Liberty Mountain

So the whole fam met up in DC for some quality time together over Xmas. Since we were heading for the cold, I decided to bring my board and take the brothers for some pow pow time. Our Jersey friend was joining us, so we headed for the closets mountain between us, Liberty. I think it was somewhere between 400 and 600 ft tall with about 10 open runs and a small park. Most of the time was spend teaching the youngest sibling to heel and toe properly. He eventually got to a toe to heel turn, but by then it was the end of the day and weariness was taking over. Simultaneously I was try to get the oldest sibling to master the heel to toe turn.

Eventually I got to steal a few runs with Jersey friend Dan who was better than all of us combined and went to the park to try some boxes and jumps. Needless to say it was Box: 1, Mink: 0. No attempts jumps yet.

Past Month Update?

Life has been busy. Went snowboarding for 4 days. FOUR! In Denver this past weekend. It was a great time and some friends really helped me learn how to carve. It got hard to keep my endurance up. I think at times I just got really frustrated with how hard it was to carve and that drained me even more. I eventually got it and now I just need to work on tight S shapes.

Oh I didn't mention my new gear! I got a Ride Rapture board, K2 Bliss bindings, Solomon boots, Smith goggles, and Holt helmet. Also a K2 snowboard bag, since I have to travel to meet snow. I just went to a store and walked out down a pretty penny. Haha. It was great. The store's people knew everything there is to know, had great advice, and even let me watch as they waxed and buffed my board. Knowledge is power man. I love learning about maintenance on my gear.

This whole experience was great to just get out of my work mode and into some different scenery. It really is making me contemplate moving to a place that is closer to mountains or at least a bike friendly city. I hate having to plan to get up early to bike to avoid heat or traffic. I wish I could just get on my bike and ride a dozen trails or routes. I wish I could meet other cyclists and make friends with the people who do what I love most. But looks like wishing isn't going to get me shit.

I have to make a move.

Get Fit Not Fat

A while back my brother decided he was going to work out and pack on some muscle. So I put together a spreadsheet where he could plan a diet high in protein and track his caloric intake. I got the details of his necessary dietary intakes, upped them for a high protein/active lifestyle and started planning foods that would help him get there. It was kind of fun actually. It’s analytical, which I like, and gave me some perspective to the composition of certain foods.

Well last month I dug up that spreadsheet and adjusted all the data to apply to me. I kept track of my meal consumption for 3 weeks and took a look at how all my decisions added up. Did I meet my daily recommended caloric intake? Did I go over? (haha yes, but cake is so delicious!) Was I meeting my protein, fat, and carb needs?

I wasn’t exact on my numbers because the effort would not have been worth the result, but I tried to get close to the actual based on what I know. Example – I might have had a ham sandwich one day with mayo and then a roast beef two days later with mustard, but on my chart they both have the same dietary properties.

If you’re looking to try this exercise out, I would highly recommend it. I found my recommended daily intake (RDI) values from the Mayo Clinic and my nutrition book. I got most of my food composition data from www.FitDay.com and nutrition labels. There are multiple websites that offer a calorie counter so you don’t have to create your own spreadsheet. I just did cause I’m a nerd. The government also has a website if you’re looking for dependable data (www.mypyramid.com).

Here are the results compared to my RDI represented by the red lines.


Range: 1215 Calories – 2980 Calories; Mean: 2006 Calories; RDI: 1900 Calories;

I did alright sticking to the recommended value for someone of my height, weight, age, and activity level. There were about 4 days out of 21 where it looks like I had an extra meal. And the days following were typically lower showing that I was conscientious of my previous day’s decisions. Alright, I’m not perfect but at least I’m hitting the mark 2 times out of 3.


Range: 124 g – 343 g; Mean: 230 g; RDI: 261 g;

Regarding carbohydrate intake, I was typically below the recommended value. Only on days where I ate too much did I manage to meet or exceed that value.


Range: 37 g – 132 g; Mean: 76 g; RDI: 58 g;

OUCHIES. There were only 3 days out of 21 where I was below and 11 days where I was over by more than 12 grams of fat. Although the downward trend towards the end looks promising...maybe?...=D.


Range: 42 g – 154 g; Mean: 97 g; RDI: 107 g

I had trouble hitting my recommended protein values too. Probably not good for someone who needs to build the muscles to swim/bike/run.

Ok this is where I decide to eat more beans, less fatty meat, more fish, and more wheat bread.

Ah…
Ok fine.
I like being healthy anyway.

Sun & Ski Sunday Spontaneity

This morning I decided to try a different ride to change things up. Sun and Ski Westheimer hosts a ride from their shop to downtown and back. This is a 15-16 mph ride that caters to cyclist that want a chill ride after a hard Saturday ride. It was great. Everyone was friendly and I learned everyone's name. It was intimate; there were only about 7 of us so we all got to talk with each other. The leader used to be in the special forces and he had some GREAT war stories. I also met a woman who had lived all over the world including Indonesia and England, but yet I could have just thought she was a southerner through and through.

Mid ride we stopped at Catalina Coffee shop, which was a quaint little place off Washington. They had great prices and good food. The atmosphere was wonderful; artsy and daring. What a find. I have to go back.

Great ride. So much fun. I didn't even realize we had gone 25 miles. I met some awesome people and this definitely encouraged me to get stronger. And why did we all get together?

Because of bikes.

I love bikes.

Gettin My Swim On

The time has come for me to get over my stupid fear of water and start practicing my swimming. It's probably been about 12 years since I've taken it on seriously. Last year I tried to go snorkling but had a near drowning experience. Not fun. So this should be good for me and it will be me one step closer to completing a Tri.

So Friday I went out and bought a swim suit. Not a beach swim suit. but one I could use to train. I picked a good time cause they are now about 75% off at Academy. (yes!) Got me some goggles too. And headed to the Bally lap pool.

Swimming again was actually kind of like picking up a bike after 10 years. You don't really forget how. Maybe you're not so good at it, but all things take practice. It helps that I can stand up in the pool. =D

Thing I need to work on: breathing.

Aiming to be ready for a Tri by April next yr. Here we go.

Du the Bear Duathlon

Sunday was my first try at a real USAT (USA Triathlon) race. It was a duathlon held at bear creek park (2 mile run - 10 mile bike - 2 mile run). Not a charity ride where I can go slow or fast at my own leisure. I needed to try to go fast all the time, and I needed to pace myself so that I could finish the whole thing. It was a beautiful day, no wind and about 65 degrees the whole morning.

Results:
Run 1 - 17:20 for a 8:40 mile
T1 - 1:18
Bike - 34:07 for a 17.6 mph pace
T2 - 1:17
Run 2 - 18:00 for a 9:00 mile

Overall I had about a time of 1:12:03.
I ranked 184 overall and 2nd in the 20-24yr age group.

Better than I expected, so I feel good.

The runs were the hard part. I never really practiced going as fast as I could for 2 miles. I am not really a runner, but of course that is where the half of my race was so I should have practiced and maybe my time would have been a little better. During the second run I just had chest pain and heavy breathing the whole way. But then the sprint finish was like cake. I guess I didn't push myself enough?

