I suppose it happens to all athletes at some point in time. A person can only push themselves so far and for so long. At some point in time the body just can't sustain exertion. Cyclists call it bonking, others call it hitting the wall. That's just what I've done. I'm not sure if it was a combination of the heat and exertion or what but, yesterday I slammed face first into that unseen wall of fatigue and being unable to continue. The feeling is overwhelming for anyone who's faced this I'm sure can understand and for myself was a complete shock to my system. I was ill prepared for the impact.
I started off as I normally do working up my cadence and effort as I cycled along an unknown course. I like to change my scenery often and so, I don't plan ahead of time what direction I'll ride until I get to an intersection. Yesterday, my eyes were set on the mountains. I made my way towards the mountains taking my time and not wasting my energy. Once I reached the base of the mountain I took a deep breath and a few drinks of water and made my gut check. For those who cycle, the mountain is a category 3 climb with 8% inclines in places. Not the most grueling but, for an amateur like myself it's a very intense climb. It leaves my legs screaming and my heart racing. I feel like I've lost 2 pounds of water by the time I reach the top.
Today was a complete gut check. As I made my assent I could just feel my energy levels draining. I was for some reason loosing strength and my cadence slowing. Being that this was not my first time up the climb I am familiar with my normal cadence up the road. I wasn't close. I checked my gear thinking I may have been in a higher gear than normal but, wasn't. I was struggling with only a quarter way up. "What the f&@k," I thought to myself. I was confused and my effort was messing with my head.
Midway and I was doing everything just to keep moving forward. I was yanking on the handlebars as I put everything I had into pushing/pulling on the pedals. I didn't even look up I concentrated on 10 feet in front of me. I didn't want to see how much further I had.
At three quarters I was exhausted. I was sucking wind just to continue breathing. My mouth was dry but, I was afraid to take a drink for fear of losing my breath. My legs at this time were on fire and I was beginning to shake. I was getting chills even though it was 90 degrees out and I was in the sun. I wanted to stop and turn around and just let gravity pull me back to the bottom and go home. I pushed on.
The top has a nice spot to pull off on and rest and that's just what I did. I drank 20 ounces of Gatorade and prepared for the descent. I was completely spent. I couldn't get the lactic acid out of my legs and I still had the chills.
I made my way home. My plan for the day was to make it a long ride but, I knew I'd never make it. My turn off to go home just happened to be blocked by a few trucks and ended up making a detour which I regret. I ended up adding 10 miles onto my ride and once home collapsed in a chair and just sat. I don't know for how long I sat, quite a while by my estimates. I spent the rest of the evening trying to get my energy back.
A day later and I am still exhausted. I don't have much strength. I've been exercising for years and know the feeling. I hit a wall yesterday. It is only the third time I can remember this happening. It is a combination of too much, too often, not following an optimal diet for the effort and not getting enough rest. I should have listened to my body more closely. My diet wasn't bad but, my rest hasn't been there and I knew it.
I'm writing this as a follow up to my last post. Listen to your body and don't tell it to shut up unless you have to or are willing to accept the outcomes. I knew I was in bad shape before even hitting the quarter way mark on the climb yesterday but, pushed on. Smart decision, that's a personal choice. I enjoy pushing myself as far as I can. I know that I will have days like this and just have to refuel and rest to recover. It is something that annoys my wife but, I just can't help doing it from time to time. I feel I improve, even a fraction, after every time I do so. But, know your limits!
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
We Can All Live Active Lives
What does it mean to live an active lifestyle? How does one go about living a healthy and active life? These are a couple of questions I've asked myself throughout the years. My opinions have been all over the board. At one point in time I thought weightlifting was the end all be all. If you didn't lift, you couldn't possibly be healthy. Looking back I think to myself, "boy what an idiot," I can't believe I actually bought that crap. My philosophy has changed and become much more diverse. I have realized it takes just a little bit of a whole lot to stay healthy but, a whole lot more to get there.
