BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 35 min.
TIME BACK: 35 min.
WEATHER: clear, -10C, 6km/hr wind there; clear, -3C (-7C with windchill), 11km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: boots, work socks, fleece pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
Uggghhhhh . . . My beautiful lovable readers, I hate to say it, but if I want to hit my target weight by the end of the summer, I'm going to have to step up my nutrition regime. I can bike my 16 km round-trip commute every day through rain, snow, and -30C weather, but no matter what my exercise regiment is I'll continue being a chubber if I don't change my eating patterns. I just want to eat whatever I want, whenever I want - is that so much to ask?? Apparently . . . yes.
I've been using the website The Daily Burn to track the calories I'm burning with my bike commuting efforts and - most importantly - to track my nutritional intake. This website has been fantastic because it allows me to fairly accurately track how much I'm eating and how my food breaks down into its nutritional composition. For someone whose only successful weight-loss efforts have come from calorie-counting, this website is a God-send!
The bad news is that as much as I aim to stay within a caloric range that will lead to my eventual weight loss, doing the straight-up calorie-counting thing means that it doesn't matter if my calories are made up of a couple donuts or a well-balanced meal, it only matters that whatever I eat falls within the caloric range I'm aiming for. Normally this isn't a big deal - I usually eat fairly well, and calorie counting allows me to have a handful of chocolates during our team meeting at work or go out for a celebratory meal with friends without feeling remotely guilty. As long as I count the food, I'm allowed to eat it! No exceptions!
However, lately I haven't been following my usual pattern of eating fairly well and indulging occasionally. Instead, over the past week I have been eating Christmas chocolates and Lindt truffles and donuts at work (damn you, work, for exposing me to so much temptation!!). As much as I've been counting these treats, I can't imagine it's possible for me to continue losing weight when more than a third of the calories I ate one day this week were made up of donuts. These days, I feel as though I'm not necessarily overeating, but I'm certainly not eating well, and that can't be a good thing.
Perhaps I just need to chalk it up to "tis the season!", but I don't want to excuse myself from eating like a human being for two weeks straight just because the holidays are upon us. I don't want to gain 10 lbs in the second half of December after working so hard over the past three months to lose nearly 25 lbs. I don't want to face the beginning of January feeling malnourished because I've been eating nothing but sugar and fat! But then again, dietary restriction and I DO NOT get along. We've had a violent history, me and dietary restriction, and we're just no good for each other. So I'm not willing to say, "OK, Johnson, that's it - no more candy or baked goods!" Good luck with that, given all the Christmas parties still left to attend! But maybe a little more self-control is in order.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Week Sixteen - Day Four: Finding the Best Route and Gettin' ma Groove Back!
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 33 min. (woot!)
TIME BACK: 38 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, -12C, 7km/hr wind there; clear, -2C, 7km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: boots, regular socks, fleece pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer top, running gloves, scarf
NOTES:
I'm learning through trial and error the best route to take to work when riding on sidewalks. It's quite a crap shoot, really, given that some (rare) parts of the sidewalk are bare as bone while there are other parts covered in a foot of hard-packed snow and ice with a narrow, uneven path trampled through it (not the best biking terrain, especially with a spindly road bike).
Today I learned the hard way that I really do need to turn north at 142nd St, then pedal west through the neighbourhood of Grovenor to get home. Otherwise, I'm stuck biking up 149th St., which has inaccessible sidewalks on both the east and west sides (at least it's consistent!). Given the heavy traffic on that road I have no interest in taking my bike to the street, so I've been stuck having to carry my bike over some unkempt parts of the sidewalk, cursing under my breath the whole way.
I think what's really adding to my ride time now is all the slowing down and stopping I have to do. After all, I'm negotiating my way across massive, concrete-hard tire ruts at every intersection, slogging my way through poorly shoveled areas of snowy sidewalks, steering around pedestrians, sign posts, and street lamps, and avoiding snow boulders (these are one-foot-diameter chunks of snow that are often rock-solid, filthy from car exhaust, and somehow strategically placed directly in my path on the narrowest trails through Snowbank Alley). Once in a while I can get up to a decent speed, but the stretches of sidewalk over which I can do this are quite short, and within the block I have to slow down - sometimes to a crawl, or even a stop - and try to build up my speed all over again. It's not that big a deal - it keeps the ride interesting, as though I'm playing chess and trying to predict the next challenge the terrain might throw my way, always trying to think two steps ahead so I can avoid whatever pitfalls might come. And it's a hell of a work-out!
