<p>Good that it’s resolving, iDad. Deb- enjoy the weather!</p>
<p>We went on a group bike ride on heavy bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a couple of tough climbs, and crossing the bridge with all the walkers and other bikes was scary. I didn’t fall, and we had great wine, beer and cheese in Sausalito. </p>
<p>Nrdsb4, been away for a few days and just saw your posts about your continuing cycling outings. You’re doing great! Everyone has to start somewhere and the fact that you’re on the bike is what counts. I noted your comments about hills. One of the most effective ways to improve your cycling, other than plain old saddle time, is to learn the relationship between your gears and cadence (revolutions per minute of one side of your pedals). A common misconception is that the gears on a bike are there to enable a rider to go slower or faster in speed over the road or trail. The real purpose of gears is to enable you to maintain a consistent, smooth cadence regardless of the topography. The idea is to shift gears as the topography changes to enable you to maintain your leg speed in a comfortable and efficient zone. As you become a stronger more efficient cyclist, you will become able to maintain that cadence in a bigger gear on a given terrain and as a result will be able to go faster.</p>
<p>What cadence range is appropriate varies from individual to individual and is influenced by neuro-muscular factors, anatomy, bio-mechanics, conditioning and experience. The general concept is to develop a smooth “spinning” pedal stroke, pushing down on the downstroke and pulling up at the bottom like you are scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe, in what becomes a circular motion. You want to avoid “mashing” a "hard gear or spinning too easy a gear like a hamster on a wheel :). Try to find a comfortable zone for you somewhere between 85-100 rpm to start with and over time you will find the right band that works for you. For me, it’s in the 95-105 range. The benefit of this is that your legs will get stronger faster, will develop muscular endurance, and you will become a more efficient cyclist. And as that occurs, your comfortable spinning zone will adjust until you find your sweet spot that you stick with.</p>
<p>So how does this apply to the dreaded hills? Use the full range of your gears to keep your legs in your target cadence zone as much as possible. There will always be some hills where you can’t do that (unless you are an elite level world class cyclist 
) but the more you work on “spinning” up hills, the stronger you will become. Over time, you may find that you have a spinning zone for hills that is different than that for flats due to differences in muscle engagement. The important thing at this point is not to “mash” your way up the hills because you are not fully using your gears.</p>
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<p>Amen. The back spasms are kind of “normal”. I get those once or twice a year with no definable cause and nothing required but rest and the passage of time. The hip pain at the same time was a new wrinkle and more of an impediment. I guess if this is the worst I have to deal with, I really can’t complain.</p>
<p>Bike ride over the Golden Gate sounds fabulous!</p>
<p>“Bike ride over the Golden Gate sounds fabulous!”</p>
<p>Amen! I bet it would be even more fabulous if the crowds were a bit smaller. 
I wish I were in SF… </p>
<p>sabaray - I just noticed that you were the originator of this thread almost five years ago - that’s awesome how you’ve stuck with the program and succeeded! I am impressed (and encouraged).</p>
<p>You said that you have cut way back on breads and sugars - are there any foods that you have found especially helpful? I find that I am re-evaluating just about everything I eat and it’s not always clear to me what is helping and what is not. For example, the past few weeks I have been eating a fair amount of cottage cheese, sort of as a substitute for cereal. Better than cereal, no doubt, but maybe still too many carbs. </p>
<p>Mathilda, do you use any sort of food logging program like My Plate or My Fitness Pal??? Paying attention to your foods and your portion sizes and logging it is REALLY eye opening. I eat up to 1/2 c cottage cheese with fresh fruit a couple days a week for breakfast - lately the fruit is a small or a half a large peach!</p>
<p>Replacing cereal with cottage cheese is a great move, as long as you don’t add sugar or honey to it. A handful of berries or a cut up peach or pear is a much better way to add sweetness. </p>
<p>I’m very good at mental math, so I do not do active calorie tracking, but I wholeheartedly agree that tracking is extremely helpful to pinpoint the empty calorie culprits! Also, for sticking to the goal. :)</p>
<p>Congrats to Sabaray … You must feel lean and mean.</p>
