Starting out I felt as though it was kind of still a bit too cold to be cycling but just as I expected, once I got moving things were a lot better as I warmed up. This is actually kind of nice for me because I get hot really easy and the fact that I will start to get cold rather fast once I have sweat all over me keeps me moving fast. Well, as fast as we can go in this extremely crowded city anyway.
This wasn't a really long run, but I did manage to do one of the only hill climbs we have in Chicago for cyclists because it is really flat here. I went in the middle of the day too so there wasn't a million other people in the way of my movement.
The under 500 calories isn't really doing it for me either since later on I went and had at least that many calories in beer alone. I also had a burger. It wasn't a terribly health-conscious night for me but hey! At least I got some activity in.
As far as my heart rate goals are concerned I was easily able to accidentally stay in my sweet spot of zone 3 with the only departures from it coming from being stuck behind a group that was riding very slowly for the low end of things, and the very brief hill climb that took me up to anaerobic for just a few minutes.
It wasn't a difficult ride but I was noticing a bit of pain in my right knee. It doesn't feel muscular, it kind of feels like a tendon issue. hopefully it is just a question of me having not ridden a bicycle for months and it will sort itself out.
These speeds are nothing to get excited about but I was able to let loose for a bit there as I got out of the city center and there was dramatically fewer people. Seriously, I think I should move a bit further out from the downtown area because it was pretty amazing how few people there were just a mere 10km from where I started. I think that most people are just doing the loop downtown and don't even bother to head north to the suburbs. We do have a pretty fantastic networks of bike only trails here so I guess I am happy that my crazy tax rate is at least doing a little something that I can actually use with it.
I'll probably start to mix things up with my cardio a bit more now that it is getting warmer. I really need to hunker down and get serious before the 6 weeks of hellish heat and humidity that we normally get in the summer.
I do think that cycling is one of the least effective workouts though even though it is meant to be better for your joints due to the lack of friction. I'm getting older and my joints and bones simply cannot handle it like they used to be able to but I still stick to my old statement of not using this as an excuse to not exercise.
Like I tell some of my less in-shape friends: The number one reason why exercise hurts you is because you don't exercise. The body will adapt in my case for another 10 years or so and I plan to use it!
