P90X Update and Longest Bike Ride

Today I went on what turned out to be a 57 mile bike ride. My longest ever. The weather was PERFECT and the scenery was beautiful. I enjoyed the route because it was different from our normal route and it wasn't very hilly.

This ride demonstrated just how stronger my legs have gotten with P90X. We rode at a pretty decent pace, about 15 mph, and I was comfortable the entire time. I only got a little tired around mile 48 but then I got my second wind. My legs felt powerful and strong throughout the ride and I know that it is due to all of the squats and lunges I have been doing in P90X. I wonder what affect this will have on my running...I may sign up for a race before the end of the year.

I have 4 weeks left in the program and I am satisfied with my results thus far. While it is true that my fat gill hasn't completely diminished, a friend of mine reminded me today that I had that fat gill even when I was about 30 pounds lighter so maybe it is just a deformity of mine. Maybe after I have children and I have more money I'll just have it sucked out....

This past Friday and Saturday I did my workouts with my mom. It is pretty embarrassing when your 63 year-old mom can do more pull-ups than you. Sheesh....I have to get my strength up. I also determined that I really need to get a pull-up bar because using the bands isn't giving me the workout that I really need. I bought one of those pull-up bars that goes over the door but my attempt at using that resulted in me almost breaking my neck. So I'm going to buy one of the ones that you screw into the door frame and hope that works better.

I have lost some weight and an inch off my waist as well as about 2% body fat. If I really buckle down and start eating healthier then I know I will continue to see even better results. I'm going to look into the books my friend Dena recommended, hopefully there will be some things in there that I can convince my husband to eat. He's kinda picky.

Mountain Climber

A couple of weeks ago my coworker Paul asked me if I wanted to go with him, his wife and our coworker Bryan for a ride in the nearby mountains. He made it sound like it would be a leisurely ride through beautiful scenery. It was only a 22 mile ride. I had gone 50 so I figured this wouldn't be too bad.

WRONG!

This 22 mile ride up TWO mountains was anything but easy. Yes the scenery was extremely beautiful (when I was able to see it through the pain I was feeling). This definitely ranks at the top of the list of most difficult things I've done physically.

We started off at the top of Hanging Rock (I think that is a picture of it above, lol) then went down and towards Sauratown Mountain. It took us about 8 miles to get to the actual climb up the mountain. When we get there Paul says "okay now this is where it starts getting steep." STARTS!!?? It has already BEEN steep to me and I was already feeling the burn in my thighs. I just kept in mind that it was just a 3 mile climb so I could do that with no problems. Well I wouldn't say that I did it with NO problems but I made it up although I wasn't so sure I was going to make it at one point. I was zig zagging all the way across the road trying to get up that hill. Luckily on that part of the ride there wasn't any traffic so I didn't have to worry about watching for cars. I finally made it to the top and got to take a short break before we started back to the car.

The ride down was fun. It is kind of annoying that it took about 45 minutes to get up the hill and then only 10 to come back down. My forearms hurt from pumping my brakes so much going down the hill. I was afraid to go TOO fast although I did get up to 36 mph. I also didn't want my brakes to melt so I was careful not to ride them too much.

The last climb...since we parked at the top of Hanging Rock we had to ride back up to get to the car (whose idea was it to park at the top??). This was the worst part of the ride for me. The hill was shorter, about 2 miles, but it felt so much more difficult. I guess because there was more traffic and because I was pretty tired at this point. When I had a little over half a mile left I really wanted to give up. I almost started crying and if I would have been able to get my foot unclipped (I didn't even have enough energy to do that) then I would have stopped for sure. I'm kinda glad that I wasn't able to get my foot loose because it made me keep going and at this point Paul had come back to make sure I wasn't dead ride the rest of the way with me so that definitely helped a lot.

All in all I'm glad that I did it and that I now know I CAN do it. I'm glad that I had some great people to ride with because that definitely helped me make it through the ride. This will make the hills on our regular route seem like nothing. I don't know if I'll ever get to the point where I want to do the 3 mountain madness (this adds on another mountain and about 40 more miles) but maybe.....

