First Back to Back Pedal In

I pedaled in yesterday. I pedaled in today. That’s another first.

The pedal home yesterday was uneventful aside from the sweat dripping itchy-ly down my scalp and stinging-ly into my eye (and the pedals squeaking! They squeaked this mornign too! AFTER I used the teflon dry lube I had purchased!!)). Ugghhhhh so far I prefer the 36 degree, low humidity weather over 60 & 98% humidity or pedaling!! My face & scalp perspire profusely. Ladies may ‘glow’… I was simply bright pink & dripping. I had a bit of a headache going home.. I think it was due to dehydration (I didn’t drink enough water over the weekend...& had a bit of sangria) Even though I drank 64 OZ(2 bottles full) plus a couple of hot teas, during the day… it wasn’t enough o catch up from the weekend. Over the weekend, my sniffer seemed sensitive subsequently I was repulsed by the scent of chlorine in the water.

I did a few chores, had an apple, gorgonzola& pine nut wheat pizza for dinner (the salad stuff was a bit too ripe... (How I Miss Ignacio and his dear green mug!)) Since I didn’t feel too tired (legs) I actually walked 1.5 miles. I should be walk/running since I have my first 5K on Feb 24th but I didn’t want to be too tired to manage the ride in this morning as I knew the wind was going to be against me.

According to wunderground the wind will be against me both ways today! Pedaling in it was a moist & slimy 62 degrees w/ 99% humidity and a steady breeze around 13 mph SSW. Going home, it’s supposed to be 70 degrees w/ 15% humidity and wind at 26-(36gusts) mph NNW. I’ll appreciate the reduced humidity even if it will be a struggle the entire way home against the wind! ( update.. I may cave & accept an offerred ride. when the wind was 13 mph , I was thinking I could handle that I still be able to pedal to work tomorrow... BUT I am afraid that if I expend all the struggle to make headway against winds at 26 mph with gusts up 36 against me... I will be so exhausted I will be unable to pedla to work tomorrow.. and it may be better to accept the offerred ride, go home & do a little walk/run as a pedal subsitute. The choice is between disspaointing myself regardin completing my first full back to back days.. and conserving the effort so I can continue pedaling the rest of the week.)One thing good, I slept with windows open & Mollie was out chasing leaves. There’s a saying down here that goes like this: “If you don’t like the weather, wait a few hours, it’ll change, This IS Texas.” Obligingly the temp tomorrow morning will hover around 33 when I’ll be starting out.

Now to the important stuff. At the end of this week, it will be 1 month since I started bike commuting the 8 miles to & from work I have decided that as much as I dislike biking in humid conditions… I can and will sustain the commuter biking. I have added the challenge of completing a 5 K. Out of curiosity I started keeping track of my food intake. (& noted that I eat too much cheese, creamy things, chocolate& generally don’t manage my portion sizes, especially for dinner. I eat dinner too late & am overly hungry so I eat too fast! I need to increase veggies. I am so-so for fruit & am doing well with the variety of whole grains.) So here goes

I refuse to utilize the term DIET.
It’s only a 4 letter word, yet is drowning in implicit negativity. However in addition to increasing my awareness of what/why I am eating something, further modification is needed if I am to rid myself of the less alluring half of me. As easy as a prepackaged plan might be, I am not up to the expense of one. I am not keen on diet pills either. Any ideas here? For the past 3 weeks, when eating something sweet. I have been trying the ‘3 bites rule’. I am considering setting myself a more controlled menu during the week, then allowing myself reasonable indulgence on the weekend (or maybe just 1 day of the weekend). But is this like allowing the alcoholic to drink only on Saturdays? Does it work better to allow access during the week to chocolate by keeping 1-2 dak chocolate individual sized squares available? What about my daily 1 cuppa tea in the morning? I have an earl grey with 2 tsp sugar & real cream? ( I can’t stand the idea of the chemical fake stuff! I use stevia for other things… I could substitute this for the sugar.. My largest daily issue is dinner. How bad would it be if I started to purchase frozen dinners? (For quicker mealtimes) Any brand you can recommend as being tastier/healthier? Ones I should avoid? (I prefer organic but don’t have to have that. I have a strong preference for whole grain!) What about those shakes/canned liquid meal replacements? I have never really attempted any of those… I think I would feel unsatisfied.. yet obviously I I have been over satiating my taste buds to the point of numbness… so perhaps a little discomfort is part of the purging? What about initiating anything with a fast? I normally do a 24 hour water fast once per month (usually on a quiet day over the weekend). I am not sure about fasting while biking 16 miles or walk/running (prep for the 5K) or any other daily exercise… I need to begin sneaking around my efficient metabolism... and or really kick starting it out of super-saver mode.

All the commenter’s are providing me the great resource of their encouragement. I have begun to explore other individual’s blogs. So many amazing people out there in the running or tri universe were once in similar shape to me I can’t help but be aware of hte many admirable folks out there! Thanks for reading & offering your 2 cents! I’ll be interested in the response regarding lifestyle food changes (if we need to use the term diet temporarily.. I suppose we can)!