Well, this about winds up another semester here with a personal trainer, and summer is just around the corner. This is the time of year that it's easiest for me to plan what's coming as we move into the active summer season. My wife just finished a fitness competition program at the YMCA, and she continues to see improvements in her fitness. I think she's finally at the point where she wants to try some running, so we'll train together to get her ready for her first 5K. She's sure she can't do it- and I would bet money she could do it right now if she could believe that she could. I've done so many things that were only about half about the physical conditioning. I'm excited to keep moving forward with her, and I think we'll have a great time in our active life this summer.
This past week, I had a sad time in my life. My dog, Shadow, had been getting old and struggling with getting around a bit for a while now- but she still had energy and was ready to go. Just a bit slower. A few weeks ago, she went downhill and started having seizures. These became more often, and we had to say goodbye to her this past week. I knew it would be hard, but I still said to myself, "She's just a dog, and it's time for her to go". I was surprised at how difficult it was for me. That morning, after she was gone, I wasn't sure what to do with myself the rest of the day. I planned to go ahead and go to my scheduled training session, thinking it would do me some good. I felt I needed to go into work for at least a short while to deal with some needs there. Next thing I knew, I found myself thinking about the movie Forrest Gump. Forrest takes off running across America on a whim- trying to make sense of his feelings. I found myself with the urge to have a nice long run alone. I cancelled my trainer at the last minute (sorry), and headed home to do a run. I decided that I wouldn't have a goal for time or distance and would just run as far as felt right. Having occasionally hurt myself a bit by overdoing runs, I decided that I would make a rule to run as easy as I could stand to. That would still let me get into the run, but would be less wear and tear on my body. I chose a route that would give me repeated options to lengthen or shorten the run- lots of places to "turn back" or go on. And off I went.
It was a somewhat cloudy day, as all of them have been lately, but not too cool at the start. I ran. I thought about Shadow. I ran. I remembered what it was like having her around. I ran. I thought about all the changes in my life- and how she was there through them. It started to cool off and the wind started to blow as it got ready to blow in a storm. I ran. Mostly, I managed to go at an easy pace, which is currently hovering around above 10-minute miles.
As I finally decided it was time to close the loop and turn back home, I realized that she wouldn't be waiting there to greet me. Of course, I knew that, but it seemed to make it all real again. After a moment of sadness, I had a picture in my mind of this enthusiastic puppy. Though she had less energy and less ability to jump around like that, she seemed to still be that way. A few days before she died, she was laying on the floor and seemed unable to get the energy to get up. I was trying to move some things around and grabbed her leash as a part of that process. She was still slow, but she dragged herself to her feet, enthusiastic to have the chance to go somewhere with me. The puppy was still there, even if the body wasn't quite willing. That was still her until the end. My mind went on to imagining here now- back to being the puppy she always was, without the limitations that her body had given her for the last few years. I felt joy in that image- and realized I was doing 6-minute miles. I eased up, satisfied that this was going to be OK. In the end, one of the longest runs I've done in about a year- a little over 8 miles. Somehow, the run worked. I'll still feel sad, but I also know it was time and she's free now.
It's interesting that a run seemed like the thing to do, and that it worked. Guess this stuff really is a part of my life now. Shadow was one of many things that brought me here, with her unconditional love and her enthusiasm. I owe her thanks, and I owe her a life well lived. Guess I better get started...
Friday, May 6, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Armband Monitoring
My employer has a strong wellness program for employees including health-related lunchtime lectures, inexpensive fitness classes, health screenings on site, etc. Recently, they started a new program that is a team weight-loss competition. They have tried to structure it to focus on healthy, long-term changes by promoting healthy weight loss through better diet and exercise. They asked me, as someone who took full advantage of this program and lost about 100 lbs, to speak at the kick-off event. It went well, though I was a bit nervous and found that I forgot several things that I wanted to say while telling my story:
Thc BodyMedia company has recently release their latest version, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled version that will sync in real-time using your Bluetooth-enabled Droid or iPhone. I haven't spent the money to replace mine, but I will definitely go that way when I do. With the release of the Bluetooth device, prices dropped a bit, but it's still expensive to do the initial purchase- around $200, without the Display Device.