I was really fortunate on the ride. There was hardly any wind so I got a great ride time. My calves started to cramp up within the last 2 miles, which has never happened to me before. I was kind of scared they would totally cramp and I wouldn't be able to finish but getting off the bike helped.

I realize better now that my pedal stroke is uneven because now my right butt cheek and my left quad are sore. But nothing else. haha.

Can't wait til the next race. Gotta start swimming so I can do a tri!

Hatha at Red Foot

This little yoga studio is right behind Cafe Brazil on Westheimer. I've passed by it a few times and finally had time to give it a try. I really like their website. It's clean and easy to navigate.

When you walk in, you can tell it used to be a home but just converted to a yoga studio. This place is TINY. I think it could fit maybe 8 people maximum? So this makes classes very intimate and you can get lots of one on one attention. It was weird at first because I'm used to big yoga classes where I can just hang out in the back, but eventually it was comfortable and everyone was friendly. Reminds me of why I like to trust people.

Anyway I had a good workout. We did Hatha yoga which is different from the flow/vinyasa I usually get. There were plenty of positions I wasn't familiar with, and Aaron, the instructor helped me correct my tendency to invert my shoulder blades instead of making them flat. Also, we tried inversions. Ahhh scary. Eventually I hope to be able to comfortable do hand stands, but I don't think I have the strength in my shoulders right now. Something to work on.

New Feet!

I caved. I've been wanting these shoes for a long time. They were sold out almost everywhere (of the color I wanted anyway) since June or July. Then the manager at Fleet Feet Rice Village called me and said we got a shipment. And all of a sudden I was walking out of the store in them. haha.

Why? I hate shoes. I don't wear shoes in the house. I love flip flops. I only own shoes for protection from falling objects and the cold. Oh and for looking pretty, but that's a girl thing.

I'm really happy this barefooting phenomenon is taking over. I remember hanging out at my friend's apartment one day and running barefoot on her treadmill. It felt great! I felt like I could run forever. Now I can be practically barefoot everywhere I go. The floor does not have to be devoid of rocks and rough things. I am liberated!

So I've been able to run a little in them and use them for general every day walking. At the end of the day my toes will be tired and my hip will start to hurt, but my knees have been generally fine. I am pleasantly surprised. Maybe my knees will get better in general.

Tour de Pink

This year I decided not to join my team for the Tour de Pink. But then I got an email in Steve Moskowitz's periodical cycling newsletters that the TdP needed SAG wagons.

Side pause. For you non-cyclers out there, a SAG wagon is the support car that drives around helping cyclists that are having mechanical or physical problems.

I figure I do so many rides, but never offer to volunteer that now it was time. And it would be a good change to go to a ride and not ride. I'm always up for a change. I got to get up well before dawn and drive the 1hr trip over to Prairie View A&M. But when that sun came up...man. I tried to get a good shot, but didn't stop my car soon enough to capture the best scene. This is the best I could do.



Anyway it was good because my company hosts a rest stop every year, and so I requested to be on that route and got to hang with some buddies I haven't seen in a while and meet some new folks. My SAG was route was pretty uneventful. I guess cause it was on a route where you would expect to see experienced riders. I was pretty much a traveling tire pump. But that's OK. I heard that other routes had a lot of action, so maybe I will ask for routes that travel the shorter distances? Also I think there were a lot more volunteers than expected, so there might have been one or two extra SAGs that weren't needed. Sometimes you can have too much support. There were plenty of people encroaching on my territory, and I bet that helped with my boredom.

Oh well. Next ride I will definitely be on my bike.

A Little Self Reflection

The other day someone called me "athletic", and I said "what are you talking about? I'm not athletic." He gave me a look and I paused. Wait. I guess I am.

If you had asked me two years ago what my hobbies were, they would include video games, watching tv, and eating. I never imagined that I would be able to ride 25 miles in a day let alone 1.5hrs. I think my fastest mile before 2009 was around 14 mins and I definitely couldn't run the whole thing.

As a child I was always the slowest one in PE. The least adept at volley ball, basket ball, soccer, any sport basically. I tried powder puff in college and that never went well. I have a hospital visit, chest X-ray and a CAT scan to prove it. And my knees always hurt. Lots of motivation to not be athletic.

Turns out I was doing the wrong sport.

It really goes to show that you need to experience a lot of things before you can really say "that's not my thing". And when you find something you really love; it can turn the whole picture around.

Awkward Yoga

After I recovered from my morning ride, I hopped on over to Bally for a newly established Yoga class.

Worst Yoga class I've ever been to. Worst.

Transitions from one pose to another were awkward and choppy. He wanted us to jump from pose to pose at one point. I was a rebel and just walked my feet around. RaWr. There was no flow from one muscle group to another. He would often add random things like..."oh right here loosen your hips by thrusting, and then circle" right in the middle of warrior pose. Are you for realz? Last I checked, hip thrusting is something Michael Jackson does. Not a yogi. He had us do that even though we spent the first 20 mins of class stretching the legs and hip flexors.

He didn't know names of poses. "I think this is called cow pose"

I think he made up a pose that he called "Oriental Squat". In which we were squatting they way the Chinese do it to avoid sitting on the ground or to go to the bathroom.


HAY. It looks weird and awkward, but it's SANITARY. Anyway I didn't know whether to be offended or honored that he made up this pose and named it after orientals. I think I'm more offended.

I was pretty annoyed by the end of it. My energy was not flowing anywhere but to my head, and he never gave us breathing instructions. Which is usually half the reason I like to go to Yoga. It helps me regain even breathing.

Grr. Oh well. Never going back.

Bike Barn Ride

I have mixed feelings about the Bike Barn chain, but they put on free weekend rides so I went to check it out this morning. The ride was pretty cool. It was a 24 mile ride starting in Rice Village, going through the Heights, Downtown, Med Center and back up to Rice Village. There are a few over passes, so you get a little bit of elevation change and some great views of downtown.


What was great is that everyone there was a seasoned rider. About 25-30 people this morning, so you could easily find someone to talk to and ride with. I am not so fast, so I stuck to the back as to not get crowded and then ended up catching some red lights. I spent most of the ride with 3 others. Luckily two of them do this ride every week and knew the way well. I had trouble sticking to them sometimes. It was good for me to work hard and keep up. I was dependent on them for directions. So pretty good workout.

It really showed me how my skill had decreased and how out of practice I was. I was slow to clip in, forgot to bring electrolytes(oops), and was tired by the end of the ride. I forgot to turn on the computer, thus I have no idea what my avg speed was or how fast I was going at any time. I think that was good actually. I didn't think about speed and just focused on my form and keeping up with the group. I do know we finished in under just under 2hrs. Next time I'll try to stick with the pack and not lag behind.

Met some nice people. One was a Hanszen '79 graduate now Psychiatrist. Meeting people is half the fun sometimes.

Being Pro Means...

Peeing off the bike.

Yea you heard me. If you're a pro or even up there in cat 2 or 1, then you've peed off your bike. When you watch a tour on TV the stages are condensed into 2 hours so I would forget that actually these guys are on their bikes for 5 hrs. Well when it hit me, the first thing I wonder was...when do these guys pee? I mean you can't get off to stop and pee. Waste of time right?

So of course, little naive me asked my friends that might know anything -
"How do the pros stay on the bike for so long without a pee break?"

