I didn't bike today. I know, I know - I FAIL!!
Actually, what happened was a little something we in the biz call insomnia. I woke up at 4:00 am today and couldn't fall back asleep. By the time my alarm went off at 6:30, my eyes were grainy with exhaustion and I could barely drag myself out of bed, even though I hadn't been sleeping. My muscles felt sore and tired as I went about my morning routine, and I decided that I'd take a break from riding today because I'm just too damn tired to get through it.
I am planning on doing some exercise over the weekend, at least. It's supposed to be absolutely gorgeous outside, so I'm planning to walk my daughter over to a French bakery (an approximately 7 km round trip journey) for a delightful lunch tomorrow, and I might bike her into the river valley on Sunday for a nice picnic. That would be another lovely time! So maybe it's okay that I have one lazy day this week - maybe that's kind of necessary. Especially after a night like that!
Here's hoping I'll be able to make up for lost sleep tonight. Ahh, I can't wait to get home!!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Week 37 - Day Four: Techniques Follow-Up
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 22 min. (Hells yes, bitches!!)
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 11C, 19 km/hr tailwinds there; a few clouds, 19C, 31 km/hr headwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
I've been trying to put into practice the new biking techniques I wrote about earlier in the week, and I am finding that they are somewhat helpful. I haven't had too many difficulties trying to concentrate on keeping my cadence up even when I'm panting like an animal, and most of the time I remember to dismount from my bike with my pedals in a good position for me to elegantly jump back on them and start pedalling right away upon re-mount. Sometimes I forget to do this pre-positioning, however, and I'm stuck doing my stupid time-wasting routine of kicking the pedals into place before I can mount up. Well, practice will make perfect . . .
My problem today has more been feeling worn out. Maybe it's because I'm tired of my weight loss plateau and have been restricting my caloric intake in order to lose weight again, which might mean I'm eating a little less than what my body might want me to these days. That contributes to my muscles tiring easily, and that doesn't bode well for my ride. Today I tried shifting down one gear from what I'm used to, allowing a higher cadence to compensate for the lower power exertion. It turns out, that worked really well for me! My leg muscles felt much less tired, I was able to keep a decent pace, and I managed to make pretty decent time. Perhaps I should ride in that gear all the time! After all, I'm not looking to build muscle - I'm looking to lose weight - and maybe that's best achieved with higher cadence and lower resistance.
Regardless of my methodology, the point is to keep me riding. And what's going to prevent me from doing that is making it so difficult it's highly unpleasant - so anything that makes things easier for me, the better!!
TIME THERE: 22 min. (Hells yes, bitches!!)
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 11C, 19 km/hr tailwinds there; a few clouds, 19C, 31 km/hr headwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
I've been trying to put into practice the new biking techniques I wrote about earlier in the week, and I am finding that they are somewhat helpful. I haven't had too many difficulties trying to concentrate on keeping my cadence up even when I'm panting like an animal, and most of the time I remember to dismount from my bike with my pedals in a good position for me to elegantly jump back on them and start pedalling right away upon re-mount. Sometimes I forget to do this pre-positioning, however, and I'm stuck doing my stupid time-wasting routine of kicking the pedals into place before I can mount up. Well, practice will make perfect . . .
My problem today has more been feeling worn out. Maybe it's because I'm tired of my weight loss plateau and have been restricting my caloric intake in order to lose weight again, which might mean I'm eating a little less than what my body might want me to these days. That contributes to my muscles tiring easily, and that doesn't bode well for my ride. Today I tried shifting down one gear from what I'm used to, allowing a higher cadence to compensate for the lower power exertion. It turns out, that worked really well for me! My leg muscles felt much less tired, I was able to keep a decent pace, and I managed to make pretty decent time. Perhaps I should ride in that gear all the time! After all, I'm not looking to build muscle - I'm looking to lose weight - and maybe that's best achieved with higher cadence and lower resistance.
