Been an eon since I posted here; I wish I could say that there were better reasons for it. Basically, Marvel Puzzle Quest took over the time I was using for posting here, and then it took over the time I was using for biking, and then it nearly took over my life. If you'd like a better idea, I maintained an instagram account (@mpq_diaries) for much of that time. That account more or less replaced this.
I played it way more than was healthy for the better part of two years, and did have fun doing it. But basically every other part of my life took hits (some a lot, some only a bit); I wasn't sleeping well, keeping up with my family, staying in touch with friends, or doing well at work. The battery use meter in iOS was an interesting tracker; well over 90% of my phone use went to Puzzle Quest or to Line (a communications app that is basically a requirement for top-level play in MPQ).
Finally, about six months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and decided that I needed to quit (for the sake of my marriage, if nothing else. Ironically, it has made very little difference there). And I stayed away completely for a month or two, getting back into biking and reading. I then spent about two months playing again, finding some balance and generally enjoying it.
But I decided that playing it half-assed wasn't so fun (no sense of progress), and I could see that the short-cuts I had taken to be competitive over those couple months weren't going to keep working, so I gave it up again a couple months ago. Now, I'm back to biking heavily (and I've found a way to keep up with podcasts while doing that), and reading enough to keep me entertained. I'm also spending a lot more time with the family and occasionally getting to see a movie.
So, after only getting in 300-ish miles over two+ years, I've gotten in 4k since April (when I first quit Puzzle Quest), and might hit 5k by the end of the year. In fact, I've been doing my 15-mile (each way) commute every day for the past couple weeks. If I keep that up, I'll be comfortably over 5k, but there will definitely be some difficulties when it gets colder. Not sure if I'll be able to deal with all of them (though to give an idea, I'm not too worried about the cold of the ride itself. I have good cold-weather gear. It has more to do with starting and ending at work, and with precipitation while cold).
To get back to phone use, there are a couple interesting tidbits there. At the peak of my MPQ usage, I was charging my phone battery 2-3 times a day (so a case with a battery was a must). Now I can consistently get two days of use out of a charge. Occasionally I'll even get three. And my top two apps are Overcast and Safari (each right around 25%). It certainly feels way healthier. And I sleep a lot more, which is definitely healthier. Plus, I'm way more productive at work.
My weight, in my MPQ days, went up about 20 lbs. I've lost much of that back, but not as much as I should because I haven't done a great job with my diet. I've stayed on an Atkins-ish diet for the last three years, but my strictness has fluctuated a lot. When I first started, I was very strict, and got down to 150*. Anyway, during my MPQ time, I was not strict (and didn't exercise, worth mentioning), and went up into the 170-175 range. I've since improved on the diet as well, but not to nearly the degree as when I first started: I've dropped back down to as low as 154, but am mostly right around 160. I'd really like to consistently get to 155 again.
Anyway, as much fun as I had while playing MPQ, I really don't recommend it. At least, don't try to be competitive; don't let it take over your life. So not worth it. And if you're playing, and hoping to make the 5-star transition? You can get to that point with a so-so time commitment with little or no money spent (but, to be clear, it'll take several years). But that transition will take a ton of time (save all your CP and LTs for a year or more), or a crapload of money (I knew quite a few people who spent $30k or more. The 550s, or end-game players, have all spent considerably more than that.) How did I do on that measure? I had five or six characters in the 490-515 range with a ton of time and ~$10k spent. Sort of proud of that (everyone I knew that had a better roster spent multiples of that), but I really shouldn't be. It was a terrible way to spend money and was way too much time.
All of that is to say, I'm back, and happy about that.
* I graduated high school at 155, and went up to the 165-170 range in college. For many, many years after, I was generally at the low end of that range in the Ultimate Frisbee offseason, and the high end (maybe a couple more, even) during the season (March-November, roughly). The only time I went higher than 175 was for 6-8 months right after meeting my wife; I briefly went up to about 190 then.
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
20181102
20150521
Dietary thoughts
I promised to talk about the diet a little bit more, a week or so ago, and haven't done that. To catch up, I lost about twenty pounds from riding, then went on the diet (not specifically to lose weight) and lost another five or so.
The last couple weeks (minus the last few days, I think), I've gained back ten pounds. I guess that follows the typical pattern with diets, although at least my baseline was pretty low.
What I did was just a matter of not counting my carbs for a while. I was making sure that I got enough "foundation vegetable" carbs, but otherwise not paying a whole lot of attention. I also was very bad for dinner before Mother's Day (specifically, I had cheesecake and desert wine) and for brunch the next morning (plus, I finished the desert wine not long afterward). For sure, those two meals added five pounds (which I joked about when I did it, but I actually thought I was being a bit over the top. It appears not).
I was also eating Quest Bars for several days before that. Those are supposed to be good for Atkins (20g carbs, of which 17g are fiber), although I'm wondering if they really are. Maybe it was just coincidence, but I was doing better before eating them, and after. I will say, though, that they are delicious (most flavors, anyway; one or two were merely ok).
Still, I definitely see that I need to keep the carbs under control, and I also need to keep the protein from getting out of control. My doctor was a little concerned about one of my blood test readings, last time I was there, and I need to cut back a bit on the protein to help with that (and the Quest Bars, with their 20g of protein, do not help with that, either).
I've also cut back a little bit on the cheese I was eating, although I'm still eating quite a bit. I've found a couple new ones that I also like a lot. Piava Lattebusched is a very nice (very) hard, cow's milk cheese with a remarkably creamy taste. The only thing bad about it is the outside is completely inedible (unchewable, really) and difficult to separate from the rest (use a sharp knife, and do it before the piece gets small).
