Day 84

Wow. I'm really winding down, so to speak, with my first 90 days. I wanted to give a quick update for you avid readers of mine.

This week has been a little bit difficult to find time to work out. I left for the beach on Friday morning, so I had to squeeze 5 days of work into 4 days. I also had to do some overtime because I was trying to earn a little extra money.

It worked out that I got to play Ultimate Frisbee 3 times this week. Well, 3 days at least. I got to play more than that since I was participating in the Wildwood Beach Ultimate Tournament. It is known as the worlds largest Beach Ultimate Frisbee tournament. We played in a 3-1 league, which is 3 men and 1 woman on the field at a time.

The tournament itself was a lot of fun. There were close to 100 fields and double that number in teams playing. So, needless to say, there were TONS of people there. Our team did not perform well, but it was fun none the less, and I got a lot of exercise, which was great.

Here are a few shots of the beach we played on. There were about 30 more fields on the other side of the pier. Also, there was a cornhole tournament going on at the same time. You'll see that in the front of the pictures I'd also like to point out that there are Frisbee fields as far as you can see in the pictures.

We had 4 games on Saturday, and we were supposed to play on Sunday as well, but my brother pulled his hamstring pretty badly and I earned some foot blisters from running on the sand as well as a sore knee from cutting, so we both copped out for Sunday (today). I figure I should practice what I preach and listen to my body. My body says, "I need a break!"

I will take today off from working out, most likely. It's possible that I'll be in the water at the beach today and swim some, or hop in my parents beach kayak and row for a while, but I doubt that it will add up to 30 minutes, so I wont count it.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm still planning on making my post tomorrow for the start of my final week, but I might have it up a little bit later than usual since I'm on vacation.

Start of Week 12

Man, I'm slacking on my weekly postings. I'll try to get better at that. This first 90 days is starting to come to a close, though. Today is officially Day 78 of 90. That's 12 more days of my first set of goals. I may continue using some as goals. I may not. The point was to make them habits, so maybe it's a time to test them to see if it worked.

I'm certainly not progressing in my weight loss as much as I had hoped I would. I'm a little concerned about the weight loss because I'll be going to the beach at the end of this week and I KNOW that I'll be tempted to drink and eat differently. I will, however, have more time to be active. I've also got my brother there with me which will help me do some physical activities such as run, ride, and play sports on the beach. We're even competing in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament on Saturday. I'll be sure to post about that.

On Saturday last week, I went to my mom's house to help go through some of my old stuff and move things into the attic for her. After going through all of my stuff and climbing in to the 150 degree attic, I knew there was no chance of me getting outside for a workout. Entirely too hot. It was at least 100 degrees. So I did something that I said on Friday that I hated.

I ran on a treadmill.

Ugh. I was right. I did hate it. I luckily had the Tour to entertain me for the half hour I was running in place. I tried to make it a little harder by running out of my comfort zone and I turned up the elevation a little bit. Still boring. I even had a huge sliding glass door to look out into the back yard! I can't imagine how miserable I'd have been in a gym running in a row next to a bunch of other people. Yuck.

Sunday I went for a bike ride with my brother. It was hot and humid as hell. My brother tells me that I pushed too hard in the beginning. I maintain that I was just trying to get through the rolling hills that we were working on at the time. When we got to the bigger climbs of the day, I was suffering hard core. I can't say I hated it, but it was pretty miserable. I did make it back in one piece, though.

The weird part of the ride was that it drizzled on us a little, but a few miles down the road, we found that the roads were sopping wet. No rain at all, but it had obviously been pouring for at least a few minutes there. When we got on those roads, I was getting tire spray in my face and my feet were soaked through pretty well. The roads were so wet and hot after the rain, though, that the roads were literally steaming. Maybe riding wasn't such a great idea. But I was happy to get out on my bike again. It had been far too long!

Today, my weight is 254lbs

Here are my pictures to prove it. I'm not seeing much change lately, but I'm also not seeing a change in my numbers. I do wonder why my pants are starting to fit better, though...

