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Happy Tuesday!!  Honestly I was thinking ‘It’s only Tuesday?!’, but overall it’s been going good so far.  In my last post about goals and blah, blah, blah I mentioned that I want to start biking to work at least while the weather is so nice here.  Once it hits summer, I’m probably going to have to get up and ride at 4 am, because by 5:30 it’s usually already near 100 F.  But for this week, highs are near 70 F!

Our morning started pretty early when  

the alarm started beeping its annoying tune at 4:45am.  This isn’t really too early for us because most of the time we get up by 5:15 . . . er 5:30 🙂  It does make it hard when we can’t get to bed until 10:30pm though.  The key to biking to work is planning ahead.  I have to bring in my work clothes, makeup, etc, along with breakfast, lunch and snacks the day before I plan to ride.  I also plan to get ready at work again tomorrow because I can’t bring my giant gym bag home on the bike.

We got all our gear ready the night before . . .

Those little covers make all the difference in chilly weather since clipless shoes are usually vented.

Chris and I had a quick bowl of cereal and 1/2 naner with NF milk around 5:30am.  I wasn’t hungry at all and the thought of eating wasn’t all that appealing, but I knew I needed the fuel from my overnight fast (a.k.a. sleep).  We made it out the door kind of later than I would have liked, but we ended up making pretty good time.

Chris has been nursing his knee for a few weeks now, and I’m happy that he said it’s feeling good again, but it’s not 100%. Even though he hasn’t gotten a ride in for a little bit, I was still struggling to keep up with him!  There are a few good hills on the way and I admit I caught myself thinking some negative thoughts, asking myself ‘why am I doing this?’, ‘why do I even bother riding with Chris?’, ‘Maybe I should turn around’, etc.  I finally realized that these were definitely not helping and began switching to ‘I like hills!’, ‘You can do this!’, ‘You will get better!’, and soon enough the looming thoughts in my mind began to disappear and we were close to work.  Yay!

• Time: 57: 39
• Distance: 15.9 miles
• Avg: 16.5 mph (woo-hoo!  Thanks to Chris for pushing me faster)

When I got to work I quickly got ready and rinsed off with a wet paper towel.  I got there fairly early enough so there weren’t too many people who saw me rockin’ the tight spandex.  I also don’t really mind not showering for one day, especially since I have plenty of deodorant and spray 🙂 I had some simple oats topped with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1 naner.  It wasn’t the best because I forgot peanut butter, but I needed something.  Sorry no pic!

Don’t mind the bike in the break room 🙂

or the cool bike gear in my cube 😉

I was a bottomless pit and peeing like a race horse all day!  One thing I forgot to bring to work was extra water bottles, so I walked over the convenience store near work and picked up 1.5L and also a G2 to maintain hydration through the day.  Bleh!  I know I hate G2 and need to be prepared and bring my own stuff.  I really like Clif Quench because it is natural and not overly sweet, but it’s darn expensive and doesn’t come in bulk bottles or mix 🙁

I snacked on an energy bar around 10:15am, and I was starving again by 11:15!  I managed to hold out till lunch with an orange.  For lunch, I finished off the last of the pulled pork in a sammie.  I thought this stuff would never end!  It was just the protein-packed lunch I needed to revv me up for the ride home.  That’s the thing about riding to work . . . you do have to ride back home after a long day.  But if you make sure to have things planned and enough to eat, it’s great to fit in the training and fitness!

Since I get off a bit earlier than Chris today, I had to muster up my navigation skills to hit the road myself.  I just prayed that I payed enough attention on the way in to find my way back.  I’m pretty good with directions in a car, but a bike is just different because I usually don’t pay attention to street signs.  Before hitting the road I munched on a 1/2 peanut butter and nutella sammie and a protein cookie.

I managed to find my way, yippeee!  But the winds picked up and absolutely killed me.  We had gusts up to 20 mph and of course the major hill I was planning to take home was going straight into the wind!  ugh!!  While the weather is nice now, I think March is one of our windier months, well it always seems to be windy here.

I didn’t do all that great on time, but I’d say I’m pretty used to those dang winds.

• Time:  1:07
• Distance: 15.9 miles
• Avg:  14 mph

When I got home I had a bottle of refreshing coconut water and 4 dates.  I then saved Chris from the winds and went and picked him up half way after I got home and in a car 🙂  He even said he was having a hard time pedaling with that wind!

After taking a shower we heated up some pasta leftovers.  It’s nice to also plan for leftovers after a ride into work.  I hadn’t had enough greens for the day, so I had a side salad of chopped romaine and spinach topped with marinated veggies, cranberry goat cheese and walnuts.

I was still feeling munchy and had a few pretzels and a biscoff spread with a bit of nutella and a mint green tea on the side.  Love the salty/sweet combo!

Man, I’m pooped!  I think I easily had 2500-2700 kcals today, but probably burned at least 1,000-1,200.  I’ve got a midterm tomorrow and need to study a lot more!!!  Have a great night 🙂

Have you ever biked to work?  Any tips?