A couple of quirks / notes if you get one of these. If you use the display device in the wristband strap, be careful that it doesn't fall out of the device. After I lost it a couple of times (and had to spend $80 to replace it), I started using just a dab of silicone seal to make sure it didn't fall out. This is one thing that BodyMedia needs to fix, thought it's possible they have already done that. The other area of weakness that they had problems is in the velcro strap that holds the armband on your arm. The velcro would pull loose from the plastic tab long before the strap itself was worn out. After I had spent over $100 just on replacement straps, I had enough and complained loudly to their customer service. They said it was a known issue that they were working on, and they would send me another strap free. I've done that a couple of times now. In my opinion, these straps should last at least a year.
The big positive here is Customer Service. I've gotten upset at BodyMedia a few times in this process, but once I got a Customer Service rep on the phone, they have always made it right. Just remember my final tip in this area: call them on the phone. I've had less responsive answers from email queries for some reason.
Putting all of these pieces together worked for me. If you decide to make a similar change, consider what will work for you in a similar way. Get solid information, set challenging but achievable goals, and get feedback as often as you can on how you are doing in your progress towards those goals.
- That I had testing of my body fat using the BodPod ( an accurate way to measure body fat % ) fairly early on, which indicated I was above 40% body fat when I started to work . I have had a couple more done along the way, and the last one I had last fall measured my body fat % at 14%.
- My medications have gone from five required prescriptions ( most $50/month co-pay ) to two prescriptions ( generics- a free one and a $5/month one ). And those two are ones that I wouldn't technically have to stay on- based on my research regarding their long-term use by type 2 diabetics, I've decided that it's best to stay on those two for now.
- ... and a few others
- Talking over my decisions with a number of people around me, especially my wife. She's struggled with her weight and was working on the same kinds of changes as I. She had great feedback and information on any particular decision I was trying to make. Talking with someone helps you explore possible answers until you find the right one- even if their answer isn't the one you end up with.
- Having specific, reasonable goals that challenge me and have a set deadline. If I had started with a goal to "eventually lose 100 pounds", I don't think I would have gone terribly far. I did have that general idea in my mind, but I had goals like, "Get my protein intake up above 15% in the next two weeks, while still eating healthy" and "Run the Turkey Trot 5-mile race next Thanksgiving at a pace of 10 minutes / mile or better". These goals had a deadline and a measurable goal that weren't easy but weren't beyond my grasp. These short-term, reasonable goals helped me keep making day-to-day decisions that contributed to the ultimate goal- a healthier body and lifestyle.
- Having great data to help me understand if I am progressing towards my goals right this second. I couldn't believe in things that calculated my calorie burn by, for example, having me say I ran for 20 minutes. How hard was I running? How does it know how hard my particular body had to work to do that? Granted, this could produce and estimate, but it was too easy to be way off through cumulative estimation errors.
Thc BodyMedia company has recently release their latest version, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled version that will sync in real-time using your Bluetooth-enabled Droid or iPhone. I haven't spent the money to replace mine, but I will definitely go that way when I do. With the release of the Bluetooth device, prices dropped a bit, but it's still expensive to do the initial purchase- around $200, without the Display Device.
A couple of quirks / notes if you get one of these. If you use the display device in the wristband strap, be careful that it doesn't fall out of the device. After I lost it a couple of times (and had to spend $80 to replace it), I started using just a dab of silicone seal to make sure it didn't fall out. This is one thing that BodyMedia needs to fix, thought it's possible they have already done that. The other area of weakness that they had problems is in the velcro strap that holds the armband on your arm. The velcro would pull loose from the plastic tab long before the strap itself was worn out. After I had spent over $100 just on replacement straps, I had enough and complained loudly to their customer service. They said it was a known issue that they were working on, and they would send me another strap free. I've done that a couple of times now. In my opinion, these straps should last at least a year.
The big positive here is Customer Service. I've gotten upset at BodyMedia a few times in this process, but once I got a Customer Service rep on the phone, they have always made it right. Just remember my final tip in this area: call them on the phone. I've had less responsive answers from email queries for some reason.
