I've been waiting... patiently. In the beginning, it's easy to make gains--or rather in this case, losses:
I thought that if I waited a week or so to weigh myself again, I'd see a marvelous drop--must more satisfying than seeing a slow trend downwards. Not only have I been riding consistently, but I've gone cold turkey on Cupcakes and second dinners. Things are looking better around the middle, and it's already gotten easier to cram my fat ass into jeans every morning. So, it seemed as if it would not be a matter of IF I had lost any weight, but... how much.
Around midweek I broke down and weighed myself again, and by golly my eyes buggered out: I've gained 1 pound! Is it possible that at this juncture, the muscle gain is outpacing the fat loss? I mean, there's got to be SOME fat loss, right? Ho, hum. Something about delayed gratification. I suppose for the time being, being fat must remain part of my newly mobile identity.
Sunday 04/05: 25.13 miles, 1:35:44 (15.7 mph), 6 x RB laps. What a difference a few days makes. It was windier and yet warmer than I'd like, but there was a significant improvement from the first two days, especially on the slightly uphill side. Was feeling pretty good, so I tacked on an extra lap, but on this extra lap, holy moly, I got my ass handed to me by a 75 year old asian man who had (I kid you not) a clear plastic bag full of chinese food tied to the back of his seat!
Monday 04/06: 41.58 miles, 2:37:23 (15.8 mph), Peter's short long loop backwards. Started from where I dropped off my car at the shop, so that cut about 4 miles, but they were pleasant downhill miles, so I didn't feel too bad. I was a little anxious about increasing the mileage, but this ride went really well! Started out easy, but picked it up along the way and felt great through the end. # of bees that flew into my mouth: three.
Tuesday 04/07: 28.37 miles, 1:47:03 (15.8 mph), 7 x RB laps. Feeling a bit uninspired today, so headed to the RB. Started out feeling a little bit on the tired side, but then felt better. On lap 6, I had to push a little bit to stay ahead of another female cyclist. We passed each other back and forth a few times, but I think I won this round, because she dropped way back on lap 7. I kept up the pace. It was a lot easier than I imagined. It felt good to go a little faster and touch upon some competitive instincts. Also, finally made it up that little hill on the way back w/o granny gears... eeeee, the climbing is definitely worse off than the flats.
Wednesday 04/08: 32.73 miles, 2:04:17 (15.8 mph), Encanto Park to North end of River Trails by Highway 39, back on Huntington. Ahhhhh, the wind, you rat bastard... whether it's slowing down my 2 mile repeats at the track, or impeding my progress on the bike... no, you can't just leave people alone now can you? I really thought I'd get my first >16 mph reading today, but ran into some nasty headwinds/crosswinds after Encanto Park, which rapidly quashed down my efforts. Otherwise it was a pleasant ride.
Thursday 04/09: 45.7 miles, 2:49:12 (16.2 mph), Peter's Short Long Loop. One day late, but just as awesome! Started out real easy, so I wasn't sure what the time would look like, but felt great and rode strong. Went a little crazy on that end part between Caltech and home, because I wanted to beat the clock (< style="font-weight: bold;">
(Brain, see below for some fabulous non significant figured approximations :))
Friday 04/10: 37 miles, 2:30-ish, Peter's work to home via a little ways along Deer Creek Canyon. Took the train to go collect Peter from work, but got lost along the way, so we ran out of daylight... so I didn't get to climb, but I went a short ways up a hilly side street which was really neat! Overall, this was a pretty difficult ride. Rolling hills are my worst suited terrain and there was plenty of that, so I got tired pretty quick. I also felt like I maxed out my HR at several points to keep up/catch up with Peter. Felt really dead on the way home.
Saturday 04/11: 53 miles, 4:30-ish, Deer Creek Canyon to High Grade Road, maybe 7 miles of climbing. A pretty epic ride. It was really hard from the beginning bc of the strong winds, but surprisingly things were calmer up in the mountains. There was some really wonderful mountain roads. Had to bail a little earlier than I wanted, bc the gearing on this bike is much harder than on mine, but was pleased to have made it even so far. I'd like to go back sometime, this is a great road.
Coming home was the scariest experience I've ever had on a bike. It was gusting heavily, and I was being blown about horribly--at one point, dangerously close to oncoming traffic. I think the amount of adrenaline alone kept me pedaling into the wind, despite the terrific effort it took to move forwards. Thankfully it was smooth sailing the last 10 miles home when the wind was safely behind me. Felt pretty good when I got home, and made delicious delicious pizzas :).
Training this week: ~263 miles, 17:53:39
Goals: 175 miles (25 per day?) I really don't know how to goal set realistically for riding...
2 comments:
Your water weight and scale error and other uncertainty factors combine to make the 1 pound gained not real, so don't worry about it!
In a similar vein, you don't know your biking distance well enough to report two decimal places. 1% of a mile is like 16 meters.
Yeah I like the approximations!
Jeez - don't get hit by a car.
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