Review: Tanita BC-1000 Scale with Healthy Edge Software

I know you've seen it. Some new crazy scale that has no numbers on it. Some new software that claims to make it fun to weigh in each morning.

The BC-1000 from Tanita is supercool. Just walk by your computer with the Healthy Edge software on it and click, "New measurement" from your profile. Walk to the scale... it beeps and flashes green. Step on and wait for another few beeps. That's it!

Meanwhile, back at your computer. All of your info is there and updated:
Date, time, weight, BMI, total body fat%, mass, Fat free mass; Total body water % and mass; Muscle mass and bone mass. It also guesses at your Basal Metabolic Rate, daily caloric intake, your metabolic age, and it rates your physique. It also has a field for comments (sleep quality, hydration, when you ate, when you worked out, whatever...)

Its graphs and goals are what make it most helpful and idiot proof. As you change your training into a base early/pre-season phase, this device could keep the motivation going!

It came with an ANT+ usb stick to talk to the scale. The warranty is only 90 days, for such a costly item that is a suckass warranty. I set it up easily last night. Entering the athlete profile was easy and pairing the scale with my desktop PC was also easy. Of course I weighed myself before and after dinner last night and before and after coffee this morning.
It is fun and easy... let's hope it make me mindful of overall goals.

1) My brief training camp @ 4000 ft 2) Base period body weight 3) Snazzy tile

Training Camp:

I wanted 5 good rides on the Texas/New Mexico frontier. I got 4 rides total, two were good.
The snowed forced the arrival to Monday (instead of Saturday), then I brought the wrong drop-out with me to put on the training bike. I had to get a shop in Midland, TX (Peyton's Bikes) to overnight the correct one from Dallas (I was relieved that they could get it!). Had to drive over 3 hours round trip back the next day to pick up the correct drop. That was Tuesday and it was getting dark by the time I drove back into New Mexico so I didn't ride. But yes... on that day the weather was f**'in perfect.
So, I went out on the Raleigh R700 with old 9spd Ultegra over the next four days. I brought my Power Tap wheel and Garmin with me (yes, I was the super dork with a red mavic wheel bag on the plane). I was glad to have brought the power tap wheel so I could see how the power was under those conditions.
POWER SUCKING FACTORS:
1) 3700 - 4000 feet of elevation is enough to FEEL LIKE you are short of breath. It was a very strange feeling. Not quite mountain climbing, but I did feel that lack of oxygen.
2) The training bike (featured in the photo above), which I love, saps the power every step of the way. Cycling power begins at the core (or your Chi if you're a hippie). Then to your major muscle movers, down to your foot bones. From there I had my old plastic Sidi T-1 tri shoes, super old original speedplays, old bottom bracket, old old nasty chain, old derailler. This is VERY different from the 2006 Trek Madone with 10sp dura ace.
3) Motivation, while it was very cool to be out in the wild, and the cars were more polite than they are around here, I saw not one other bike and rode alone.
Here are the rides:
12/23 Wed: 1:20 total, 209 avg watts . Tried to do some 20 min int, but was not used to the air.
Interval 1: 6.5 minutes, 290 watts.
Int.2: 20min. @ 252 watts average.
12/24 Thurs: 33 degrees, 30 mph sustained winds, UGG! 38 minutes, bad day.
12/25 Fri: 2:30:00 total, 215 avg watts: 2 x 60.
Int1: 60 min: avg. 225 Watts, 809 KJ, avg 140bpm. rest 13 min...
Int2: 60 min: avg. 234 Watts, 842 KJ, avg 145 bpm.
12/26 Sat.: 48 min total, 632 KJ. Headwind/tailwind.
Int1: 7 min, 303W, 154bpm, 126 KJ. avg 18.9 mph
Int2: 15min, 274W, 154bpm, 271 KJ. avg 24.4 mph

Sunday was travel day, Monday night I did an old Spinervals tape, I will post about that later.

OFF SEASON BODY WEIGHT:

I did not weigh myself for a week, which seems normal. In this off season, my body weight has gone up. At first it was all fat (I think), then it was from additional muscle (maybe 2-5 pounds??). My numbers are good on the bike, see my posts about my power tests. But my body weight has become a concern as it will be January soon. So I am changing my gym routine from MAximum Strength Phase to a Strength Maintenance Phase (see: Cyclists Training Bible 3rd or 4th edition, 4th Ed is better). I was reading Jo Friel's blog here: http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/12/base-period-body-weight.html
He says that weight gain is normal in the off-season, it may be good for your mood/psyche. I have been at an OFF-SEASON weight (still training). I need to move into a TRAINING WEIGHT, so that I can have an easier time getting to a good RACE WEIGHT.
I got a new scale for Christmas. And as we all know, even the most basic new toy can help keep the motivation high.

SNAZZY TILE

The tile on the left side of this picture is a 1 inch glass mosaic: super trendy. It would still be better than the giant mirror I have in the bathroom now. That middle part is used to make a frame and the right side is butt.

Last two weeks: Summary of Deadlegs Syndrome.

Today I had to get off of my trainer after about 38 minutes. Uggg. I hopped on because I was getting bored and feeling guilty about lounging around with cabin fever. I have dead legs for a good reason I think.

The five days before my last power test on Saturday December 12th on Skyline Dr, I did not get on the bike at all (DEC 7-11th). I did one whole gym routine and one shortened gym routine that week.