Putting all of these pieces together worked for me. If you decide to make a similar change, consider what will work for you in a similar way. Get solid information, set challenging but achievable goals, and get feedback as often as you can on how you are doing in your progress towards those goals.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Finding time to work out
For years before I even started to work on changing my life, I would say "My health is one of the most important things in my life- if I don't have that, everything else goes away". The problem is, I didn't really act like it, because I would also say, "I don't have time to work out". Let me talk for a minute about a few thoughts from my current perspective about those two statements together.
First, it doesn't just have to be scheduled workouts. I take the stairs instead of the elevator. the time difference is nothing these days, and was very little even when I struggled more with those stairs.When I go to lunch with people from work, those of us taking the stairs ( for three flights, in my case) beat the ones on the elevator every time. For a while, I had decided that if I extended my stair climb of three flights of stairs a bit, I could probably get a significant gain in my daily activity. I generally have at least four trips on the stairs in a day- coming up in the morning, going down and back up for lunch, and down at the end of the day. For a little over a month, I decided that I could manage to travel up the nine flights of stairs to the top of my building every time I took the stairs, then go to my destination. It was slow and hard for a while, but then I got used to it and it wasn't so bad. And all of those extra trips didn't take up enough time in my day to even notice- I had the time to do that. You can always find this kind of time, if you want to.
Secondly- if health is my priority, then exercise has to be a priority. Improving diet is important, but I do believe that exercise is even more important for health. To get the health results I want, I have to have an active life that includes some vigorous exercise. So how can I say I don't have time for a workout? There are 24 hours in a day- if exercise is as important as I say it is, there's something else that I could give up to do it. I can get up a little earlier, eat a little later, something. So, if I'm saying I don't have time to work out, I'm really saying that it's not a priority. Once I understood that, it was much easier to really make the changes that gave me workout time. It was still hard, but I started acting like it was an actual priority.
I still had to listen to my body, and make sure I was getting my sleep and meeting the other obligations in my life. But I found the time, and you can, too. Just think about what you are trying to accomplish, and why. you are trying to do this. Then you can easily act like it's important- because it is.
First, it doesn't just have to be scheduled workouts. I take the stairs instead of the elevator. the time difference is nothing these days, and was very little even when I struggled more with those stairs.When I go to lunch with people from work, those of us taking the stairs ( for three flights, in my case) beat the ones on the elevator every time. For a while, I had decided that if I extended my stair climb of three flights of stairs a bit, I could probably get a significant gain in my daily activity. I generally have at least four trips on the stairs in a day- coming up in the morning, going down and back up for lunch, and down at the end of the day. For a little over a month, I decided that I could manage to travel up the nine flights of stairs to the top of my building every time I took the stairs, then go to my destination. It was slow and hard for a while, but then I got used to it and it wasn't so bad. And all of those extra trips didn't take up enough time in my day to even notice- I had the time to do that. You can always find this kind of time, if you want to.
Secondly- if health is my priority, then exercise has to be a priority. Improving diet is important, but I do believe that exercise is even more important for health. To get the health results I want, I have to have an active life that includes some vigorous exercise. So how can I say I don't have time for a workout? There are 24 hours in a day- if exercise is as important as I say it is, there's something else that I could give up to do it. I can get up a little earlier, eat a little later, something. So, if I'm saying I don't have time to work out, I'm really saying that it's not a priority. Once I understood that, it was much easier to really make the changes that gave me workout time. It was still hard, but I started acting like it was an actual priority.
I still had to listen to my body, and make sure I was getting my sleep and meeting the other obligations in my life. But I found the time, and you can, too. Just think about what you are trying to accomplish, and why. you are trying to do this. Then you can easily act like it's important- because it is.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Starting up the blogging once again
Early on in this journey, I came up with the idea of setting up a blog to post some of my thoughts, discoveries, and ideas that were a part of this trip towards my healthy life. It took me a while to get started, and as you can see, it's been a little bit spotty along the way. Life catches up, work makes demands on my time, and eventually it gets away from me for a while. Despite all of that, I keep coming back to it. I've learned so much along the way that I always have a hard time answering the inevitable question: "How'd you do it?".
I always think that the answer is not too hard, and my initial answer is a short list of ideas:
I've posted some of this information previously, but there's so much more that is useful stuff. I need to document that somewhere, think it through, and share it. So, here we go once again. My goal at this point is to do more than one posting a week, each focusing on a single part of the story, a resource, or whatever single topic is of interest. I hope to share some useful information, and we'll see if I can do a little better at sticking with it this time.
