slowdad

Long Weekend

This weekend I had the fortune of the weekend coming together to make it chock full of cycling.  The stars, moon, and my wife's plans all aligned for lots of riding and race watching.

This weekend I did two back to back long rides for a total of 242 km, and I even feel pretty good this morning.  Not like last weekend where my Sunday ride was not much more than spinning the legs for a couple of hours.

Admittedly, I wasn't going super hard for those 9 hours, and there are lots of other people who rode more, faster, and looked better doing it than I, but it's still a milestone of sorts.  I hope to get a couple more long weeks in over the next while to build some base for the coming cross season, and in July and August really start building the intensity.

At this point in the year, I'm only up on my training by about 30 hours over the same point last year.  Almost halfway through and at 178 hours or so. And to think that at one point, years and years ago, I planned on doing a 1000 hour year.  

The kids enjoyed watching the bike race, but, unfortunately they didn't get outside nearly as much as they should have.  I only have my selfish self to blame for that.  Next year they're planning to run/walk their first adult running race, probably a trail 5 km, so too much Wii is something to watch.

Relaxed Mode

I'm made my decision, and I'm pretty sure I'm sticking to it.

Last year at this time I was worrying myself silly trying to build up fitness for the double Gatineau Loppet.  It turned out ok after having spent November through February getting ready.

This year I thought that bike riding up until December, then taking some time off, and restarting in January, would be fine.

It is not fine. 

After my second ski session this winter I realize I'll need an extra month at least to get up to racing for 3 hours. An extra month of hard effort and lots of resting while the kids do my chores.

So this winter I'll be taking a bit more relaxed approach, and rather than abandoning the family to go off on my own all the time, I'll enjoy things more and stick around.  I'll still get in some good time on the snow but I won't feel pressure to sacrifice fun. I'll also work on some at home projects.

So I won't go to Ottawa this year.

It's a tad disappointing, but I'll do, perhaps, one local race. And next year I'll plan the training better.

And then? 2012.  The double in Gatineau, and then the Vasaloppet in Sweden.

How to lose Weight - The Slowdad Method

The above is not the most dramatic before and after shot in the world.  Many people have turned themselves around to more dramatic effect than I.  Shaving my head probably did the most good.

But, I seem to keep getting into conversations with people about food and wanting to lose weight.  So I am writing this post simply to lay out what I did, and what I believe, as I don't think I come off as that coherent in those conversations.

Secondly.  I am no expert. 

So there.

Roughly a couple years ago, I stepped on the scale and weighed 199 lbs.  I resolved to get back into shape and smarten up. That post is here. What follows are the thoughts and steps I took to get the pounds off. These are the thoughts that went through MY head, so don't get all insulted.

Being Fat is not OK

Every month I used to step on the scale.  Only one more pound.  And so the weight would climb.  My friends were getting rounder, my co-workers slowly matched me. "It's what happens after you turn 30"

That's bullshit.  Our society is overweight but that doesn't mean it's OK. For me it took a sudden wake up call to look at myself, and not simply settle for being better than average. Because suddenly I wasn't.

So start stepping on the scale and start thinking about, not all the extra pounds, but just that next one pound you want to get rid of. Until you really believe that extra pound is not OK nothing will change.

Cut out Sugar

Sugar is evil.  It changes the way you taste food. The more sugar I ate the more I wanted sweet, calorie dense food.  So I gradually used less. Less in my coffee, double doubles became milk and sugar which became black over time.  Less in my food.  This happened slowly, over 3 months or maybe more.

Just stop adding extra sweetness and when you do, just think about it. 

And don't drink pop.  For Pete's sake, don't drink diet pop either.  The sweetness fucks with your body even though there are no calories in it. It makes all your food taste sweet and confuses your brain into thinking it can store energy away in the form of fat.

And if you're hammering back massive amounts of OJ every morning, you should probably stop that too. Drink water. And if you say "I don't like water" I'm going to waterboard you 'till you relent.

