I’m done with my cruise, taking a break from CrossFit, and now it’s time to get back to business. I weigh about 30lbs more than I think I should. And, my muscles are shrinking . . . so, what should I do, when my shoulder can’t take any more CrossFit?

My requirements were pretty simple:

1. Lose weight
2. Don’t lose muscle mass

(And, yes, I know that it is extremely difficult to build muscle and lose fat at the same time)

I asked out on Fitocracy. I was looking for weight loss, and strength training. The guys seemed split about Stronglifts vs Starting Strength. And, one person mentioned Leangains, which I had googled before, but, their site was a bit confusing.

So, I took the time to read a bit more, learn a bit more, and decided that I would build a plan based on Starting Strength, Leangagins, and, my normal Primal Diet. There were two reasons I picked Starting Strength over Stronglifts:

1. I have done Stronglifts before. And, while I did like it — I love new shiny things more
2. Someone on Fitocracy mentioned that Starting Strength did not take as long as Stronglifts. And, I do remember Stronglifts taking a VERY long time.

The Food Plan

So, what exactly is my plan? Leangains is a fasting / feasting plan, with 8 hours of feasting, and 16 hours of fasting. I have to use a slightly modified plan, since I workout in the morning. So, following the Early morning fasted training plan here: I have come up with the following schedule:

Workout Days

5:00AM Wake-up, have 10g BCAA (or low carb protein) shake before I head to gym.
6:00AM Training.
8:00AM 10g BCAA
10:00AM 10g BCAA
12:00PM First meal of the day. Large meal, since it’s Post Workout Nutrition (PWN)
5-6PM Dinner — Try to make this meal lower carb, since it’s pre-fast.

Non Workout Days

12:00PM First meal of the day.
5-6PM Dinner — Try to make this meal lower carb, since it’s pre-fast.

General Diet Guideline

I’ll be following the Primal Blueprint as much as I can on the meals. I will allow carbs on the first meal, but I’ll try to get them all from fruits & vegetables. If some grains / tubers slip in, though, it will be ok. Particularly in the beginning of the diet. If I stall, I will start counting carbs, and limiting them more aggressively.

The Training

As I said before, I will be following Starting Strength for a workout plan. The only thing I’m going to be modifying is Bench Press. Since my little gym does not have a power cage, I’m going to be doing dumbbell press instead of bench. (So, it is good that I’m starting lower, since I can only climb in increments of 10lbs (5lbs/hand)). Here is my schedule:

Workout A

3×5 Squat
3×5 Dumbbell Bench Press
1×5 Deadlift

Workout B

3×5 Squat
3×5 Overhead Press
3×5 Power Cleans

Schedule

Here is my workout schedule. Every workout the weights go up.

My particular workout regimen is in a google doc here

Starting Stats

And, finally, some starting stats. I am at my heaviest (since moving to Utah) starting this diet. I left for a cruise at 220lbs, and I came back at 225. (It would have been worse, but I stuck to my strict diet of soft-serve and liquor).

Body Weight: 225.2
Bench: 225(1RM), 205(5RM)
Press: 155(1RM), 135(5RM)
Squat: 255(1RM), 245(5RM)
Deadlift: 315(1RM), 275(5RM)
Clean: 185(1RM), 135(5RM)

I’ll find a measuring tape and update my google docs measurements sometime today and tomorrow, so, more accurate stats can always be found there.

Week 1:

I’ve been skiing a bit on old racing skis (180s) and Lange boots. It has been . . urm . . interesting.

Tammy has been hating the fit of her boots, so we got her some custom boots, with some adjustments, and me some boots too.

Tammy tried on a few, but finally found some comfortable Dalbello 2011 Raya 10′s

My boots are a bit more agressive than hers, because I like powder, and hitting little jumps For boots, I got Tecnica Demon 110i’s.

For skis, we decided to have Tammy continue to use her rental shaped skis, until she is ready for an all mountain set of skis. For me, however, I needed something, and, why get shaped, when I can get something more all mountain. Dennis recommended S7′s, or, for my skill level, maybe S3′s. Eric, at the Lifthouse, agreed with the S3′s. But, Tammy and I liked the graphics better on the Scott Dozers, and, there wasn’t a lot of difference. They’re both rockered all mountain skis. So, I ended up with Scott Dozer A Version 12′s.

I can’t wait to try them out!

This page is going to be used to keep track of my ski journal, so I know how many days I have skied / boarded this season!

Total Days Skied / Ridden

• Pre Season: 2
• Post Season: 21

Lifts Running!

The below entries start after the season opened. Using lifts instead of hiking runs. Look further down below for some pre-season foolishness.

03/18/2012

Dennis, me & Kids

I skied.

Tude Dudes rocked. Did ok on pow pow. Turns are looking good. Solid intermediate now.

Home run ate me up.

03/11/2012

Pete, Amy and me @ Brighton

Millie Rocked!

Cliff signs saved me

Did a little jump — need to get the vid from pete.

03/06/2012

Bright night skiing – Szoke, Derek, Me, & Chris Price

Did Wren Hollow.

