Out with the bad... In with the good

To booze or not to booze that is the question?

Can you train hard and drink a lot and eat loads of fast food?

The answer is yes probably (in fact I’m sure that there are plenty of Premier League footballers who do this, and more, throughout the season ‘it’s alright I sweat it all out on the training ground!’), but I don’t think it will do you any good!

So I find myself pondering, can I train for our big trip and still enjoy having a drink? I think again the answer is yes, if things are done in moderation…

When I was younger, I could go out and drink 6 pints get up the next day and go for a run but now I’m past 30, in the words of detective Murtagh ‘I’m too old for that sh!t’. So I decided moderation was the way forward, I didn’t want to put myself in some kind of booze free prison, banning myself from drinking for months, no I thought, I’ll just have a little, a bottle of beer here and a glass of wine there, but the strangest thing happened, the less I drank, the less I wanted to drink…

Less Of This

And Less of this

I am seeing the benefits, feeling good, the beer belly I’ve been growing these last few years is slowly going.

I’m not saying booze is bad, it’s been the source of many fun times in my life, and I always will look forward to catching up with friends over a beer or two (or three or four), at the moment it just feels like a rest is as good as holiday as they say - plus I’m feeling so good I don’t want to throw it all away for a massive hangover….

More of this

The same goes for the food too.

The healthier I eat the better I feel, and the easier the riding gets, our cupboard has gone from looking like the inside of a sweet shop to looking like a squirrels pantry.

We both feel so much better for it, I know it’s not rocket science but it’s amazing how some healthy eating can make you feel - as with the booze I’m happy to make a balance though, we did stop off for fish and chips on a ride the other week and I’ll never say no to the odd burger…

Dave


We will be cycling the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment below and sharing our blog.

Our new gym buddy!

We’ve been doing well keeping up with our training, making sure we’re covering at least ten miles every other day and our 30 mile training rides every other weekend.


Even though the blossom has bloomed, the nights are still not as long as we’d like to take our training totally outside – plus it’s also necessary to work out with weights to strengthen our muscles and core. When we haven’t made it outside we’ve been in the gym.


After our first month of visiting the gym, we found a new friend tucked away in the circuit room of the YMCA – Expresso Experience machines. These are totally awesome as it’s a bit like a computer game where you can see where you ride:



You even move the handles and gears.


Obviously it’s not as good as the real thing – but there’s no traffic lights to stop for, which means you can keep you heart beat up and you can choose great routes with lots of hills! You can create a log- in and race against yourself etc, but I’m happy setting the pacer to my last ride and beating that.


Last night I moved up to the challenging routes, and it took me 40 minutes to ride 8 miles! It was such amazing workout, but I was literally dripping afterwards.


I’m starting to realise that during all my previous visits to the gym before starting this challenge, I wasn’t really properly working out - sitting on a bike while watching the TV and hardly breaking a sweat.


Well I sure am sweating now! We are both going to have to start taking a towel with us when training; I had to go to a pilates class afterwards looking like I had wet myself. Not pretty.


Double thumbs up for Expresso!

We will be cycling the Pacific Coast Highway from Vancouver to Tijuana over six weeks starting in August 2012 to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Please show your support by sponsoring us here, leaving a comment and sharing our blog.