A Very Wet Day

I had a very busy day today exercise-wise. This morning I got up early and went for a long bike ride with Paul and then I met my tri-group for a wonderful swim clinic. I've decided to share the details of my day today, LOL.

The Ride:
This was my longest ride to date - 51 miles! I felt great too. I am really starting to get the hang of this whole gear switching thing. The course we rode wasn't super hard but there were a few relatively steep hills and a bunch of gentle slopes. The hills were still somewhat tough but not extremely hard. All this cycling is going to make my thighs even bigger :-/ now I'll have to work on getting some of the fat off of them so that at least if they are big they will be big and toned. The forecast called for rain so I was crossing my fingers that we didn't get rained out. We lucked up and only had about 10 minutes of light rain. It was actually kind of refreshing because it came when I was starting to get hot. Of course, the ride wouldn't be complete without being chased by dogs. We were chased by one killer dog and a few less vicious dogs. I'm really going to have to get that pepper spray....

After the ride I stopped and got a bagel and some chocolate milk so I didn't fall out before the swim clinic.

The Swim Clinic:
It was great! It was useful to understand what an ideal stroke looks like and what I needed to work on in order to achieve that. Marisa gave us several drills to help improve our stroke and also let us know what we each needed to work on. I felt like the slow kid in the class because after each length she had something to say to me about what I was doing wrong. That's okay though it just gives me more to work towards. I read this article that said that when you are first working on your stroke that you should do significantly more drills as opposed. So I plan on focusing on my drills and improving my stroke.

Sidenote: I'm still trying to figure out how I'm doing all this stuff and I'm not losing any weight. It's a mystery....

Biking Does Not Equal Spinning

I learned today that biking is not that similar to spinning. Spinning is a lot harder! I decided to take a spinning class today since I knew that I wouldn't ride outside by myself. It probably didn't help that my thighs were still sore from my workout yesterday. I had no idea it would be as difficult as it was but at least I made it through. Here is why it was so different to me.

The size of the bike wasn't optimal. Clearly they don't make these bikes for people 5 feet and under which is a bunch of bullsh*t. I mean really, I know numerous athletic women that are short so why won't exercise machine companies make some bikes that will suit us??? I lowered the seat ALLLLL the way down and it still wasn't perfect. It need to be about an inch lower to be comfortable.

You don't get to coast! You have to continue spinning the entire time. Sometimes you get to spin at a slower pace but you still have to keep spinning. Geez, I am used to coasting a large part of my rides, LOL, so this was pretty difficult.

Not to mention the instructor kept looking at me when she told us not to bounce. One, I don't even know what she meant by this. Two, LADY, have you seen these hips? They bounce on their own, I have no control over what they do. I just really don't foresee myself taking another spin class because while it was a great workout, it was pretty uncomfortable. Maybe one day they will make spinning bikes for short people.

Solo Bike Ride

I was too wimpy to get up and go for a early morning bike ride in the cold so I had to settle for riding alone. This was my first bike ride alone and while I am comfortable on the bike I am not THAT comfortable. I decided to do the 10 mile loop I mapped out around my house. It was okay but there were a bit too many cars for me. I am a "worst-case scenario" type of person so all I could think about was, what if I get hit, what if I pop a tire, what if my chain falls off, etc, etc. I wanted to do more than 10 miles but I didn't want to do that same loop again so I decided to turn into my neighborhood and ride around on the smaller streets for a while.

It was great. There were almost no cars on those back roads and the area was beautiful. I rode past a small lake, some animals including an adorable pony. I thought I might get lost but I didn't which made me proud of my memory and directional skills. I'll just be happy when I learn a little more about bikes and riding so that I will be more comfortable riding alone.

"3 Hour" Ride

The plan was to go for a 3 hour bike ride; it turned out to be a 3 and a half hour bike ride. And you know what? I didn't mind one bit. The day was so beautiful that I feel like I could have rode forever. The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. I'm really falling in love with biking. I have gotten more comfortable on the bike and with riding on the road. There are still some things I need to work on (like turning my head to see if cars are coming behind me) but I think that I am progressing well.