I've also discovered Manchego, which is a delicious semihard cow's milk cheese that's a tiny bit granular (and gets more so, the older it gets). I've tried six month-aged and twelve month-aged; the twelve is a slight bit better, but not worth the cost difference (to me, anyway). Another one where the outside is a slight pain, but definitely worth it (and not nearly as much so as the Piave, since it isn't as hard. It's also edible, though not something you'd actually want to eat).
Anyway, I'm working my way back down, but I'm still 5-7lbs heavier than I'd like to be. Hopefully, the next couple of weeks, I'll continue to do well, and get back down where I want to be.
The last couple weeks (minus the last few days, I think), I've gained back ten pounds. I guess that follows the typical pattern with diets, although at least my baseline was pretty low.
What I did was just a matter of not counting my carbs for a while. I was making sure that I got enough "foundation vegetable" carbs, but otherwise not paying a whole lot of attention. I also was very bad for dinner before Mother's Day (specifically, I had cheesecake and desert wine) and for brunch the next morning (plus, I finished the desert wine not long afterward). For sure, those two meals added five pounds (which I joked about when I did it, but I actually thought I was being a bit over the top. It appears not).
I was also eating Quest Bars for several days before that. Those are supposed to be good for Atkins (20g carbs, of which 17g are fiber), although I'm wondering if they really are. Maybe it was just coincidence, but I was doing better before eating them, and after. I will say, though, that they are delicious (most flavors, anyway; one or two were merely ok).
Still, I definitely see that I need to keep the carbs under control, and I also need to keep the protein from getting out of control. My doctor was a little concerned about one of my blood test readings, last time I was there, and I need to cut back a bit on the protein to help with that (and the Quest Bars, with their 20g of protein, do not help with that, either).
I've also cut back a little bit on the cheese I was eating, although I'm still eating quite a bit. I've found a couple new ones that I also like a lot. Piava Lattebusched is a very nice (very) hard, cow's milk cheese with a remarkably creamy taste. The only thing bad about it is the outside is completely inedible (unchewable, really) and difficult to separate from the rest (use a sharp knife, and do it before the piece gets small).
I've also discovered Manchego, which is a delicious semihard cow's milk cheese that's a tiny bit granular (and gets more so, the older it gets). I've tried six month-aged and twelve month-aged; the twelve is a slight bit better, but not worth the cost difference (to me, anyway). Another one where the outside is a slight pain, but definitely worth it (and not nearly as much so as the Piave, since it isn't as hard. It's also edible, though not something you'd actually want to eat).
Anyway, I'm working my way back down, but I'm still 5-7lbs heavier than I'd like to be. Hopefully, the next couple of weeks, I'll continue to do well, and get back down where I want to be.
20150420
Cheese wiz?
One thing I've found, with being on the Atkins diet, is that there's a remarkably small number of deserts and snacks that you can eat. Almost everything has sugar and/or some sort of bread, often in large quantities. Even the stuff that seems to be getting most of its calories from fat (ice cream, cheesecake, etc) still get an enormous amount from sugar.
And that's very frustrating. Which has led to me eating a lot of cheeses lately. One of my favorites, found at Whole Foods, is Sartori Bellavitano Black Pepper. Semi-soft, creamy, and with bite from the pepper, I bought this a number of times while they had it.
I've long been a big fan of Brie, and recently have tried a couple different Triple Cream Bries. One from Whole Foods that is good, but not great. And I tried a second one at a local wine and cheese shop that was great (and if you watch Caps games, you've probably seen an Arrowine commercial. I fell in love with the place for its wines, especially ports, but the cheeses have had me returning recently). Much creamier, with less nuttiness. I actually didn't buy the latter, but it was very good.
My recent favorite has been another that I found at the wine & cheese shop called Comte, aged 36 months. A bit harder than either of the others, with some texture provided by protein bits (I'm told) that are inside. And the flavor is just magnificent. Really, I could eat a pound a day of that stuff, quite happily. If we had a way to store it, I'd be tempted to look into getting a whole wheel.
But the reason for me writing this is another new one I just tried. It is White Stilton Ilchester with Lemon Peel. I figured that it'd be a good match for the diet, as lemon is the only citrus fruit that is (well, and its partner in crime, lime). So I got a piece and sat down to eat it. Delicious. Buttery, soft, sweet, with just a hint of tang from the lemon. I was a little suspicious of the sweetness, however, and had to look it up. The lemon peel must be candied before being put in, because it has a LOT of sugar. Incredibly delicious, but a definite no for the diet. A serious loss.
I probably should have suspected, with it being next to the Wensleydale with Cranberries (which we've had a few times over the last several years, and which is also delicious, and very sweet). Next time I will be more suspicious (although, of course, I didn't realize how sweet it was until I got it home and tried it).
Anyway, if you're open-minded about cheeses, those are some excellent ones to try.
And that's very frustrating. Which has led to me eating a lot of cheeses lately. One of my favorites, found at Whole Foods, is Sartori Bellavitano Black Pepper. Semi-soft, creamy, and with bite from the pepper, I bought this a number of times while they had it.
I've long been a big fan of Brie, and recently have tried a couple different Triple Cream Bries. One from Whole Foods that is good, but not great. And I tried a second one at a local wine and cheese shop that was great (and if you watch Caps games, you've probably seen an Arrowine commercial. I fell in love with the place for its wines, especially ports, but the cheeses have had me returning recently). Much creamier, with less nuttiness. I actually didn't buy the latter, but it was very good.
My recent favorite has been another that I found at the wine & cheese shop called Comte, aged 36 months. A bit harder than either of the others, with some texture provided by protein bits (I'm told) that are inside. And the flavor is just magnificent. Really, I could eat a pound a day of that stuff, quite happily. If we had a way to store it, I'd be tempted to look into getting a whole wheel.