Almost did cliff area

02/26/2012

Neighborhood trip to Solitude

Bluebird. 2″ fresh. About 8″ of softness & powder in trees.

Took both cars.

Dennis & Family

Nick & Family

Snowboarded first. Did Powderhorn w/ Quinn. Sprayed Quinn & Nick Tammy fell & hit head.

Got skis and skied a bit. Did parallel turns and skis together turns with Dennis. Icy Apex w/ Nick (one run)

Got board and hit Honeycomb. Too much heel edge. Definitely a double black, if powderhorn is a single black diamond.

02/07/2012

Brighton – Night Skiing

Attendees: Brad, Derek, Spooner, Sean, Steve

We finally managed to leave on time, and get situated. We were @ Molly Greens at around 4:30, which gave us plenty of time to lubricate a bit before the runs. I noticed last time that the runs after dinner (and beer) were always better than the runs before dinner. I’m not saying that alcohol is required to enjoy the slopes. But, it does help to remove a bit of the fear, and that can be entertaining. So, after a couple of Hops Risings, Derek and I headed up to the top.

Since we were heading out early, we decided to see if Wren Hollow was open. I flew down the cat track . . . Derek passed me, of course. And busted once . . When we got to where it was normally closed after dark, it was open! But, it was labeled as double black diamond!

From Snowboarding 2011/12

I’ve been down it before . . it’s a bit steep, very moguly, but nothing I’d call Double Black . . Oh well, time to try it out.

The run was great. I was really nailing the moguls. There was some exposed rock, so I had to be careful not to gouge my board. What really surprised me were all the people stopped and having trouble. I understand that moguls on a snowboard are really hard, but, many skiers were stopped too!

We got to the steep section, and two skiers were stopped at the top, I assume trying to get the nerve to go. I saw the main run, a little chute entrance. I went right over, assuming that I’d just slow down on the way down the steep. I then learned why the skiers were stopped. There was no room to turn. The rocks turned the little chute into a 20′ or so, straight down chute, with rocks on either side. If I were to try to turn, I’d catch an edge on the rocks, and biff. So, I screamed, “Woah Shit!”, and just went straight down, through the chute, until I could turn and slow down. Nailed it. I’m calling that a double black, hands down

After passing the moguls, we just headed back to the lift to see if the other guys were there yet. I didn’t want Derek to beat me by too much, so I tried to go fast. I ended up beating him to the lift, so I assume he either went and hit something, or biffed.

A few runs later, Derek mentioned that I was flying down the hill . . . he said that on that return he couldn’t catch me. When I looked at my GPS later that night, I found out that I was going 37.7 MPH. Way too fast. I need to slow the eff down. I also caught an edge while I was going that fast . . . just lucky I didn’t bust.

The whole evening, I busted a lot. I hit the terrain park some, caught a little air once or twice too!

I ended up leaving before dinner. Tammy was missing me, and I didn’t want to stay too late . . . I wanted to hang with the family a bit before bedime.

01/24/2012

Brighton @ Night – Finally with a base!

Attendees: Brad, Derek, Hunter, Spooner

One of the best Brighton nights yet. I mainly stuck to the steeper stuff, but, instead of taking Hawkeye, I would instead take the little trail through the woods, over to the terrain park.

On the last run of the day, Spooner was following me. I took things a little faster, and managed to find the very high entrance to the terrain park, just under the Majestic lift. All evening, we had been looking at the hidden pockets of powder, that there would be no way to get enough speed to hit. I finally managed to hit them!

The terrain under the Majestic lift was moguly powder. It was really soft, and, wasn’t steep at all, since I was traversing, instead of going down the steep part of the slope. As I was traversing, I realized that if I went straight down, across the resort, I might be able to find some powder. Going that direction, fast, would be impossible if Brighton was crowded. But, the lifts were stopping, and the resort was closing, so, it was easy to avoid people

I went across the slopes, and found a stash of fresh powder. Went all the way across it, slowing down a little, crossed a run, and found another stash. Now, the powder wasn’t steep, and, it was slowing me down a lot, so, it wasn’t epic or anything. But it was a nice way to end the evening.

01/22/2012

Solitude – First Powder Day!

It finally snowed! 2-3 feet worth! So, we planned on heading up to Solitude with the kids. Angela got sick, and Tammy didn’t want to drive up alone, so it ended up being me, Dennis, and the kids.

We left the kids in line to get in a run, while they were getting their tickets. We were amazed at the quality of the powder. We met back up with the kids, and showed them how to have fun in pow pow. We eased them into it, first finding runs off of Moonbeam, then finally hitting some of the steeper runs off of Apex.

We split up for a bit, and Dennis and I hit Powderhorn. It was pretty eaten up, but, with the steepness, and the powder, it was still fun.

We finally hooked back up with the kids, and decided to try out Eagle Express. I love the blues under Eagle, and I was looking forward to hitting some of the blacks on the top there. I was sure that the kids could handle it, covered with powder and all. But, they got freaked out, and decided to do the main face instead. Took them a long time to get down it, but they did really well. Bailey and Amy did turns all the way down it. Quinn got in a couple of turns, but, basically stuck to heel edge most of it.