Day 75

It is stinking hot outside. I've been almost too absorbed with work and the Tour de France to notice, really. I've been spending most of the day time inside in the air conditioning. I tend to go out at night to visit with clients and by the time I get home, it's almost dark outside.

I told my wife last night that I was going to go to the YMCA today because I knew it was gonna be hot and I wanted to work out. I thought about it this morning while watching today's Tour stage and realized something. I hate the gym. A lot. I'm not intimidated by the gym, I'm just bored there. If I want to run, I want to move, not bop up and down on a treadmill while I stare at a wall. If I want to ride a bike, I want to feel the wind in my face. I want to suffer up hills and bomb down them. Shoot, if I want to build muscle, I don't want to lift weights, I'd rather pick up rocks or trees, move things around, maybe build something and actually accomplish something!

So screw the gym. I went for a run.

Stupid, I know. It was 100 degrees when I left my apartment. I have no idea what the heat index was, but I imagine 110 or so. I was feeling great for the first mile. I went on my normal run into Narnia. On the way out, the heat smacked me in the face and made me want to die. The heat did a number on my state of mind. I normally think that it takes a strong mind to overcome a "wall" when running. Today, I needed something else for sure. I didn't have a long run planned because I knew it was hot, but I was hoping to get more than a mile and a half in. I ended up walking most of the way home. Narnia truly is a crazy place. I hope to get pictures for you soon.

When I got home I decided to round out my workout with some Yoga, just to keep myself honest and get my full half hour in. Yoga was fine, but I'm still not huge on working out in my living room.

I'm concerned for the weekend. Normally I use the weekend to get some seriously hard workouts in, but this weekend is different. It's hotter than normal. I will certainly not be going outside for a workout tomorrow. Not after today. Sunday may be a different story, but I think the forecast is thunder storms. Crap.

Hopefully this heat goes away soon so I can get back outside. I don't want to go to the gym... I hate it there.

Start of Week 11

As of today, I've accomplished my workout goal and my water goal. Both are pretty well ingrained at this point, which was the whole point of this thing. I'm proud of that.

Weight's still an issue, but as long as I am on a downward trend overall, I guess I can't complain. I'm just not dropping as fast as I thought I would. Admittedly, I'm not intensely monitoring my diet. I had a rough week with food because I wasn't home much which makes it so much harder to eat well. I also don't feel like my workouts were all that intense. I'll try to ramp that up this week a little bit as well as putting some more effort into my food. Expect me to lose this week.

Not much else to say for this week. I just need to use some more willpower to get my weight loss back on track. I don't see myself accomplishing that goal, but I'm not giving up hope. I just don't want to be a hypocrite and drop weight quickly on a crash diet. I'm not about a crash diet here... I'm about lifestyle change. I know how to crash diet. I always gain the weight back again. Not worth it!

Here are my pictures today at 259lbs.

Day 70

Apparently I've got a week of new things this week. Nobody even told me!

After running to tennis and back on Friday, I got to try something new with my brother. On Saturday, we did a bike ride into the city and back. It was about 45 miles for me. I did a little bit of a new route to find the bike path that takes us into the city so I could connect with my brother. We met up, rode together for a while, then split off again so I could head back to my apartment.

During that ride, I told him that on Sunday (today) I wanted to do some hills. I got a text message last night that said exactly this...

"I found a monster hill today. It's on the way to the other cat 5. I literally laughed out loud when I thought about putting you through hell tomorrow."

Shit.

We planned on doing a 35 mile route so he could get his weekend century (100 miles). Seemed reasonable. I don't mind climbing as much as I used to, I just don't like getting dropped... which I knew would happen.

