Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2023 Mentor Group - ALWAYS OPEN (Page 23)

Double OT? Nail biter for sure!!

I wish the BT app had a decent way to upload a photo. Then I could show you the absolute garbage air quality in Cairo today. I can barely see the building across the river

Anyway…90’ of Z2 running in the air I could taste (and it wasn’t good!). Slow for sure, but I wasn’t thinking to push too hard with the smog. Many more of these days and I’ll have to consider the gym treadmill again. Ugh.

Cubs were not as lucky as Nat’s team. Lost 2-1 in a walk off in the ninth. At least I got to listen to the last few innings on my run.

Very much so! Exhausting!
I didn’t record it as a workout but had my watch reckoned I had burnt 1800 ”active”calories yesterday when my bike ride + walk earlier only burnt 700. Rest is the game, 1100 cals. I don’t necessarily trust that without my chest strap but even if the reality is half of that, that’s quite a lot. Celebrated with a beer cocktail (mixed a Swedish lager which I find too sweet (Eriksberg) and my regular non alcoholic one which is a little bitter, result was great) and a chinese takeaway.

Unfortunately, I agree with you, you should choose the gym treadmill on those days, exercing outside in these conditions this can’t be good.

I think you summed it up well with it takes experimentation to nail down what works, we're all different and it's about finding something sustainable. As I've said before, my weight has been on the yo-yo for the last decade, I've lost 70-80lbs a couple of times. My experience is I've lost weight without exercise, I've lost with moderate exercise, but I have always struggled to lose with high volume training. I've lost weight following 'fad diets', I've lost just trying to be a bit careful with what I eat, and with strict calorie counting and now I'm losing with semi Intermittent fasting. And I've put on weight on all of those too, when half assing it and making bad choices.

My n=1 experiment results says at the end of the day, for 90% of us, 90% ot the time, it all comes down to calories in minus calories out. And these calories are measured over days, even weeks not hours. The key is finding what is sustainable for your lifestyle. Any of the 'diet programs' will work (if you stick to it), because they all end up reducing your calorie intake.

For me, at the current stage in my life, minimising what I consume during the day (when I'm on my own at work, and it's easily controllable) and 1 large meal in the evenings is working. For example on Mondays we pick the kids up from my parents place after work, and usually have takeout for dinner, as we don't get home till close to bed time so not much time to cook a nutritious meal. If I've had less than 500cal during the day a big mac for dinner is not the end of the world. If I've had 1200cal during the day it's not so good. Obviously for Gretchen (whos successful weight loss is an inspiration!), many smaller meals works better than 1 big one. In theory both systems work. In practice they only work if we can maintain it in our lifestyles. If I didn't have kiddos, and/or was living/working overseas on my own, I might be doing something different. But as it is, this is working for now, I've been losing an average of 1.2lbs/week since mid February so for now I'll stick with what I'm doing

What I won't do again though, is go for a hard interval run, just before dinner without fueling. That was too long since a meal and was clearly a mistake and I should have had a sandwich, or banana or something pre run. Lesson learnt.

My weekend was good but not quite as planned. I ended up riding Friday evening, Saturday off, and Sunday woke up all blocked up and a bit coughy again (crossing fingers it passes quick) I ran, but cut it a bit short and kept it very easy.

For the week I ended up with:
Swim: 0
Bike: x3, 3hr 15m. (1xeasy, 1xZ4 intervals, 1xSweet Spot Intervals)
Run, x3, 2hr 45m (2xeasy, 1xZ4 Intervals)

For this week my goals are:

1: Come up with a new swimming plan. The last few weeks work has got too busy for me to take a longer lunch break and swim some laps. And the next few months look much the same. Mrs BF and I need to come up with a plan to find a way for an early morning swim, or evening one at least once a week.
2: Bike, same volume, but I'll do a VO2max interval, and probably some Z3 stuff rather than Sweet Spot.
3: Run, volume up a bit, 3hr 15m - 3hr 30m total. 1 workout with some cruise intervals or tempo work. Rest easy.

@Gretchen. If you can taste the air, get on a treadmill in the nice airconditioned, and air filtered gym. No way that can be good for you. Nice effort levels getting it done regardless, but not good.

@Nathlaie. Nice that you got your bike outside for a ride. It's a happy time of year when that happens.

@Mike, Excellent work on the 1750m swim. Lovely round number.

Happy Sham Enessem everyone!!

Today is the Egyptian holiday celebrating the beginning of spring. It dates back to Pharaohnic times, so it is kinda fun to celebrate a festival that the people of Amarna (i.e., those I study) would have celebrated. Today is all about enjoying nature and spending time in green spaces...which kinda boggles my mind, given that we are in a desert. Anyway, most people will go to a park or spend the day hanging out by the Nile. If they live in the south of the country, they will climb to a high place to smell the sweet air (traditionally this time of year is plagued by high winds from the south to bring in the warm air, but global warming has changed that...no winds for the last four years). Traditional foods are lettuces, dyed hard boiled eggs (yep...Easter eggs are Egyptian!!), and a fermented fish that makes me gag.

