Saturday, May 16, 2009

Weight For It.....

Next month will mark one year of my continuous battle with my weight. So far, it's been a back and forth type of skirmish; sometimes, I win, sometimes I lose.
Part of the problem is that I weigh myself three times a week on a scale that does not lie. Why torture myself? I have to.
My weight is measured in kilos, not pounds so every single digit gain or loss is significant (to me anyways). I have set goals.
My goals are in most part set by my determination or laziness. My doctor would dissagree, but I tend to set them according to how heavy I "feel" and not by the scale. Oh, and by how high or low my blood pressure is.
Cycling has done wonders for me. Yet, since it is my only form of exercise, it's also somewhat of a burden.
When I first started riding my bike, I logged a steady loss of weight. It was wonderful. I would gleefully stand on that scale and watch the pounds dissappear. I didn't think I had that much weight to lose, but it came off.
My skin became a bit tighter and the pants looser. My blood pressure went down and I felt, for the first time in a long time, healthy.
Then the weight decided to fight back. I hit a wall. The scale became a source of dissappointment and disdain. I came to loath that digital readout.
This past week, I fought back. I was not yet hitting my goal, but I was close. Oh, so close.
Seventy kilos is my Mendoza line, and unlike baseball players, I seek, no I strive to get below it.
There is also another line I seek to cross. My average speed on the bike.
They say that average speed is to be discounted. That makes sense, for the sterile computer takes everything into consideration on your ride. I have to slow down on the MUP and stop for lights. My regular route is not a closed circuit so average speed is not a good measure.
I have seen my top speed increase. Alot. I can now exceed the twenty mile per hour mark fairly regularly. When I first started riding, it would take a twenty mile an hour tradewind at my back and a slight downgrade for me to get close. While I can now cruise at over five miles per hour faster, it has little effect on my average speed.
I am slowly but surely winning my battle with speed.
With cycling, I have two goals: get lighter and get faster.
Today, I did both.
Today, I won a battle with my weight and I put a half mile per hour of average speed on my regular loop. These gains and losses may not be very important in the big picture, but I find that it's these little things, these little goals that I meet that help me make it through the journey.
There are two things that I seek out with trepid anticipation:
The readout on the scale at the clinic, and the readout on my cycling computer.
Battles lost and won.
Wait for it.......

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