Tag: average speed

Exercise

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

may 29 walk

I have really been neglecting my exercise throughout this entire diet that I’ve been on using the Noom app on my Android phone.  I have no excuse, but I really do lol.  With my degenerative disc disease in my spine, it’s difficult to walk long distances and I don’t have a bicycle anymore since my last accident which caused me to break my arm.  So the only thing I can really do is walk, which again is hard on my back.

Yesterday I took a vicodin and went out and just walked as far as I could with my Noom swag on.  I was in pain from the minute I left the house until I came home, except the pain was excruciating by the time I came home.  But, what other options do I have?  As you can see from the picture above, I walked 2.21 miles at an average speed of 3.4 miles per hour for 39 minutes and 30 seconds and I burned a total of 263 calories.  It’s not much, but it’s the best I could do.

I hope to get a new bicycle some day, but money is always tight so it’s really difficult to save anything.  I am selling the keychains on Etsy and whatever I get from that will be saved so I can buy a bike.  Of course, I probably won’t sell very many.  I’ve only sold 1 and the profit from that was like $1.87 or something.  So yeah, I don’t expect that to help me buy a new bike.

Until I can buy a new bicycle, all I can do is walk.  It’s free, although I don’t know how free because it does come with a huge cost, and that’s back pain.

I plan on going out again today because I know I should get SOME exercise lol.

Old Bike Logs

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Exercise, Health, WeightLeave a comment

I used to have a page on my blog which showed what my current bike route was with a log that I kept from my old bicycle computer.  Now that I am using the Noom app, everything has changed.  The Noom app keeps all of my rides in the phone and backed up on their website so I never have to worry about logging.  But I figured I would keep these old logs so I can go back to them to see how fast or slow I used to ride compared to how fast or slow I ride now and the future, if that makes sense.

Below is the original text from the original bike logs…

When I started riding my bike for exercise some time in late 2008, I bought a bicycle computer so that I could find out how fast I was going.  I didn’t know that this 20 function computer was going to give me such a wealth of information.

I started logging it on index cards because I knew that they would last longer than if I had typed them out in a file.  Things get deleted and removed, case in point was when my blogs database had crashed.

So here they are with an explanation of the gaps in time between rides.

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
11/03/2008 6.81 10 38 345 –
11/05/2008 9.014 10.7 50:35 436.6 43.5
11/06/2008 11.231 10.9 1:01:54 536.2 53.5
11/10/2008 18.290 10.7 1:42:33 835.7 81.2
11/11/2008 17.521 11.1 1:34:32 813.7 85.2
11/13/2008 11.907 11.0 1:05:13 552.1 57.6
11/14/2008 11.804 11.4 1:02:29 559.3 61.6
11/15/2008 11.851 11.8 1:00:32 556.7 63.0
11/17/2008 11.644 11.9 58:37 565.3 64.4
11/18/2008 11.804 11.6 1:00:52 558.7 62.5
11/20/2008 2.131 10.6 12:05 106.7 11.0

That seems to be all of 2008.  I am not exactly sure why I stopped then but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the cold weather and not wanting to freeze my balls off at any time of the day.

I started back up in the spring of 2009

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
04/14/2009 9.273 10.6 52:25 439.2 43.7
04/16/2009 9.589 10.3 56:07 454.7 44.7
04/17/2009 10.396 11.8 52:57 494.7 57.0
04/19/2009 16.603 11.8 1:24:14 780.5 90.0
04/22/2009* 10.396 12.2 52:00 — —
04/23/2009 10.339 11.7 52:51 488.0 56.0
04/27/2009 10.412 11.4 54:40 499.8 55.0
04/29/2009 10.434 12.0 52:25 529.0 59.6
04/30/2009† 7.155 11.1 38:40 357.2 38.2

Notice how my average speed has been in the 11 range with the occasional 12?

* I dropped the bicycle computer, it reset so I lost the rest of the information.  I knew my dst, avs and time but not calories.

† This wasn’t a riding day, I went to the mall on the bike.

