natbla

Accountability time

7 days ago, I sent a 1 week goal of 1 outside ride and 2 hrs on the trainer. So here's how that worked out:

I just came back from my first outside ride since early last fall. In the last 48 hrs my computer battery went deal so I'm not sure of the exact stats, but I think I did ~ 45 minutes of riding (not counting dealing with a flat) and between 6-7 miles of distance. I did this ride as part of my lunch time at 2 PM (Board meeting day). I could have gone longer but I needed to get back to the office to work some more. If all goes well, I'll sneak away for a 10 miler either tomorrow or Friday while the weather allows it.

I only got in 1:15 of my 2:00 hours on the trainer. I guess I could try and bang out 45 minutes tonight. But I already was on the bike today and trainer time and outside rides aren't supposed to happen on the same day. I'll take this another small step toward better living and lower stress at age 40 (now only 49 wks away).

My new 7 day challenge for me is to do 2 days of riding and 2 hrs of trainer time. If I do this right that could translate to 6 days on the bike in 7. That might be too much to ask at this point. But we'll see how it goes. Now if only the weather will cooperate beyond the next 2 days (not likely).

natbla

What a beautiful afternoon to ride! The wind made it a bit interesting as I had to lean into the wind a number of times to stay straight. But I went a little more than 15 miles in just under an hour. I replaced my battery in my computer so I now know how long, fast, and at what cadence I'm doing it. This leads me to revise my estimated distance and time for the two rides I did yesterday and the day before to 30 minutes and 38 minutes each day and 6 and 9 miles each. Anyway, that means I've done 30 miles in 3 days. Now all I need is to get in my 2 hrs on the trainer over the next 5 days and I've met my weekly goal.

If anyone is riding in the Cumberland, MD area, the ride out and back to Lake Gorden is one of the nicest rides even if it has that 22% wall to climb to the top of the dam.

gjosuem

To OP, very reasonable and doable, I wish you good luck. Keep us posted on your journey

natbla

Week 4 weigh-in showed the impact of my weekly goals. After 4 wks of my 52 pounds in 52 weeks, I'm finally on the right side of 225.2.

Start weight 225.2
week 4 weight 222.4
weight loss to date 2.8 lbs (5.4 if you include the 2.8 lbs I gained in the first 2 wks)

So what made the difference?

In the last week I have ridden 34 miles outside, put in 2.25 hrs on the trainer, and been focusing on minimizing eating out at work. I'm also trying to eat only until I'm full. The unseasonably warm weather helped make a lot of this poissible.

jethro56 

Great progress. How do you feel?

natbla

I feel good but am concerned that this success will follow the weather trends. I've never had a problem getting started, its the finishing that has been an issue. I'm hopping this overlapping weekly goals of weight and exercise keeps me on task and making the changes needed.

jethro56 

Your concern is well founded. May I suggest you come up with a plan on how to deal with the weather ahead of time? That way you'll feel in control and not a victim.

natbla

The plan is pretty simple - ride the trainer when possible and then watch my intake closer if I can't get out.

Implementation does take some forethought. For example today's a trainer day. But it will have to be a 10 PM or later time frame due to wife having wisdom tooth out today and parental obligations. The next 2 days are out for riding the trainer as I have a grant application due and lots of writing to do. I'll be at work 30+ hrs between the 2 days. Hopefully, my self control will work for me and I won't eat my way out of the losses of the last 7 days (I do have control of that). If we "luck out" and get enough snow, I'll replace riding this weekend with X-country skiing.

natbla

Well 7 more days have passed and I've had a good week. I set the goal of 2 rides outside and 2 hrs on the trainer. The weather helped a lot in my success. Yes, success.

I road outside 3 times. Twice on the road and once with my daughter. I also got in two trainer rides for a total of 1:50 minutes. Just short of 2 hrs on the trainer. But with the extra outside ride I'll give myself an unequivocal success.

So the weather has returned to winter so this week's goal is more of the same with a goal of 2 outside and 2hrs inside over the next 7 days.

prompterbob

Congrats on your desire to get back on track... You have the motivation, just stick with it. I've lost 63 pounds and counting the past 6 months. Keeping a food diary is essential for me to stick to my 1500 calories a day menu. If it's not on my menu, I don't eat it. I use https://myfitnesspal.com. It's a fantastic free website (with a free companion iPhone app) which makes it a snap to enter what you eat (or plan to eat) and track your exercise. It has a huge food database which makes it easy to add the food items you eat to your menu. You can also custom build and save favorite meals or foods which can easily be popped into your daily menu with a click or two. This website has literally saved my life. You'll be surprised when you record everything you eat. The website also tracks all the nutritional information. I'm a bit more obsessive about my diet, so I even plan my meals a week or two in advance. Of course, I always have the option to easily update or change what I eat. My Fitness Pal - it's a silly name but it's the best website/app of it's kind. I've tried all of them including Calorie Counter and Livestrong. They just don't compare. Anyway, good luck. We're all rooting for you.

