Well time kind of slipped away from doing the updates here. However, I had a pretty good week otherwise. Here are the highlights.
Tuesday – May 10th
I meet with a personal trainer, to set up a schedule for the summer. While we talked we walked around the neighborhood, doing a mile loop. She also set up a 15 min stretching routine for me. Finally, she reviewed some of my old food logs I have on here and made some suggestions for tweaks. Later on I went grocery shopping to try and implement some of them. The only downside was that my knee didn’t feel great that night. But I wasn’t sure if it was from the walking, the stretching, or something.
Wednesday – May 11th
I rode with Jen with the first time this year. We had to cut the ride short since she wasn’t feeling well. Still, it was my first ride out with a kinda, sorta hill and I was pretty please with how the knee did. I had to shift into an easier gear much sooner than I had hoped, but I did make it up the hill before having to use the granny gear.
Distance: 3.54 miles
Time: 00:20:33
Avg Speed: 10.2 MPH
Max Speed: 20 MPH
Thursday – May 12th
Part of the issue with the Wednesday ride was the ridiculous weather. Thursday was just as hot so I didn’t ride. I should have done the stretching routine, but that is something I still need to work on.
Friday – May 13th
Another ride that felt really good. It was the same six mile loop that I had been doing, and my legs felt pretty fried at 4.75 miles. But the bike computer showed that I was above 14 MPH for my average speed, and I really wanted to keep it there. So I kept going hard for the last 1.25, and actually raised the average speed by a couple of tenths. I was in a pretty good mood after that.
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 00:25:11
Avg Speed: 14.3 MPH
Max Speed: 23.5 MPH
Saturday – May 14th through Monday – May 16th
I actually went carpet and couch shopping on Saturday. The weather was nice when I was doing that, then turned to crap when I was done. My knee doesn’t really like that type of weather change and has bothered me a bit since. Unfortunately, the weather doesn’t show any signs of clearing up until Friday. Maybe I’ll have to actually use the gym membership a couple of days this week.
Overall Stats
Current Month Bike Mileage: 29.69 miles
Current Month Total Mileage: 30.69 miles
Pct of Monthly Goal: 30.69%
Weight: 267.5
Pct Body Fat: 37%
The weight is down 2.5 pounds since last Monday’s check-in.
I am meeting with the trainer tomorrow night (probably tonight by the time this makes it to Facebook) to review my food log from last week. Lots of room to improve there still, but I think I made some better choices this week.
Yesterday (Sunday) was easily the best ride so far this year. The weather definitely helped, but the legs felt strong for the entire ride. It was the same loop that I did on Friday, though without the bike computer issues.
Distance: 6.01 miles
Time: 00:26:53
Avg Speed: 13.4 MPH
Max Speed: 22 MPH
Currently Monthly Mileage: 20.15 miles
Pct of Monthly Goal: 20.15%
On the weight front, I had a decrease of 2.5 pounds. So that was nice to see given how much I ate at Olive Garden yesterday for lunch with my mom and sister.
Weight: 270.0
Pct Body Fat: 37%
The weather is looking pretty nice today, so I might try to get out on the bike again. I’m not sure how my knee and back will be without the off day.
I was wondering if anyone on my friends list watches the Biggest Loser? I have been thinking about getting a Calorie Tracker to wear, and I guess they have them where one on the show. Essentially it is an armband that you wear all day, even while sleeping. Then it measures your calorie use throughout the day. There are others out there that are designed with heart rate monitors and calculate calories during exercising. But I don’t think those work when you are just sitting at your desk. This is supposed to do that, with the idea being you will see the low calorie number and get motivated to move more. It also checks sleep, but I’m less clear what exactly it is measuring there.
As I am look at currently, the main drawback seems to be that you have to buy a subscription to the company’s website to upload the data. There isn’t a way to upload it straight to my computer and track it yourself. As someone that deals with databases all day, it can be frustrating to me when a products canned reports don’t show me the exact data that I want to see. Especially when I know that data is being tracked by the software.
I did what I would consider the first real ride on Friday. Instead of just doing a short loop multiple times, this time I did one longer out and back loop. The main distinction is probably more mental than physical, as it meant I was a fair bit away from home if the knee (or anything else) started bothering me. Fortunately, that wasn’t an issue. The only “problems” with the ride was just being out of shape and doing the longer distance. The weather played a bit of a role as well, since when I was riding it couldn’t make up its mind if it wanted to rain or not. I did wear my rain jacket, and it was covered by the time I finished. But I did luck out in that it didn’t really rain until I was done.
I’ll probably keep doing this loop for a bit, then gradually add some distance onto it.
Distance: 5.76 miles *
Time: 00:26:40
Avg Speed: 12.8 MPH
Max Speed: 21 MPH
Currently Monthly Mileage: 14.14 miles
Pct of Monthly Goal: 14.14%
* I’m only counting the 5.76 since that is what the bike computer showed. However, the actually ride was closer to 6. I turned the computer off at stop light and evidently didn’t hit the button correctly to turn it back on. I need to change the computer to auto start when the tires start moving.