I started out skinny and very lean so, naturally I wanted more muscle mass. I ate big, lifted big and ultimately got bigger. By the time all was said and done I went from 145lbs. to 235lbs...in the course of 17 years. I took the long road, stopping hear and there depending on my finances and job. There was 5 years of college, then the unknown number of years working 14 hour days and then kids. I was amazed to wake up at 235lbs. one day. It was a goal I had set when I was 15. Of course as I looked down at the scale I had to lean forward a bit, my stomach was in the way. I had not gained all muscle mass as I had set out to do. Yeah, I lifted regularly but, my diet was horrible and all I did was lift. I had no way of burning off the excess calories I was consuming.
Discouraged and depressed I set out to change all this. I had been studying nutrition and exercise since I was 13 and knew enough to get my ass back in shape. I sat down worked out a schedule and dietary plan. Made all the proper calculations, bought all the right foods and got to it. Two weeks later I was craving a McDonald's cheeseburger like you wouldn't believe. Not just, "I'm hungry for a cheeseburger," but, the kind of craving you would be willing to walk through fire for. And, I don't like eating McDonald's. I did what I normally do and fell off the wagon calling it a "cheat day." That day became so frequent it lost all meaning and became my diet.
Time to revise. Went back through and reformatted my plans and tried again. Same results. I think I did this another 2 times before I finally threw my notebook in the burn barrel. The only thing I was doing at the time consistently was cycling. I was borrowing a bike from a friend and riding about three times a week. It was then I decided to just concentrate on that. Baby steps. So, I cycled. I started making gradual changes in my diet and going slow. Nothing drastic and nothing too quick. Within a month or so I had stopped drinking soda, stopped eating junk food and was eating quite regularly. I had a bad habit of skipping breakfast and just eating a big lunch and bigger dinner.
My body responded. I began losing body-fat. I know this because my cloths began to fit looser. By the end of the summer I had actually managed to fit into an old pair of jean I never thought possible. I was ecstatic and disappointed when the weather changed and cycling became unbearable because of the cold. I didn't have the money to afford winter gear and so the bike sat in the garage. I took up barefoot running earlier in the year to cross train my legs and lessen the impact on my knees and so, became my go to exercise.
During the winter I incorporated body weight exercises about twice a week to assist my running. But, either I just wasn't doing enough or I just eat a lot more in the winter I gained several pounds back on and was getting a little rounder again. By the end of winter I had gained about 10 of the 30 pounds I had lost back and was sitting at a nice 210. This time around though I knew what to do. I got back into cycling. I also continued to run. My diet lightened up by eating more fruit and less heavy foods also.
As I stand today I am 180 and carrying about 17% body-fat. I don't count calories or weigh out my food. I don't worry about certain meals. I just listen to my body. I eat desert, I eat pizza and I drink tequila. What I don't do is do any of those things often. I keep it simple. Drink on the weekends, pizza every now and again and only eat certain deserts and in smaller portions. I maintain the exercise philosophy to sweat once a day and not worry about distances or how fast I'm going but, concentrate on time out and enjoying being out. The longer you exercise at a moderate pace and allow your body to burn fat instead of muscle the leaner you become and the more endurance you gain.
I don't go to a gym because of cost and I don't feel like driving to and from a gym to workout when I can perform body weight exercise at home. I have also found some unconventional methods to work out my strength at home also. I lift, carry and throw various logs and stones. Put pull up bars outside as well as in and play with my kids more. It's amazing what wrestling around with two 40 pound kids will do for the arms and back.
Bottom line is that my life has force me to find more efficient ways to get and remain healthy. I don't spend money on a gym, running is virtually free and yes, I spent a nice chunk of change on a bike, I did so by choice. I could have very easily spent very little money on a used bike and gotten the same results. Either way I'm want it to be know most people could get healthier if they just got up and did something and slowly changed their diets. There are no fast ways to do it and to believe otherwise is just plain dumb. Infomercials feed ya a line of bullshit. They may want people to get healthy with their workouts but, bottom line is they do it to make money. I don't know one single person selling their workouts on TV that isn't making money off it.