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
05/03/2009 10.419 12.1 51:42 525.6 60.7
05/04/2009 10.379 11.9 52:23 498.1 57.6
05/06/2009 10.473 11.9 52:49 526.1 60.3
05/06/2009 10.374 12.3 50:38 501.8 58.9
05/11/2009 10.358 12.1 51:21 508.2 57.8
05/13/2009 11.368 12.2 55:56 557.0 64.9
05/15/2009 12.816 12.6 1:01:00 635.1 76.8
05/17/2009 13.441 12.3 1:05:30 640.9 76.6
05/19/2009 13.580 12.8 1:03:50 670.5 80.3
05/20/2009 16.615 13.0 1:16:41 831.2 101.5
05/21/2009 12.726 12.9 59:12 634.6 77.0
05/23/2009 12.669 12.4 1:01:26 617.7 73.1
05/25/2009 10.276 12.5 49:18 500.6 59.6
05/27/2009 12.740 13.1 58:19 645.9 78.3
05/28/2009 10.376 12.9 48:11 526.1 62.1
05/29/2009 12.781 13.0 59:11 655.3 78.8

Notice how my average speed has been in the 12 range and occasionally 13?

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
06/02/2009 12.722 12.8 59:45 662.2 79.1
06/03/2009 14.285 13.5 1:03:25 749.2 91.9
06/04/2009 14.247 13.4 1:03:54 730.4 90.4
06/08/2009 16.410 13.2 1:14:51 818.0 101.0
06/09/2009 12.707 13.3 57:18 659.9 80.0
06/10/2009 12.896 13.3 58:00 670.7 81.0
06/12/2009 16.376 13.8 1:11:02 858.2 106.7
06/13/2009 16.348 13.6 1:12:11 858.8 105.2
06/15/2009 16.337 13.6 1:11:51 680.3 105.7
06/16/2009 16.324 13.4 1:13:03 841.2 102.5
06/18/2009 16.366 13.5 1:12:42 848.6 103.6
06/19/2009 16.497 13.4 1:13:56 858.5 104.7
06/20/2009 16.351 13.7 1:11:46 850.6 105.2
06/22/2009 16.413 13.6 1:12:44 862.4 105.5
06/23/2009 16.323 13.6 1:11:51 853.2 104.9
06/24/2009 16.380 13.0 1:15:25 824.9 99.8
06/25/2009 16.359 13.0 1:15:24 813.0 99.0
06/27/2009 16.187 14.0 1:09:13 864.1 106.4
06/28/2009 16.481 13.2 1:14:56 848.3 102.7
06/29/2009 16.490 14.0 1:10:55 869.8 107.3

Notice how my average speed has been in the 13 range and a couple of 14’s in the end?

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
07/01/2009 16.503 13.8 1:11:57 870.4 105.5
07/02/2009 19.112 13.7 1:25:00 1002.8 122.4
07/03/2009 19.118 13.9 1:22:54 1008.3 123.7
07/05/2009 20.286 13.6 1:29:30 1067.1 133.2
07/06/2009 20.099 13.9 1:26:41 1075.1 132.0
07/07/2009 20.132 13.5 1:29:46 1043.6 127.4
07/09/2009 20.536 14.2 1:27:01 1093.9 135.9
07/10/2009 21.047 14.0 1:30:33 1105.7 135.8
07/12/2009 16.490 14.0 1:10:55 869.8 107.3
07/13/2009 21.051 14.4 1:27:33 1121.8 140.0
07/14/2009 22.199 14.1 1:34:15 1180.9 147.0
07/16/2009 22.198 14.2 1:34:03 1178.4 146.3
07/17/2009 16.783 13.5 1:14:22 883.7 106.4
07/18/2009 22.859 13.9 1:38:38 1198.0 146.1
07/20/2009 22.985 14.0 1:38:39 1212.5 148.0

Notice how my average speed started out in the 13’s range but then the rest of the time it was in the 14 range?

July 20th was my last ride because my new ergo bicycle seat hurt my shoulder so bad that I couldn’t stand the pain enough to continue riding.  I bought beach cruiser handlebars so that I could ride again and it did help with the pain.  I did try to ride in October.

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
10/05/2009 7.331 10.4 42:19 357.6 34.6
10/06/2009 3.883 10.2 22:59 183.1 16.3
10/07/2009 5.446 10.8 30:11 259.5 26.4

Notice how I didn’t go very far?  I was in so much pain that I couldn’t really go that far from the house before having to turn around.  After 3 days I gave up.

My shoulder pain eventually went away on it’s own without any help from any of my doctors despite waiting 8 months for appointments.  I could have been out on the bike trail but I just wasn’t into it anymore.  By July I had enough of the weight that I had gained back so I tried going back out there.  Here is my log.