After Eagle, the kids were tired, and wanted to do Moonbeam some more. Quinn wanted to do Tude Dude, so we went and found that run. It was one of the better runs of the evening, and was full of pow and bumps. Quinn followed me into the trees, and ended up falling into the powder. Only his head was showing. We took a picture, but it didn’t do justice to the corporeal head floating in the snow. We did Tude Dude twice more, then finally decided to call it a day.

01/17/2012

Brighton – Another icy night

Tonight was probably the iciest night yet at Brighton. And, I learned a while ago, that on ice, it is easier to just go fast, than to try to stop. Brad wasn’t feeling well tonight, so he stayed home.

I followed Derek down a couple of steeps, and tried to stay off of my heel edge.

Like the last icy night at Brighton, I didn’t try anything too hard, because it would hurt if I fell.

We had some Ba Ba Black Lager at dinner. (2 pitchers split between three guys) So, after lubrication, we got a few more runs in. I was having trouble keeping my speed up. And, the wind wasn’t helping either. But, the lubrication helped to keep the speed up. And, I was finally able to scrape off some wax, so I could ptex some of the hits I got at Solitude with Nick & Dennis [#20120108].

01/15/2012

Solitude – Learning to Ski

I wanted to try skiing with my new skis, so I decided to take the kids up to Solitude. I was hoping that the snow would be soft, since there was a small dump a week ago. (It wasn’t)

Tammy was going to come, but, when I checked the temperature online, I had to advise her to wear her hot chilis. That was just enough to convince her not to go.

I got a couple of good runs in. I had to rest about every 2-3 full mountain runs. I’m just not used to skis. The kids came with me, and were happy to rest every couple of runs.

At lunch, I discovered that they had my favorite beer in a can (Johnny’s American IPA)

I was doing so well, I decided to try Apex. I had skied on Apex early in the season, and did fine. But, today was icy. Big difference. The steeps were steep, and solid ice. I ended up having to side slip 200 yards. Every time I tried to do a turn, I’d get an edge hung up (because I was scared), and went back to side slipping.

After I had slid down about 50 yards, I heard a blood curdling scream. Amy was flying down the slopes, head first, on her belly. I quickly assessed the situation, and saw that she wasn’t in any real danger. If she got near the trees, there was powder, which would slow her down. And, it was just a blue slope, so, it would eventually end. However, Amy didn’t know any of those things, and she was scared. It took me 10 minutes to finally get down to her, due to my lack of skill on skis. I was really sad that she had to wait so long for me.

01/08/2012

Solitude – day after a little snow

Saturday it snowed about 6 inches, so we decided to hit Solitude with our new neighbor, Nick. Nick told us that he was a blue skier. We told him that we’d have no problems sticking to the blues.

After a couple of runs, with Nick killing it on the blues, we decided to try to see what Honeycomb Canyon was all about, and headed out. The center line is rated blue when groomed, and black if bumpy. Due to the lack of coverage, though, today was a bit different.

We headed over to the _______ lift, then took the annoying cat track / hooptie runs to get to the summit lift. When I got there, I noticed that there was a sign at the base of the lift. It said, “Thin Coverage / Experts Only”. Dennis had his new S7′s, and I knew he didn’t want to hit any rocks. But, Dennis and Nick were already on the lift. Oh well — I hope they saw the sign.

When we got to the top of the Summit, there was a gate on the way over to Honeycomb Canyon. I have never been there before, but, I was pretty sure you normally did not have to pass through a double black diamond gate. We didn’t want to damage Dennis skis, and, the coverage on the front side, that we could see from the lift, was pretty thin. We finally found someone to ask, and they said that the canyon coverage was better than the front side, so, we decided to go through the gate.

Honeycomb Canyon rocked. Even with thin coverage, there were plenty of powder runs! We had to carefully pick our lines, to avoid rocks and trees, but it was a blast. Dennis started a VERY SMALL sluff avalanche, so we became extra careful, and started going down the steep stuff single file. I found a great run through some trees. I was so excited about the powder run, that, when I found some more powder to jump, I forgot to lean back, and ended up endo-ing face first into a powder bank. I was cracking up

The slim cat track back was uphill many times. I had to constantly unstrap and walk. If Honeycomb Return was running, it would have been worth it.

All in all, this was the best ski day yet of the season.

01/02/2012

Night Skiing at Brighton

Tonight was our first official team building night. Many people attended, but Hunter couldn’t make it, due to some last minute Jazz tickets.

The super slick ice wasn’t in front of the lift any more like on [#20111220]. But, the mountain was still very hard, and not very forgiving.

On the last run, I attempted a 2′ high rail. I got onto it, but, my center of gravity was off, so I biffed it backward — hard. I’m not sure if I hit the rail, then bounced into the ground, or just bounced into the ground. I didn’t get injured or anything, it was a solid all-body thud

When returning to my car, I went to just board across the parking lot, like I’ve done the last few weeks. Problem was, the ice had melted. I ended up going across about 4′ of dry asphalt. Mega damage. Ouch!

