Trainer

For Christmas, I received a Bell bike trainer. It's one of the best gifts I have ever received. So far this year, I've used it for over five hours. That doesn't even count the two hours that I used it between Christmas and New Year's. Since I unpacked it, I have burned about 4,000 calories on the trainer while watching TV, reading and checking my twitter accounts. It has also improved my aerobic capacity during the winter when I usually see a drop in all of my physical fitness. I believe the reason I'm already running 5Ks at the same pace I ran last April is because of the time I've put in on the trainer. It makes me feel better on the days that I just can't get up the motivation to go outside and run. I know that I'm not losing a day of activity, I'm cross-training. I will continue to use the trainer over the next few months and will continue to run a 5K every week or so to see if my time improves, slows down or remains the same. I really hope that it helps it to improve, because that will give me a great workout option for days when I don't want to leave the house.

Day 112--Still going

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've still been exercising. Mostly biking to work and climbing on the treadmill. I've been setting the incline to max and walking like it's a steep hill. I haven't been running, but hope to get back to that tomorrow. I don't have any plans until the afternoon, and the weather is supposed to be less oppressive. It's been so hot this week, that most nights I've been hiding in the bedroom where the window A/C resides.

I haven't picked out a race for July yet, but I've been looking into a few. One is an all female race on the 18th, and the other is a race against skin cancer on the 25th. Fewer races to choose from in the hotter months than in the spring months.

day 107--Cycling

I didn't ride to work every day this week. Two days off for bad weather and today off because of the Hawks' rally outside my building. Wasn't sure where I'd put my bike without worrying about damage to it from the 2 million people who were in the streets. I'm also two days behind on my running, so I will need to get a long run in this weekend. I don't like running without a destination, so I'll need to figure out a good place to go that's at least 4 miles away, or find a good 4+ mile loop to run.

I also need to get myself on a scale. It's been about a week since I last weighed in. I have no idea if I've lost anything, gained some or maintained.

Day 101--Pushed too far

I think I pushed myself a bit too far on Wednesday. That, and my dog Otto running me into a wrought iron fence, seemed to have knocked me down. The pre-paint taping of my friend's apartment ceiling may have contributed, too. I biked to work yesterday, but didn't run on the treadmill at all. I walked about a mile, but at a pretty slow pace. I biked home, but the last few miles were a huge struggle. I was exhausted. I decided to take the train into work today to recharge my battery. I'm hoping that one day of rest will be enough. It was enough for God when he created the world, so it should be enough for me. I will make up for the two days of missed running this weekend by running at least two miles each day. It works out that the place I'm painting is almost exactly two miles from my place, so if I run there and back one day, I'll get back on schedule.

I'm also resigned to the fact that I'll have to start keeping a food log. I can't rely on estimates to get rid of the last 10 pounds. I'll see if I can find one online that works for me, or if I'll have to create my own in Excel. Maybe my phone has an app that will work.

Day 100--Mile Run

I ran a mile in 8:30 today. I need to shave about 6 second a week, every week for the next month to hit my goal of breaking the 8 minute mark. I think I can do that. It's much easier for me to push myself when I can see where I'm aiming. I ran far enough today that I'm at 3 miles total over the last 3 days, so I'm keeping up with my mile-a-day goal, too. My weight crept back up yesterday, so that goal is going to be harder than I want it to be. I think I'm going to have to make sure to track every calorie to make sure I'm not under-estimating that portion of the weight loss battle.

I rode into work wearing my heart rate monitor today. My heart rate while cycling barely gets into my target zone. I know I'm still burning calories, but I'm not helping out my ability to run faster. I think I need to push myself harder while cycling to get my heart rate up into the 130+ range. I just hope my thighs can keep up with my heart.

Day 96--Cycling

I've already hit 100 miles on my bike this year. That's in less than two weeks of being back on my bike. That makes 1000 miles this year seem reasonable. I did run a little over a mile this morning. First day with my new sports bra. It was nice not to injure myself while running. I'm feeling pretty good about the race this Saturday. Our team is up to four people. I don't think I realized that it starts at 8:30, though. Even thinking about that makes me yawn. Other than that, I think it will go well.

I will not be hitting my 50 mile run goal by Saturday. I'll have to reconsider what my next goal will be. Maybe I'll try to do a weight loss goal, instead of just hoping it will melt off with running and cycling.

Day 93--Cold mornings

It was barely over 40 degrees when I left home today, so I stuck to city streets, instead of the lake path. City streets cut down on the wind a lot, which makes me much happier. There's also more to see on a ride down city streets. Maybe not more, but different. Many things that change every day and things I've never noticed before. I've biked the lake path so many times, that I have it memorized, and it doesn't really change.

I noticed a car parked about twice as far from the curb as reasonable, missing their side mirror. I would think that losing my side mirror would cause me to park as close to the curb as physically possible, but not this person.

I saw a sign for Hair Fairies while in the richest, most upscale neighborhood that I bike through. It's an entire chain of businesses set up to help parents avoid dealing with their child's head lice. Words cannot describe.

I then saw the side of the LaSalle Tower Condominiums which is the photo in this post. That's not real, it's Trompe-l'œil, which always impresses me, even when it's not the best example of it.

Once I got to work, I ran 1.25 miles on the treadmill. I ran a mile in less than 9 minutes. I'm not going to get to 50 miles by next Saturday, but at least I can get some speed work in every day.

Day 92--Cycling

Today was the first day of summer. Well, for me anyway, as today was the first day I got my bike out of storage and pedaled my way to work. I should get to bike to work the next 4-5 months.

I forgot how long it takes me to bike to work, so I ended up getting to my office building with about an hour to shower and get back to my desk. That's about 30 minutes more than I really needed. I used the extra time to get in a mile of running. It was nice to see my pace as I ran, rather than at the end of my run. I only ran a mile, but it was in a flat 10 minutes. I'm hoping to increase my pace a little bit every day to help me get to a 30 minute 5K.