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How to avoid overdosing on oxidative stress while being an active randonneur

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How to avoid overdosing on oxidative stress while being an active randonneur

Old 01-03-22, 12:47 PM
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How to avoid overdosing on oxidative stress while being an active randonneur

This will be my first post to this bike forum where I'm asking a question. Over the past two years I have not been riding a bike. I've had a nice break from being a very active RUSA randonneur from 2017 through 2019. But I'd like to get back into cycling again, and maybe take on another 1000k or 1200k RUSA event. But I'm wary about riding too many miles during the year “training” because I've read (and been told) that too much distance riding creates way too much oxidative stress in my body which can lead to cancer and other unhealthy conditions. Have any of you considered how it is possible to be an active randonneur while maintaining your health, i.e, avoid overloading on oxidative stress? Oxidative stress involves the body's overproduction of free radicals eventually leading to many chronic diseases, including cancer.

I'm thinking that riding with my local bike club on weekends for 8 or 9 months a year will not cause me health problems. And then increasing my mileage for 3 or 4 months (June – Sept?) so I'd be up to doing a grand brevet sometime in late August or early Sept. I'm hoping that would not be too unhealthy. What do you think?

I don't want to come down with cancer AGAIN. Just had surgery to remove an ocular melanoma from my left eye this past September. If I can get cancer once, then I can probably get it again. And I don't want to get it again!
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Old 01-03-22, 01:44 PM
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Originally Posted by jlippinbike
This will be my first post to this bike forum where I'm asking a question. Over the past two years I have not been riding a bike. I've had a nice break from being a very active RUSA randonneur from 2017 through 2019. But I'd like to get back into cycling again, and maybe take on another 1000k or 1200k RUSA event. But I'm wary about riding too many miles during the year “training” because I've read (and been told) that too much distance riding creates way too much oxidative stress in my body which can lead to cancer and other unhealthy conditions. Have any of you considered how it is possible to be an active randonneur while maintaining your health, i.e, avoid overloading on oxidative stress? Oxidative stress involves the body's overproduction of free radicals eventually leading to many chronic diseases, including cancer.

I'm thinking that riding with my local bike club on weekends for 8 or 9 months a year will not cause me health problems. And then increasing my mileage for 3 or 4 months (June – Sept?) so I'd be up to doing a grand brevet sometime in late August or early Sept. I'm hoping that would not be too unhealthy. What do you think?

I don't want to come down with cancer AGAIN. Just had surgery to remove an ocular melanoma from my left eye this past September. If I can get cancer once, then I can probably get it again. And I don't want to get it again!
I doubt you can find a single longitudinal study which backs up that contention. AFAIK, it's BS. Post the study if you find it. Try wearing darker riding glasses. I've been amazed at how dark a glass I can wear even on a cloudy day.

There are riders (or is a rider) who completed 1,000,000 lifetime miles. I don't know of a single cyclist who maintained their cycling life-long who had cancer. I'm sure they're out there, but it's much rarer than in non-cyclists.

It's a bit unscientific that there's all this emphasis on anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants. Those reactions in our bodies are built into our DNA for very good reasons, That's not a mistake. We need those reactions to speed healing. Take too many anti-inflammatories and your legs stay sore longer. If one believed in God, one could say that anti-inflammatories are blasphemy.
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Old 01-03-22, 03:25 PM
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I had tried to research that topic over the years with no convincing evidence one way or the other, to my mind.

Fitness, diet, training load, recovery, and how hard one rides all come into play. You really have to study what is going on at the mitochondria. Way too much to discuss on a forum. Some energy pathways produce more ROS than others. Whether any supplements like NAD+ or ubuquinol help is well...not well known despite supplement companies like trueniagen's claim. Who knows.

Personally, I think it is possible to overdo it but a couple of SR series and a 1200K with adequate rest isn't too much for my way of thinking.

