Rest Day

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This cat was at rest in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Amazingly close considering I was behind a barrier and shooting with a 50mm lens.

Sunday was a rest day which meant that I did not engage in any strenuous exercise. I also took in a few more calories.

I will be traveling on business over the next three days which makes following my current plan a bit difficult. I’ll share with you my strategies for staying fit while traveling over the next few days.

Breakfast
Calories: 140, Carbs: 14 grams, Protein: 20 grams, Fat: 0 grams

Lunch
Calories: 423, Carbs 52 grams, Protein: 19 grams, Fat: 16 grams

Dinner
Calories: 862, Carbs: 121 grams, Protein: 47 grams, Fat: 21 grams

Supplemental
Calories: 305, Carbs: 51 grams, Protein: 12 grams, Fat: 5 grams

Total intake
Calories: 1,731, Carbs: 238, Protein: 98 grams, Fat: 42 grams
Sodium intake of 2,529 mg and total fibre intake of 25 grams.

Exercise

Rest day.

Stretching

I did do some light stretching.

Saturday’s Circuit

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Tough intervals on Saturday. I have made the switch from base building to interval and speed work. And it is really, really hard climbing. This tough training will pay off when I hit the street in another four or five weeks. At least, that is my hope.

There are two intervals that I find particularly challenging. There is a style of interval training called Low BRO. Basically you push a really hard gear at a very low RPM (Low RPM, Big Ring Only).

I typically ride at a fairly high cadence — in the low 90s. For the Low BRO interval, I am pushing a hard gear at 40 to 50 RPM. 5 minutes with a 1 minute recovery, then 4 minutes with a 1 minute recovery, 3, 2, and 1.

The other interval is a progressive climb. Start with a very high cadence, over 110 RPM, and then shift to a harder gear every 20 seconds for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. By the end, I am struggling to keep the cadence above 60 RPM.

Getting on the bike is the hardest part. It is mostly psychological. I know that the next hour or so will be very demanding and, candidly, a bit unpleasant.

Nothing beats the feeling once I get off the machine.

Here is a screenshot of my nutrition plan from yesterday.

I use software to track exercise and diet. Basically I have shifted my target intake to favour increased protein and lowered fat.

Breakfast
Calories: 140, Carbs: 14 grams, Protein: 20 grams, Fat: 0 grams

Lunch
Calories: 363, Carbs 36 grams, Protein: 19 grams, Fat: 16 grams

Dinner
Calories: 733, Carbs: 104 grams, Protein: 45 grams, Fat: 16 grams

Supplemental
Calories: 330, Carbs: 50 grams, Protein: 25 grams, Fat: 3 grams

Total intake
Calories: 1,566, Carbs: 204, Protein: 108 grams, Fat: 35 grams
Sodium intake of 1,999 mg and total fibre intake of 16 grams.

Exercise

My spinning ride burned 780 calories so my net caloric intake was 786 calories. Might need to head out to Denny’s for a comfort food meal.

Stretching

Finally got to some stretching.

Spinning

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Did all of the work as planned yesterday.

And for those of you who wrote to me with concern about the low calorie intake, well, it is actually a bit worse than what I have been reporting. That caloric intake is gross and not net. I burn about 600 calories an hour on the bike. And with this nutrition plan, I have a bit of a deficit.

Nutrition

Same exact meal plan as before with one exception. I did an outside lunch and I consumed an omelette and some toast. Hard to estimate a restaurant meal so I erred on the liberal side of the meal hence the high fat count for lunch.

Breakfast
Calories: 140, Carbs: 14 grams, Protein: 20 grams, Fat: 0 grams

Lunch
Calories: 595, Carbs 46 grams, Protein: 28 grams, Fat: 32 grams

Dinner
Calories: 733, Carbs: 104 grams, Protein: 45 grams, Fat: 16 grams

Total intake
Calories: 1,468, Carbs: 164, Protein: 93 grams, Fat: 48 grams
Sodium intake of 1,687mg and total fibre intake of 19 grams.