Before I leave you this time, let me add in my other general tip. In all of the changes that you are making to your eating and your exercise/activity, find what you love. You may not love the first time you do a particular exercise, but think about it and give it a real try before you give up on it. And if you don't love it after giving it a good chance, find the thing that you do love. Eat the foods you love that fit into your eating plan. Changing your diet to regain your life isn't about what foods you give up- find the foods that are healthy for you that you love, and enjoy them. Let yourself have those, and try to add more foods that you love to your life. In the midst of all of this, I've found that I like running a lot more than I ever would have thought, and it draws me to it. I keep coming back to thinking about another run that's coming up or another goal I'd like to achieve. I've discovered that I love berries- raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. I eat them almost every day, and I believe they have a positive impact on my health. My wife found that she didn't really like riding bikes- until we found a different bike for her and it changed into something she loved. We've enjoyed a number of bike rides together and it's a common activity for us when the weather's nice. She enjoys her walks a lot more now that she has loaded up her iPod for the walk.
Find those things for you, and choose them. Adding things you love to your life is a lot of fun. Get back your life by making those choices, and have some fun. Good luck!
I always think that the answer is not too hard, and my initial answer is a short list of ideas:
- Control the portions of what I eat - not the automatic "starve myself" kind of reaction that people often think is the only answer, but just make sure I'm not eating the whole pizza and stuffing myself. You don't really have to walk around uncomfortable because your body is crying out for food it needs, just move away from automatically eating whatever happens to be in front of you
- Eat a healthier diet - I think most everyone knows at least most of what that is, and you can keep track of what you are eating and refine your diet as you go. Mostly, this just means eating more fruits, vegetables, and fresh food and less packaged, "fake" food. The more processing, the more likely it isn't the best food for you.
- Become more active- everything from going for a walk or run to scheduling workouts into your week to sports to choosing to walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Just work on balancing out the common lifestyle that we have- sitting most of the day.
I've posted some of this information previously, but there's so much more that is useful stuff. I need to document that somewhere, think it through, and share it. So, here we go once again. My goal at this point is to do more than one posting a week, each focusing on a single part of the story, a resource, or whatever single topic is of interest. I hope to share some useful information, and we'll see if I can do a little better at sticking with it this time.
Before I leave you this time, let me add in my other general tip. In all of the changes that you are making to your eating and your exercise/activity, find what you love. You may not love the first time you do a particular exercise, but think about it and give it a real try before you give up on it. And if you don't love it after giving it a good chance, find the thing that you do love. Eat the foods you love that fit into your eating plan. Changing your diet to regain your life isn't about what foods you give up- find the foods that are healthy for you that you love, and enjoy them. Let yourself have those, and try to add more foods that you love to your life. In the midst of all of this, I've found that I like running a lot more than I ever would have thought, and it draws me to it. I keep coming back to thinking about another run that's coming up or another goal I'd like to achieve. I've discovered that I love berries- raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. I eat them almost every day, and I believe they have a positive impact on my health. My wife found that she didn't really like riding bikes- until we found a different bike for her and it changed into something she loved. We've enjoyed a number of bike rides together and it's a common activity for us when the weather's nice. She enjoys her walks a lot more now that she has loaded up her iPod for the walk.
Find those things for you, and choose them. Adding things you love to your life is a lot of fun. Get back your life by making those choices, and have some fun. Good luck!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
The last day- on to the port and the Mississippi
Off to a good start in the morning- the earliest I've gotten going all week. I did wake up several times during the night, but just briefly, mostly from people coming in late from the concert and tramping around camp. Got everything loaded and ready to go, then realized I had no idea where to go. On one of the first days, someone was asking about the route and got the reply, "There are 10,000 other bikes going there- just follow them". Good point, I thought, so that's what I've been doing all week. This time, nobody happened to be leaving our camp at that moment, and the PBV camp was apparently not on the route directly. I headed into town, and picked up the normal endless trail of cyclists soon enough. The usual tour of food- Chris Cakes first thing, a few miles out of town. They put on quite a show with a large griddle and batter-pouring device that creates long, perfect grids of pancakes. They also have this thing of throwing their pancakes- they'll yell, "Incoming" or something similar, while pointing at an unsuspecting customer. Next thing you know, there are 1, 2, 3 pancakes looping through the air towards them, which they are expected to catch in their plate. It's a lot of fun, though many pancakes end up on the ground. Today, they were throwing them down the line of people, some of them twisted and turned through the air like some crazy frisbee, and landed maybe 125 feet back in line- and a few of those were successfully caught. It's a good, quick breakfast to get the carbs going for the road, and despite a long line, it moves very quickly.
