WEIGHT LOSS THIS MONTH: -3.5 (which is a 3.5 lb gain)
WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 36.5
DAYS BIKE-COMMUTED: 14 (though some of these were only one-way commutes because my boyfriend picked me up or I chose to walk one way)
DAYS WALK-COMMUTED: 2 (both ways)
POTENTIAL COMMUTING DAYS MISSED: 4
BREAKDOWN OF EXCUSES USED BY COMMUTE DAYS MISSED:
Taking Tiggy to the Spay Clinic for Snippety-Balls (aka, neuter surgery) - 1
Mechanical Failure - 1
Something Right After Work - 2
I didn't expect epic weight loss this month because I got some rides home from work here and there so I didn't get as much commuting in as usual. I was expecting something like the five pounds I managed to lose last month, not the 12 pounds I lost in January. But a 3.5 pound gain? Really? How disappointing.
Perhaps I've come to that point in my weight loss journey where I'm either going to have to kick it up a notch with the exercise or really dial down my eating habits. And, quite frankly, I don't think I have much more time for exercise in my single-parent-working-full-time lifestyle than the five hours a week I already spend on it. So, what option am I left with? Sigh . . . changing eating habits.
A few months ago I lent a friend at work my South Beach Diet books. She describes herself as "serene" while on this diet because it reduces her cravings for sugar and other carbohydrates, her Achilles heel. As much as she doesn't enjoy eating as much as she would otherwise, she does find she feels much better while "on The Beach". I'm not sure that's what I want to do, exactly, follow a diet that restrictive - but perhaps the principle of eating more lean proteins and fewer simple carbohydrates is a generally good one to follow most of the time.
But, as my friend noted, eating a naked slab of chicken breast just isn't as fun as a pretty pastry from Duchess Bake Shop or a delicious Slurpee. I know it doesn't have to be one or the other, that there is room for some balance in my nutritional landscape, but I can't say the prospect of eating lean proteins excites me on any level. Not remotely. Ahh, well, no pain, no gain . . . right??
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Week 44 - Day Two: Slowing Down
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 24 min.
WEATHER: clear, 15C, 15 km/hr headwinds there; clear, 25C, 17 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt
NOTES:
On the way home yesterday, I eschewed my usual summer residential-road route in favour of my winter main-road route to see if I might get home faster that way. I pedaled like a maniac, motivated by the speed of the cars whizzing by so close to me. I panted and sweated while my thighs and lungs burned, and I managed to get home in record end-of-the-day time (I've never done 22 minutes home, only in the mornings when I hit fewer lights). The downside was that between the exhaust I was breathing, the degree to which I was pushing myself, and the heat and humidity of the late afternoon, I was starting to feel nauseous by the end of the ride.
So, today, I've decided to take 'er easy. Not that I had much of a choice, mind you - this morning I felt so worn out from eating too little and biking too hard yesterday that I felt completely incapable of going any faster, even if I wanted to. I cruised to work and I cruised home, getting around at a comfortable speed and making pretty average time. It was significantly more pleasant that way. I sure prefer cycling at that kind of pace rather than the higher speeds I'm capable of hitting when I really push myself.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's just about getting there. I'm a commuter, not a competitor, so I don't need to ride faster than everyone else on the street or beat my own record time. I don't need to push myself until it hurts. I don't need to turn myself off of bike-commuting for the sake of a faster ride. I just need to get there, and get back - ideally in one piece. And when I think like that - taking the competitiveness out of it - I appreciate cycling a whole lot more.
TIME THERE: 24 min.
TIME BACK: 24 min.
WEATHER: clear, 15C, 15 km/hr headwinds there; clear, 25C, 17 km/hr tailwinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt
NOTES:
On the way home yesterday, I eschewed my usual summer residential-road route in favour of my winter main-road route to see if I might get home faster that way. I pedaled like a maniac, motivated by the speed of the cars whizzing by so close to me. I panted and sweated while my thighs and lungs burned, and I managed to get home in record end-of-the-day time (I've never done 22 minutes home, only in the mornings when I hit fewer lights). The downside was that between the exhaust I was breathing, the degree to which I was pushing myself, and the heat and humidity of the late afternoon, I was starting to feel nauseous by the end of the ride.
So, today, I've decided to take 'er easy. Not that I had much of a choice, mind you - this morning I felt so worn out from eating too little and biking too hard yesterday that I felt completely incapable of going any faster, even if I wanted to. I cruised to work and I cruised home, getting around at a comfortable speed and making pretty average time. It was significantly more pleasant that way. I sure prefer cycling at that kind of pace rather than the higher speeds I'm capable of hitting when I really push myself.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's just about getting there. I'm a commuter, not a competitor, so I don't need to ride faster than everyone else on the street or beat my own record time. I don't need to push myself until it hurts. I don't need to turn myself off of bike-commuting for the sake of a faster ride. I just need to get there, and get back - ideally in one piece. And when I think like that - taking the competitiveness out of it - I appreciate cycling a whole lot more.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Week 44 - Day One: Mrs. Fix It Gets Bloody
BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 22 min.