People just need to take the initiative and "suck it up" for the first few months. Take it slow. Real slow if need be but, do something. Even if you just get up and walk to the end of your driveway everyday for a week. Do something. Then just gradually increase what you're doing as your body responds to it. Start listening to yourself. It's amazing how often we don't listen to our bodies. When I was overweight I felt like crap most of the time. I couldn't hear anything else. Once I started actually doing something my body started talking to me. At first it was in total revulsion that I would make it work but, as time went and I started adding more and more to its plate it would crave being used. I actually wake up looking forward to running in the morning or cycling in the afternoon when the sun is the hottest. I feel good afterwards.
I now understand what living an active lifestyle means. It means just that being active throughout your life. Not just once in a while but, all the time. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. You don't want to push yourself to the point of exhaustion or cause yourself harm. I've been know to do that a few times because humans have the ability to tell their brains to shut up. Listen to your body. Go slow. Pace yourself but, do something everyday. It doesn't have to be much. Your body will let you know. But you have to know how to listen to it. You know there is a problem in America when our video games are being designed to get us off our asses to play the game. My recommendation is to put the game down and go outside. Just be active. Half the battle is won there.
I started out skinny and very lean so, naturally I wanted more muscle mass. I ate big, lifted big and ultimately got bigger. By the time all was said and done I went from 145lbs. to 235lbs...in the course of 17 years. I took the long road, stopping hear and there depending on my finances and job. There was 5 years of college, then the unknown number of years working 14 hour days and then kids. I was amazed to wake up at 235lbs. one day. It was a goal I had set when I was 15. Of course as I looked down at the scale I had to lean forward a bit, my stomach was in the way. I had not gained all muscle mass as I had set out to do. Yeah, I lifted regularly but, my diet was horrible and all I did was lift. I had no way of burning off the excess calories I was consuming.
Discouraged and depressed I set out to change all this. I had been studying nutrition and exercise since I was 13 and knew enough to get my ass back in shape. I sat down worked out a schedule and dietary plan. Made all the proper calculations, bought all the right foods and got to it. Two weeks later I was craving a McDonald's cheeseburger like you wouldn't believe. Not just, "I'm hungry for a cheeseburger," but, the kind of craving you would be willing to walk through fire for. And, I don't like eating McDonald's. I did what I normally do and fell off the wagon calling it a "cheat day." That day became so frequent it lost all meaning and became my diet.
Time to revise. Went back through and reformatted my plans and tried again. Same results. I think I did this another 2 times before I finally threw my notebook in the burn barrel. The only thing I was doing at the time consistently was cycling. I was borrowing a bike from a friend and riding about three times a week. It was then I decided to just concentrate on that. Baby steps. So, I cycled. I started making gradual changes in my diet and going slow. Nothing drastic and nothing too quick. Within a month or so I had stopped drinking soda, stopped eating junk food and was eating quite regularly. I had a bad habit of skipping breakfast and just eating a big lunch and bigger dinner.
My body responded. I began losing body-fat. I know this because my cloths began to fit looser. By the end of the summer I had actually managed to fit into an old pair of jean I never thought possible. I was ecstatic and disappointed when the weather changed and cycling became unbearable because of the cold. I didn't have the money to afford winter gear and so the bike sat in the garage. I took up barefoot running earlier in the year to cross train my legs and lessen the impact on my knees and so, became my go to exercise.
During the winter I incorporated body weight exercises about twice a week to assist my running. But, either I just wasn't doing enough or I just eat a lot more in the winter I gained several pounds back on and was getting a little rounder again. By the end of winter I had gained about 10 of the 30 pounds I had lost back and was sitting at a nice 210. This time around though I knew what to do. I got back into cycling. I also continued to run. My diet lightened up by eating more fruit and less heavy foods also.
