Thursday, June 18, 2009

Tried the Bike for the First Time...

6:30am: ...and I loved it! Waking up wasn't the easiest thing this morning, but when I finally put my feet on the ground, I was ready and eager to get the day started. My foot was a little sore so I decided to try something that I haven't even attempted yet, I got on the ol' bicycle. It was actually a mountain bike, but nevertheless, it had two wheels, some pedals, and a chain thinger mibobber. Now one thing I need to warn you with right off the bat when riding a bike: although going down those hills are fun, you need to come back up those very same hills. I learned this the hard way. The first half of my bike ride was almost all down hill. I was thinking to myself, man, I really dig this whole biking thing! The wind blowing in my face, barely having to pedal, I could get used to this I thought. I ended up going 3.25 miles one way and feeling great when I had arrived at my destination. Then I turned around and saw this big beast of a hill staring right back at me. Let me tell you, when going up the hill I would be shocked if I ever went over .001 mph. It felt like I was moving in super slow motion and my legs where on fire, that I was sure of.

When I finally got to the top of the hill I started coughing like a madman. It felt great! I was getting up all kinds of gooey stuff. We of course all know what came after this: ride-by dry heaving. All I could picture was a fellow biker passing me by and getting thrown up on in the process. I ended up not blowing chunks, but there were tears rolling down my face as a result of all of the coughing and heaves. People passing in their cars must of thought that I was in some major pain and I must have looked like a real hot mess. It was worth every second though. I cleared a bunch of mucus from my lungs and they really opened up on the second half of the ride. Most of the ride back was on a slight up hill but no where near what I had come from. I kept a nice steady pace but I'm not exactly sure on the time. I'll have to continue this whole biking thing as much as I can cause it certainly isn't as hard on my feet and it definitely got the deep breaths going!

Total Distance: 6.5 miles

6:00pm: Mandi and I tried something a little bit different today for our workout. Usually on shoulder/leg days it doesn't take us very long at the gym, so instead of driving the 20 minutes to the gym, we decided to stay at her house and use weights there. She has an old set of dumbbells and straight bars and free weights which we took full advantage of today. Mandi took us through a leg workout in her backyard that absolutely kicked my butt. We were doing squats, and lunges, and one-legged squats, and who knows what else. All I know is that it took my legs about 2.2 seconds to feel the burn and old Mandelin didn't let up. She would just slap me on the butt and tell me to keep moving! We also did shoulders with the dumbbells and were able to do most of the exercises that we do when we're at the gym. I think my shoulders got a good rest while in Mexico cause they weren't sore at all today while I lifted. We'll have to see how long that keeps up.

Right after the workout we decided to walk J Bell. She was excited for her walk and the weather was perfect. The sun was setting as we walked and we had a perfect view of it the whole time. We cut our walk short cause we didn't want to press it with my foot. During our leg workouts it got really sore during the squats from stretching my arches. As I type this blog though my feet are feeling pretty good, so maybe that's just what they needed. Who knows though. I'll just have to bite the bullet and go see someone soon about these pesky little feet.

Total Distance: 1.25 miles

Total Distance for Day: 7.75 miles

3 people had something to say...:

Jess said...

Woo Hoo!!! Look at you and all of your mileage today!!! Good job!! I LOVE riding my bike!!!!! Even when I'm going down hill I still make myself pedal non stop! I'm going to get an indoor bike since the humidity here is awful and I'm taking my workouts inside again...Good job Ronnie!! :)

Katey said...

YAY for the bike!! I'm glad you liked it!! I haven't rode a bike in ages(well, that type of bike). I used to (and still do) exercise using a recumbent bike, which is inside my house. But I know that's nothing compared to what you did! Keep it up! By the way...is that a new header on your blog?

Unknown said...

Thanks guys! Riding a bike is 100 times easier on my feet than running. That's not to say that I gave up running, as soon as I figure out how to stop the pain in my feet, on the pavement I will go! I'll just do anything to cough up mucus and riding the bike definitely made me do that!

Ronnie