When we left we were on some of my favorite roads... really small rolling hills, overall descending, and fast. Beautiful. We got close to the first climb and my brother says to me, "this is it. Just make a left at this street and meet me at the top." That's fine. I know I'm gonna get dropped at some point on this climb. Fortunately, it didn't start very steep. Now that I've finished that climb. It didn't seem so bad at all. I'm realizing that category 5 climbs aren't as difficult as I had once thought. A bit of a breakthrough for me.

Then I hit the next one.

I suffered up this hill the entire way. I was taking in more oxygen than I was rightfully due. Certainly breathing for two people at this point. I could hardly stand to climb and my gears weren't set up for this. I thought at least 3 times that I wasn't going to make it and that this hill, quite possibly would never end. The first time I started to doubt myself, it was when I spent the better part of a minute trying to fight a fallen leaf that had gotten itself stuck in my front break.

Looking back at this climb, I realize that it wasn't so bad. It hurt like hell, but I was able to cope with it and by the time I got to the top, I felt ok. I told my brother that this second hill sucked much worse than the first. I even said after the first, "That was it?" I learned that I shouldn't taunt the hills.

Here's why the second hill felt so horrible...

 

The second climb was an extra half a mile, twice as steep, and went up  265 more feet! Not to mention it was a category 4 climb. Categorically, the hardest climb I've ever completed. How's that for something new!?!?

A side note for my brother. You're a dick.

Day 69: Try Something New

Yesterday, I tried something new. Throughout my life, I've used many forms of transportation to get places. I've walked to the convenience store or ice cream store, I've ridden my bike to pick up some candy as a kid, or as an adult get into town at the beach, and God knows I drive my car all the time for work or to get pretty much anywhere. Never before have I ran to my destination and then ran home.

That's what we did yesterday. We laced up our sneakers, packed a book bag with our tennis gear, water, and sunglasses, and then ran out the door to the tennis courts about 1.25 miles away. We didn't run hard, but we ran. We ran there with no problems, played tennis for an hour or so, and then ran home.

I can't say I loved it because the bag wasn't the most comfortable thing to run with, but I can't say I hated the experience either. Something I struggle with in my life currently is my lack of time with my wife. Any time we have together is important because she has been working 7 days a week, minimum of 8 hours a day, for the last 6 weeks. She's got 4 left, then she'll be off during the week again... the days that I work. Having the opportunity to run along with her, talk, and play a game together was amazing.

I love living an active lifestyle. It makes for fun stories and the experiences are usually worthwhile.

On our way back from tennis, we ran through Narnia, across the wall, and then ran into a group of about 7 teenage boys smoking what I will call cigarettes, although I'm not sure it was tobacco. I figured we'd encounter some kids in the woods doing something they weren't supposed to be doing at some point, but I was hoping my wife wouldn't be there for it. As we approached from the top of the wall, the boys were at the end that we "dismount" if you will. We slowed down to a walk as we got closer. The boys just stared at us and stopped talking with each other. Nobody got up to let us off the wall, also, nobody removed the bike that was sitting on the wall either. My wife said she was going to say something to them, but by the time she got the gall, I had jumped about 3-4 feet off the wall and helper her down. We picked up the run again and then laughed... "Oh teenagers..." like we've been grown ups forever.

Getting home we made some dinner quick and spent the night watching TV. It felt great to spend time with my wife, but even more, it felt great to spend time with her trying something new. I love knowing that I've got a partner in life who will live an active life along side me.

Lets Talk About Habits

Before I get to my post for today, I want to say that my wife and I went out for our run this evening and had a great time. We were moving faster than we usually do and both of us felt strong. I think it was because it wasn't so stinking hot, and we had some new stuff to look at. My wife agrees that Narnia feels like a whole different world compared from the streets that we normally run on. I'll try to get some pictures of Narnia at some point for you. Now... down to the business.

I spent some time today thinking really hard about habits. I determined that habits control most of what we do throughout the day. For instance. I bet most of you are in the habit of brushing your teeth every morning. You're probably in the habit of eating breakfast (or not). You may take the same lunch break every day. You may go to the same church service every week. When you were in school, whether your seat was assigned or not, you probably sat in the same exact seat every time you went into that class. Things feel weird and uncomfortable when you're not doing what you normally do. That's why we continue to do the things we do.