As I stand today I am 180 and carrying about 17% body-fat. I don't count calories or weigh out my food. I don't worry about certain meals. I just listen to my body. I eat desert, I eat pizza and I drink tequila. What I don't do is do any of those things often. I keep it simple. Drink on the weekends, pizza every now and again and only eat certain deserts and in smaller portions. I maintain the exercise philosophy to sweat once a day and not worry about distances or how fast I'm going but, concentrate on time out and enjoying being out. The longer you exercise at a moderate pace and allow your body to burn fat instead of muscle the leaner you become and the more endurance you gain.
I don't go to a gym because of cost and I don't feel like driving to and from a gym to workout when I can perform body weight exercise at home. I have also found some unconventional methods to work out my strength at home also. I lift, carry and throw various logs and stones. Put pull up bars outside as well as in and play with my kids more. It's amazing what wrestling around with two 40 pound kids will do for the arms and back.
Bottom line is that my life has force me to find more efficient ways to get and remain healthy. I don't spend money on a gym, running is virtually free and yes, I spent a nice chunk of change on a bike, I did so by choice. I could have very easily spent very little money on a used bike and gotten the same results. Either way I'm want it to be know most people could get healthier if they just got up and did something and slowly changed their diets. There are no fast ways to do it and to believe otherwise is just plain dumb. Infomercials feed ya a line of bullshit. They may want people to get healthy with their workouts but, bottom line is they do it to make money. I don't know one single person selling their workouts on TV that isn't making money off it.
People just need to take the initiative and "suck it up" for the first few months. Take it slow. Real slow if need be but, do something. Even if you just get up and walk to the end of your driveway everyday for a week. Do something. Then just gradually increase what you're doing as your body responds to it. Start listening to yourself. It's amazing how often we don't listen to our bodies. When I was overweight I felt like crap most of the time. I couldn't hear anything else. Once I started actually doing something my body started talking to me. At first it was in total revulsion that I would make it work but, as time went and I started adding more and more to its plate it would crave being used. I actually wake up looking forward to running in the morning or cycling in the afternoon when the sun is the hottest. I feel good afterwards.
I now understand what living an active lifestyle means. It means just that being active throughout your life. Not just once in a while but, all the time. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. You don't want to push yourself to the point of exhaustion or cause yourself harm. I've been know to do that a few times because humans have the ability to tell their brains to shut up. Listen to your body. Go slow. Pace yourself but, do something everyday. It doesn't have to be much. Your body will let you know. But you have to know how to listen to it. You know there is a problem in America when our video games are being designed to get us off our asses to play the game. My recommendation is to put the game down and go outside. Just be active. Half the battle is won there.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Staying Healthy by Staying Active
Over they years I've gone from a well toned 175 lb physique to a 235 lb "what the hell happened to me body." I'm currently on my way back to my days of being toned again and I must say the road is quite rough. Anybody who says getting a great body is easy is all out lying to you. I too have sat watching the infomercials and thought wow, that looks like it would work. I've even given a few of them a try but, the one thing I've discovered is that there comes a point in any work out routine where it becomes just that, routine. I get bored and discouraged and say, "the hell with it, " and put the DVD or whatever aside and go channel surfing with a bag of popcorn. So how am I getting back to where I was so many years ago? Three words, I stay active.
My entire fitness goal is to just stay active. Whether it be cycling, running, hiking or mowing the lawn. Though even that won't shed the 50 lbs of junk I put on over the years sitting behind a desk and being a slug. I have had to change my dietary intake too. Though this wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. I have severely reduced my soda intake and drink primarily water. I don't go overboard with my meals either. For example, I eat a sensible breakfast keeping my fats down and eating a lot of egg whites and Cream of Wheat...with just honey. I don't stay too strict only because I've found my body revolts and I get really agitated when I just eat what I consider nothing but healthy foods. I know I could just grind through it but, first of all I'm not a paid athlete who makes a living off my athleticism, second, I enjoy eating & lastly, my family doesn't need to be put on a strict diet or suffer because of me. I have a 4 and 5 year old, they like sausage and pancakes for breakfast. Sure, my wife and I get lean sausage and make our pancakes from scratch to keep things fairly healthy but, I'm not going to go around life carrying around health food just in case we are out and they get hungry. I'm just being realistic. I think most diets fail because people start out full of gusto and realize that after 3 weeks they are eating the same foods over and over and their bodies revolts.
