Monday Night Ride / Billy-Off 2009 Week 2, Day 1

So, I’m still with the “Belly Off” plan. I was at 177 on Saturday at weigh-in, but I’m not quite sure how much of that was noise, and how much was actual weight loss. But the plan’s working, and I’m starting to like the morning “2 minute drill”. It’s one of those things I always say I ought to do (quick bit of calisthenics right during my morning levee) that I’ve never been able to make stick. We’re 8 days in, which is almost halfway to being a habit.

This evening, I went for a bike ride with a group from the office. There’s a bunch of guys who ride from the office in Newport, and one of my 2010 resolutions is going to be to be on the bike more. I love me some bike.

Anyway, we headed out from the gym at the lab just as the sun set, and cranked north. About 2 miles in, I had a pair of revelations:

  1. I hadn’t ridden in a paceline in roughly 6 or 8 years, and
  2. Man, was it going to be dark.

I got dropped something fierce in the middle of the first climb, but during the winter, this is supposed to be just an “easy” ride. We headed across the island, and down the east side, ending up downtown after about an hour. The other guys had about another 8 or 10 miles to go, but I wanted to see the kids before they went to sleep, so I peeled off, and spun back to the gym.

Plus, I couldn’t feel my toes because I’d forgotten wool socks and don’t have shoe covers (yet).

Pshew. I was beaten. A couple more weeks of this might help with the “Billy-Off”.

Good times.

Billy-Off 2009, Week 1, Day 2

First, a bit of admin – there’s 4 days of Belly-Off each week: M-W-F and a Saturday challenge. So, saying “Day 2” doesn’t mean Tuesday, it means Wednesday.

Anyway. Day 2. Holy crap, I woke up hurting today. Seriously considered taking a pass on the workout. But, then I jiggled my belly and figured out how to make it work.

The Wednesday workout was considerably tougher than the Monday workout – four “SuperSets” instead of three, and the introduction of a couple of stability ball exercises that I pretty much tanked. I managed about 75% of the reps for each set before the form fell apart. I decided to declare success on the manly part of the workout and head outside for intervals.

The run was good – I was tasting lunch again by the beginning of the 4th interval (5 minute warm-up, 6×30 second max effort with 30 seconds recovery, 5 minute cooldown), but managed to keep everything in my tummy through the end. Running intervals is kind of a new experience for me – it’s difficult for me to gauge the effort at which I need to go into the first couple to be recovered by the end of the recovery period. Which I suppose is partly the point.

But, MAN, could I feel every part of my body by the end. I’m feeling better tonight, but am kind of worried about waking up sore tomorrow. Especially my ab (as there’s currently only one mound of lard there. A pony keg instead of a six pack, if you will). BellyOff seems to be very, very core intensive. Ibuprofen would probably be a good prophylactic; however, I’m gonna see if I can muscle this out.

Tomorrow’s just the 2 minute drill in the AM. Though I’ll probably try to spin on one of the bikes at the office gym during lunch.