Friday, March 09, 2007
Bike Season Opens
It got up to 50 degrees today, so I decided to take off from work at 2 and go for a ride. It was still a little chilly, but once I got going I had a good time. It was really nice to get back out there again.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Getting in shape continues...
As anyone who knows me understands, I've a very goal oriented person. So, if I want to continue exercising I have to set goals for myself. My last goal was breaking 6:00 in the Bop to the Top (and surviving). My current goal is much, much more difficult. I want to burn 1000 calories in an hour on the exercise bike at the gym.
It's harder than it sounds. It's easy to burn 1000 calories per hour on a treadmill or an elliptical trainer, but it's much more difficult on a bike. I guess it's because on a bike you aren't actually moving your body up and down or your arms back and forth. You're just pumping your legs. Cycling is a very efficient way to get around, so it's hard to burn lots of calories doing it.
To put it in some perspective, when I started at the gym last November I was burning around 600 calories an hour. When I started my goal to get 1000 in early February, I was at around 700. So that's around a 50% increase in power output if I can reach it.
Today I hit 950 and I think I almost exploded. I'm by far the sweatiest person in the gym by the time I'm done. My heart rate was over 180 for about 45 minutes of the hour, peaking at over 190 from time to time. Needless to say, I've gotten some strange looks.
I'm almost there, but man does that last 50 look hard. I've only got about 2 or 3 weeks to reach it, though, because then the regular biking season will start and I won't be going to the gym anymore.
The next goal after this? Twenty-five miles on my road bike in an hour. After that, who knows?
It's harder than it sounds. It's easy to burn 1000 calories per hour on a treadmill or an elliptical trainer, but it's much more difficult on a bike. I guess it's because on a bike you aren't actually moving your body up and down or your arms back and forth. You're just pumping your legs. Cycling is a very efficient way to get around, so it's hard to burn lots of calories doing it.
To put it in some perspective, when I started at the gym last November I was burning around 600 calories an hour. When I started my goal to get 1000 in early February, I was at around 700. So that's around a 50% increase in power output if I can reach it.
Today I hit 950 and I think I almost exploded. I'm by far the sweatiest person in the gym by the time I'm done. My heart rate was over 180 for about 45 minutes of the hour, peaking at over 190 from time to time. Needless to say, I've gotten some strange looks.
I'm almost there, but man does that last 50 look hard. I've only got about 2 or 3 weeks to reach it, though, because then the regular biking season will start and I won't be going to the gym anymore.
The next goal after this? Twenty-five miles on my road bike in an hour. After that, who knows?
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