I know I don't eat as healthy as I could. I choose to do this. But, what I do do is make sure that I do eat as healthy as I can when I can. I try not to eat fatty cut meats, I eat more vegetables and fruits, I cut back on drinking anything but, water, I limit my "snack" foods to special occasions. Overall, I just discipline my intake. It was a bit of a struggle at first but, I slowly integrated the way I eat over time and now don't have the cravings I used too. I do admit though, whenever I ride for 50 miles or better I get a craving for pizza that is nearly impossible to shake.
Food was the first step to getting healthy, the second was the most difficult...exercising. I had been inactive for so long I had forgotten what it was like to be active. I struggled in the beginning and even gave up two or three times. I initially began running but, a bad knee with hardly any meniscus kinda prevented me from being able to tolerate anything more than a 5K. I switched to weight lifting, something I was quite into before, and went too hard too quick and ended up either hurting myself or getting sick. I did a lot of reading and started barefoot running. Between the technique and low impact I was able to running greater distances. Though even after a year of doing so anything over 10 miles causes my knee to swell and ache for days. My knee is just that bad. Then a good friend got me into cycling. I eased into it, only having a mountain bike. Gradually I worked my milage up. I was loaned an actual road bike and soon my milage soared. I even, after only a couple of months, participated in my first biking event the 2010 Philly Livestrong. I ended up riding 70 miles that day it was the most exhaustively satisfying exertion ever.
I relaxed over the winter, unable to ride in the snow. I gained some of my weight back I had lost the year before but, came back with a vengence this year. I realized that even though I was eating better, my not being active didn't help me stay fit. I needed to be active and be active consistently. The best advice I've ever heard came from Matthew McConaughey, in an interview he had someone asked him how he kept his “sexy body,” his response was to sweat once a day, not worry about how far you run but, how long. His take on exercising is much the way a kid plays. He'll start out on a run and see a rock on the side of the road and stop and bust out a few reps of curls and presses before moving on. He just stays active. He says he doesn't use a gym but, whatever he finds around him.
I've taken that philosophy and run with it with awesome results. As soon as the weather broke I started running and cycling again. I began incorporating body weight exercises into my weekly activities to strengthen my core and lessen the impact of long rides on my body. I started hiking in the mountains to really get a great leg work out climbing hills and using different muscles than I use in my cycling. I change things up. I don't stick with any one thing too long. My bike routes continually change. I don't follow any pattern of exercise. I wake up in the morning and decide then what I wanna do based on how my body feels. Some days I do nothing, others I go for a 25 mile ride in the morning knowing I'll be baling hay in the afternoon and not think twice. For those unfamiliar to baling hay, it is an extremely intense task of throwing 40 -50 lb hay bales from the ground onto a wagon, stack the hay and then unload the wagon into a barn. It is estimated by Livestrong website to burn 11 calories a minute and we usually start baling around noon and finish up around 9 at night. We eat a couple of times and take breaks to change wagons and such but, we never really stop moving. The day is a pain and I'm glad it only happens a few times a year. I have noticed that my energy levels have increase over the past two years and feel they will continue to do so as I get in better shape.
I can't say that the systems we see on TV don't work but, they don't work for me. I have learned that just by staying active and not giving up on the things I enjoy, food, but, limiting them is allowing my body to become healthier by the week. I think the biggest thing I could recommend is to be honest with yourself and start slow. Like anything nothing will happen overnight so just take it easy but, maintain your persistence.
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