Cycling Summary – January 2011

January wrapped up with a lovely day for riding, so I got one last ride today.  That brought me to 212 miles for the month, a great start to my goal of 2000 miles for the year.  I need to average 167 miles a month to meet the goal, so doing good so far.  So I think January was a big success and I think I’m also down at least 6 lbs, if not more.

Here is the monthly report:

 

Here’s how my cycling was spaced out over the month:

 

 

Daily Update – 1.30.11

I was dreading today, but it ended up better than expected.  Got work done, then had a decent soccer game.  We lost, but not by too much against a team that was one of the better ones.  We all showed a lot of improvement over the course of the season, so that’s great.  Next up is outdoor 7v7 soccer starting Feb 20.

Then, we got home in time for a bike ride, and Laurie agreed to go even though she is pretty sore.  We did an easy 10 mile ride, meaning we rode at a pretty slow pace.  My big achievement was staying in 2nd gear the entire time.  I usually drop down to my lowest gear for a couple inclines, but I wanted to practice getting through them in 2nd, and I succeeded.  So that’s a big yay.

Finally, headed out to dinner with a couple friends, which was fun and nice.

So, a fairly decent day.  Unfortunately, tomorrow brings the start of school and with it probably a ton of busyness.  I’m hoping my fitness doesn’t suffer, but it’s going to be quite hard to fit everything I want to do each day into the few hours I’ll have.  One class I’ll be taking prepares me for my midpoint review – which is where I try to gain approval for my final thesis topic.  I expect it to be pretty stressful.  The other class is another experimental photography class, which will probably be time intensive.  So I hope things go okay, but I’m certainly apprehensive.

Daily Update 1.29.11

The highlight of my day was our 20 mile bike ride.  My legs felt a lot more fresh after 2 days rest.  My knee didn’t want to be pushed, but as long as I kept a decent spin going, it was fine.  Laurie and I had two small sprint races, and she won both.  She can accelerate really quickly.  I’d like to figure out how.  So because of that, she gets a nice lead, and in a small sprint, I don’t have time to catch up.  But it was fun nevertheless.  But just riding was good too.  We started out on our own, but a Hill Country AIDS ride training ride was going on, so we were frequently mixed in with that.  Nice to see a lot of cyclists out.  Our moving speed was pretty sad – still 12.9 miles.  Laurie was tired for the tail end of the ride, so our speed got slowed because of that.  But still, it’s going to be hard to get 14 mph or more going on.  I guess losing weight will be a vital part of reaching that goal.

Here’s a look at our data:

The rest of the day was basically spent at work, so not very exciting.  I want to go out riding again tomorrow, but alas, more work.  Too much work.  And school starts Monday.  So not happy about working both days of the weekend right before school.  But oh well.  Perhaps I can get a quick ride in after soccer tomorrow.   It’ll probably be too late, but maybe.  Next week is going to be extreme (for texas) cold weather, so probably not much bike riding.

Daily Update 1.28.11

Not much to report on today.  Rather uneventful and a bit blah.  The most fun part of my day was probably raking leaves in the backyard.  Odd, yes.  But I do find it relaxing to just poke around the yard and spend time noticing everything going on and changing.  The weather was great, so just a nice time to be outside.

I skipped the bike ride to continue letting the knee get 100%.  Not there yet, but I think it improved.  I am hoping to ride on Saturday.

That’s about it .  We did attend a poetry reading briefly to listen to a friend read her poem.  It was very good – one of those poems that has a good point that leads to contemplation.  I was very impressed and jealous.

Daily Update 1.27.11

The highlight of today was going to see a theatrical performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, one of Oscar Wilde’s plays.  It was put on by the Austin Playhouse.  I thought it was a pretty good production for a small theatre group.  The costumes and actors were done excellently, in a manner Wilde would most definitely approve of.  It makes me want to re-read Wilde.

The odd thing about the performance was the audience.  It was 95% senior citizens.  I think we happened to get tickets the same night as a group home of some sort came to the show.  Not that it really mattered, just an interesting observation.

The rest of my day was spent taking a trip to Lockhart to meet my parents and do some stuff on the Lockhart house.  I also managed to get in some weight lifting.  My knee is still sore, but an odd sort of sore.  I don’t think it’s the knee exactly.  Perhaps a very high shin splint?

Daily Update 1.26.11

Not much to report today.  I did another 12 mile bike ride around Shoal Creek, which brings my monthly total to 170 miles.  I need to average 167 miles a month to be on track for 2ooo for the year.  So it looks like I should be able to keep on track, if not go a good deal past it.  Barring injuries of course.  My knee started to hurt later in the day, but since it was fine immediately after the ride, I’m hoping it’s just a momentary thing.  Sometimes a body part will hurt for a few hours,  then stop.

