90 Days Doesn't Seem so Long Until...

Oh, my word.
It's been 90 days or more since my last bike ride.
Where did those months go???
I have been LUDICROUSLY busy.
I plan to hop back on my trusty frame and wheels tomorrow, however.
If I get knocked off my routine, I must remember not to beat myself up, and just get back in the saddle and ride.

Freddie Mercury Ridin'

But here's some other stuff I've been up to:

Several years ago, 2009, to be exact, I was introduced to the wonderful sport of Ultimate Frisbee. I played 6 days a week for about a year, then off and on again in the summer/fall/spring when the weather was nice.
Where I live, there are many ultimaters, but organizing everyone has proven to be a challenge. I have tried to regroup everyone every summer for the last 3 years, once I moved back to this area.

This year, it's finally taking off. I credit my friend Sam and a regular practice schedule to the success.

In any case, I started the community club up again June 1st, and it has been pretty great. The turnout is pretty regularly great, and the people are fun to play with. No big egos, no swearers, no negative Nancies.

I play around 5-6 hours during the week. I've also taken up a new martial art: Wado Ryu from a friend who has been teaching for like 20 years. Also a great group of people.

Both Ultimate and Karate cut into biking time. They both begin at 6pm, which would be very difficult to bike 22 miles, followed by pretty intense workouts, then bike home. Maybe I'll work up to it, but I doubt it. For now, I could only bike Tuesdays and Fridays.
Which is my plan.
I would be doing something active every day.

It's no secret I am an anxious individual, fraught with panic attacks, general anxiety, and a stress disorder. Sometimes, depression.
After seeing a counselor, she told me of the three pillars, the three things my mother always told me I needed, but somehow always forgot. My mother has told me so many important things, I guess it's little wonder I should forget them. However, what she told me to practice, she also did NOT really practice, so I guess "Monkey see, monkey do. Hey, MONKEY! Do as I say, not as I do..."

It's a chimp, not a monkey, but eh.

Anyway.

the three pillars are:

1. Eat 

2. Sleep

3. Exercise

All three I was somewhat lacking last year. I can't believe it's been a year since I began biking, but the two posts before this one were only 4 months ago. I thought I had posted those last. year. I don't even REMEMBER biking in March and April. It's like I just forgot several chunks of my life.

No wonder.

My fiancee and I were looking at houses, bought a house, moved into house, got married, went on a honeymoon, got a dog and all the accompanying activities and massive amount of time all of those take rendered my brain a slick slope for memories, I suppose. We did it within 1 month. But there were a couple of months of buildup.

Sh**

What a year.

With all this going on, for the past year, I had not been regularly eating, sleeping, or exercising. 

I'm getting better, though. And I'm also regaining some muscle tone that I had lost. I'm going to sleep at a regular time, drinking more water and eating when I feel anxious. Eating makes me feel better. Usually that's why I feel extra anxious, because I'm hungry.

You'd think I'd be gaining weight by eating when I'm anxious, but I'm actually losing weight. I've lost about 6 pounds in the last month.

Anyway, back to tomorrow's ride.

The weather has been freaking fantastic. Highs in the 70s most of June and now, in July, highs are still only maybe  reaching 80. It's been solidly in the 70s and absolutely perfect. Tomorrow, I will have such a nice ride. It might rain a little, but that's okay.

Also, we live fairly far North, so it's light until 9:30pm or so, so playing Ultimate after work is easy. 

Lots of good things.

A bit of a rambling post, but aren't they always?

Can't wait to feel that wind on my face tomorrow.

Diverging To Weights (and Gains)

Well,
Needless to say, I haven't been biking much, but also, I have not been slacking off.
I decided that for my body/weight loss goals, biking alone isn't going to cut it. Also, I'm rather weak in the arms and back, so I need to balance out my physique and extend my exercises to weights.

If you only exercise one portion of your body, the more likely you will suffer from injury. It's best to be more holistic with one's workout regimen.

My legs are strong, no question about it. They've always been so. But, my biking was not getting me to where I want to go fast enough (Not because I pedal too slowly... or maybe I do?).

Also, the weather was hell until last week. It was snowing/sleeting/hailing/raining/windy almost every day for about a week and a half. Before that, it was freezing cold.
So... I now hit the gym at 6am.
Last week, on Sunday, I had martial arts training at 9am, swam for 30 minutes, then played ultimate frisbee for a couple of hours (received a wicked blister for my efforts... still hurts).
On Monday morning, 04/04, 5:45am,  I tried out CrossFit in Moscow, which was free for me since it was my first time. But it's $80/month for 3 classes per week, which I did not know, because they did not tell me until after the free class, otherwise I would not have imposed.

