from zero to ...

catastrophy

Hi guys,

Starting from scratch and weighing in at a hefty 123.5 kg I decided to get my act together and get back on a bike after 10 years off it.

I live 29 kms from work so ive been aiming to do that round trip comfortably every few days with a few longer (and shorter) trips thrown in.

Im currently on a trek 7.5 fx but as I type this my new cube attempt has arrived so once the weight is down a bit Ill start pusing up the distance on that.

As of yet I havent adjusted my diet too much other than to restrict take aways to once a fortnight. Otherwise my diet is pretty average and not too unhealthy.


Week Begining 18/10/10.

Starting Weight 123.5 kg.

Mon - 20 km.

Tue - nil.

Wed - 12 km.

Thur - nil.

Fri - nil.

Sat - 60 km.

Sun - nil.


Week Begining 25/10/10.

Starting Weight 123.0 kg.

Mon - 10 km.

Tue - 22.5 km.

Wed - 10 km.

Thur - 12.

Fri - nil.

Sat - 29 km.

Sun - 29 km.


Week Begining 01/11/10.

Starting Weight 121 kg.

Mon - 58 km.

Tue - nil.

Wed - 21 km.

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Thurs - 12 km.

First quick spin on the new bike. My neck is a bit stiff and I had the slightest of pains in my lower back due to the unfamiliar geometry but Im hoping that will sort itself out with a few regular short spins.

On a brighter note any pain I had in my sit bones is now gone - yay!

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Fri - nil.

Sat - 29 km.

Sun - 29 km.

My commute to work on Sat night and home again early Sun morning. Pushed myself a wee bit on the way home and shaved 5 mins off my average.

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Week Begining 08/11/10.

Starting Weight 120.5 kg.

Mon - 58 km.

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Tues - nil.

Weds - 100 km.

County Kilkenny to Rosslare, way harder than I thought it would be. Anyway, I made it and Im still alive.

justo

Keep up the good work.

trad

Good work there catastrophy.

Just going down the same route myself. I should probably start my own training log and we can watch each other's progress.

Any other big lads out there want to join in?

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justo wrote: »

Keep up the good work.

trad wrote: »

Good work there catastrophy.

Just going down the same route myself. I should probably start my own training log and we can watch each other's progress.

Any other big lads out there want to join in?

Thanks lads. The training log keeps a bit of interest going alright. tbh I had no idea how addictive this cycling lark is.

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Thurs - nil.

Fri - 12 km.

Wasnt overly sore or tired on Thurs, just felt like a lazy day. Only a short spin today.

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Sat - 58 km.

Planet X

That's alot of Kilometers. Well done. Make sure you don't do too much too soon though.

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Planet X wrote: »

That's alot of Kilometers. Well done. Make sure you don't do too much too soon though.

Yeah, its starting to add up alright. Just trying to put in the distance when the weather allows.

ROK ON

catastrophy wrote: »

Yeah, its starting to add up alright. Just trying to put in the distance when the weather allows.

Keep up the work. Dont push overly hard initially. I much prefer 2 or 3 2/3 hour cycles rather than one 5 or 6 hour w/e cycle. I find that shorter cycles more often have been a greater help to me for weight management an training.

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Sun - nil.

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Week Begining 15/11/10.

Starting Weight 120.0 kg.

Mon - 29 km.

Tues - 29 km.

Night time and early morning respectively. Christ it was cold. Got a slap of a wing mirror from a gob****e in a van despite being well in the hard shoulder and being lit up like a christmas tree.

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Weds - nil.

Thurs - nil.

Fri - 58 km.

Starting to get into this cycling lark ... nobody warned me that its addictive.

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Sat - 33 km.

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Sun - 41 km.

morana

ROK ON wrote: »

Keep up the work. Dont push overly hard initially. I much prefer 2 or 3 2/3 hour cycles rather than one 5 or 6 hour w/e cycle. I find that shorter cycles more often have been a greater help to me for weight management an training.

Graeat advice! if you can do 5 1 hour cycles it is shown to be better than 1 5 hr cycle...

Your weight is coming down so keep up the good work!!

uberwolf

keep up the good work!

/ everytime I'm browsing the main forum, and I look up to see the last post is by you in this forum it reads "from zero to... catastrophy" which raise a smile each time

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Week begining 17/01/11.

Mon - nil.

Thurs - 16 km.