Taking ibuprofen is a sure way to slow healing. I think endurance exercise can actually make one heal quicker. I've had some surgeries and also some (10) broken bones and the Docs were astonished how quickly I healed and I would say it is because endurance exercise has my body fixing itself all the time and thus, it is good at it. I doubt my cancer risk is higher.
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Old 01-03-22, 04:37 PM
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Eh, having also had a bout with one of the weird forms of melanoma (nailbed, not ocular): I decided while recovering that I'd much rather go out because a truck pasted me to the pavement on a brevet than in a hospital, and the heck with it, I'm doing things I enjoy, like riding brevets. If my body is a time bomb, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. I am *very* careful with sunscreen and wear UPF-rated long sleeves now (I often did before, just because getting burnt while riding is miserable, but now any ride over a couple hours I never go short-sleeved), even though the form I had isn't sun-exposure linked, but the docs thought it was a good idea.

Hope you've healed well and good luck. It's a scary experience, having the big C.
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Old 01-03-22, 06:23 PM
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If you've had cancer once, I'd say get out there and enjoy life.
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Old 01-03-22, 07:01 PM
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As far as what I think, if riding rando distances is going to reduce your quality of life because you'll be worrying about oxidative stress, then don't ride rando distances. I'm serious. Life's too short to spend it worrying.

I think there are about 1000 other things that should be bigger worries, if you'd analyze relative risks. Genital numbness comes to mind (don't know why lol). Hand numbness. Frostbite. Heatstroke. Hypothermia. A broken neck (don't know why lol). Food poisoning from convenience store food. Automobile accident on the way to/from the ride. Losing your spouse due to time apart. Skin cancer. Wild animal encounter. Feral animal encounter. That $h1# is all real. Oxidative stress from ultra events causing cancer is very speculative.

I think 3-5x per week at 20-40 miles with varying levels of intensity is a physically healthier life than is riding rando distances. We don't do this for our physical health.
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Old 01-03-22, 07:11 PM
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My Dr never heard of a brevet and did not know what randonneuring is, but he has an interest in sports medicine and is pretty knowledgeable on general sports types of medical issues. I have asked him a lot of questions and gotten answers that I trust.

If you have had some medical issues in the past, you really should be talking to a medical professional that knows your history for advice instead of some unknown people on the internet.
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Old 01-06-22, 09:51 AM
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Thank you to all of you who commented and shared your thoughts on this topic. After reading your comments I did a little more research online and came to the conclusion that it is not ultra-endurance sporting activities that cause excessive oxidative stress. Instead, it is overtraining for such activities and events that is the true culprit. I think ultra-endurance athletes have a reputation for overtraining. But as long as one doesn't overtrain, then the unhealthiness of oxidative stress can be avoided while being a randonneur it seems. Without proper recovery periods following workouts something unhealthy is bound to occur.
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Old 01-06-22, 11:38 AM
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Originally Posted by jlippinbike
Thank you to all of you who commented and shared your thoughts on this topic. After reading your comments I did a little more research online and came to the conclusion that it is not ultra-endurance sporting activities that cause excessive oxidative stress. Instead, it is overtraining for such activities and events that is the true culprit. I think ultra-endurance athletes have a reputation for overtraining. But as long as one doesn't overtrain, then the unhealthiness of oxidative stress can be avoided while being a randonneur it seems. Without proper recovery periods following workouts something unhealthy is bound to occur.
Overtraining is medically known as Overtraining Syndrome (OTS)(google). It's rare and more common among younger racers. I'm a member of a rando club and am not aware of any member who has had OTS.

There are two separate "conditions" which an athlete may encounter, overreaching and overtraining. These are two completely different animals which are frequently confused. If you google overtraining, you'll run into this confusion here and there.

Overreaching: You want to do this occasionally. If you don't, you could and probably should be training harder. When you overreach, you'll find yourself grabbing a smaller cog than normal on a familiar hill when you aren't even tired. Your HR won't come up on that hill like it normally does. You seem to have gotten weaker. You won't be able to successfully complete an interval set which you did just fine last week. When this happens, you do a few days of half hour zone 1 trainer rides and find that you come back stronger than you were. This is called supercompensation. That's a good reason for always using a HRM. You try that hill, don't get a HR response and you turn around and ride home easy. Try it again the next day, it'll probably be fine or if not, ride home easy again. Etc.

