In 5 years of mountain biking I never had a serious injury until May. First, a separated AC in the shoulder. That was mostly healed, and I had a much worse accident Monday night. I fell and dislocated my shoulder, broke my arm, and bashed my face in, possibly breaking my nose. I had to be extracted out of the woods by 5 EMTS, taken to the hospital and put to sleep to fix my shoulder. I'm now in a sling. I have no use of my left arm and only partial use of my right. I thought last year was going to be my bad luck year, but apparently is year is going to be worse.
So I'm out of work at my day job. Since I can't work on my own goals and have time I want to help others with theirs. There are 3 deals I am offering:
1. Very low cost personal training and nutrition. I have been a certified PT and sports nutritionist for 10 years an dive helped hundreds of people. I normally charge $130 for a comprehensive program. For the month of June I will just charge $55. That's nearly a giveaway. Contact me for info.
2. Free memberships to Beach Body through my website. Visit www.beachbodycoach.com/ultrasarah and click join. It's well worth the 2 minutes to sign up. Tons of healthy recipes, free workouts, articles, conversations. And if you sign up through my website I will be your official coach.
3. Best deal thru Beach Body ever. See the pic at the top of the post? Hip Hop abs is a well known Beach Body workout. Right now it's on sale for $19.95 only for the next 3 days!! You get Shaun Ts awesome ab workout, his fun cardio workout, and his total body sculpt workout. Along with that you get an additional ab workout DVD and a hips, buns and thighs DVD. And, a workout calendar, step by step diet plan, measuring tape and measurement chart, 3 hip hop dance workouts, restaurant guide, plus last minute abs and last minute buns workouts! It's a whopping $400 value for $19.95! It will sell out so order now, but only through my website please! Www.beachbodycoach.com/ultrasarah
Or you can message me and I'll hook you up.
4. If you is the hip hop abs deal, message me and I'll hook you up with other June deals through beach body.
I'm back to normal as far as mountain biking goes. I'm still having shoulder pain, but it isn't stopping me from riding. This week I got in 78 miles of riding, with a fair bit of technical stuff. I still need to add in more technicals in order to get where I want to be. Just 4 weeks until my next race, 66 miles in New York! I fondly remember riding here last year. Looking forward to it again!
I wanted to take a minute to talk about Shakeology. There are a lot of health/nutrition/weight loss products out there, but Shakeology is different. It's real food, a real meal. It's made with whey protein and carbs from fruit and vegetable sources. It contains probiotics, prebiotics, fiber and digestive enzymes to keep you bloat free and help your body digest and absorb all the goodness! It contains adoptogens that improve the immune system and energy. It contains antioxidants and phytonutrients that prevent disease and improve the immune system, as well as decrease inflammation. But wait, it also is loaded with vitamins and minerals that you are actually going to absorb because of the digestive enzymes! Can it get better? yes! The protein and amino acids it contains actually reduce hunger and cravings! I've never eaten a food and actually thought it made a difference in how I felt until I tried Shakeology. Oh, and it tastes really good! The price of Shakeology works out to $4 per serving. keep in mind a serving is a MEAL. Think about how much your meals costs, especially if you buy them out. $4 is not a lot for a meal! With all of this good news, I have even better news for you! There is now a sample pack available! You can buy one serving each of chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and green berry, so you can see which one you like before you order a month supply. I ask that if you order, please do so from my website, www.shakeology.com/ultrasarah Click buy now and scroll down until you see the sample pack. And message me with ANY questions! I am happy to chat.
On mother's day I took a bad fall on my mountain bike and hurt my shoulder. Spending mother's day in the ER wasn't so much fun. I missed 2 weeks of training. I'm glad to say I'm back at it! I'm not sure how missing those 2 weeks is going to impact me. My upcoming race is 66 miles, and I haven't been able to get in any long rides. I'm just going to do the best I can between then and now. I'm still having pain, so my rides can't be super long yet. I'm hitting the technical stuff hard and making some progress with my skills. Here's my bike taking a rest yesterday.
Workout spotlight: T25! This is an intense, 25 minute workout designed for people who have minimum time but want maximum results. This 10 week program is split in to two phases and is packed with dynamic, high intensity moves that WILL give you rapid, dramatic results. If you aren't seeing results with your current workouts, I promise you will with T25. To order, please visit my website, or send me a message! With your purchase you will get me as your personal coach! Http://beachbodycoach/ultrasarah
I'm very pleased to announce that I am now a coach for Beach Body! As a Beach Body coach I am here to help achieve all of your health and fitness goals. Contact me today and let me know how I can help you! Right now I can offer free memberships to Beach Body. Check it out and see all they have to offer! They will not send you unwanted emails and its free, so there is nothing to lose. It's super easy. Just visit my site and click the orange join button. Www.beachbodycoach.com/ultrasarah
If you have any questions about the workouts or supplements please contact me. Let me know how I can help you make your dreams come true!
