late night blogging
Warning: please don't expect me to be 100% coherent at 4 am.
After four weeks of having a stationary bike and riding it most days, I finally sat down and Googled a few exercise terms to find out what kinds of cardio workouts there are and which ones I think would be best for me, how often I should do them, and all that.
(The bike has an odometer to keep track of how many "miles" it's been ridden. I hit 75 miles tonight. 75 miles in less than a month; I am a boss. And then I Googled how many calories in a pound and in an ounce, and according to the bike's calorie counter, I lost a single ounce. That brought me back from any grandiose sense of pride.)
My goal tonight was to maintain a speed of 10-11 mph in sixth gear (the bike has eight settings, with eight being the most difficult), and I probably managed it about half the time. The bike has pulse sensors in the handles, so if I grip it steadily for a full minute, I can get an idea of my pulse rate.
(I hate weight loss talk, even though taking up less space -- and fitting into some old clothes -- is one of my goals. I weighed myself a few days ago, and I'd lost nine pounds in those four weeks. It's hard not to focus on that number when my dad is here and weighing himself daily and telling me I've gained 900 pounds since COVID made isolation necessary. I prefer to focus on how I feel, how my clothes fit, and what my body can do. Not measuring gravity's pull on me.)
My problem is that I get out of breath well before my leg muscles get tired. Even when I do high intensity interval training (HIIT), I wobble a bit after getting off the bike, but my limp lungs limit my workouts, not feeling the burn. Once I realized this, I made increasing my aerobic capacity another goal. HIIT is one way to get it, but it can be risky for someone as out of shape as I am to jump in, especially someone well into middle age. I'm not in my twenties -- or even thirties -- any more! So something workout experts call LISS (low intensity steady state) is what I will be doing for the next several weeks, at least. I'm keeping track of some statistics from each ride and will be able to measure my improvement over time.
My city's bike share program reopened last week. I'm super-excited to get back on a real bike, but I'm hesitant. The seats use clamps to stay at the necessary height, and I'm heavy enough that the seat slips eventually. (Another reason weight loss has to be one of my goals.)
So that's where things are right now. One of the other reasons I'm not ready to ride a real bike is that a bike ride works my arms and back at least as much as it works my legs. So I need to work on my upper body strength for a while before I go back to riding a city bike. I've saved a few dozen workout videos at YouTube, so I need to do those on top of my near-daily stationary bike rides.
(I would say I'm posting here to make myself accountable, but no one reads this blog anyway. It's just me shouting into the void. Good night.)
P.S. Book talk!
Mom needed a few things, so I sneaked a book order into an Amazon parcel. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis is my favorite book I've read so far this year, and I grinned like a lunatic when I put the hardcover on my bookcase.
N. K. Jemisin's How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is still in progress. I'm savoring each story. There are a couple of them that left me feeling like I don't get it, but other than that, I am really, really enjoying those stories. I will definitely get a copy for myself at some point.
After four weeks of having a stationary bike and riding it most days, I finally sat down and Googled a few exercise terms to find out what kinds of cardio workouts there are and which ones I think would be best for me, how often I should do them, and all that.
(The bike has an odometer to keep track of how many "miles" it's been ridden. I hit 75 miles tonight. 75 miles in less than a month; I am a boss. And then I Googled how many calories in a pound and in an ounce, and according to the bike's calorie counter, I lost a single ounce. That brought me back from any grandiose sense of pride.)
My goal tonight was to maintain a speed of 10-11 mph in sixth gear (the bike has eight settings, with eight being the most difficult), and I probably managed it about half the time. The bike has pulse sensors in the handles, so if I grip it steadily for a full minute, I can get an idea of my pulse rate.
(I hate weight loss talk, even though taking up less space -- and fitting into some old clothes -- is one of my goals. I weighed myself a few days ago, and I'd lost nine pounds in those four weeks. It's hard not to focus on that number when my dad is here and weighing himself daily and telling me I've gained 900 pounds since COVID made isolation necessary. I prefer to focus on how I feel, how my clothes fit, and what my body can do. Not measuring gravity's pull on me.)
My problem is that I get out of breath well before my leg muscles get tired. Even when I do high intensity interval training (HIIT), I wobble a bit after getting off the bike, but my limp lungs limit my workouts, not feeling the burn. Once I realized this, I made increasing my aerobic capacity another goal. HIIT is one way to get it, but it can be risky for someone as out of shape as I am to jump in, especially someone well into middle age. I'm not in my twenties -- or even thirties -- any more! So something workout experts call LISS (low intensity steady state) is what I will be doing for the next several weeks, at least. I'm keeping track of some statistics from each ride and will be able to measure my improvement over time.
My city's bike share program reopened last week. I'm super-excited to get back on a real bike, but I'm hesitant. The seats use clamps to stay at the necessary height, and I'm heavy enough that the seat slips eventually. (Another reason weight loss has to be one of my goals.)
So that's where things are right now. One of the other reasons I'm not ready to ride a real bike is that a bike ride works my arms and back at least as much as it works my legs. So I need to work on my upper body strength for a while before I go back to riding a city bike. I've saved a few dozen workout videos at YouTube, so I need to do those on top of my near-daily stationary bike rides.
(I would say I'm posting here to make myself accountable, but no one reads this blog anyway. It's just me shouting into the void. Good night.)
P.S. Book talk!
Mom needed a few things, so I sneaked a book order into an Amazon parcel. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis is my favorite book I've read so far this year, and I grinned like a lunatic when I put the hardcover on my bookcase.
N. K. Jemisin's How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is still in progress. I'm savoring each story. There are a couple of them that left me feeling like I don't get it, but other than that, I am really, really enjoying those stories. I will definitely get a copy for myself at some point.
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