Hitting the Trails

I was excited to get in a mountain bike training ride in for the past week. I met up with some riders from the bike shop and headed out in to Usery Park.  Wearing my Suunto Ambit 2S I was looking to gather a bunch of data about my workout, with some of my favorite apps plugged into the HR monitor.  The weather was perfect. It started at about 55 degrees at 8am and quickly warmed up.  After being in the saddle for an hour, I was feeling really good and could tell my at home roller workout along with wearing my Training Mask was helping me while out on the trails.  There are some areas of the trail I need to work on getting better at and will be visiting the park a ton before this summers next mountain bike race.  My nutrition and hydration with HoneyMaxx was spot on.  I opted to not have a water bottle cage, yet carry my keys and water bottle in my Orange Mud Hydraquiver.

Roller Rides are Coming Along Great

@SportCrafters roller workout with the @SUUNTOUSA Ambit2S and @TrainingMask hanging out in Zone 3. The TrainingMask I have set a simulating 9,000 ft in elevation.  A new playlist on the iPod the sessions on the rollers are great.  I know I should be out on the road with the weather being so nice. 

The Elevation Training Mask

While both running and using the bike on the rollers, I have been using the Training Mask. So what is it you ask. There are numerous studies out there on how athletes train at higher elevations to increase their performance. The area I primarily live and train in, is about 1000 feet above sea level. The mask covers both your nose and mouth and creates an effect as if I were in a higher altitude.  The mask is said to reduce training time by 1/3 by improving the efficiency of my workouts.  It conditions the lungs creating pulmonary resistance and strengthens my diaphragm.  Wearing it forces you to focus on your breathing. The best way this mask will help my body is by teaching it to use oxygen more efficient forcing me to take deeper more full breathes.  I can tell just after using it for over a month how my breathing is being helped by wearing it. 

Once again the mask fits over your nose and mouth attaching at the back of the head with a Velcro strip. There is Velcro strap it comes with also that can be used to cross over your head, joining the two ear holes on either side.  I have to admit the first time I put the mask on, I was very relaxed, yet then was forced to start focusing on my breathing right away. As without the mask, breathing is very easy and not really something the human body needs to think about doing  There are a few sets of valves that come with the mask and instructions on how to set the mask up to mimic different levels of elevation.  Of course very interested in knowing how the maximum degree of elevation with the mask of 18,000 feet would feel I set the mask up and jumped on my bike trainer.  It seriously was not long before I was having to really focus on getting my next breath.