Eat Breakfast

This was a big deal despite it being common sense. Once I had the sugar thing taken care of I had to make a strong effort, and get some help, to have breakfast every day.  For me, I had to eat the same thing and get into a routine.

The answer?  Plain Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, A Blender.  Some milk.  Smoothie = Awesome.  

They started out HUGE.  Massive really.  But I filled up each morning and started feeling better.  Over time the portions got smaller, naturally.  Now it's a handful of oats mixed with some plain yogurt 50/50. With some maple syrup, because I can.

No you can't eat fucking bacon. No you can't eat sugar cereal.  No you can't stop by Starbucks and call that breakfast.  

Snack

Once you've got breakfast in order, you're allowed to make sure you're never hungry.  My theory being that if you're never super hungry, but never really full, your body will figure out that it doesn't need to store fat away.

Small snacks.  Eat a bit.  Go away.  

Follow the Glycemic Index

At some point, not right now, go read this. Basically, After some time, I figured that I could get a bit smarter about what I was eating.  The longer food takes to digest, the better when it comes to weight loss.  Lower GI foods = better.

This means eating whole wheat.  It tastes better.  Get rid of the white pasta, the white rice, and that shitty bread with a couple sunflower seeds in it.  Seriously.  

Now before someone says "But wouldn't that mean cutting out carbs?  Protein takes a long time to digest" let me just say I hate people who hate on carbohydrates.  You need them to work out. Now stop using that as an excuse to eat fat. The fucking Atkins thing was a fad.

More Tea, Less Coffee

After a couple more months I felt like I had my food groove going.  But I was still climbing and crashing during the day.

I started to moderate my caffeine intact, and switched to tea for quite a while.  I think it helped that I was taking in more fluids as well.  Tea is good for the morale.

Now I drink both, and sometimes take short caffeine breaks of 3 or 4 days every so often.  Who knows if it has helped.  Perhaps it keeps my metabolism up.

Eat More Vegetables

It took a while.  The vegetable thing.  But once we started getting more veggies into the house the weight started to come off more quickly.

Yeah yeah, it's something we all know.  Now harden up and eat some veggies.  A little kosher salt makes salad a wonderful thing.

I must also say that the hardest thing about the vegetables was getting family buy in.  As it stands right now each kid has their favorite vegetable and we don't make them eat stuff they don't like.  Steamed broccoli is a solid bet for everyone however.

Sometimes Foods Should be Just That

There's one thing that I do know.  For sure.  Don't deny yourself.  Eat hamburgers.  But rarely. Eat Doritos, really rarely. Eat solid chocolate, often. Daily in fact. Really dark chocolate.

If you always feel like you're denying yourself, then you'll hate life.  And we all hate life enough as it is.  Just don't be treating yourself twice a week. It's about what you do 95% of the time that matters.

(NB. 5% would be just about 2 days each month)

Reduce Portions

Now that you've got everything under control, nows the time to start really thinking about how much you're eating.  I'll bet you a sandwich your portions are already smaller after going through these steps over a few months, but at some time you'll want to switch to smaller plates.

My method?  Eat some nuts before a meal. Eat a moderate portion.  Wait a bit, 5 minutes or so, drink some water.  Get seconds if you need.  Repeat.

The additional rule to this is, don't eat more when you're fatigued from exercise.  Personally I find it easy to confuse hunger with fatigue.  I try to eat the same every day unless the next day is going to be particularly long.

Get to Bed on Time

People who sleep more, weigh less.  It's a proven fact

Conclusion

I had a friend tell me the other day that losing a pound a week was far too slow.  That's just about exactly how fast I lost my pounds.  It was steady, nothing rapid.  So don't pat yourself on the back if you can starve yourself and lose 10 pounds just like that.  I'm betting it'll come back.

Go slow and make changes gradually.  Your body will get used to the changes over time and you'll evolve into a sustainable system.  Dieting is stupid.

 

 *this post has been written for about 2 months... I'm not sure why I've not hit the post button. Maybe it comes off as pretentious.  I've forgotten.

 

 

Why I hate bike stores!