Answers I got were:
"Catheters?"
"Careful monitoring of water intake." (which is reasonable, but easily botched)
"They stop...how do they not stop?" (I was hoping you'd know...)

For a while I stuck with the idea: drink as much as you sweat. But recently through magazine perusing and reading Living the Dream. I was kicked out of my little bubble. This is what's in the 3 hrs they cut out when they broadcast the tours! Oh well, I guess it's not the end of the world that cyclists are a little less classy.

Seriously though I can't imagine that it'd be that easy to race AND pee off the side of your bike. I bet opportunities arise when you and a teammate can stop and take a whiz break then get back into the pack, but what about those guys in the break away? Do some riders fall off the break cause they need to pee really bad?

And then you wonder what the female pros do...


hahaha.

Which Magazine?

So when I joined Performance Bike, it came with a free subscription to Bicycling Magazine which I loved to read. But after about a year my experience grew and so did my taste for all aspects of the sport. I needed a different kind of magazine. I did a little shopping around and found that the two more prevalent American cycling magazines were Road Bike Action and Cycle Sport America.

Subscribe. Subscribe.

Ultimately I'll pick one to stick with for a few years because 3 cycling magazines a month is too many. Here are my opinions after reading at least 3 magazines of each company.

Bicycling Magazine
Great magazine for the beginner cyclist. It gives tips on eating right, workouts to improve performance, bike fit, basic bike maintenance, and landmarks to visit for the traveling cyclist. One of my favorite articles was the 109 Cycling Rites of Passage in the November 2009 issue. Bicycling magazine also provided lots of bike reviews for the average cyclist and personal stories on how cycling had changed people's lives. It is a fun and inspiring magazine. Only this past year did I notice that it had taken on articles regarding races and how the professionals ride. Maybe the writers had done so before, but generally the articles were geared towards riders who put on average 40 miles on their bikes at a time. You can subscribe for as little as $1 a copy or go online and get about 25% of their articles for free. After a year, I grew out of it, had started watching the pros, and needed to garner experience from the more serious cyclist.

Road Bike Action (RBA)
The feel of RBA is really down to earth and practical. It is the magazine that you pick up if you want to read articles about the history of SRAM and Mavic, learn what it's like to race on the same team as your brother, and understand the pressures of being the son of a former race champ. They review only the top of the line bikes from manufactures you've heard of once upon a moon and seek out professionals you never would known about otherwise. They also do a few articles for the female cyclist which I appreciate. They don't touch on bike maintenance or work out techniques, if you read this magazine those facts should already be ingrained in your head. At $15.99 for 9 issues a year, RBA is a good deal but don't expect much on aesthetics.

Cycle Sport America
When you open one of these babies, every page catches your eye and you can't wait to read this magazine from cover to cover. The visual hooks and captions are enough to reel you in. This magazine takes it all the way to the top. They interview the best of the best - Cancellara, Armstrong, Contador, Schelck - and their staff of columnists are professional, witty, clever, and my favorite - sarcastic. You definitely feel the wisdom of the writers and know that the magazine values their opinion. Is this magazine: Funny? Yes. Artistic? Yes. Serious? For sure. At $44.99 for 12 issues a year, Cycle Sport is not cheap but totally worth it. I thoroughly enjoy reading this magazine. This is one for the serious cyclist.

So what's my pick? Probably Cycle Sport America. I think the only thing I'd miss from RBA are the articles highlighting the history of cycling companies and cyclists. Knowledge from a decade where I had yet to exist. Maybe I'll switch out between the two from time to time or maybe I'll seek out some other cycling magazines when I get bored of these.

Out of Shape

Yesterday I realized the full meaning of being "Out of Shape". Of course I'd been pretty flabby for most of my life. A 12 minute mile had always been a struggle for me, but now I know what it feels like to be "out of shape" after having been "in shape". And it feels bad. I once peeled through 6 miles in 20 mins but now it takes me 25. I don't even want to know what my 5k time has increased to.

It's time to pick an event, sign up, and start training again. Luckily it's August and awesome Fall weather will start up soon. Yay.

Today

So today I FINALLY took my bike out for a ride at Terry Hershey. About 2.5 miles into the ride, it started to pour. So then I hid myself under one of the underpasses and waited for it to let up.

It took about 10mins, but it was still too rainy to keep going. I feared the slippery pavement and a broken face. So I headed back to my car...blerg. On the way I splashed into a puddle and then my crank started making a funny sound and felt like something was grinding. I took it back to my car and cleaned it off. Rode it again and felt the same thing.

Took it home, cleaned it yet again and let it dry for about an hr, then rode it again. Same thing. So I determined it was the something in the BB, but would only do that when I put weight into the pedals. Gah. I definitely don't have the tools to take it apart to see what's inside, nor do I have the know how - thus called for a trip to Performance Bike.

After they inspected it, also determined it was a BB defect, they said we gotta keep it overnight so our head mechanic can take it apart tomorrow. BLAH. I was not happy with leaving my bike in someone else's hands. Although, I know the head mechanic and he is a dependable and cool guy. I still don't like not having my bike in my room.

So what a junky day. I finally get off my lazy ass to do some riding and break my bike enough to have to take it in to the shop. That's it. When I get back from vacation and pick up my bike, I'm gonna sign up for something and start training again. This laziness has to stop!

What Happened?

This morning I was supposed to wake up for the Katy Flatlands ride which starts out by Katy Mills at 7am. And my phone went off at the right time, I turned it off and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 630, rolled over again and fell back to sleep.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME? I remember the days where I would ride 40 miles a weekend in the SUMMER. I'd jump out of bed when my alarm went off, eat my oatmeal, get dressed, set up my bike on the rack/in the car and drive out to my ride. I'd get in at least 2 hrs if it wasn't an organized ride and come back home at 11am sweaty and satisfied. If it was an organized ride I'd be on my bike for as long as I could possibly go probably 60 miles at the time. I'd work on my speed, eating at the right times, and staying on the bike for as long as possible.

Today...it's been 36 days since I've ridden. Since the MS 150 in April I think I've gone out maybe 4 times total? Wow. I haven't even put 300 miles on my Pinarello. I waited so long to get it and now I don't even have the motivation to ride. I feel so horrible. I've also been missing my Scott. I think I liked it better than my Pinarello...? =/ Which is not good...I feel kind of ashamed to say that.

Sorry Pinarello. You look way more amazing, but it really is all about the ride. I remember my Scott feeling lighter to move and having really quick acceleration. You did feel all the bumps in the road, but I guess I haven't spent long enough on my carbon to appreciate the dampening and how it would help my fatigue. I am kind of frazzled by the memory because my carbon is definitely way stiffer than the aluminum, so there should be better power transfer - meaning better acceleration right? I think I just need more time with my Pinarello, and I need to work on the correct position to avoid all the aches and pains I was getting. Maybe that's why I haven't been wanting to ride...I know there will be aches and pains.

Maybe I just need another goal. Last year was MS 150 and then Tour de Pink and then MS 150 again. But right now MS 150 is far enough away where I don't feel like I have to train and I haven't committed to anything in between.

I think I'm also bored with all the flat riding. I kind of miss the hills and of course that's annoying cause Houston is only flat. I could do more riding in Ithaca, but it wouldn't be on my own bike cause it would be expensive and annoying to ship.