Bob

natbla

Week 5 of the 52 week weight loss effort. I'm making really good progress now. Tonight's weigh in was 218.8 down 6.4 lbs so far in 5 weeks. More importantly, I was able to go to a kid b-day party w/ pizza and only have 2 small squares of pizza, and then went out to dinner and had a grilled chicken breast sandwich served with potato chips and even managed to give away half of the chips. I think I can do this.

Looks like I won't get in the 2 outdoor rides due to weather and family responsibilities. However, I'm on track to kit between 3- 4 hours on the trainer instead. So, overall I'm happy.

On a biking note, I'm looking at a set of carbon/aluminum 42 mm deep rims to pick up. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on 100% carbon clinchers, but I'm not willing to risk not having my rims last given all the descending around here and the related problem of overheating the braking surface. Anyone have any comments on using the aluminum brake surface carbon rims? It looks like it won't be heavier than my current Reynolds solitude 30 mm aluminum rims and I can reuse the hubs when I have the wheels built up.

natbla

Well its Thursday again, and over the last 7 days, my goal was to ride outside twice and hit the trainer for 2 hours. Due to work and family scheduling issues, I was only able to get outside for a brief, but hard 35 minute ride. Hover, I was on the trainer five straight days/nights (Friday-Mon.) for a total of 3.25 hours with the shortest time being 45 minutes and the longest being 55 minutes. With a ride on Tuesday, I went 6 days in a row of riding so I'm going to take it as another small win for the lifetime of changes I'm working on here.

I had some food issues on Tues-Wednesday, I suffered a failed attempt to ward off the pizza and junk food monster. But you can't win them all, and if I can stay on top of it over the next 3 days, I should be in shape to at least hold my current weight if not keep the small weight loss wins gong. I may be about to have completed my first full week under 220 since September of last year.

SO again my 7 day goal (today-next Wednesday) is to ride twice outside and get in 2:15 of trainer time. I think once I get past the time change in two weeks I'm going to switch my outside riding goal to a time based goal. My only concern is with the possibility that the measurement will become too large a target and end up with me not feeling like I can succeed. What do you all think?

jethro56 

I don't understand the question.

Wogster

Hate to say it but Friday - Monday is 4 days, add Tuesday for 5, there are a couple of issues, though, trainer time and outdoor time are wildly different, trainer time isn't less, I find it actually a harder workout, you have more control over it, which means you can easily hammer-fest or set the resistance high, pick a low gear and grind away, simulating a TdF mountain stage. I find time based workouts can work well enough on the trainer, but don't work well on the road, unless you do out and back type rides, for example ride down Elm street for 25 minutes (easy around here, Elm Street crosses 3 municipal boundaries), then turn around and ride back, but that usually doesn't result in a 50 minute ride, I've seen where I go for a nice and easy out and back, get to the turn around point, and find that the reason it was so easy is the 45km/h wind that I now need to fight home, and that turns a 50 minute ride into an hour and 50 minute ride

Outdoors I like distance, but then I usually use distance on the trainer as well, rides are marked as trainer or road, so I know which is which.... Remember that you can safely add up to 10% per week, but that doesn't mean you need to add 10% per week, on the trainer I try to do 110km a week, which is split over 3 25km (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday) sessions and 1 35km session (Saturday), by having 3 off days, you don't skip workouts, because if you can't do Tuesdays on Tuesday, you can shift it to Monday or Wednesday. I spent one summer trying to do 6 per week, and it didn't work, because if you miss a workout, it's forever lost and then you get behind your goals and before you know it, you wanted to do 1,000 miles in a 4 month period and 3 months have gone by and your not even half there, then you get to the point of going *&@# it, and giving up.

RoaringMad Mac

As the other's have said. your story is very similiar to mine. I have gotten back on my stationary bike here of late and will get back out on my bike as soon as next week hopefully.

Good luck.

Neil_B

I think our Frostburg friend means he doesn't want to set a goal so big he feels it's beyond him.

natbla

Exactly what I was trying to say. Now time to go ride 20 miles before the weekend rains come.

natbla

Another weigh -in last night. After falling off the wagon a bit on food for a couple days, and giving in to my tired legs and taking an unscheduled day off from riding, I wasn't sure I'd make this week's 1 lb loss goal. But I tighten's the food belt on Saturday and Sunday, upped the trainer riding on Sunday to 1.25 hrs instead of 45 minutes. AS a result, I was thrilled to see a good number last night. As of last night I was 216.8 down 2 lbs for the week. That takes me to 8.40 lbs lost in 7 weeks.

I'm concerned that I may be bordering on over training. As my legs are feeling tired and a little weak every day now. It takes a good 30 minutes to get up going when I ride (trainer or on the road). But with a load of indoor and outdoor riding 5 days a week equal to about 70-90 miles a week. I don't think I'm going to hard.