I'm pleased to announce that tomorrow, May 12 I am starting a Get Fit For Summer Challenge and YOU are invited to join! The challenge will run for 2 months. You can have any goal you like. The sky is the limit! I will be posting daily check ins and motivation on facebook. Participating in check ins is optional. There will be prizes for everyone who meets their goal, and a special prize for an overall winner. Contact me here or on facebook if you would like to join. Even if you are a coup,e days late, you can still join. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
I'm happy to say that race season is underway. I felt very unprepared for my first race because I had ridden on trails exactly once this year before the race. I was in excellent shape because I had been riding on the road a ton. But I was SO out of practice with my skills on trails. I knew I wouldn't be at my best. This race was a 6 hour race in Rhode Island. We had a beautiful weekend, 60's and sunny. The race was a 15 mile lap. I had no idea what the course would be like. The answer was muddy and technical! There were some smooth and fast sections, but lots of super technical stuff. And I was right, my skills handling that stuff were rusty. It was great practice! I was doing surprisingly well until my third lap. About half way through I knew something was wrong with my bike. I stopped and felt my tires. The back one was about half way flat. 7.5 miles to go. Ugh!! I rode a bit further and then it was completely flat. I had a very long way to go, pushing my bike. Gradually my front tire went flat too. Who gets two flat tires at the same time? Oh, that would be me. People went passed me and the distance seemed to go by so slowly. I thought I would never reach the finish. I finally did. I ended up near the back of the pack for obvious reasons. It's very frustrating finish poorly because of a technical failure. But, I got in some good practice. Trails are dry now and I've been out on them like crazy. I feel very good about my next race, which is in 6 weeks! Here are a couple pictures of some nice portions of the course.
"We do not stop exercising because we grow old - we grow old because we stop exercising." Dr. Kenneth Cooper, Cooper Institute.
I'm often asked how I find the time to train so much, and I hear comments from people about how they wish they could exercise, but they don't have the time. I would like to share my thoughts.
My life is a race from one task to the next. I have a full time job, I do personal training part time, I have a volunteer job, two kids in the house, family and friends, three difficult and active dogs, a small farm, and this passed year I have been in school part time. That sounds like enough to keep a person busy 24 hours a day, huh? But I'm also a competitive endurance athlete. When I add up the hours I spend not only training, but the extras that go along with it, like all the extra laundry, cleaning my bike, etc I spend 20-40 hours a week on my athletic career, depending on the phase of training I'm in. I still manage to make this work.
So how do I do it? Priorities. I would love to keep my house spotlessly clean and well organized, but I have to settle for doing the best I can. I don't watch TV or movies. I don't use the internet for fun and entertainment. I never just sit. When I tell people this they sometimes respond that they need time to sit and relax to relieve stress. I do have plenty of stress that I need to relieve. Long, vigorous training sessions melt away any and all stress that I feel, far better than sitting and relaxing in front of the TV, in my experience. I sleep well and wake up feeling stress free (at least most of the time). I believe this is in large part because of my vigorous training schedule.
My lifestyle is certainly not for everyone. However, if you feel you don't have time to exercise, take a close look at your lifestyle and see what you can change to make it happen. It will be a change you won't regret. If I can do what I do, I KNOW you can make your fitness goals happen.
It's 3 weeks until my first race of the season, and the trails are still much too soft to ride. At least I am able to work in my endurance. I've been riding on both paved a dirt roads with lots of steep, long climbs. This week I rode 132 miles total, 2 50 mile rides and 1 32 mile ride. I've set up a few obstacles in my back ride to practice some skills, and I'm going to set up more. I've got boards to ride over, logs to jump, and rocks to ride between. Once I get more done Ill post some pics and videos. But for now I will anxiously await getting out on trails. Here are some pictures to enhance my day dreaming.
4 WEEKS UNTIL MY FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON! I posted a mountain bike race schedule before, but the final schedule wasn't up yet. It is now and here it is: May 4-Battle of Burlingame 6 hour race in Rhode Island June 28- Wildcat 100k race in Wawarsing, NY July 19th- Carrabassett 100k race, CV, Maine July 26th- 12 hours of Millstone, 12 hour race, Websterville, VT August 17th- Hampshire Hundred 100k+ race Greenfield, NH September 13th- Peak 6 hour race, Pittsfield, VT
All pictures above are from Peak Races 6 hour race, photo credit to Peak. Great trails!
With only 4 weeks to go, I still can't get out on trails. The winter was so incredibly harsh. It's going to be a little while before they are rideable. I'm stuck on the roads. I'm getting great endurance and hill work, but I need to work on technicals, and that's not an option righ
My name was not drawn in the Mount Washington Road Race lottery. I was disappointed at first, but soon realized that it's going to work out for the best. The schedule for the New England Endurance Series mountain bike races was posted. The number of total races has gone up, and instead of starting in mid July, it starts at the beginning of May. I really want to focus more on mountain biking and less on running. My primary goal is to be successful in this year's mountain bike race season. I will probably run twice a week and bike 5 times a week. Right now I'm still mostly on the trainer, but hopefully I will be outside more very soon. Here is the mountain bike race schedule: May 4-battile of Burlinggame 6 hour race, Rhode Island Late June-Wildcat 100k in New York Mid July-Carrabassett 100k in CV, Maine Mid August-hampshire Hundred 64 mile in New Hampshire Mid September-Peak races 6 hour race in Vermont
Sarah Brown is a competitive endurance athlete, specializing in mountain biking and mountain running. She is sponsored by Honey Stinger. Sarah is also a certified personal trainer offering online training services.