How to train, fuel and perform your best…riding up many hills!
When you are cycling in the mountains North of San Diego for the summer – you can only get stronger on the hills if you train right!
We moved to our Airbnb north of Escondido for the summer (end of June to end of August) while we look for a new house around Escondido, CA. Our Airbnb happens to be along a popular cycling route(s) – West Lilac Road, in between Valley Center and Bonsall.
If you love climbing gradual hills in the amazing “Tuscany-ish” landscaping, then you would love cycling around here and beyond. On July Fourth, we did our first ride from our place up to Fallbrook to Temecula then back to our place – after a well-deserved coffee and water break (The Press Espresso!). Once we passed Fallbrook by a river park area, we start to climb. Sometimes its best to not know what is ahead of you! Soon into our gradual hill climb we came across a major steep hill climb. I took the challenge, as Neal was in front of me and I didn’t want to go back down and made it to the top… but the top. I thought the climb was complete and we had a flat section plus my heart rate was elevated at my top end of my range 170 bpm. Sadly, I turned the gradual corner and discovered the hill climb did NOT end and we had more to go.
Don’t ever stop, rest, and reset your heart rate/breathing on a steep hill climb. WHY? You can’t get back on your bike very easily and continue on up the hill. I had to turn back down and cross back and forth while I could get my foot clipped back in the pedal. I made it to the top of the ride and we didn’t have much further to ride to the top of the mountains above the town of Temecula – which included a long descend into Old Town for our coffee break.
At the moment, I did not want to go that route again and experience that steep hill again. I was traumatized. The hill wasn’t that long – just so steep and not possible to ride with your heart rate does not sky rocketing. BUT training and consistency is the key to making the experience more enjoyable and rewarding!
We have been riding during the week before or after work around 1hr15 – downhills and uphill with some flat in between! My goal for most all of our rides, but one a week, was to train around my MAF heart rate ranges (MAF Method 180-Age formula) to build my aerobic engine, fat burning fuel and endurance. Some hills are so steep that it was challenging to keep my heart rate down but over time, with consistency and patience, I was able to go up our gradual hill climbs in my range of 130-140 heart rate.
The “BIG HILL” that we rode up on July Fourth (18-21%) caused mental trauma to me -so I needed to resolve that negative mindset and face my fears!
On August 15, 2020, we headed out to ride in the mountains once again North of Fallbrook and head towards Temecula. We go to the river and we had two choices… go a longer way with gradual climbs towards Temecula or face my fears and regain my confidence by going the shorter and steeper route.
Of course, I told Neal we needed to go up the steep was as it had been almost six weeks since we had battled that steep 21% climb and I was ready to test my strength gains from our weekly hill climbing training rides.
Guess what happened?
I went up the hill seated (no standing up), with a little zig zag, and made it to the very top without going over 160 heart rate (10 beats lower) and felt so much stronger. Amazing! I was so happy and proud of myself afterwards. All of my training rides keeping in my MAF heart rate zones and morning fasted workouts have been paying off.
Fueling? We don’t usually eat anything before riding in the mornings – just my French press coffee I make (four minutes!) and then add organic heavy cream and lately Laird Superfoods Creamer. Then I make our water bottles for our ride with Sfuels Train (longer rides), Seeking Health Electrolytes and Kion Aminos. We usually take one bottle of just water with ice as it is HOT here in the summer. About halfway into the ride, 3-5 hours, I have a piece of my Primal Kitchen Macadamia Nut bars… I just have a piece at a time as I don’t need much extra fuel and it is a chewy bar due to the collagen.
Now, I feel more confident and excited to ride my bike as I am getting stronger, faster, and more efficient on the hill climbs. Hopefully the extra fat weight will drop off – but that is more due to healing my gut and reducing the internal chronic stressors which we identify with well-chosen functional lab tests as the GI Map, MRT food Sensitivities, Vibrant Wellness Wheat Zoomer and Great Plains Organic Acids Test.
You may be like me – training and eating right but still struggling with unexplained weight gain, fatigue (running for me) and inflammation. You do NOT know the WHY of your unexplained health concerns and symptoms unless you run specific functional lab tests (not one but a collection) then correlate the test results to put your missing pieces of your health puzzle back together and resolve your unique case of “METABOLIC CHAOS®”. We need to take ownership of our own health and not depend on our exercise alone to ensure our level of health.