Exercise

My spinning ride burned 625 calories this morning so my net caloric intake was 844 calories. Too low so I will be eating a few hundred more calories.

Stretching

Another fail on the stretching side. Sigh.

New Training Wheels

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As you can see from the photo, I have my new training wheels ready for when I finish my spinning routine this evening. The Florida endurance ride. It will be 1 hour and 10 minutes of pain.

You can review the gruesome details by downloading this pdf.

Nutrition

Yesterday’s nutrition plan was achieved with no variance. Today’s nutrition plan is the same menu plan:

Breakfast
Calories: 140, Carbs: 14 grams, Protein: 20 grams, Fat: 0 grams

Lunch
Calories: 390, Carbs 52 grams, Protein: 24 grams, Fat: 11 grams

Dinner
Calories: 733, Carbs: 104 grams, Protein: 45 grams, Fat: 16 grams

Total intake
Calories: 1,265, Carbs: 170, Protein: 89 grams, Fat: 27 grams
Sodium intake of 1,859mg and total fibre intake of 17 grams.

Exercise

Yesterday, my trainer put me through some difficult exercises. The Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) will kick in tomorrow — along with some significant quad pain from this evening’s planned ride.

Stretching

Fail. By the time I finished my routine with my trainer last night, I completely neglected post-exercise stretching. Must stretch this evening.

Training Wheels

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February in Canada. The days slowly start to get longer. No longer does it become pitch black at 4:30 in the afternoon. Sunset is closer to 6pm now. And outdoor cycling will start soon. 5 more weeks if not earlier.

I will be posting on my training plan over the next few weeks. Primarily so that I can look back on what I achieved as part of my indoor base building in anticipation of the outdoor riding season. The updates will be relatively brief but they will cover three areas: nutrition, exercise, stretching. A little more detail in this first post but as my nutrition plan is fairly static and basic, most items will not change day-to-day.

Today’s Nutrition Plan

Breakfast
Calories: 140, Carbs: 14 grams, Protein: 20 grams, Fat: 0 grams

500ml of water
1 cup of Green tea
Strawberry protein smoothie (skim milk, protein supplement, strawberries and ice)

Lunch
Calories: 390, Carbs 52 grams, Protein: 24 grams, Fat: 11 grams

Carrots (2 servings)
Apple
2 slices multigrain bread
Turkey
Swiss cheese
Mustard
1 litre of water
1 cup of Green tea

Dinner
Calories: 733, Carbs: 104 grams, Protein: 45 grams, Fat: 16 grams

Broccoli (2 servings)
Beef casserole
Yogurt
2 slices multigrain bread with strawberry jam
1 litre of water
1 cup of Green tea

Total intake
Calories: 1,265, Carbs: 170, Protein: 89 grams, Fat: 27 grams

This nutrition plan will see total sodium intake of 1,859mg and total fibre intake of 17 grams.

My supplements are pretty simple: 4,000mg of enteric-coated fish oil concentrates — aka Omega-3s — and two high potency multi-vitamin and mineral capsules. Both are sourced from Genuine Health.

Exercise Plan

No cycling today. I know, I know. Shouldn’t a cyclist in training be spinning everyday?

I alternate spinning sessions with core conditioning. I have my regular workout session with my personal trainer this evening. We will work on core conditioning for one hour.

I do not know the exercises for today — my trainer believes in surprise routines over specific routines — but I do know that we will do 6 different exercises with each one repeated 3 three times.

The exercises are very challenging and I usually burn 300 to 400 calories for the hour.

Stretching

This is one area where I have to put more focus. I should be stretching at least 30 minutes a day. I will aim for that target today.

I will update the specifics tomorrow along with an abbreviated plan for the day.

Adult Ear Infection

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Adult ear infections are just not fun.