We don't always have good habits either. You may be in the habit of having a drink with dinner, or having a beer while you're cooking on the grill or watching the game. Maybe you're in the habit of staying up until midnight even though you've got to get up at 6am for work. I had the bad habit of going to Wawa while I was on the road for work and getting a lemonade iced tea, a turkey wrap, and a bag of chips whether I was hungry or not. Bad habit.

What I'm trying to do is reprogram myself. I'm in the home stretch of this first 90 days and I'm noticing the change in my habits. I've said since the end of the first week that I think I've gotten into the habit of drinking water regularly. I'm pretty confident that I can stick with that. It's definitely not hard and I love the feeling of being hydrated. I have noticed that I do not like the taste of our water, even though we have a Brita filter, but I'm used to it enough that it's not a problem.

My wife has noticed a serious reduction in my amount of drinking. I've gotten out of the habit of drinking whenever I feel like it. Sometimes I feel like a drink, but I decide not to because of what it will do to my goals.

I'm really into working out. I didn't work out on Sunday, Tuesday, or Wednesday and I could feel it in my body. I felt more sluggish and "blah" than normal. I feel much better tonight after my run and know that I will have more energy tomorrow as a result. I crave workouts and really wish I could work out while I'm doing work. I've gotten into the habit of working out and now my body wants it so badly. I'm also much more in tune with my body as a result.

Other habits have come as side effects. I've gotten into the habit of eating less because I'm able to feel when I'm hungry or not. I'm no longer in the habit of drinking soda or iced tea because I've replaced it with water. I'm also in the habit of being in bed, usually with the light off, by 11 so I can get up at 7 for work. I think that I'm able to fall asleep faster because I'm working out and my body is tired.

An interesting thing I've noticed about habits is that I find that I have habits on certain workout routes. For instance, if I'm on a particular run that takes me through a park, I always feel like I need to stop and walk for a little while after I leave the park. It's a 3.2 mile run. I can run 5 miles on a different route, so it's not the distance or effort that breaks me. I'm just in the habit of stopping at that particular part of the run. I've done that on other routes before when I was living with my mom. It took a lot to decide that I was in good enough shape to go past that point or go farther. It's really a mental thing (as most habits are). On our run today, we went about 3.5 miles and I felt like I could have gone much farther. I guess it's about deciding in your mind that you're not going to die and you CAN continue. I think that if i push past a point of wanting to stop, my habit for that particular route will be that I can finish it regardless of how I feel.

Take some time to think about your habits, good or bad, and if you want to or need to change any of them to make yourself a better, healthier person. It doesn't take long, and a lot of the habits that I've created for myself didn't require much effort to change. Willpower, on the other hand... that's something I need to use on a daily basis.

Day 67

It's been a pretty stressful week. I had a few appointments that this week that were really tough. I also am trying to do extra work this month so I can make a little extra money. I feel like I might have dropped the ball a little bit this week. I haven't worked out, other than my Frisbee game on Monday, since my bonk on Saturday last weekend. I'm still on track to meet my goal for the week, but I need to work out every day through Sunday. I'm fine to do that, but my eating has suffered as a result of the stress from work.

I didn't pack enough food when I was out for appointments and ended up stopping at Wawa and getting food that isn't so great for me. I sorta got back into some old habits. I'll have to break those next week. My wife and I went on a double date with my brother and his girlfriend last night. It was a great dinner, but I had a few drinks, more than I would need to for my goal, so I blew it for the week days this week, but this weekend will be back on track. I'm lucky to have a very supportive wife. She helps me through the tough times.

I've written before about how important it is to have a good support system in place when you're striving to reach goals. I'm blessed to have a wife that enjoys working out with me and will try the things that I try. I love that she'll come with me on bike rides and runs with me. I'm also really lucky that she's in great shape and can hang with me on bike rides and crush me when we're out for a run. She pushes me on the runs, I push her on the rides. It's a great relationship!