Only a few towns along today's route, including Dyersville, the site of the "Field of Dreams" from the movie of the same name. But mostly, with it being a short day mileage-wise, I enjoyed the towns briefly and moved on to get where we were going. The hills were ongoing and more gradual than the ones we saw near Sioux City, but they certainly produced some dramatic landscapes. Few stops along the way got us there quickly, and once we approached Dubuque, we started getting some really big hills, resulting in another new high speed personal record- 46.4 MPH. I don't really think we're going much from there, but some areas here were perfect, fresh asphalt roads, and the riders were spread out enough to have little problems. On the other hand, they did start bunching up around a number of the uphills, producing quite a crowd as we reached the legendary Potter Hill. A 19% grade for 1 mile, this was more of a challenge than any previous hill on the ride, by quite a ways. It starts for .1 mile with a more gradual grade, then up the hill it goes. It was a bit intimidating, and the locals were having some fun with us- a few encouraging, and a few sitting by the side of the road with a "Welcome to Potter's Hell- 19% grade 1 mile" sign. Even those guys were encouraging, though you could tell they were slightly amused. Many people got off and walked barely into the lower, flatter portion of the hill. I was feeling like this was a challenge I should really push to achieve, so I tried my best to get up the hill with my usual strategy- keep it as high as I can still comfortable manage, and pull/push hard to keep rolling. This worked on the lower section, but I started losing momentum in the steeper area. I decided to downshift, and somehow it didn't work right. It spun and wouldn't engage on the lowest gear of the rear derailleur. I fumbled, shifted it back up and pulled, then eased off and downshifted again- same problem. Got the front downshifted and tried one more time for the back. I was still moving, but just barely, and had made it about 2/3 up the hill. At that point, the chain slipped a time or two, refusing to engage "granny gear" for me, and I almost fell over because I couldn't clip out in time. I managed to catch myself, and started walking the bike up the hill. At that point, I stopped for a minute to take a few pictures back down the hill, then I decided to try it again. I was only in 3rd gear, but I really needed first to make it up, so I'd have to start on that uphill, pull hard to get a little momentum, then quickly downshift and hope it worked. I tried, and it worked, so I headed up the hill at 2-3 MPH, and it soon started to flatten out. This eased the trouble, and I topped the hill, puffing hard. Tender Tom's Turkey, one of the food vendors I hadn't tried yet, was at the top of the hill, so I stopped for a marinated turkey breast sandwich (excellent, like all RAGBRAI vendors seem to be). Then I headed up the last section of that road before we turned onto another. Some locals were there congratulating everyone for surviving it, and claiming that they all stop and walk their cars up that hill. Then we began the million hills that start settling into Dubuque. Not quite as steep or long as Potter Hill, but not much less on either measure. There was an endless stream of people sitting in their yard, congratulating everyone on their ride and welcoming them to the city. They also kept saying that we had 3 miles and two hills to go. And two hills later, it was still 3 miles and 2 hills. Not sure how they coordinated that. A few final breathtaking downhills (38MPH with the brakes on)and we made it into downtown Dubuque and on to the dip site at the port. Some great live music was going there, a welcome banner overhead, and many, many more people shouting encouragement, "You made it", "You did it", and "Congratulations". I headed into the dip site thinking about that- I did do it. Guess I can stop worrying if I can make it now. Even though I knew I was heading to the end, it hadn't fully registered. It was done. There were logistics left- getting the car, bags, traveling home- but the trip itself was done. I got out my trusty Olympus camera to get a good picture of my final dip-and dropped it on the pavement. That camera has been a great one for many years, but I think that finished it. I got a cell phone picture, and headed out for cleanup.
