Day 144-Weigh-in Day: 320.6lbs I've Been Doing This 5 Months!!

WEEK 20

Start Weight: 365.4

Last Week's Weight: 318.6

Current Weight: 320.6

This Week’s Weight Loss: +2lbs

Total Weight Loss: 44.8lbs

Miles Biked this Week: 88.62

Total Miles Biked: 1224.45

Miles to Go: 6275.55

GEOGRAPHY (Where I'd be on the map having started at my house in Salt Lake City, Utah, heading for Tokyo):

Pacific Ocean (520 miles off the west coast. I am heading for the Hawaiian Islands)

WEEK’S MILEAGE

Monday: 20.37

Tuesday: 20.11

Wednesday: 24.45

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 23.72

ATTENTION!

I’m at the 5-month mark of my challenge. I think I am going to hit the 50-lbs lost mark this coming week…I'm going to work hard to get there...let’s see what happens.

TODAY:

I just got back from an almost 24 mile bike ride. This was no ordinary ride. It was a constant ascent up to the base of the Wasatch Mountains of about 750 feet in elevation gain. The ride is about 40 blocks of eastward climbing. The steepest part of the ride is a 7% grade. If you look at the hill while climbing it it’s mentally defeating. I literally had to get into 1^st gear and just ride the best I could. I had to stop and take 3, 60 second rests. It’s steep! The route is part of the Utah Marathon Bike Tour that I signed up for this October. If I can get that far today, with some practice, I think I can do it without stopping. We did about half of the route, but it’s the hardest part of the route with a lot of hill climbing.

I went with a friend who is an ox on his bike and it was good to see that he even had to take a breather on the monster hill at 2300 East 4500 South, heading East. He can sit and talk and talk while taking the climbing, while I’m pedaling and huffing and puffing.

LEARNED:

This week I kind of got burned out physically and mentally. I took a couple of days off from riding and it did the trick! So I learned that along with a lot of hard work, it’s good to take a break and forget about what it was that drove you to take the break. My dilemma is that I have to get 7500 miles in in just over a year, and riding 100 miles a week isn’t going to get me there. I figure that I will be slowly but surely riding longer and longer distances.

Back to my ride this morning…

I cannot believe I was doing and going where I went. If someone told me 5 months ago that I’d be climbing hills of this size, I’d have given up immediately. All of these baby steps are leading somewhere. I did 750 feet of elevation climb today, but getting to Mount Fuji from Tokyo, if I recall correctly is about 4000 feet of elevation climb! So, I’ve just scratched the surface!! Oh my gosh. But we’re going to do it.

EATING:

This week was my birthday, and despite that, I ate pretty healthy. I will say that I ate:

-A chocolate dipped ice cream cone

-Veal parmesan and spaghetti

-A piece of pizza

-A cookie

-A bowl of mac and cheese

-A sliver of cheese cake

Some of these items were centered around my birthday, but they really aren’t something for me to worry about…as I have learned. What’s funny is that I used to eat 3 times as bad as this during a regular week before I started my challenge. Being conscious about what goes into our mouths is important. Every one of those items above I thought about before eating. I simply gave myself permission this week. I will say too that I also ate:

-Lots of spinach

-Apples

-Bananas

-Chicken Breast

-Oatmeal

-Chicken Breast

-Salad

-Chicken Breast

And, did I mention Chicken Breast?

FILM:

Surprise coming soon.

Me and a biking buddy, "The Ox" with Mount Olympus behind us.

Standing on Wasatch Blvd, looking back at the Salt Lake Valley. The hill we just came up is a 7% grade!

Today's t-shirt of choice.