Overtraining: This happens when you overreach and think that your problem is not too much work, but rather too little and you increase your training volume and/or intensity. That doesn't work, so you increase it some more. A few weeks of that, and you get OTS and will need months of rest to recover. Your whole season is shot and sometimes a chunk of the next season. Overtraining is at least partly glandular. You've worn out your ductless glands and they don't work anymore. A lion could charge you and your HR wouldn't increase.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics...ining-syndrome
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Old 01-06-22, 11:49 AM
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As another cancer survivor, I'd suggest that there are many more threatening risk factors in cycling than cancer risk. Seriously, did your oncologist give any support to this idea? I do watch these kind of things and I'm not hearing about endurance athletes presenting with cancer - some heart issues (see Zinn) are getting attention, but nothing correlating OTS to cancer. Love to see what you got on that.
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Old 01-06-22, 01:14 PM
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When I was facing cancer pre-surgery I read the book title "The Metabolic Approach to Cancer" in which the authors suggest cancer patients should avoid stress, inflammation, and toxins. Mentioned along with oxidative stress was the term " long distance runners." I made the jump and associated that with ultra-distance cyclists. I eventually created a blog post regarding the book and a related video I found on YouTube where one of the authors is interviewed. See https://jlippinbike.wordpress.com/20...ach-to-cancer/.

Thanks for the two follow-up posts to my post from earlier today.
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Old 01-06-22, 01:35 PM
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The Life Extension crowd has had 40+ years to prove that "oxidative stress" shortens your life. To the best of my knowledge, they haven't. It sounds plausible enough to sell supplements, though.
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Old 01-06-22, 04:50 PM
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Originally Posted by jlippinbike
When I was facing cancer pre-surgery I read the book title "The Metabolic Approach to Cancer" in which the authors suggest cancer patients should avoid stress, inflammation, and toxins. Mentioned along with oxidative stress was the term " long distance runners." I made the jump and associated that with ultra-distance cyclists. I eventually created a blog post regarding the book and a related video I found on YouTube where one of the authors is interviewed. See https://jlippinbike.wordpress.com/20...ach-to-cancer/.

Thanks for the two follow-up posts to my post from earlier today.
It's my practice to never believe anything speculative said by a person who makes money off said speech. Period. That said, there are books with information which is generally known in the medical community but not so much by lay people, Here's a meta-analysis of 68 studies showing that endurance athletes get cancer less often. There are others. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7846545/
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Old 01-07-22, 04:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
It's my practice to never believe anything speculative said by a person who makes money off said speech. Period. That said, there are books with information which is generally known in the medical community but not so much by lay people, Here's a meta-analysis of 68 studies showing that endurance athletes get cancer less often. There are others. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7846545/
While it is true as a general rule that athletes live significantly longer than the general population, athletes can be categorized into subgroups and these subgroups do not always live significantly longer than the general population. The link Carbonfiberboy provided in his post herein above regarding meta-analysis of 68 studies statistically determined that ENDURANCE athletes were no better off than the general population with regard to cancer mortality. Endurance athletes are athletes. So one would think they are doing something to cause a longer life. Having said this, then one quite possibly could think that endurance athletes are doing something to cause a shorter life, too. Because cancer pops up in endurance athletes as if they were not athletes at all. At least this is the conclusion per the study cited by Carbonfiberboy.

I think Carbonfiberboy's study supports my determination that when endurance athletes fail to get proper recovery from doing excessive long bike rides they RISK creating an unhealthy amount of oxidative stress which can ultimately lead to cancer mortality. Just because there is a risk does not mean one will get cancer. But there seems to be evidence that the risk is real and quantifiable.
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Old 01-07-22, 04:49 AM
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Originally Posted by blacknbluebikes
As another cancer survivor, I'd suggest that there are many more threatening risk factors in cycling than cancer risk. Seriously, did your oncologist give any support to this idea? I do watch these kind of things and I'm not hearing about endurance athletes presenting with cancer - some heart issues (see Zinn) are getting attention, but nothing correlating OTS to cancer. Love to see what you got on that.
I have never put much faith in doctors, or other specialists. If I have a problem, then I typically research the heck out of it and become something of an expert on the subject myself. I basically rely on doctors for surgery. Not much else. My cancer was/is a rare one. It affects only 5 people out of a million a year. It's not all that deadly if it does not metastasize. Oncologists that eliminate it from the eye, or who eliminate the eye altogether, are one type of oncologist. And then there is the "medical oncologist" who deals with the cancer after it has spread. I'm not aware of any doctor who knows what causes my type of cancer. So if they don't know, then what good are they when it comes to supporting my idea?