12/26/2011

Post Christmas Fun with the Kids at Brighton

I have long been told to never go to the slopes the day after Christmas. The reason: Too many kids, with new equipment, who refuse to get lessons. I was bored this year on the 26^th, so, I decided to give it a try . . .

We headed up majestic, then trekked a bit over to a run that would take us to the Snake lift. Finally, we got down to snake, and took that lift up to the peak. From there it was a short cat track to get to Sunshine. I thought the kids would love sunshine. But, they didn’t really seem to like it. Amy was doing great, working on her turns. But, for some reason, Quinn had regressed, and was going heel-edge down the whole mountain.

When we FINALLY got to the base of Snake, Amy needed to go to the bathroom, so we went the rest of the way down, grabbed a snack, and hit the bathrooms.

On the next run, since no one really liked Sunshine (except me), we went straight over to Crest. And, we took the steeper cat track over to the far run. I figured if the kids weren’t riding right, I might as well hit the baby terrain park. At the terrain park, we did have some fun. We hit it 2-3 times, and walked back up each time. The baby park has ski-on / ski-off rails, so you can get the feel of things, without having to jump. I got my mojo back, and the kids got to get a little taste. They soon learned, that, at their level, getting the speed and approach right is harder than the rail itself I bet they nail it next time.

12/20/2011

Night Skiing at Brighton

Today was our first official Team Building evening at Brighton. In attendance were: Me, Brad, Derek, David S., Ryan, Hunter, Chris P, and Chris S.

Our first problem was actually meeting up. Seems half of us were in the parking lot, and half of us were behind the building. I’ll send out clear instructions next time.

The evening went about like it did last year. Chris S was learning to board, so he was a bit slow. Chris Price Sr hung back with him a bit. Hunter met a friend at the bar (He always finds people he knows at bars . . . ), who hung with us the rest of the evening, after dinner.

In general, the rate was VERY fast, which was a bit scary, since it was really icy, so falling was going to HURT. It was so icy near the lift, you would lose your edge, every time, no matter how much you tried to avoid it. I’ve never seen ice that slick. Luckily, I did a few spastic maneuvers, but never fell.

We ended up leaving just a few minutes before closing. And, we were all VERY tired. I’m looking forward to our next run on the 3^rd. There’s GOTTA be snow by then!

12/17/2011

Avalanche Training Day 2 (Brighton)

For our second day of avalanche training, we brought snow shoes, just in case. But, we didn’t need them (Not everyone in our group had them). We learned a lot: How to use our probes & Beacon, how to properly dig, and, how to assess snow conditions.

When the class was over, we got to board back down the mountain (one run). But, for that one run, we took Sunshine, Pete’s favorite run. I have to say: I’m a fan. It’s a nice green cruiser. You can really get moving on it if you want, and it’s nice and wide, so, even when there are people on it, there is plenty of room to just carve.

12/16/2011

Solitude Half Day with Dennis

While I was at my Day 1 avalanche training, Dennis invited me to go out on Friday. While I couldn’t take the day off, it was already in my calendar to leave early and ghost the kids. So, Dennis and I ghosted the kids. Dennis snowboarded. I thought about skiing, but, figured he was a better snowboarder than I was a skier, so we just went for it.

The day was great. The snow was even soft. There was some powder near the trees, but going into the trees was a bit sketchy. There wasn’t enough coverage to adequately cover the rocks & branches. After an hour or so, we grabbed some beers, and decided to head to the top of Eagle Lift. That’s where some steeper blues are. And, that’s where Dennis met his match.

There was some foreshadowing. On the way to the base of the eagle lift, on a slightly steep blue, Dennis had to keep to one edge. (So, he got to eat up his thighs). When we got to the top, it was great, until we hit Sundancer (Well — really just the main trail down the Sunshine bowl). Right now, without snow, it is more of a face than a bowl. I know when I stopped to wait for him, every 50 yards or so, whenever I dropped to my knees, I’d start to slide . . . so . . pretty steep, and pretty icy. Dennis did not like it, but he made it down safely. That’s the difference between skis and a board. Of course, now, for payback, he wants me to try that run on skis. I’m going to die.

12/15/2011

Avalanche Training Day 1 (Brighton)

Brad and I showed up for the first day of Avalanche training. All we knew was that we were supposed to bring gear (Probe, Beacon, and Shovel), and that we had to buy a lift ticket. So, we bought two $24 lift tickets (Thank you Pearson’s Nut Roll Discount!), and drug our gear over to the building.

That was when we discovered that the first day was 100% classroom oriented. Crap. But, the class let out at 7:30, and we made it back to the lifts by 8:00 — which gave us an hour to hit the slopes. We hauled ass. We managed to get in 6 runs in an hour. I know I was going close to 30MPH a few times. And, Brad managed to find his speed too — I could barely keep up with him!