Are you healthy on the outside but not so healthy on the inside?
We need to look “under the hood” and investigate what is really going on inside to make sure you are feeling your best, looking your best and performing your best in life. You don’t need to struggle or suffer with unexplained healthy symptoms, fatigue and decreased in athletic performance. We need to run a full investigation -to collect clues, identify sources of chronic stress, create an individualized nutrition program and rebuilding protocol.
There is not a one size fits all approach to losing weight (fat weight) – so make sure you test and not guess what works best for your unique individual needs with trackers as Keto Mojo or NutriSense as well as look at your genetic reports as DNAFIT, Genetic Genie, and STRATGENE then test for food sensitivities, microbiome balance and imbalances.
I have been on a long healthy journey and doing all the “right” things- but I just tested with the Organic Acids Test (OATS) for my first time and collated my test results with my other recent lab tests I completed the past few months. WE need to remember to look at the big picture and work on the WHOLE individual instead of treating individual test results- or else you get stuck treating symptoms rather than restoring health from a cellular level and rebalancing the entire body systems (think orchestra) as the body works together as a WHOLE.
Personally, I wasn’t sure why I continued to struggle with fatigue on my run but I assumed it was mitochondria damage and microbiome but WHY… mold toxicity/mycotoxins are overwhelming my liver, gut health, immune system and more. Why do you have a leaky gut? Why do you have exercise induced asthma? Why does your body take longer to recover and repair from a workout? Why do you not lose fat weight when training and eating “right”? Why is the microbiome imbalanced when you are exercising and eating right?
You don’t know about your own health status unless you test and assess the results with a functional coach- then follow a personalized rebuilding protocol to bring your body, mind and spirit back to optimal levels so you thrive in life each day – instead of trying to survive the day.
Do you relate to my story, experiencing and struggles?
You can learn all about my personal journey in my book on Amazon called “Life is not a Race…. It is a Journey”, “The WHOLESTIC Method Manual”, my blog posts and my podcast “The Low Carb Athlete”.
Schedule a call with me here to discover how you can optimize your health, burn fat, and improve your performance in daily life!
The struggle is REAL, but you don’t have to settle and blame the aging process!
I am here to help you live your best life and be your best self!
Debbie Potts
Health Coach, Author, Speaker & Podcaster
Host of ‘The Low Carb Athlete’ Health Building Podcast
Creator of ‘The WHOLESTIC Method’ Coaching Program
FNTP, FDN-P, NASM CPT, CHEK HLC, Kion Coach
BURN FAT. OPTIMIZE HEALTH. IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.
Links to my favorite products…
- Keto Mojo to measure glucose and ketones
- Amazon Life is Not a Race book
- Amazon The WHOLESTIC Method Manual
- Athletic Greens for daily green vitamin drink with 75 ingredients
- Sunlighten Infrared Sauna: near, mid and far wavelengths
- Further Food Collagen, Matcha Green Tea and Turmeric Tonic with adaptogens
- Kion Aminos– I like the solid caps before workout and liquid Berry drink post workout or afternoon (I mix with Creatine and sometimes Mega prebiotic & mucosal repair)
- Primal Kitchen products: salad dressings, mayo, shakes and more.
- Microbiome Labs: BiomeFX gut microbiome supplements and lab test
- Liposomal Vitamin C
- RaOptics Blue Blocking Glasses: www.raoptics.com – use code Lowcarbathlete for a discount!
- Swannies Glasses– another type of blue blocker glasses if RaOptics are too expensive
- Bonafide Bone Broth – my favorite bone broth – use code is valid for 20% off orders of $75 or more and it is only valid for one use per customer
- Vibrant Blue Oils– hjealing energetic essential oils for inflammtion, recovery, repair, gut health and of course CHRONIC STRESS!
- MitoQ for mitochondria support
- Tru Niagen for mitochondria support
Dr. Anna Caveca resources for WOMEN:
- Click here for Keto Calculator
- Click here for Keto Greens
- Click here for Maca Greens
- Click here for Women’s Cream
- Click here for Women’s Progesterone Hormone Cream
- Sneak Peek of Keto-Green 16
- Making Keto Work for Women Over 40 E-Book
- Keto-Green 16 Book
- Keto Recipe E-Book
Enjoy the journey!