And those work-outs are paying off. I haven't weighed myself in a while, and I don't plan to until next week sometime (I am not going to subject myself to the sadness of weighing myself on New Years morning after a week of Christmas cheer - aka, overeating and free-flowing libations!). Still, I know this biking thing is working. Today I wore a flattering, clingy scoop-neck black top and a decent pair of dark jeans to work. When I went down to the cafeteria to buy lunch, I couldn't help but feeling eyes on me. I noticed several young gentlemen noticing me. As much as I hate to admit that it made me feel good to grab the attention of some exam-weary undergrads at the university cafeteria, it did make me feel good - damn good! I haven't felt so "noticed" in a very long time, and on this occasion, I liked it!
Call it a victory for vanity, perhaps, but feeling good about myself and how I look sure keeps me motivated to keep biking!
TIME THERE: 33 min. (woot!)
TIME BACK: 38 min.
WEATHER: partly cloudy, -12C, 7km/hr wind there; clear, -2C, 7km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: boots, regular socks, fleece pants, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer top, running gloves, scarf
NOTES:
On Biking
I'm learning through trial and error the best route to take to work when riding on sidewalks. It's quite a crap shoot, really, given that some (rare) parts of the sidewalk are bare as bone while there are other parts covered in a foot of hard-packed snow and ice with a narrow, uneven path trampled through it (not the best biking terrain, especially with a spindly road bike).
Today I learned the hard way that I really do need to turn north at 142nd St, then pedal west through the neighbourhood of Grovenor to get home. Otherwise, I'm stuck biking up 149th St., which has inaccessible sidewalks on both the east and west sides (at least it's consistent!). Given the heavy traffic on that road I have no interest in taking my bike to the street, so I've been stuck having to carry my bike over some unkempt parts of the sidewalk, cursing under my breath the whole way.
I think what's really adding to my ride time now is all the slowing down and stopping I have to do. After all, I'm negotiating my way across massive, concrete-hard tire ruts at every intersection, slogging my way through poorly shoveled areas of snowy sidewalks, steering around pedestrians, sign posts, and street lamps, and avoiding snow boulders (these are one-foot-diameter chunks of snow that are often rock-solid, filthy from car exhaust, and somehow strategically placed directly in my path on the narrowest trails through Snowbank Alley). Once in a while I can get up to a decent speed, but the stretches of sidewalk over which I can do this are quite short, and within the block I have to slow down - sometimes to a crawl, or even a stop - and try to build up my speed all over again. It's not that big a deal - it keeps the ride interesting, as though I'm playing chess and trying to predict the next challenge the terrain might throw my way, always trying to think two steps ahead so I can avoid whatever pitfalls might come. And it's a hell of a work-out!
On Me
And those work-outs are paying off. I haven't weighed myself in a while, and I don't plan to until next week sometime (I am not going to subject myself to the sadness of weighing myself on New Years morning after a week of Christmas cheer - aka, overeating and free-flowing libations!). Still, I know this biking thing is working. Today I wore a flattering, clingy scoop-neck black top and a decent pair of dark jeans to work. When I went down to the cafeteria to buy lunch, I couldn't help but feeling eyes on me. I noticed several young gentlemen noticing me. As much as I hate to admit that it made me feel good to grab the attention of some exam-weary undergrads at the university cafeteria, it did make me feel good - damn good! I haven't felt so "noticed" in a very long time, and on this occasion, I liked it!
Call it a victory for vanity, perhaps, but feeling good about myself and how I look sure keeps me motivated to keep biking!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Week Sixteen: Day Three: Back in the Saddle!
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 35 min.
TIME BACK: 37 min.
WEATHER: a few clouds, -16C, 6km/hr wind there; clear, -13C, 4km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: wool ski socks, boots, fleece pants, thermal underwear, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer, waterproof shell, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
My GOD, it felt good to get back on the bike today! The weather has been so cold that I've been putting it off since last week, and this morning I woke up with a million excuses not to bike. I felt a cold coming on, I didn't want to do it, the streets were too icy, it's just too hard, it takes too long . . . I nearly talked myself out of biking today, to be honest. What helped was having my bike-commuting outfit laid out for me when I woke up. It's hard to look at that and know that last night I was that determined to ride today, then still bail out.
