A tough double and then more bad eating...

Sunday, June 26, 2011

I’d been eating burgers with bread for two days and knew I had a graduation party to attend that may or may not be serving Paleo food. I had to take some positive action…which to me means two-a-days. I started with the Survival Workout and pushed myself to make it extremely hard. I managed to work in 17 sets over the various muscle groups of the upper body and was trembling with fatigue by the time I returned to the car. I’d noticed as I was walking that my knee was pain-free…something I hadn’t experienced over the last 10 days. This naturally triggered my brain to think that it was time to run. Now…I’m not stupid…most of the time…but when it comes to running…well…I just am. I decided to shed my shoes and socks and do some short accelerations on the grass in the field near my car. I ended up doing only four 50-yard runs at about 75% effort. I didn’t want the hard pounding that would come with distance running, so to me, this test made sense.

I returned home, did a couple of chores, and headed out on my bike for a 90-minute ride. I was feeling really strong and the course that had taken me 90 minutes a few weeks ago only took 83 minutes. Sweating and fatigued, I returned home, showered and deemed myself ready to eat some more bad food. And I did. I steered clear of the pasta dishes, but loaded up on the meatballs and sausage. To assuage my guilt, I added a salad and a big bowl of fruit.

Once back home, the family appeared for dinner and I was making burgers on the grill…but not for myself. I had some baked white fish and baked beans and washed it all down with a shaker full of smoothie. I was sure I’d gained back all the weight I’d lost over the past several weeks, but afraid to check. Maybe in a couple of days when I’ve gotten good again and done another double.

Kim called to say they’d made 480 miles and were averaging 75 a day. They were in Kentucky and would be crossing into Indiana in the morning. She had some concerns over the amount of food she was consuming and wondered how many calories they were burning. “I can’t say exactly, but if you’re riding 5 hours a day at a decent clip, you’re probably burning 3,500 calories just while you’re on the bike. Add in the rest of the day and I’d say you’re over 5,000 a day. You’ll have trouble gaining weight on this trip,” I told her. Kim is the sweatiest woman I’ve ever known though, and I cautioned her to put back the sodium she was sweating out. “Shake some extra salt on your food and get your hands on that Gatorade that’s packed with the electrolytes. You’ll need it…and if you don’t get it, the cramping will knock you off your bike.” Eating everything in sight and not gaining weight…what a problem to have.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes. Bike workout: 83 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600 for survival workout. 1200 biking.