Currently, I'm waiting around for her to get home so I can go run with her. I mapped a 5k for us to try out tonight, little bit of road, little bit of trail, lot a bit of fun! I'm even going to introduce her to Narnia!

I'm kind of excited to run across the top of the wall again.

Start of Week 10

I'm starting off week 10 today with a pretty decent comeback from last week's catastrophe for weight loss. I worked through my neck injury to make sure I got 5 workouts in this week. I even struggled with a bonk on my bike ride Saturday, but I'm managing to burn more calories than I'm taking in, and that's what weight loss is all about... and proper nutrition.

This week, I'm starting at 256.5lbs.

Proud of the weight loss. I think last weeks gain was exaggerated with water weight. This weight loss may be as well, despite trying to be hydrated at all times. I'm still maintaining my water intake. I also want to note that I'm only one week away from meeting my exercise goal. Here's to exceeding goals!

I'm shocked that I've been doing this for 9 full weeks so far. It feels like It's been so much shorter. I certainly notice changes in my body, my mind set, and my habits. That's what this was all about. I'm excited to see what just a few more weeks will do for me.

I feel more like an athlete than I have in a long time. I'm continuing to catch every stage of the Tour de France so far. I find myself wondering if I could do what those guys do. I doubt it, but it's nice to dream a little. I wonder what it would be like to be a professional athlete. Being able to focus 100% of your energy on your sport, fitness, and health. How much could I accomplish if I had all day every day to focus on this? I wonder...

For those of you who wonder how much my body has changed since I started... here are some side by sides from day 1 to day 64 (technically 63, since I get my pictures taken Sunday nights). My posture looks a little weird in the front view picture for today. I think I was twisted for some reason. Also, say hello to my bike stuff.

Day 63

I'm long overdue for an update. I missed the 2/3 mark (day 60) on Thursday of last week. My world has kind of been taken over by work and the Tour de France. I've spent a lot of time in front of the TV watching the professionals racing around France.

My neck is mostly healed now. I'm back to working out outside again. I did a run with my wife on Friday and a bike ride with my brother yesterday. I visited a place that we refer to as BONK CITY. On our 50 mile ride, I flatted in the middle of a category 5 climb. I didn't have a tube, luckily I called my brother back and he wasn't too far up the road, so he heard me and stopped so I could replace my tube. Once we got started up again, I was feeling pretty ok, until about mile 20. I hadn't been eating at all, but I also was running out of water fast. I bonked hard. I wanted to just give up it was so bad. Around mile 30 we got to a Wawa convenience store. I got a gatorade, a coke, a snickers, and a gallon of water to split with my brother. Coke did not fix me this time. Neither did the snickers.

By the time we were about 10 miles from my apartment, I was totally spent. My quads were both shaking from exhaustion when I stood. My hamstrings were so tired that they were in spasm periodically. My calves even joined in with a little twitching. Basically, what that means, is that my legs were toast. Burnt toast.

Here's what our route looked like... elevation-wise.

 

We climbed just under 1500 feet and had two category 5 climbs. The second wasn't too bad, but I was exhausted, so it seemed much worse to me.

Today, I'll be at my brothers place for a while working on some new jerseys for our City to Shore bike ride. We'll hopefully be deciding on something today and then we'll need to get our hands on some sponsors. Anyone interested?

Day 58: Overcoming Setbacks

Two days ago I wrote about a run I had into Narnia and the neck pain I developed during church that morning. That neck pain has not gotten better, in fact, it's significantly worse and has put a damper on my workouts.

