Fatness Be Gone

[Laetitia]

Picked up my race packet for the ING half marathon (Sunday). Am so excited - even though I don't expect to do terribly well. Allergies have hit me harder than usual this year.
Shooting for 2:10 or better, but will be happy with anything under 2:20.

Next week, I switch to cycling. Can't wait, as it will drop five pounds from my frame before the end of April, even with adding an average of 750 extra calories per day to my intake.

When you do cycling, how many miles do you do per day/week? 

I do about 5-10 miles a week in commute miles, year round. Road miles are something completely different.
When the weather's nice, I go for 15-30 mile rides, but those are not more than once a week yet this year.
I'm a wuss, and don't like riding when it's under 55.

By the end of April, I should be back up to about 75 miles per week on the bike, 5-10 miles of commuting (grocery shopping) and two or three 20-30 mile rides... and 15+ miles running. It'll be an everyday thing. When alternating running and cycling days, I find I don't really need the recovery days, unless it's the day after a particularly long & hilly ride/run.

[Laetitia]

You need to go at least 10 miles for it to be a serious workout. I have a friend who trained for this charity cycle race that's 107 miles, and she started out doing 10 miles a day, and went up - WAY UP- from there.

Depends on the bike and the course, along with the starting level of fitness. If you're taking a heavy cruiser or comfort bike on a hilly route, it doesn't necessarily take 10 miles to kick your ass, especially in the heat & humidity of the deep south.

[miamiballoonguy]

You need to go at least 10 miles for it to be a serious workout. I have a friend who trained for this charity cycle race that's 107 miles, and she started out doing 10 miles a day, and went up - WAY UP- from there.

Depends on the bike and the course, along with the starting level of fitness. If you're taking a heavy cruiser or comfort bike on a hilly route, it doesn't necessarily take 10 miles to kick your ass, especially in the heat & humidity of the deep south.

It depends more on the level of fitness more than anything else.  When I first started going from fat to fit last month (30 pounds down, by the way.  10 more and I start resistance/core/ab training without weights...  WOoohooo) I was so winded just walking 2 miles.  Now, in as little as 20 workouts, I have been able to go all the way to my maximum today of 18.24 miles (not all at once.  I walked to my hair stylist (6 miles). From there, 3 miles to Petsmart(in the opposite direction), bought 10 cans of cat food, then walked all the way home from there.  It took me about 6 hours...  Since Starting I've walked over 125 miles at an average pace of just under 19.5 minutes per mile.  It's amazing how the human body can adjust in such a short period of time.

[BonerJoe]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

[miamiballoonguy]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats joe...  Good for you.  How much are you exercising?

[BonerJoe]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats joe...  Good for you.  How much are you exercising?

Biking 4 times a week and restricting my calorie intake to less than 1500.

[freeAgent]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats joe...  Good for you.  How much are you exercising?

Biking 4 times a week and restricting my calorie intake to less than 1500.

Congratulations, man.  It sounds like you're doing a pretty good job.

[miamiballoonguy]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats joe...  Good for you.  How much are you exercising?

Biking 4 times a week and restricting my calorie intake to less than 1500.

Good.  How long are you exercising for when you do?  You might not be eating as much.  Find out what your BMI is (a simple calculation that includes your weight) once you do that, there are charts that you can look up somewhere (they are in my food/exercise tracker program( if you want to look into it go to keyoe.com)) that tells you how many calories you burn just sitting around.  This is the number of calories that you need to eat in order to maintain your current weight.  Then you can figure out how many calories you need to eat per day in order to reach your goal weight.  The more exercise you do, the more you can eat.  Just limit yourself to one high calorie day per week, and you should be fine.

Anyhow, I spent several months researching the most efficient and fastest ways to lose weight.  I didn't want to spin my wheels doing the wrong thing and waste time.  I'm getting old, and my weight has held me back for a while.   I gotta lose the weight before the health problems start kicking in.  My Mom had to have her foot amputated recently because of obesity and diabetes.  That ain't gonna happen to me.

[Lindsey]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats.  I take it the new bike is working out well.   

[Laetitia]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats joe...  Good for you.  How much are you exercising?

Biking 4 times a week and restricting my calorie intake to less than 1500.

Congrats on the cycling & weight loss!

As your rides get a bit longer, don't forget to bump up the calories a bit. I know you're working on losing weight, but you'll need the nutrients to keep your energy levels up and avoid the nagging aches & pains that can come from not giving your body what it needs to recover. The "good" fats will do wonders for you.

[miamiballoonguy]

I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks.

Congrats joe...  Good for you.  How much are you exercising?

Biking 4 times a week and restricting my calorie intake to less than 1500.