The great thing about today was that it didn't feel nearly as difficult as the last time we did a long ride. I guess my legs are getting stronger!

I plan on being very productive exercise-wise this week. I will post my plan for the week tomorrow.

My First Brick

The weather was PERFECT today!!! I wish it could just stay like this year round. It made for a wonderful workout.

Before signing up for this whole triathlon thing I had never heard of a brick workout. Apparently it is a pretty common workout for triathlon training. Basically you do some biking and then you switch to running. This will help you get used to the transition from biking to running which can take some time getting used to.

We did a 14 mile bike and then a 1.5 mile run. Then we did a 10.5 mile bike and a 2 mile run. I was a little nervous before we started because it seemed like a pretty intense workout. I turned out to not be too bad. I felt good during and after the workout.

I mapped out our ride on Google maps before we left. I think I did a pretty good job since I had never ridden around the area before. I did a pretty good job. There was only one road that was really a gravel road and only one road that didn't exactly go through like the map said it would. That's why the first bike ride was a little bit longer than the second one.

Tomorrow we are going for a 3 hour bike ride. I hope Paul can make it, he might have overdone it today, LOL.

Longest Bike Ride Thus Far!

Earlier this week Paul asked me did I want to go biking on Sunday (today). Of course! The weather was supposed to be beautiful and after the freezing cold bike ride last time I was looking forward to going for a ride in nice weather. The day after I agreed to the bike ride I read on Paul's blog that we would be doing 30-40 miles. WHAT! The furthest I had done at this point was 21 miles. I was a little nervous about attempting this distance but I figured that I'm in shape so I can do it. And guess what??? I DID!!!

We ended up doing 42 miles and at least 20 of those were uphill. Some were up very long and steep hills. I think I need to do a little more hill work on the bike before I go for a ride in the mountains. The hills today were kicking my butt. Towards the end of the ride I was strongly considering stopping and calling Paul on his cell phone to let him know to keep going and just come back with the car to get me. However, my pride wouldn't let me do that so I just dug in and kept going. If I have real aspirations of doing an Ironman then I'm going to have to learn to keep going when I want to stop.

Overall the ride wasn't that difficult but I did realize that Paul and Susan have it a little bit easier because they coast a lot faster and further than I do. After every downhill I had to push it to catch back up with them. They were nice enough to slow down and/or stop so that I wouldn't fall too far behind. I promise I'll get faster!!

The only negative part about the ride was all the dang dogs that tried to eat us. I understand that dogs like to chase things but I would really like for them not to chase me! I'm not scared of dogs (well, most of them anyway) but I am scared of a dog causing me to fall and then mauling me to death or deformity. There were several instances where dogs came out and ran along with us, some seemed friendly while some seemed like they were craving some people meat. Susan and I found that the best way to handle this was to put Paul between us and the dogs. He's pretty good at scaring them off by yelling at them and kicking his foot at them. If I tried to kick while riding I'd probably fall over and then get mauled. I might have to invest in some pepper spray, that will teach them!

I can't wait for my next ride!!!!!!

I Can't Feel My Toes

I called Paul and Susan this morning to see if they were still up for riding today since they did run 20 miles on Saturday. Of course they were, I was secretly hoping they would cancel so I could blame not exercising on them and feel less guilty. No such luck so I bundled up and headed over to their place so we could go for a ride.

We ended up doing about 14 miles. Any longer and I probably would have frozen to death. I'm ready for the spring so I don't have to deal with freezing cold hands and feet. We finished the ride almost 2 hours ago and I still haven't completely gotten feeling back in my toes. It's crazy because besides my hand and feet and my face (but only when going down hill) it really wasn't that bad. I think it helped that I decided to ask to borrow and additional jacket from Susan, otherwise I may have really been suffering.

