Exercise update…

I think I’ve been abandoned by my walking partner (what is it about me that I can’t keep a walking partner???), so I’ve been biking more. I’ve even biked the hilly route. Twice! Though I haven’t attempted Karen’s hill yet.

They’ve extended the bike trail at the end of my hilly route under I-80, so it hooks up with my flat route and I can make a nice 17+ mile loop (the plus depends on whether I circle the water treatment plant more than once, whether I continue on to campus or just head home from City Park etc). I had a pretty good ride today. I’m definitely getting stronger. Not as strong as I was last summer, but definitely stronger. I think the extra 8 pounds (it was 10 a couple weeks ago!) I’m carrying around since last summer has something to do with that. (Now, if I REALLY wanted to lose weight, I’d post my weight every day along with every single thing I put into my mouth on a given day… I bet that would be REALLY motivating. Unfortunately, I’m not that motivated to lose the weight yet…)

I did the hills much better today. The last time I was down in about the third lowest gear possible. Today, I was more in the middle. I actually turned on the cadence thingie, which helped quite a bit. For one thing, it gave me something else to concentrate on besides how much I hate to bike up hills. I try to maintain an 80-85 cadence on the flat part and 60 on the hills.

My husband, who was SO obsessed about biking last summer has hardly been out on his bike at all this year. I may actually be able to keep up with him better this year. Even without the biking shoes (which I really don’t want — see my rant on “serious bike people” that I posted sometime in May. I do NOT need to be one with my bike…).