TIME BACK: 22 min.
WEATHER: clear, 16C, 13 km/hr cross/tailwinds there; a few clouds, 23C, 6 km/hr cross/tailwinds.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
Poor Mike. He's seen better days. His brake pads are wearing thin, especially on the rear wheel; some of the cogs on his cassette are missing teeth, making some gears essentially useless because the chain keeps skipping over the broken parts; the headset loosens up after a certain amount of use, resulting in creaking noises and distressingly shifting handlebars until I tighten it again; and, generally, the bike is feeling kind of stiff and creaky and in ill repair.
Over the weekend, I decided to attempt a bit of a home remedy by replacing the rear brake pads with brand spanking new ones. I've never done this before myself or seen anyone do this, but it didn't look too difficult. I did manage to figure out how they went on, but it took some futzing around to figure out how to loosen the brakes enough for me to get the new pads on and how to adjust everything to make sure it all fit together properly.
While working on the brakes, I managed to stab my thumb with a loose piece of wire from the brake cable. This thin, sharp, and filthy errant string of metal penetrated fairly deeply into my finger pad (which itself was pretty filthy from working on the bike). There was instantaneous blood flow coming out of a very tiny little hole right in the middle of my thumb, and given the depth of the wound there was a surprising amount of pain. I was close to being finished with the brakes, so I finished those off before trying to clean up my bloody mess. This was perhaps a mistake.
Blood flowed from my thumb, sullying the brand new brake pads and the wheel fork and even the ground beneath me. By the time I went to clean up my wound, it was all a big mess of blood and bike grease and road dirt. If the loose wire itself didn't cause an infection deep in my thumb from its initial penetration, surely this mess would have traveled into the wound and done it. Now, twenty-four hours later, my thumb is sore enough that I find it very difficult to text message and do other thumb-heavy activities, and I worry about whether some kind of tiny little infection will set in. Maybe next time I injure myself while working on the bike, I'll take the time to clean myself up right away before the wound starts closing. Or maybe I should behave a little more prissy and just pay someone to work on my bike for me. I'm too damn delicate for this stuff!
TIME THERE: 22 min.
TIME BACK: 22 min.
WEATHER: clear, 16C, 13 km/hr cross/tailwinds there; a few clouds, 23C, 6 km/hr cross/tailwinds.
WHAT I WORE: yoga capris, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:
Poor Mike. He's seen better days. His brake pads are wearing thin, especially on the rear wheel; some of the cogs on his cassette are missing teeth, making some gears essentially useless because the chain keeps skipping over the broken parts; the headset loosens up after a certain amount of use, resulting in creaking noises and distressingly shifting handlebars until I tighten it again; and, generally, the bike is feeling kind of stiff and creaky and in ill repair.
Over the weekend, I decided to attempt a bit of a home remedy by replacing the rear brake pads with brand spanking new ones. I've never done this before myself or seen anyone do this, but it didn't look too difficult. I did manage to figure out how they went on, but it took some futzing around to figure out how to loosen the brakes enough for me to get the new pads on and how to adjust everything to make sure it all fit together properly.
While working on the brakes, I managed to stab my thumb with a loose piece of wire from the brake cable. This thin, sharp, and filthy errant string of metal penetrated fairly deeply into my finger pad (which itself was pretty filthy from working on the bike). There was instantaneous blood flow coming out of a very tiny little hole right in the middle of my thumb, and given the depth of the wound there was a surprising amount of pain. I was close to being finished with the brakes, so I finished those off before trying to clean up my bloody mess. This was perhaps a mistake.
Blood flowed from my thumb, sullying the brand new brake pads and the wheel fork and even the ground beneath me. By the time I went to clean up my wound, it was all a big mess of blood and bike grease and road dirt. If the loose wire itself didn't cause an infection deep in my thumb from its initial penetration, surely this mess would have traveled into the wound and done it. Now, twenty-four hours later, my thumb is sore enough that I find it very difficult to text message and do other thumb-heavy activities, and I worry about whether some kind of tiny little infection will set in. Maybe next time I injure myself while working on the bike, I'll take the time to clean myself up right away before the wound starts closing. Or maybe I should behave a little more prissy and just pay someone to work on my bike for me. I'm too damn delicate for this stuff!
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