Wee bit too pricey for the likes of me. Especially considering there's no shower, it's bare concrete with some pads thrown about, and I didn't see a single person wipe off their equipment. Maybe the instructor does it after the class but... mmm... Not going to play with that fire. I'm scared of other people's germs. I'm also scared of what bare concrete is secretly doing to my knees. I had to dance ballet on it a couple of times when I was younger.
Not.
Fun.

I have to say, CrossFit is a good program for a person who needs a lot of motivation from others to succeed; someone saying "You're doing great! Great job! Keep pushing!"
Either that or a person who needs to invest in something to keep them coming back (like, "I'm not going to waste $80 a month!!").
However, I am not one of those people. I am very cheap ($40/month or less, please) and very internally motivated. So, I can roll out of bed and into the gym without having someone, or monetary guilt waiting for me.

So: IMHO, CrossFit is good exercise (and exercise is great), so if it floats yer boat, then that's terrific. However, it does not float my boat.

Then Tuesday, 04/05, I went to the Rec at WSU. Such nice facilities. Pool, showers, towels, loads of fun machines and other equipment, bouldering wall, basketball, running track, stretch pads, raquetball courts, lots of room, smells nice, water  fountains everywhere, and there's a fireplace and lounging areas (and that's just indoors, there's a whole outdoor area, too). And yet, somehow as large as it is, it manages to still feel somewhat private.

Wednesday, 04/06, had a Doctor's appointment, Thursday, 04/07, was my company's big fundraiser and Friday I felt like I was going to pass out from not getting enough sleep.

So, this morning I began again at the gym.
Lots of cardio (Running, elliptical, rowing maching - I love cardio!!!) and legs (mostly glutes), with a little bit of arm and back (that's where I tend to sag... I do not like having back fat. *shudder*).

My goal is this: workout at the gym Mon-Wednesday, take off Thursday (or Yoga) and bike on Fridays. It's casual Friday at work, so if I look a little mussed up, it doesn't matter.

Monday: legs & maintain other parts
Tuesday: Back & maintain
Wednesday: Arms & maintain
Thursday: Off and/or Yoga
Friday: Bike to work.

I've already lost like 2 pounds in like a week, so that's positive. I'm eating healthier (I think) and keeping an eye on it. Surprisingly, the Conde Naste company - you know, Vogue, Shape, etc. - makes a really good nutrition tracker (I don't know why this surprises me, but it does... I was using it for weeks before I opened an account... I never suspected). It's very thorough. Not the easiest thing in the world to read, but I love all the detail. I really appreciate their HUGE database, too.

Anyway,
The short version is this:
I worked out. My butt hurts. Time to eat a salad.

More later.

Ride of Spring (get it, Stravinsky fans?)

It's the first ride of spring! It was absolutely beautiful!! Could not ask for better weather. It was cool enough to be comfortable and warm enough to feel my fingers. I tried out my new boots from the Storm Cellar. They are also awesome. Lots of positive feelings today. Makes for sort of boring writing I guess...  but, that's life. It's too good to be fiction sometimes.
 I am currently at Buffalo Wild Wings enjoying a spicy bloody Mary and waiting for my Fiancee to arrive. He works out with his friend three days a week. My friend Jessie is part of a roller derby group that gets 10% of the proceeds from tonight's visit here at BWW. That reminds me: I need to show my special voucher.



-____________________________-

Update 03.25.2016
It has done nothing but hail, snow, gust and rain since that first glorious day. My hopes to ride every day this week were dashed.
DASHED, I SAY!
But here's some Stravinsky to ease (or aggravate) those shattered dreams.

Woman Biker

There seems to be a lack of popular information about women and cycling and their nutrition.
Well, there seems to be a lack of anything about women bikers, to tell the truth.
I've been researching biking for many months now and I've run across a handful of ones that even mention "woman", "lady", "gal", "dudette", or any other descriptor of a female.
Not that there is anything wrong with male bikers (they are some awesome people, I'm sure), but when you're venturing into unknown territory (like I did/am with my biking goals), it's good to know  what you can and/or cannot expect.

A Summary of G.I. Joe (and Bush?) Battles

Here is a short summary of who I am, how I fuel up, and what seems to work (or not) for me.

I must tell you, in the case of doing a lot of exercise, always err on the side of caution when taking advice from anyone. When you are considering combining diet and exercise be very cautious.
Make sure you're getting enough nutrients before you decide you need to cut back.
Bonking is god awful, and you seriously do not want to play with that fire.

From this article "You failed to eat and drink enough on your century ride, and now you’re bonking badly and getting dropped."

That being said, here we go:

The Known:
Mathematically:
Distance: 11 miles one way...22 miles/day I bike
Speed: 12-14mph on average
Theoretical calories burned for my age, height, weight, and speed: 800-1000 calories [depending on the day]
Keep in mind that calories burned in one day/per exercise does not include the increased rate of your metabolism at rest. If you bike consistently, you will eventually be burning more calories at rest than you did before you began your exercise.