Following that power test, the next form of exercise was Haines Point the following Tuesday (Dec. 15). I tried to make a 2.5 hour ride out of it. That day at HP was very difficult, eventhough I was struggling I still love it on those days when the pace is hot all around the loop (thanks Chuck!). I felt bad, like way too much time off, I definitely was way over-rested, lost some fitness.
Wednesday December 16th, hit the gym. I had time to do my full 70 minute routine. I added 1 min over-geared exercise bike reps to my 2 minute jump rope reps and made it a 9 minute super set (2 jump, 1 bike, 2 jump 1 bike etc). Definitely got the HGH flowing.
By the way, I already do the whole stack on both hip machines (think "Thighmaster") and I am a few plates away from doing sets with the whole stack on the leg press machine (the one featured in recent blog entry about single leg). It is labeled 390 but that is only relative to that specific machine.
Thurs Dec 17, trainer workout at home with my new fan. I did 4 intervals with full recovery in between. 5 min @ 292W, 5 min @ 326W, 10 min @ 308W, 20 min @ 274W, then a little 10 min @ 184. Making the switch back to the trainer was annoying, I need a bigger window and fan.
Friday Dec 18th, back to the gym, I resumed doing triple sets of the main power exercises (smith machine squats and leg press). I STILL keep the pace fast between sets and between exercises. BEST SONG FOR A 4-5 minute jump rope interval: Till I Collapse by Eminem it has about a 40 second intro for you to get going. I also did a crazy "down the rack" set of incline flys just for old times sake. I followed the fitness ball abs with 1 minute planks- ouch!

Your body is craving to give you steroids, natural steroids that God gave us all. You just have to ask it in the right way; to have the pituitary gland drop it into your bloodstream. You cannot ask nicely or half-assed.

In short: too much time off with questionable sleep, then a fast return to training.

Christmas training camp... flying out in the snow. (New years at HP???)

Is it too much hype again, or will it truly be a historical snowstorm???????????

I have an 8:30a flight out of Reagan tomorrow for my personal 10 day training camp in the Southwest. 10-day forecast is clear and 60-65. I am bring my PT wheel and my garmin, I have a training bike out there already (yeah Raleigh R700!).

I will be super pissed off if I am stuck at Reagan National tomorrow.

I have no goals except I want FIVE good rides. The kind you come home from and eat then nap until dinner.

This is also known as visiting family.

IS HAINES POINT HAPPENING ON NEW YEARS DAY??

Anyone?

A tale of two Power tests. How to add 21 watts and set a Personal Best.

NOVEMBER 28th:
I went out to set FTP after a good week of training. Riding and gym routines. It was early on a Saturday on Clara Barton (at the Goldsboro area) we rode hard out to the end and back to set a max 20 min power effort. I was pleased with my watts. Felt I could have dug deeper.

DECEMBER 12th:
Fast forward to this past Saturday. I was going to Front Royal to socialize. So I brought my bike and went to Skyline Dr first thing in the morning (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr).

I had not been on the bike for 5 days and had done 1.5 gym routines. I was rested.

I warmed up, then went to the main Skyline gate, unzipped the jacket, wore just glove liners, turned on my music (in one ear only).
As soon as my watts were steady in the 300s, I started my Garmin Edge 705 Lap2.

I ADDED 21 WATTS by being rested and fighting uphill. I was about 28 degrees, but not windy, clear and sunny. This was the highest 20min effort in I have ever put in since I began using WKO/Powertap.

I plan on adding another 14 watts to my 20 minute effort in late January. I am concerned because holiday training will be inconsistent.

Then I saw a baby bear's butt.

Newsflash: Oatmeal will turn to glue.

So, I am trying to eat more healthful, organic, natural foods. I have been having 300 calories of plain oats at around 7am everyday for a long time. (1 cup).

It truly has the ability to get you through to the afternoon should you choose to starve your body. Luckily for me it only has to get me through to 10am for my second feeding of the day.

Some days I have to microwave the oats in Tupperware and take it with me (early to bed early to rise, right?). After eating I am left with an almost empty container and no time and no where to rinse it out.

If you ever find yourself in this predicament: PUT THE LID BACK ON.

It will turn to dried up glue if you don't. You have been warned.

Hitting the gym pays off in cycling power. Check out my chart.

The above chart compares racing to off-season. I take this as good evidence that my off-bike training is helping my on bike wattage. I have been doing my gym routine during the off-season circled above.
Here is what Joe Friel says about the BASE PERIOD.

So I took it easy last week. I hit Haines Point once, had to avoid getting caught up in the sprinting. Avoiding the intensity at HP was the hardest thing to do. I had to keep the intensity down though. After 4 solid weeks of "Base Building" I hit the wall.

Hitting the wall sucked big time. It felt like a little bit of burnout mixed with getting kicked in the nuts. It was a ride where I had little mojo. No "oomph" in my legs. Body felt tired. So I planned to relax for a week. I did relax on rides, kept heart rate low. Then the weather turned nasty.

I rode after the snow day with Robb. It never reached 40 degrees. It was a good 2 hours of ride time, but my toes and feet got numb. I need new booties.
So this week with cold rain has seen:

• Monday, no riding or training at all.
• Tuesday, modified gym routine; I increased my Rocky Balboa jump-rope routine to 4 minutes. Jumping rope is my new cross-training favorite.
• Wednesday, no time to ride in daylight. I finally got a fan for my indoor trainer sessions. I might have to try it out tonite.
• Thursday- I might try to get to HP, otherwise, back to the gym for the full 70 minute routine.
• Friday, 10k jog? 2 hour trainer session?

Who knows, weather is loco.