Can You Go Out In Public In Underwear If It Really Is Workout Clothes, Honest!

I have always said that workout gear is something that lets you go out in public in your underwear.

I have two sports I participate in.  Inline Skating and Cycling.  Both as an endurance sport.  When you are in a "Monsoonal Warm" climate like South Florida, the problem isn't staying warm, it is getting rid of sweat.  Especially through August, you can be completely soaked in sweat after only a half hour of cardio outdoors.

I cracked the code of how to get proper workout gear for cycling online a while back.  Going to the shopping website that everyone likes to laugh at, I was getting suited up for under $15, even now while rampant runaway inflation goes on.

Cycle Jerseys can cause ten times that, so since I am not flush with cash, the chance for picking up a full zipper spandex jersey for $8 was one of those moments where I said "Yoink, you are mine".  Padded shorts for the same or less.  I paid $4 for a pair of those more than once.

I used to laugh at the people in the cycle pack in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia wearing stinky spandex.  They would be going past in a large group and you could smell them.  You people really should wash better.  I do.  

But the thing is that something that form fitting looks like underwear, something that you wear under your clothes.  If you are in a place where it is appropriate, like a park or gym, great, but in your neighborhood or at a Mall?  Nope, No way.

My neighborhood is not one of those places.  At least not while I am on the bike.  I prefer more "room to breathe" when I am on skates and there is too much rubbish on the streets here to skate.  I will stick to the trails where the worst thing to have to deal with is an errant Karen.

ON YER LEFT!!!

However I learned shortly after moving to Flaky Florida, that you need to watch the weather very closely.  The emphasis is on the VERY.  In fact if you like today's weather you will like tomorrow.  Changes are rather small.  It never freezes this far south, and temperatures only vary, at most, about a degree a week on average.  

Fahrenheit or Centigrade?  First one, then the other.

You have Dry Season where South Florida is a desert for six or more months, then you have Wet Season where the air is liquid and it can rain at ... well, it is raining now isn't it?

A good radar program or website is better than tuning into the local talking head on AM/FM or TV.  I learned how to read radar as well as the well paid loudmouth on broadcast.  Maybe better because my radar program is immediate. 

There is also Hurricane Season - June 1 to November 30.  Better to just hope it spins fish and watch radar, again.

First thing in the morning, I look and I judge if I am in the barrel of the shooting gallery of "green leopard spots" on the map.  Then dress accordingly.  If the Leopard has brought the rest of its friends and you get yellow/orange/red blobs dancing across the map, you are on for a wet time.

I had a walk where I told those who I was going with that we were going to be wet, very wet.  Getting laughed at I took a golf umbrella that had carbon fiber ribs and no metal.  When I heard "there's the FEC from Miami coming North" from them, I said "No it's not a train, that is weather, we are going to get wet.  RUN!".  

After they stopped laughing at me, I told them to get out from under my umbrella since they were waiting for a train and cramping my style.  "Go play on the tracks, you two dinguses!"

This morning, there was a different situation.  More Leopard Spots.  I had my umbrella and a neighbor was asking.  I said if it rains, we're going to get about a half hour of wet.  The response was "So that is why you are dressed for the Tour de France?"

"Mais Oui, mon ami"  

You see this stuff, that is basically a recycled soda bottle with added stretchy stuff, has its purpose.  Not indoors, you need a breeze to make it comfortable.  The dog doesn't care about how you are dressed, nor whether it is raining.  Only if it is thunder and lightning, very very frightening.

None of that in the thermometer's Mercury, Freddy, just some rain.  Bloody unpredictable rain.

When we are out walking in the neighborhood, a short walk is a half hour.  It is why Rack the McNab SuperDog (TM) has made it to 15 years old after being a Butt Cancer Survivor.  Exercise plus excellent nutrition, even if I have to take a half hour to get him to eat before sunrise.

I got going and was out a little more than a half mile, call it a kilometer, from the house.  It began to rain in that tropical, soaking way.  It was as if someone was on a balcony above you using a spray bottle at first.  Walking on, my Tour de France spandex was now skin tight, had a sheen of slightly salty acid rain that had blown in off the Ocean from The Bahamas.  

On and off, the rain came during that walk, and it stopped about 15 minutes before getting home.  Rack really did not care.  Cow Dogs, Farm Dogs, and Mc Nab Dogs just don't care about rain.  I didn't either.  That cool rain was fine, and when the rain stopped, I had a breeze.  

The Tour turned into an Air Conditioner.  Form Fitting, and I do look good in that stuff.

But basically it's Socially Acceptable Underwear in this context.  Big hairy scary athlete in underwear, walking his dog, being cooled by the winds off the ocean coming in from Freeport.

So I guess, really, I do wear it in the neighborhood, but rarely.  Even if it does raise an eyebrow.  Even if I do think this stuff looks like underwear that can get ripe if it doesn't go into the washer immediately with "bacteria fighting laundry soap".

I mean, I don't want someone to find me by scent.  They aren't a bloodhound and I am not a rabbit.  

After all, my nickname is Moose.  Not Bugs Bunny, silly Wabbit.

Up At Four Means Your View Doesn't Change, Dog Walks In An Empty City

I have the city to myself.  That isn't exactly a bad thing.  

There are always lurkers and leftovers hovering in the shadows no matter where you are. When you are out on the dog walk, being on your own means you aren't finding yourself having to be on guard as much.

I got started getting up early years ago.  Mostly due to training.  I'd weight lift or walk before work, then settle in for the rest of the day.  Training happened 12 months of the year and would shift concentrations depending on weather and season.  Hard to inline skate when there is snow on the ground, so I would get into the gym and "Pump Aluminum".

Then Lettie happened and that pushed the wake up time at least another half hour earlier.  She was a joy to have and I would do it all over again.  I would walk around my block at the top of a hill and get her settled before going into my own schedule.

We moved her here to Florida from Philadelphia years back, and I found a different reason to be up.  Heat.  I have always been good with temperature, I have actually made it through years of August while having my training schedule in two sports maintained.  There is a reason why you snowbirds don't come down in August.  