Heart disease and cancer are by far the leading causes of death in the United States. See https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lea...s-of-death.htm. Until I was diagnosed with a tumor in my left eye this past June I thought I was pretty much invincible. Unfortunately, no longer. I've been doing some reading and studying on the subjects of health, exercise, diet, insulin resistance, fatty liver disease, stress, inflammation, heart disease, and cancer. And I looked at my physical condition, and the physical condition of many of those people doing long brevet rides like I have been doing. I'm not so sure aiming for a K-Hound award is a healthy thing to pursue. And I'm still trying to make sense of it. I certainly do not want to give up riding my bikes. But I don't want to be an idiot and try to kill myself either.

While it is true that overtraining syndrome is not all that common, it is also true that overtraining runs rampant and is usually cut back on BEFORE one falls prey to OTS. The overtraining I'm talking about is not merely overstretching. Instead it is overstretching time and time again, but not enough to trigger the chronic condition known as OTS. It's one thing to ride a 600k brevet that you are not really up to completing. That's overstretching. But what about riding a 200k brevet each day for 12 consecutive days? I'd say most will agree that that is overtraining. Will it cause the rider to fall into OTS. I doubt it. But riding 12x200k in 12 days will give you and overdose of oxidative stress I bet. Some oxidative stress is good. In fact, it's great. It's the way the body works. But too much of a good thing is usually bad. And an overdoes of oxidative stress. Is not good.

Just because my eye cancer was called a melanoma does not mean that sun light or infrared rays cause it. Skin cancer and eye cancer share the name melanoma because the cancer forms in pigmented tissue. That is the only commonality they have. My tumor was in the back of my eye. No sun light got back there to screw things up. But something did cause it. And no doctor has the answer. So I'm left trying to piece together the fact of my case and make some theories.

The responses in this forum string have been very helpful to me. Whether or not I agree with everything stated by the posters is not important. I got some perspective on my thoughts, and I am very grateful for all of the contributions. Thank you!!
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Old 01-07-22, 05:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
If you have had some medical issues in the past, you really should be talking to a medical professional that knows your history for advice instead of some unknown people on the internet.
Thanks for your concern. I wasn't really looking for ADVICE. Just wanted to hear what other people thought. And those responses have been very helpful. I never thought this cycling forum would ever be helpful to someone like me. Someone who has been an active cyclist for so many years. There really is little about cycling that I am not knowledgeable about.
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Old 01-07-22, 07:34 PM
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Originally Posted by jlippinbike
While it is true as a general rule that athletes live significantly longer than the general population, athletes can be categorized into subgroups and these subgroups do not always live significantly longer than the general population. The link Carbonfiberboy provided in his post herein above regarding meta-analysis of 68 studies statistically determined that ENDURANCE athletes were no better off than the general population with regard to cancer mortality. Endurance athletes are athletes. So one would think they are doing something to cause a longer life. Having said this, then one quite possibly could think that endurance athletes are doing something to cause a shorter life, too. Because cancer pops up in endurance athletes as if they were not athletes at all. At least this is the conclusion per the study cited by Carbonfiberboy.

I think Carbonfiberboy's study supports my determination that when endurance athletes fail to get proper recovery from doing excessive long bike rides they RISK creating an unhealthy amount of oxidative stress which can ultimately lead to cancer mortality. Just because there is a risk does not mean one will get cancer. But there seems to be evidence that the risk is real and quantifiable.
This subject gets more interest over in the geezer forum (Fifty Plus) than is usual in this LD forum. I started this thread over there a while back: https://www.bikeforums.net/fifty-plu...morbidity.html

Men's Journal is not where I usually look for information, but this article is topical, having some information on anti-inflammatories :https://www.mensjournal.com/health-f...health-impact/

