36 Down
Written by Michael on August 29th, 2007It’s been about a month and a half since I reported that I had lost 20 pounds so it’s coming off a little more slowly now. I guess that’s not really surprising, once Amy got out to Colorado, I cut the duration of my daily rides from 121 minutes to 90 minutes (so she’d still want to marry me) but I hoped to make up for that by taking the dogs on a 2 mile walk every night.
In any event, I’m still on track to be 199 by January 1st and that’ll give me about 7 1/2 months to hit my target goal of 159 on 7/23/08. Why is it going to take me that long? I want to lose the weight but not any of the power, that would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise.
I’ve noticed a few interesting things:
1) I’m very, very good at riding right near my anaerobic threshold for long periods of time but terrible at medium paces or variable paces. This explains why I did so well in time trials but got my ass constantly kicked in criteriums when I raced.
2) Rest days are killers. Not the day you rest, but the day you come back. I’m currently on a 7-1-7-2 (7 days on, 1 day off, 7 days on, 2 days off, repeat) program and if I’m relatively inactive on that rest day, the first day back is always a killer. Counterintuitively, day 7 is ALWAYS my best day performance wise. I’ve set every average speed record on the 7th day.
3) I perform best between 66 and 68 degrees with 60% humidity or less.
4) Maybe it’s the altitude but I’m producing more power than I ever have in my life. Ever.
I’ll try to start posting more often but right now, it’s all about the bike.
31
PM
You’ve lost 36 pounds!!! Wow! Maybe I should take up cycling. Can’t wait to see you! Donna
31
PM
Congrats on the 36 lbs. What an accomplishment. Keep up the good work! Glad to see that you are posting. I still check when I can. A girl has to do something while laying in the hospital. I am doing good, but we have had some problems with the boys heartbeats dipping too low. It is a good thing they are monitoring me. They say they will take the twins if they keep doing it, but I am 30 weeks this Sunday!!! We will keep you updated!
Love,
Kell
13
AM
Thanks for the MPH calculator, which Google found for me.
Doing a TT this Sat. a 20K event, and looking at winning times from last year It’s fast. 24 mins was winner. I’ll shoot for something more realisti, maybe 27 minutes.
Great going on your weight loss. Keep riding.
And hello to Kell and her twins. Funny enough my wife was pregnant with twins in June. June 4 they were born, we lost the girl due to difficult delivery, but the boy, Grant, is thriving. Best to you and your family to be.
13
AM
Thanks Matt.
24 minutes!! 20K!! Damn, that’s fast. My PR for 20k is 25:51 (though I was 18 when I did that :) and I thought that was pretty good. I would kill to do 27 mins now. Good luck on Saturday!
Sorry about the loss of your baby girl and congratulations on having Grant.