Since it's my birthday, I thought I should at least have a nice meal before starting the trip back. I ended up in the Star Restaurant in the Star Brewery at the Port. It's a nice place, had good "American Grill" kind of fare, and some decent beer. Along with an internet connection, ot let me get the blog up to date while looking out the window at the river. They have a nice riverfront here, and the RAGBRAI party is going on downstairs, so it's fun to watch. I've hogged the table long enough, however, so I think I'll finish up this post and head out. I do have a bunch of pictures which I'll post later, along with some of the stories from the ride that I haven't had time to write up so far. There are too many storied to tell quickly, but I'll try to bring a few more over the next week or so,along with the pictures and their stories. Guess it's off to either shop for a replacement camera or just plain head home. Not sure which, but we'll see. Thanks to everyone who's been following along and sent me congrats and encouragement along the way. it really means a lot to me to be sharing this experience with you. More later.
Only a few towns along today's route, including Dyersville, the site of the "Field of Dreams" from the movie of the same name. But mostly, with it being a short day mileage-wise, I enjoyed the towns briefly and moved on to get where we were going. The hills were ongoing and more gradual than the ones we saw near Sioux City, but they certainly produced some dramatic landscapes. Few stops along the way got us there quickly, and once we approached Dubuque, we started getting some really big hills, resulting in another new high speed personal record- 46.4 MPH. I don't really think we're going much from there, but some areas here were perfect, fresh asphalt roads, and the riders were spread out enough to have little problems. On the other hand, they did start bunching up around a number of the uphills, producing quite a crowd as we reached the legendary Potter Hill. A 19% grade for 1 mile, this was more of a challenge than any previous hill on the ride, by quite a ways. It starts for .1 mile with a more gradual grade, then up the hill it goes. It was a bit intimidating, and the locals were having some fun with us- a few encouraging, and a few sitting by the side of the road with a "Welcome to Potter's Hell- 19% grade 1 mile" sign. Even those guys were encouraging, though you could tell they were slightly amused. Many people got off and walked barely into the lower, flatter portion of the hill. I was feeling like this was a challenge I should really push to achieve, so I tried my best to get up the hill with my usual strategy- keep it as high as I can still comfortable manage, and pull/push hard to keep rolling. This worked on the lower section, but I started losing momentum in the steeper area. I decided to downshift, and somehow it didn't work right. It spun and wouldn't engage on the lowest gear of the rear derailleur. I fumbled, shifted it back up and pulled, then eased off and downshifted again- same problem. Got the front downshifted and tried one more time for the back. I was still moving, but just barely, and had made it about 2/3 up the hill. At that point, the chain slipped a time or two, refusing to engage "granny gear" for me, and I almost fell over because I couldn't clip out in time. I managed to catch myself, and started walking the bike up the hill. At that point, I stopped for a minute to take a few pictures back down the hill, then I decided to try it again. I was only in 3rd gear, but I really needed first to make it up, so I'd have to start on that uphill, pull hard to get a little momentum, then quickly downshift and hope it worked. I tried, and it worked, so I headed up the hill at 2-3 MPH, and it soon started to flatten out. This eased the trouble, and I topped the hill, puffing hard. Tender Tom's Turkey, one of the food vendors I hadn't tried yet, was at the top of the hill, so I stopped for a marinated turkey breast sandwich (excellent, like all RAGBRAI vendors seem to be). Then I headed up the last section of that road before we turned onto another. Some locals were there congratulating everyone for surviving it, and claiming that they all stop and walk their cars up that hill. Then we began the million hills that start settling into Dubuque. Not quite as steep or long as Potter Hill, but not much less on either measure. There was an endless stream of people sitting in their yard, congratulating everyone on their ride and welcoming them to the city. They also kept saying that we had 3 miles and two hills to go. And two hills later, it was still 3 miles and 2 hills. Not sure how they coordinated that. A few final breathtaking downhills (38MPH with the brakes on)and we made it into downtown Dubuque and on to the dip site at the port. Some great live music was going there, a welcome banner overhead, and many, many more people shouting encouragement, "You made it", "You did it", and "Congratulations". I headed into the dip site thinking about that- I did do it. Guess I can stop worrying if I can make it now. Even though I knew I was heading to the end, it hadn't fully registered. It was done. There were logistics left- getting the car, bags, traveling home- but the trip itself was done. I got out my trusty Olympus camera to get a good picture of my final dip-and dropped it on the pavement. That camera has been a great one for many years, but I think that finished it. I got a cell phone picture, and headed out for cleanup.