11/20/2011

Solitude with Quinn, Amy, Tammy, Dennis, Angela, Bailey, and Tyler

My family does NOT like to get up in the morning. Not even to go skiing. Amy was ready bright and early, at 7:30, but the rest were comotose. Dennis called me around 8:30, and let me know that the roads were clear. Cool — we’ll have company. We finally started heading up around 9:00.

Once we got there, Tammy’s boots immediately started hurting. I was going to try skiing, and, I can’t say mine felt good. But, since they’re so worn (read: old), they weren’t too bad. We got all geared up, started to walk toward the lift when I looked at my skis. I had forgotten to scrape off my summer wax. Yet another 15 min delay while I ask (very nicely) the rental guys to please give my skis a quick buff. I think they both thought I was an idiot.

Finally, out on the slopes. I was VERY happy that skiing came back to me. My new free skis (Thanks, Karen!) are VERY long. So, I couldn’t even start to do wedge turns. Hello parallel ones! I managed to do nice turns even on the steep greens. From the lift, I caught a glimpse of Quinn and Amy, both doing nice turns! They are finally starting to get it! They might be able to stay in the blue ski school class now!

We took a lunch break, where I had another meal of a Murphy’s Stout, washed down with a Murphy’s Stout. And back out to the slopes. The kids wanted to try a different, slightly harder lift, Apex Express. I made it, but, by the time we got back to the top of Moonbeam, I was feeling the fatigue. I decided it was time to get my board on, and hit the hard stuff.

After a nice run down, trip by the car, and a shoe change, it was time to try Eagle. Dennis and I went up it 3-4 times. There was some great powder, much steeper runs, and just all around goodness. On the last run, we explored through the trees, and Dennis found a nice rock to sign his new skis. I felt a few scrapes, but it was always while I was trying to slow down, so I met all the rocks with nice metal edges. All in all the runs were very good, with lots of nice powder. I guess my only complaint would be that the snow was a little shallow. But, what do you expect on November 20th?

I was VERY happy that my ski skills are starting to get better. I hope to explore Alta this season, so I at least need to be really confident on steep blues before I head over. (I’ll have fun with Alta’s free lift until then!)

11/13/2011

Solitude with Quinn, Amy, Brad, Dennis, and Bailey

Three days after the season started, we decided to get a taste. We all piled into Tammy’s Ford Flex (We need a roof rack — badly) and headed for Solitude. Tickets were half off for adults and children, so I got our kids both passes for a bit over $50. (And, I used my prepaid card).

We parked in the wrong section, which meant we had a very slow ride over to the MoonBeam lift area. Dennis needed boots, but, managed to strap in his snow shoes into his board, and made it down the bunny. After getting set up, we started hitting the bunnies. The kids were doing ok. But, they wanted to stay on the bunnies a bit longer. We let the three of them stay together, and we hit the Moonbeam lift a bit. Baily hurt her knee, so she and Dennis headed to the lodge. Brad, Quinn, Amy, and I decided to do one more run before taking a break. About half way down, we decided to try a blue fork. The kids bailed at the last minute, so we told them we’d meet them at the lift. When Brad and I got to the lift, we realized that we were at the WRONG lift, and had to hike about 1/2 a mile back uphill to the kids. Just before we got there, I missed a call from Solitude. Amy had tried to use their phone, but then found Dennis and Baily. Lunch time!

My meal consisted of a Murphy’s Stout, with a Murphy’s Stout to wash it down with. Perfect meal.

After lunch, all of us played a bit more on Moonbeam. We all got a lot better, before taking a second break, and, finally, calling it quits. Very successful first day. Tammy is going to LOVE Solitude.

Pre Season

11/06/2011

Hiked up Alta for a run with Brad and Dennis

This time, we decided to poach Alta. Well, I was the only one with a board, so, I guess I decided to poach Alta . The climb was much easier than the time at Brighton. The snow was packed, and we climbed up a nicely groomed cat track. When we got about 45 mins in, we had had enough climbing, and decided to try a run. The snow was MUCH better than at brighton. There was some powder, and a lot of nice soft pack. There were some little ice boulders near the bottom, and, then, finally, right at the end, freshly groomed powder. This run was VERY worth the hike up. We were contemplating a second run, but, we ran out of PBRs, and decided to go down the hill and get some dinner instead

10/07/2011

Hiked up Brighton for a run with Brad

Brad and I decided to try our hand at hiking a run this season. I mean, how hard could it be? hard!

It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get just below the big climb up to majestic. (About 3/4 of the way up to Majestic). There was about a foot of fresh powder everywhere. Maybe eighteen inches. When we finally had to start our descent (Tammy was not amused that I was coming home late for this!), the run down was pretty difficult too. It was powder, so it behaved like powder. And, there wasn’t much of a slope, so it was hard to keep my weight back. I busted a few times. Since it was so shallow, it was completely unforgiving when I dipped my front end — even just a little bit.

After the run, we decided that the run was not worth the hike. But, we like to hike. And, hiking up but riding down was much more fun than hiking up, and hiking back down.

