So, yesterday I took my daughter up to Woodstock for our last official pre-race meeting of this year.  The goal was to get the safety team and course team all on the same page and geared to go next weekend.  

It was pretty intense.  The amount of thought, care and planning that goes into a race like this is pretty amazing.  Three towns are involved, local and state police as well as a fire department or two!  To see it all come together is just awe inspiring.  

So is the course.  It's awe inspiring and from the back seat of a car at the tail end of an energetic caravan it will twist and turn your stomach into knots until the stunning distraction of the epic scenery is nothing in comparison to what you would give for a good ruben and greasy fries just to settle your stomach!

This course is crazy. CRAZY I say!!!!  It's crazy beautiful, it's crazy long, it's crazy technical and it is CRAZY hard.  And you know what?  We have over 70 crazy brave and awe inspiring women already signed up!!!  Now THAT is amazing.  It keeps being said that grown men, avid cyclists have given up on the hills of this course and yet these women are coming back for a SECOND time to show us what they've got and through tenacity and training they WILL CONQUER THE CATS!!!!

So, whether you cycle or not, are into women's sporting events or not, love the scenic Catskills or not, this event what it represents, and these women deserve our respect and our support.  Because this is epic!  These women are epic for being amazing racers, the donations we will be able to give to the Hope's Fund for women is epic, and of course... this course is EPIC.

www.WWCGP.com <---- Check it out and join us this Friday and Saturday!!!

So, this year I am lucky enough to be involved in America’s only women-only cycling grand prix!  How amazing is that?!  Not only that I get to do something super cool but more importantly that we Women now have our own Cycling Grand Prix race!

The race takes place in beautiful upstate new york and is between 32 and 65 miles depending on which category you sign up for (Pro 1-2, Cat 3 or Cat 4).  The Pro 1-2 is no joke if you are familiar with the formidable hills of upstate New York you know what I'm talking about.  

Another beautiful thing about this race (apart from the scenery of course!) is that this event will help to raise funds and awareness for HOPE’s Fund; which I was also lucky to enough to be a part of at the very beginning of my entrepreneurial adventures.  The HOPE's Fund and affiliated projects helped me to gain the confidence, education and other tools for success under my belt.  They are largely the spring in my first steps that allowed me to make the leap into my own practice as an Exercise Physiologist and Personal Health Coach.  For this I am so proud to be a part of an event, like Woodstock Women's Cycling Grand Prix, which gives back to such an enriching community of Women for Women. 


We would love to have you there as an athlete, a sponsor a spectator or volunteer.  Join us in spreading the wealth of Women for Women in athletics and beyond.  

When we are thirsty we tend to grab a tasty beverage and generally think we are doing well by our bodies.  But what you may not realize is that what you drink can have profoundly different affects, some of which may be the complete opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

Hydration is what our bodies want when the sense or feeling of thirst is triggered.  But how we respond to that feeling can be quite counterproductive.  For example you reach for a can of cola or cup of coffee; which contain caffeine.  Caffeine is a diuretic and will actually take fluid from your body, and cause you to make a large deposit it into a nonrefundable receptacle of your urgent choosing.  Not quite what you wanted it for...  

Sweet and/or sugary beverages can also prove to be problematic.  Along with the fact that many of them are caffeinated, sugar beverages can also spike your blood sugar levels and sweet beverages (real sugar or not) may cause you to drink more than you intended due to their sweetness; thus injecting your with real or fake sugars/sweeteners and a host of other artificial products. 

Drinking sugary juices or sodas also introduce extremely large quantities of liquid calories, (which will turn into fat if your activity level isn't high enough to use them up).  Not to mention that pesky blood sugar spike of craziness coupled with the disaster crash of all sugar induced motivation.  It's kind of like sending your body on a roller coaster ride and I hazard a guess that if you partake in enough roller coaster rides you will feel ill.

So, be conscientious of what you drink to cure your thirst.  Try to stick to water- with juices and other drinks in strict moderation.  As always I encourage you to read the labels and see what is in your food/beverages and be ever mindful of the calorie and sugar content in your favorite drinks.

Lets face it, it can get pretty hot out there in the summer, even if you aren't in the arid desert and dehydration is no joke when you are out and about for your exercise session.  Whether you are an avid exerciser or not it is important to drink plenty of fluid throughout the day (preferably water) to keep your inner cooling system flowing well.  

Maintaining a state of proper hydration is an ongoing effort, just like eating regular meals, and making sure there is plenty of coolant in your car's air conditioning system.  If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated and if that's in the heat of the day in the middle of nowhere close to a watering hole, you could find yourself in trouble.  So, have a glass of water when you get up, before you leave for work and keep a bottle with you when you're at work or running errands.