150 miles and a bee sting for memorial day...

(9 months post op) i'll keep this short, mostly cuz i'm tired :) 3 x 50 milers give me 150 miles on the long weekend. had to kick summer off right. oddly enough today's 50 was easier. eating gu on the ride and drinking a combo of yoohoo and soymilk for a recovery drink and REALLY focusing on riding with a high cadence. doing that has made me feel a lot better on the rides the following day. however, i ate like crap again this week but i emptied the fridge of all crap and through it away. then proceeded to grill some pork, ground beef and chicken. i also made some smashed potatoes. 

btw, i got stung by bee 2 miles into my ride and other than your eye what is the worst place to get stung when riding? behind your knee!!! you know, so every pedal stroke it gets aggravated!!! after about 15 mins the pain was ignorable and after an hour i didn't feel it much at all. but what kind of act God does it take for a bee to get blown sideways into and behind my knee just before it closes. i know that when i do my ironman things will probably not go smoothly so facing adversity now will only make me better.

weight: 282.4 lbs

-bee sting memorial dominator

broken pedal...

(8 months 3 weeks post op) well, i ate like crap the whole week. only ate a home cooked meal for dinner once this past week. the only thing that caused weight loss this week was the miles i put in.

broken pedal story: so saturday i ride 50 miles and decided i needed insulated water bottles. my three non insulated bottles, two of which started off as solid ice, were all melted after 90 minutes. so on sunday i head out for another 50 miler with 3 insulated bottles. i make it down ascension hill and hear a pop. didn't really make anything of it. then i get off my bike to walk it down to the trail. when i try to clip back in it doesn't work. that pop i heard was the spring breaking on the pedal. so i was planning on riding 50 miles and now i'm at the bottom of ascension hill with a broken pedal. what to do??? i rode back to the house, swapped out the pedal then headed back out to the trail. that was an extra 3.5 miles i wasn't plan on riding but hey, nothing can stop the determined.

the bad news is that crank brothers doesn't make quattro pedals anymore. so i'm hoping they can be rebuilt.

weight: 283.8 lbs

-broken pedal dominator

back to my original FAT self...

(8 months 2 weeks post-op) concentrated on diet AND exercise. the result was almost FIVE pounds lost this week. 

eating the chicken for breakfast really helped. my new thing when it comes to eating out is this: plan to NOT take anything home. in other words, if i can't eat it there then don't order it. i noticed i had been planning on taking food home because i can't finish what i order. but this last month i noticed i can eat a whole piece of fish and most of the veggies if that's what i order. focusing on those good options served me well this week.

that said, i also cranked up the mileage to 50. i'm trying to make sure when i pull out the road bike to get 50 miles in. or if it's the mtn bike to ride at least 15 miles. the funny thing is, i'm burning less calories than i was a month ago even though i'm riding further. yesterday i rode over 20 miles in an hour and a half and barely cracked 1000 calories. 1002 to be exact. but what i think is this: time on the bike matters more than calories burned as it relates to weight loss. the longer you're on the bike is the longer you're NOT in front of the tv, refrigerator, bed or couch. and the longer you were on the bike the longer it takes your body to get comfortable when you get off. that means it takes you longer for your appetite to return. this is at least my observation. 

anyways, this is a MAJOR milestone. 287 was the fattest i had ever been in my life until severe depression kicked in after my fiancee left. me being under that means i'm free from the anchor depression strapped me with. now, i'm just a fat version of me...and NOT that other guy that had been occupying my body the last 5 years. and THAT is more awesome than i can put into words.

weight: 285.2 lbs

-back to plain ole FAT dominator

May i focus on endurance...

(8 months 1 week post-op) so for the month of May i'm focusing on endurance. April was about getting out a lot and taking pictures. so my official stats for April was:
555 miles
44 hours
just under 10,000 ft climbed
40000+ calories burned
10lbs lost

that's doing it for a just under 300lbs dude, wouldn't you say? so this month i need to start pushing the limits. i need to get my fat ass used to being in the saddle over 2.5 hours. so i'm going to try to crank my base up to 40 and when i get faster to 50 miles. right now it takes me 3:40 to ride 50 and that's too long to do regularly. but if i can get that under 3 then it's doable. but for me to do that...i have to crank up the mileage.

diet: the dark horse in the room... i made a bunch of grilled chicken this weekend and grilled skirt steak. i put them in a bunch of 8oz containers and if i need something quick to eat i pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds and i'm off. i'm also making (very fattening) mashed potatoes. why? because i little bit with something healthy satisfies that naughyness in the taste buds you need every now and then. and besides they're better for you than french fries :)

almost 2 lbs lost this week and i'll take it, seeing as how i had 2 pints of ben and jerrys this week. yeah, yeah, i know :)

weight: 289.8 lbs

-yes you May, dominator