Meet next year's Hammer!

26.6

Where are the Blogdens of yesteryear?

Well, I got my first “hard” ride of the training program in yesterday. I have been feeling hungry lately (couldn’t be the 1500 calorie diet) so I wasn’t sure how 80-90% HR work was going to go over. It was good. It was on the trainer in the basement of the new house where stuff is all torn up. There is only cinder block walls and concrete floors. Very “Rocky”.

I should mention that I am only doing this to get back into shape and lose some weight. I won’t be doing any racing. I might do some group rides, but mostly I can’t wait to golf again. So there it is Shim, no need to suggest McRibs. I won’t be doing the Masters 45 races. You’re safe.

Anyway – the hard workout was very enjoyable. There was even a pool of perspiration under the bike when I finished. Haven’t seen that in a while. The thing that is the hardest (as I mentioned before) is avoiding the temptation to do too much. My program now has me waiting until Saturday to ride again.

But that’s cool. I can watch the big football game/commercials tonight, I guess. But I’d rather be riding. Probably a good sign.

28.5

Master of Science in Computer Science

So far, my cumulative GPA for the master's program is 4.0 -- And by cumulative, I mean, after 1 course. I can only go down from here.

I've had worse (I saw Jarrett while biking yesterday) part 1 of 14

I expected my biking outside for the first time in several months to be a horrible experience. And while I was surprised at how quickly my legs became tired, I remembered once again that I really enjoy biking. -- Hang on, Bowie's "I'm afraid of Americans" just came on. I have to "disco out" for a second. Ok there.

Anyway, I was spinning down the trail, into the wind, on the cross bike. Nice easy, "I can go forever at this speed" pace. Like around 140 bpm or so. Not a care in the world (other than the ruts in the big sheets of ice). The nice thing about the trail is that since it's flat, my excess weight is no problem. My plan was to get about an hour in. I have never been guilty of overtraining. Since I'm just starting, I don't have to do much. That's the beauty of it. I was going into the wind so I figured I'd turn around at 35 minutes.

Then 35 minutes happened. The moment I'd been waiting for for about 35 minutes. My ears were cold (I don't have an amazing body like Bryan). I kept going not because I thought "I need the miles". On the contrary - I don't want or need to do too much too soon. I just lacked the discipline to turn around when I was supposed to. I was enjoying the feeling so much that I just wanted a little more.

I turned around at about 50 minutes - then it got fun. Tailwind all the way home.

I think I really really needed to get away from the bike for a while. I haven't enjoyed a ride like that since 2000 when I added cycling as the cardio part of a weight training program - then immediately abandoned weight training.

Oh yeah - and I saw Jarrett.

I think I'll go for a bike ride.

well, with over 13% of my body weight to lose, I guess I'd better get started. It is a new year after all. Judging from the forecast, this might be the best day for it. So after I get home and squeeze into my poor old cycling clothes, I'll probably hit the road for about 1.5 hours or so. That should suck pretty bad. I'll let you know. Yeah you.

Thanks for reading, Shim.