Since it's my birthday, I thought I should at least have a nice meal before starting the trip back. I ended up in the Star Restaurant in the Star Brewery at the Port. It's a nice place, had good "American Grill" kind of fare, and some decent beer. Along with an internet connection, ot let me get the blog up to date while looking out the window at the river. They have a nice riverfront here, and the RAGBRAI party is going on downstairs, so it's fun to watch. I've hogged the table long enough, however, so I think I'll finish up this post and head out. I do have a bunch of pictures which I'll post later, along with some of the stories from the ride that I haven't had time to write up so far. There are too many storied to tell quickly, but I'll try to bring a few more over the next week or so,along with the pictures and their stories. Guess it's off to either shop for a replacement camera or just plain head home. Not sure which, but we'll see. Thanks to everyone who's been following along and sent me congrats and encouragement along the way. it really means a lot to me to be sharing this experience with you. More later.
Friday, July 30, 2010
SAG ride and exploring Manchester
Friday opened with me waking up to discover that my numb toes were still numb. This led me to worry that I shouldn't ride today, in case this was something that could turn into permanent damage with further aggravation- or could get worse and guarantee that I couldn't ride the last day. I was almost decided to take the PBV SAG bus to the next campsite, instead of riding, when I had a look outside. It was raining, and really didn't look fun. It seemed clear that I shouldn't go out in that with this problem already there to worry about. I packed everything up and went up to see if I could pay the $25 for the SAG ride straight to the next town's campsite. They had room, so we loaded up and headed out. I spoke with the woman next to me on the bus, who had a problem that prevented her from riding, so she would go get camp set up while her husband rides today. Another woman had experienced a fall and broken her arm, so she wasn't riding. I was mostly excited to get a good camping spot and have a relaxing day. When we arrived, it was still a bit chaotic. Manchester had experienced some flooding with the amazing rain in the previous weeks, and our original campsite was still too wet. They had moved us across the road, and were still working out how to lay out that campsite. I found a good spot for my tent, set it up, got settled in, and decided that I might as well take a nap while they got things organized. This apparently was just what I needed, because I woke up a couple of hours later, and felt much better. It was just about half a mile into the downtown festival area, so I got my bike and headed on in. Another nice little Iowa town with its own personality and all sorts of interesting stores. As I walked around, I found the Castle Theater, celebrating its 75th year. Apparently, it had fallen into disrepair, and they decided to make it a community-owned theater and get it restored to its former glory. They had done an admirable job, and it was a very nice theater restored to like-new decor appropriate to its era. They were showing Toy Story 3, which I hadn't seen yet, and that sounded like a great idea of a way to spend the afternoon, so in I went. Classic popcorn and movie treats were available, and they were doing root beer floats as a special RAGBRAI thing. It was fun to watch the movie and enjoy the theater. I wandered around town a bit after the movie, then headed back to camp for another massage (focused on those toes this time, along with the sore legs), and another nice evening of socializing. I met a young woman who takes pictures every year, and then creates postcards from them to sell during the next year's ride. She says that more than anything, she likes the excuse it gives her to talk to people and hear their memories of the ride.
From what I heard from those who actually rode, it was a miserable day and a difficult ride. Many of them ended up holed up in some farmer's barn to wait for the lightning to susbside enough to continue fighting the headwinds and rain. I guess I'd like to be able to say that I went out and was up for that challenge, but I'm not really that disappointed that I didn't do this day's cycling. Settled in for some final clean-up and packing to be ready for the short ride to Dubuque tomorrow- and its killer hills. Dubuque isn't the rolling hills we had at the beginning of the week- you often can't carry over the downhill speed into the next hill. And they are a bit larger- including "Potter Hill", this year's longest/steepest hill, though there are several into Dubuque that we would be mentioning if Potter Hill hadn't overwhelmed the interest in them. That elevation map is all ups and downs, so hoping for a good night's sleep and more recovery for those feet before tomorrow. Those feet do feel better by bedtime, though not completely.