And another paper on the subject: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7846545/
Overall, athletes live longer and have a reduced incidence of both CVD and cancer mortality compared to the general population, refuting the ‘J’ shape hypothesis. However, different health risks may be apparent according to sports classification, and between sexes, warranting further investigation.
Finally, here's a good paper on biological changes from endurance exercise and what they might have to do with cancer and other diseases: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/51/8/640
Exercise is one of several lifestyle factors known to lower the risk of developing cancer and is associated with lower relapse rates and better survival. This review highlights the numerous biochemical processes, which explain these potential anticancer benefits.
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Old 01-27-22, 07:23 AM
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Originally Posted by jlippinbike
It's one thing to ride a 600k brevet that you are not really up to completing. That's overstretching. But what about riding a 200k brevet each day for 12 consecutive days? I'd say most will agree that that is overtraining. Will it cause the rider to fall into OTS. I doubt it. But riding 12x200k in 12 days will give you and overdose of oxidative stress I bet. Some oxidative stress is good. In fact, it's great. It's the way the body works. But too much of a good thing is usually bad. And an overdoes of oxidative stress. Is not good.
Interesting thread. And wondering if any of it fits in my situation. I was 61 yo when I raced the Trans Am. 4200+ miles in a little over 28 days, with mileage days ranging from 70 (mechanical problem) to 220. In the month(s) afterwards I was notably weaker, which is no surprise. What has been concerning to me is how my body has kinda broke down since the race in June of 2019 Neck and knee surgery, Sciatic/back pain, which has been the worst. Always something. Could, and probably is, more of an age issue than anything, but maybe it goes beyond that. Just thought I would throw that out there.
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Old 01-27-22, 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by gif4445
Interesting thread. And wondering if any of it fits in my situation. I was 61 yo when I raced the Trans Am. 4200+ miles in a little over 28 days, with mileage days ranging from 70 (mechanical problem) to 220. In the month(s) afterwards I was notably weaker, which is no surprise. What has been concerning to me is how my body has kinda broke down since the race in June of 2019 Neck and knee surgery, Sciatic/back pain, which has been the worst. Always something. Could, and probably is, more of an age issue than anything, but maybe it goes beyond that. Just thought I would throw that out there.
Yes, of course it's an age thing, meaning the body's response to exercise changes as we age. The immediate question is what did you do about it? This is not really an LD topic, it's more appropriately addressed in the 50+ forum. 60+ y.o. riders who complete the TransAm probably don't comprise a large enough group on which to do a statistical analysis that would tell anyone anything.

I suffered notable drop-offs in my response to exercise at about 63 and 70, no idea why those sharp drops seem to happen instead of a steady slope. There's nothing remarkable in my training record. So far, whenever I've encountered a new issue, I've posted it and my fix in the 50+ forum. So far, I've had success fixing stuff. Seems to me there might be a training or supplement fix for everything short of organ failure. Not a complete fix, but good enough to keep on keeping on.

For the sciatica of course you do the special sciatic stretches every morning. I found the best therapy was to go for long vigorous walks while working on rolling each hip in a circular path. The first mile was hell, but then it kept getting better. All gone now. It seemed to me that not riding enough was what caused the sciatica - just a a back weakened from inadequate stress. I had a saddle sore. Once a body part gets weak, it's open to all sorts of damage. My first response to any kind of weakness or weak feeling is to train it out while experimenting with diet to see if that might have anything to do with it.
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Old 01-27-22, 03:14 PM
  #20  
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Originally Posted by gif4445
Interesting thread. And wondering if any of it fits in my situation. I was 61 yo when I raced the Trans Am. 4200+ miles in a little over 28 days, with mileage days ranging from 70 (mechanical problem) to 220. In the month(s) afterwards I was notably weaker, which is no surprise. What has been concerning to me is how my body has kinda broke down since the race in June of 2019 Neck and knee surgery, Sciatic/back pain, which has been the worst. Always something. Could, and probably is, more of an age issue than anything, but maybe it goes beyond that. Just thought I would throw that out there.
N = 2

Trans Am at similar age in similar time.

I had orthopedic issues post race but to be fair, I think my cervical problems were brewing for a decade and the torn rotator cuff was partially torn before the race.