On Monday, my wife and I both had off from work so before going to my Mom's house for a BBQ and fireworks, we decided to go to Valley Forge Park and run the 5 mile path through the park. After about a mile or so, I started to struggle because of the pain. I couldn't breath deeply because it hurt and my neck would spasm. I eventually asked if we could stop for a minute so my wife could rub my neck for me, hopefully relieving the pain. This didn't work. I actually continued to get worse while we attempted to run. I told my wife I wanted to at least walk the path, but was doubled over in pain before we got a half mile from when we stopped running.

I was extremely disappointed because from the waist down, I felt completely capable of running 5 miles. From the shoulders up, I was completely stiff. I ended up popping Advil all night and got an icy-hot patch to relieve some of the pain. It only kind of worked.

Today, I spent most of the day working, but found it difficult to drive safely because it's hard to turn my head to look for cars in other lanes. I also had to sit on the floor with a client for two hours which wasn't as much fun for me as it was for him. When I got home, I spent some time with the heating pad on my neck and popped more Advil. Then I decided I wanted to work out.

Before I started this whole thing, I would have just taken the injury and sat on my butt watching TV and eating/drinking whatever I wanted. It would have been time to give up because my body couldn't take this crap anymore. Not anymore.

Today I set my bike up on an indoor trainer and started riding. I only did a half hour because I got bored, but it was nice to do something. I was able to hold my head at a comfortable position and push out a few miles. I set my bike up on the trainer with my laptop in front of it so I could watch a Sufferfest video.

Here's what my living room looked like this evening...

I am hoping to continue working out while this neck thing heals. I'll just keep hopping on the bike every day until it gets better and I can get outside and either run or ride my bike.

Start of Week 9

I'm more than a little late getting this post out. I know it's Tuesday, but the holiday put me off a little bit.

So starting this week, I weighed in at 263 again. I'm disappointed in how my weight worked out this week, but I'm not confused by it. I had a few people over on Friday night, drank a lot, then since I had already ruined the weekend's drinking and needed to make some room in the fridge, I had a few more beers on Saturday after laying around and working off a hangover. Smart decision making? No. But did I have fun and enjoy spending time with friends? You betcha.

My philosophy throughout this whole process has been to create better habits and change my lifestyle. I don't want to become a completely new person. I like who I am. I want to adjust my lifestyle on normal days throughout the year to be healthier. I do not think that drinking a little too much at a party celebrating the 4th of July (our town had fireworks on the 1st) was out of the zone of my philosophy.

Despite my weight gain last week, I still managed to meet my water goal every day, worked out 5 times last week, and met my alcohol goal 1/2 of the opportunities to do so (the one I missed was planned, obviously).

As for eating, I did pretty well. I even ate very well on Friday and did a 50 mile bike ride before the party. So I'm not really sorry about what I did. I admire those people who can count their calories every day and measure their calorie output as well as eat 100% organic and do everything they think is healthy for themselves. I do not, however, aspire to be that person right now. Maybe some day. For now, I'm happy with me, and in the long run, I will continue to lose weight. Whether I meet my ultimate weight loss goal in 6 months or 6 years, I will get there.

For the record... I hope it's not 6 years. Now look at pictures.

Day 56

What a weird day.

I woke up this morning feeling just fine. I was planning on watching the Team Time Trial stage of the Tour de France, then going for a 20 mile time trial run of my own. Plans seemed fine until I got up at the end of church this morning. My neck was really stiff and it hurt to move. While walking home, my wife noticed how much pain I was in because I was looking with my shoulders instead of my neck.

When we got home, she checked me out, told me to stretch it, and then rubbed it a little bit. When she left for work, I was still in a lot of pain, but she gave me some Advil and set me up with the heating pad. After about a half hour, I could sit up again. It just so happened that the Tour stage was ending soon. I grabbed some lunch and finished watching.

I decided not to ride because it was hard to turn my head. I felt like trying to look for cars on a bike was a crucial part of living to see tomorrow. I figured I could still run, though, so I did.