"The air is liquid" is a line I have used to describe it.

Getting started early means some of that heat is left to others to navigate.  Lettie went to her reward, and I was told "Get another dog, now" by others.  Some people just need a dog in their life. 

The answer was Rack.  Rack is now 15 and quite a bit slower.  The zoomies we had in the back yard were fun to watch but that hasn't happened for years.  Dogs may tough it out but you do want to make sure that the heat won't affect them. 

Earlier still.  Not to mention that he's a slow eater.  Painfully slow some days.

We are still out walking around, watching the sunrise to beat the heat on the two early walks.  Having the city to ourselves.  I get to see the place as if everyone has moved out.  We notice when things change, whether intentional or not.  

At the moment, my "support team" is out of town.  My training has drastically shifted.  Before then, "The Afterburners Are On" and I could eat anything I wanted, and did.  It all just burned up.  700 calories plus for a meal, plus dessert for all three meals.  Plus "nibbles" every time I walked through the kitchen.  

Now, with only long walks and no other training, I am limited to a firm ceiling of 600 calories a meal plus desserts.  It will take at least a month to get back to peak condition, but a resting heart rate in the low 50s is fun.

Cardio is a Cheat Code to nutrition.  Hit your macro nutrient requirements for Protein and you can have pretty much whatever you want if you are doing enough Cardio.  I measure workouts on the bike in multiples of marathons.  27 miles is enough, three times a week.

But I have to get there.  Rack helps.  6 miles a day of dog walks is possible, but I limit him because he would walk the pads off his paws if I let him.  So he gets "only" four to five miles, and I go out on my own even if he doesn't like that.

Loyal is a metaphor for Dog.

Dog walks are "Dog Directed" as a result.  Rack knows the city as well as I do, and on a very different level.  I open the door and follow him, follow his lead.  I can easily steer him, he is an agreeable soul, and definitely not an Alpha Dog.   

Depending on my own time constraints, and whether I am up at four like I was today, we can cover a lot of ground.  I limit that ground, frequently, but a long walk makes for a happy dog.  

Just keep it reasonable.  Happy is good, Too Happy is not.

If you see us out there, I'm wandering along, cleaning up after my dog and the leftovers.  My headphones are usually on, BBC/CBC for the news, typically or some Classic Disco keeping the tempo up.

Classic Disco?  Yes, still.  When the mood hits. 

A Look Behind the Fourth Wall of a Blogger. The Photo Roll.

I take a lot of pictures.

Far too many to put online.

I do enjoy them, and the whole act of photography.  Probably in a parallel universe who knows.  If CERN could have another weasel that got into the particle accelerator, and jump us into a more "normal" time line, who knows.

The raw stack of pictures, the large volume, serves as a memory booster.  What did I do, what was important, where are we going, when will we get there.

I am not saying anything new here.  We all had shoe boxes of photos "Back In The Day" where we kept our memories.  I have a book full of them from the trip to France we took when I was in High School.  There are even a few people from that time who have passed into memory.  

People come in to your life, stay a while, make an impression, and move on.  It's normal.

A lot of pictures of weird minutia.  

My own reflection in the meter of the gas pump turns up a few times, and no I won't put that here.  I do keep a bit of a record of how well I do on a tank of gas in the Jeep.  It helps me know if it needs service or not.

There was a time during the Covid lockdown where I went out and did some needed service to the car.  Once it was started, it could backfire, and run extremely rough.  It turned out that it needed new Oxygen Sensors, Fuel Rail, and other random parts.  16 MPG is bad enough, but 10?  No thank you.

So lots of Jeep Pictures.  I have had the car since 2002, and Wranglers in general since 1996.

Dog after dog picture.  Ok, so he's my muse.  As was Lettie before him, Rack is now an official Old Boy.  15 years old is old for a dog.  That bout of Pancreatitis last month was scary.  He's still here, still moving along, but he is also cutting his walks shorter.  This morning, the normal 2 mile walk was down to 1 1/2.  

The trick with a Herding Dog is teach them the lay of the land, then follow them.  If your dog takes you home, you have had enough too.

I'm an athlete, so it takes a lot to get me to say I've had enough.

Plenty of pictures in the camera roll of that.  Cycling and Inline Skating.  I need to "finish" skating.  I'm still about 400 miles from the lifetime goal of once around the world in miles.  

When I had my fall on skates, I lost my edge.  I need to find that back.  400 miles is not too long when you are an endurance athlete.

This may be a 3000 mile year on the bike.  Solidly Intermediate.  There are many who get on a bicycle and do 100 miles on a weekend.  I don't think I want that kind of a workout, it's too dangerous here because it puts you on the road with scary people who see you as a target, no matter how much spandex with bright colors you are wearing to scare them off.

I'll stick to the trails, thank you.

I'm sure that your picture roll, no matter where it is, is full of memories.  That is why we take a photo after all.

So before I bore someone, I'll move on.  Rack is guarding the door.  I think he's ready for the yard, and I know I need more Iced Tea.  Where ever you are, have an excellent life in front of and behind the camera.

French Toast on a Workout Day? Sure, as long as the goals are in sight.

When I was skating, in season, I would put on the inline skates and go 100 miles in a week.  That is a lot of distance, and a lot of calories to burn.  

Back and forth between Philadelphia, and past Valley Forge.  Schuylkill River Trail.  Pretty country for somewhere both near and in one of the larger cities in the US.

I had a routine.  Actually quite a few routines.  Pack plenty of water.  Pack plenty of snacks.  Load the iPod (remember those) with some tracks and audio books.  Get out to Oaks, PA and sit down on the bridge over the Perkiomen Creek and enjoy the sun.  Allow the heart rate to come down to a normal level. 

Then eventually return to the car and go home.

When I got home, I would have a meal to re-balance the blood sugar.  We figured that I would burn about 100 calories per mile of skating and a good long workout was three hours and 33 miles.  3300 calories burned.  