Date DST AVS Time Calories Fat Calories
07/17/2010 22.559 11.9 1:54:07 1011.9 113.2
07/18/2010 22.489 11.0 2:02:34 965.5 97.1

Unfortunately, the next day after my last ride logged the nut on my back wheel came out as I was riding to the store and I had to walk the bike home with groceries.  The axle really screwed  my wheel up and that was the last time I was able to ride my bike.  I called the bike store and they told me $40 for the wheel and $10 to install it.  It was difficult as it was to pay my bills and I just couldn’t afford to spend that kind of money.  So… that was the end of that until June 2011 when I finally bought a new wheel.

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)

Date DST AVS Time Cal Fat Cal
07/06/2011 17.172 11.2 1:32:12 868.5 91.6
07/08/2011 22.920 11.9 1:55:52 1162.9 131.3
07/09/2011 22.902 11.5 1:59:18 1132.6 124.2
07/12/2011 22.971 12.2 1:53:16 1160.9 136.2
07/14/2011 22.923 11.9 1:55:20 1159.5 131.6
07/19/2011 22.904 12.5 1:49:44 1169.4 139.9
07/21/2011 22.589 12.8 1:46:09 1176.4 140.8
07/23/2011 22.900 12.7 1:48:10 1219.9 146.5
07/24/2011 22.864 12.7 1:48:09 1208.0 144.5
07/26/2011 22.867 12.9 1:46:00 1193.7 145.7
07/28/2011 22.953 13.0 1:46:08 1198.8 144.9
07/29/2011 23.014 13.3 1:43:53 1226.4 150.1
07/31/2001† 13.030 12.3 1:03:29 671.6 79.6
Date DST AVS Time Cal Fat Cal
08/02/2011 23.159 12.7 1:49:12 1197.0 143.3
08/06/2011 23.019 12.6 1:50:01 1156.7 137.1
08/09/2011 22.986 12.6 1:49:44 1178.5 139.1
08/10/2011 22.979 12.6 1:49:27 1176.7 138.7
08/13/2011 23.022 12.5 1:50:34 1167.0 138.5
08/14/2011 23.055 12.5 1:50:54 1167.5 137.7
08/16/2011 23.031 12.8 1:47:59 1181.1 141.9
08/17/2011 23.259 12.5 1:51:27 1173.1 138.7
08/18/2011 23.089 12.4 1:51:22 1150.2 136.0
08/22/2011 23.460 12.3 1:54:14 1184.6 138.5
08/25/2011 23.009 12.2 1:53:14 1141.7 131.8

*DST = Distance (miles), AVS = Average Speed (mph)
†Rain

I tried to ride again in the Spring of 2012, but I had gained so much weight that every time I sat on the bike, the back wheel would deflate.  Even going to the store, I would end up walking the bike and the groceries home.  I tried pumping the tube up, but even just sitting in the patio it would deflate.  I changed the tube and the same thing happened with several tubes.  I don’t know what is wrong with it.  There isn’t a thorn in the tire and the tubes don’t have holes in them, I checked by inflating them and dunking them in water.  Their valves aren’t malfunctioning, so I really don’t know why they won’t stay inflated.  I am determined to ride in March 2013 even if that means buying an airless tube despite the reviews saying if you are over 200lbs it always feels like riding on a flat tire.

My Faster Bike Rides and New Goals

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Exercise6 Comments

I was riding my bicycle this morning and was paying close attention to my average speed.  Lately it has been 11.5 mph give or take.  Today it was 12.5 mph.  That meant that I got home 30 minutes earlier than I usually do.  Riding faster doesn’t just mean that I will exercise faster, it also means I will burn more calories every time I ride.

I have these index cards which I used to use to keep track of my bike riding.  I would write it out so I had a hard copy because digital seems to get deleted a lot.  I first started writing it down on November 3rd 2008.  My average speed was 10 mph and I only rode for 38 minutes burning 345 calories.  Gradually over time I can see that my speed goes up to 10.7, 10.9, 11.1 etc.

