Another quitting story

I’ve been riding a bike (road and mountain) for some years in the past, I have found at the hard way that developing better skills is not as simple as pedal as hard and long as you can as often as possible…. I started riding a mountain bike by doctor’s recommendation after a kidney stone surgery 6 years ago, I liked it so much that I started to ride almost everyday, of course very light rides, then I went to road biking and loved it to… after some time I started to see improvements in my body resistance and started to leave the leaders behind (not professionals, just a pack of friends) we made some 30-40 miles rides occasionally and everything seems to be perfect, I thought I was ready for the tour de France….Than I switch jobs and had a co-worker that is an actual thri-athlete, in the first ride with him I came back to earth, after the first half mile I never saw him again until he was coming back. After some advices from him I discovered the heart rate monitor, the 5 zones and the meaning of them. I got the most simple polar Heart rate monitor and started to follow a very simple program where I started to ride at 90 RPM at different levels of the heart zones, I was very discipline during a couple of months, that year I won a bet to a friend (he was self claimed the king of spinning) as he won some resistance contest at his gym (like 3 hours marathon of spinning class), that year we ran the Rosarito Ensenada 50 mile race, I got 32 minutes earlier than him to the finish line (Apr 2005). This is the last ride I can remember, after that I started to get lazy and gain some pounds, I fall into a depression lapse without any apparently reason, I started at different gyms weight lifting, spinning, boxing, yoga and so on, I never last more than 2 days or classes…. during this last year nothing seems to be motivational enough to continue. I received a visit from a friend a month ago, we used to play in a rock band some years ago, we went over some old pictures where I was 185 lbs and 31 inches waist without any exercising at all (age 20-25), then I said ^%@#$% I need to do something before I suffer a heart attack or something. I am 35 and I was 274 lbs 2 weeks ago and 40 inch waist, I went to see a nutrition doctor and after 2 weeks now I am 266 still 40 inches at waist but feeling much better, according to her, I need to get to 190-195, now I’m determined on not quitting the nutrition program and never go back to junk food and potato couching again, I started Yoga and is helping in keep the momentum to continue, but of course where I feel great is into cycling, I took out my Yety Mountain and Cannondale Road bikes, I got some new apparel, helmet and garmin 301 heart rate monitor with GPS as I want to explore the Sonora-Arizona mountains and back trails, my goal is to ride 40-70 miles by the 3rd quarter of 2007 and of course some more weight off my body. I need some help on finding a training program that shows you how to train using the heart rate zones, I know it can be developed by myself but I definitely will feel more confident if this is a tested program, or if some of you expertise guys can advise on a weekly training program I’ll really appreciate it (one hour during weekdays 2 hours on weekends), specifically to loose weight as a beginner, endurance will come much later…. I have learned to have patience…. Thanks for your patience and comprehension, I hope I haven’t bored you with my silly story but….I feel better now just by writing it.

 

Good luck, you may find this interesting.


http://bigguycycling.com

 

Jeep Floyd,

This is my first post, but I felt strongly enough about your post that I wanted to help. I have been a recreational cyclist for some time and decided to add a structured training plan this year. For the past couple of months, I have been using the Cycling Training Plan built for PC Coach to organize my workouts (http://www.pccoach.com/products/software/plan_cycl.htm). During this time, I have also been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding training for cycling. There are many different opinions on training, but I think everyone agree that you need to make it a part of your routine. PC Coach has helped me a lot, but something else might work better for you. Anyway, it is a relatively easy program to apply and understand and it might be a good way to start. Good luck!

 

Hi Jeep,

Glad to hear you might the right decision to get back on you bike and get back in shape.

You might consider investing in (a) a power meter (e.g. the PowerTap SL works well for me), (b) Cycling Peaks WKO+ software and (c) the Training with Power book by Hunter Allen and Andy Coggan and use these to train instead of your heart rate meter. Check out the power forum in these forums. Having a coach would also be good but using the book and the software you can probably coach yourself well enough for your needs. Using the power meter you can get all sorts of interesting data from your workouts and then the software will analyze everything. Especially interesting is the performance manager chart that helps you know how hard you can train without overdoing it. (You can read more about this feature at the cycling peaks web site – it’s not covered in the book as it is very new). If you under-train you will not improve, over-train and you will get sick (e.g. catch a cold).
While power meter technology is being used to help many people win races I am sure it can also help people lose fat. I think the data feedback will provide you with useful motivation to help you stay on the right track.

Whatever way you choose to train (using heart rate or power) I hope you will report back to the forum on your progress. I am sure there are others who will be motivated by your success. Good luck.

JB.

 

Beyond the frequency and intensity of your rides, I came to realize that what and how you eat is probably more important. Either on your own or with a dietician you need to look at what you eat in a given day. I found that in the beginning, that living with a simple philosophy of leaving the table a bit hungry went a long way in helping me lose and maintain a ~25 lb weight loss since the summer of 2005 (current weight 152 lbs). No question when your mood is down, it is so easy to eat too much of the wrong stuff. I found I was too often eating snacks or desserts at work and coming home eating left overs off my kids plates (e.g. chicken nuggets) and then eating a full dinner late in the evening. Eliminating all of that, without following a diet per se, was enough to deal with the problem. Once I added the increased cycling the last year, I found that I could throw in the odd treat just to maintain the weight. Now that I am where I want to be, I bought a new bike last summer ... I am riding and climbing better, and now I want to get a power meter ...

 

Thanks to all you guys, I'll take a little bit of each and make my desicions... so far still in the mood to ride, ride and ride.... just waiting to warm up a little....