I have been riding to work a few times a week now, using my old Trek 820 Mountain bike, with road tires. Last week, I logged 38 miles ridden. While my “hybrid” blows away my mountain bike, it does have some issues. So, I decided I wanted something different.

First, I was tired of wearing a backpack. It would get really sweaty, and, I thought panniers would be better.

Second, my hands get tingly / fall asleep after about 5-6 miles of riding, so, I didn’t want mountain bike handlebars anymore.

Lastly, while I love the granny gear of my mountain bike for climbing hills, I hate how my speed tops out at 24-26 Mph. So, I wanted something faster, while still maintaining the granny gears.

I googled quite a bit, and decided that a touring bike was what I needed. The only downside to the touring bike was the handle bars, which are normally mountain-bike styled.

So, I went to Salt Cycles, and told them what I wanted, and explained the above criterion. But, they came up with a different conclusion than Google did. They found a road bike, with pannier mounts, that had three gears up front. So, I ordered a Schwinn Le Tour Sport. It would take about a week for delivery.

Getting Supplies

Now that I had the bike on order, I needed some supplies. I googled road cycles a bit, and learned that my compressor wouldn’t quite get the tires up to 120psi. (Well, it might . . but . . ) So, I grabbed a pump, some lights, and a mirror from Cottonwood Cyclery

I took my laptop into an REI trying to find panniers that would fit it, and happened to find two on sale for $86 for the pair. While that might seem expensive, panniers usually run around $100-$140 each!

Taking Possession

I tried not to call Salt Cycles too much. Finally I found out it would be ready on Friday. I dropped by Friday afternoon to get a sneak peak. I figured that I could bring by some clipless pedals, and buy the rack for my panniers. But, when I got there, I found out that it was already ready. But, instead of the Schwinn Le Tour Sport, it was the Schwinn Le Tour Elite. Turns out, they couldn’t get the sport, and had to upgrade me to the Elite, for free! I liked the color a lot better, and, it came with clipless pedals!

So, I had them install the rack, made sure my panniers fit, and headed home.

First Ride

I took a quick first ride on the bike, after googling how to shift gears on a road bike. The first thing I noticed was the ride. Without shocks or suspension, and with hard timres, I could feel every rock or pebble in the road. To date, this has been the only down side to the bike. The rest of the feel was really good.

First Long Ride

Labor Day morning, I decided to take a long ride. I wanted to make sure that I’d be able to handle the 11 mile ride to work (or longer, depending on my route).

I finally started getting used to my brakes, the gears, and the two different hand positions. Though, I still feel like I brake weaker when I’m in the high position.

While I don’t go that much faster than my mountain/road bike, it is definitely faster. The thing I noticed the most, was the power I had. I can now really take off quickly. When I get out of the saddle and push, the bike really moves. Also, I found that I don’t get gassed nearly as easily on climbs. I just push a little, and I fly up hills. I managed to accelerate to 26Mph a climb, just to see what I could do. Very nice.

Finally near the end of the ride, I passed a cycler. While this wasn’t the first time I’ve passed someone, it was the second This one was in full cycle gear, on a very nice bike. So, it’s the first real notch on my belt.

Now I can’t wait to try to ride to work tomorrow. My only decision now is how to wear bike shorts, and go to the gym. Maybe I’ll just drive home, before I ride to work

And, finally, here is the Garmin Connect map of my ride. My highest heart rate was from passing the other cycler.

I’ve been playing with my Garmin Forerunner 305 for quite a while, and I love it. I especially love the hear trate monitor, allowing me to more accurately estimate the calories I burn when hiking, running, biking, and snowboarding. I also love its bike mount. But, in the interest of device consolidation, I decided to match it up against my phone.

I’ve done this in the past by pitting my iPhone + Polar up against the Garmin, but the crappy GPS in the iPhone really sucked when doing trail running. And, why carry two devices when you can carry one? (Ignore the fact that I was using the iPhone for tunes)

So, this time, I thought I’d update it. I’m still using my old faithful garmin, but, I’m now using a better GPS on my Droid X, and a killer ap (iMapMyFitness) that, if I was listening to tunes, would occasionally report my position, calories burned, etc. If only I had a HR monitor to link to it . . . .

And, on to the show!

Garmin Forerunner 305 + Garmin Connect

The best part about the Garmin products is Garmin Connect. It lets me replay the whole activity, monitoring altitude, heart rate, and speed. Now, on this test I did NOT wear my HR monitor, so, we’re basically comparing GPS to GPS here.

Here is the embedded view of my hike to the top of Ferguson trail.

Looks like we got a little off course on the way up. Too funny.

And, the stats:

Time: 02:42:35 Moving Time: 1:30:00 Distance: 2.47 mi Elevation Gain: 3,873 ft Calories Burned: 731

iMapMyFitness

I really like the spoken feedback of iMapMyFitness. In fact, the only things I don’t like about it are the low resolution GPS (which is a fault of the phone, not of the software), and the lack of a HR monitor.