I could also just be feeling the toll of a good hard training regiment. If that is the case and I push through tiredness and weakness (no pain) for the next 2 weeks, I think I might see a major jump in conditioning April. But I'm just not sure which type of tiredness I'm actually feeling. Anyone have any thoughts?

Also not sure how the reduced calorie intake is impacting all this too.

jethro56 

Some of the experts say to train hard for 7 weeks then either rest or "active recovery" for a week. I'm still having a hard time figuring what active recovery is. My version is 30 minutes every other day at no more that 100 beats per minute. Congrats on the loss. Pretty soon it will become a habit.

natbla

Upon further review, I think I'm fighting a head cold. I feel like a low grade fever is trying to set in. Instead of the typical low calorie cereal bar lunch, I splurged for a 1000 calorie lunch to see if that helped (puts me at 1500 for the day). Lunch was a Sheetz grilled chicken breast sandwich w/ pesto, swiss cheese, banana peppers, green peppers, and onions on a wheat roll. That plus a small bag of chips and my required Diet Mtn Dew and I felt better. I just need to keep it to one serving of tonights dinner and I'll be fine for today's intake.

I have 45 minutes on the trainer and my crunch/core routine on the schedule for tonight (while watching TV). Tomorrow is supposed to be an outdoor ride after work. But that may change based on how successful a writer I am today/tonight (deadline is Thursday). I think I'll push through this week's schedule of activities and then see how I feel later in the week. I need to make hay on the fitness side while I can. Little kid soccer kick in in 3 -4 weeks and that will take up 2 evenings and a Saturday morning each week through mid June.

natbla

Well its official, I'm sick. So I'm shutting down the workout workload for a few days to recover and will get back at it this weekend. Unfortunately, my work schedule is such that I'll be putting in 30+ hrs over the next 2.5 days. But that's just the nature of my job.

natbla

Wednesday accountability, one day late. Well, I missed my biking goals over the last 7 days. My goals were 2 hrs of trainer riding and 2 outside rides. Actual activity was 2:15 of trainer time, but only 1 outside ride.

So why did I miss my goal?

1) I'm very tired and a little sick since Monday. As a result I decide to not ride, and try and recover/get better. Because of a heavy workload (38 hrs in 4 days), I'm still feeling pretty rough today. I may still try and get on the trainer tonight. But more likely I won't

2) I worked 32 hrs in 3 days
3) I'm on kid duty due to my wife's schedule and the kid is feeling sickish too

Anyway, I think this week is going to be a throw away week. And in addition to not a ton of riding, I'll probably gain a pound or so back too just trying to get better. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

ON a more positive note, I've picked out my reward frame set, and drive train so here are some pics from the web:

Microshift Arsis - cheap and different, and if it doesn't work I'll swap in my Ultegra


Frameset

natbla

Week 7 ended in a not so good way. Having taken 6 days off completely and not really cared about what I was eating, Sunday nights weigh in was a bump up of 3.6 pounds. I was at 220.4.

On the plus side it kicked me into gear and I road some on the trainer yesterday (2 sessions of 30 minutes), and tonight did a commercial break interval workout for an hour while watching Chuck. Which by the way has some of the most frequent and long commercial breaks of any show I watch. But I digress.

After worrying I wouldn't get back to the eating right and riding, I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the evening trainer. I'm also confident I can keep the eating to a moderate level again. Plus, my new H plus Son 42mm rim should arrive tomorrow and I need to get my weight back down to the level I used to ok the purchase or I can't mount it (or have the shop build it for me).

natbla

Its been a great 4 days of exercise, though I won't make it outside until later today. After a week off to recover my health, motivation, and leg capacity I've been at it again. I have 4 hrs and 20 min of trainer time including 2 interval sessions, and a steady (almost) recovery trainer ride last night. If today goes well at work I should get in 20+ miles today and maybe 30 tomorrow. I'm on track to pull 8-9 straight days before I take a day off next week.

natbla

Well, week 8 has come to a close and my weigh-in last night was 216.4 down from 220. something last week and down just slightly from 216.8 the week prior. After a week off from riding and minding my Ps and Qs on eating. I went hard this past week. I road every day from Sunday-Saturday, mostly on a trainner, but it did include a 26+ mile ride last friday and 15.8 mph. The ride is an out and back ride that is slightly up hill going out and and slightly downhill coming back. IT does include a short climb about 10 minutes into the ride and the quarter-mile wall that goes up the dam at about 8 miles into the ride. But otherwise is easier ride that I can jump on after work pretty quickly, and due to its nature ride to time based on my family's schedule.

So I did 5.5 hrs on the trainer, and 1.75 on the road, and was even able to get out and kayak on Sautrday afternoon too. A buddy and I were able to run the Top Yough section of the Yough river (a description can be found here) which was a nice time too. I took yesterday off after my legs were just tired all day and I think I've found that 6 days is my max continuous duration for riding.

I'm heading out to dodge the rain after work today as the rest of the week will be indoors again otherwise.