Getting back to the blog.

 Getting back to the blog.

I have been exercising the past few weeks but have not had the care to update the blog. The last update is a good part of the reason. I needed time to just not think about what to write about and process things. I am feeling more up to it again and decided today to update about the journey. 



I have been cycling as much as I can still and it has been going well. I am not seeing much improvement on my speed or losing any weight. For the weight portion of things I have been eating VERY poorly the past few weeks. I stopped really measuring out my food and not counting any calories. This has resulted in a minor setback with some weight gain and a clear increase of fat around my belly. Its nothing drastic I am still well under the start of the journey a year ago but its not good either. I did not expect weight to come on as quickly as it did as I have still been cycling almost every day. I am up to 162 LBS according to my scale today. I was hovering around 155 or so for the past few months so its might not seem like a lot of weight but I can see it and feel it. I do not regret ignoring my diet as I needed time to not think about it for a while but now that I feel a bit better its time to diet once again. 

As for my speed not improving there are a few reasons to that and the main problem right now is the bike I am riding most often. The Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer needs upgrades very soon. I started picking out a few parts to replace things with but have not purchased everything yet. I have some new tires already waiting to be put on the bike but that is not the major problem with it right now. I have been riding it as it came from the factory and took little care of it. I expected it was going to be a 1 season bike but it has proven to be a much better bike than I thought it would be. I do not care what the weather is outside I am riding my bike, with the exception of deep snow. That and riding for close to 2000 miles has taken a toll on the parts. The bike is still safe to ride but the chain rub on the front derailleur has mad ethe chain need to be replaced.  The rain has caused some rust on the cogs on the front and back of the bike and the bottom bracket feels rough. I have taken the chain off to spin it and it feels like there has been some water getting in there too or something else like sand. This is not enough to make the bike feel like its broken just it takes some of the speed away from it as I ride. Once I get parts in and start replacing things I bet I will end up with a very nice ride again. 



The other reason the speed is not improving is because I am not putting in the effort to increase it all that much. I might be riding almost every day but I am not putting in effort to really get better at riding. I am coasting along at the speed I am comfortable with and not pushing myself to really go faster. The trails I ride have a good amount of gravel sections but they also have a nice multi-use path that is paved. The only restriction on it is 10 miles per hour when passing pedestrians, which I don't know how I would know if I were going 10 miles per hour as its not like my bike has a spedometer on it... There are not really that many people out at the times I go riding so I can go as fast as I like on those sections and just slow down and call out to pass by people. What I end up doing right now is sticking to my usual speed and slowing down to pass people and then slowly gain the speed back up. I could change some of this and push myself more to get more of a work out in. I am not looking to win races but I would like to be able to get more miles in for the same amount of time and really push myself. 

Triathlon and not cycling stuff.

I have wanted to do the triathlon near me for a while and I still really want to do it. I have not run in like 2 months now and still have not attempted to swim. The Triathlon is around 2 months away and I can still train for it though I am feeling like I am talking myself out of it. The sign up cost went up and I missed out on the early registration so it will be like 200 dollars to do it and right now that is a lot of money to spend just for a triathlon. I know that it would be fun and I also know its something I really wanted to do but each time I think of the cost I think about what else that 200 dollars could be spent on and I just don't end up signing up. In a few weeks I will have a way to train swimming and I could go for a run right now if I wanted to start training for running. The thing holding me back is myself and I still might end up overcoming that problem and doing it. I might also end up training for it and deciding day of if I want to do it. The cost of it will be the same from now until day of so that is something I can do. If I end up not being able to swim or just don't have the money then it is what it is I guess, though I will be upset with myself for not doing it. 

As for non-cardio or lifting weights I have not bothered to do it recently. I still have everything rotting away in my basement waiting for me to start again and I will but with the weather being nice out again I think I would rather be outside than down in a basement. I still have to think more about how I want to work weights into my routine and get something done with that. 

I am off to look at bike parts, think about how to improve, and maybe get training for a triathlon. Thank you very much for reading have and wonderful day!

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