Based on this information, I can gauge that I need to consume at least 2,200 calories/day [and actually, probably more] to keep my blood sugar from crashing.

I have the added trickery of having a hypoglycemic tendency. What helps me stabilize that is eating fruits, veggies, and protein.
My metabolism's tragic flaw is my insatiable desire for cake. I can eat a great deal of fat, and I like sugar, so cake is the perfect combination of sugar and fat that gives me such an endorphin rush, it makes my opiate receptors light up like a pinball machine.
Which brings me to a point about working out a lot and nutrition:
Sometimes, you've just got to eat the cake.
Not too much cake, but that burning desire you have, you should probably succumb to occasionally to keep from going mad.
At least, I have to.
Something that helps curb the insanely intense urge to go out and eat every pastry that crosses your path is this:
Eat enough other stuff.
If you're more full and actually satisfy yourself while you're eating a meal, you're less likely to go around having salacious thoughts about cookies and muffins.

Which brings me back to my warning: be careful about dieting and exercising.
I've done extreme versions of both. I was medically diagnosed "malnourished" and I under-ate and over-exercised for years.
I hit kind of lazy part of my life where I was so exhausted I could barely get out of bed in the morning, and that prompted me to examine what I wanted:
Did I want to congratulate myself on a meal unfinished, or did I want to be healthy in a self-sustaining way?

With me, I discovered something (pardon me, if this seems egregiously obvious, but it wasn't to me):
Food gives me energy.
Energy gives me movement.
Movement gives me hunger.
Hunger drives me to food.
Food gives me energy.

For years, I lived with this mindset;
Food makes me fat.
Fat makes me a failure.
Failure makes me worthless.
Worthless people don't deserve food because...
Food makes me fat.


Let me just say, I am so glad I don't live in that headspace anymore. I starved myself so badly, I was so physically weak, although I had the willpower of a demi-god. Just didn't put those forces of willpower to very good use.

But this is my point:
You can diet, and you can exercise, but unless you put these both in balance and give yourself a healthy amount of both food and activity, your force of willpower will not serve you well.

Once you get in the right mindset (whatever that is for you), you'll be able to focus on your goals better.
Thoughts like, "I'm fat" or "I'm not strong enough" only distract from your goals.
Focus.
Focus.
Focus.

That all being said, this is just my take on it. I just became tired of punishing myself for having normal bodily functions (e.g. hunger, pride, satiety) like everyone else.
Like most decisions, it was born out of necessity.
I won't discuss it in length here, but just know that starving yourself, over time, leads to a whole host of problems you don't want in your life, my friend.


I don't know if anyone else will ever read this, but I'm writing it down at least as a pep-talk to myself when I'm feeling unmotivated.
The only person in charge of me is me.
I should rule kindly and firmly and make myself a friend to me.
As a professor of mine once said, "You only live in one place your entire life: your mind. Make it a nice place for yourself."


This has been a bit long and rambling.

But, I can't write a list of every food you should eat, or all the calories in something vs. something else because you can eat pretty much anything. You can make a cake relatively healthy, or you can make a carrot stick something sinful.
Whatever you eat, make sure you're putting enough fuel in your symbolic fuel tank to keep you feeling great, whatever you decide to do.
This advice also goes, I feel, for people who have to diet some before they can start exercising.
One does have to eat healthy, but one also must be honest about their own cravings and desires. If one avoids them, or deny them, they will only come back in greater force.

Anyway... I seem to have lost my train of thought on this one.
Rambling done.

Eating Wind and Soaking Up Sunsets.

Yesterday it was one of those promised Lion-like March days. I woke up late, sleeping through my alarm and found snow and slush on the ground. Since I over-slept, I left my house a little after 8:00am.

After I reached the Western end of town, I started to feel the effects of the steady 16mph wind (up to 25mph gusts). It took me almost 45 minutes to reach the halfway point. That is at least twice as long as normal.
Thankfully, the wind continued in the same direction during the day and I sailed (almost figuratively speaking) all the way home. I made it back to my apartment in just over 30 minutes.

Going into the wind was interesting. It's very noisy all the wind you're pushing into. Also, the return of your effort on the pedals is excruciatingly low. It's one of the only times I could feel a real helpful difference between having my head up and ducking into the wind.

I've been outside when the wind is heavier, obviously, I think we all have, but I haven't experienced that on a bike in some time. I got kind of pissed off at the wind. It seemed to take on the personification of a bully, in my mind. It would not relent.

