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A noob log. Couch potato to....?

  • 16-08-2014 11:10am
    #1
    KevIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39,578 ✭✭✭✭


    I took advantage of the Bike to Work scheme to get a road bike and began taking it out this week. Was recommended by a friend to keep a log, and figured a public one here would help my motivation.

    Some background, I have zero levels of fitness and havent been on a bike since I was 14/15 (now 37). Aim is to build up fitness levels, lose some weight and most importantly get into a sport I think I will enjoy.

    Having done some reading the recommendation seemed to be to just spend some time intially getting used to the bike, so have aimed for 30 min spins each day for the first week. Have to say I am enjoying it and am not having to convince myself to get out on the bike each day.

    Any advice etc more than welcome, have gotten some good advice already from Beasty and Darkglasses on here.


Comments

  • #2
    KevIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39,578 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Week 1
    Monday 6.8km 33mins
    Tuesday 7.4km 26mins
    Wednesday 7.9km 26mins
    Thursday 9.3km 30mins
    Friday 10.5km 34mins
    Saturday 9.1km 29mins

    Will take a rest tomorrow and see what next week brings from Monday :)


  • #3
    NeedMoreGears
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,419 ✭✭✭NeedMoreGears


    We'll done. The rest day is a good idea. It will give you a chance to recover. After all the usual bike related stuff, the best advice I ever got was "don't forget this is for fun".


  • #4
    Beasty
    Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 77,496 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Beasty


    Well if you can get anywhere near matching our last couch potato the future is bright;)

    Good luck with it


  • #5
    stecleary
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,114 ✭✭✭stecleary


    3 words from a legend of the sport is a fun yet helpful way to build the distance... when your legs start to hurt just shout SHUT UP LEGS


  • #6
    KevIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39,578 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Happy to be able to give a week 2 update and still enjoying it most importantly, if I was starting to dislike the spins and they were becoming an effort to get out the door then it may not last. Aim this week was to do minimum 10K distances during the week with a longer spin at the weekend.

    Monday 10.7km 34mins
    Tuesday 13.6km 40mins
    Wednesday 14.3km 39mins
    Thursday rest
    Friday 11.6km 33mins
    Saturday 30.8km 1hr28mins

    Tomorrow will be a rest day again, total 81kms this week compared to 51kms last week. At the moment just concentrating on getting the distances up as opposed to speed but have noticed some decent improvements on the speed side of things too


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  • #7
    KevIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39,578 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Bit of a setback this week. Have a bit of history of back problems and felt my back go on Monday morning. In a fair bit of pain for the next few days so only got back on the bike on Friday and decided to take it very handy for a few spins not to risk making it worse

    Mon-Thurs nothing
    Friday 10.7kms 31mins
    Saturday 10.7kms 30mins
    Sunday 10.7kms 30mins

    Total of just 32kms for the week which is disappointing after making steady progress prior to this week. 164km total for August

    Seems to be holding up well enough so can hopefully clock up some more next week


  • #8
    Inquitus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,762 ✭✭✭✭Inquitus


    KevIRL wrote: »
    Bit of a setback this week. Have a bit of history of back problems and felt my back go on Monday morning. In a fair bit of pain for the next few days so only got back on the bike on Friday and decided to take it very handy for a few spins not to risk making it worse.

    Are you sure your bike position is optimised for you, a bad setup will give anyone back pain. Another way to try and mitigate back pain is do some core work.

    Planking 30 secs
    Mountain Climbers x 10
    Plank Pushups x 10
    rest for 1-2 minutes, repeat twice more

    Something like that can be completed once a day in less than 10 minutes


  • #9
    quozl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,308 ✭✭✭quozl


    Make sure that you're bending at the hips rather than bending your lower back. I only realised that a couple of months ago and the difference it has made to my back as the distance goes up is immense.


  • #10
    KevIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39,578 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Back into the swing of things this week, still feeling niggles in the back though and a bit apprehensive about longer spins at the moment, plan on getting the bike back to the shop I bought it in to check if its optimally fitted for me, but tricky at the mo to get the time. Still, happy enough with this weeks efforts

    Tuesday 17.4kms 45mins
    Wednesday 19.8kms 50mins
    Thursday 20.8kms 54mins
    Friday 14.9kms 38mins
    Saturday 12.3kms 33mins

    Hoped to get a bit more done earlier today but slept in a bit and badly stuck for time today. Total of 85.3kms for the week


  • #11
    KevIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39,578 ✭✭✭✭KevIRL


    Another week down, did bring the bike into the shop but the guy who does their positioning stuff wasnt there. Didnt get much in the way of back pain over the week though

    Monday 23.1kms 58mins
    Tuesday 24kms 59mins
    Wednesday 23.4kms 57mins
    Thursday 13.4kms 33mins
    Saturday 11kms 34mins

    Total of 95km for the week


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