But the reason for me writing this is another new one I just tried. It is White Stilton Ilchester with Lemon Peel. I figured that it'd be a good match for the diet, as lemon is the only citrus fruit that is (well, and its partner in crime, lime). So I got a piece and sat down to eat it. Delicious. Buttery, soft, sweet, with just a hint of tang from the lemon. I was a little suspicious of the sweetness, however, and had to look it up. The lemon peel must be candied before being put in, because it has a LOT of sugar. Incredibly delicious, but a definite no for the diet. A serious loss.
I probably should have suspected, with it being next to the Wensleydale with Cranberries (which we've had a few times over the last several years, and which is also delicious, and very sweet). Next time I will be more suspicious (although, of course, I didn't realize how sweet it was until I got it home and tried it).
Anyway, if you're open-minded about cheeses, those are some excellent ones to try.
20150405
Not the best start
Riding didn't really get off on the right foot again, this morning. The temperature started out a few degrees colder than expected, which was made a bit worse by my wearing a lighter base layer than I really should have, with the jersey I wore.
Plus, almost as soon as I got moving, I found that both my power meter and my heart rate meter were dead again (which works out to something like a week's life for each battery). Not cool.
Then, I found that that sore spot from yesterday was back, very quickly. But fortunately, I was able to shift around on the seat (and/or shift my posture) such that it stopped bothering me. Score one for the good guys, there.
I ended up doing a two hour ride, and it was quite pleasant. Aside from the fact that I might well have overexerted myself due to not having any power or pulse feedback, it was a very easy ride. Average speed was pretty good, at 13.4mph over the two hours (and a couple minutes; further corroboration to my theory about Competitive Cyclist credit, as that did earn a $2 credit). That worked out to just short of twenty-eight miles, with 960' of elevation (I was a little disappointed that the elevation wasn't a bit better).
The one irritation once I'd been moving for a while was that I didn't bring my camera. The sunrise over the Potomac was quite lovely, and I'd've loved to have captured that, somehow. Can't make up for it next time, but maybe sometime soon.
Tomorrow the weather should be pretty nice, at 45F and dry. Unfortunately, unless I wake up super early (for me), I still won't be able to do much more than an hour of riding. I need to actually go in to work, and not even to my normal location, so that's going to pretty well hose my day. I need to finish a bit early, and get on the road quite a bit early. And I probably won't have much time to help get the kids ready either. Not good at all.
One note on the diet today, too. We went out for a really nice brunch with the whole family (both sets of grandparents). There was a good selection, and I ate a tremundo amount mostly keeping to my diet. But I decided that I'd cheated enough that I'd actually get desert (the cherries jubilee were calling, and they were delicious). Then I went back several more times for the cherries jubilee, as well as for a couple of fresh-made cinnamon rolls (I blame this one on the smell of cinnamon from the graham cracker my youngest was eating when we left the house).
Bundle that all together, and I'm pretty sure I nuked the diet for the meal. Hopefully I can get it back together tomorrow; going to the new location, I have no idea what will be available for lunch. If not, I guess there's no reason to think it'll be a problem to fix it the day after and beyond. But annoying that it might need it. We'll see.
Plus, almost as soon as I got moving, I found that both my power meter and my heart rate meter were dead again (which works out to something like a week's life for each battery). Not cool.
Then, I found that that sore spot from yesterday was back, very quickly. But fortunately, I was able to shift around on the seat (and/or shift my posture) such that it stopped bothering me. Score one for the good guys, there.
I ended up doing a two hour ride, and it was quite pleasant. Aside from the fact that I might well have overexerted myself due to not having any power or pulse feedback, it was a very easy ride. Average speed was pretty good, at 13.4mph over the two hours (and a couple minutes; further corroboration to my theory about Competitive Cyclist credit, as that did earn a $2 credit). That worked out to just short of twenty-eight miles, with 960' of elevation (I was a little disappointed that the elevation wasn't a bit better).
The one irritation once I'd been moving for a while was that I didn't bring my camera. The sunrise over the Potomac was quite lovely, and I'd've loved to have captured that, somehow. Can't make up for it next time, but maybe sometime soon.
Tomorrow the weather should be pretty nice, at 45F and dry. Unfortunately, unless I wake up super early (for me), I still won't be able to do much more than an hour of riding. I need to actually go in to work, and not even to my normal location, so that's going to pretty well hose my day. I need to finish a bit early, and get on the road quite a bit early. And I probably won't have much time to help get the kids ready either. Not good at all.
One note on the diet today, too. We went out for a really nice brunch with the whole family (both sets of grandparents). There was a good selection, and I ate a tremundo amount mostly keeping to my diet. But I decided that I'd cheated enough that I'd actually get desert (the cherries jubilee were calling, and they were delicious). Then I went back several more times for the cherries jubilee, as well as for a couple of fresh-made cinnamon rolls (I blame this one on the smell of cinnamon from the graham cracker my youngest was eating when we left the house).
Bundle that all together, and I'm pretty sure I nuked the diet for the meal. Hopefully I can get it back together tomorrow; going to the new location, I have no idea what will be available for lunch. If not, I guess there's no reason to think it'll be a problem to fix it the day after and beyond. But annoying that it might need it. We'll see.
20150318
Another day
Something strange happened this morning, relating to my bike ride. I started a little early, getting out the door at 0527. I was wearing tights and a heavy jacket, since it was back right around freezing.
Since I'd started early, I did the same loop as the day before, except I added a couple miles through Shirlington (including going up the big hill on S 31st St). I usually do about an hour and a quarter, and I figured that'd add about fifteen minutes (while writing this, I figured out how to determine it. It ended up adding 3.5 miles, and took 18:18. So I was pretty close; in fact, I ended up with 92 minutes of moving time, so I was just about dead-on).