Recently I've chatted up a few folks about their bikes. It's mainly been while out on a ride, and some random person will pull up alongside and we'll get to chatting.

It consistent. If the person is riding their first "real" road bike, and bought it at a bike store, they're invariably disappointed. They've been oversold, or are riding something that doesn't quite fit them size wise.

If they're on their second purchase or later, they are usually quite happy, mainly because they did their own research and made a choice without the help of a local shop.

My case is a great example that's similar to the stories I heard.

I wanted to "get back into cycling".  I was kind of fat, weighing in at 195+ pounds.  I was on a budget. And so I went into the local shop, wanting to support my "LBS."

The shop?  I don't mind saying it was Wheels of Bloor in Toronto.  Here's what happened:

First - The guy on the floor made no attempt to understand my history with bikes. I rode a sweet Bianchi frame for years.  It was a large, with relaxed geometry.

He tried, immediately, to upsell me outside of my budget, but only using brand names to lure me, not any functional or "value for money" arguments.

He convinced me (in hindsight) that the "bike he wanted to get rid of", the second last Devinci on the floor, which fit my budget, would fit my body.

The fitter guy spent about 3 minutes, adjusted the seat height, and told me to keep my heels down and knees in.

I then took the bike home and took it out on it's first ride.

When I emailed, and then called, saying I thought the bike was too small, I got no response.  Nothing.

So I continued to ride it, as I convinced myself that the purchase I made was decent, and heck, it was a noble thing to buy a Canadian made bike.

Now I hate the size, hate the components, and regret my purchase. (I do like Devinci however, they have some nice bikes, and use SolidWorks to design them also.)

The Bullet Summary?

• Automatic upsell
• No time understanding the customer
• Poor fitting (unless you spend even more money)
• Poor selection
• Terrible after sale service

So why do I say all this?  I know a few new or soon to be riders read this blog, or find it via search.  And I want them to be aware that buyers remorse lasts a long time when you lay your hard earned money down on a bike. You've got to really get engaged with the place that's selling you your equipment.

One woman that I rode with recently put it well.  "I thought I had a relationship at the shop.  I trusted him. I was wrong about that."

These reasons are also why I want Vitess to succeed and why I talk about them quite a bit to anyone who'll listen, or pretend to listen. They're not a bike shop.  Sure they want to sell bikes but they engage with you on a level that very few bike shops do.  It truly is a relationship between supplier and rider, and you get something that fits you. Now, their bikes are more expensive than average, but the value for money is great and they're changing up the business model in a way that serves the customers interests.

Now I just need to keep saving my pennies so I can stop drinking the coffee in the showroom while fondling carbon and become a customer.

CX Fun and Practice at Centennial Park

Last night I showed up at the local cyclocross practice session at Centennial Park looking to gain some valuable insights on how not to crash on the barriers, or crash on the corners.

I'm happy to report that no bones were broken during the evening. (The above picture is not me, but a representative image that looks sorta like part of the course last night, that is, blurred, and grassy)

I headed out, and arrived early, sizing up a few folks putting carbon wheels on carbon bikes while talking about Katie Compton's last race.  Since no other club mates were there I went and rode around randomly, "Warming up"

As more folks started to trickle in, I paid my $10, which seems to me to be a bit expensive for what you get, but I guess the $10 is worth it to get some real practice in.  I just don't know if I'll head over absolutely every week.  That's my special Friday morning coffee and pastry money.

We spent the first hour or so practicing skills and getting pointers from Scott Doel from Gears bike shop.  

Top Cyclocross tips picked up?

• Push down a bit on the top tube when dismounting to clip out more easily
• Don't jump the barriers, run smoothly over them
• Push the bike forward when remounting
• Move your weight forward a bit when rolling through an off-camber turn when your rear wheel is slipping out.

I must point out, that there were a lot of different folks out practicing, which was nice to see, but in particular there were a lot of guys with really nice gear.  Carbon Wheelsets, PowerTaps, and brand new groupsets were all over the place. I had to stick to my mantra; "Better to be ok on a cheap bike than ok on an expensive one"

It was good to see a lot of kids out rolling around and hauling their bikes over the barriers.  There were 5-10 young'ins getting some good coaching, and exercise.