My last entry was when I hurt my shoulder and I stopped riding, that was July 20th 2009.  My average speed was 14.0 mph.  That of course was doing 23 miles in 1 hour and 38 minutes.  Of course I was probably gone from the house for 2 hours with breaks but I don’t seem to recall.  I also see that I started riding in October 2009, I only got 3 bike rides logged then stopped, my shoulder was still in a lot of pain but I wanted to get exercise.  Then my shoulder got better and I started riding again and had 2 entries in July 2010 for 23 miles each but the next day after my 2nd bike ride my back wheel broke and the log entries end right there.  Of course I wasn’t used to riding anymore so my average speed was only 11.9 and 11.0.

I will add all of those old logs to my Bike page soon.

Today my average speed was 12.5 mph which has gone up from 11.2 since July 6th, 2 weeks ago when I started logging my cycling times again.  I had been riding since early June but couldn’t get my bicycle computer to work since I put the tire on backwards which meant the magnet was on the wrong side.  Oopsie.

I think that I am progressing very well and I’m sure that it won’t be too far off when I’m going 14 mph again, or even 15 mph.  The riding times will get shorter even though I will still be doing the same 23 mile route.  If that becomes the case then I will step it up and continue on to Hart Park.  That will add 10 miles to my route, 5 miles each way.  I have mapped it out:

That start point (A) is my halfway point where I stop riding and rest for a few minutes so this still might be a resting point before I continue on to Hart Park.  Once I get used to the ride then I will probably just continue on until I get to Hart Park and rest there.

Of course I’m probably talking many months before I’m in enough shape to do it but I will eventually do it.  When my average speed gets up to 15 or 16 mph then I will definitely do it.  In fact, I was ready to start doing it just before I had to stop riding because of my shoulder in July 2009.  I made a video and put it on YouTube that showed my bike ride from where I get on the bike path over on Truxton all the way to Manor St. and made a sequel from Manor all the way to China Grade Loop.  I wanted to do a 3rd video from China Grade Loop to Hart Park but… my shoulder and all.  So that never happened.

My goal now is to continue as I am now (training) until I am not in as much pain from the bike ride so that I may ride to Hart Park.  The day that I plan on that is the day I will bring my video camera with me to film it.  I know it’s boring to most people but it is an achievement to me and I’m sure to others.

I can’t wait to see how many calories I will burn from riding 33 miles every day.  The fat will just melt off, I hope lol.

Bike Cam 2 Video

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

The video starts out on Manor St. and ends up at China Grade Loop. It takes me about 44 minutes to get to my final destination from the house then after I have rested for about 5 minutes I get back on the bike and head back home. My total round trip ride coming all the way out to here is 22 miles, it takes 2 hours but waiting for the stop lights/signs and my 5 minute break my total time is about 90-95 minutes and my average speed is 14.0-14.3 mph.

At the end it says To Be Continued… As soon as I get used to riding 22 miles per day and it’s not enough exercise then I will be adding more miles by continuing past China Grade Loop on the bicycle trail.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grd4VTPQtBs

Going Faster

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, CyclingLeave a comment

Today I rode the bike 12.6mph (average speed over 1 hour) which was totally unintentional.  When I first started riding the bike (or when I got my bike computer) my average speed was 10.7 then it gradually went up to 11.1 then 11.4 then 11.9.  It goes up and down every day so it’s not always the same but recently I’ve noticed my average speed as high as 12.1 and up and today 12.6.

As I said it’s totally unintentional.  I’m not paying attention to my average speed while I’m riding.  I’m not even paying any attention to the bike computer at all.  I’m just in my own little world listening to music.  But the faster I go the more calories I burn according to the bicycle computer.  That right there helps me lose this weight.

Bike Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Daily BlogLeave a comment

I just came home from my bike ride and I did almost the same distance that I used to do on my regular bike rides before the accident.  Which means my body was already prepared and ready to go.  I fell 2 miles short of my past typical bike rides were which was fine.

Before my typical average miles were 11 1/2 miles going at an average speed of 11.9+/- miles per hour riding for typically 1 hour burning 550+/- calories and 64+/- fat calories.

So, I just need to get back to that point where I can do that and then some starting today.  Today by the way was 9.273 miles, average speed of 10.6 mph, time was 52 1/2 minutes, calories were 439.2 and fat calories were 43.7.  That’s pretty good, it’s getting close to what I was doing before, almost.

Oh and the camelbak was great.  I had 70oz of iced water in it and when I came home I poured the rest in a big blue cup and it filled it up and those cups are 32oz.  So I drank a little more than half of the water.  When I took it off I noticed that the only places on my shirt that were wet were where the camelbak was like the shoulder straps and my back was wet in the shape of the bag lol.  It looks funny.