According to Strava, however, I actually started the ride at 0540, not roughly 0530. I can't figure out where that ten minute discrepancy comes from, although my arrival home about fifteen minutes later than planned would seem to support Strava having the correct time, there.
Being a little late ended up being ok, though, since I didn't have to get breakfast. I got in, got the paper, then went right up to get the kids out of bed and dressed. We came downstairs and I got them breakfast, then did my morning ablutions. So it wasn't really a problem. Yay.
The one annoyance was that, late in the ride, I noticed that the sun was rising. I didn't know, to the minute, when that was, but I knew that that indicated that I was running late. So I had to rush the ride a little bit, which resulted in my heart rate getting a bit higher than I wanted several times towards the end of the ride. But I think that will work out ok, too (it got up to 133, which is only about 7bpm higher than my target max. And there is some evidence that my target max might be too low).
The point of keeping it down, of course, was that I did decide to make it an easy ride because of the doctor's appointment.
As far as the doctor, it went... up and down. They took my height and weight, putting me an inch shorter than last time, and at 152#. The latter is a pound and change more than I'd weighed myself at home, but does include wearing shorts and having my necessities in those shorts. So basically the same, I think. The height is a little weird, although I was slouched a little bit (I would not have guessed an inch, though).
Temperature, surprisingly (since I've been feeling sick for several days), was at my normal. Blood pressure was pretty low (a tiny bit lower than I normally measure, but not ridiculously so), but pulse was way high. That is, they measured at 110, and my average on the bike ride was only 117. So something was going wonky, there.
Because that was so high, they wanted to do an EKG, but everything came out just fine on that (including a pulse of only 71).
I also asked for a ketone test, which I got. The answer (I figured out after I got home, since they gave it to me in mg/dL instead of mM/L) is that I am in ketosis. That made me happy, except that I had to listen to the doctor tell me to eat more carbs, that I shouldn't be "emitting so many ketones".
She did say that it's not a dangerous number, which I would have known if she'd given me the other units, but that I needed to eat more carbs to have more energy. I've never had more energy (well, rarely). So I think she really doesn't know anything about ketosis, other than the diabetes 1-related ketoacidosis (ironically, the nurse who initially took my vitals suffers from type 1 diabetes). But acidosis requires more than ten times as many ketone bodies as what I had; I can't get there from here.
The somewhat sad thing here is that I did tell her I went on the diet in order to put my body into ketosis. So she knew that was the goal. So her telling me to ingest more carbs really doesn't make a lot of sense.
Anyway, the confirmation about having gotten there was pretty cool. Maybe I'll just start doing weekly checks on that, to verify that I'm continuing.
In any event, hard ride tomorrow (it'll again be right around freezing). I'm looking forward to it. I just got my first long-sleeve jersey (ironic, I know, but I got it at 65% off, so it's hard to argue with that). I might try wearing just that with a heavy base layer. If it's warm enough, the freedom of movement will certainly feel nice.
Since I'd started early, I did the same loop as the day before, except I added a couple miles through Shirlington (including going up the big hill on S 31st St). I usually do about an hour and a quarter, and I figured that'd add about fifteen minutes (while writing this, I figured out how to determine it. It ended up adding 3.5 miles, and took 18:18. So I was pretty close; in fact, I ended up with 92 minutes of moving time, so I was just about dead-on).
According to Strava, however, I actually started the ride at 0540, not roughly 0530. I can't figure out where that ten minute discrepancy comes from, although my arrival home about fifteen minutes later than planned would seem to support Strava having the correct time, there.
Being a little late ended up being ok, though, since I didn't have to get breakfast. I got in, got the paper, then went right up to get the kids out of bed and dressed. We came downstairs and I got them breakfast, then did my morning ablutions. So it wasn't really a problem. Yay.
The one annoyance was that, late in the ride, I noticed that the sun was rising. I didn't know, to the minute, when that was, but I knew that that indicated that I was running late. So I had to rush the ride a little bit, which resulted in my heart rate getting a bit higher than I wanted several times towards the end of the ride. But I think that will work out ok, too (it got up to 133, which is only about 7bpm higher than my target max. And there is some evidence that my target max might be too low).
The point of keeping it down, of course, was that I did decide to make it an easy ride because of the doctor's appointment.
As far as the doctor, it went... up and down. They took my height and weight, putting me an inch shorter than last time, and at 152#. The latter is a pound and change more than I'd weighed myself at home, but does include wearing shorts and having my necessities in those shorts. So basically the same, I think. The height is a little weird, although I was slouched a little bit (I would not have guessed an inch, though).
Temperature, surprisingly (since I've been feeling sick for several days), was at my normal. Blood pressure was pretty low (a tiny bit lower than I normally measure, but not ridiculously so), but pulse was way high. That is, they measured at 110, and my average on the bike ride was only 117. So something was going wonky, there.
Because that was so high, they wanted to do an EKG, but everything came out just fine on that (including a pulse of only 71).
I also asked for a ketone test, which I got. The answer (I figured out after I got home, since they gave it to me in mg/dL instead of mM/L) is that I am in ketosis. That made me happy, except that I had to listen to the doctor tell me to eat more carbs, that I shouldn't be "emitting so many ketones".
She did say that it's not a dangerous number, which I would have known if she'd given me the other units, but that I needed to eat more carbs to have more energy. I've never had more energy (well, rarely). So I think she really doesn't know anything about ketosis, other than the diabetes 1-related ketoacidosis (ironically, the nurse who initially took my vitals suffers from type 1 diabetes). But acidosis requires more than ten times as many ketone bodies as what I had; I can't get there from here.
The somewhat sad thing here is that I did tell her I went on the diet in order to put my body into ketosis. So she knew that was the goal. So her telling me to ingest more carbs really doesn't make a lot of sense.