I took Tuesday off, but got in a ride on Wednesday. I was at Ryan and Kara’s, and they live on a loop that is a little less than three quarters of a mile. I never really paid that much attention when I drove out to their place, but there is definitely some slope on their street. Awesome going down, but not so much fun going back up. In reality, it is pretty flat. Just enough to be noticeable. Aside from it being a little chilly (I set up the lights and rode at night), I was pretty pleased. The knee didn’t feel too bad, plus it didn’t tighten up on my on the drive back from Johnstown.
Here are the stats:
Distance: 4.09 miles
Time: 00:19:35
Avg Speed: 12.3 MPH
Max Speed: 18.3 MPH
Currently Monthly Mileage: 8.38 miles
Pct of Monthly Goal: 8.38%
I’m not sure if I am going to update the blog everyday, but I do want to make sure that I give a status update on Mondays.
I managed to get back on the bike again today, before the weather went to crap. Another shorter ride, but it was long enough to be encouraging. The knee felt pretty good getting on the bike, though I’m definitely going to have to ice it later on tonight.
Distance: 2.75 miles
Time: 0:13:06
Avg Speed: 12.6 MPH
Max Speed: 16.8 MPH
Currently Monthly Mileage: 4.29 miles
Pct of Monthly Goal: 4.29%
I also got on the scale today. It was pretty much what I expected, but hopefully getting it out there will help with the motivation as well.
One of my goals for this summer is to get back on my bike. It has been a while since I have put any real miles on the bike, not even counting last summer where it wasn’t an option. So help set the mood, we’ll start off with Queen.
I did manage to get in the first ride today. A whopping 1.5 miles around the neighborhood. But I’m fine with starting small and working my way up. I only have no idea how the knee is going to react to the rides, and the last thing that I need to do it sabotage myself right out of the gate. Overall, the ride felt pretty good, but I was way too winded at the end for it only being 1.5 miles. Not that I was surprised by that though.
The actual goal breaks down like this. I want to get in a 100 miles total in the month of May. Then increase that to 200 in June, 300 in July, and 400 in August. I’m not sure if 500 in September is possible, but it is on the list. Technically, those mileage goals are not limited to the bike. If I go out and walk another mile today, then I’ll count that toward the goal as well. However, I imagine that the majority of it will come on the bike.
Here are the stats for the ride.
Distance: 1.54 miles
Time: 0:07:55
Avg Speed: 11.7 MPH
Max Speed: 15.2 MPH
I had an awesome day playing Savage Worlds. Unfortunately given how early I had to get up for it, I ended up having about 7 cans of pop throughout the day to try and keep focused. I normally try to limit to a single can a day. Otherwise the caffeine makes it so I can sleep.
So yeah. Here I am at 5:30a and I am kind of tired, but I can’t sleep at all. Sad sad panda.
My back hurt practically day while I was at work. I tried doing some back and leg stretches, but with limited success.
Food Log
Breakfast: 10:00am, 5 mins after waking up 2 waffles w/syrup, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop
Snack: 12:45pm, 2:45 after Breakfast White Macadamia Nut Clif bar, 16 oz. water
Lunch: 2:30pm, 1:45 after Snack 2 Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie burgers on buns, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime
Snack: 5:00pm, 2:30 after Lunch Chocolate Chip Clif bar, 16 oz. water
Dinner: 8:30pm, 3:30 after Snack Subway 6 inch Turkey on Italian Herb and Cheese (cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, spicy mustard), Sun Chips Spicy Chipotle Chips, 21 oz. Orange Fanta
Snack: 11:30pm, 3:00 after Dinner Chocolate Fiber One bar, 16 oz. water
Sleep Log
I was asleep before 3am, but did hit the snooze button twice this morning. I was pretty tired until the caffeine from the Citrus Drop kicked in.
Exercise Log
I took the day off. My back hurt most of the day and the legs were sore after using the elliptical yesterday.
I made it to the grocery store on Monday night, so I finally have some apples and bananas available again.
Food Log
Breakfast: 9:30am, 5 mins after waking up White Macadamia Nut Clif bar, 12 oz. Diet Citrus Drop
Snack: 12:50pm, 3:20 after Breakfast apple, 16 oz. water
Lunch: 2:15pm, 1:25 after Snack 2 Morningstar Farms Chik Patties on buns, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime
Snack: 5:45pm, 3:30 after Lunch Chocolate Chip Clif bar, 8 oz. water
Water: 6:40pm, 8 oz.
Dinner: 8:45pm, 3:00 after Snack pasta w/Classico Traditional sauce, double chocolate chip cookie, 12 oz. Diet Lemon Lime
Snack: 10:30pm, 1:45 after Dinner Kroger Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl pudding
Snack: 12:00am, 1:30 after Snack banana, 16 oz. water
Sleep Log
I fell asleep pretty quickly last night, a little bit before 3am. I got up when the alarm went off at 9:30am, only feeling a little tired.
Exercise Log
Elliptical Machine: 6:40pm Time: 20 mins, Calories: 270, finally back on this thing for the first time since Dec 4th. Legs felt a little tight, but probably could have gone 30 mins. I had a 7:30 appointment that I needed to get to though.