went on it became obvious I was not lifting my right leg properly as I caught a stone with my toe and nearly went flying, only managed to save myself by throwing my weight around and the stresses that put on my body were intense. I got lucky, that could have ended badly, but as it turned out I was absolutely fine, testament to how resilient I am actually becoming, but... it made me realise that I need to rest properly. This is okay, it won't take long to heal properly and the winter season is coming

As it happens, some work came in so I am going to use the time to press on and get that done. We also had a little summery reprieve yesterday and managed a BBQ with the neighbours, sat outside around a fire till late drinking some nice beers and vaping some nice herb! Lovely!!

 

[VapeEscapist]

My bike needs a new fork so I'm riding only out of necessity at the moment.

The threads where a screw seats to hold my brake in place is stripped apparently. So the brake pad drifted into the rotor and now it's rubbing constantly with no way to bring it back into place.

I'm pretty sure I'm paying for some ham handed mechanics work on my bike. They struggled to align the brake for a long time and ceratinly contributed to the problem. I'm pretty annoyed at the thought but I can't prove anything, so what's there to do? "You guys are the one's that ruined my (expensive) component, why the fuck am I paying for it?" Wouldn't accomplish anything but sow animosity, sigh.

Hopefully the part will arrive before next weekend....

 

[CANtalk]

Hope you recover quickly @kel. Don't push it and get injured more. Been there, done that... actually, this year for the first time in a while I've avoided aggravating a typical core body strain injury.

Sucks to hear @VapeEscapist, hope you get it all fixed and sorted. A well functioning bike makes a huge difference. My Shimano XT (or equivalent spec) MTB gear has all been extremely reliable over the years (with regular service). Still, $%^# happens... I rode through contaminated front disc brake pads this year... aggressive stopping was a little too interesting for a while . I found a good bike service shop, but frankly do a bunch of bike service work myself to save money and do it as well, if not better than them. Let us know how it goes.



It was a very nice day today here (warm and only a little wind)... so I dragged my ass off the couch and on the MTB again . It was an awesome ride. I did the same ~17 mile loop as my last post and I equaled my best ever run on the cardio killer trail (no rest, one bike walk). I didn't see that coming . I ran the top two hardcore trails clean again too... and took it down a notch on the other parts of the ride to take in more of day/ride itself as well as the scenery . I later stopped to grab a few pics of the trails in beautiful fall colors as well .

From the weather forecast, this looks to be the last ride of the year for me as well . I didn't want to curse myself by beginning an earlier countdown to the end of the season here, but I did see it coming for a while.

The ride brought more excellent memories ... it was a nice day/way to end the year getting outside & on the MTB . And I kept my perfect record this year of never regretting getting out for a MTB ride. If you're healthy & ever regret getting outside for some exercise, wait for better weather .

Back at home, I set the vape to warm up and quickly had a cold refreshing shower. Then I vaped & enjoyed some Trainwreck strong sativa . First cannabis of the day too. Highly recommended !

Hope everyone's weekend is going great . Who's all getting out recently or this weekend?

 

[vapirtoo]

Hey VapeEscapist,
Last time we hung out you showed me that repair with a bigger
bolt forced into the stripped threads.
Looked like something I would DIY in my garage.
Looked like it could of worked.
That whole fork/disc brake assembly is using
just two small bolts to stop the Hulk. LOL
Might need a beefier setup. IMHO

 

[EverythingsHazy]

Back at home, I set the vape to warm up and quickly had a cold refreshing shower. Then I vaped & enjoyed some Trainwreck strong sativa . First cannabis of the day too. Highly recommended !

A cold shower to refresh the body and clear up the mind right before a nice vaping session is such a nice combo. I find that the alertness induced by the cold water contrasts very nicely with the relaxation from the vapor, as the buzz starts to set in. It makes the mindset transition that much more enjoyable.

 

[VapeEscapist]

Last time we hung out you showed me that repair with a bigger
bolt forced into the stripped threads.
Looked like something I would DIY in my garage.

Unfortunately, aluminum is not as easily repaired as steel and often when an aluminum component is worn, stripped, cracked, or broken, it's total trash. I change tubes and tires, change brake pads, and clean my drive train myself, and there's an alley with a hose I can use, but I have mostly relied on my shop for everything else. Also as you likely know, if you want to do it right there's a fair amount of specialized tools, like a chain whip, and wheel truing rig, which are expensive and require storage space, and then there's the mess of dealing with hydraulic brakes, and the learning curve for adjusting my derailleurs. It's just so much simpler for me to leave it up to my shop...