Regardless of my methodology, the point is to keep me riding. And what's going to prevent me from doing that is making it so difficult it's highly unpleasant - so anything that makes things easier for me, the better!!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Week 37 - Day Three: Drinky-Drink Don't
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 25 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 8C, 9km/hr crosswinds there; clear, 21C, 19 km/hr cross/headwinds gusting to 28 km/hr back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
Tired. Dehydrated. People blowing past me even when I feel like I'm making okay time. I can barely keep my eyes open all day - both during my rides and at work. Guhhh. This is what happens when I drink a half bottle of wine the night before bike-commuting, then don't sleep enough. It makes for a less-than-kind next day. And the ride at the end of the day, after slugging through a day of work and struggling to keep awake in quiet reflective moments with my clients, was really not fun. I was sluggish, my muscles ached, my throat and mouth were so dry I couldn't swallow for the entire half-hour ride home. I was so damn pleased to finally get home after all that, but even now I'm still irritable and my eyes are bugging me.
I have to say, partaking in the drinky-drink to that extent in the middle of the week: I wouldn't recommend it.
TIME THERE: 25 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 8C, 9km/hr crosswinds there; clear, 21C, 19 km/hr cross/headwinds gusting to 28 km/hr back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
Tired. Dehydrated. People blowing past me even when I feel like I'm making okay time. I can barely keep my eyes open all day - both during my rides and at work. Guhhh. This is what happens when I drink a half bottle of wine the night before bike-commuting, then don't sleep enough. It makes for a less-than-kind next day. And the ride at the end of the day, after slugging through a day of work and struggling to keep awake in quiet reflective moments with my clients, was really not fun. I was sluggish, my muscles ached, my throat and mouth were so dry I couldn't swallow for the entire half-hour ride home. I was so damn pleased to finally get home after all that, but even now I'm still irritable and my eyes are bugging me.
I have to say, partaking in the drinky-drink to that extent in the middle of the week: I wouldn't recommend it.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Week 37 - Day Two: Techniques
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 7C, no wind there; clear, 16C, 4 km/hr crosswind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt, running gloves (sweatshirt and gloves in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
I've been trying to figure out where I do well and where I can improve in terms of my biking technique. From what I gather, I do pretty well coming off a full stop, like when the traffic light changes to green after I've been stopped at a red for a minute or two. I also do fairly well when I've hit my cruising speed and I'm chugging along at a decent clip along a straight stretch of road, though sometimes my cruising speed isn't quite as fast as the speeds I hit coming off a full stop, so maybe I could put more effort into maintaining the initial speed I get up to instead of settling into something more comfortable. I've even found that going uphill I don't do too badly, despite how much I dread and hate it. Perhaps because I've minimized the size of the hills I have to face through my route selection, I feel capable of attacking the hills and getting up them relatively quickly because I know the rest of the ride is flat.
Then there are the parts I can improve upon. It would seem the parts of the ride where I lose the most time and momentum are the parts directly after climbing a hill when the road flattens out again. By this point, I'm so breathless from climbing the hill that I think I even lose speed at the top of the hill compared to what I was doing going up! During these periods of breathlessness, I don't keep up my cadence and I lose a lot of time coasting along at a low speed for the next couple blocks while I catch my breath.
Another place I could definitely use improvement is my re-mount. There are a few times I have to dismount: going up and down the flight of stairs on my route, and whenever I hit a crosswalk and have to walk my bike across. I am positively clumsy and awkward when it comes to re-mounting my bike. I swing my leg over, plant both feet on the ground, kick my pedals into position, then mount up and get going. This little ritual wastes a lot of time, and I'd much rather be able to just swing my leg over and land it on a pre-positioned pedal so that I can just hop up and start pedalling right away. However, I never remember to position the pedals for me to do this before I dismount, so by the time I re-mount I always have to do the ritual. It's an annoying waste of time.
