News

  • Apr 06, 2017

    This is What Mohs Surgery for Skin Cancer Looks Like

    As spring and summer approaches, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to wear protection from the sun. Sunscreen and protective clothing are a must. This fellow wants you to know that there is a price to pay for that “cool tan.” He had several spots of skin cancer removed off of the top of his head by the Mohs procedure. He says the cool tan isn’t worth it. He his hoping that his message helps at least one person.  

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  • Apr 04, 2017

    Does Nutritional Ketone Supplementation Improve Athletic Performance?

    I have written about the advantages of changing to a higher fat diet and how many athletes, including myself, have been able to reduce supplemental nutrition during racing. This supplemental nutrition has been in the form of carbohydrate drinks, chewable gels, commercial bars and homemade foods. More recently, people have begun to question whether or not using supplemental/dietary ketones (sometimes referred to as exogenous ketones) is an advantage for athletes. I was able to find one study in Cell Metabolism that examined nutritional ketone supplementation. The study was interesting in that researchers designed five studies within one umbrella study. Depending...

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  • Mar 30, 2017

    How do I do Cruise Intervals?

    Hello Gale, I am a little confused on your cruise interval run workouts in the triathlon training plan.  In the  pre-activity comments it says to do 4-5 x 5-minute intervals with a 2-minute rest in between.  I was wondering if am I supposed to do these at Zone 4 - Zone 5a segments before my main run, or am I supposed to do as many intervals as I can for 1 hour? Thanks, G. F. _______ Good question, G.F. You can find more information in the free download documents in the “shorthand for intervals section.” That written, let me answer...

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  • Jan 19, 2017

    Starving on my 30-mile ride, what should I do?

    Hey Gale, As you know I am adapting to the Fat Burning Machine principles. I just went for a 30ish mile road ride and the last 30min I was starving.  Typically for this distance and time I don't bring food and am not usually hungry.  I had my usual breakfast of omelet, whole wheat toast with butter and coffee. I'm clearly not in mid-season bike shape but found the hunger to be abnormal. I did bring water and was hydrated normally. Any thoughts? M.R. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey M. R., Great question - and many athletes have experienced the same thing. I...

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  • Dec 20, 2016

    Is it okay to modify the ready-to-use triathlon training plan?

    Q.  Hi Gale, Last week I started following your TrainingPeaks program "Triathlon: Base Period (Winter, Off-Season) Training". After the first week is almost done I noticed that the trainings that were an exact match to the training parameters are colored in green while shorter ones or longer ones are colored in red. Is it OK if I do a longer ride? For example even if here winter is quite nasty, there are still days when I can go out and do a 50-100km ride. I also like to train for future contests, but I also like riding just for the...

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  • Dec 07, 2016

    What is the best nut?

    Q. Hey Gale, I’m an endurance athlete following the Fat Burning Machine diet guidelines. In the book you recommend using nuts as snacks, what is the best nut? My friend insists that I shouldn’t eat anything but almonds, can you give your opinion? D.S. A. Excellent timing, D.S. I am in the process of teaching a 9-week course to help a variety of people (endurance athletes and non-endurance junkies alike) teach their bodies to burn fat for fuel. In the past couple of weeks we’ve taken a good look at nuts. I’m going to include two charts in this column....

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  • Nov 18, 2016

    Training Principles that Should Guide Your Training Plan Design

      I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that after you have considered your fitness goals, your current fitness and the time you have to train – then it is time to begin designing your training plan. For all of my training plans (ready-to-use and personalized coaching) I use periodization principles in the design process. The principles apply in all cases – Olympian to fitness-goal-oriented athlete. How to apply the various principles depends on the top 3 variables mentioned yesterday. As you might imagine, the old saying, "The devil is in the detail" holds true for training plan design. If you are...

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  • Nov 17, 2016

    The Top 3 Variables that Influence Exercise Program Design

      When I design a ready-to-use training plan, I consider multiple variables. These variables influence the design of the plan and ultimately provide the athlete profile description that accompanies all of the plans. While there are many more variables than can be listed in a single column, let’s look at the top three variables to consider.   Goals The first thing I want to know is what is your goal? Fitness goals typically fall into two broad categories. The first is health. People want to maintain or improve fitness in order to influence good health markers. For many, keeping good...

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  • Sep 12, 2016

    Subject: Completed my First Sprint Tri!

    Love to hear from successful athletes using my training plans!   From: Rowdy Garcia Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2016 9:09 AM To: gale@galebernhardt.com Gale, I recently completed my first spring Triathlon in San Diego, CA – Chula Vista Challenge 2016. It was an amazingly satisfying experience and has got me hooked on the sport. To help me prepare for the event, I used your book, “Triathlon Training Basics”. For an engineer and Naval Officer that craves data, references, and detailed planning, your book was everything that I needed and wanted. Thanks for doing what you do and helping people like...

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  • Sep 10, 2016

    What is the Optimal Cycling Cadence?

      Q: Hey Gale—I'm hoping you can help answer a question. I'm relatively new to cycling and my cycling friends insist that my cycling cadence needs to be between 90 to 110 revolutions per minute (rpm). Looking at my cyclometer, I am usually around an average of 80 rpm. My friends tell me that 90 rpm is the optimal cadence, and that if I would train to spin at 90 to 100 rpm, I would be faster without changing anything else. But when I try to spin at a higher cadence, my heart rate skyrockets and I can't last very...

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