BMI Freak Out...Officially Over.

6 weeks after being knocked upside the head with the scale at my doctor’s office, I’ve settled into my new training routine with my new coach. My BMI freak out is over. My cute little beer gut has shrunk and I’m beginning to see the outlines of the abs I once had. But, more importantly, I’m starting to feel strangely strong.

Not necessarily cycling strong – I have not really tested that yet due to poor weather and the fact that, thus far, my training has been focused on low intensity to increase my endurance – but overall I feel strong. That’s because Coach has had me hitting the weights. HARD. I have not lifted like this since I was a Div. 1 soccer player in college.

In the past, I’ve read article’s suggesting that heavy lifting for cyclists is a bad thing. The epitome of this can be seen in Lance’s comeback to cycling last year. For the 3 years he was out of the sport, he had been lifting weights and had gained a significant amount of muscle weight. Theoretically, when he came back to the sport, the extra weight hindered his cycling. This year, when you see pictures of Lance, you can easily tell that he has lost a lot of that excessive bulk and dropped his weight. Based on this exact scenario, I have shied away from heavy lifting in the past.

But, there’s one problem with my reasoning…I’m no Lance Armstrong. I’m not a world class athlete. And I’m a girl. What does this mean…or, rather, what am I hoping this means? Not being Lance means I have to build the strength before I can lose it and being a girl means 1) it’s harder to gain strength and 2) I lose my strength faster than my male counterparts. So, that leads me to 2 conclusions 1) I shouldn’t train like a guy and 2) I don’t need to worry about bulking up with heavy lifting. As a female, that’s really not going happen much. So, basically, I’m hoping to get the strength benefit without the excessive weight.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to gain muscle weight. I am and I have. In fact, so far it would appear that each pound of fat I’ve lost, I’ve replaced with a pound of muscle, but I’m ok with that. The lifting I’m doing is cycling specific – I won’t be lifting heavy weights 3 days a week year round. In fact, at this point, the lifting begins to decrease more to strength maintenance while my time and intensity on the bike begins to increase. So, theoretically, my muscle weight gain should cease and I should begin burning mad fat. And having leaner muscles means I burn fat faster even when I’m not on the bike. Man, I’m making this sound GOOD! But the proof is in the pudding (I have NO idea what that even means).

Basically, it’s time to put my chin to the stem and see if this lifting is gonna effect my cycling in the way I’ve been hoping. The next few months will be the tell all.

For now, I’m just glad my clothes are getting baggy again.

Happy ridin’!

OMG! My BMI! WTF?

I’m officially overweight. My Body Mass Index is technically in the “Overweight” category for the first time in my life. I’m not really sure how it happened… well, I have an idea on how it happened…I’m just surprised my weight shot up so quickly. But, I’m glad it happened.

Glad? says you. Yes, glad, says I.

It’s a serious reminder that I am not one of those women who is perpetually thin no matter what I do. I’ve been athletic my entire life, and still am, so weight has never been a high priority issue for me. In fact, up until last year, I stayed within 15 pounds of my high school weight. But, I’m coming up on my 35th birthday this May, and my metabolism has become about as efficient as driving a dump truck with the emergency brake on. Unfortunately, I only noticed this after a doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago. I went in for a sinus infection and came out demoralized by the reading on the scale.

I don’t want to give the impression that I’m obsessed with my weight and the scale, per se. I’m not. I never have been. I am, however, obsessed with my overall health (always have been); weight being only a small part of the equation. Heart disease runs rampant in my birthmother’s family and my birthfathers side has a whole other host of problems, so I have taken the time to educate myself on health and fitness and nutrition. What I realize today, though, is that I need to take what I know and change my thinking about it.

My entire athletic life has been sporadic exercise. That’s what I’m used to. On season. Off season. 4 months hard. 1 month off. It’s worked for nearly 35 years.

But, I can’t do that anymore. My body won’t let me. I need to re-train myself after all this time. I need to get more consistent about my exercise. I train to race my bike and that helps to keep me motivated. But the days of going out on the bike and hammering 18 hours a week for four months only to burn out in May have got to end. I can’t allow myself to burn out. But this is going to be a hard transition. All out is all I know. So the question is: do I have enough discipline to hold myself back? And the answer is no.

So, I’ve hired a coach. And we have discussed at length all that I’ve written here. And it will be up to her to design a program I can stick to. She says she can do it and I’m on board. I agreed to do everything she asks – no more, no less.

We’ve been at it for nearly 4 weeks. It’s a lot different than anything I’ve ever done. So far, I’m feeling really good. I’ve lost some weight and I’m not feeling overwhelmed. I have time for my family and I’m not drained of energy at work, but I still feel like I’m getting good training for the race season. Am I going to come out with guns drawn for the March and April races? No. But then, that’s not the goal is it?

Happy ridin’!