Congrats on the cycling & weight loss!

As your rides get a bit longer, don't forget to bump up the calories a bit. I know you're working on losing weight, but you'll need the nutrients to keep your energy levels up and avoid the nagging aches & pains that can come from not giving your body what it needs to recover. The "good" fats will do wonders for you.

I concur.

[Laetitia]

Hey, mbg! Gotta question (or 2):

How happy are you with the nike+? Are you pretty comfortable with the accuracy of the mileage and pace info?

I've been using MapMyRun/Ride and Distance on the iPhone, but am having glitches with the  GPS tracking when going thru areas where the phone has to keep switching back and forth between 3G & E. Doesn't seem to be a big problem on bike rides, but it's messing up the tracking of long slow runs. I have a nano, so the Nike+ might be a better alternative. Because I am NOT going to spend hundreds of dollars on a Garmin, no matter how awesome it would be.

[miamiballoonguy]

Hey, mbg! Gotta question (or 2):

How happy are you with the nike+? Are you pretty comfortable with the accuracy of the mileage and pace info?

I've been using MapMyRun/Ride and Distance on the iPhone, but am having glitches with the  GPS tracking when going thru areas where the phone has to keep switching back and forth between 3G & E. Doesn't seem to be a big problem on bike rides, but it's messing up the tracking of long slow runs. I have a nano, so the Nike+ might be a better alternative. Because I am NOT going to spend hundreds of dollars on a Garmin, no matter how awesome it would be.

Well I think that my Nike+ is actually UNDERreporting mileage.  Either that, or my bike computer is over-Reporting.  The bike computer has been recalibrated according to the manufacturers instructions.  The mileage my cateye is reporting matches within 3% of the distance from mapmyfitness.com's maps.  Also, down here, 10 city blocks is approximately 1 mile.  My cateye confirms this, my Nike+ tells me that I have to go like 13 blocks to get a mile. I guess it's about time I recalibrated the thing.

I almost forgot to ask.  How do you like the mapmyfitness sites?  I really want to like the site a lot better, but to me, the site design is horrible(it's hard to find certain things), and the integration with other things is lacking(I had a problem with the site;  It wouldn't accept my nike+ credentials, finding friends is impossible if you don't keep your address book online, and a whole bunch of other problems.  I am holding out hope that it will get better because the site has a big potential as a social network, but it's not there yet.

What do you think?

[Laetitia]

I almost forgot to ask.  How do you like the mapmyfitness sites?  I really want to like the site a lot better, but to me, the site design is horrible(it's hard to find certain things), and the integration with other things is lacking(I had a problem with the site;  It wouldn't accept my nike+ credentials, finding friends is impossible if you don't keep your address book online, and a whole bunch of other problems.  I am holding out hope that it will get better because the site has a big potential as a social network, but it's not there yet.

What do you think?

Meh. I upload the GPS/Route Data to mapmyride after each run or ride, but that's really just for storage. I've had loads of irritation dealing with their app on the iPhone, and am using the Distance app instead. Both mapmyride and Distance do a pretty good job with pacing, just not with total miles. I end up with the same run showing up as 4.6 miles one day, and 378 miles another, just because it dropped out of 3G somewhere along the way, and couldn't straighten it out when I moved back from E.

I have most of my routes mapped on the training log at RunnersWorld.com, which is a pretty good general fitness tool. I'm not sure how it handles the Nike+, but I keep up with everything there. Runs - hills, easy, long, tempo, races. Rides - hills, easy, long. Hikes with the kids, Yoga, kettlebell workouts.  The calorie data is most accurate on the running, but it'll give you either a general calorie burn, based on your distance, mph & weight, or the total based on those factors plus your HRM data.

For just plain old mapping tools, I have fallen in serious like with Gmaps Pedometer. It's wonderful. Will automatically trace the roads, meaning it's far more accurate, with fewer clicks. Here was today's easy hill route:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2691010
Distance & the iPhone cooperated today, and there was less than a 1/10th of a mile discrepancy. Gmaps might be a good tool to check your nike+ and/or bike computer accuracy.

[Laetitia]

Hey, miamiballoonguy!

Just read your last few blog posts. Can't get my comment on the 47+ mile ride to take - don't know why - but wanted to tell you how great you're doing.

Way to go! That's a heck of a ride, especially considering you've only been working on the fitness for such a short time.

And, having seen your post about what's next, now that you've made it through the first month and 100+ miles, I'm looking forward to hearing about your next milestones.

On a side note, having seen the elevation for your long ride, I think I chose unwisely for my summer vacation / destination race. Miami would be so much kinder to my knees and ankles than Manitou Springs, CO.