Back yesterday after a bad weather/injury enforced break. Ive gone back an awful lot but its time to push on a bit now. Restarting the daily(nightly) commute from Thursday.

dermo f

Hey

Just wondering where abouts you go for a spin. I see you were around kilkenny, im down in waterford and could meet ya for a spin, if your down this way

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dermo f wrote: »

Hey

Just wondering where abouts you go for a spin. I see you were around kilkenny, im down in waterford and could meet ya for a spin, if your down this way

i plan on heading down that way later on this year.

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Sat - 29 km.

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Week Begining 15/11/10.

Mon - 58 km.

Tues - nil.

This will be another quiet week because of matches etc. I might get some time on sat and sun to go for a spin.

dermo f

Sound sure pm me if your about

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neglected this thread a bit of late. bad weather and football curtailed my commutes but I did a bit to keep sharp.

Any way, dropped below 19 stone for the first time in 2 years (18stone 12 as of this morning) so I went for a spin on the cube I bought before xmas (the difference between the 2200 and 105 groupsets is amazing).

Ive got an goal now, the Sean Kelly tour on the 28th of August. Started the training for it today .... will upload the stats from the garmin later.

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14 02 11

31 km - 1hr 15m 59s - 24.5 Av Speed - 137 Av HR - 861 Cals

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16 02 11

32 km - 1hr 25m 58s - 22.6 Av Speed - 145 Av HR - 1028 Cals

Picked a hilly route today with plenty of short steep climbs (well for me anyway). I enjoyed it alot.

Note to self - avoid cycling past schools at lunchtime (and the jeery little bastards that inhabit them), especially when your going uphill.

justo

catastrophy wrote: »

Week Begining 15/11/10.

Mon - 58 km.

Tues - nil.

This will be another quiet week because of matches etc. I might get some time on sat and sun to go for a spin.

looks like good progress.

A suggestion: why don't you replace the word 'nil' with 'rest' in your training log - might be a more positive outlook from a cycle-logical point of view

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justo wrote: »

looks like good progress.

A suggestion: why don't you replace the word 'nil' with 'rest' in your training log - might be a more positive outlook from a cycle-logical point of view

will do

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17 02 11

40 km - 1hr 40m 25s - 24 Av Speed - 132 Av HR - 899 Cals

Lost my mojo a bit today, found it a slog tbh. (also lost my water bottle - sigh)

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19 02 11

34.2 km - 1hr 26m 30s - 23.8 Av Speed - 147 Av HR - 724 Cals

a few climbs but averaged out by the descents.

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21 02 11

32 km - 1hr 10m 50s - 26.3 Av Speed - 136 Av HR - 552 Cals

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25 02 11

75 km - 3hr 10m 48s - 23.8 Av Speed - 147 Av HR - 1385 Cals

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Been off the bike for a while due to a ferocious dead leg. I hopped on the scales a while ago and am now down to 114 kg. At least the wight loss is gong to plan.

Beasty

9.5kg in 5 months - that's pretty good going - well done.

Keep it up

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Beasty wrote: »

9.5kg in 5 months - that's pretty good going - well done.

Keep it up

Cheers Beasty, Im trying to do it nice and steadily although with my base fitness up Ill be aiming to ramp up my training a wee bit too.

Ive a long gaa season ahead of me so Im hoping (fingers crossed) to stay injury free.

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26 02 11 - 16 03 11

Got a wee bit done. About 170 km, which was alot less than I planned.

Managed the Trail Kilkenny - Northern Route a few days ago. Didnt get the details from the Garmin but was happy enough with my performance. A buddy I did the route with twice noticed the marked difference in my fitness level in the last few months.

The plan is to start commuting constantly taking the hilly route and getting a few longer spins in on my days off.

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17 03 11 - 04 04 11

Bit of an update ...

Started running about a fortnight ago, to keep things interesting. So Im up to 30 miles a week (6 x 5 miles) with various spins on the bike in between.

On the 03 03 11 I went from Kilkenny to Rosslare ...

100 km - 3hr 36m 59s - 26.6 Av Speed - 135 Av HR - 1847 Cals

I used the trip as a gauge of my progress since I began. Happy enough tbh, didnt really push myself on but then I did it without stopping and only brought 2 bananas and water with me.

My weight is down to 112.8 kg now aswell.

So all in all everything is going in the right direction, bar a shoulder injury but that isnt a problem when cycling or running.

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Almost forgot, when I started in November my blood pressure was a fair bit above normal, mainly I discovered due to my weight and lack of general fitness.

I got it checked again over the weekend and its back well within the normal range so everything else aside Im delighted with that. Hurrah for cycling, lol.