So, my little ideas for technique improvement:
1. Disconnect my breathing from my leg movement. It sounds simple enough because these are two very separate functions, and yet I find that whenever I'm breathless my leg rotations slow down considerably as I concentrate on breathing. This happens even if my legs aren't sore. What I could do to improve is concentrate on maintaining the cadence with my legs and allow my autonomic nervous system to take care of the breathing. I mean, really, that's something I don't have to consciously focus on: if I need more air, my body will ensure it gets it. On the other hand, my legs need some conscious focusing to keep them working at a decent speed. So - focus on the legs, not the breathing, and don't let the heavy breathing slow down my cadence.
2. As I'm approaching a crosswalk, I want to make sure I come to a stop with my right foot at the 3 o'clock position (since I usually end up with my right foot at the 11 or 12 o'clock position and dismount to the left). That way, when I re-mount I can swing my right leg over the frame and land directly on the pedal with my right foot, then immediately start pedalling. I'll be much faster out of the gate that way, avoiding the ridiculous ritual of mounting with both feet on the ground, kicking my pedals into position, and then starting to pedal.
Of course, all the techniques in the world won't improve my time if I keep getting stuck at a red light at every controlled intersection I pass, as I've been doing every ride so far this week. What a pain in the ass! I'll get a good momentum going, then have to stop for two minutes and work back up to that momentum all over again. Egads! Well, the better my techniques in between, the better time I'll make regardless of how long I spend waiting at the lights.
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 7C, no wind there; clear, 16C, 4 km/hr crosswind back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt, running gloves (sweatshirt and gloves in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
I've been trying to figure out where I do well and where I can improve in terms of my biking technique. From what I gather, I do pretty well coming off a full stop, like when the traffic light changes to green after I've been stopped at a red for a minute or two. I also do fairly well when I've hit my cruising speed and I'm chugging along at a decent clip along a straight stretch of road, though sometimes my cruising speed isn't quite as fast as the speeds I hit coming off a full stop, so maybe I could put more effort into maintaining the initial speed I get up to instead of settling into something more comfortable. I've even found that going uphill I don't do too badly, despite how much I dread and hate it. Perhaps because I've minimized the size of the hills I have to face through my route selection, I feel capable of attacking the hills and getting up them relatively quickly because I know the rest of the ride is flat.
Then there are the parts I can improve upon. It would seem the parts of the ride where I lose the most time and momentum are the parts directly after climbing a hill when the road flattens out again. By this point, I'm so breathless from climbing the hill that I think I even lose speed at the top of the hill compared to what I was doing going up! During these periods of breathlessness, I don't keep up my cadence and I lose a lot of time coasting along at a low speed for the next couple blocks while I catch my breath.
Another place I could definitely use improvement is my re-mount. There are a few times I have to dismount: going up and down the flight of stairs on my route, and whenever I hit a crosswalk and have to walk my bike across. I am positively clumsy and awkward when it comes to re-mounting my bike. I swing my leg over, plant both feet on the ground, kick my pedals into position, then mount up and get going. This little ritual wastes a lot of time, and I'd much rather be able to just swing my leg over and land it on a pre-positioned pedal so that I can just hop up and start pedalling right away. However, I never remember to position the pedals for me to do this before I dismount, so by the time I re-mount I always have to do the ritual. It's an annoying waste of time.
So, my little ideas for technique improvement:
1. Disconnect my breathing from my leg movement. It sounds simple enough because these are two very separate functions, and yet I find that whenever I'm breathless my leg rotations slow down considerably as I concentrate on breathing. This happens even if my legs aren't sore. What I could do to improve is concentrate on maintaining the cadence with my legs and allow my autonomic nervous system to take care of the breathing. I mean, really, that's something I don't have to consciously focus on: if I need more air, my body will ensure it gets it. On the other hand, my legs need some conscious focusing to keep them working at a decent speed. So - focus on the legs, not the breathing, and don't let the heavy breathing slow down my cadence.
