Jennifer Sage joins 10th Annual Ride for a Reason to benefit Special Olympics

It gives me (beyond) great pleasure to announce that the state of Vermont will be welcoming Jennifer Sage to the 10th Annual Ride for a Reason indoor cycling marathon to benefit the Special Olympics on Sunday, March 21, 2010. The event will be held at the Sheraton in Burlington, Vermont.

Along with myself (STAR 3 Instructor Melissa Marotta, Vermont), Spinning Master Instructors Anthony Musemici (New York) and Angie Scott (Vermont), and STAR 2 Instructor David Means (Vermont), Jennifer will co-lead what will undoubtedly be an inspiring and invigorating six-hour endurance challenge. 150+ riders at last year’s event raised nearly $40,000 to support the athletes of the Special Olympics.

When Jennifer officially confirmed our invitation by phone, I nearly blew out her ear drum with shrieks of glee. It is an incredible honor to have one of my personal heroes up there beside me for a life event of such significance to me as a coach.

To join us all for the big event in Vermont, you can visit http://www.vtso.org/spinning_marathon.php
You can register for the full day (6 hours), put together a relay team to split up the day, or simply register for any number of hours you’d like to ride.

Jennifer’s east coast cameo will include Master Classes at several Boston area clubs. If you are interested in riding with Jennifer or would like to arrange for Jennifer to host a Master Class at your club, please contact her at jennifer@indoorcycleinstructor.com.

Hope to see many of you in the no-longer-very-frozen north!

Managing Exercise-Induced Headaches

“A student approached me after one of my indoor cycling classes, complaining of an intense headache and asking me what I thought. I didn’t know what to say, so I just told her to see her doctor! Any thoughts?”

- S.H., Darien, NY

Melissa writes:

First off, kudos to you for having the courage to acknowledge the limits of your expertise. You did exactly the right thing to refer your student to see her physician.

Exercise-induced, or exertion headaches are yet another incompletely understood phenomenon (thats tends to be what I end up writing about on ICI, after all!). Headaches that occur during or immediately after exercise are well-described in the literature and are thought to be quite common: it is estimated that 1 out of 100 people experience at least one exertion headache at some point in their lives¹. However, large prospective studies are lacking to identify exactly what causes them². Read more…

INJURED? THINK TWICE BEFORE POPPING THAT PILL

Pain sucks. When we get injured or sore or uncomfortable, we instinctually try to fix it. We reach into our medicine cabinets, pop some pills, and “get back out there.” But are we really doing ourselves a service? Can we actually be inadvertently putting ourselves at risk? Turns out, maybe so.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), naproxen (Aleve), celecoxib (Celebrex) and a ton of others, are available over-the-counter and are widely used by the general population for, well, everything. Studies have found a disproportionately high use of NSAIDs amongst athletes, particularly elite athletes, as well as a lack of awareness of key dangerous side effects.

Standard care in medical practice is to discourage prophylactic use (taking medications in advance of preventing a problem, as opposed to treating an existing problem) of NSAIDs. But what about NSAID use after injuries? NSAIDs have traditionally been part of hallmark treatment, particularly for facilitating an early return to activity. But there is a controversy in sports medicine about whether NSAID use in the first few days after acute sports injuries can actually compromise the healing process. Let’s examine how that might be so. Read more…

WHEN MORE is not more – RECOGNIZING OVERTRAINING

Melissa Marotta, MS-II, University of Vermont College of Medicine
STAR 3 Spinning Instructor
Certified Personal Trainer, American Council on Exercise http://spintastic.blogspot.com/

Feeling Lousy
A 35 year old woman presents to her primary care doctor reporting that she has been “feeling lousy” for a few weeks. Upon further questioning, she describes that she has difficulty concentrating at work, is frequently irritable and anxious, and has had changes in her appetite. She hasn’t been sleeping well, feels generally sluggish, and has no interest in sex – or anything else, for that matter.

So what’s the deal? Viral infection? Major depression? Anemia? Vitamin D deficiency?
Maybe not.

“You exercise?” asks the woman’s doctor.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Oh yeah. I totally LOVE my Spinning classes! They kick my ass.”

Hmmm. Relevant? Maybe.

Turns out, excessive high-intensity training with inadequate recovery can result in nervous system, hormonal, and immunological changes1. This manifests itself as not only compromised athletic performance but also as disturbances in cardiac function, sleep and energy, cognitive performance, mood, sweating, and immunity. Sub-ideal, right? Right.

WHAT IS OVERTRAINING?

Sorry for the cliff hanger, this article was way too long to post. A link to it will be sent to everyone on our email lists the same day it posts.

If you are not on our list you can sign up here.

Beta Blockers Q&A

Q: “I’ve been on a beta-blocker (atenolol) for my high blood pressure. Lately I find that I can’t keep up with the profiles my instructor presents in the Spinning classes I take. When I push to the target energy zones, I feel like I am overexerting myself. I’m exhausted. Can you help me understand how this medication might be affecting my heart rate?”
- J.T.

Melissa writes:
An excellent question indeed. I’m glad you’ve noticed that something isn’t quite as you expect, and that you’ve empowered yourself to get to the ‘heart’ of what’s going on. (Bad joke…)

Beta-blockers are one kind of well over 15 types of different medications used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), some of which you may also have heard of: angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), calcium-channel blockers, diuretics, and many more. Each class of drugs works on different receptors in different locations (heart, blood vessels, lungs, skeletal muscles, etc.), and thus has different effects. I will limit my discussion here to Beta-blockers, and defer the others for a later article.
Read more…