As the kids say, it had been a minute since I last took a ride on a bike. Earlier this year I had vowed to start exercising to try and lose some weight but after cleaning the garage to even be able to get to the bikes and then pumping up the low tires with a tiny portable air pump. When I tried biking then, I was having real problems with knee pain. It had gotten bad enough that just walking to the car after my twelve hour shifts, I would have to stop because of the pain and discomfort. The pain has mostly gone away from both knees, possibly from the medicine my mom told me to try or maybe from resting them and them healing on their own. Either way, at that point just going the length of a couple of houses, my knees felt very uncomfortable.
I would say it has been a good month and a half to two months since then and though my legs still feel heavy, my knees are not in pain like they used to be. I tried going out a few houses, like before, and this time the discomfort was bearable. I lifted the seat a little more so my legs wouldn't reach up to a full 90 degrees in the upstroke and this helped a little more. After trying it out, I called Javalina out, he has constantly been telling me he wants to jog with me while I bike. We finally did our maiden voyage together. We only went around the first block in our community, but I thought it was very good. First of all, it is a new bike for me, one with these oversized tires, which make it harder to bike as they have more surface area touching the road, so more effort is needed to pedal. I am also out of shape, and still over 400 pounds, so I have to go with baby steps.
The reason for trying the bike now is that I started Atkins again and after a successful start in which I lost almost 18 pounds, I have kind of plateaued. I am happy going from a high of about 432 down to 414, I seem to yo-yo between 414 and 418, but it is time to actually start exercising. I doubt I can run with my knees. but biking is not as jolting on the body. I am also going to try and move around in the pool when I get the chance instead of laying in bed or sitting on my ass all day. There was a time when I could bicycle 10 miles at a time back in my early twenties, but that was half a lifetime ago. We'll see, I would like to get down to at least 350, 335 now that my brother said that was his weight.
If I can manage this, the next part will be to start lifting weights again. It is awesome that I have Javalina in the start of his prime. I will try to ride him back to glory. As long as I can lift a little more than him, I feel good, but that boy keeps getting bigger and stronger every day. He is drinking two gallons of milk a week and he does lift weights here at home on his own. If he was as driven as I used to be back in the day, he would be a scary boy. Him being lazy is allowing me to stay within striking distance.
No comments:
Post a Comment