However, there is no embed, so, to see this trail, click here: http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/40912604

The stats:

Time: 2:42:42 Distance: 2.92mi Elevation Gain: 1207 ft

Conclusion

So, the wrap up.

I love the social / sharing aspects of iMapMyFitness. And, I love the separation of routes from workouts.

The reason for the discrepancy in the Elevation Gain is with style of measurement. iMapMyFitness likes to separate climbs and rate them. This trail was rated as an extreme climb. So, it took bottom to top and did the math. The Garmin was more detailed, and separated every elevation gain from every elevation loss. So, doing small climbs, with small drops during the climb gives you double the climb. I’m not sure which I like better — though, I do like the rated climbs in iMapMyFitness.

And, I just found out that iMapMyFitness will import from my Garmin. So, I may have a new favorite toy!

Today I rode my bike to work for the first time this year. I’ve gained 30lbs since I’ve been to Utah. But, I’ve also been doing CrossFit for about a month, so, I had no idea how well I’d do.

The first thing I noticed on the ride was that I was going faster. A lot faster. I kept trying to switch past my highest gear. Maybe it helped that my quads were a little sore, so I could feel when I was (or wasn’t) pushing. It also seemed like I was making very good time.

When I got to the hill, it killed me again. I ended up in my lowest gear (even the low gear on the front sprocket), and just crawled up the hill. Some kid on a bike passed me. (Damn whipper snapper.) It seemed like it took me a lot longer to hit the top of the hill too. Usually, after I pass the big climb, the smaller switchbacks don’t bother me. But, this time, while they weren’t too hard, I still found myself in a very low gear.

Anyway, on to the results. Last year, on my first ride, my HR hit 190, and the trip took 27:05. My last ride last year my HR got to 187, and it took me 25:19. This ride, my HR got to 175, and it took me 20:59. Now that’s improvement!!

And, I do blame CrossFit! It’s forced me to do all the things I hate to do

I’ve been reading all of the primal material over at Mark’s Daily Apple, and I really think it is “right”. The biggest draw I originally had to The Atkin’s Diet, and most low carb diets, was that I truly think that our bodies were not designed to handle processed grains and sugars. But, my biggest problem with Atkin’s was the loss of fruit. While I didn’t mind losing bread, pasta, and tubers, I couldn’t stand losing nuts, berries, and, my best friend, the banana.

So, when I started reading about the Primal Blueprint Diet and Fitness plan, and downloaded the free fitness e-book, I decided it was about time to check out the real book. Luckily, it was available in a kindle edition for $10! So, I’m about half way through it, and I really agree with it. Meats: yum. Veggies: Yum. Fruits: Yum. I’m considering giving it a try. So far, the only downsides seem to be my issues with most diets:

• A mild addiction to diet sodas (which, to me, are treats)
• Not having complete control over the meal plan (and Tammy loves them tubers!)
• Eating out (Amazingly expensive when you stick to meat and veggies)

But, in general, I really want to try.  I want to snack on nuts and fruits.  I loves me some meats and eggs.  And, I hate how hungry carbs (and artificial sweeteners) make me feel.  Wish me luck!

PotD

And, on to the workout!  For the warm up, I did the Primal Blueprint Fitness Assessment . . kindof — I messed up on the overhead press one, and did shoulder press pushups instead.  So, I’m going to back off one level to practice dive bombers anyway:

Warmup

• Pushups: 52 (Yes, I could have done more — but this was a warmup) – This puts me at Level 4: Pushup
• Pullups: 5 (Almost got 6) – This puts me at the end of Level 3: Reverse Pullup / Chinup
• Squat: 62 (Could have done more) — Level 4: Full Squat (Prisoner)
• Overhead Press: (Should have done Dive Bombers, but did Shoulder Press Pushups): 10 – Guessing Level 3: Dive Bomber
• Plank: 115 seconds (Almost made 120): Level 3: Hand / Feet Plank

Workout

My workout got cut a bit short, since Tammy had to run to a garage sale.  But, surprisingly, those 62 squats killed my strength reserves, so, it was probably a good thing that I cut it short!

• Superset of OHP and Squats
  • OHP: 3×5@75# / 3×5@85#
  • Squat: 3×5@175# / 3×5@185#
• Pullups: (5 warmup), 4 / 5 / 3

I know Tammy hates it when I post Workout & Diet stuff where people can see it (even if they’re not looking for it).  And, I know that I posted my max on Friday.  But, I hit a new record today, so, I gotta brag agin.  At 41 years of age, I just bench pressed, for the first time in my life, 260 pounds.  Suck it.  :-)

Warmup

I decided before I got to the gym that I was going to try bench again.  I was just not happy with my performance on Friday.  So, instead of doing pushups for warmups, I snuck in a little mini max.  And, I also skipped high jumps, because I’m a little girl, and I don’t like to jump.

• 5 mins on a treadmill at 6.0 Mph
• Bench Press:  3@185#, 1@225#, 1@250#, 1@260#
• Squat Machine: 2×5@135
• Kroc Rows: 2×15@45 — Need to move to 50.  They got hard near the end, but, in general, were a little light.