Anyway, the confirmation about having gotten there was pretty cool. Maybe I'll just start doing weekly checks on that, to verify that I'm continuing.
In any event, hard ride tomorrow (it'll again be right around freezing). I'm looking forward to it. I just got my first long-sleeve jersey (ironic, I know, but I got it at 65% off, so it's hard to argue with that). I might try wearing just that with a heavy base layer. If it's warm enough, the freedom of movement will certainly feel nice.
20150312
And not so boring
I got out this morning a little earlier than yesterday. I knew I was a little overdressed when I left, but I was expecting the temperature to drop, perhaps by as much as six or eight degrees. It did end up dropping by five, but I can't say as I noticed it. I was probably bathing in sweat by the time it did.
Still, I decided that I was going to push it today, and I did that, right from the start. I turned left onto George Mason Dr, as usual, though taking the turn a little faster than normal. I then stood up and tried to crank, but I did a good job in that I didn't burn myself out in the first twenty seconds (as I sometimes do). I was trying to improve my time on a segment that I'd worked hard on, last year, but on which this was only my second attempt of the year.
And improve I did. I took seven seconds off my record (and I had seven more tries within three seconds of that), putting me in a solid second for the segment. I'm in no danger of getting KOM, there, as the current one beat me (yes, my new time) by another nine seconds, but I was still very happy. And I might be able to knock another second or two off, actually, because I wasn't completely wasted at the end (which I was in my previous PR run), and apparently tailed off a little in the last second or two (I thought I was finished).
Anyway, I crossed Rt 29, had a mechanical problem that forced me off the bike for, probably, half a minute (which didn't show up, somehow. I'm curious why. I'm also curious why it felt like the chain was stuck for a minute). Then I started cranking down George Mason, eventually setting a PR for Yorktown to W&OD. That was largely accidental, as I was only seriously cranking at the very end, but it was cool to see. In fact, I finished fourth overall on the segment, and probably would have been bucking for first (definitely, I would have been solidly in second, as I was only three seconds out of second) without that chain problem.
A little disappointing to be so close, yet so far, but I'm glad that I did well in the segment of that at the end, where I was really trying (to say nothing of how happy I was to have killed that first segment).
By this point, though, I had noticed that I wasn't seeing anything from my heart rate meter, and I was pretty pissed about that, as the current battery only had 15-20 hours on it. That's just terrible. It never came back, either, so I'm forced to conclude that it must have been the battery. Nothing to be done about it, though.
But my heart rate was definitely way up there; I think I did a better job of keeping it up there than I had in a long time. For sure, I finished the twenty-three miles at 18.65 mph (per Cyclemeter. I just noticed that Strava has 0.35 miles less in over two minutes longer time, with an average speed of only 17.9mph. Curious), which is considerably better than I've done in a while. And that's with almost 900' of elevation, which isn't bad.
One thing I didn't do, which I'd talked about, was ingest some carbs before the ride to try to improve my top-end power. Well, my top-end power was still quite good. In fact, I was only a few watts off my all-time best, and maintained that power for a couple seconds (right before the end of the ride, at that). So definitely nothing lost due to the diet, there. I still want to improve significantly, there, but that's encouraging.
As far as the diet's concerned, I've weighed myself at 149 and change for three of the last four days (after breakfast, but nearly naked). The fourth day, I was 151.2, but that was taken after lunch. So maybe 150# is stable. We'll see.
I have started doing my Quick4 workout at night again, and I've noticed that that helps with my breathing. I definitely should not have stopped doing that.
And I got a weight bench, mostly to do squats and leg curls, but haven't set it up yet. I need to get that set up. The squats, I think, I'll do daily, and probably do the leg curls every other day. At least, that's the plan.
Tomorrow will definitely be a coasting day; I'll probably aim for 13-14 miles at an easy pace. Saturday will probably be a hard day again, as I'll try to join up with that group ride again. I still don't think I'm in any danger of kicking their asses (especially not over any length more than a minute or so), but I'm hoping I can at least hang with them. Last time I went, they were dragging me along; it'd be really sweet if that weren't the case next time.
The one thing I really need to do (preferably before tomorrow) is adjust my rear derailleur. I'm not sure how (other than that the LOW setting is definitely too high), but it's got some issues at the moment.
One good thing is that I took my crank and cassette off, a couple days ago, and gave them a sickeningly-complete cleaning. That might have caused the rear derailleur issue (it felt like the cassette might not have gone as far onto the hub when reassembling), but it seems to've fixed the front derailleur issue I was seeing before that. Baby steps, and all that.
Update: I did confirm that the heart rate meter problem was totally battery-related. Annoying, but better than a defective meter.
Still, I decided that I was going to push it today, and I did that, right from the start. I turned left onto George Mason Dr, as usual, though taking the turn a little faster than normal. I then stood up and tried to crank, but I did a good job in that I didn't burn myself out in the first twenty seconds (as I sometimes do). I was trying to improve my time on a segment that I'd worked hard on, last year, but on which this was only my second attempt of the year.
And improve I did. I took seven seconds off my record (and I had seven more tries within three seconds of that), putting me in a solid second for the segment. I'm in no danger of getting KOM, there, as the current one beat me (yes, my new time) by another nine seconds, but I was still very happy. And I might be able to knock another second or two off, actually, because I wasn't completely wasted at the end (which I was in my previous PR run), and apparently tailed off a little in the last second or two (I thought I was finished).
Anyway, I crossed Rt 29, had a mechanical problem that forced me off the bike for, probably, half a minute (which didn't show up, somehow. I'm curious why. I'm also curious why it felt like the chain was stuck for a minute). Then I started cranking down George Mason, eventually setting a PR for Yorktown to W&OD. That was largely accidental, as I was only seriously cranking at the very end, but it was cool to see. In fact, I finished fourth overall on the segment, and probably would have been bucking for first (definitely, I would have been solidly in second, as I was only three seconds out of second) without that chain problem.