During Season, April to early November, dietary restraints went away.  It did not matter, and I had a Runner's High for Spring, Summer and Fall.  Off season, I had to aggressively adjust that intake.  Cutting your diet back by half is not an easy thing to do.

If I was not skating, I had a full weightlifting regimen along with miles of walking.  

That meal was typically some French Toast on the weekend.  Richard Hammond of Top Gear and The Grand Tour called it "Eggy Bread" and I suspect that fits just as well.

Today, I didn't skate.  I did, however, go to the park for a cycling workout.  The conditions here are still Summer Hot, so I cut the workout short at 20.23 miles.  32.5 km.  Ok, so I was an elite inline skater, but now an intermediate cyclist.

Came home and remembered that there was a loaf of Raisin Bread.  Cinnamon, Raisin, and Pecans.  Made up the typical custard of two eggs, two tablespoons of milk, and a dusting of Cinnamon, because, of course, I would.  

A rose by any other name. Raisin bread soaked in egg custard, pan fried in butter, coated in Maple Syrup, tastes just as sweet.  Real Maple Syrup.  None of that artificial pole syrup nonsense that is made by squeezing a telephone pole.  Tap a Maple Tree and distill the sap.  

It is what the doctor ordered.  Had that plate of one slice of French Toast for lunch about a half hour ago and I'm sitting here thinking that it should be enough.

It was that and more.  6.5 ounces of very heavy bread soaked until it absorbed all that custard, then cooked in the skillet until it tied together.  I'm thinking maybe 1000 calories.

No, it isn't a light meal.

I workout to eat, eat to workout.

I had a nutrition discussion with a restaurateur once.  She knew that I worked out heavily, typically 50 miles on inline skates on a weekend.  Ordering a piece of Chocolate Cake that is best described as a slab, I joked "Just One this time".

Massive Slab of Chocolatey goodness aside, I did say that once that was done, I was still hungry.  Resting Metabolism is still about a 3000 calorie burn plus the 3300 calories on the workout.

I get that Get Out Of Jail Free Card when I workout.  I do watch what I eat, but it is more from the standpoint of making sure I get enough fuel so that the afternoon nap is caused by a sugar crash and not a lack of enough to do. 

Find your ideal weight for age and conditions.  That ideal weight will tell you how many grams of protein you need per day.  For me that's 90 grams.  For you, your mileage may vary.  My own theory is to load the protein, evenly through the day, and fill with fat and carbs as needed.

Remember, Cardio is Your Friend.  Having a resting heart rate due to exercise that is low enough that the doctor is surprised is a goal.  Sitting on the bench, coach, is something to do once in a while, not because you require a stent.  Years of inactivity and bad nutrition is going to catch up with you eventually.

Years of doing crazy-long workouts will result in your getting to retirement with a resting heart rate in the low 50s and a doctor who is confused as to why you don't need more meds.

So, you!  Off the couch and move.  You won't see a difference today, you will eventually.

Cardio. It Gives Me The Excuse To Eat Stupid Amounts of Food While the Dog Watches

I have been training to get in shape for twice as long as I have not.  

Or longer.  Decades.

I do crazy amounts of cardio.  8 hours of cycling a week, 6 miles of walking per day.

It gets to the point where I am not eating for regular reasons.  It is done to fill the empty hole, and when done, I'm typically ready to start over.

3000 calories a day.  It's balanced, all a part of a plan.  40% of calories from Protein, the remainder from fats and carbs.

Typically on a "Workout Day", more carbs than fat but it all varies.

To get that many calories, I'm in and out of the kitchen more times a day than I care to count.

Walking through to the laundry on wash days like today, I tend to grab a "Little Something" to keep things going.  I need to get the wash done on "Off Days" because "On Days" all bets are off whether I will have the interest to do anything other than go around in circles at high speeds.

There was a conversation once with a restaurateur.  She was surprised that I wanted the last piece of chocolate cake.  I told her about the 30 miles I had done that day on inline skates and that the cake was already burned.  Oh, and I need to stop myself from having a second.

She had an excellent chocolate cake, really, It's part of the reason why I have so many recipes for chocolate cake and other baked goods.

I am famous for sitting on the front bumper of my Jeep and having a mid workout snack.  Those brownies are really nice after an hour of drafting someone else getting their cardio on.

In this heat that we get in South Florida, it's a requirement that you take frequent breaks.  Water stop, snack, Sunblock, in that order.  I learned years back that every hour you need a break even if you don't want one.  High Summer here is as high as 96F and 80% humidity.  Call that 36C in "New Money".

Add to that a water dousing.  All 6'4" (193cm) of me standing in a parking lot, pouring a large water over my head and down my shirt and back to cool me down enough for the next hour.

Basically it's a lot of planning, a lot of food prep, and everything has to be just so.

All those trips through the kitchen have trained the dog as well.  A McNab dog is about as smart as a dog can get.  That is why I call him Rack the McNab SuperDog (TM).  He's just that smart.  

I did not realize I had trained him as well.  

Walk through the kitchen, there is a good chance that I'm going to grab something and stuff it down into the furnace where the afterburners will convert it into fuel.

Since it's a long way to the floor and since there's almost always music playing when I am at home, I may not hear when that potato chip hits my left foot.  That intelligent furry little knucklehead learned.  Come into the kitchen and follow me around.

So any time I am in there, he's in there staring me down looking to see what I can give him.  I even can shake my head no and he will accept that and walk away but he wants the chance.

If you think Old Dog, New Trick, you would be right.  There is no such thing as you can't teach that old dog, they learn even if you don't like the results.

So as I walk in making a Cheeseburger with toasted shallots on a homemade brioche bun, there's the little furry monster wanting some of the Velveeta that is perched on the counter.

I'd tidy up things so it's a little easier to work in there, but there are so many bags of carbs off to the right that it gets a little embarrassing how crowded things get.

Don't judge me, it is Athlete's Prerogative.

Even at my age, there's mess, and "Lived In".  

And besides, training sessions are available, 8AM at the park.  Look for the soon to be wet giant setting up the bike next to the Jeep.  For a nominal feel, of course.