Almost 8 weeks ago, I basically lost my hearing in my right ear. Attenuation was down almost 26 dB on the core frequencies between 200 Hz and 5 kHz. I could not perceive any sound above 8 kHz  or below 175 Hz. And even the sound I could perceive in the lower frequencies was significantly off pitch compared to my left ear. For the most part, I really could not perceive any external sound from the right ear and I lived in this unusual world of being physically challenged with profound hearing loss.

How would I describe the experience? In a word, terrifying. And it became very disheartening as the weeks went by and there was no real improvement in my hearing.

After church on Sunday I went out for a bike ride. A really hard ride. I was so angry and so frustrated that the infection was not clearing that I took it all out on the ride.

When I returned home, aside from completely obliterating my previous personal best time and pace, something happened.

I was carrying the bike from the road on our gravel drive when an explosive sound suddenly took place in my right ear. Sound! I could hear again. Sounds from the forest on our property. Sounds from my feet making contact with the gravel road. Sounds from my hands brushing my clothing. The infection had cleared and my hearing was finally restored.

I tested my hearing this morning and all frequencies from a low of 25 Hz to about 14 kHz were consistent in pitch and amplitude.

Very thankful that the condition has healed on its own. I had read reports that ear infections can take several months for the fluid to drain and for proper hearing to resume. I remember reading one website where someone said that you have to be patient. My wife told me that I was being taught a lesson in patience. I hope I do not have too many more lessons like this one. Stressful and exhausting.

I was able to get back to some audio work last night and early this morning. I also listened to a movie on the surround sound system. So nice to hear again.

Terrific Tuesday

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So many things to be happy about on Tuesday.

  • I had a chance to enjoy some tea with my wife downtown.
  • The drummer in our band brought his kit out to my studio. This means that we can finally start some tracking. And with my current hearing issues, I won’t need to worry about how loud he plays.
  • New tires for my car are in stock and ready to be installed on Thursday. Soon there will be an end to all of those Tire Pressure Monitoring System alerts. Soon there will be an end to stopping by the gas station to pump air into tires.
  • I was able to re-arrange and simplify the studio. Partly to make room for the second drumkit and partly to make it a nicer space for recording. It looks great. Very minimalist and functional. Just the way I like it.
  • I caught the last sprint on stage 10 of the Tour de France. Surprise, surprise. Andre Griepel beat Mark Cavendish. Griepel is nicknamed the Gorilla. He stands just a touch over 6 feet and weighs 179 pounds. He can also produce 1,800 watts of power on a sprint. Cavendish can only get about 1,300 watts. Mere mortals struggle to get 700 watts or so when sprinting. Those guys are fast. And strong.
  • Spent some time with my Tom Anderson Drop Top. That guitar has been a bit neglected as I have been spending most of my time with the Collings. But I still really like the Tom Anderson. Awesome guitar.
  • I’m happy that my son got me an invite on Google Plus last week. Yesterday, I decided that I quite like Google Plus. Even after the first week. My friends are not so active now but a lot of the folks I follow are giving it a good workout.

Amazing Monday

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Monday proved to be an awesome day.

  • My new Soundcraft mixer arrived. At 7 in the morning no less. It was hard to break away from the machine to get out to work.
  • I drove in to work with my son. I really enjoy being able to spend some time with him.
  • I finally hit 2.25lbs per inch of body weight. Same as the average weight of the Tour de France riders. Now if only I could get their speed.
  • My personal trainer tried to break me. But he failed. I got through the workout, the toughest one this year, in one piece. At least until he left the house. Then I collapsed.
  • I was able to spend some time with my lovely wife. She makes my day. Every day. Even when I forget to tell her.
  • We are getting ready for our vacation in a few weeks and Lorraine and I spent some time taking about some of the shipboard activities. I am really excited about the upcoming trip and the opportunity to spend time with my wife and my youngest son.
  • And I was able to test the new mixer late last night. Although I still cannot hear very well with my right ear, I was able to hear well enough on the headphones. Almost normal.