...ok I think I'm done spilling the thoughts out of my brain. I'll figure it out. I still love cycling, there's no doubt about that, but now I need to figure out where to get the motivation to go for a ride.

30 Day Sugar Challenge

So 30 days ago my friend Chris gathered a bunch of us and challenged us to stay away from all things with sugar for 30 days. Today was the end of that 30 day challenge, and I have to say for me it was a pretty annoying burden. Every breakfast bar, energy bar, chocolate craving, dessert opportunity, etc was avoided for the past 30 days. I even had to think of condiments, like sweet and sour sauce or typical juice drinks which are loaded with sugars.

I do have to say I allowed myself organic juice, which I usually water down - 4 parts water to 1 part juice. And if I was going on the long bike ride I would have powerade mix.

Also desserts and sugar aren't a huge part of my diet in the first place, so it wasn't too drastic of a change for me. For instance I usually prefer the savory crepe to the dessert one, so avoiding dessert wasn't hard. What changed in my diet was the cutting out of breakfast bars - which usually have a lot of sugar (I didn't realize that actually), no more soda, and the addition of more fruit.

Overall I am a little better, but I think the unhappiness of it outweighed the health satisfaction. I said I don't usually eat dessert, but once every few weeks when I want one it was really frustrating that I was forbidding myself that tasty treat. Now I'll probably pick up more fruit, but I'll still have the occasional frozen custard.

I'll have to do another challenge soon. I used to do one a year, but stopped about 4 yrs ago. It's a good way to change things up and make you think about the food you put in your body.

TDF WATCH IT!

Saturday marks the start of probably one of the most exciting Tour de France races of all time. ALL TIME! There's so many GC men out on the field with legit chances of creating the unpredictable. Of course you got the in-your-face best cyclist, Contador, but behind him is Andy Schleck and then of course the one and only Lance. He announced that this is definitely going to be his last TDF so he's gonna make it count. Can't wait for it to be an all out Lance vs. Contador fight to the top of the Alps. Disappointed that there's no team time trial, but all the mountains should make for a good race. The climbs really put Contador and Schleck up at the top as favorites, but hopefully Cadel or Sastre will put up a fight. Well...maybe not Sastre but I think he's reassessed his work as a pro cyclist and will bring something more this time around.

For you first timers out there, I know there's the World Cup and Wimbledon but seriously you don't want to miss the TDF this year. Esp since we're American. After Lance drops it, we won't have any American All-Rounders. Then the only guy we'll hve to root for is Cavendish and he only cares about the green jersey. Its only on Versus, but I think you can stream it live from their website. If not try Steephill.

If you haven't already, go grab the July issue of Cycle Sport America. It's 188 pages of everything you wanted to know and didn't care about on the TDF. Great magazine; I'll have a post on cycling mags in the future.

So who's gonna win? I'm rooting for Andy. Contador will be a huge contender, but his team is weak and he'll have Vino breathing down his neck. Not sure if Lance will place this time. There was a good article in Bicycling Magazine in May (or June, I forget) about his scientific efforts to get back on top. He's also got the team that took him to 3rd last year, but I think he's been pretty selfish and conceited so I don't really want him to place. Your days in the glory light are over buddy, if it was really about Livestrong you'd actually talk about it now wouldn't you.

I'm also rooting for Team Sky and BWiggins. First British Team and got a great TT rider in Wiggins. I think he'll pull off a stage win for sure. I can definitely see Cadel winning a stage, Cavendish too...agh! There's so many factors and GC men to talk about. Lots of stages, lots of things can happen, lots of skills to consider.

20 days of the hardest race in the whole world with 200 of the best cyclists in the world! Get ready!

Obesity...Epidemic?

Obesity. An obese person carries an excess of body fat. I've read or hear a few definitions. WebMD says if you are 20% over normal body weight, then you're obese. I've had documentaries tell me that 100lbs over weight is considered obese. Then a few weeks ago, I hear CNBC call obesity an epidemic.

You usually associate the word epidemic with contagious diseases like the flu or the measles. But CNBC was serious. In the US, obesity is an epidemic. In 2008, no state had fewer than a 15% obesity rate.



What are the instigators? Over eating. Eating unhealthy foods. Being sedentary. Lack of knowledge. Genetics. Access to unhealthy foods (a whole other topic in itself these days - watch Food Inc. if you haven't already). I'm sure there are more.

Why is obesity so bad? Complications that come with being obese. Type 2 diabetes. High blood pressure. Heart disease. Sleep apnea. And more.

The US spends 344 million dollars a year on fighting obesity.

It costs $50,000 a year to treat diabetes.

1 in 3 children are obese or overweight.

It makes me sad to know that so many other countries are fighting hunger. But we are fighting obesity. This needs to change.

No Gym This Weekend

My encounters with Bally have really been declining. Especially now since I am not here Monday through Thursday and all the classes I like to take fall on those days. Of course. Instead this weekend I went to dance, cross-fit and yoga classes. Hip-hop has been fun and mentally stimulating - most importantly fun. After this weeks class of cross-fit I think I've realized that if I signed up, it would become a chore and then I would eventually hate it. It's a good change of pace, but just alternating what kind of resistance work out you do isn't the kind of change I need in my workouts. I think I will go back to it every now and then cause it is a REALLY GOOD workout.

I have been wanting to try a good yoga class because Teresa and Lisa seemed to really like it. None of that grandma yoga stuff they have at Bally. So what better day than today? Well probably should have waited because I did xfit this morning, but I didn't want to wait a week before I could try it. I was so pumped I went and bought 2 pairs of yoga pants and a yoga mat. haha. So then I went online and found a few places. Jenn Yoga claimed to have a class at 6pm but was definitely closed when I showed up. So I did a Joy Yoga class. Joy Yoga on reliability -> A+.

Anyway this yoga was definitely challenging. No pauses for 45 mins. It wasn't even hot yoga and I was sweating like I was outside. It was weird because internally I was really hot, but the room was probably at a nice 75 degrees. We kept going back to the same poses about 50% of the time so I wasn't that mentally engaged, but I guess that's not bad because by the end I was balancing a little bit better. You know, when you see pictures of people in those crazy yoga poses, you think "oh that doesn't look bad, I can do that" but really they're freaking hard. Today I learned that I have little balance and sometimes have trouble following directions. haha.
I think I'll give it another few go's and then decide how much of a commitment I want to have with yoga. I do want my balance and flexibility to get better, so yoga is in my future but it might take a backseat like xfit. We shall see.

Sun & Ski Fail

I've been in the market for my first snowboard because this sport is ridiculously awesome and I want to get better at it. So of course I head over to the local Sun & Ski to check out the Summer sales. Right now they have 25% off everything, which is pretty good and I found a pretty good looking board. Wherever I go I like to ask a lot of questions and scour the minds of the people that work there for opinions and info. But yesterday at this particular store, I knew more about snowboarding than anyone else there. My experience is 2 trips and 20 mins of How-To videos online.

It took 5 mins for 3 employees to figure out what size board I was. In fact, if you read this picture right here, you will know more about snowboarding than Sun & Ski Memorial City Mall.