Rack, After a workout I am not really inclined to pay a cheese tax.

I train, hard.

My doctor is amazed at what I do "for entertainment" on the trails.  I suppose that I could "dial it back" and still get enough exercise.

Or not.

I have been training hard since I was a teenager, and I am not about to stop now.

By that I mean I have been cycling a marathon three times a week, steadily, for more than a year.  

I keep records.  On a spreadsheet.  Because, of course I would.  It's my IT training.

The spreadsheet has areas for all sorts of information including Weight, BMI, conditions, Distances in two sports, and so forth.  

Start out slow and add columns when you need them.  After all, Libre Office wants you to use their software and I would prefer do as they say.

It would be "untowards" if I didn't.

But after training, hard, for just more than two hours, and coming home, I want to shower and then lunch.

We have a routine.  I get my odds and ends inside the house, then the bike, then I can take Rack the McNab SuperDog(TM) out back.  

Lately he has decided that I am too slow and he lets himself out.  The front door.  And goes next door and waters their flower box for them.  Leg in the air, wave it round like you just don't care.

I am able to unstrap the bike from the Jeep in that time and typically get it inside the house while Rack is "visiting".  The block is quiet in the pre-lunch hour so I don't have to worry.

But today, wet nose was insistent.  This isn't new.

If my feet hit the floor, my 14 year old dog wants outside.  If I am in the kitchen, he follows me in.

Today was a cheese pizza with toasted Shallots on top.  It makes for a fragrant lunch, sweet and savory at the same time.  Trust me on this one, Shallots on top of a Pizza are an interesting treat.

Since I am constantly training, I am on a training diet.  I may have "Cheat Days" here and there, I am too good of a baker not to.  I do know exactly what goes into these personal pizzas so that I am not overdoing calories and so that I hit the Protein count that my Macros demand.  30g per meal.

While I am slicing cheeses to go on top of the prefab crust, AKA a Pita, I am being stared down.  Of course I am, because I am in the kitchen.  

The thing is that with an Old Dog, you really don't want to push a lot of protein into them.  They may love cheese, and this one is a good low moisture Mozzarella, but since it is relatively high in protein, it is difficult for a dog to process with Old Kidneys.

He is on a training diet too, or rather one I developed with the Vet so that he may last a couple more years.  He's got a long list of Old Boy issues, and about 7 different medicines to support all of that.

It used to be that I could say "Not For Dogs" and he'd hear it.  Then he'd slink away and let me finish the task at hand.  Now, he is either deaf or selectively deaf and I don't trust that he will hear that.  

The solution is to shave a thin piece of cheese and let him have just that morsel while I am preparing my own lunch.

It usually does the trick.

Usually.  

I am his job.  He watches for me.  He watches me.  He is my shadow.  He is at my right elbow now, and most of the day when I am home and settled in.

I hear the ring on the oven, and bring the pizza out to the coffee table.  It has a hinge on the top so that it can be raised just enough that Rack can't get his muzzle onto the table.  I am safe because if I walked off, that pizza would vanish.

Good stuff because the sauce is a 1970s reverse engineered Pizza Sauce.  As good as the best pizza parlor would have had anywhere.  None of that canned or jarred garbage for us!

After finishing the lunch, I have to remember to block off the front door.  There is a floor to ceiling (nearly) window in the door.  Hurricane Impact Glass.  It gives me a great view to the street and people coming and going.  

The problem there is that Mr Cheese Hound sees it too.  He's decided that anyone walking or driving down my block deserves commentary.  Loud Commentary.  

I have a fabric gate that I made about 25 years ago that I place in front of the lower half of the window so that Rack can't see out.  If he did any delivery truck would be yelled at, and if the driver dared to come up the driveway, hilarity would ensue.

Since everyone has deliveries these days from multiple web sites and multiple shipping companies, it means that we are greeted with announcements in Dog.

"Rack you don't have to do that.  Go in your corner."

I'm ignored

"Rack Stop."

I'm ignored with a fusillade of barking.

"Rack STOP!"

He is greeted with a flying hedgehog soft plush.  My aim is purposely rubbish.  It never hits him but comes close enough to break his concentration.  It sometimes comes close enough to break some odds and ends on the tables.

I have to stop tossing the Hedgehog.  The last time it bounced off the Hurricane Window and fell behind the TV Coffin.

The TV Coffin is a large dark cabinet that reminds me of my credenza from my office in the working days.  It has an elevator that never works right because power here is so dirty here and full of power pops.  It confuses the electronics.

"RACK STOP!"  Hedgehog flies again.  Rack scrambles out of the room.  Hedgehog gets wedged under the couch.

I give up, 

At least I am able to have the rest of that glass of Iced Tea.

"No Rack, not for dogs".

No more cheese on the plate anyway.  Since the carbo crash hour is happening.  I'm resting after burning 2000 calories going round in big circles around the gas bag in the barn in the park.

But that delivered package?  A big bag of Root Beer Barrels.  

"No, Rack, that's not for dogs.  Here, sniff."

Annoying furry little idiot and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Testing The New Bike Computer Means You Are Never Sure

Athletes.  Once you get to a certain level, you get quite a bit of OCD.

I found that I am always trying to compare where I am today to where I was yesterday.  Or the last workout, at the very least.

The problem is the old saying:  The man with one clock knows the time, the man with two never is really sure.

Or woman.  I know plenty of woman athletes that are serious about their chosen sport.  

At any rate, I got into that OCD problem a long time back.  I have always, always counted my distance on inline skates.  If I ever get to the point where I am no longer scared about being on the contraptions, I will finish my lifetime goal of approximately the distance of once around the world on skates at the equator.  Adding a few miles for "sloppy accounting", I figure that 25,000 miles will be hit soon.

If I ever get back on them.  The problem is that I fell on my skates twice, hard.  I don't have any more Clavicles to give for the sport.

The fall I took on the bike when a "tourist" came into my lane and knocked me off convinced me that Sports are really just a matter of finding a level of pain you can tolerate and staying just below that.

