Live The Active Life

Well, my wife and I are back from a week out of town, visiting friends out West in New Mexico and Colorado. The vacation was a much needed break but now that we are back it’s time to get back into our healthy/active lifestyle.

While we were gone I didn’t ride at all but we did manage to get in a couple of nice hikes in the mountains. We ate a lot of New Mexican and Southwestern style cooking which includes a decent amount of cheese. So diet wasn’t the best, but not too bad considering. Now that we are back to our “normal” lifestyle we can focus on getting regular exercise and eating better.

Breaks Are Important

Taking a break from the normal day-to-day routine is very important. Breaks allow us time to recharge our batteries, relax a little, and do something different. I am amazed how even a long weekend away from the routine can make a big impact on attitude and motivation. Now that we are in the traditional Summer travel season, many of us will be taking some time off. If you haven’t had a vacation in a while, make sure to plan one.

Vacations Don’t Have To Be Expensive

You don’t have to jet off to somewhere exotic to have a good vacation. The important thing is to do something different, wherever that is. You could have a perfectly nice vacation in your home town by visiting some of the places you never get to because you are too busy the rest of the time. As long as you are truly away from work and the regular routine, a “hometown vacation” can be a great way to relax and save money at the same time.

Try To Stay Active

During our vacations we have tried to at least stay a little active by integrating some hikes or other outdoor activities into our schedule. Whatever you are into as far as activity goes, mix a little of that into your vacation. Use the vacation as a way to try something new. You might just enjoy it and find something to add to your routine when you get back home.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be taking some time off to spend with family. I hope to be back into the posting mode by the end of next week.

Until then, stay active and enjoy the beginning of Summer

This past week was the best of the year as far as activity goes.  I was a little motivated to do a lot of work this week since I will be taking some time off the bike over the long Memorial Day weekend.  We are also adapting to the new, and mostly better, lifestyle changes required by my wife’s recent news (hopefully more on that within the week).  Here are the details:

Road Biking

This past week was my best on the bike in a long time.  I got a little over 8 hours of riding in for a total of 153 miles.  I rode on my own Tuesday-Thursday.  On Saturday I went with a group and got a fairly challenging 37 miles in.  To top off the week I rode with a buddy for 50 miles on Sunday morning and then did an extra 15 by myself for a total of 65 miles.  My body is adapting well to my new longer rides and I feel great.

Healthy Eating

As I’ve alluded to in a couple of posts, we have had to make some changes to our diet patterns due to a recent diagnoses my wife received.  As a result of her new “condition” she has pretty much had to eliminate alcohol from her diet (no, she’s not pregnant).  The medication she is taking can have serious side effects if anything more than a very small amount of beer or wine is consumed.  As a result of this, we no longer have any wine in the house.  I still drink a little beer but the total amount of alcohol consumed is now much less.  The end result is that our overall diet has improved and we aren’t complaining about that.

The Week Ahead

With the Memorial Day weekend coming up I will have to take time off of the bike as a result of family activities.  I plan on riding Tuesday and Wednesday and then taking a few days off.  My fitness shouldn’t be affected too much and the time off will probably help.  I just need to make sure to get back into things as quickly as possible without overdoing it.  I’ll report back after the long weekend.

This is the update of my most recent week of activity.  For those paying attention, I skipped an official #10 weekly update but pretty much covered everything in my century ride recap post.

Back to full strength

That is how I felt midway through last week, the week after my hilly century ride.  I didn’t think it would take until Wednesday to recover from the ride but it did.  I finally felt 100 percent again and it felt good.  I rode easy Monday and Tuesday because my legs were still tired.  On Wednesday I got a good solid hour in.  The weekend was great.  I got a nice hard hour ride in on Saturday and a 3 hour, 55 mile ride in early Sunday morning.  All in all I got just over 100 miles of riding in for the week, totalling a little over 6 hours.

Eating Healthy Again

After satisfying my post century craving for butter, protein and fat I got back on the the healthy eating bus Monday.  I finished out the week eating my usual mix of 60-70% carbs, 20% fat and 20% protein.  We finished up the week with some yummy homemade grilled fish tacos on Sunday.

Lifestyle Changing News

Last week also included some lifestyle changing news for my wife, and me secondarily.  It is nothing grave, just something that she will have to manage and as a result she will have to make some changes in her life.  Hopefully I’ll be able to write a more detailed post about it soon.  It will be up to my wife if she wants me to “tell the world” about it here.  Stay tuned. 

This week is starting out good.  I’ll give you all an update next week.  Until then, Keep Moving! 

Image via WikipediaAnyone who has exercised on a regular basis has probably assumed that the exercise was helping their heart, but might not think that it can actually “sculpt” it. Well, a recent article suggests just that. Researchers found a distinct structural effect on the shape of the hearts of those who did endurance exercise vs. those who did strength building exercise. Endurance athletes showed a change in both ventricles (sides) of the heart while strength training changed just the left ventricle. What does this mean? It could mean that endurance, or aerobic, exercise is better for your heart. That seems pretty logical but this article adds more validity to it.

I have always been a believer in the idea that endurance training is better for you than strength training, from a heart health perspective. This is just one more piece of evidence that you can really benefit from a structured endurance training program, whether that is jogging, cycling, or swimming. Strength training is also an important part, just not so important from the heart health end of things.

Read the article for more information than make your own judgment.