oh, well, that's why I cross-train, running, mtn biking, lifting and plyometrics. But lets be honest- I am not in excellent condition. Better than many much worse than a lot. Compared to the average guy out there on the mountain, I have a long way to go.? When i can run up the mountain like many do there, then we can talk. but I have a long way to go until I feel I am in excellent shape.? thanks though!
Ron,
An educated guess is you are better conditioned than most, much worse than a few. Of course, it depends on the control group involved in the comparison. Mountain biking is much like skiing in that the bike handling skills of the rider become a paramount factor. Watching Mtn Bike
**** is almost overwhelming seeing what they do and the risk involved. For sure, I need to work in cross training and I've been considering joining a "boot camp" session that occurs 3 days a week on a local beach.
This week has been insightful with respect to interval training. I've been going hard for about 6 weeks on a bike, probably went too far and too fast resulting in over-training. My body (and heart rate monitor) is telling me to rest more. I've been riding 2 days and resting 1. Yesterday should have been a riding day, but, I woke up just exhausted and tired all day long, no riding at all. The heat and humidity don't help.
It has worked out very well that I passed on a century tomorrow. Interval experience tells me that I only have a handful of times in a training session where I can go into extended high heart rate periods. Exceeding that number just destroys the body's ability to recover. The plan is to back off for a few days and see what else my body is telling me that it can do. My mind always forgets that my body is aging!
As I get older, I pride myself in differentiating between what I need and what I want. The important thing is to find something that excites and keep doing it.