My Orthopedic Surgeon attributes my falls to his being able to get a new luxury car.

I have always been into Biometrics - the practice of measuring performance in a way that you can compare your current ability to your prior ability.

You know, "How well did I do today?"

On a bike, it's done through a gadget you mount on the bike and measure distance.  

Once you have distance, you have speed since a clock is easy to bring along.  

GPS plotting on a map gives you where you were.

There are now a whole host of things you can add to the process.  I measure heart rate from start to finish.  My software reads my monitor and talks to me verbally.  I try for a specific heart rate and can tell when I am in need of a rest.  I get an average speed and instantaneous speed.  I know that at my break on the bike, I expect to have an average of 14 MPH plus a little bit, an average heart rate of 150 plus BPM.  Peak speed is usually in the high teens but it has gone over 20 MPH.  If I am feeling feisty, all of those numbers increase.  Winds in the wrong direction and all bets are off.

But this disposable electronics mindset we have means I strive for redundancy.  Best two-out-of-three to determine what the "real" distance is.

It can be frustrating.  You can't take a scientific approach to something that is being measured by consumer grade electronics.

The old bike computer agreed completely with the sport watch, both this watch and the one before it.  They all run GPS.

The software on the iphone is wildly inaccurate so I use it as a verbal report of running Heart Rate, only.  

Distance on the phone at the end of a workout can be off by one mile with a basis of 27 miles.

The watch and the bike computer are within feet of each other.

Throw in the new bike computer and now we're never really sure.

The problem with all of this is that the bike computer is about as accurate as it will get for distance.  The new one is a little off from the distance.

New bike computer has a new processor so it gets more accurate readings from GPS so all the math is thrown off.  It is faster, so speed changes more frequently on the display.

If I could replace the battery in the old bike computer I would have been happy to crack the thing open and solder in a new battery.  Lithium "Pillow" Batteries are sold based on physical size. "Length, Width, Height."  My own electronics skills would be sufficient to repair and replace, but the little white bike computer is so tightly welded together that ... "E Waste" would result.

Why I am going to put up with the inaccuracy of the new bike computer is that I am not competition class on the bike, and do not intend to be.  Having records of my performance are great, but do not need to be perfect for anyone but myself.

Sorry, Guinness Book Of Records, I won't be inviting myself in.  My spreadsheet is sufficient for my purposes of record keeping.

All of this is to say that if you are depending on what the little box on the handlebars of your bike, or what your sport watch is reporting back to you, you are going to be frustrated. It just is not that accurate.

At least the case of the new bike computer can be opened with a tiny screwdriver.  I have those.  I have taken many things apart that I should not.  

With varied results.  When things break here, E Waste is the kindest thing you can call it.

When the Support Team is gone for a month, it is time for an enforced pause in the workouts.

I have had a good run this year.

No injuries, some skating, a lot of cycling.  One long break in July and right back to the workouts.  I'm on the way to 2500 miles on the bike this year.  I doubt 3000 miles is possible at my pace.

August.  Made it through the whole month.  August in South Florida can be punishingly hot.  The peak of that was stop at the car and dump a 20 ounce bottle of water all over myself and use the skin suit as an air conditioner.

Think of it as a big yellow swamp cooler.  Yeah, that's what I will call it, my spandex swamp cooler.

What this nonsense is all about is that my "Support Team" is on the way to London.  Right now, my feet are on the coffee table (don't tell 'Mom'), and the Team is in the Miami Airport waiting on an overnight flight.

I seem to get about a five or six month run between breaks so I am right on time now.  The next three weeks, I have to figure out what to do with myself so that I don't go nuts.  

Also, the normal pattern is well and truly shattered.

I tell people that I am an athlete.  Trainer level.  Dual Sport Athlete, Elite Inline Skater, Intermediate Cyclist.  I'll pause that since I don't want to give myself a bruise patting myself on the back.

What this blather all means is that I have to play hard with the rules of nutrition.  I am a fan of the theory of "Macronutrients".  Of course everyone has their own fine definitions of what that means, but in a nutshell, I have a tuned diet.

40% of calories from Protein.
30% each from Carb and Fat.

1 gram of Protein per KG of ideal body weight.  81 g protein.

Except that these next three weeks, I have to reduce the intake.  I'm doing a soft landing so I am reducing the food intake.

The truth be told, I have been doing this literally for decades.  When I was competitive inline skater "back in the day" in Philadelphia, I would get to October and begin to cut back of calories.  Going from the usual 700 calories per meal plus 200 for snacks, I would cut that back to about 550x3 and lose a snack.  Philadelphia winters were way too cold to inline skate even if I was stubborn.

One "last workout" I was on the Fairmount Park trail and hit an ice patch.  Nearly ended up in the Schuylkill River with an air temp of 25F.  On inline skates.  That would make it difficult to swim to shore, trust me.

The next year I spent the winter in the gym and it worked out well.

This year on The Break, I'm going to do long walks.  Today is only going to be about 12000 steps.  Tomorrow, I am dusting off the Bowflex and see if I can get an upper body workout going.  Weightlifting is always a good idea whether it is a substitute to a normal training regimen, or if it is actually your training regimen.

We will see.  I partially disassembled the thing when the house was being remodeled and I lost the assembly instructions.  I am good at fixing things even without documentation, but with all the injuries I have had over the last couple years, I have been hesitant to begin weightlifting.

Yeah, I know.  Weight bearing exercises build bone mass.  With the 18 or so screws I have holding my two clavicles and the titanium in my shoulder, I have a right to be hesitant.

So remember, fellow babies, if you are going to make a drastic change in your level of exercise, reduce your food intake.  You will hate it, but if it is a temporary pause, your body will thank you.

Besides, my legs were getting a bit large lately.  The three time weekly marathons on the bike built the quads and calf muscles up, and my muscle weight has been growing.  

The spandex compression shorts aren't compressing as much so I think it's been a good thing.

Stay tuned.  Until then, I have a lot of podcasts and comedy programming to get through.