Other than that, I worked.  And I started buying my school supplies.  Classes start Monday, so I’m a little behind.  But I like to see if we really need them or not.  Sometimes the professors will clarify once classes begin and you end up not needing something.

Daily Update 1.25.11

Today’s biggest issue was having our tenants unexpectedly move out, without the 30 day notice.  That’s tough to deal with, as we now have to scramble for new tenants.  It’s very stressful for Laurie and me, as we tend to be super nice landlords, and to not get the same back is depressing.

But, things could be worse, so we’ll deal for now.  Despite that drama, we still managed to get to the gym and do some weight lifting.  My reps went down, as my muscles felt super tired.  There’s not any real reason for that, so I’m not sure what’s going on.  Perhaps I need to eat more protein?

I managed another 5 miles on the bike, but it was 2.5 miles each way to and from work.  It’s all adding up to a nice January total though.

Book Review: Reading Women by Stephanie Staal (3/52)

Reading Women is half memoir and half women studies book.  Stephanie Staal reaches a point in her life where she finds herself married and with a child, having given up a successful career, focusing on the family.  She starts to wonder what happened to her feminist ideals and whether she could still call herself a feminist or not.

To answer these questions, she heads back to school to retake the Feminist Texts class she took years ago. From this point, we learn how Staal relates to these texts in the new context of her life with a family and set in her life, as opposed to a young college student with nearly unlimited options in life. Her comparison between the readings in each stage of her life makes for a unique look at how the messages in each book she reads has changed over the course of her life.  It shows how people can gather different things from a book depending on their situation, but also how they can still provide inspiration and wisdom over the course of time.

Reading Women is a great mixture of a memoir giving us a peak into the life of a woman struggling to reconcile various aspects of her life, and a look at the great women writers who influenced and led the Feminist movement.

Daily Update 1.24.11

Today featured a 12 mile bike ride.  8 miles has gotten a bit too easy, so I’m trying to add in another loop.  I tried to push things, but it felt like the wind was holding me back a bit.  Not sure if that was true or not, but it felt like it.  So, it was nice to get 57 minutes of exercise in.  If I tried to exercise for an hour in the gym, I’d be bored out of my mind and very annoyed.  It’s easier on a bike because you have more thing to think about and distract yourself with.

I also finished up the book I started last night.  I need to write up a review of it, but don’t have that together yet.

I also played a practice tennis match with a few of my teammates from the tennis team.  I thought I played pretty good.  My shots were good, for the most part.  Serves were nice.  Volleys acceptable.  I’m also feeling faster on the court too, which is letting me have a bit better court coverage.  The only negative were my overheads, which were atrocious.

So good day overall.  But I’m having to try to get to bed early, because I have to get up early.  I hate trying to adjust my sleep schedule.  My body gets used to one thing and doesn’t like to go back and forth.

Daily Update – 1.23.11

Today was soccer day.  It was the second to last game in our winter 3v3 league.  Another good game, good enough for a win, even.  I had some nice touch shots and more good dribbling and passing.  But everyone on the team did too, which was great.  We all played well and definitely are seeing improvement in our game.

The dogs got a walk.  Then in the evening we went to see a play of Ayn Rand’s Anthem.  It was a bit overly dramatic for me.  The words were too convoluted as well.  But it was interesting to see it as the starting block for Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  I so see her work as an ETHICAL philosophy.  I can’t understand how people want to do nothing but talk about her economics. I get annoyed to no end.  It’s all about being true to yourself, finding out who you are and what makes you happy, and following a path in life you can be proud of with no regrets.  When all people want to do is yap about capitalism, I get incredibly annoyed.

I started reading Reading Women by Stephanie Staal.  It’s the story of a feminist mother who is uncomfortable turning into domesticated housewife/mother, so she decides to audit a Feminist Texts class she took in college again as an adult.  During her re-reading of texts, she comes to see how her interpretations of them change.  I think it’s interesting to hear this, as students have to deal with professors who are at different points in their life.  How can the two really be on the same wave-length when discussing these texts?  As a student, I remember, and still experience, the pressure to figure out what the professor is after and present that as your ideas and work.  If you care about getting a good grade, you have to suck-up, in a manner of speaking.

Related, while at the Ayn Rand play tonight, I was thinking how I was actually a bit afraid to go re-read the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  I loved these books as a college student, and I’d hate to re-read them and find out I don’t like them as much anymore.  Truthfully, I think I’d still find them just as good, but you never know.