First Ride in a long time

OK, so Saturday marked my return to cycling, a sport which I loved as a kid, but from which I had long since fallen away.

The new bike (Specialized Allez Sport) is spectacular - about 22 pounds total loaded up with flat kit and all. I am hopeful that my high weight won't cause too many problems with the components. Seatpost and wheels are the ones I am concerned about.

First ride out was enlightening. The weak left Achilles that I had been nursing for months presented no problems, whether flying along in the saddle or standing up for the hill climbs.

My problem areas, which I need to work on, are cardio-fitness and my aching quads (which, ironically, I thought were fairly strong, given the last few months of indoor spinning). Oh well.

The little hills felt like freakin' mountains and I found myself breaking them up into halves and thirds and taking rest breaks frequently.

First live road experience with clipless pedals was OK - did not fall off the bike and even managed a few decent standing starts coming off the local traffic lights without disrupting traffic too much;-)

Only encountered one of the local redneck idiots screaming "GET ON THE SIDEWALK!" (Jacka$$)

Next up, build a good schedule for building on the cardio and quad weakness (opportunities), and back to the gym.

Cheers!

A New Hope

It is a period of civil war.
Mysterious injuries, striking from
deep within my 43-year old body, have
won their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire of advancing
age. During the battle, Rebel spies managed
to steal secret plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the COUCH OF DOOM, an
armored space station with enough fluffy
stuffing and comfy pillows to destroy
anyone's level of fitness.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents,
your fearless blogger races along the
road aboard his new starship, custodian
of the stolen plans that can save his
people and restore freedom to the galaxy....

I may not be running, but I sure am riding!

Weight 263
How I feel 7/10
How I ate 7/10

It was so cold . . .

On the road again . . . It just feels great to be on the road again.

It was so cold for yesterday's morning run that my watch battery could not hold the time and the indiglo blue light thing on at the same time. And I don't think it was even close to the coldness we saw this morning. yesterday was 23 degrees F and today showed 9 degrees F. My plan is to run again tomorrow morning before leaving for Space Camp. Should be really chilly. Must remember to cover up face. Time to break out the "recon wrap".

Weight 264
How I feel 6/10
How I ate 8/10 eating better now and tracking the calories as well

Cheers!

15 extra pounds

Now, all those who have lost weight know how great it feels to be lighter. But my occasional morning routine serves as a constant reminder to me.

This morning, I ran down to the grocery store with a day pack on my back and a grocery list in hand. I do this once in a while - usually on days when we are out of milk. My light run days (usually after a longer run) serve as an opportunity to walk back home carrying the day's groceries on my back.

Today's haul:
1 gallon milk
3 pounds butter
1 tub sour cream
1 jars chicken bouillion paste
1 box instant oatmeal
1 newspaper

TOTAL: approximately 15 pounds

What I am reminded of is that carrying around an extra 15 pounds on my back is pretty tiring. Likewise, I used to carry that extra weight around inside my shirt, rather than on my back. Even more incentive to keep losing weight. . .

Run Long friends . . .

Back to the Routine

Back on the road again this morning after too many weeks off. 5 Miles in 70 minutes - still quicker than I was doing in early 2008 when I started this running thing. I think my bad heel has recovered - just need to ease back into the routine again. Even set up the Kinetic bike trainer again in the garage for non-running day cycling.

For nutrition, steel cut oats with walnuts and dried blueberries. Mate tea to drink for a bit of caffeine.

Heck, if Lance Armstrong can get out to train on Christmas Day, what's wrong with the rest of us? (http://twitpic.com/wdkl)

Weight 262
How I feel 7/10
How I ate 7/10

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

OK, so now i've done it. I've run my first official road race. Historic Roswell 5K in 35:51. Yes, I was hoping for sub-35 minutes and even considered a stretch goal to get under 30 minutes. But in retrospect, 35 :51 is not so bad, considering the last half of the course was pretty hilly. That's an 11:31 per-mile pace, for those who are counting.

This was my personal "Kick the Couch 5-K" - part of the Worldwide Festival of Races.
(http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com) Felt great to be running along with a whole bunch of other racers - 1156 Entrants in 41 Countries

About 1.5 miles into it, I heard a little kid somewhere off to the side of the course, tell his parents "That looks easy." While I was happy to hear that (at least to this little kid) I was making it look easy, we all know that running your first official race, while a lot of fun and really enjoyable, is not really "easy." A lot of prep time and careful eating and early morning training went into this.

I got sick a month ago and was down for two weeks, unable to breathe, much less to train. When I got back to the morning runs, the only thing I had lost was my ability to breathe properly. If not for that, maybe 30 minuutes would have been within my reach.

A few days off and back on the proper diet plan and back to training.

Now, let's find another race to signup for and run.

Weight 260 (ugh!)
How I feel 10/10
How I ate 8/10

Sick

I hate being sick. Today marks the furst run day back after almost two weeks off. Ugh. It felt great to get back out there, even though I still have a stuffy head and runny nose - guess I needed to get the rest of me running just to keep up with my nose!

Weight 256 -24/76
How I feel 8/10
How I ate 7/10