I have a sneaky suspicion that they were trying to realign the brake assembly when they should have been trying to adjust the caliper or tried seating the brake pads better. I'm going to beg them to be gentle when adjusting the alignment on the new fork rather than trying to jam it as far to one side as possible, then they were over tightening the screw which wasn't meant to be used that way.

 

[VapeEscapist]

https://imgur.com/xFqR6RZ

Just my usual commute.... The view after cresting the triboro, looking out over Astoria Blvd.

 

[kel]

Back out running again today, couldn't 'rest' any longer.

Decided that I am going to ease off on the nasal breathing while running, it's good, I will definitely switch to it at certain points in every run, but it's actually not helpful in terms of the breath control of posture, balance and especially reacting to unexpected events; being able to move a lot of air fast is important in terms of being able to control my body.

I knew this anyway, but restricting airflow absolutely does restrict my ability to react quickly in the event of a sudden loss of balance, whereas an explosion of air through my mouth can make the difference between me ending up flat on my face or not, it really helps, that same involuntary reaction through my nose does not afford the same response.

It's hard to explain I guess. Erm...

Imagine being kicked in the stomach and only being able to get that 'OOFGH' breath out through your nose? Not easy right? Same thing!

 

[His_Highness]

How do you track yourself for over-training? I'm not talking about over training a specific muscle group...I'm talking about over-training the entire unit (mind and body) to the extent that it affects your overall well being.

There are three symptoms I keep an eye out for.....

Beats Per Minute: Over the years I have noticed that my resting heart rate (beats per minute) creeps up by 5 or more points consistently over a period of days. Increased blood pressure is another look out point but my watch only does BPM and resting heart-rate so I tend to key off them.

Sleeping: Sleep is less restful when I've over trained. Sleeping the night of a good run is always deeper, refreshing and almost cocoon like unless I've reached the point of over training in which case I don't wake up refreshed.

Attitude: Over training causes irritability.

If only one symptom is present I just keep on keeping on. If I experience all three I take a break for a couple days until the symptoms subside or until my family tells me I'm no longer being an asshole.

 

[kel]

How do you track yourself for over-training? I'm not talking about over training a specific muscle group...I'm talking about over-training the entire unit (mind and body) to the extent that it affects your overall well being.

There are three symptoms I keep an eye out for.....

Beats Per Minute: Over the years I have noticed that my resting heart rate (beats per minute) creeps up by 5 or more points consistently over a period of days. Increased blood pressure is another look out point but my watch only does BPM and resting heart-rate so I tend to key off them.

Sleeping: Sleep is less restful when I've over trained. Sleeping the night of a good run is always deeper, refreshing and almost cocoon like unless I've reached the point of over training in which case I don't wake up refreshed.

Attitude: Over training causes irritability.

If only one symptom is present I just keep on keeping on. If I experience all three I take a break for a couple days until the symptoms subside or until my family tells me I'm no longer being an asshole.

Wow!

I never even thought about it, but I was nodding to every paragraph!! I want to up this post so much!!!

Oh and my no. 1 overtraining alarm bell is injury, I just take a beating every time I run over the moors, it IS hard.... but at some point my body will be hurt too much and that's what stops me, for a little while!

 

[CANtalk]

Red Bull Rampage 2021 is on live right now. Enjoy

EDIT - just ended, but the full event is there now. Two runs each, mens and women.

 

[Nina]

Two runs each, mens and women.

Wow that must feel so amazing
And terrifying

 

[kel]

Crazy!!!

Those drops are big... wouldn't want to fall off the side of some of those runs!! Eek!!!

 

[CANtalk]

Arrrgh, I had a great reply to @His_Highness and @kel on the overtraining topic as just mentioned above, plus more and lost it being earlier. Fawk, it was big and I'll try to get to it all here eventually.

Cool on that Red Bull Rampage video! Crazy Canadians . It's really wild and going to get a lot of views (>400K in the first 8 hours)... imo it tops the MTB scene & is a preeminent extreme sport event .

Here's moar crazy MTB gone wrong content .

Someone commented on that video saying "Whole lotta meat crayons in the footage today". It's like a car crash video to me, but I watch it to remind myself of balancing risk vs reward in my own riding. It's been a good year for me on the MTB this season... only ~3 crashes. Serious too, as I had something like 6-7 crashes the year before (and an ugly one the year before that).

Here's my crashes this season for the morbidly curious, like me . I had half a crash for the first of the year... walked out of a crash in small rock garden clipped in. It was an aborted ejection... going slowly rolling forward and to the right. It happened in a small section but more technical and unforgiving than I obviously gave it credit for... that was because it's among a number of challenging sections in the most challenging 'technical' trail I have within 30 miles. And it's also the second most challenging local trail for cardio. It's my fave MTB trail, fun in both directions (for a change... and a very different ride). I rode it ~70 times this year.