So needless to say I was really turned off and do not want to buy anything from there. Too bad Houston only has 2 snowboard/board sport specialty stores. Otherwise I'd spend the whole weekend visiting stores/learning about snowboard gear/trying out gear. King Pinz was all sold out of my size and M2 Sports had a park board but nothing all mountain for me. Maybe I'll just buy boots for now or probably limit my search to online. Which I don't always like to buy major sporting gear online cause you don't get the relationship with the shop that can be really helpful. Whatever. I'll figure it out.

Houston Police Dept Moonlight Ride

Last night I went downtown to ride the Houston Police Department's annual Moonlight Ride benefiting the the HPD. It was cool. They shut down 5 miles of Memorial (from downtown to Shepherd and back). It was a family thing so there were also 3 mini rest stops on the loop. It was super cute. Saw Fabrice and Derek, so I rode with Derek while we lost Fabrice somehow. Saw Andy and SuJohn at the end but they left for a Spazmatics show. Finished 20 miles in 80mins.

The humidity made breathing all the harder. I don't know what's up but I've been having problems with my heart, getting flutters, breathing heavily after too short a time. I had felt my anemia creeping up on me and started my iron supplements again, but it's been 2 weeks and they don't seem to be working. So maybe it's time for a trip to the doc.

Anyway it was a cool change of pace from waking up super early to ride in the still-hot and humid mornings with the sun in your face. Still was hot tho.

Internet Incentives

A few weeks ago my friend Albert invited me to join the Daily Mile. This website allows you to track your workouts and compete or compare yourself to your friends or others on the site. I decided to give it a try and see if it helped my motivation to work out.

I've also seen friends join S2H. Here you buy a special watch that tracks your hrs of activity and gives you points accordingly. You can use points for simple things like MP3s or $5 gift cards. This is cool because if you already exercise regularly, it's like getting an extra reward for doing so. But I would never use points as my incentive to work out. The idea is too...materialistic.

I've been trying to keep up with Daily Mile, but have pretty much failed as I forget to update my status. (Sorry Albert.) It did help bring about some competitiveness in me for a little bit. But I'm not one to tweet everything I do.

Guess I'll have to figure out another way to get my motivation up.

Free CrossFit Day

Today was free CrossFit day at Lululemon in River Oaks. This store was really nice. And expensive. But the class was free to try so me and a bunch of my friends went to give it a go. Today I understood the true meaning of CrossFit and why some of my friends call it Pain Day.

The concept today was do 2 resistance workouts back to back as many times as you can within a 7 minute period. 3 different stations. 3 minutes rest in between. It was 10 Free Squats with a medicine ball + 5 Burpees, 10 Dip Lifts with weights + 10 Lunges with weights, finally 10 Kettlebell swings + Run a short distance.

I managed to get in from 5-7 sets at each station. This was like 10X the weight training I usually do. It really puts a workout into perspective. In 7 minutes I can do at least 5 sets of 10 Lunges and 10 Dip Lifts. That's 50 Lunges AND 50 Dip Lifts! Holy Crap. I gotta step up my regular workouts. No more of this 3 sets with 10 reps in whatever time BS.

If you just go at it with no reprieve, you're basically sprinting your way to big muscles. I tried to stay in control and pace myself. But I probably should have went all out on the last one. I think it's the sprint-your-way-to-as-many-sets-as-possible mentality that really gets you into the best shape. The group aspect was also a big motivator as you're watching people and making sure you don't fall behind too much. Then at the end if you're competitive you can compare your number of sets to everyone else's.

Haven't decided if I want to do this regularly as this is not really my kind of work out. But it was a good change of pace. I'll have to incorporate the concepts into my routine.

Bike for a Better Future

Upon my hours of wandering through the world wide web, I stumbled upon the 2 Mile Challenge hosted by Clif Bar. Basically it's calling people all over the world to join hands and start a...I mean ride their bikes instead of driving. There are some pretty interesting statistics - apparently 40% of trips taken are less than 2 miles and 90% are taken by car. If we make the effort to reduce our short trips by riding a bike instead then we could reduce carbon emission by 25 million tons a yr. That's a lot.

Personally I'm advocate of biking instead of driving. It's so much more fun, promotes activity, and is very green. Actually being able to do it, takes some effort. For one you have to change your comfortable habits, and second you have to face the weather. The first thing will take time, but can be done once you figure out how to make bike trips efficient and effortless for you. Going on bike rides used to take me 30 mins to get ready for, but now I can be out the door in less than 10. The weather is another beast. Especially living in a hot/humid city like Houston. The Summer is brutal and unforgiving. The Spring and Fall are short and sweet. The Winter isn't bad, but few Houstonians know how to exercise in the cold.

Sometimes weather is just a mental hurdle you have to man-up and jump over, but there are legitimate occasions where a car is needed. Examples include grocery shopping day and avoiding getting your work clothes dirtied in the commute day, which is coincidentally every work day. Of course if you have the means to get around these hurdles - a big basket on your bike/not that many groceries or a shower close to your work place - then you should definitely consider buying a commuter or hybrid bike. I think you will find that the feel good result of riding a bike outweighs the comfort of the car and is totally worth changing your habits.

Anyway, check out the 2 mile challenge. Clif bar is donating money to 3 charities that help advocate and work towards bike riding for all. You can pick the one you like best, sign up, and log your miles to help that charity win even more money.

I joined the Red Team.

Ithaca

So this past weekend I took a flex trip to go see my brother who's doing his PhD at Cornell. It was a good weekend. I love the 4.5 day work week that comes with traveling. Fridays are practically half days and low stress, so it makes the weekend feel long and relaxing. I can't remember the last time I felt that I had so much time on my hands I didn't know what to do with myself.

Anyway, there was plenty to do in Ithaca and the town has already grown on me. It takes about 10-15 mins to get anywhere you want to go, and you can pick from star gazing to farmers markets, to downtown. It's that small and complete. You can walk down the street to get food and ride your bike out your front door. I didn't do a good job taking pictures, so you'll have to be satisfied with photos from google images.

I think the visit did a good job stabilizing my mental health. I liked the small community feel, the intelligent conversation and the green culture. Not to mention being able to ride out the door for a good hilly ride.

Now these hills are not like Austin at all. Think a mixture of the Bechtel challenge and Austin city hills. Then double the height of those hills. There was also one really really steep hill. I didn't go on that one but it was there inviting me to. All the other hills were manageable, just tall. My brother's friend lent me his Felt, which thankfully had a triple chain ring. His lab mates took me out for a 20 mile ride complete with a tall hill and some nice flats. It was a good ride. Before that was pretty crazy tho, I had a flat the day before while riding the bike back to my brother's apt and then two more flats before we really got on our 20 mile ride. 3 flats! on my back wheel! so now I'm much better at changing flats. Woo!

Contemplating the Tri

So I've been posed with this question a few times,

"Why don't you do a triathlon?"

And the answer was typically,

"I hate swimming. And swimming hates me."

The last episode was when I went snorkeling off the coast of Zanzibar. (Yes Zanzibar is a real place.) I couldn't even keep myself a float for long and my friends had to help me not die. I saw like one fish. And drank plenty of salty water. Awesome.