Workout

On the workout, I was unable to use both squat racks, and, since I can’t clean the weight, for the supersets, I used a squat machine.  (Not a smith machine, but more of the football style squat rack.  Let me try to find a pic: Something similar to this:  

• Bench and Squat Supersets
  • Bench: 3×5@185, 3×5@195, 1×5@205 (Failed on second set, and bailed to next weight), 1×8@165
  • Squat: 3×5@185, 3×5@235, 2×5@285 (skipped last set due to bench failure), 1×15@285

I maxed today for the first time in over a year. I wasn’t really happy with the results, but, they seemed about right. I think the bench and squats were a little low due to doing overhead press and deadlifts first. Anyhoo, here are the results:

• OHP – start @ 90# – max @115×1
• Dead Lifts – start @ 175# – max@ 265×1
• Bench Press – start @ 185# – max @ 245×1
• Squats – start @ 165# – max @ 235×1

I’ll post measurements later (after my shower).

Today was my final weigh in for a Biggest Loser competition at the gym.  So, even though the last week I was supposed to be transitioning, I was really trying to pull a “from behind” win.  So, I did something evil . . . I tried to cheat

First, I dropped down to <10g carbs a day to try to drop some water.  But, since I was coming off of starvation mode (more on this below), it really didn’t do anything.

Next, I attempted to manipulate the water in my body.  I started drinking two gallons of water a day, up to Saturday, then, 24 hours before my weigh in (approximately), I started a fast.

Finally, just before my weigh in, I ran about 5 miles, spent some time in the sauna (which made me feel really bad, so I didn’t do it twice), and I did a one hour spin class.  Total loss for all of my manipulation:  Almost 10 lbs.

According to all the references on cutting I read online, I should have been able to drop 10-15% of my bodyweight in water.  But, I was at the end of a loss plan, not a bulking plan, and, I simply didn’t want to feel as bad as I would have felt, spending several hours sweating, when I was already really dehydrated.  So, I don’t know if I won or not — will probably be a couple of days before I do know.  But, I should be in the top few.

After the weigh in, I chugged a couple of liters of water, and had a protein shake with banana and almonds in it.  Lots of H2O, fat, carbs, and protein to fill my reserves.  Then, the debauchery began.  Oh, I called it a day of “celebration” for the diet being over, but, what I did was way dirtier than any “celebration” could have been.  Here’s what I ate today . . . and why I have an upset stomach right now

• Lunch – Mexican
  • Chips & Salsa
  • Fajita Nachos
  • Diet Coke
• Snack – Mall
  • Two Double Doozie Bites
    • One chocolate chip
    • One M&M
• Dinner
  • Salad
  • Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wrap (only ate half the tortilla)
  • Some steamed veggies that I barely touched.
  • Diet Coke
  • Sweetwater 420
• Snack / Dessert
  • Small Reece’s Cup blizzard

Like I said, pure debauchery.  I will say, though, that the only “bad” food that was really worth it, in the taste-vs-waistline category, was the Double Doozies.  The Buffalo Chicken wrap was also good, but, I can make that one relatively healthy, if I manipulate it a bit.  (Make it a salad, with the ranch on the side)

I mentioned starvation mode up there.  As usual, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on different health plans, diet plans, bulking plans, cutting plans, etc.  I’ve been really intrigued by the new carb cycling diets.  Of course, this is a little late, since I am done  Anyway, the “Carb Cycling Diet”, by Roman Malkov had an interesting section on “Why other diets don’t work”.  (Or something like that, I’m paraphrasing because I’m too lazy to go pick up the book)  In that section was a list of symptoms for being in starvation mode.  About 75% of them nailed me.  And, if you follow my weight charts, you’ll see that I have only lost five pounds in the last two months . . . looks very plateau-ish to me.  That was about when I started running, which makes another strong argument for starvation.  I was already eating less than 1000 kcals a day, and I was running and burning another 5-600 kcals.

So, let’s just assume that I am in starvation mode.  What now?  From everything I could find, including asking Roman Malkov himself (he responds to e-mails, btw – very cool), it seems that I now need to not only find my real maintenance level of calories, but I need to exceed them for a while, to let my body recover from all of the abuse I’ve put it through.  And, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that slowly transitioning with MediFast.  I think eating healthy meals, supplemented with healthy snacks (Still six meals a day) is the only way to do it.  I’m going to start at a 1500-2000 kcal diet (after I find some calculators to try to guestimate where I should be), and start a bodybuilding regimen.  I don’t think I’m going to stick with Stronglifts now.  It’s a bit small on the workout side.  I’d like something closer to an hour of work.  Or at least 45 mins.  I think I’m also going to alternate heavy weeks and rep weeks, to both build size and strength.  That way, even when I go into my caloric surplus with my diet, I’ll be burning it nicely building muscle . . . hopefully!

Anyway, as I figure out wtf I’m going to do, I’ll keep ya posted. . . . . .  And I’ll let you know if I win anything from the contest.  (I already won $50 of “nutritionals” — whatever that means)