And the skull cap was also great.  It kept my face dry and sweat out of my eyes and off of my sunglasses and it kept my helmet strap dry until I got home and by then it was just so soaked that the helmet strap was getting wet.  But that’s fine because my eyes and glasses were dry.

Reorganizing Music Again

On By Michel McDonaldIn MusicLeave a comment

It wasn’t that long ago, like a week or 2 ago, that I had to download all the cd’s from my Dell DJ mp3 player to my computer then fix all the tags then put them back on my DJ but when I did that I didn’t count on the fact that their file names had something to do with anything.  For example.  If a song says 01 Politik instead of Coldplay – A Rush of Blood To The Head – 01 – Politik then when I go to make a playlist I’m not going to know who the artist is or even which CD that song is from.

Yes, I am really anal about things like that lol.  I don’t know why, I just am.  But it’s not for no reason.  When I ride my bike sometimes there are songs that are way too loud or they don’t have any sound at all then I have to pull over in the dirt on the bike trail, pull the remote control out of the bike frame bag and push the next button.  I don’t want to have to do that because it slows me down and brings my average speed time down too.  It’s also annoying to be riding happily then all of a sudden a song blares into your ears and then they start to bleed lol.  Or you don’t hear anything for a minute before realizing you aren’t going to but the song is playing.  I don’t really understand how that song got put in there.  Also there is 1 song that is in there twice from Uncle Kracker.  I don’t know how that happened.

So, I’m downloading the music to my computer and I will reorganize the names and write down what is going into the playlist and look at each song with a microscope to make sure my ride is full of good music and not annoying music.

Actually, I’d also like to just add the popular songs from certain CD’s, the ones that made it to the radio, this way I can cut down on the amount of songs in my playlist which is typically between 550 and 600.  It’s not going to be easy to weed through them all though, it will take hours, possibly days.  Well, at least I have something to do lol.

17 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Today I did the same route but only did 17 miles.  The reason why is because yesterday before I went on my bike ride I rode the bike to the post office then back.  It’s just 3 blocks from my house and I wanted to count that time that I rode because I’m greedy lol.  Anyway, here are my stats for today.

Distance 17.527, max speed 27.3, average speed 11.1, time 1:34:32, calories 813.7, fat calories 85.2.

Since this is going to be my route from now on this is going to be the last time I put my stats.  That is unless I decided to go further.  I’d like to just keep this as my current route just so I can lose enough weight so I’m lighter on the bike and I will go faster.  Once I’m faster then I can go further.

18 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Today I have broken my record of 11 miles by going 18 miles.  Here are the numbers from the computer:

18.290 miles, max speed 26.8, average speed 10.7, time 1:42:33, calories 835.7, fat calories 81.2.

My max speed could go up but as I’ve said before, the weight is what is slowing me down.  I’m 236lbs and that’s a lot for the bike to carry.  As it is even with 20.7 pressure in my tires which is what it’s supposed to have (Edit: WRONG!  It’s supposed to be 60 I believe) , they look like they are going flat when I am sitting on the bike.  That’s definitely heavy lol.  And I feel that my weight is what is holding me back from going faster.  But as the weight goes down my speed will go up.  I have faith that it will.  When the speed goes up then I will be able to go longer distance.  For now the 18 miles that I rode today will be my bike route.  I won’t go further than that.

11 Miles

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

Wow I thought 9 miles yesterday was awesome but today I surpassed that by going 11 miles.  I was riding for 62 minutes total.  That’s awesome.

My legs aren’t getting as tired as fast as they usually are.  I mean there were some points where I had to stop because I was going slower and so I knew if I stopped, got off the bike and drank some water and gave my legs a rest for a minute or 2 that I would recharge and it worked.  I’d get back on the bike and go 12-14 mph again.

I don’t know where I was this time.  I will have to look it up on google map.  I saw a bunch of mobile homes.  There was a stop light ahead.  I just looked at the google map website and it was Manor st. where I stopped and started going back.

Anyway, here are the stats from the computer.  11.231 miles, 29.7 max speed, 10.9 average speed, time 1:01:54, 536.2 calories and 53.5 fat calories.

Tomorrow is my official weigh in day and I will update the image on the Spark page but I weighed myself and I was 236lbs.  I was 244lbs.  But it isn’t official until I weigh in tomorrow after my bike ride.