And, really, I'm so glad I did bike today! As much as some people in my life make a big stink about it, and as much as it sometimes makes me feel like my own personal hero, bike-commuting is really not that big a deal. It doesn't take much longer, it's no less pleasant than dealing with traffic and parking, I didn't feel remotely cold this morning (to the contrary, I was a sweaty mess by the time I got to work) while I feel quite chilled when I drive, and I feel so much better - better mood, more energy, a healthier appetite - when I bike. What's not to love?
The anticipation of a dreaded event is almost always so much worse than the actual thing itself. I'm learning that the hard way with biking. Almost every morning when I first wake up, I don't want to bike. In those moments, I convince myself I hate biking. I just want to be lazy and wear my fashionable coat and breeze into work with a coffee in hand and my hair perfectly coiffed (read: brushed - that's about as fancy as my hair care gets). And yet, the moment I'm on the bike, I'm so grateful that I didn't give in to that lazy, path-of-least-resistance instinct that tries to talk me into driving every morning. The more frequently I bike, the easier it is to ignore that lazy part of me, and after a while that part hardly voices its opinion at all. So it seems everything is made worse the less I bike - the more days between bike-commutes, the harder it is to get back on the bike. So many things in life are like that, though, aren't they?
By the way, last night I started feeling a cold coming on: my throat was getting sore and phlegmy, I started coughing, my nose started getting blocked up, and I even started feeling the beginnings of body chills. I was convinced that without some serious intervention, I'd wake up with a full-blown cold. And yet, at the end of the day today, I'm feeling 100% myself! So, please allow me to share with you my infinite, priceless wisdom that seemed to make so much of a difference for me in the past twenty-four hours:
TIME THERE: 35 min.
TIME BACK: 37 min.
WEATHER: a few clouds, -16C, 6km/hr wind there; clear, -13C, 4km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: wool ski socks, boots, fleece pants, thermal underwear, turtleneck, fleece mid-layer, waterproof shell, lobster gloves, balaclava
NOTES:
My GOD, it felt good to get back on the bike today! The weather has been so cold that I've been putting it off since last week, and this morning I woke up with a million excuses not to bike. I felt a cold coming on, I didn't want to do it, the streets were too icy, it's just too hard, it takes too long . . . I nearly talked myself out of biking today, to be honest. What helped was having my bike-commuting outfit laid out for me when I woke up. It's hard to look at that and know that last night I was that determined to ride today, then still bail out.
And, really, I'm so glad I did bike today! As much as some people in my life make a big stink about it, and as much as it sometimes makes me feel like my own personal hero, bike-commuting is really not that big a deal. It doesn't take much longer, it's no less pleasant than dealing with traffic and parking, I didn't feel remotely cold this morning (to the contrary, I was a sweaty mess by the time I got to work) while I feel quite chilled when I drive, and I feel so much better - better mood, more energy, a healthier appetite - when I bike. What's not to love?
The anticipation of a dreaded event is almost always so much worse than the actual thing itself. I'm learning that the hard way with biking. Almost every morning when I first wake up, I don't want to bike. In those moments, I convince myself I hate biking. I just want to be lazy and wear my fashionable coat and breeze into work with a coffee in hand and my hair perfectly coiffed (read: brushed - that's about as fancy as my hair care gets). And yet, the moment I'm on the bike, I'm so grateful that I didn't give in to that lazy, path-of-least-resistance instinct that tries to talk me into driving every morning. The more frequently I bike, the easier it is to ignore that lazy part of me, and after a while that part hardly voices its opinion at all. So it seems everything is made worse the less I bike - the more days between bike-commutes, the harder it is to get back on the bike. So many things in life are like that, though, aren't they?
By the way, last night I started feeling a cold coming on: my throat was getting sore and phlegmy, I started coughing, my nose started getting blocked up, and I even started feeling the beginnings of body chills. I was convinced that without some serious intervention, I'd wake up with a full-blown cold. And yet, at the end of the day today, I'm feeling 100% myself! So, please allow me to share with you my infinite, priceless wisdom that seemed to make so much of a difference for me in the past twenty-four hours:
Ma Johnson's Olde Fashioned Cold Remedy
- If your throat is sore, make yourself a green tea. Drink most of it, and use the rest to gargle with.
- Take a few echinacea supplements before bed.
- Go to bed early.
- When you wake up, use a saline nasal rinse to clear out your sinuses.
- Have another green tea: drink most of it, and gargle the rest.