I went out with no plan. I wanted to feel out the neck situation first. Once I started going, I didn't feel it so much anymore. I knew it wasn't feeling good so I didn't mess with it too much, but I felt ok. I ran down towards the high school which is now how most of my runs start. I noticed a trail off to the right that I've noticed before, but never wanted to go up because I'd seen kids coming out of there late at night. I figure that 1:00pm on a Saturday was probably safe. I made the turn, passed a grate in the trail, and ducked under a tree branch. All of a sudden, I'm in Narnia.

I swear to you, I've never felt so far away from civilization while civilization was literally footsteps away. The trail was wide and covered in roots. The trees around me were thick and lush making it difficult to see through them. I got to a Y in the trial. To the left was something that resembled a stone wall that went through a creek. I decided to avoid that and went right. I popped out on an athletic field and then noticed the middle school on the other side. Narnia was not very big...

I ran across the field and up a small hill to the middle school track. I took a jog around the track and then ran down another small hill into a field where they set fire works off on the 1st of July. While running along the edge of the woods, I notice another trail entrance. Back into Narnia I go. Squirrels and bunnies are running across the trail in front of me. I run across a creek, complete with stepping stones, and then the trail ends again, and I'm at the corner of two streets. Bummer. I ran up the street a little bit before turning around to find Narnia one last time. This time when I went back in, I found that same stone wall. I looked at it for a little bit before noticing that I could climb on top and run across it. It was about 3-4 feet wide and about 40 yards long. I jumped on top and ran across the entire wall. It was something else. I found my way back to the trail that I came in on the first time, and ran home with no more mystery or quests to speak of.

I mapped my run and found that it was 2.8 miles. Less than I had expected. I was out for about half an hour or so. I took it easy, I thought, but my sweat glands disagreed.

Maybe Narnia just makes you sweaty. I don't know. I never read the books.

Days 54 & 55

I'm not sure if you know this about me... but sometimes I ride my bike. I love cycling. I love to ride, I love to watch, I even love to think about cycling. I even love the clothes and the gear that goes along with it.

Today is the first day of the Tour de France. This is The Superbowl of cycling. Except instead of being a one day event, it's like watching The Superbowl almost every day for three weeks straight. I have my favorites, and I will watch every stage that my schedule will allow me to. This race is one of those things that gets me excited to get out and ride. It makes me want to ride in places that I don't normally want to ride. For instance, yesterday, I went for a bike ride, and here is what the elevation looked like:

The route I did yesterday was an out and back route, meaning I went all the way to the end of my route, and then turned around and came home exactly the same way. That's why the elevation chart looks like an ink blot. The gray areas are the biggest climbs. This is the first time I went for a ride and did more than one categorized climb. This ride had three category 5 climbs. These are by far not the hardest climbs that you can do, but they're significant enough to mean something to me. At the bottom of that image, you can see the length and elevation change of each climb. You may also notice that I went up 1627 feet for the day.

The first category 5 climb was easily the hardest. It was the longest and steepest of the climbs. It also started with a really steep section, then came back down a little bit, but I felt like I was going up hill forever. Two miles is a long way to go up a hill... for me anyway.

I hardly noticed the second climb, but the third one was a little difficult. It wasn't so hard because it was steep, it just felt long, especially on the back end of my ride. I would like to point out, however, that the last climb put me at the top of the first climb, since I was riding back home. That meant that I got to go down. Oh yes. My favorite. I got myself up to 42mph on that descent. That's the kind of stuff I live for.

The 51.5 mile ride took me 3 hours and 18 minutes with an average speed of 15.5mph. My legs were a little bit sore, but I felt good when I got home.

I heard an interview with a cyclist named Frank Schleck the other day who crashed in the Tour de France last year and couldn't continue. His brother, Andy, took 2nd place. They're climbers. Frank said that he hates mountains, even though he's good at climbing. He hates them because they always hurt. That pretty much sums up my feelings about hills. However, something is beginning to change in me. Not that I hate climbs any less. They hurt like hell. But I'm starting to enjoy climbing for the same reason. The pain is just satisfying.