If you are an Outdoor Sports kind of person, you know what I am getting at.  February in the Northern Hemisphere is not your friend.

But a pause is sometimes necessary whether for overtraining or for waiting for the support team.

A Class in Nutrition and Exercise at the Vet's Office.

It is October.  You are talking about having a beach body.  Great.  That's a start.  The best time to start on a beach body is "before now".  The second best time is now.

Where did all that come from?  The Vet's Office, specifically, but really years ago for me.

Today I had to do something I don't like to do.  I went to the Vet's.  It isn't really the Vet's office that I dislike.  It is how I went there.

It was a beautiful day.  Even the car was feeling spry.  My 23 year old Jeep was quick on the road getting to the park.  Temps were moderate if not cool for South Florida.  The rains had washed everything and the winds were very light.  

I piled everything into the car that I needed for a workout and got myself prepared.  Carbo load, music on the phone, extra water because I knew I had a visit afterwords.  Even a brownie for my snack.

Dressed in my one size too small cycle jersey and my now one size too large compression shorts, I was ready.  The end result was that I now have a "Skin Suit" or so I tell people.  If the jersey was larger, I would be better off, but ordering clothes from TEMU can be a crap shoot.  It's tight but I'll get over it, I'll own that because returns are a bear.

My normal workout on the bike is 6 laps around the big gas bag in Pompano Beach.  I check distance on the GPS on the sport watch when I finish and if it is just under a mile marker, I ride enough to get the round number.  In this case, today was 27.09 miles.

Now, that distance is good but not great.   I know people on bikes who regularly ride 50 miles in a workout.  I don't think I can do that in one go.  

On inline skates, I can do that same 27 miles.  I am an elite inline skater, but intermediate on a bike.

I finished, put the bike on the car rack, tossed a few peanuts at the squirrels.  Before I went into the place I poured water on my head so I didn't look quite so Ick, and then brushed the hair.  I mean, come on, you don't want to offend, right?

Remembering that the desk staff is "Women of a Certain Age" and that I am a "Man of a Certain Age" I took a deep breath before I went in.  I have a feeling I made an impression.

It was a rapid fire barrage of questions but basically I said things like it's really just one foot in front of another and in order to bike 27 miles in a morning, you actually have to do the first mile...first.

After assuring them that they most certainly could but it would take training, and that 27 miles on a bike is significant but not unattainable, for the third time, I backed off.

I have the time to do this sort of thing and I count myself very fortunate for that.  Not everyone has that time.  I truly do not want to be that person who has the time and sits on the couch eating junk.  I did explain that the workouts are a "Get out of jail free" card for the diet, but that is tempered with being extremely aware of nutrition and "Macro Nutrients".  

I count every single calorie and know when I can have what and how much of it at any given time.  A slab of chocolate cake is not a big deal, I just budget the calories along with everything else.

If I had a slightly smaller snack or did so less frequently, my body fat percentage would be lower than my current 17% but as I explained to the ladies, it is my reward for a job well done.

Basically if you take a systemic approach, garbage in, garbage out, you can refine what you are able to do.  Otherwise, you are right, you can't ride 27 miles, or skate 20, or walk 5 miles.

Start out slow, divide and conquer, work within your own capacity but push a little bit more every day.

Fitness is a very good illustration of Compound Interest.  You do a little bit more than last time and eventually you are doing a lot more than when you started.

That Compound Interest thing was how I got started.  I was never allowed to be this active as a child or a teen.  When I moved away from home, I immediately changed that.  Never stopped.  So now, in my "Certain Age" I am working out at the level of a varsity athlete.  

You can too.  Start out slow.  Do those steps, then tomorrow do another few more.  

Your body is an amazing machine, you will be surprised with what you can achieve.  

Yes!  Yours.  Seriously!

Trust me, when I started, I could not climb a flight of steps without wheezing from asthma.  Now, maybe 50 miles in a workout is more than I need, but 27 miles on a bike in 2 hours with a break is just right.

It really is all about finding something you can do that will allow you to take things further.

In other words, Personal Choice.  Good luck on your search.  

Oh, and if you are on a bike or skates at The Park, don't be too surprised if I draft you and give chase. It's how we all say let's play!

Two Hurricanes Will Have An Effect On Each Other, And On Your Week

Whenever Florida gets any kind of big storm, my friends and family, gotta love them, will ask "You ok?".  This time there were three tropical storms in the North Atlantic.  I decided to pay close attention and write things down, in my typical rambling fashion with too much detail.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Sunday Morning.   It is about an hour before sunrise.  I'm sitting in a dark house drinking some "jet-fuel" coffee, Home Roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe medium roast if you are curious.  Rack, my faithful sidekick McNab SuperDog is at my right elbow smiling and panting for some reason.

I check Radar trying to decide whether to Inline Skate or Cycle today.  The Pompano Air Park is sitting under a "Dark Green Blob" which means it is currently raining enough that there will be ponding on the trails.  Ok, Cycling it is.

There is a Tropical Storm trying to form into a hurricane.  It won't be "Our Storm" and we will be safe.  Or so I hope at this point. 

There is a significant breeze coming in off the ocean.  This is South Florida after all, this is what the weather is like.  You are a bowling pin and a kid is down the alley tossing a too big bowling ball at you and it may or may not hit you and knock you over. 

You get up, check radar.  Temps are basically like yesterday.  If you liked yesterday, you will like today.  Or tomorrow. 

I am an endurance athlete.  I have to plan for a solid 5 or 6 hours of weather.  I don't have that today.  I'll let you know if I end up getting that water stop at the Jeep or will I have my mid workout "dousing" provided by Mother Nature.

Rack is up, getting curious.  I guess it is time to get up and motivate.

It's Sunday which means amateur day in any athletic pursuit.  The "Civilians" are out clogging gyms, trails, and other active places.  The rain did arrive, all of 5 drops, and the winds are up here but not appreciably so.  Good day for a little wind surfing.