- Bike to work!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Week Sixteen - Day Two: Cooooold Again
I was hoping I might be able to bike today. I got my biking gear out, packed my panniers, and laid out my biking clothes last night before bed in preparation. I knew it was still supposed to be cold, though, so when I woke up this morning the first thing I did was turn the computer on to check the weather as I sleepily brushed my teeth.
At that time, it was clear and -26C with wind of 15km/hr from the south, which means it would be hitting me from the side. Factoring in the wind chill, it was -36C. Hmm . . . I was planning to bike, but then again, the wind chill pushed the temperature beyond my cut-off point of -30C. Tomorrow is supposed to be outright mild, even reaching a high of +2C on Thursday! Can't I just wait one more day, and bike the rest of the week? Wouldn't that be more comfortable?
I feel somehow like I'm disappointing myself, letting myself down, but I've decided I'm going to drive again. I've actually had dreams of the spokes on my wheels collapsing in the cold, throwing me from the bike and leaving me stranded in the middle of a frigid ride. I don't believe this bike was built for the kind of riding I've been doing with it. Sure, the whole reason I bought a less expensive bike was so that if I ended up killing it over the winter, I wouldn't be out so much money. Still, the colder it gets, the more brittle the thin, metal spokes get, and I worry about breaking the bike.
So, driving today, biking tomorrow. And it'll remain mild all next week, too, so I can bike right up until my last day of work on the 24th. Three days of bike commuting this week ain't so bad, right? Right??
At that time, it was clear and -26C with wind of 15km/hr from the south, which means it would be hitting me from the side. Factoring in the wind chill, it was -36C. Hmm . . . I was planning to bike, but then again, the wind chill pushed the temperature beyond my cut-off point of -30C. Tomorrow is supposed to be outright mild, even reaching a high of +2C on Thursday! Can't I just wait one more day, and bike the rest of the week? Wouldn't that be more comfortable?
I feel somehow like I'm disappointing myself, letting myself down, but I've decided I'm going to drive again. I've actually had dreams of the spokes on my wheels collapsing in the cold, throwing me from the bike and leaving me stranded in the middle of a frigid ride. I don't believe this bike was built for the kind of riding I've been doing with it. Sure, the whole reason I bought a less expensive bike was so that if I ended up killing it over the winter, I wouldn't be out so much money. Still, the colder it gets, the more brittle the thin, metal spokes get, and I worry about breaking the bike.
So, driving today, biking tomorrow. And it'll remain mild all next week, too, so I can bike right up until my last day of work on the 24th. Three days of bike commuting this week ain't so bad, right? Right??
Monday, December 14, 2009
Week Sixteen - Day One: Cooooold
Over the weekend, a wind chill warning was in effect as the temperature dipped to -41C, and my city had the dubious honour of being the coldest spot on earth overnight. The Canadian prairies have remained in a deep freeze all weekend, and the cold temperatures continued today. As I was out and about yesterday, trying to get some Christmas shopping done, it occurred to me that perhaps my temperature cut-off for biking should be -30C. Last week I managed to bike in -20C weather, but this -30C is a whole different ball game. It was just too damn much. When exposed skin will freeze in less than five minutes, I figure it's just not the right kind of day to ride my bike for 40 minute commutes.
So this morning, when I checked the weather to discover it was -32C outside, I drove. And once again, I battled terrible congestion and a very busy parkade and arrived frustrated, late, and very cold. I saw some cyclists on campus, and while it initially made me feel guilty for not biking when clearly other people could do it, I took comfort in thinking that perhaps they weren't coming from the west end and that perhaps their rides weren't 40 minutes long. A cold 10-minute ride would be a whole different story than a cold 40-minute ride.
But I digress . . . tomorrow is supposed to be -29C in the morning, which means that unless the wind chill contributes significantly to that temperature, I'll probably brave it on the bike. I'll keep you posted!!
So this morning, when I checked the weather to discover it was -32C outside, I drove. And once again, I battled terrible congestion and a very busy parkade and arrived frustrated, late, and very cold. I saw some cyclists on campus, and while it initially made me feel guilty for not biking when clearly other people could do it, I took comfort in thinking that perhaps they weren't coming from the west end and that perhaps their rides weren't 40 minutes long. A cold 10-minute ride would be a whole different story than a cold 40-minute ride.
But I digress . . . tomorrow is supposed to be -29C in the morning, which means that unless the wind chill contributes significantly to that temperature, I'll probably brave it on the bike. I'll keep you posted!!
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