Since the clock changed on Sunday, biking back was fully lit, even though I left work at 6:45pm. So, when I leave at a reasonable hour, it's good to know I'm going to have light until September or October (I think) biking back.
However, I'm so glad I left late because I saw some beautiful sights. Here are a couple of pictures I took last night:

Hills at Sunset, Pullman, WA (the Palouse)

Sheep at Washington State University, Pullman, WA

I don't know what WSU does with those sheep, but there they are. At one time, there were goats in that enclosure.
I find it so funny that within 100 yards of this little fence, across the street, there is a bigger fenced area with bears in it. WSU does research with bears, fun fact.
And, next to the bears is the campus safety office, which is even more hilarious.
They are getting a new office further up Grimes, though, so that's good.
I really wonder who's going to have the office next to the bears now, though.
Also, I wonder if the bears ever get hungry smelling the sheep on the wind...
All around good day.

Not biking today, however, unfortunately. Bowels were not nice to me today and since I left work so late yesterday, I decided to be more relaxed with my routine this morning.
Hopefully, I'll be biking in tomorrow, but we'll see.

Later.

Rain, Rain, Rain...

Friday morning, the tail wind was very helpful and I made the 11 miles in about 40 minutes.
 Beautiful weather all day on Friday. Then, right when I'm about to leave work, it starts storming. This is normal for here. And it's usually a light drizzle, but this time it was very windy and quite rainy. Thank goodness I have marmot gear. They do not pay me to say this, but their stuff is great. Putting on my rain pants was a tad bit discouraging since they seemed to have magically shrunk a bit. Nah, kidding, I've put on like 10 pounds over the winter, like always. Anyway, Marmot is terrific gear and I was completely dry and comfy beneath the rain. It was taking me three times longer to pedal back because of the headwind, so my fiancee very sweetly retrieved me from the edge of town. I have sailed most of my life, so wind doesn't really bother me, in itself. But when I'm trying to do in a straight line and it is making me quake in my journey. I wasn't about to be stubborn. Also, when someone is so considerate, I try not to dispel that.
I was riding a loaner bike from Paradise Creek bicycles while my bike was getting new cables run and everything tuned up for the season. Note to self: Need to buy chain lubricant.
Honestly, I don't know all that much about bikes. I'm picking up pieces here and there. I need to start cleaning my bike more, I know that. It's so nice having the outside creek trail, but the street sweepers of Moscow are a shy species, not prone to come out of hibernation until May. There is a lot of crap on the roads right now. Every day I get splattered with sludge. I'm only on the road for less than half a mile. Everything else is trail.
anyway, all that crud is getting on my bike, so I need to get in the habit of wiping it down a couple times a week at least.
I'm learning. I've been focusing on the human machine side of biking 100 miles a week, but I'm sure 100 miles a week is not all that easy on the bike, either.
I have yet to give it a name... I feel like I should. I name freakin everything.
some ideas, in no particular order:
1. White Light
2. Silver Pull-it
3. Pedaling Salesman
4. (I love terrible puns, can you tell?)
5. Ge-pedal-o
6. Moby Click. The White Bike.
Eh, I'll think of more late.
time for me to do something else.

22 miles after a long hiatus.

Well. Today was a pretty good day.
Yesterday, I had a low grade fever for the 6th time this winter (it seems).
Yes. My grandiose plans to bike every day, even through winter were about as affective as Trumps toupee making him not look like a giant asshole. Literally, the way he puckers his face makes him look like a rectum.
Man... Just making that comparison makes me feel even worse.
but... Butt... TRUMP.
Anyway...
I failed myself all these months. I decided yesterday during my sick time off, NOT to be lame and help myself and get some good exercise.
part of keeping the resolution this time is:
1. eating enough/right to sustain me.
2. Not worrying about my speed and time so much. I have to remember I'm going for endurance first, build stamina, then go for the speed.


Conditions:
slightly drizzly.
worms EVERYWHERE. It rained pretty hard last night, so they were out in droves this morning. I saw some robins perched on a wire just very causally surveying their feast day.
beautiful sunset. Deep grey blues and purples. Just so lovely.
a little chilly, it was. I wore a few layers. Still had the concurrent "can't feel my legs for the chill" and my shirts soaked with sweat.
It's getting light around 6:10 am now, so waking up in time to leave by 7:30 is much easier. Waking up in the dark for me is really difficult.




In other news: I decided to stop taking my anxiety medication at precisely the wrong time, really. I am getting married, moving, and buying a house in the next 80 days. Talk about stress. I'm really looking forward to riding now. also, I get so antsy at work. I like the place i work, but the boredom isn't good for me. I must keep myself engaged, however, so I will power through. Today, although I was tired, I was really looking forward to getting out of the office and riding the 11 miles back.


I'll pull myself out of this anxiety ridden state one way or another. Might as well enjoy some scenery as well.