This business of having two hurricanes within a certain distance has the Fujiwhara effect.  (Spelling courtesy of the link, sorry if I botched it)  The smaller of the two gets drawn into the larger.  It means that the smaller one that was heading for us here in Florida got stripped of a lot of its energy.  It also means that the prevailing winds here got turned around and we had a cool morning.  Storm isn't coming here, but the morning was cool and dry.  I guess that's from the North.

I went out into the yard.  Started messing with the irrigation.  During the 1970s a lot of these houses were built with this flimsy plastic tubing for pipes.  My house missed that but the prior owner used some of that stuff for irrigation.  I have been in the house for 20 years.  So instead of spending my morning enjoying the somewhat unseasonably cool 76F morning, I got started chasing after irrigation leaks.  You have irrigation, you will have leaks.  Especially if you used substandard pipes plumbing the yard.

It started a task that lasted all day.  I suppose it would be better off if I did not admit to people that we know how to work on sprinklers, it's a big business here in Florida.  It's also an annoying one to work on.  The glue takes 12 plus hours to set, closer to 24 hours, and it means everything has to be screw fit together or else.


Tuesday, Both storms, Humberto and Imelda, have moved somewhat North of where I sit.  That cool air that they pulled down from the North is still here, but the winds have shifted.  So as I prepare to go to the park to go do circles around the giant gas bag,  it will get warmer.  While yesterday had a low that was lower than normal for us at 75, like it is now at 5 AM, the high today will go up to higher than normal for us at 90.

I go for that workout because, despite the winds gusting over 25, it's dry.  Today will be a day for placing myself with the wind at my back for the longest leg of the workout and enjoy a rest at too fast a speed.

It was gusty but not obscenely so.  One of those days where the gusts would slow you down to almost a runner's pace, and then when you return, you find yourself going at the traffic's pace on the main road next to you with little effort.  

It's one of those days that slow you down overall but doesn't matter because you aren't being a lump on the couch.  But, definitely on a bike.  All the inline skaters were missing on the trail.

For us, this is not a big deal.  I have lived here for 20 years and you get to the point where you can read the radar for the weather, and you end up second guessing the Weather Guys on the TV.  

Why not, I have been doing that since I was a child.  I'm getting good at this.  But if you are North of me, keep an eye out and hone your weather forecasting skills.  You never know if it will save your hide some day.


It is Wednesday.  I usually release this stuff on Wednesday morning.  It's not our storm, nor did we expect it to be.  The storms are off the Outer Bank of NC and are making trouble for Bermuda.  I expect this to pretty much end the hurricane season, at least for a while.  

These storms have "Spun Fish" for enough time to pull colder water up from the depths and cool the ocean surface down.  That's the engine for the creation of the storms after all, warm surface water at 86F/30C.  

Our own forecasts in South Florida are dropping from the upper 80s to the mid 80s for the rest of the week.  

Enjoy your weather, I certainly will be!

Weather Watching At Pompano Airpark

I guess we can file this one under things I just like.

Kansas is flat.  Florida is flatter.

I workout at an airport in Pompano Beach Florida.  The trail here is one big square.  About a Mile on a side.  1.6 Km if you must.  4.5 miles once around.

Thing is that here, where the air is liquid even in the dry season, there are some seriously small micro-climates.
 

I'm standing about 2 miles 3 Km away from the Ocean.  The other side of the park is a mile away.  I'm standing in the sun.

Riding around that big old box I can see where there was a Thunderhead just off shore.   I can do that loop on the bike in about 17 minutes reliably, although today I was taking things easy and relaxed a bit. 

Standing at the gates, I put the camera in the gap between them and squeezed off this picture.

The point is that you have to be able to read the weather. 

When I was in Philadelphia, I had a long run.  It was 15 miles, about 28 km in one direction away from the car.  I'd stop and have a break and skate back to the car.  It was predictable.  You would be able to read the radar and say that it would be a good dry run that day and not get out and be wet.  After all, on a 3 hour workout, getting soaked in the middle of it is simply not an option.

Here things are different.  If you liked yesterday's weather, you will like today's.  In this specific case, warm and sunny with leopard spots of storms marching across the radar developing into some strong storms later. 

Welcome to Wet Season.

I have to watch.  Things can change at a moment's notice.  I have stood in that same spot and known that I was going to get quite wet by the time I got back.  Not today actually because that little leopard spot disappeared and reformed twice in the two hours I was at that park.

One of the adaptations I made was to get ceramic bearings in my inline skates.  You can run them through water and they do not rust, they're made out of material similar to the coffee cup you took out of the dishwasher last time you ran the thing.  Regular steel bearings rust if you look at them wrong.

I get to the car on the other side of the park now and since it is still warm, I am using one of the two bottles of water that I carry to pour over my head and helmet, shoulders and arms to cool down to be able to go around for another hours.  Yet another adaptation.

Endurance Sports are subtle that way, you change things to put yourself through the workout over the years.  Eventually you get where you are going even if it isn't the way you were going last time.

Florida is a very granular place.  Just a little way away and the entire character of where you are at has changed. 

Weather, Neighborhood, Opportunities.

I suppose that would be why people move here.  It never freezes, we're only 8 miles below the freeze line in winter.  Maybe further because of the "Global Warming That Does Not Officially Exist" nonsense.  Most people who own property can tell you how far above sea level they are.  Mine is 15 feet, 5 meters, and is the highest point on the block if not in town.  You need to know because if it rains on your roof, it will drain into the neighbor's property or pond in their yard - or not.

Everywhere you live will change you.  So if you are moving down here, remember to spay and neuter your pets and especially your MAGA relatives, and get ready for the changes. 

And get a good radar app for your phone.  Or two.  Plus Ceramic Bearings.

Why You Want Ceramic Bearings In Your Inline Skates

 

I used to work with someone who decided to mess with my head.  He said "Why are you still skating, nobody does that any more?". 

I responded with "When is the last time you could see your toes without a mirror?".

I know.  Catty.  But hey, never compare your 100th session with someone else's first.

The thing is that I still skate.   I still measure the distance in fractions of Marathons.  It is August and I have not stopped.  Resting heart rate is 48.  I think that guy is still casting a large shadow at noon.