2. As I'm approaching a crosswalk, I want to make sure I come to a stop with my right foot at the 3 o'clock position (since I usually end up with my right foot at the 11 or 12 o'clock position and dismount to the left). That way, when I re-mount I can swing my right leg over the frame and land directly on the pedal with my right foot, then immediately start pedalling. I'll be much faster out of the gate that way, avoiding the ridiculous ritual of mounting with both feet on the ground, kicking my pedals into position, and then starting to pedal.
Of course, all the techniques in the world won't improve my time if I keep getting stuck at a red light at every controlled intersection I pass, as I've been doing every ride so far this week. What a pain in the ass! I'll get a good momentum going, then have to stop for two minutes and work back up to that momentum all over again. Egads! Well, the better my techniques in between, the better time I'll make regardless of how long I spend waiting at the lights.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Week 37 - Day One: The Pleasure Rider
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 4C, 6 km/hr crosswinds there; partly cloudy, 14C, 6 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
Is this what spring/summer bike-commuting is like? Wiping dew off my saddle before setting off, feeling the sun on my skin, running into three fellow bike-commuters within three minutes of starting off, not being yelled at by drivers, arriving at work more glowing than sweaty? I could get used to this. Having started my bike-commuting adventure in the fall/winter, I have to say: this spring riding is just lovely!
One of my colleagues loves cycling and does it as a hobby. He doesn't bike-commute, but he does try to take some time every evening to go for a nice ride through the city. It's how he relaxes and gets a bit of exercise into his day. I know someone else who bike-commutes and also rides for pleasure, spending his weekends touring the river valley because his commute is all road. I bike-commute, and I rarely ride for pleasure. In fact, I think I may have done it once, when I recently took my daughter out for a bike ride on some weekend morning and we toured around our surrounding neighbourhoods. She fell asleep in the trailer, and I had a really nice ride without thinking of what time I'm making or what I'll have to do when I get to work.
I daresay I need to do more leisurely, pleasurely riding. Perhaps this weekend, weather permitting, I should pack up a little picnic and ride my daughter into the river valley and spend some time playing with her there. That would make for some really nice mommy-daughter time. And it would get me out on the bike for something other than the utilitarian reason of getting to work. Perhaps if I (re?)discover the pleasure of cycling for cycling's sake, I will come to appreciate the commute more. Wouldn't that be even nicer than it already is? Believe it or not, that IS possible.
TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 4C, 6 km/hr crosswinds there; partly cloudy, 14C, 6 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, sweatshirt
NOTES:
Is this what spring/summer bike-commuting is like? Wiping dew off my saddle before setting off, feeling the sun on my skin, running into three fellow bike-commuters within three minutes of starting off, not being yelled at by drivers, arriving at work more glowing than sweaty? I could get used to this. Having started my bike-commuting adventure in the fall/winter, I have to say: this spring riding is just lovely!
One of my colleagues loves cycling and does it as a hobby. He doesn't bike-commute, but he does try to take some time every evening to go for a nice ride through the city. It's how he relaxes and gets a bit of exercise into his day. I know someone else who bike-commutes and also rides for pleasure, spending his weekends touring the river valley because his commute is all road. I bike-commute, and I rarely ride for pleasure. In fact, I think I may have done it once, when I recently took my daughter out for a bike ride on some weekend morning and we toured around our surrounding neighbourhoods. She fell asleep in the trailer, and I had a really nice ride without thinking of what time I'm making or what I'll have to do when I get to work.
I daresay I need to do more leisurely, pleasurely riding. Perhaps this weekend, weather permitting, I should pack up a little picnic and ride my daughter into the river valley and spend some time playing with her there. That would make for some really nice mommy-daughter time. And it would get me out on the bike for something other than the utilitarian reason of getting to work. Perhaps if I (re?)discover the pleasure of cycling for cycling's sake, I will come to appreciate the commute more. Wouldn't that be even nicer than it already is? Believe it or not, that IS possible.
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