1750yd easy swim this morning. I was joined by some random dude who happened to look a lot like my neighbor. He was in the pool for all of five minutes, I'd estimate. He did one length of what I think was supposed to be breast stroke, then walked in the pool for about 3 lengths, then moved himself over to the whirlpool attached to the pool. I had just started my set of 3x100 when he got in and by the time I had finished that set, he was leaving. To each their own, but it strikes me as super weird when people do stuff like that.

thanks for the lesson, very interesting.

we also have a fermented fish that makes me gag in Sweden.

First time I lost a considerable amount of weight (26lbs (when you are 5'1 26lbs overweight is considerable) back in 2017, I just upped the training volume so I could eat and drink as much as I wanted.


These 26lbs had been creeping up since and I was not able shift them until I gave up alcohol.

that's my weightloss story

sounds like a plan

Well Happy Sham Enessem to everyone too.

Started my week with a 60 minute zwift ride with 3x5 minute sets of 30" on 30" off VO2max. At the end of the first 5 minute repeat legs felt dead and I was expecting to flame out. But for some reason it came right and the sets actually felt progressively easier. The ride was followed with a soak in the 100F spa.

Today I've got an hour 'easy' run scheduled, but I might switch it with tomorrows 75min Z2 ride as we've apparently got family commitments Wednesday evening, so I will see what fits easier logistically.

My return to AM swimming is penciled in for Friday, chosen because it's the day with the least number of lanes booked by clubs. We will see.

Yes, riding outside (with the air quality we have round here I must add) is hard beaten. Although, the workout itself is better on the trainer. I don’t care. I do this for fun, I am not riding indoors when the weather is nice.

That’s great that you were able to turn it around and finished strong!

Hope Friday AM swimming works

Another outdoor ride yesterday after work, before game 2 on TV, which we also won so we’re now leading 2 game to 0. So far so good….

Game 3 is at home on Thursday.

Super jealous of outdoor riding right now!! The best I can do is to put my trainer on the balcony, but if the air quality is bad, that doesn't even work.

I really love those workouts that start out with an ugh...this is going to be tough feeling, but then things turn around at some point and it goes well by the end. Good job!

Good luck with the AM swimming! For various reasons in various places, I find that I have to swim in the morning. If I don't, I won't get it in, although I do certainly miss the days (pre-2012) where I would take off at lunch and walk to the pool, swim, then walk back. Sure, it was a two hour lunch break (no one keeps track at my office), but it was a nice break in the middle of the day.

70' interval run this morning that actually went well. Kinda like Andrew's ride, the first interval very much had the feel of dead legs and that it wasn't going to go well, but about mid way through it, my legs kinda loosened up and it started to feel good. 4x6' Z3 running amid the rests and the wu/cd. Felt great to be out, but there were so many people out this morning. I have no idea why. I miss my early morning solo runs from back home, where I often go out for 60-90' runs without seeing a single person and maybe one car.

On the road this week. Got back on a bike for the first time in a long time and did 40 minutes on a spin bike. (10 warmup and 30 following a Peloton class). Then some core work and back to hotel. Today I haven’t done squat. I’m in Tampa on a short over-day and will stretch and eat gelato. Hahahaa. Ah well. Baby steps. Tomorrow I’ll be in Atlanta. Hopefully the hotel there has a decent gym.

60 minutes easy run on the treadmill last night. And it was new shoe day. Yay, new stuff. 1 run in, the Kayano 29's are slightly different than the previous models (as per the reviews), but still felt good. Went online to try and buy a 2nd pair (stock clearance sale was over 50% off)... Sold out of my size.

@Gretchen, nice work pushing through and ending up with a good run.

@Jenn, Everything in moderation, some days we do spin class and eat like a supermodel on a purge, and some we chill out and eat gelato. It's called balance. Haha.

@Nathalie, Good to see your team is 2-0 up. It's a bit silly we care so much about other people playing games. But when a team you follow is winning it just makes life happier doesn't it. I miss being able to go for rides after work... but have kids they said, it'll be fun they said... Nobody every points out by the time you've finished playing dad for the day its 730/8pm... midweek rides are zwift for me for many years to come.

Yes, it does feel bit silly but I’ve always played team sports and that feeling of togetherness is hard to beat. I miss that. Supporting a team is as close as it gets.
On Saturday, the guy who stood next to me (who I didn’t know) gave me a big hug when we scored the winner. In any other circumstances I would have kneed him in the balls but then it felt natural, we were best friends in that moment.
Still smiling when I think about it (not just the hug, the game).

Don’t worry, soon your kids will be teenagers and won’t have time for you, and you’ll be lucky if they want to know you.Plenty of time to train after work! Enjoy spending time with them while they still want it and think you’re cool!



Edited by Rollergirl 2023-04-19 3:00 AM

This might be a good time for something like Tailwind. Has some calories for quick energy. I use it sometimes for my morning workouts b/c I don't like to eat before. Here's a link for the one I currently have, not sure if you have something similar to this in NZ, but it was recommended to me by the nutritionist I was speaking with last year. https://www.amazon.com/Tailwind-Nutrition-Caffeinated-Endurance-Trop...