<p>I am several weeks into my hip injury and think I am on the final stages of healing. I gave up on any hope for a half marathon this year and will rejoice when I can just do a 5K again. My PT appointment today promoted me to walk/jogging, but for no more than 2 -3 miles. I am annoyed, but resigned that I just have to rebuild my base in time for cross country ski season. </p>
<p>One good thing about all these PT exercises is that my 50-year-old butt seems tighter. :)</p>
<p>snowflake:</p>
<p>I hear ya. I’ve only been out of commission for a little over a week, but it really starts to be annoying. I don’t know how MOWC handled six weeks on crutches without going stark raving mad.</p>
<p>I was really annoyed when I quickly discovered that I couldn’t even do any of my hip warm up exercises because of my painful hip… That pretty much left me with nothin’.</p>
<p>Only 4 weeks on crutches this time. It was 6 weeks twice in 2007 and it was awful. Snowflake- hang in there.</p>
<p>I can live without exercising to get in shape for a while, but wow I start to feel like a fossilized slug after three or four days of nothing. Being able to go out for a walk made a big difference. </p>
<p>Hoping to be able to do a basement workout tomorrow, even if I have to skip anything that gives me a twinge. We’ll see.</p>
<p>I third-fourth-fifth couch to 5K. I did it 2 years ago and have run ten 5Ks. I haven’t been running and need to start back up, but I will use couch to 5K to give me the structure. </p>
<p>IDad and Snowflake, I hope you both are feeling better each day. Hip and lower back injuries are so frustrating. They impact on everything we do! I have a chronic lumbar-sacral joint issue and have to work hard to brace my core whenever I’m lifting or doing mobility based exercises.the only time it doesn’t bother me is when I’m on my bike.</p>
<p>MathildaMae, I can empathize with your scheduling dilemma. My work schedule can also frequently disrupt my exercise plans. I have found it helpful not to schedule fixed off days because, as you note, work can then force an unexpected additional day off. Instead, what I do is to define my ideal number of days working out and also set a minimum of how many days of consecutive exercise I will do before I consider taking a voluntary day off. For me my ideal is 6 days a week and my minimum is 4 before taking a day off by choice. I then set a fixed schedule for my workouts with resistance training and cardio on alternating days. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are for resistance training and Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays are for cardio. As I go through each week, I don’t take a day off by choice until I’ve hit 4 consecutive days of exercising. I then try to evaluate what the rest of my week is like and decide whether to take a day or or keep going. If work disrupts my cycle, the next day I pick up with wherever I would normally be. I also use Saturdays as a flex “backfill” day if needed and may switch it to resistance training or sometimes do a double. That way, regardless of the vagaries of my work schedule I have a pretty good chance of getting in 2 days of resistance training and 3 of cardio per week and whether by choice or forced by work, also get a least one day a week off. These are my minimum workout/rest goals. Once that’s hit, I can decide whether to use the sixth day for a 3rd resistance day, 4th cardio or as a second rest day. It keeps things a bit fluid - and convoluted but seems to work for me.</p>
<p>Mathilda, you’ll get some good advice from some really knowledgeable folks here. I might have started the thread, but I’ve struggled along the way. I lost weight, regained weight, and finally in December 2012 decided I wasn’t going to do this for the rest of my life. I wanted to lose a bit more weight as I’m preparing to run my first marathon in mid-November and don’t want to carry any more weight than I have to. I think I’m as low as I’m going to get because I know I need to eat properly to train and recover - not always compatible with weight loss. </p>
<p>Biggest change I’ve made? I haven’t eaten at a fast food restaurant since 12/12. If it’s somewhere that has a drive-through window, I don’t eat there. That helped a lot. I also use MyFitnessPal - very handy for tracking intake. I found exercise that I like - running. You have to enjoy what you’re doing or you won’t stick with it. </p>
<p>Eat real food. I like Michael Pollan - he has a book of simple rules that I try to follow. It’s a small paperback that’s worth a read - <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Food-Rules-An-Eaters-Manual/dp/014311638X”>http://www.amazon.com/Food-Rules-An-Eaters-Manual/dp/014311638X</a> - highly recommend it. </p>
<p>My diet has a tendency to get a bit monotonous - simply because I identify foods I can eat regularly and stick with them. Read labels - you might be surprised at how much sugar is in some items. A little tip - don’t avoid fat. Low fat foods often have large amount of sugar added to make them palatable. </p>
<p>We all have different ways of doing things - I know you’ll get good advice here though. No fads, no soup diets, no wheat belly - you won’t find that here. We like to focus on the science behind eating and exercise! </p>