Next crash was the first full crash of the year... I ran a little wide into a swim move with the bars on a trail, transitioning a tree trunk in combination with a lower speed 120 degree turn on moderately steep side slope, and caught the front tire of a small root obstruction on the edge of the trail which stopped me in my tracks. I ended up falling to the side, bailing from clips but down an ugly steep slope. As that happened, I was able to use/aim-for a willow type tree to break my fall. Ended up OK overall. I MTB rode this whole trail a lot this year... ~70 times (in both directions, which is a very different ride from the other ). It's a great challenging trail with excellent pace and rhythm (when one is in good shape).

Next crash was transitioning a small lip along the Y of another part on that trail at moderate speed... the front end lowsided and it turned out I had let my front tire pressures creep up a little too high in a quest to maximize low rolling resistance and lost grip (see next crash). I got a bit of road rash on my leg from hitting the dirt/gravel transition and the subsequent sudden stop... first time in a while.

The next was a "half" crash and it confirmed the high front tire pressure issue from a few days later. I nearly lost the front in another spot on another trail, where it should have been fine and in what would have been ugly. It was awesome to recover, but the bars snapped back so hard it literally hurt for a while. After adjusting my front tire pressure down a couple PSI, the front end traction has been perfect again... for a few months now and with lots of mileage, as it should be. "Perfect". So, that's ~3 crashes this year in total, or two full-on ones.



On a positive note, this was the first year I had on the MTB without a muscle strain in long time! Maybe a decade, serious. Showing my age. It was awesome, but it was also my first year of significant over-training... and that slowed me down.

Still, I ended up approaching 1500 miles this year on the MTB , and in just over 5 months of trail riding . It was awesome again and a personal high mark. Plus, as mentioned before, I got in better shape & became a better rider too . I never regretted a single ride this year, so get out for a trip or some exercise if you can !

I haven't been out since last weekend when the weather turned more seasonal and much cooler. The MTB and outdoor exercise season is pretty much over here 4 me. Pretty much, because the forecast shows one possibly warm enough day coming, well above normal. We'll see and after that, it looks done.

EDITED: Vaped... sorry for any grammar/repetition issues.

Have a great Friday night and TGIF!

 

[VapeEscapist]

https://imgur.com/a/GZAKZFK

New front legs for my aluminum steed!

Nearly $400 including $40 tip.

But I'm thrilled to have it fixed and have new brake pads front and back.

 

[Nina]

my aluminum steed!

Glad I'm not the only one who refers to my bikes as such
I'm sorry to say I had to abandon my workout today on account of..... I overdosed on edibles last night (oh the shame)

 

[kel]

What a beautiful day...

Rain, so lots of mud and puddles!! Then sunshine - I mean does it get any better - rain AND sunshine AND mud AND feeling fit and strong enough to run - wow!

I feel blessed...

Then... having a really good run, no pain as such, just little bits tickling away which is absolutely fine... and then...

Just as I was right up on the tops happily splashing through some muddy bogs - there's only the fattest rainbow ever on the horizon!!!

It's just not fair... why do I get all the good stuff??? What did I do to deserve this???

Glorious

I saw two people, an older lady out for her walk (in full camo?) and a guy trying to ride a trail bike over the tops haha - filthy smelly beast - but I almost stopped to watch him because where he was heading he would have ended up in bog for sure! I didn't though, figured he knew what he was doing hehe I got a nod and a smile as he passed

 

[WisePenny]

I got out for a run yesterday after a weekend of travelling (sitting in a car, sleeping on a couch and a soft bed) after no exercise for over a week. My body was screaming at me, but was feeling much better after a quick 5k and stretch in the autumn sun!

 

[CANtalk]

How do you track yourself for over-training? I'm not talking about over training a specific muscle group...I'm talking about over-training the entire unit (mind and body) to the extent that it affects your overall well being.

There are three symptoms I keep an eye out for.....

Beats Per Minute: Over the years I have noticed that my resting heart rate (beats per minute) creeps up by 5 or more points consistently over a period of days. Increased blood pressure is another look out point but my watch only does BPM and resting heart-rate so I tend to key off them.

Sleeping: Sleep is less restful when I've over trained. Sleeping the night of a good run is always deeper, refreshing and almost cocoon like unless I've reached the point of over training in which case I don't wake up refreshed.

Attitude: Over training causes irritability.

If only one symptom is present I just keep on keeping on. If I experience all three I take a break for a couple days until the symptoms subside or until my family tells me I'm no longer being an asshole.