Jus' Sayin'.  Trails are filling up with skaters again.  This is the second "rebirth" of inline skating.  It isn't like in the 90s but you can find friendly faces out there again.

And that is the point.  I do it because I like to.  I do it because the beta endorphins are a great rush.  I do it because I have a distance goal of "Once Around The World At The Equator" and I am within 250 miles.

I skate once a week, bike twice a week.  Skating is 1.5 times more calories burned than Biking at my level.  1500 calories per hour.  I'll drop it when I'm "old" and I'm not there yet.

There are a few things that I picked up over the years.  You don't skate 24659 miles without learning a few things about a sport.

I am endurance, not speed, not tricks.  I go to log miles, as you might have gathered.  I pick a pace and "just go". 

August in Florida is hot, it was hotter in my native Philadelphia last week.  I found that taking a break every 45 minutes is a requirement, not "nice".

I bring a LOT of water.  My home park has lots of water stops, as did the park in Philly.  I time my breaks to be near water.  Getting through the heat in August wherever you are (February in the upside down world of the southern hemisphere) is helped by this strategy.

Stop, dump water on your head and clothes.  Don't get the bearings wet for the love of the skating gods.  But definitely do the water dump.  "Room temp" will feel nice and cool.  Ice water will send a chill up your spine.  Then dump a similar amount down your waiting gullet and enjoy.  I also bake brownies for my water stop since I'm stopping very close to an hour and it burns up your blood sugar.  Once you get going that water will evaporate and you will get about a half hour at "your pace" of being cool.  Trust this "Senior Skater" on this one, you will like the feeling of the breeze on your head and chest.

Second thing to mention is Bearings.  If you are still on your original bearings consider an upgrade.  I am in a wet climate.  I got very tired of having to tear down bearings every week, even up North.  That is about 100 miles in my old pace of 4x25 miles on the trails.

Hybrid Ceramic is a big improvement and they cost online about $25 a set.  You still have to keep them dry but they are a little better at rolling resistance than a steel bearing.

I know some out there say ABEC 7 or Bones Swiss but I disagree.  I have two containers of formerly useful bearings that were ABEC 5 and better.  ABEC is just a measure of precision of the bearings within the race in the bearing themselves, not a durability rating.   Once you hit the dust or wet on the trails, they will rust up and are no longer smooth. 

Hybrid are only good as long as they are maintained.  Degreased, Dried, Reoiled after a session.  

A much better solution is the more expensive Ceramic bearings.   A set of Full Ceramic bearings cost me about $70.  With the orange menace adding tariffs and taxes on anything he does not understand, I am sure they have gone up.

But do consider them.  Add a cheap Ultrasonic Cleaner to the purchase price at around $35-50.

Why?  They are made of a ceramic mixture like your coffee mug.  They are designed to never need lube.  Lube will pick up dust and corrupt your shiny white or black ceramic bearings.  Care is simple - Put them in the ultrasonic cleaner with water and a drop of dishwashing soap and let it run through a cycle.  When through dry them out with a hairdryer and reinstall.

The difference is a roll test or spin test.

You take a pair of skates and flip them over.  Run your hands, quickly, over the wheels to get them to spin.  Watch your clock to see how long the wheels spin.  My rule is 1 minute spin on steel bearings.  2 minutes on Hybrid is a good number although I see regularly upwards of 2 minutes 30 seconds. 

I have seen one wheel spin 5 minutes on ceramic bearings.  I shoot for 3 minutes 30.  I tend to get bored when I do a spin test.

Anything less than those numbers and into the ultrasonic they go.

Steel gets lube.  I'm not sure of the Hybrid but since they feel a little oily, I would tend to put more lube back.

Lube for me is "Tri Flow" oil.  It has Teflon in it, and it is a light machine oil.  I have been using it for the majority of my 24700 miles.

Ceramic Bearings do not get oiled.

Let me repeat that.

Ceramic Bearings do not get oiled.

You dry them off as much as possible, and put them back into the wheels.   My own ceramics are open bearings, unshielded.  The Steel and Hybrid are both shielded and I have stuck myself many times with the push pin to get the C Clamp off the individual sides of the bearings.

Steel Bearings have gotten so cheap that there are many out there that just get a new set rather than refurbish a set of steel bearings and take the hours of time to do it right.

Spin test them.  You will never get a set of steel bearings to spin the 2:30 of a hybrid let along the 3-5 minutes of a ceramic.

Ceramic bearings are smooth.  It makes for a much better feel on the trails.  More like you are on Ice than on asphalt.  More of what you are putting onto the trail gets converted to speed so this is not for someone who is just "taking up skating".  As an upgrade, I can't think of a nicer one other than perhaps a harder or larger wheel.

Both of my pairs of skates are hard wheels.  88A durometer.  My small set of 80 mm wheels are pure urethane - creamy colored plastic.  The 100 mm big wheels are probably polyurethane but they are 88A. 

Softer wheels will give you more grip but will wear out faster.  They are also stealing your momentum.   Higher durometer wheels will last longer, roll further.  You choose. 

I chose hard wheels.  A long time ago, that is.

I've been at this so long that the terminology has changed.  The "Frame" or "Skate Frame" where the wheels are bolted in was called a "Truck" from the old quad skate designation.  I still slip and call the Frame a Truck from time to time.

But I prefer a long frame, and I have a pair of Rollerblade Twisters from 2023 (I think) that I installed a set of 4x100mm wheels on that look like a demented set of skis.  They have the feel of riding on a rail because of the length of the frame but I don't do tricks.  If you do, you will want to get a custom shorter frame.

For me, and my distance, I'll stick with the longer frame.

(Or Truck)  Long frame on a big heavy boot is a heavy skate, a beast of a skate.

But definitely, if you can find them at a good price, get the ceramics.   You will appreciate the smoothness.

Better to roll than to talk about it.  Find yourself some trainer's tape and tape up the hot spots.  Then get out there and enjoy a workout, I know I will!