I've always considered myself a pretty healthy "athlete". Even though I certainly feel like I have a lot further to go in the "athlete" department. (We're always growing & progressing!) One thing I've struggled with the last three years is constant fatigue, inconsistent bouts of energy and really awful recovery. The lastest symptom being "poofy". So my brothers convinced me to get a full bloodwork panel done and when I tell you I was SURPRISED. As someone who already focused on Iron intake, Lives in Sunny California, and takes crazy amounts of electrolytes. These markers blew my mind. Which has led me down a rabbit hole of understanding that just because you're doing or consuming the right things, doesn't mean your body can optimize it. For example. Calcium, Caffiene & magnesium block your iron receptors. So if you consume a salad with ranch, blue cheese or other dairy. No dice. Fortified milk in your coffee? Also no good. Beef & cheese? Forget it. Electolytes while taking iron? Not going to work. But on top of that, Vitamin D carries calcium from your blood to your bones. Not enough Vitamin D? Too much Calcium in blood prevents iron absorbtion also. HOWEVER. You need to consume iron with Vitamin C for "optimal absorbtion". It makes me wonder what else are missing in how everything works together in the body? Moral of the story. If you "feel off" and you're convinced it's just "getting older" I learned...it's not. Shingles at 24? Not normal. Turns out my immune system is freaking about something. I would've never known without a blood test. Now more digging to come, but at least now I know, "It's not normal". Have you ever had a bloodwork panel done? DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A NUTRITIONIST. THIS IS JUST SOME RAMBLINGS I'VE PUT TOGETHER FROM THE INTERNET. CONSULT A DOCTOR YADA YADA YADA.

We're revisiting the basics this week and talking about BRAKING! Specifically, braking body positions and becoming acclimated to our controls again. So this week we're going to work on our Straight Line Braking drill - which can be found here: https://www.skool.com/thepracticeloop/classroom/ca3aa4f0?md=fa016fc81a67453caa346d5f4b047b8c Once you get familiar with that, you can start playing with the progressions inside the "5 Drills To Build Downhill Confidence" https://www.skool.com/thepracticeloop/classroom/379f6c73?md=0c4035343b264b99991ff9711980979e Starting with just going down a hill as slow as we can - aiming to try and "stop" in the middle without putting a foot down. Then progressing to balancing and stepping over the bike to build some muscle memory for those situations where we can't get to the ground quickly in technical situations. And the next progression being working on turning down hill. Progressively making the turn tighter and tighter. @Mason Swan you get to work on Stoppie turns...just cuz. @Johanna Huber since you asked about tires, most of us in the group run Plews Tyres - which are primarily trail tires, but I think you'd enjoy the Grand Prix which I've linked below. You can get it for 10% off from Risk Racing (the link I've sent you) using code SPLAT10. This is a deep lug tire with a paddle tread so it should hold up in silt, sand, and mud pretty well too. https://riskracing.com/products/plews-tyres-grand-prix-intermediate-soft-deep-lug-enduro-rear-tire?_pos=5&_sid=556ac5b71&_ss=r

Well this is gonna show case some really awesome stuff and some not so awesome stuff. I struggled in this creek for probably 25 minutes this morning.

Nick introduced me to a new way of power delivery, and I had a crazy breakthrough this morning. We'll talk about it on tonights call.

I’m having a hard time walking after this leg day!