A little disappointing to be so close, yet so far, but I'm glad that I did well in the segment of that at the end, where I was really trying (to say nothing of how happy I was to have killed that first segment).
By this point, though, I had noticed that I wasn't seeing anything from my heart rate meter, and I was pretty pissed about that, as the current battery only had 15-20 hours on it. That's just terrible. It never came back, either, so I'm forced to conclude that it must have been the battery. Nothing to be done about it, though.
But my heart rate was definitely way up there; I think I did a better job of keeping it up there than I had in a long time. For sure, I finished the twenty-three miles at 18.65 mph (per Cyclemeter. I just noticed that Strava has 0.35 miles less in over two minutes longer time, with an average speed of only 17.9mph. Curious), which is considerably better than I've done in a while. And that's with almost 900' of elevation, which isn't bad.
One thing I didn't do, which I'd talked about, was ingest some carbs before the ride to try to improve my top-end power. Well, my top-end power was still quite good. In fact, I was only a few watts off my all-time best, and maintained that power for a couple seconds (right before the end of the ride, at that). So definitely nothing lost due to the diet, there. I still want to improve significantly, there, but that's encouraging.
As far as the diet's concerned, I've weighed myself at 149 and change for three of the last four days (after breakfast, but nearly naked). The fourth day, I was 151.2, but that was taken after lunch. So maybe 150# is stable. We'll see.
I have started doing my Quick4 workout at night again, and I've noticed that that helps with my breathing. I definitely should not have stopped doing that.
And I got a weight bench, mostly to do squats and leg curls, but haven't set it up yet. I need to get that set up. The squats, I think, I'll do daily, and probably do the leg curls every other day. At least, that's the plan.
Tomorrow will definitely be a coasting day; I'll probably aim for 13-14 miles at an easy pace. Saturday will probably be a hard day again, as I'll try to join up with that group ride again. I still don't think I'm in any danger of kicking their asses (especially not over any length more than a minute or so), but I'm hoping I can at least hang with them. Last time I went, they were dragging me along; it'd be really sweet if that weren't the case next time.
The one thing I really need to do (preferably before tomorrow) is adjust my rear derailleur. I'm not sure how (other than that the LOW setting is definitely too high), but it's got some issues at the moment.
One good thing is that I took my crank and cassette off, a couple days ago, and gave them a sickeningly-complete cleaning. That might have caused the rear derailleur issue (it felt like the cassette might not have gone as far onto the hub when reassembling), but it seems to've fixed the front derailleur issue I was seeing before that. Baby steps, and all that.
Update: I did confirm that the heart rate meter problem was totally battery-related. Annoying, but better than a defective meter.
20150309
Spring has sprung?
Impressive variation in the weather over the last several days. Two days ago, my ride was in 12F temperatures, with lots of snow and ice on the roads. So much, in fact, that I rode my hybrid out of fear of that ice.
And because of that, I did only 12.5 miles. Ironically, after the day before, where I struggled to keep my heart rate down in my target range, this day I had trouble keeping it up above 115bpm or so. And basically, whenever it was lower than that, I was getting cold. I ended up doing a pretty decent job, working hard enough not to get cold with not working too hard.
Yesterday was where things got a bit weird. My ride was right around the freezing point, which is actually pretty warm for the last several weeks (to illustrate, we drove along the Potomac later in the day, and it was mostly frozen over. That doesn't happen very often; every five years or so, maybe).
I debated back and forth for a while, but ended up doing an easy, if long (for my time constraints), ride. The difficulty with this one largely had to do with external factors. We'd had friends over that night, who stayed quite late. Then my daughter didn't sleep well, waking me up several times during the night. Finally, we lost an hour to Daylight Savings Time. Add all that up, and I only got a couple of hours of sleep.
It actually didn't make the ride itself much worse, but I got home, ate breakfast, and then crashed for a couple of hours. I'm glad I didn't compound things by making it a tough ride.
What really made things wacky, though, was that it was over 55F when we rode up the Potomac, later in the day. It really felt like spring, and looked like it too, with so many people out riding, walking, and jogging. In a way, I was glad I wasn't out riding later in the day, with the crowds. Although the temperature would've been glorious.
This morning, it was back to right around the freezing point, but I definitely went for the hard ride. Almost 1400' of elevation in 47 minutes, averaging almost 17mph. Yeah, I was tired at the end, although a little less than the last time I did the same ride (despite the prior being roughly one mph slower with seven watts less normalized power (per Strava); eleven watts, straight average).
I think I'm probably into ketosis, at this point. I haven't tested (I found the strips much cheaper than I mentioned, and did buy them), but I don't think there's any way I could have done what I did this morning, without that being the case. What I do need to do, though, is to start eating some carbs of some sort right before starting my harder rides. I've done some more reading, and I think that'll help a little bit with top-end power (as long as I don't overdo it, and push myself out of ketosis).
Further to the ketosis point, I'm now down about eight pounds since starting the diet, and my weight loss rate might have actually increased (I've been doing better, lately, about keeping the carbs down). And that comes despite eating huge amounts of food. I haven't counted calories, but it's well over 3k a day, for sure (4k wouldn't surprise me). The one thing I'm a little concerned about is whether I'm eating too much protein. And I've done well on getting enough vegetables the last few days, but I need to keep that up. That's still the toughest part for me.
Anyway, getting more specific, I tipped the scale below 150# today for the first time since I was 16 or 17 (I know I was at 155# when I graduated at seventeen). That's already lighter than I expected to get, at all. Kind of wondering where the elevator bottoms at, at this point.