Post race, my FTP was higher and my ability to suffer on 3-5 minute climbs was off the charts. I have never gotten close since then on my functional reserve capacity (FRC) or W'. I have exceeded the FTP figure.

I intentionally did not ride really hard. I was just coming out of some overtraining in the Fall where my volume and intensity was really high, too high. I was being coached at the time. That training in the Fall was way worse than TABR. I did two series that year, two 1200K, a 24 hour race, and my CTL was off the charts. I was more than overreached. I took a lot of time off. So, my TABR goals were modest. My race strategy was to sleep a good amount, not ride in dangerous conditions like lightning (once is enough), hard rain on bad roads, or nights on bad roads. I doubt anyone followed my Dot but I suppose if they did, they might have been.....what is he doing not moving. Like you I had difficult to resolve mechanical issues. I started the race with a painful case of gout in my left foot and then I feel dismounting on MacKenzie pass partially rupturing my achilles.

I suppose a younger rider would have not overtrained in the Fall or would have torn their rotor cuff when the dog got him. So, my issues were all orthopedic. I do not regret doing the race. You know when the UPS truck stops to tell you the heat index is 161 and offers you a ride and says, where you going and you say Virgina.....the look on his face is priceless.
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Old 01-27-22, 06:20 PM
  #21  
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I followed your dot. The only time I was concerned was when it disappeared up a holler in eastern Kentucky.
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Old 01-28-22, 09:02 AM
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Originally Posted by unterhausen
I followed your dot. The only time I was concerned was when it disappeared up a holler in eastern Kentucky.
Probably encounter 2 with dogs when they took me down in a hollow. I took some time to recompose myself and clean up the road rash

The funniest part if I can remember.... A cement truck was behind me and fortunately he stopped. The very nice fellow got out of the truck to help me and then says, "Did you done see that, the one dog got caught in your wheel and you crashed" as I lay there bleeding, my insides were laughing. Yup, I saw it all in slow motion. I don't know why but that makes me laugh to this day.

You know the age old advice not to burn matches on a brevet. I think that applies to riding in general and maybe gets to OP's point about stress. I'll climb at tempo or less if I can (Millbrook excepted as that on is all hands on deck) and honestly think that in the end the brevets are easier. Pacing. I've tried to read and learn about fatigue on long rides over the years. The topic is not well researched, I've even had gotten that from the famous Exercise Physiologists. The best data point I have is studying power files of top endurance racers and knowing their FTP (I have asked some) that it seems they never go more than 75% of FTP at the start and over the many hours, their power levels go down. It just seems they are working hard by their speed but in reality many times they are at 70% of FTP. I like Dr. Phil Maffetone approach in his Big Book of Endurance Racing and Training, it is very much aligned with minimizing stress. His view is to build a big aerobic engine and only do anaerobic work sparingly. Mark Allen followed this approach and won what was it every Ironman alive for a decade? I followed it and it bumped my aerobic threshold considerably.....this not functional threshold, it is the power level where you start to produce lactate or more glycolic metabolism rather than just pure aerobic. The book is hard to read but his formula is simple. As long as I ride at least 5 times per week and stay below the HR level he recommends, I get fitter and fitter over many months and I do not feel stress. Is this lack of oxidative stress? I'll dig out the book to see.
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Old 01-28-22, 01:11 PM
  #23  
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I checked that Dr. Maffetone book. Although he cautions a lot about overtraining, the reasons given focus on hormonal imbalances and the effects on physical and mental health. The question of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on longevity were not in there. I have read that the early belief that ROS were destructive to mitochondria is changing in the research. It seems a low level is healthy but an excessive level is not and physical activity (PA) increases longevity and decreases morbidity in older age. Last quote references exercise at 50-70% of VO2 max, this is not a really hard pace, as being conducive to mitochondria. So, I would guess moderate pace long rides are good for health. Personally, I monitor sleep and heart rate variability when doing heavy rando mileage and if in doubt, I take a rest day. YMMV. Who Knows really


ROS is often considered as a toxic metabolic byproduct that causes detrimental damage to multiple cellular components, thereby contributing to the aging process (3, 52). However, as discussed above, mitochondrial ROS is not the major cause of mtDNA mutations, indicating a more complex cellular role. Actions of ROS are pleiotropic. They cause oxidative stress at higher concentrations (pathological) while they act as signaling molecules at lower levels (physiological).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pm...es/PMC6386233/

