Posted in: Health, Technology, Weight Loss

The Name of My Next Band

When Microsoft unveiled its new Band activity tracker last year, I knew I wanted one. I had been ogling the Fitbit Surge for months because I wanted a tracker that could measure my heart rate. Also, I love watches. Brian pointed out that my Fitbit One was still functioning just fine, so I didn’t need a new gadget. He was absolutely right. I heaved a plaintive sigh and forgot about upgrading. (As a side note, I have the same problem with my phone. I desperately want a new Nokia Lumia, but my Moto X keeps chugging right along. Drat that reliable thing!)

The Band went out of sight, out of mind for the next couple of months as I concentrated on work and trying not to stress myself to death, which meant Brian was able to completely surprise me at Christmas. It was the last gift, and he said, “This one is just a silly little thing, no big deal.” You’d think I would know better by now, but nope. My squee of glee probably busted eardrums for eight square miles.

I’ve been wearing my Band religiously for two months now, and you know what? I’m still in love with it. Best. Gadget. Ever.

Posted in: Weight Loss

Progress and Setbacks

The past couple of months have been pretty rough. Circumstances have been less conducive to focusing on health and more conducive to crying on the couch with a bag of Fritos. This has led to backsliding, so I’ve had to stop and think about the things that help keep me going. Some of those things have fallen by the wayside, but now that I realize this, I can add them back into my routine.

Posted in: Health, Life, Weight Loss

Birthday Fitness and Other Updates

Birthday Fitness
As you guys know, this last year has been up and down for me in the fitness department. I’ve been maintaining my current weight range to get other things squared away before focusing on the final stretch of weight loss. Here’s a quick history for anyone who stumbles across this post and wants to catch up.

Posted in: Cycling, Life

Duncan Hospitality

I’ve learned a lot about myself on my many cycle rides over the past few years: how far I can push myself before my legs give out, how anger at the wind can drive me to overcome it, how much I value (and need) the serenity of a quiet morning with just the sound of bike tires and birds. I’ve also learned a lot about other people, though the teachings haven’t been nearly as positive (or as much fun for me.) I found that Duncan Hospitality can leave a lot to be desired.

Posted in: Cycling

Ride Report 2

Welcome back to the Ride Report! We didn’t have one last week because I was working overtime and didn’t have enough cranial power left for blog posts, but we also didn’t ride last week due to said overtime and crazy weather. Our training was cut short this week as well; Brian’s bike had a mechanical issue and caused him a gnarly wreck on his way to work Tuesday morning. He was pretty banged up and needed some time to recover, but we did get in a good, challenging ride yesterday morning because he’s such a boss. Here are the ride details.

Posted in: Cycling

Training

Last year Brian decided to ride in The Dehydrator, a multi-distance bicycle ride set up each July to benefit the local high school band. Being a former band nerd myself, I felt it’d be a fun thing to do together and signed up with him. We ended up having a great time, even though we had to go the shortest distance to accommodate my healing innards, and we knew we would participate again this year. We started our training a bit later than optimal this time due to my pants-wetting terror of being chased by large bitey dogs, but we’re making great progress.

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