I finally got around to writing my response again to this.

Unfortunately, over-training has been a big part of my MTB riding and exercise for the last half of the season this year. I basically ran myself down to the point of getting many of the 7-9 or so typically reported symptoms. Significant rest is recommended (2 wks), but the most time I took off this year was ~6 days in a row (~once). In your over-training f/x list @His_Highness, I definitely notice sleep impacts, but it's a slow progression so I'm also often slow to recognize it. I've experienced light general irritability as well, like you mentioned. And what becomes concurrently apparent to me is a big loss in my ability to endure regular short high intensity exercise. For example, when riding cardio killer rails (lots of climbing), I have little stored power and a heart rate that quickly pegs to max. Also, many rests are needed on the ride when there are lots of high intensity sections. OTOH, I can still nicely endure moderate power and intensity exercise. I learned a lot.

I'd rather not track over-exercise/over-training by having to essentially get it and show significant symptoms (I never really seem to catch it very early). My season is done now for outdoor exercise and I'm switching to low intensity basic exercise for the next three months or so. It's a break. Then next year, I plan to start off MTB season at a more moderate pace and not ride/exercise as frequently as I did early on this year. I hit 600 miles very early this year, riding 4-5 days a week (or more). Also, this winter I'm also going to take significant mental notes of my sleep patterns and experiences so that I can better evaluate and track my sleep when more strongly exercising next year. We'll see how all that goes. I'm currently looking at a day-on day-off routine as reasonable.




Overall, I've been getting a lot of strong exercise this season. Last season as well, and it's come from being able to and often taking the most difficult MTB/jogging/hiking trails in the area. That's where I can and do literally exercise / MTB ride and sprint climb to exhaustion. These are the most enjoyable trails in the area, so it's worth it and I MTB ride them a lot . One of those trails >70 times this season alone . And as such, I've been exercising a robust combination of intensity and endurance (1-3 or so hrs at a time). It's been very enjoyable and fun. Fwiw, it turns out my average exercise time this season has been~90-100 minutes.

As for more recent athlete vaporist endeavors, I vaped and later got on the local trails with the MTB a few times not too long ago . I almost never do this and the experiences were interesting/different (I typically vape after exercise/riding). On the first ride, I was reminded that vaping before makes the bike feels a little more jittery/reactive/unstable. And this time I felt significantly dissociated during high intensity exercise; essentially, a disconnection from the effort and intensity parts. The legs and quads felt a little dead, sensation-wise, as well. It was all a strange feeling. The same thing happened on the second MTB ride, and more.

It was a short second MTB ride @ 60 min and I picked a route which included the option of taking the #1 cardio killer trail on the back half. Well, the first half of the ride went so awesome and perked me up so much that I went for that trail and, even before beginning it, did a big cardio killer climb leading to the trailhead. I still felt pretty good, so I kept going and in short order went through two more short but intense as well as steep climbs on the trail (a new PB 4 me). When I stopped at the peak after that third big climb in a row, I was breathing hard and my heart rate ended up being pegged (I like to take a break at a peak point on trails to get good visibility, be safe and to make the next bit of the ride easier than what I'd just gone through). Then after ~5-10 seconds of that pegged heart rate, I felt my heart rate go up another notch . Never had that happen before . And then, I began to feel like my max breathing depth and speed wasn't enough . I tried to remain calm, doubled down and focused more on breathing as deep and as fast I could and after ~20 seconds I started to recover a bit. Has anyone else here experienced a pegged heart rate... and then feel it go up even more?? I'm sure there are few people that really push their high intensity cardio. The whole dissociation thing with high exercise intensity / cardio isn't for me. That's 4 sure.


As for now, it looks like I had my last MTB ride and outdoor exercise of the year. We had one more nice day since I last posted, with well above normal temps and I got out for ~20 miles. I rode the most challenging trail of the year again and as good as I ever have (no rest for only the third time and all just recently). I also went for the #2 difficult trail (plus a bunch more trails thrown in) . Been a great year and I hope everyone is enjoying their exercise .

I've been thinking about ur heart rate comment wrt over-training from over a week ago @His_Highness . I hadn't checked my heart rate in some years or more, and back when I last checked it was just average/ok. It got me interested in where my heart rate was at now, so just a few days ago I checked my resting heart. Holy shit , all this strong exercise and weight loss over the last 3-5 years has really had an impact! I quadruple checked, it's ~45 bpm ️. And no spring chicken here . 1%er??? (by age), any thoughts?