As far as the ride went, I think it is getting easier. Getting up the hills wasn't as difficult this time which was a good feeling. I'll be happy when I can ride more often so then I can really get into it. I'm thinking about trying out one of the spinning classes at The Club so I can at least feel like I'm kind of riding more than once a week.

I hope next Sunday is warmer....

I'm ON IT!

This has been a great past few days when it comes to exercise. I went swimming 3 times, running 3 times and biking once. I'm pretty sore today and a little tired but other than that I feel great! I'm excited about the fact that I've been pretty consistent with my working out. I do need to improve slightly on the eating side....I had a reckless snacking episode Friday night. I have the meals planned out for the week and we've gotten all of the groceries so I should be able to do much better this week.

Saturday was a morning run with the group. We did 6 miles and I felt pretty good. I haven't started a real plan for my training but I"m definitely going to focus on speed instead of distance. Until I complete the triathlon I'm not going to make my long runs too long because that won't really be necessary. I'll just stick with trying to become a faster runner.

Today I went for my second bike ride! It was great....not as cold as last week which made it so much more enjoyable. I can't wait until the Springtime when it will be very nice. We did about 21.5 miles today and it wasn't too bad. I'm pretty sure Susan and Paul were taking it easy on me. I don't even know how they were riding today after running 18 miles yesterday! Some of the hills were crucial and my thighs are feeling it right now. I didn't think that biking really worked your abs but mine are sore so it must. I'm looking forward to more and more rides and will be happy when it stops getting dark so soon then I will be able to start riding after work.

1st Day of the Year = 1st Bike Ride!

HAPPY NEW YEAR's DAY!!!!!

I hope everyone had a great time last night. I had more fun than I thought I would and I didn't even drink, LOL. I knew I had to get up and get on a bike today so I didn't want to risk being hung-over.

I woke up this morning very excited about the ride and I rushed around the house to get everything in order. I checked the weather and saw that it was about 35 degrees with some sort of ridiculous low temp when you factor in the wind chill. I was a little nervous about the cold but I layered up to help ensure that I wouldn't be too cold. I did a pretty good job because I really wasn't that cold throughout the ride. My toes were the only part of my body that was really cold the whole time. I had on toe covers but that didn't really help. Other than that I was comfortable. I wore biking shorts with a pair of long tights over them. Up top I had on a short sleeve technical shirt, long sleeve technical shirt and a windbreaker. I wore a helmet liner that covered my ears and I could pull it up over my mouth and nose although I didn't because it was awkward.

Paul and Susan met me at the park around noon. They had already rode 11 miles since they rode from there house to meet me. We went over a few ground rules in the parking lot and then they suggested I take a few laps around the parking lot to get comfortable clipping in and out. Great idea! Wellllll.....I fell the first two times I tried to clip in. Yep, just toppled right over! But at least I didn't hit my head or scratch myself (or my bike) up. After those first two failed attempts I focused and got it right. Did a couple of laps around the parking lot and then I was ready to go.

We did about 16 miles, had I remembered to start my watch then I would know exactly how long we had gone. Oh well, I'll try to remember next time. It was a great first ride. I felt great and I made it through without getting hit by any cars or falling in the street. It got kinda of tough on the hills towards the end but I didn't struggle too much. My legs and arms will be sore tomorrow but it is a good kind of sore. I know that I'm really going to love biking. Paul said if I enjoyed it in the cold then I'll love it when it gets warmer.

There are some things I need to work on. I had difficulty drinking from my water bottle while riding and reaching the Gu in my back pocket. I'm going to need to get a container for my Gu so that I don't have to bother with those packets. I also have to get used to the cars. Every time one would pass closely it would make my heart jump. Most of the drivers where respectful but a few got a little too close for my comfort. It was also kinda scary when the car would linger behind us, I'm sure they were concerned by the fact that I was wobbling down the road, LOL.

THANK YOU Susan and Paul for taking me for a wonderful first ride. I look forward to many rides in the future. Oh, and I know I mentioned this before but they are SOOOOOOO CUTE!! I'm going to have to get my husband involved in some sort of physical activity we can do together.