I haven't used my bicycle to get to and from the train station for my commute in months. I use the bus and work shuttle instead. It's only 12 miles a day, in four chunks. I know lots of folks here who are still biking, and A is still biking in Chicago for crying out loud. Still, I haven't made any effort to get back on the bike.
Then this morning I read How to be hard as nails, and #1 on the list is "Train outdoors in all weathers. Rain, wind, snow, hail. Train when other people just stay in bed." And here I am letting a little thing like 50 degree weather keep me in the warm bus and off the bike.
Time to buy some cold weather biking gear.
7 comments:
I like #1, but some of the other tips are borderline insane. One can be hard as nails and not completely destroy her body. Good luck cold-weather biking! I suggest full-fingered gloves and a wind jacket as starters. They make these cool skull caps too to keep your head toasty.
It depends on how hard you are pushing. If it's freezing or above, I find myself sweating when I arrive at work -- so I wear the same clothes as if it were 90 degrees. But then again, I push myself by imagining I am riding in a race with target sprint points; and the first two miles are a little chilly for my arms. Once it drops below freezing, I start layering. So, pushing yourself when you ride may keep you warm enough.
I've heard about the training until you throw up - it really only works for intervals and should not be done with distance/endurance training. And you can only do it sporadically. The point of it is to break through a glass ceiling in your training. The simplest way I've found is to swim all out with a few "rest laps." Pros swear by the technique to gain strength; I say we noncompetitive folk can achieve the same in a few months of increased resistance training.
Hello! Thanks for technorati-ing me. I'm glad that post inspired you to get out there on the bike!
I'm also proud to be spoken of as "borderline insane"! I've actually done everything on the list except swimming in the sea in December - and my body seems to be holding up well ;-)
Still, I live in the UK and our weather is not as extreme as yours in Chicago, so extra props to you!
Cheers,
gubernatrix
...or should that be California?
Andre is in Chicago, but Speedy and I are in California. So he's super hard core cold weather biker dude, and Speedy is super hard core chilly biker chick, and I'm wimpy chilly bus riding chick. :)
hey hol! so i started using physics diet (acanthite) and rediscovered your chart and this blog. i came back from the trip determined to drop 12-15 pounds. the first week i felt progress, and the second week i haven't, but i did get to see the value of the moving average :)
and i've actually starting wanting exercise, crazy!
-roopa
"i've actually starting wanting exercise, crazy!"
That's awesome Roopa! That will go a long way towards helping you reach your goal of changing your body composition. The conventional wisdom is that it takes 6 weeks for exercise to become a real habit, so you are almost halfway there. :)
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