It is now widely accepted that the ability to deliver and utilize oxygen by the cardiorespiratory system and skeletal muscles, respectively (e.g., maximal aerobic capacity; VO2max), is a strong determinant of health and longevity in modern humans [9]. For example, runners have ~45–70% and ~30–50% reduced risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer, respectively, and live 3–10% (2–8 years) longer than non-runners
Aging is characterized by a progressive impairment of all body organs, including those that regulate VO2max and locomotion (e.g., cardiorespiratory, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems), resulting in a ~10% decline in aerobic capacity per decade in both males and females after ~ 30 years of age
((That decline is not assured. Many healthy lifelong aerobic exercisers lose much less. Andrew Coggan and other athletic scientists have shared their aerobic losses and they are much, much less than 10% per decade. ))

Currently, physical activity (PA) and caloric restriction represent the only non-pharmacologic means to enhance health-span and life expectancy by their ability to coordinately rejuvenate the systems that drive the biological aging process [21,22]; however, exercise is the only factor confirmed to lower morbidity and all-cause mortality in epidemiological studies.
Acute contractile activity is a hormetic stress stimulus that temporarily alters intracellular danger signals (ROS, Ca2+, pH, and hypoxia), lowers cellular energy state (NAD+/NADH and AMP/ATP), and promotes release of hormones and circulatory factors (‘exerkines’), which synchronously activate signaling pathways that stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis (CaMK II, PGC-1α, SIRT1, and AMPK), antioxidant defense (Nrf2-Keap1, NF-κB, and MAPK), waste recycling (autophagy (ULK1-Beclin1) and 26S proteasome (FOXO3a)), and the immune response (IL-1β, IL-18, IL-6, IL-10, IL-1ra, sTNF-R, etc.) [20,21,128,129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139]. Anabolic GRPs, mainly mediated by Akt-mTOR signaling (e.g., protein synthesis), are activated following exercise concomitant with energy repletion, and may stay elevated for 1–2 days in older adults [140]. Consistent with the concept of hormesis [44,141], repeated exposure to a single-stress stimulus such as exercise improves stress resistance and immunity, rejuvenates mitochondria (increased biogenesis, recycling, and damage removal), and increases the organ functional reserve
The long-term benefits of PA are multi-systemic (muscular, nervous, vascular, endocrine, and immune systems) and culminate in reduced all-cause mortality and enhanced longevity (e.g., ~3–10% in average life expectancy) [10,11]. AET is considered the gold standard to improve mitochondrial biogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and cardiorespiratory fitness across all age groups. In older adults, AET partially reverses mitochondrial dysfunction by augmenting mtDNA copy number, mitochondrial transcript and protein expression, oxidative enzyme function, ATP synthesis, and total mitochondrial volume [142,143,144]. Short et al. demonstrated that the capacity for mitochondrial biogenesis (e.g., PGC-1α, NRF1, and TFAM), mitochondrial gene expression (COX IV and ND4), and Kreb’s cycle/MRC enzyme activities (CS and COX) may be enhanced by AET regardless of age [143]. Indeed, 12 weeks of progressive moderate-intensity AET (50–70% vo2 max) increased total mitochondrial content (mtDNA and cardiolipin), MRC function (NADH oxidase and succinate oxidase), and HOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance) in older adults
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pm...es/PMC6627948/
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Old 01-28-22, 03:15 PM
  #24  
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Apologies if this is boring. I thought......If tons of miles at high intensity are bad for you, Tour de France riders would show those affects

Actually, quite the opposite. Much lower morbidity. 6.3 years longer life (French riders). An international stud showed 7.8 years!!!

Considering all the drugs they took, this is an eyeopener for me.

(My heart stops when I sleep, apparently, this is the only thing I have in common with TdF riders, pretty common with those old dogs, too)

https://www.velonews.com/training/st...s-live-longer/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21618162/

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Old 01-29-22, 05:49 PM
  #25  
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Are they comparing life expectancy to the general population or to someone who at TdF age is super fit, super healthy and reasonably wealthy?
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