But now I'm kind of considering it. I would def have a lot to work on. Speed, endurance, speed...swimming, swimming fast. It's a lot. I'm not a speedy person. I can go for a long time, but speed is not my thing.

I dunno, still contemplating. We'll see.

Poor Form

Since the MS150 I’ve only taken my bike out a few times and every time has not been so fun. It’s been kind of miserable actually. Within 2 miles of being on the bike I get pain right between my shoulders. Like a sort of inward crunching pain. Makes cycling not so fun to do. So I haven’t been going for very long. I consulted some forums and friends and I think the consensus is poor form.

My Jamis’s bars were a little taller than where I sat, so I could rest my upper body on it without much pain, reach a little, and not have to engage my core. In fact I never used my core to hold myself up. I was always confused when I would read about how important your core is, but never figured out why I was never sore there. Now I know. My Pinarello’s bars are on the same plane if not lower than my seat height. So that gives me a better race position, but since I spent a year on my arms, it’s coming back to kick me in the face…or jump on my back. I feel like I have to relearn how to ride my bike! I have to work on using my abdomen more, put little to no weight on my arms, keep my elbows bent and hips tucked.


A professional fit might be in order, too…which would be cool but they are expensive. I will try fixing my form first. If that doesn’t work, then off to the professionals. Good thing is that my stem is still about 50mm so I have a little bit of room for adjustments if need be. I am still more comfortable on the bars than the hoods.

New Gloves and the Giro d'Italia

Today I headed over to Performance for new gloves. It's been over a yr since I got ones and the gel in the ones I have now are pretty shot. I decided on the Pearl Izumi Select Women's glove. The gel felt good and it has a really thin mesh top. There is a lack of sweat/snot wipe though. Not sure what I'm gonna do come winter...maybe shoot snot all over the road.

Anyway the problem you usually see with any glove is that getting off is annoying. Most have this little tab at the wrist, but unless the glove is thin enough it only comes half off. And most of the time it inverts. I liked my Serfas gloves because they had loops between the fingers for clean removal.

However these Pearl Izumi's have a tiny tab on the ring finger. That allows for seamless removal.

I have to say this is better than my Serfas gloves. Fit is great, the mesh is light and comfortable, gel is in all the right places, and the removal tab is a hidden plus. 4.5 Stars on design Pearl Izumi. We'll see how the snot thing goes.

On another cycling note, the Giro d'Italia is starting tomorrow in Amsterdam and ending in Verona. If you follow cycling, it should be on Universal Sports tomorrow morning. I feel like I need to decide on a favorite rider, but really I have to learn more about them and the teams so I purchased a year's subscription to Cycle Sport America. This looks like a much better magazine than Road Bike Action. I'll tell you when the first one comes in. The Giro d'Italia Cycle Sport America edition is out on stands if you want a good look at the stages and what it entails.

Also I know I haven't been blogging. I got tired of listing every time I ran 3 miles or went to a step class. I'm sure you were tired of reading those. It also got tiring feeling like I had to write. There isn't always a constant flow of creativity in me, so when I don't blog you can tell that my jar is low and I need time to refill. However with all my free time on the bench I took time to surf YouTube and found a lot of fun/interesting channels including KevJumba and WongFu Productions. And I decided, why can't I do a video blog? So I've been trying to video tape events and stuff I go to. I did get a lot of good vid of the Sugarland Crits, so those will be up as soon as I figure out this editing software and am satisfied with my editing job.

Thanks for reading and watch the Giro.

Ease back in

Thanks to Anonymous and Rose for the advice on how to cure my emptiness. =D I will act on it as best I can.

Yesterday I took my bike out to the Memorial Park Picnic Loop for a few rounds. It felt good to get on my bike and just pedal with nowhere to go and no one to care. Of course everyone else on the loop was way faster than me and kept passing me up, but I didn't mind. It just felt good to go fast. I was suprised at myself. I used to hate the picnic loop cause it's short and gets boring. But for some reason this time I didn't mind so much.

This time, my front derailleur was fine. Not sure what changed since the MS 150, but oh well it works.

Pursuit of Happiness

Empty. Is where I'm at. Is how I feel this week.

MS 150 is over. I haven't signed up for any races or made any goals. I kind of don't want to. I feel like I'm just kicking around a soccer ball. Kick...run...kick...run...kick...run...sit. I went for a run today, but I just didn't feel like running. I tried but ended up walking most of the loop.

I'm restless. Looking for the cream filling.

I think tomorrow I'll take my bike out and clear my head.

BP MS 150 2010

Sweet. I do have to say this year's MS 150 was sweet. The first day started out with clouds a little bit of rain, but most importantly a tail wind. I breezed through the first 20 milesto the first Accenture rest stop in a little over an hour. Awesome.

After that Andy and I caught an ExxonMobil paceline and we took off flying. We were probably going 25-27mph. holy hell. I couldn't stop my heart from beating like crazy, but I also couldn't stop smiling. That was amazing.

If you're not familiar with pacelines, here's how they work. I usually average 15 mph on my bike by myself. So you can imagine how fast you can go when all the wind resistance is eliminated.


Unfortunately I could only keep up for about half an hour or so. Andy took off with them, but my heart couldn't keep it up. So they flew away and I made it to lunch around 10 or so. Saw Alex, saw Raza, Dan, John, Fabrice and a Matt. The rest of the day went ok, jumping on and off people's wheels. There were more rolling hills than I expected. I lost of a lot of other people, so spent most of the ride by myself. Eventually I caught up to a group about 30 miles out of La Grange, so that was nice. I would have like to have the chance to really get to know my team better. Then we could have ridden together, but at the time it seemed like we were all at different speeds.

Got into La Grange around 3pm I think. Don't remember. I do remember that it took me about 6hrs on the bike to get through 95 miles. Pretty good. When I do a century, hopefully I can get a better time.

In La Grange, hung out, met people, showered, ate a lot, slept as best I could. Next year I will bring games or something fun to pass the time.

Next morning 830am start. Decided to take the express route this year. Last year was just too much pain and I still have those chain ring scars. Got through the first 30 miles pretty ok. Didn't get to meet up Alex like planned because of my late start. Was about 25 mins behind the guys and my front derailleur was giving me problems. I had the Bike Barn guy check it out, but he was like, it's fine...What?! then why can't I shift right!? I dunno it worked 30% of the time, so I tried not to shift out of my big chain ring.

Anyway after that I was tired and ready to be done riding. It wasn't fun anymore and I couldn't pin point my unhappiness. Got to the Accenture rest stop through a nice paceline cause the wind turned and was pushing us back. Picked up Ashley and we made it there fine. Saw Theresa and Candy. At the stop we met Danny and John. Decided to leave the stop and make the rest of the way together. ACCENTURE PACELINE! That was amazing! I was so happy. No wind, I could rest up my legs. Got some Guu gel in my system and we were flying.

I think we were going 16-17mph in a 5-10mph head wind. Sweet. Why didn't we do this before? That's when I figured out what was missing from before. Why I was bored and tired and not caring.

I was missing friends. They made all the difference. Working hard together for one goal. I haven't had that in a long time. That's what this weekend needed more of.