According to the Navy Body Fat Estimator, I've gone from about 13% body fat (when I started biking; several months pre-diet) down to seven. What I find particularly interesting about that (other than that getting much lower isn't terribly healthy) is that I was measured (using skin fold measurements) at 7% a few months before high school graduation (and again, that was at 155#). That's why I thought getting to 150# was actually unachievable (at least, while maintaining fitness; wasting away would certainly let me get there).
What's weird about that, though, is that it indicates about thirteen pounds of lean mass trimmed as well. That seems very weird, to me. I haven't lost strength, as near as I can tell.
Ah well. The forecast indicates that it shouldn't get below freezing (even at the lows) for the next ten days. I'm looking forward to that, even if it means I'll have to watch out for people more.
And because of that, I did only 12.5 miles. Ironically, after the day before, where I struggled to keep my heart rate down in my target range, this day I had trouble keeping it up above 115bpm or so. And basically, whenever it was lower than that, I was getting cold. I ended up doing a pretty decent job, working hard enough not to get cold with not working too hard.
Yesterday was where things got a bit weird. My ride was right around the freezing point, which is actually pretty warm for the last several weeks (to illustrate, we drove along the Potomac later in the day, and it was mostly frozen over. That doesn't happen very often; every five years or so, maybe).
I debated back and forth for a while, but ended up doing an easy, if long (for my time constraints), ride. The difficulty with this one largely had to do with external factors. We'd had friends over that night, who stayed quite late. Then my daughter didn't sleep well, waking me up several times during the night. Finally, we lost an hour to Daylight Savings Time. Add all that up, and I only got a couple of hours of sleep.
It actually didn't make the ride itself much worse, but I got home, ate breakfast, and then crashed for a couple of hours. I'm glad I didn't compound things by making it a tough ride.
What really made things wacky, though, was that it was over 55F when we rode up the Potomac, later in the day. It really felt like spring, and looked like it too, with so many people out riding, walking, and jogging. In a way, I was glad I wasn't out riding later in the day, with the crowds. Although the temperature would've been glorious.
This morning, it was back to right around the freezing point, but I definitely went for the hard ride. Almost 1400' of elevation in 47 minutes, averaging almost 17mph. Yeah, I was tired at the end, although a little less than the last time I did the same ride (despite the prior being roughly one mph slower with seven watts less normalized power (per Strava); eleven watts, straight average).
I think I'm probably into ketosis, at this point. I haven't tested (I found the strips much cheaper than I mentioned, and did buy them), but I don't think there's any way I could have done what I did this morning, without that being the case. What I do need to do, though, is to start eating some carbs of some sort right before starting my harder rides. I've done some more reading, and I think that'll help a little bit with top-end power (as long as I don't overdo it, and push myself out of ketosis).
Further to the ketosis point, I'm now down about eight pounds since starting the diet, and my weight loss rate might have actually increased (I've been doing better, lately, about keeping the carbs down). And that comes despite eating huge amounts of food. I haven't counted calories, but it's well over 3k a day, for sure (4k wouldn't surprise me). The one thing I'm a little concerned about is whether I'm eating too much protein. And I've done well on getting enough vegetables the last few days, but I need to keep that up. That's still the toughest part for me.
Anyway, getting more specific, I tipped the scale below 150# today for the first time since I was 16 or 17 (I know I was at 155# when I graduated at seventeen). That's already lighter than I expected to get, at all. Kind of wondering where the elevator bottoms at, at this point.
According to the Navy Body Fat Estimator, I've gone from about 13% body fat (when I started biking; several months pre-diet) down to seven. What I find particularly interesting about that (other than that getting much lower isn't terribly healthy) is that I was measured (using skin fold measurements) at 7% a few months before high school graduation (and again, that was at 155#). That's why I thought getting to 150# was actually unachievable (at least, while maintaining fitness; wasting away would certainly let me get there).
What's weird about that, though, is that it indicates about thirteen pounds of lean mass trimmed as well. That seems very weird, to me. I haven't lost strength, as near as I can tell.
Ah well. The forecast indicates that it shouldn't get below freezing (even at the lows) for the next ten days. I'm looking forward to that, even if it means I'll have to watch out for people more.
20150302
Cutting down on carbs
One thing I haven't talked about is that I'm on a diet for the first time in my life. I've never terribly much needed one (well, not for more than a month or two, anyway); my weight used to fluctuate between 172 (most of the year) to 168 (ultimate frisbee off-season. Late November through mid-March, roughly). The only time it's gotten significantly higher was shortly after I met my wife; I gained close to twenty pounds back then.
I lost most of that right after we returned from visiting her parents in Hong Kong. I got miserably sick for a week or so after (might have been SARS, although I was never diagnosed. The timing and symptoms were right, at least). Regardless of what it was, I lost ten or so pounds while recovering. Then, I got back to my normal weight a couple months later, once frisbee season started again.
So, I've never really needed to lose weight. The one time I really tried was... six or eight years ago, when I just decided to try exercising a bit harder than normal. I got down to about 163 doing that; I was exercising very hard, but only every couple of days (at least, I think that's why I didn't lose more).
I still didn't turn to diet, and I have no regrets about that.
When I started biking heavily, maybe six months ago, I wasn't really trying to lose weight, per se, although part of the reason that I started biking in the mornings was hearing that exercising in a fasted state was much better for fat burning. And I think my experience bears that out. I ended up losing about twenty pounds, getting down to 155#, which, partway through, I'd kind of set as my target, as that was my weight when I graduated from high school (and was doing a lot of sports, as well as some running and significant weight lifting). It was also convenient because biking looks at power as W/kg, and that's almost exactly 70kg.
Through all that, my diet was a bit of a mess. I did ok on keeping fat intake low, but my carb intake was ridiculously high. Also, when I realized I needed to cut back a bit on the biking intensity, I gained back a few of those pounds (3-5 of them).
