May 11th (Afternoon)
Fluids Intake:
· Morning: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 2 bottles of water
· Afternoon: 3 bottles of water
Food Intake:
· Morning: 2 pieces of whole grain toast with butter and peanut butter, 1 apple fritter (from Tim Horton’s), 1 tapioca pudding
· Afternoon: Steak, potatoes, carrots and peas, 1 pear, 2 chocolate chip cookies, 1 Dilly Bar
As you can see, I’m going to start monitoring my food and fluid intakes. No, I’m not going to become a “calorie counter”. Honestly, I’m not too concerned with all that jazz just yet. Instead, I’m hoping to start seeing a connection between my energy levels (up or down) and the food/fluids I had that day. It just seems that I tend to have so many ups and downs as far as energy levels are concerned that I want to start seeing how much my food plays a part in that. Therefore, for the first few weeks (probably ‘till the end of May), I’m not going to alter any habits at this time. However, after that, I’m going to see what sort of correlations I can see and start making better choices.
All that being said, my ride home today was OK. I did feel like I had some pretty low energy levels (and thus I was thinking about that fritter and Dilly Bar the whole way home, and NOT in a fond way...). I didn’t make it as far up Peterson’s Creek as I did the last couple of days (was this due to low energy, or the fact that the last two times there were people standing up on the higher trail watching??? Haha!). I probably walked about 1/3 of the up side trail again, and I felt very unsure of my ability to get out of my pedals in time on the steep climbs, so I bailed probably sooner than I normally would. I sure hope my confidence in this comes quickly. Going down into Peterson’s I missed the first of the hard two switchbacks again, and nearly wiped out through the straight sandy section as my bike started fishing wildly through it! My mistake there, though, was taking my foot out and therefore putting all my weight on my saddle, rather than behind it. With the drier weather recently, the trail down is getting tough again as traction is becoming very limited. I did make the second hard switchback, but with my foot out there as well.
The section across Frolek’s land wasn’t too bad, actually. I did indeed feel much slower than normal through there, but I am happy that there are finally good lines to ride that don’t require as much floundering through the deep sand and silt as I was doing the first few times. So this stretch is getting somewhat better for sure.
On the pipeline hills before Rose Hill, I made the second to last peak but not the last one. In fact, I didn’t even make an effort on this one. I pretty much pedaled up just to where it gets very steep and stopped, not trusting my ability to get my feet down when I would need to do so! After Rose Hill, I again followed the pipeline trail to Juniper. The hills on this trail definitely feel like they’re getting easier, and the more I get to know the trail, the faster I am getting so it is getting more and more fun for sure!
May 10th (Morning)
Fluids Intake:
· Evening before: 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 glass of orange juice, 1 glass of milk, 1 glass of water
· Morning of: Nothing
Food Intake:
· Evening before: 1 bowl of zuma borscht (sp?), 1 piece of lasagna, 1 serving of salad with Ranch dressing, 3 homemade buns, 2 cupcakes, 1 cinnamon bun with butter
· Morning of: Nothing
Well, as for the food monitoring, I can already tell you that after looking back at just one day, I can’t believe I eat that much!!! Yikes... I guess I need to start realizing that every ounce I shove down my throat is just that much more I have to lug up the hills with me on my next ride...
The ride in this morning was pretty good. I just about wiped out again on the trail network out of Juniper. Not in the same spot, but at a quick little switchback where I drop down and then have to bank up the edge right away to make the turn. I tried to go too slow and ended up dragging my rear wheel out of position. Oops! No harm done, though... This time at least. The rest of the ride out to Valleyview and then to Lansdowne wasn’t too bad. 20 minutes, which is average. Not amazing, but not slow. I was spinning in the big ring for most of the way.
From TRU, however, I felt pretty dead. I didn’t stop, but I was definitely spinning a lot slower than normal. In fact, by the time I made it up to Dufferin, I cruised along at about 20 km/h where I normally average speeds closer to 30. It showed in my time of 28.5 minutes for sure, as my last two days were 25 and 26.5. I crossed over Hillside and rode up on the street at the first entrance to the mall (yeah, I’m paranoid about getting that $110 fine for sidewalk riding). Only 2 or 3 vehicles passed me by the time I got up to Canadian Tire, so that was good for it to be that quiet.
I’m thinking about heading in to Lansdowne 10 minutes earlier and try catching the Summit bus at 7am instead. This would get me to TRU at 7:10 (instead of 7:25) and then I would attempt riding over the hill through the Kenna Cartwright park instead of taking the streets. It would be a tough climb up the north side of the hill, but then some fun, quick trails coming down into Dufferin before I’d have to get back on the street up to work. Dave took this way the other day and said it took him 20 minutes, so for me, that should be about 40 right? :) Once I know how long it would take me, I could go back to the #7 bus at 7:15, but for the first few times this would give me some extra time to find my way across the ridge.
The other thought is when will I start riding the whole way from home? Well, seeing as how I’ve been riding from TRU now for a couple of weeks, and feeling so exhausted by the end of the week, I don’t think I’m ready for that type of work out yet. But I think maybe this idea of riding through Kenna Cartwright might be a better option, as it shouldn’t add that much to my climbing already, or time for that matter, but would keep me on trails longer which is really where the fun is!
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