Research shows that cycling workouts can boost max VO2 by up to 15 percent and cut your 5K and 10K times by as much as nine percent. Provided are two great workouts to improve race times:

Workout #1: This one's for the legs. Warm-up with 10 minutes of easy pedaling. Then stand up and pedal at close to maximum intensity against tough resistance for 1 minute. Recover with two minutes of easy pedaling, then repeat. Start with four work intervals and eventually work up to 10. Cool down with 10 minutes of easy cycling.

Workout #2: This one's for your heart. Warm up for 10 minutes, and then pedal continuously for 20 to 30 minutes at 85 percent of your maximum heart rate while running. Since your max heart rate while running is normally about 10 beats higher than your maximum heart rate while cycling, you'll actually be at about 90 percent of maximum cycling heart rate. As you progress, increase to 40 minutes of hard pedaling. Always remember to cool down.

After doing these workouts most likely, you'll be ahead of where you were last year.

                                        

After declaring a state of financial emergency on Wednesday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered 150,000 California state employees to take three days off each month to relieve the rapidly diminishing state coffers.

Starting in August, state employees will be forced to take unpaid furloughs till the state budget is  resolved. State employees had just finished a mandatory furlough on June 30 for the previous fiscal year, which had also required them to take three days off every month.

“Without a budget in place that addresses our $19 billion budget deficit, every day of delay brings California closer to a fiscal meltdown,” said Governor Schwarzenegger in a press statement. “The State Controller has indicated he could be forced to issue IOUs starting in August in order to avert a cash crisis. Our cash situation leaves me no choice but to once again furlough state workers until the legislature produces a budget I can sign.”

This is the fifth week the state has continued to scramble to try to figure out a budget for the new fiscal year.

CAL Fire and California Highway Patrol employees are exempt from the furloughs. The only state employees exempt from the furlough are unions who have signed contracts with the Governor’s administration. These contracts would include a cutback in pensions and concessions.

                                        

Guest Commentary

We humans are something special and rare.

In spite of there being an estimated five to 100 million species of life on our planet, our species is the only one sufficiently conscious to become conscious of existence and our place in it on all levels.

On the most foundational level, this means that if enough of us become conscious enough, soon enough, we will be able to pass the birthright of a peaceful and life-supporting world to our children and future generations.

Additionally, increasing consciousness will open us to new potential and possibilities on this planet and beyond.

Unfortunately, our pursuit of consciousness will be cut short if we continue to live and make livings in ways that hurt others and cause life-support system damage. The Gulf oil gusher is just the latest example of how economic gambling can hurt people and our planet’s life-support system far beyond what the gamblers risk.

                                        

This year, the Solana Beach Triathlon & Duathlon was smooth and fast, both in terms of event organization and in race performances. The entire event was a great fitness celebration. This race is short, and the course is flat; it’s a great race for both beginners and seasoned veterans. The race has grown to be amongst the most popular in town, yet it still runs as if it is a small hometown event.

The race took place Sunday, July 25 in the heart of Solana Beach. The duathlon course was a one-mile run, nine-mile bike, and a three-mile run, while the triathlon course was a 500-meter ocean swim, nine-mile bike and three-mile run.

One of the great things about this race is the locale. I mean really ... right next to Pizza Port!?  It doesn’t get much better than that. Additionally, Solana Beach is the epicenter of triathlon training for many triathletes, both professional and beginners. So it's a familiar place to assemble and race.

Performances were impressive in all races. In the triathlon, the women’s overall results were Susanne Davis in 1^st with a time of 52:40, Tatiana Vertiz in 2^nd with a time of 55:07 and Colleen Barnett in 3^rd with a time of 56:00. The men’s overall results were Chris Berg in 1^st with a time of 48:50, followed by Daniel Vertiz in 2^nd with a time of 49:05 and Mike Clinch in 3^rd with a time of 50:14. The challenged athlete winners were Andrew Bailey for the men with a time of 1:52:12, and Umida Lesicko for the women with a time of 1:27:39.

The duathletes were spared the ocean swim, but powered through a speedy first mile. For the women, 1^st place went to Michele Wallace with a time of 52:34, 2^nd was Gretchen Otterblad with a time of 1:00:18 and 3^rd was Nicol Akins with a time of 1:01:01. For the men, 1^st place went to Jesse Haynes with a time of 47:33, 2^nd was Michael Stange with a time of 48:56 and 3^rd was Maksim Gusev with a time of 49:22.

Great job to everyone who competed!

Michele Wallace is a contributor to San Diego News Room’s endurance sports section.  Michele has been a competitive runner since she was eight. She was the California state cross-country champion in 1992 at Escondido High School. Michele attended the University of San Diego where she placed top three in the West Coast Conference championship from 1993 – 1996. After college, Michele began competing in triathlons in 1999 and continues to focus on triathlons and duathlons. Michele is also a full-time working mom.

                                        

Guest Commentary

No president, no member of Congress or the U.S. Senate, no governor, and no member of state legislatures can create private sector jobs. Government programs may help or hinder businesses, but they all require government employees to administer them. Government jobs cost taxpayers money while private sector jobs generate tax revenue for government.

Data from the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA) shows that 99.9 percent of all businesses are small businesses and that 80 percent of all jobs are created by small businesses. About 99 percent of all manufacturers are small and medium-sized companies, employing more than nine million workers.  Since the recession began at the end of 2007, these companies have lost more than 850,000 jobs, which is 42 percent of the total jobs lost in the goods-producing sector.

The question is, if we are in a recovery, though weak, why aren’t businesses creating jobs?

The number one reason businesses aren’t expanding and hiring more people is fear. They are afraid the weak recovery won’t last and we will have a “double-dip” recession.  They are afraid of the increase in taxes when the Bush tax cuts sunset at the end of the year. They are afraid of the cost to their businesses to comply with the Obama health care program.  They are afraid of the effect on the economy of the escalating national debt. They are afraid of the possibility of Kerry-Lieberman cap-and-trade legislation passing Congress and being signed into law. Even though the latter looks unlikely to pass this year, it could be revived in the next session just as the Obama health care bill was revived and passed earlier this year after seeming dead at the end of last year.

                                        

In the quest to bolster revenues, the full City Council will consider a plan to elicit corporate advertising on lifeguard stations and season towers — including those in Ocean Beach. Opponents said the proposal would cheapen the beach scenery and give off an air of desperation. PHOTO BY JIM GRANT I THE BEACON, PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CASEY DEAN I THE BEACON

With a City Council committee’s blessing July 14, city beaches are one step closer to featuring commercial advertisements on lifeguard stations and seasonal lifeguard stands.

If approved by the full council, the proposed commercialization of the beaches could bring millions of dollars back to the city’s lifeguard program, which has been hit hard by budget cuts.

“It was an important step and I give the lifeguards a lot of credit,” said District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, part of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee that unanimously approved the project.