And the ride goes on...

Okay, so I've been crazy busy with work lately and my fitness has taken a side turn. Or no turn. Or a ran into mountain full force and stopped. Yeah, whatever. :-)

I've actually gone riding twice in the last week though so things are looking up. Last Sunday (the 5th) I headed out on a ride with Michelle, Becky and Jeff. We ended up doing 28.8 miles around Hillsboro and Forest Grove. It was a completely gorgeous day and a great ride. Of course having not ridden in so long, my back got jacked up and I was on vicodin for 2 days. But the past is the past. :-)

Saturday I decided to head back out for an easy 11 miles along Springwater Corridor. It was a cooler day with a few sprinkles but pretty nice all around. It was a good ride.

While I have decided not to complete a TNT event this year, I did sign up to complete a metric century with Tour de Cure. My company is sponsoring the riders so it should be pretty fun.

If anyone is interested in donating to a fantastic cause check out my page here:

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/pdxmichele

So much for 25...

I really did want to get a longer ride in today but the wind was blowing pretty good! I decided to skip Sauvie Island and just take Springwater from my house out and back. I knew the wind was bad so I told myself - just ride for an hour. That's all.

I started out the trail and instantly knew it wasn't going to be easy. So I shifted into an easy gear, hunkered down and just rode. It was nice and sunny but the wind was blasting into me from the side and front. I actually thought I was going to flop over at one point. I was moving pretty slow I decided to ride out for 45 minutes then turn around and come back. I hit the Powell Butte Flood Restoration area right at 45 minutes. Stopped to take in a little sunshine then headed back. After riding at about 9 mph on the way out, my 18mph on the way back was fantastic! In total I rode for 70 minutes and 13.7 miles. Not as far as I had wanted but I least I rode.

Worst Day of the Year

Last Sunday was the 8th Annual Worst Day of the Ride. It's held on or near the historically worst weather day of the year in Portland. The ride is filled with costumes and revelry. This was my first year. I had intended to costume up but didn't actually look for the wig I was hoping to wear until the night before. I had apparently lost it sometime in the past few months so I ended up not wearing a costume at all and felt weird! Next year it's definitely a costume. The ride was 18 miles starting at the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne and it circles around through the Pearl, up through NE and back to the Lab. It was a great route, lots of fun people and a good time.









I've decided to add a couple metric centuries to my schedule. I'm not sure if I'll be ready for the Monster Cookie Metric on April 26 but I'm going to try. If I don't feel ready for it when it rolls around, I'm not going to sweat it. The other one I'm thinking of is the Tour de Cure in July but I have some college friends come up to visit during the month so depending on the weekend we are planning a reunion I may not be able to make it. In any case, I'm getting my fat butt back in the saddle and it feels good.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking advantage of the nice weather and want do about 25 miles. I'm thinking Sauvie Island. I'll let you know how it goes.

Laziness

Okay, so my big plan for revamping is going much slower than I intended (perhaps even backwards). I seem to be lacking some inner motivation to complete the things I really want. I know I want them but I can't make myself do them. I want to get back to working out 5-6 days a week. I want to be riding to working 2-3 days a week. I want, I want, I want. I just can't seem to do. My usual excuse is it's cold, rainy, I feel like I'm getting sick. I have to just snap out of it. I made a small bit of progress yesterday.

Yesterday was a gorgeous. Sunny, a little breezy, a gorgeous February day. I went on a 2 mile walk with mom in the morning. I rode my bike to my hair appt (8 miles round trip). Yes, this is the first time I've ridden outside since November 29th. It was more painful than I'd like to admit. I've used my trainer a couple times but it's not the same. After my appt, I washed my Rav4 and mom's truck.

This isn't much compared to where I was 6 months ago but it's a step back in the right direction and I'm pleased.

I've also come to realize that I need a new mattress. Every morning I wake up hurting, stiff, sore. Considering I have been doing nothing, it's not right. I bought my mattress less than 3 years ago and I LOVED it when I first had it. It's a rather expensive futon style mattress which now has a giant canyon in the middle that my cat loves. So now I must hunt. The best mattress I have ever slept on was at the Marriott in Arlington. Wow - I could lay in that all day. With a $1300 price tag, I probably would! I am hoping once I find the right mattress, it will help in my motivation to wake up early for workouts.

Revamping

A new year is here and I thought it would be a good time to revamp this blog as well as myself. Since the century, I haven't been cycling nearly as much as I would like. Some of that was due to a short recovery time, a bout with sickness and sheer laziness. I've been on a couple short rides and one 25 miler but that's it. My butt and waist are showing it too.

I'm joining a girls riding group that my TNT coach is organizing. We'll be going out once a month for a 30-40 mile ride so I really need to get back to weekly riding and more.

In addition, I'm re-focusing on my health and starting to eat better and exercise more. I need to. We won't discuss how much weight I've gained back since starting my new desk job in April 2007. Even training for a marathon and then a century didn't help.

So follow along as I revamp my health and exercise routine. Today I intend to pull out my trainer and get at least 30 minutes in (something about buckets of rain and wind gusts of 30-45 mph is keeping me from heading out doors).