After hearing quite a bit about the benefits of ketosis, I was thinking about a ketogenic diet, although I didn't really know what that entailed. When I found out the Atkins diet is ketogenic, and reading quite a bit about the benefits (blood chemistry and such), I decided to give it a try. I eased into it (partially to get food out of the house, partially because I'm not real strict on counting carbs) while I read the latest version of the book on it.
Since I was already basically at my target weight, I decided to skip the first two phases of the diet, and go straight to Pre-Maintenance. The good part about that is that it's much easier; the bad part is that I didn't have to get real strict about counting (I also eat out enough that it's difficult to do).
But what I've found is that I have lost some weight. I'm currently down to about 152. Logically, this seemed likely, but given the extreme disregard I've given to calories, it still feels a little weird. I haven't told my wife about it either, as she's currently dieting to lose weight (just through calorie deprivation, which she's successfully used before. After each kid, basically); I suspect it might make her upset.
The hard part, for me, is just making sure that I get enough foundation vegetables each day. Also, I've had some trouble with wanting to eat more; I suspect that's because I don't eat enough fat (it certainly isn't due to not eating enough, overall). And I've occasionally had cravings (yesterday, I had the worst hankering for some orange juice, which was part of my normal breakfast before I started the diet).
Overall, I'm not sure what to make of the results. Biking hasn't suffered at all, so far as I can tell; my peak power numbers for February (I started roughly two weeks ago) are a significant improvement on January, whose numbers were only a hair better than December. There are some other factors that might be of significance there (in particular, going to a polarized training model from the old "no pain, no gain" model), but it certainly hasn't hurt.
I do need to talk to my doctor, to see about doing bloodwork (and I wish I'd done that before starting, just to have a baseline) as part of my (overdue, most likely) annual check-up. I don't expect anything to come out of that, but I'm curious.
The one thing I wonder about is whether my body is in ketosis. I found a simple blood test to tell, and it isn't terribly expensive, but the strips to repeat the tests are ridiculously expensive (almost five dollars per test last I checked). Maybe I'll break down and start paying that, but I'm reluctant.
Anyway, nothing further to talk about, but it's interesting to me. I'm very curious to see where my weight stabilizes.
I lost most of that right after we returned from visiting her parents in Hong Kong. I got miserably sick for a week or so after (might have been SARS, although I was never diagnosed. The timing and symptoms were right, at least). Regardless of what it was, I lost ten or so pounds while recovering. Then, I got back to my normal weight a couple months later, once frisbee season started again.
So, I've never really needed to lose weight. The one time I really tried was... six or eight years ago, when I just decided to try exercising a bit harder than normal. I got down to about 163 doing that; I was exercising very hard, but only every couple of days (at least, I think that's why I didn't lose more).
I still didn't turn to diet, and I have no regrets about that.
When I started biking heavily, maybe six months ago, I wasn't really trying to lose weight, per se, although part of the reason that I started biking in the mornings was hearing that exercising in a fasted state was much better for fat burning. And I think my experience bears that out. I ended up losing about twenty pounds, getting down to 155#, which, partway through, I'd kind of set as my target, as that was my weight when I graduated from high school (and was doing a lot of sports, as well as some running and significant weight lifting). It was also convenient because biking looks at power as W/kg, and that's almost exactly 70kg.
Through all that, my diet was a bit of a mess. I did ok on keeping fat intake low, but my carb intake was ridiculously high. Also, when I realized I needed to cut back a bit on the biking intensity, I gained back a few of those pounds (3-5 of them).
After hearing quite a bit about the benefits of ketosis, I was thinking about a ketogenic diet, although I didn't really know what that entailed. When I found out the Atkins diet is ketogenic, and reading quite a bit about the benefits (blood chemistry and such), I decided to give it a try. I eased into it (partially to get food out of the house, partially because I'm not real strict on counting carbs) while I read the latest version of the book on it.
Since I was already basically at my target weight, I decided to skip the first two phases of the diet, and go straight to Pre-Maintenance. The good part about that is that it's much easier; the bad part is that I didn't have to get real strict about counting (I also eat out enough that it's difficult to do).
But what I've found is that I have lost some weight. I'm currently down to about 152. Logically, this seemed likely, but given the extreme disregard I've given to calories, it still feels a little weird. I haven't told my wife about it either, as she's currently dieting to lose weight (just through calorie deprivation, which she's successfully used before. After each kid, basically); I suspect it might make her upset.
The hard part, for me, is just making sure that I get enough foundation vegetables each day. Also, I've had some trouble with wanting to eat more; I suspect that's because I don't eat enough fat (it certainly isn't due to not eating enough, overall). And I've occasionally had cravings (yesterday, I had the worst hankering for some orange juice, which was part of my normal breakfast before I started the diet).
Overall, I'm not sure what to make of the results. Biking hasn't suffered at all, so far as I can tell; my peak power numbers for February (I started roughly two weeks ago) are a significant improvement on January, whose numbers were only a hair better than December. There are some other factors that might be of significance there (in particular, going to a polarized training model from the old "no pain, no gain" model), but it certainly hasn't hurt.
I do need to talk to my doctor, to see about doing bloodwork (and I wish I'd done that before starting, just to have a baseline) as part of my (overdue, most likely) annual check-up. I don't expect anything to come out of that, but I'm curious.
The one thing I wonder about is whether my body is in ketosis. I found a simple blood test to tell, and it isn't terribly expensive, but the strips to repeat the tests are ridiculously expensive (almost five dollars per test last I checked). Maybe I'll break down and start paying that, but I'm reluctant.
Anyway, nothing further to talk about, but it's interesting to me. I'm very curious to see where my weight stabilizes.
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