I think we got through the last 20 miles in an hour and half. or something fast like that. At least it didn't even seem like an hour cause we were having fun, picking up people along the way. First we saw Matt and then Jenna. We conquered the last of the hills together and all of a sudden we were rolling into the capital. We didn't look quite like Caisse d'Epargne above, but I think we were close to it. Danny had a helmet cam so hopefully he got some cool vid of us.

Rolled in at around 245pm. Covered about 67 miles in a little less than 6 hrs. Whoop. Next year will be the challenge route and definitely more team pacelines. Laura asked me to take over co-captaining next year with Debra, so that will be fun and hopefully we'll get a bigger team out next year. And we'll all get in one big paceline.

WHOOP!

Carbs and Clarity

So this is the week before the MS 150. Wah! I got my bike last Friday and have been making fit adjustments - shifted my cleats, moved the seat, got a shorter stem. It is feeling much much better, but I am still unsure about feeling perfect on the ride. I guess I will see. All this week I've also been stuff my face with pasta. I think after this is done I'll probably eat my weight in pasta to recharge and then go on hiatus.

Also since last Friday as my bike is fitting better and better, my anxiety is decreasing. I am calmer and can think more clearly. I remember things better and can think more outwardly. It's awesome. I think once this ride is over and I can tell I have no pain then I will be content. Like SUPER content. Especially with my job lining up the way I want it to, things are great. Finally!

13.1 + 27 = TIRED

This morning I got up at 430am to go run Angie's Half Crazy. grumble. WHY did I sign up for a race that starts at 7am that is an hrs drive away? Never again. Well, probably again sometime, but next time I will convince other people to go with me. It would have been more fun that way.

Anyway, I am proud to say that I was able to run the whole time! Save for a few Gatorade stops. Before today I'd never run more than 3 miles without walking. I think it was easy this time because there were so many people around me and I could pace with them which helped A LOT.

So my run was like this:

Mile 2 - agh I want to be done already! why did I sign up for this?
Mile 4 - ok time to pop in the music and clear my head.
Mile 6 - hey I think I actually like running, this is pretty cool
Mile 8 - knee painnnnn, running sucks!
Mile 9 - Hip pain, aaarggg
Mile 10 - OK! only 5k more to go!
Mile 12 - where is the finish!? I want to finish! go body go!
Mile 13.1 - yay! where's the food?

I haven't seen the results, but I think I finished around 2hrs and 17 mins. Slow but steady.

After that I came home, ate lots of pasta and called up Phillip to go riding. I didn't get any real time to be on my bike yesterday cause of the rain and other things I had to do. So I really wanted to get in some time to figure out what needed to be adjusted before the MS150. I went about 27 miles at a 13mph avg pace. Now I'm tired as hell. and my butt is sore.

Need to adjust my cleats, and the arch is slightly off and is getting to me. also need a shorter stem. being on the bars is good, but being in the hoods is a reach.

My Pinarello has Arrived

This is pretty surreal. I can't believe I have it finally. I haven't even gotten to ride it yet. But despite the fact that I put my new bike in the room next to mine. I can't stop staring at the photo above.

Wait til it hits me. Maybe when I fly up those hills.

My Epic Bike Saga

As the MS 150 gets closer and closer, I am getting more an more anxious about getting my new bike. I really need something that fits me so that I can ride comfortably and well during the 180 miles. Here's a quick time line of my Bike Saga:

Feb 2009 - Bought Jamis Ventura Sport
Apr 2009 - 2009 MS 150, cut in half due to rain out, becomes MS 75
May 2009 - Confirm that bike is too big and need a smaller frame
May 2009 - Bought a used Scott Speedster S20
Sept 2009 - Scott Speedster stolen from garage, devastated
Sept 2009 - Searched everywhere, went to police stations, never found my Scott
Nov 2009 - Accepted the loss, and the search for a new bike begins
Nov-Dec 2009 - Visited nearly every bike shop in Houston/Sugarland/Waller/etc
Jan 2010 - Decided on the 2010 Pinarello FP2, put down a deposit, was told to wait til Mar
Feb 2010 - Was told bike would be here mid Feb
Mid Feb 2010 - No bike, wait til Mar
Mar 2010 - No bike, wait til mid Mar
Mid Mar 2010 - No bike, keep waiting
End Mar 2010 - Still no bike, call distributor, distributor says Apr 12th
WTF - RAWR
Apr 7, 2010 - Still waiting...pretty spent...getting fed up...

And the waiting continues. I feel like it's sucking the passion out of me. Once I started biking, I was pretty obsessed with the whole scene. I was riding every weekend. I did at least one charity ride a month, and even got into watching the big 3 tours. When my bike was stolen, I lost my appetite for 3 days and carried around tons of anxiety, couldn't sleep, couldn't focus. It was like I got dumped or my dog died. Seriously. I still am carrying that anxiety, even though I still have my Jamis, it's not that fun to ride. It's heavy and too long for my short stature. My friend Mark said it and I think it's true, that I won't be OK until I replace my Scott. So I tried. I'm still trying to replace it. But the world has not yet swung in my favor. My past few rides have not been so fun, so now I'm wondering if it will ever be fun again.

It's like being in a relationship and wondering if you should break up.

I miss my Scott.

Workout Log

After work went to Memorial park and got in 6 miles at a slow pace. Hopefully the half won't be too painful. my new kicks are amazing! My feet were totally fine after the run and I had minimal join pain. YES. completely worth it. Thanks Nike.

Modern Dance at the MET

Today after work I went to the Houston MET to try out their Modern dance class. 1.5 hrs of professional instruction. The teacher was really good. I was transported back to the world of contractions, extensions, relevés, arabesques and tendus. It was pretty cool. Of course the MET kept is reputation of difficult classes that are fast paced. I did my best, to memorize and keep up. I'm glad I went. I think in the future I will try to be a regular.

Head is still kind of clouded. Focusing is not easy. I think I just need to conquer these hurdles one by one and be done with it. Erg.

ConocoPhillips Training Ride 11 - New Waverly

Today drove out to New Waverly with Leigh for CP ride 11. I dunno but this weekend has been a really sluggish one for me. I didn't really do anything yesterday except teach Phillip how to clip in and clip out. Then this morning I dunno but my head just didn't feel like it was into the ride. I tried to keep up my speed on ups and downs, but that really wore me out fast. After 25 miles I lost my groove. I was tired, and probably under-fueled. erg. Still managed 51 miles ~14.6 mph.

Now I feel really restless and anxious for some reason. I feel like I need a nice relaxing yoga session. Hopefully I can sleep tonight.

New Kicks

Thanks Luke's Locker. Got a lot of good feedback from Justin, the sales guy. He also worked at Bike Barn for a number of years. Apparently I have a good gait and don't keep my foot on the ground too long. I roll the outside of my foot just a little much. But otherwise I can get any neutral shoe. Cool.

Got 10 days to break in my new Nike's. Here we go.

/edit

In response to Danimal on the Vibram Five Fingers. I totally want those. But probably not a good idea to run long distance on pavement in those. Our forefathers didn't have to chase their food on asphalt.

In response to Gau on forefathers not having Vibrams. They are more hoss than me. Plus they killed their meat before they ate it. I get mine from HEB in plastic wrap with an expiry date.

