Posted on June 29th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Training |
The truth is that a few days off not only never hurt anyone, they actually might help. After not feeling like I could get my rides done last week and taking a few rides off, today I was determined to get 45 miles in. It’s the longest ride I’ve done yet this season–although I have already done a couple of this length–and it has three significant hills in it, so it’s definitely a challenge.
When I’m in decent shape and not making a lot of stops, I try to finish this ride in about three hours. I was hoping to start this one at 5 am and finish around 8, but that didn’t happen. I ended up getting on the road at around 6:40 am. It was a bit overcast, which has its pluses and minuses–in the positive category, it’s cool. In the negative category, rain can lead to slick roads and poor visibility, which can be dangerous.
I headed off and realized about half a mile into the ride that I had forgotten a spare tube. I did have a patch kit and tire irons, so I decided to go ahead and risk it, having inflated my tires to 120 psi before I left. The ride was pretty nice and a hair wet until I hit the town part of Kailua, about a quarter way in, when it became really wet. I thought about turning around before I headed into Waimanalo–the road along that way is a rural highway, one lane each way, with some fast hills downhill and tough uphills, so if it was really wet it might be a bit dangerous. The rain subsided, however, and I proceeded into Waimanalo.
It was still a bit damp throughout the ride, and I got into a fairly stiff headwind this persisted until I made the turn into the last hill going out (Makapu’u), which is a serious looking hill when you get there from the windward side of the island but really isn’t all that tough in the mornings since there’s usually a tailwind to help you up the hill. I got to the top and took a quick break, then headed back down, where I ran into a stiff wind that pushed me toward the middle of the road (this is along a cliff, so that was better than one that pushed me the other way) during a 40 mph downhill–the feeling can only be described as exciting.
About an hour and a half later I ended up at home, no injuries or mechanicals of any kind.
I’m glad I didn’t turn around early due to the weather, and I’m really glad I took those days off. Now I feel like I can take on 60 miles–and I will this coming week!
Posted on June 26th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Running, Social aspects, Swimming, Training |
I realized I said I’d talk about food this time around, but I thought this was more important right now. I’m burnt. Not burned out–what sometimes happens to athletes, students, workers of all types when they experience long term exhaustion and diminished interest–but sunburned from multiple rides and runs this past weekend. However, there’s no […]
Posted on June 25th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Social aspects, Weight loss |
If you have success with losing weight, it’ll be very evident on the scale early on. If you’ve been eating poorly and not exercising for years, once you start, if you keep at it, you’ll definitely lose weight–and for a little while, rapidly. There’ll be other changes too. Your clothes may start fitting more loosely, […]
Posted on June 24th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Weight loss |
To a large extent, managing your blood sugar is like dealing with a car. You have necessary fuel (food), you may have some additives to your fuel (medication), and you have movement (your activity level). All of these impact your sugar levels. We all need food. That’s a given. Foods with more non fiber carbohydrate […]
Posted on June 23rd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Exercise, Training |
I’m not sure I’d say I love–or even like–working out. I do it, largely because I have to in order to get and stay healthy. To some extent, there’s a social theme to working out when I go swimming with my friends on Thursday nights. But aside from that, I do it because I believe […]
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Medical care, Testing |
I’m not a slave to numbers, even if I look at them regularly. When I found out I was diabetic, however, I had to learn what a lot of numbers meant–things like a fasting glucose, a random glucose, hemoglobin a1c, cholesterol, blood pressure. For a diabetic, the numbers that probably mean the most–because they’re monitored […]
Posted on June 19th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Bicycling, Running, Social aspects, Swimming, Training |
You know how I hate running? I don’t hate swimming, but as difficult of a time as I have running, I’m far worse swimming. It reminds me of the times I’ve spent as a beginning cyclist and a beginning runner, when I couldn’t figure out gearing or when the best time to shift was, or […]
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise, Training, Weight loss |
The power of goals is in keeping your vision and managing your behavior in large ways and small to meet that vision. Having goals in and of themselves is not going to assure someone reaches them, but if there are no goals then the chances of them reaching one are zero or less. When I […]
Posted on June 17th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Social aspects, Testing |
Testing. If you’re a diabetic, chances are you have a glucometer of some kind. What’s a glucometer? It’s a (usually pretty small and portable) medical device that allows you to test your blood sugar. Usually you have a test strip that is inserted partially into the glucometer, a lancet with which you prick your finger […]
Posted on June 16th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise, Social aspects, Training |
Some people wonder why I largely exercise alone. It’s not (just) because I’m antisocial; there are other reasons as well. First off, getting someone to meet me at 5 am on a weekend morning at my house in a somewhat rural area of the island for a three to five hour bike ride tends not […]