First and foremost I want to thank my girlfriend Missy for supporting me with all my hobbies and dealing with all the gear I leave scattered around my man-cave. The biggest help of all is the highly nutritious home-cooked meals I have waiting for me when I arrive home from a workout. Thanks babe, I can only be this strong when you're with me. Another big help was last years birthday gift.
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| With this bad boy I'm able to track myself on a better level whenever I ride, or my HR when I'm getting mad while playing video games.... lol |
Yes, I know. I'm way overdue for an update. Most people think I've probably gained all my weight back, and am still at a desk letting my body become stale under florescent lights. It's exactly the opposite. I didn't gain any winter weight, and I maintained some level of fitness, but this is due to me going back to my older career roots. What can I say? I needed something more challenging, a little less routine, and more hands on to do during the day. Now I'm back being a full-time automotive technician for a luxury Japanese manufacturer. I've always loved turning a wrench and the only thing that kept me back before was bad management. But hindsight is always 20/20. The only regret I have is not finding the right auto group beforehand. Lets get back to the item at hand. Fitness
The last week and a half I've been putting my body though some tests. Since I'm on my feet 8-12 hours a day I didn't know how my legs would hold up to the stress. There were so many fears to overcome that it was overwhelming my ability to find motivation to cycle again. Most of my workouts for the past eight months consisted of heavy lifting and diagnosing and fixing customer vehicles at work with some sporadic gym visits thrown in. Here are my cycling workouts with quick recaps. Nothing epic yet. Just straight burning through calories.
7/21/11 - 100 Degrees outside, weather.com states Severe heat index. "Outdoor exposure should be limited."
How to Stay Sustained Throughout a Workout (my personal guide):
Hydrate at least twenty minutes before a workout. It takes your body some time to absorb the fluid throughout your body. Give yourself time. Do not over-hydrate or you'll have an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. A great indicator is when you urinate the color is slightly yellowish; a dark tea like hue means your dehydrated, and a clear color means your over-hydrated.
Drink several ounces in intervals - It's hard to keep track of exactly how many ounces consumed during a ride and how much you sweat, everyone is different. This is something developed by feel. A great tip is to just sip from the bottle every couple of minutes, five or ten. This prevents you from developing discomfort while you are working out. My personal method is a sip every five minutes.
I personally use a mixture of scoop Hammer Nutrition HEED, a tablespoon of Hammer Nutrition Gel mixed in a twenty-four ounce bottle. The bottle is filled with half Gatorade and the other half water. You can refer to my earlier post on the products used.
Sustenance - Every forty-five minutes on a ride I consume one Tri-Berry Gu Energy gel. It's a great calorie provider for energy and it has other ingredients that help your body.
But you can't go more than two hours without a solid food in your stomach. I went an extended ride with just Gu and it didn't conclude well to say the least. You won't know what works for you until you try.
I've used Clifbar for the past year and it doesn't upset my stomach or leave me feeling full or sluggish.
Here's a Calendar for easy tracking of rides. In case you are curious.
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