Pick Up the Pace

Trying to get ready for my half marathon on the 11th, so today after work I went to Memorial Park to attempt 9 miles. Kind of ambitious, since I've only been working out on the weekends and only 3 miles at a time. So I left myself room for walking and essentially took my time. 1hr and 50mins total. Pretty slow for 9 miles, but atleast it gave me a good idea of what it's like to run/be on my feet for longer than 30 mins. By then of it, my feet were in pain. I have been using my loud purple and yellow cross trainers. They are really light and were really cheap when I got them, but crap I won't be able to run 13 miles on pavement in those. I would have blisters starting at mile 3. By the 7th mile I was already feeling every rock on that path. Ouchies.


So I think a trip to Luke's Locker is in order today. I had been wanting to get a nice pair of running shoes because I typically have knee problems but was putting it off cause they are expensive. But you know they say to spend money on your shoe and your mattress cause you spend the all day in those.

On another note, got my Accenture BP MS150 Team jersey today!

I'm getting excited for this. I'm ready. Training has been fun and totally worth it. Now all I need is my bike.

Sunday Runs with Janice - Memorial Park

JPai and I have done a pretty good job keeping up with our weekly Sunday morning runs. I think it deserves it's own post now along side my Conocophillips posts. Also what's cool is we try a new trail every Sunday. This week was Memorial Park. We had planned to go to the back trails where mountain bikers go, but the Houston Bayou Art Festival was going on so we just kept to the 3 mile loop. I ended up doing 4 miles cause we got separated in parking. I feel ok now. Just during sucks. Not sure how I'm gonna handle the Half Marathon on April 11th. rawr. I gotta kick up the training this week.

ConocoPhillips Training Ride 10 - Chappell Hill

Hard. Today's training ride was hard. The first 20 miles were great, rolling hills, I was feeling good conquering them and then having fun descending. There was a big crowd. Roads were typically full of riders. I did get to see Ashley which was cool.

I think I used up too much energy at the beginning tho cause the last ten miles were hard. We had to fight the wind going uphill and then fight again downhill to gain momentum. It was a pretty stead uphill battle towards the end. Not many chances to gain momentum and fly up the hill. Erg. Avg 13mph. 44 miles.

At one point my pedal just unscrewed from my crank. What!? That was really weird and I couldn't get it off my shoe, so the SAG wagon guy had to help me screw it back in while the pedal was still attached to my foot. haha.


That was fun.

Teresa kept up really well. I was impressed today. She was never more than 5 mins behind me.

I tried to remember to take more pictures today. Here's one.


There were also lots of baby bluebonnets out there, but I didn't stop to get that picture. Next time.

Afterward I went home ate and passed out for 3 hrs. About to pass out again soon. Running and riding tomorrow. Probably will be sore tomorrow. I'll let you know, this will be the first ride where I came out sore on the other side.

Peace.

iHome Bike to Beach Speaker System

So a while ago with while riding I got to pace with a woman who had an awesome loud speaker on her bike. The music made riding so much more enjoyable. I had been riding for 40+ miles already, but all of a sudden I was going faster and didn't feel any sort of misery. I was like...I gotta get me some of those.

Thus the search for cool speakers began. Lots of them are bulky, and not aerodynamic, ugly. I don't want to ugly up my awesome bike with speakers. So eventually I wander upon speakers by Apple. Apple! I can depend on them to look sleek and beautiful and of course they do. Their speaker system is designed to fit in a water bottle cage, looks almost like a water bottle and of course will fit all Apple music players. Awesome. Now these are slowly being the hit because well, it's an Apple product. The last ride I think I saw 4 or 5 different people with the the bike speakers.

So I look them up on Amazon, and its at $50 right now. Ok not bad actually for Apple. Then I look at the specs. These speakers weigh 4 lbs. FOUR POUNDS. I paid $700 to upgrade bikes and shed 5 pounds off, and for 50 bucks I can put most of it back on. Why the hell would anyone want to add that back on? Music helps riding yes. But at 4lbs, it will hurt your riding more than help it.

So no thanks Apple. I am keeping my $50 bucks.

Tour de Houston

This morning's weather proved to be cold as ass and quite windy, so I decided to go for the 40 mile route instead of braving the 70 miler. That is a decision I am quite happy with. Picked up Teresa, and we made our way over to City Hall for the start. The first 24 miles were COLD and WINDY. Pushed us back pretty easily and on top of that we had multiple stops for traffic lights, so we couldn't use our momentum at those points. Drafted Andy at some points. That helped. Overall the wind made for a pretty tiring ride, but an awesome tailwind on the way home. Fell over at one of the lights on my elbow. No scrapes, maybe a bruise.

Didn't really keep track of time and forgot to reset my bike computer so there's no knowing what my average was. Oh well. It was cool riding through downtown and San Felipe. Wish it would have been warmer, less windy, and on a new bike. But what can you do? Just take what the world gives you, get angry and then get even.

Afterward I ate some pasta and went running at Terry Hershey with JPai. It was a good change from riding TH, and hoofing up those hills instead of flat running was different. Probably did 2-2.5 miles? No anger there. Just really tired.

ConocoPhillips Training Ride 9 - Cat Spring

So this ride was scheduled for Cat Springs, which was a little closer than the past two rides. I was getting excited cause I could do rides back to back this weekend. I meet up Teresa, we carpool over to Cat Springs, get our bikes ready and then Steve Moskowitz tells us that the storm is coming fast and that there's lightning.

So Steve canceled the ride. raWr. boo rain.

The Chinese Diet

Yesterday was Papa Yu's birthday, so we do our simple celebration of going out to dinner. Of course my dad picks a little place in Chinatown because he can't go a meal without rice. Now I grew up on a Chinese Diet, but after countless nutrition talks from a guy I once dated and hours on WebMD, NY Times and the like...I am enlightened. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese food. I was pretty excited to get to go to Chinatown and devour all those delicious meats, but now I know just what an unbalanced diet my culture perpetuates.

So what did we order last night? 2 meat appetizers, green beans, the house special tofu dish, ribs, shrimp and white rice - which translates to 1 Starch, 5 Protein and 1 Veggie. But actually the green beens were even stir fried with ground pork, so the more acurate translation might be - 5.5 Protein and 0.5 Veggies. haha. YUM. Basically what I'm getting at is there is a major tip towards eating meats in this diet. Which mean's we're all going to get atherosclerosis and have heart attacks at the age of 45.

I'm not even going to talk about how much oil we use and the ratio of fried/stir fried to steamed dishes. lol.

Also, theres little to no fiber in much of the food we eat. Veggies have fiber - yes, but the largest source of fiber in someone's diet is grain and we don't eat that. So one might ask when do Chinese people Poop? And the answer is maybe once every week when our Colon's get backed up. (This statistic is based on 4 months of living in Hong Kong. Also there is only one data point in this statistic so please comment to add more.) Once every week? This sucks considering a person should poop at least once a day. You don't want to be carrying around a weeks worth of food waste in your body. Thats probably 2 lbs of crap in your colon depending on your size. Gross.

I'm sure the Chinese health commision or whatever government department that monitors public health was aware of this as Digestive Crackers were sold everywhere. These babies were like fiber and sugar pressed into cracker form. Worked really well, but you had to remember to eat them...

So moral of the story? Papa Yu needs to eat Digestives.