<p>Speaking of food, I had a very interesting consultation with a certified sports nutritionist on Thursday. Reviewed a couple of weeks of my food log and my fitness goals. Talked about how none of the cereals out there, regardless of how touted they are to be “healthy”, are really anything but processed nutrient deficient wastes of calories. Same deal with breads although the nutritionist believes that an exception can be made for Ezekiel bread. Talked about the importance of protein and fat to feel satiated, build muscle and maintain metabolic functioning. Talked about the sources of good carbohydrates (low glycemic). Talked about the differences in the fats from organic grass fed beef and dairy products and that which is not, and that “low fat” doesn’t mean “healthy”. For my level of activity, she still recommended 40–50% of my calories from carbs, which is not “low carb”, but with proper sourcing from vegetables, fruits, sweet potatoes and beans. The coolest thing was when discussing my body composition goals, she offered to do ultra-sound testing which, outside of a university performance lab with water tank testing and the like, is probably the most accurate testing available. Just may take her up on that. Overall, it was a well spent 90 minutes.</p>
<p>Before I became a cripple :), I also used MKat’s technique of alternating days – strength training and conditioning/cadio type stuff. I find that alternating allows me to exercise on back to back days. The resistance workouts are longer, but not super intense (i.e a bit slower paced). The conditioning workouts are either short and intense (20 minutes) or longer, but relaxing (hiking). I go a max of 6 days in a row. Then, a day off. I almost never take two days off in a row except after a long hike or multiple days of hiking. I find that I typically need a couple days of recovery.</p>
<p>After a week off (except for walking a bit) I went to vinyasa yoga today and it felt great to be back. I felt like a total slug all week. Felt so good after that I stayed for the next yoga class–which was Yin yoga (not as active–mostly holding poses for 3-4 minutes.</p>
<p>Congrats on your weight/fat loss, Sabaray! Love it that you biked across the Golden Gate bridge, MOWC. </p>
<p>Did my 8 mile run. Started at 5:30 and went down to ballpark to the Willie Mays statue and then back the other way to Fisherman’s Wharf and back to Market Street and up it. Garmin still acted up on Market Street. The Bay Bridge is just gorgeous lit up in the dark. I didn’t have the time or patience to do this low heart rate, sonI defaulted to just plain slow!</p>
<p>My new bone doc ( who I love) said 3 diet colas a week is not a problem. Whew! Some of the stuff you read seems to say if you take a sip you will crumble!</p>
<p>Thanks again for the rest-day thoughts. I think some rules like “a rest day after four days” and “no more than one rest day in a row” will work better than trying to specify particular days in advance.</p>
<p>As for food, I have been using MyFitnessPal although I need to get stricter with myself. I have the program on my ipad and have been entering food at either the beginning or end of the day – I probably should take the ipad with me or maybe put the program on my phone? Also I probably need a food scale – not sure their idea of a “medium sweet potato” is the same as mine.</p>
<p>One of my goals for this weekend is to clean out the kitchen - I realized that much of my kitchen gear is not helpful now - large pots for cooking pasta, casserole dishes, cake pans, etc. I think I will keep the cupcake pans because I would like to try cooking egg muffins, but a lot of the baking stuff is going to Goodwill. </p>
<p>Yippee. Zero hip pain or discomfort today. Just a little twinge in the back. But, not enough to stop me from schlepping all the heavy camping gear up from the basement to the trunk of the car. Spectacular fall weather across New England forecast for next week and I’ve got a campsite reservation. They are staining my back deck and I won’t be able to walk on it for four days, so I darn sure wanted to get loaded so I don’t have to carry tents, and stoves, and grills, and a full car load of stuff around from the front door. Yikes!</p>
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<p>My workout today is cooking. I’m back from the store with a couple of $4.99 lb lobsters that I’m about to steam. Then, I’ll chill the cooked lobster for [Bobby</a> Flay’s Lobster Avocado Cocktail](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/lobster-avocado-cocktail-recipe.html]Bobby”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/lobster-avocado-cocktail-recipe.html) I’m jazzing it up with a little fresh tomatillo and doing a jumbo main course size.</p>
<p>I had it at his Bar Americain restaurant and it’s in the Bar Americain cookbook with a sumptuous full page color photo. Mine may not end up looking quite that pretty, but I bet it will be tasty!</p>