During the 20 minute race I happened to line up beside one of these kids. A lad somewhere between 12 and 14, although I am a bad judge of age.  He was barely filling out his lycra.

That darn kid stayed ahead of me for 3 laps before I finally mustered up a bit of speed to pull by him.  At that point we had lost contact with the group, and had only 2 or 3 guys behind us, out of about 15-20 who had started in our wave.

I crashed, or became completely unclipped, 3 or 4 times over the 7 laps, but I did manage to clear the barriers without incident.  I figure if I can stay upright, and find another 150 watts, I should be able to win my races.

 

It's the final countdown

To a season of racing.

This week I'll be off to my first real CX race.  The first of many I hope.

As a diary entry here's how I feel.

I can seemingly ride hard, @ about race pace, for 10 minutes and recover very quickly.  Efforts above that don't exactly shatter me, but don't let me recover for another one for far too long.

This past weekend saw some decent riding, but nothing spectacular.  I did manage to hold some wheels of guys who caught up to me, and I rode well in front of a couple guys who caught up to me and decided to hold my wheel.

Today's a day off, and as usual on day's off, by legs feel terrible.  I really need to get out and spin no matter what.

To Do's this week.

Organize a toolbox.

Figure out who's looking after the kids when I race.

Put on a smaller front chainring.  Currently being shipped. It may not arrive.

Practice some skills.

Fit in my intervals.

Find time for a massage.

Get some work done.

Let everyone know just why every weekend is booked between now and the end of November.

Not Much to Report

Over the last little while there's not been too much to write about, let alone treat in a witty and sarcastic manner.  I think that'll change during race season, as I lament all the opportunities lost to upgrade my gear and fitness throughout the summer.

The one thing I have learned is that I definitely have loads of trouble doing two hard days back to back.

This past weekend I went for a fairly steady ride, up around 30km/hr, for 2.5 hours and the next day, when I was hoping to do a similar ride, wasn't even close.  I didn't feel fatigued or hurt, but I clearly didn't have the oomph required to push the pace.

I have convinced the kids that riding around the grass for cyclocross practice is good fun. My youngest has developed fearless descending skills, popping wheelies as he goes down the local sledding hill.  And my oldest seems to love doing run ups, and "Practicing for the Tour de France" by riding around the field and stopping on the corners for "Rest Breaks"

Meanwhile, I've not been able to eliminate the odd, not being able to get unclipped, moment while practicing dismounts.

Fear the Barrier

Lots to chat about - No time to talk

I've had a few interesting rides over the past few days.

140 km @ 30km/hr after taking the train to Niagara. No wind and a strong riding partner.

A 2 hour hilly ride at a high (for me) tempo that felt hard but according to the heart rate wasn't all that hard.

A bunch of intervals.

Good legs.

Me falling off my CX bike multiple times.  And seemingly hurting my back.

But I've been too busy to blog, and I'm off to bed.

I'll get this squared away in time.

2 day break

Some of you may have heard rumors.

Instead of riding my bike, or accomplishing some other noble activity, I'll be taking a couple days off, driving north, and going golfing.

All I ask is to hit one tee shot straight.

And for my hamstring to stop hurting.  hmm.

And then, hopefully it's back to some intensity while riding.  I say hopefully because my last 3 by 10 minute intervals, done by feel, turned into:

1X4 minutes, going out way too hard.

1X8 minutes, getting dropped by T who was not doing intervals

1X4 minutes, were I felt ok, but wasn't dropping anyone.

 

The calm before the Storm

Roughly 30 days.  Thats how long roughly until I want to be able to go anaerobic for longer than 30 seconds.

30 days to shorten the rides and ramp up the intensity.

30 days until things get interesting and the races start.

Actually, I just noticed that the first race is September 11th.

So now I'm off to put the race schedule into the calendar and re-read the time crunched cyclist.

I'm sure my posts will get a lot more interesting once the mud starts flying and some pictures get taken.