Larptastic

A couple buddies invited me to go mountain-biking with them this afternoon. They let me borrow a helmet and bike and we headed up to the State Park to ride a trail or two. Only one small problem with this... I hadn't been on a bicycle in probably 20 years.

Turns out it's true that you never forget how to ride a bicycle. What they don't mention is that it takes a bit of practice to remember how to do things like steer, stop or not fall over.

I bravely hopped on the bike, tooled around the parking lot for about a minute, then we headed out towards a trail. I figured I could learn how shift gears and work pedals with straps on them as I went.

Hit a tree about 30 seconds in, but after that I did okay. I crashed a few more times, but nothing serious and no injuries beyond a few bruises and scratches. I had more trouble just getting moving and trying to keep my feet from getting tangled up in the pedals than anything else.

After riding a trail up and down, one friend went home and the other took me touring around the park on paved and gravel roads so I could get more practice in just riding. All in all I had a really fun time, and I've started looking at prices for a beginner's mountain bike (like I need more hobbies...).

Did 30 min on the bike today, averaging around 22mph and a 151 heart rate. I think I'm going to start doing some treadmill, slow at first, but working my way up to some intervals.

Making a little progress on my grip training. It's definitely time to move up to the next level of gripper, though I'll still be using the first one for warmup.

Hit the gym today for an hour and a half. Did 30 minutes on the bike and kept a heart-rate of 151, didn't seem too difficult once I got going. Went ahead and knocked out most of the other stuff that was on my list that I didn't get on Friday. Mostly legs and abs. Did 90lbs on lunges, but I think I should be able to up that a bit soon.

Hit up the gym tonight and did 20-25 minutes on the bike at a heartrate of around 140. I think I need to push it up to 150 or so to really get a good workout, it didn't seem very hard at all once I figured out how to work the stupid machine.

I also did forward press, lat pulls, rows, crunchs, dumbell rows, shrugs, and some ball pushups.

Pain continued all last week and seemed to be getting worse, so I went back to the Dr. on Saturday. He said to give it more time and gave me a prescription for a muscle relaxer and a anti-inflammatory. They seem to be doing wonders, the pain is very mild and seems to be fading. I think I could do some BJJ today, but I'll take it safe and wait till Wed to start training again.

Was in pain from my rib all weekend, seemed better this morning but came back with a vengeance around lunchtime. After already being told by the wife that I wasn't going to class tonight to fuck it up worse, I figured there was nothing lost in having a doctor check it out.

No broken but bruised, he told me to take a break for a week or two and told me to use Aleve, Bengay and a heating pad as needed. I hate missing class, but he told me in the condition I'm in now I'm more likely to break it.

So I signed up at a fitness gym, and part of the deal is that you get blood work and a physical evaluation as well as assistance with a workout plan.

Had my evaluation and got a copy of my blood work results.

GLUCOSE : 85 [70-105]

LIPID PANEL
TRIGLYCERIDE : 77 [<150]
CHOLESTEROL : 165 [<200]
HDL CHOLESTEROL : [40-59]
LDL CALCULATED : 94 [<100]

Weight : 126lbs
Height : 5'7 1/2"

Situps (on a timer) : did max (75)
Pushups (in a minute) : 35 in 45 seconds and then arms gave out

Cardio : did 5 min on bike with a heart rate around 141 - it listed me with a score of 52(?) and ELITE. I mean, wtf. I know my cardio has improved a bit, but I'd hardly call it that good.

I go back next Tuesday to review all the information and come up with a workout plan.

It's the strangest thing. I feel the most inept and stupid looking at the start of class, when we're warming up with a jump rope. I'm not the only one who trips, gets it caught on a toe, etc but it still sucks. I need to find some videos of how to do it properly.

Got a fat loss monitor to track my fat % and to see if I'm gaining some muscle mass while my weight is staying pretty static.

5'7 3/4"
131lbs
31 years old
12.4% fat.

That'd mean i'm 15lbs fat and 115 lbs of lean body mass. That's surprising considering that I weighed 115lbs 4 months ago.

According to this chart , I'm in the Athlete range, lol. Maybe I'm doing the thing on the wrong setting, it does have a regular and athlete option.

Ran 1 mile in 11:15 - that's an average of 5.33mph, so I guess it's more of a jog than a run.

Decided to try a bit of jogging tonight, did about 3/4 of a mile in 8 minutes or so.