From what I heard from those who actually rode, it was a miserable day and a difficult ride. Many of them ended up holed up in some farmer's barn to wait for the lightning to susbside enough to continue fighting the headwinds and rain. I guess I'd like to be able to say that I went out and was up for that challenge, but I'm not really that disappointed that I didn't do this day's cycling. Settled in for some final clean-up and packing to be ready for the short ride to Dubuque tomorrow- and its killer hills. Dubuque isn't the rolling hills we had at the beginning of the week- you often can't carry over the downhill speed into the next hill. And they are a bit larger- including "Potter Hill", this year's longest/steepest hill, though there are several into Dubuque that we would be mentioning if Potter Hill hadn't overwhelmed the interest in them. That elevation map is all ups and downs, so hoping for a good night's sleep and more recovery for those feet before tomorrow. Those feet do feel better by bedtime, though not completely.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
More Food- It should actually be called the Great Bike Ride & Eat across Iowa
I continue to be fascinated by the overall experience at RAGBRAI. As I mentioned in one of the first posts in this blog, I've been monitoring my activity and calorie expenditure / intake quite closely for about a year and a half now. I use the Body Media Fit armband (also called GoWear Fit) and the BodyMedia Display Device that goes with it.
These are a combo that I have found to be invaluable in moving myself towards this healthier lifestyle. This device records steps like a pedometer, but that is really a secondary function- it primary purpose is to record your body's actual data- how much activity do you do each day? How vigorous was it? How many calories did you actually burn? And how many did you eat? What kind of nutrition was in the calories that you did eat? If you use the BodyMedia Fit system, you know all of that. And it's there reminding you of where you stand minute to minute, right there on your wrist. So- I believe in this one, and I've gotten into the habit of logging my food fairly regularly, even now that my primary goal isn't weight loss.
So, what's this have to do with RAGBRAI? Well, it's very difficult if not impossible to do this. I'm eating whenever the opportunity presents itself, and eating a higher-carb, and probably higher-fat diet. And I have no easy access to an internet connection to upload my data and log my food. So, I'm trying an experiment- just try to choose what seems right, and allow myself to have some treats I never would otherwise. After all, I'm riding a bike all day, so my burn rate should be fairly high, right?
We'll find out- because there is some of the most amazing food here. It's probably not hard for you to picture the Mr Pork Chop Iowa Chop, and to imagine that it might be a little higher fat than I would want on a daily basis. And you can imagine that much of the food set up for the ride is basically a traveling summer festival, so there are funnel cakes, etc, in many of the towns. But, how about Pastafari's Penne Ariabata Pasta with Rosemary Encrusted Salmon? Does that sound like something you'd expect to be made in some corn farmer's front yard? Do you think if it was made and served there that it would be any good? Well...
It's amazing. A nice spicy tomato-based sauce, on top of perfectly-cooked penne pasta, with grilled veggies and well-cooked grilled salmon on top of that. It's a good-sized serving, and amazing stuff. When I stopped this afternoon, and tried the Pastafari pasta for the first time, they had set up in the same yard with Mr Pork Chop- and there was no line for a Pork Chop! While their line usually goes fast, that was very unusual, so I was forced to have both. And then, I found myself quite full and having that after-meal sleepiness, so I laid down in the grass under a huge shade tree, and took a little nap while being serenaded by the Pastafari Reggae music mix. I have realized that it is quite possible to gain weight on RAGBRAI, though I think that the level of activity would make it easy enough to make enough good choices to lose. Even without that, my legs are definitely getting in shape rather quickly.
In addition to the vendors, today there were a lot more farmers who had clearly set up just to support the race and show off their stuff- in particular, their baking- sugar-free homemade muffins that were as good as any muffin I've had, and some pretty good Zucchini bread had to be tried.
At camp at the end of day, it was the usual hanging out, having a couple of beers, and enjoying some music. They had a different band tonight, that covered a lot of classic pop/rock tunes, and they were pretty good.
One problem surfaced at the end of the day. When I took off my cycling shoes, I noticed that several toes on my right foot were numb. It seems that I had that shoe too tight, and it cut off circulation or pressed on a nerve. Probably it was like that all day, but I really didn't notice until I removed the shoe. Not good. I made sure to give it some massage, leave the shoes loose, etc. Hoped it would be better before morning. It wasn't. Now, what to do?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