I'm sitting here, not even into a week yet of rest from the end of the MTB season, and just starting to wrap my head around everything. The accomplishments this year have been a little overwhelming, it's taken a lot of effort and sacrifice but it's definitely worth it and YOLO.

I already know I'm going to really miss the MTB and outdoor exercise this long off season . With fun exercise season over and winter coming, I'll be lurking more in this thread and look forward to reading stories posted from others, as well as living vicariously through y'all. Cheers and thx for all contributions, keep it coming!


TL/DR... been there done that this year with over-training/over-exercise, had some crazy exercise and times this outdoor season on the MTB, PBs in a number of ways, outdoor season is over and it turns out I currently have a 45 bpm resting HR bitchez .

Time to celebrate, already being doing that . Sorry for any grammar/spelling issues, been TGIF vaping here . Have a great Friday night.

 

[kel]

This all makes sense, thanks for sharing

Has anyone else here experienced a pegged heart rate... and then feel it go up even more?? I'm sure there are few people that really push their high intensity cardio

Sometimes, I have ended up lying on the floor retching from nearly throwing up, you're right, it's not great, but it's also just one of those things that happens sometimes. Not sure if it's good or not, but my feeling is if it doesn't feel good it probably isn't.

My problem isn't reaching this stage any more, it's the pain of everything that stops me even reaching this point, my fitness levels exceed my physical capabilities.

I quadruple checked, and it's ~45 bpm ️. And no spring chicken here . 1%er??? (by age), any thoughts?

Same here, well, first thing in the morning, resting hr varies between mid 40's and mid 60's depending on time of day - I just take this as a sign of being in pretty good shape for our age, no spring chicken here either! And yep, I look around and see obese, unhealthy people everywhere.

The only time a low hr is not good is if it is low and you feel faint or dizzy. If it's low and you feel good, then .. well...

Good work - keep it up

 

[kel]

Just back from todays vape and run... cold wind blowing, grey clouds, lots of muted autumn colours.

Ankle sore this time, achilles heel saying hello again... nothing new, my entire life has been like this, it is just one endless round of pain and suffering. Back to some conditioning work for me by the looks of things. On the plus side, my ass problems have completed disappeared - yay!

I have got the rebounder out again... so much fun,, can't help but smile doing a warmup on that little bouncy thing - highly recommended!!

I am calling it - vape and bounce


Edit: cor... I have no idea why but the high I am experiencing from that cbd vape and run over the moors is seriously intense! I only had my usual cbd and didn't even have that much or push that hard on the run, just a nice stumble at a reasonable pace... but I am dancing round the room!!

 

[His_Highness]

Has anyone else here experienced a pegged heart rate... and then feel it go up even more?? I'm sure there are few people that really push their high intensity cardio.

I've been thinking about ur heart rate comment wrt over-training from over a week ago @His_Highness . I hadn't checked my heart rate in some years or more, and back when I last checked it was just average/ok. It got me interested in where my heart rate was at now, so just a few days ago I checked my resting heart. Holy shit , all this strong exercise and weight loss over the last 3-5 years has really had an impact! I quadruple checked, it's ~45 bpm ️. And no spring chicken here . 1%er??? (by age), any thoughts?

My smartwatch is a Fitbit Sense. It records my runs (BPM, heart zones using BPM) and pace) , resting heart rate, O2, sleep patterns and sleep score among other things. Since it stores the history in it's app it makes it easier to track and trend. My normal resting heart rate is around 43-45. If I get anywhere near 50 for a couple days I start looking for the cause. Prior to giving up the gretts and taking up running in my late 30's early 40's my resting heart rate was in the 60's and my blood pressure was a consistent "way too high". My blood pressure is now on the high side of normal and has been for decades.

One of the annoying aspects of the reporting Fitbit supplies during the run is a buzzing when I cross into a different zone. If I go from "Cardio Zone" to the "Peak Zone" it buzzes and I take a quick look to see the zone I just entered and BPM....it might say peak zone but I still have more in the tank. Also the peak zone has a range so hitting the bottom of the range leaves some room for more intensity. So yes, there are multiple times during a run where I hit the peak zone and still have some room to increase the BPM.

I also keep an eye on moving from an aerobic state to an anaerobic state - I'm a believer in "Don't run past your lungs until you see the finish line". I find that I can get back to an aerobic state easily after the first mile but if I go anaerobic earlier it can be painful trying to reset back to aerobic.

One thing that surprised me when I first took up running was that often the days I started off running the most sore..... turned out to be my best runs versus running after a two day break with fresh legs. I remind myself of this fact when I'm sore and I'm thinking of resting instead of running. This makes it hard to recognize the need to rest the muscles sometimes.