Day 8 / 9 - Cycling

Day 8

Had a crazy time with my son being poorly so did not do much today . . . family priority you know.

Day off from exercise.

Day 9 

Saturday morning; 1st March and the first official day of spring.

Outdoor cycling day . . . could not wait as I have not cycled for three weekends due to the weather and the fact that my bike was out of service. . . . not happy.

Before I take any exercise, please make sure you spend adequate time preparing the limbs that you will be using. I ensured that I stretched out fully with my daily stretch plan:
See plan below:

Stretching - This is similar everyday and I cannot express enough how important this is to aid movement and diminish the probability of injury.

90/90 hamstring stretches - holding for seconds on each leg x 2

Ankle circles - 10 clockwise, 10 anti-clockwise

All four quad stretches, 10 seconds on each side

Arm curls - 10 small rotations, clockwise and reverse, 10 large rotations as left

wrist curls - 10 small rotations, clockwise and reverse

Shoulder rolls - 10 backwards, 10 forwards

Dynamic chest stretch 3 x 15 second holds

Elbows stretch; 1 x 10 second hold

Abs - overhead stretch 2 x 10 second hold

Cat stretch - 2 x 10 seconds

Lower back curl - 2 x 10 seconds

Calf stretch hands against a wall - 10 seconds each foot

Seated floor hamstring stretch 2 x 10 second holds

Standing hip flexors - 2 x 10 each leg

Overhead stretch - 1 x 10 seconds

Shoulder stretch - 1 x 10 seconds each arm

Tricep Stretch - 1 x 10 seconds each arm
Lunges - 2 x 10 each leg

At the very least this will make your body more supple and able to take on the rigours of pretty much any exercise. It is not concise and you may want to add or subtract items, but it will help.

Any so, this is what I achieved today.

Pretty happy actually considering that my last ride wad over 75 km, but as I had not ridden in a while I cannot complain. I would say though that it was a tough ride. Felt like my legs were going to catch fire due to them burning when I was tackling some inclines.
What was nice was that due to the regular gym workouts and stretching, my right knee that has been plaguing me since I started riding, did not twinge even once . . . just goes to show that all that previous work in the gym has made a considerable difference to my physiology and internal dynamics.

My cycle sustenance consisted of:

• 600 ml water
• 1 protein power bar
• 1 500 g pack of sliced salmon
• 1 large banana

After I had ridden 35 km I stopped and refuelled. It is important that when trying to get fit and exercise right that you only protein and carb load when your body needs it. There is no point otherwise and there are studies to suggest that putting too much protein in your system in one go could potentially have an adverse effect on your liver. . . so only when you need it; only when you know your body is going to warrant an extra helping of protein and carbs.

Meals

After my return and a long shower as it was cold outside, I wanted to ensure that I had enough clean food inside of me so engaged in creating my own fruit, nut and savouries tub.

I will probably create a blog about this soon, but not today.

Sufficed to say, I ate 200 g of mixed nuts, fruits and savouries to ensure my body could utilise them to aid my muscle development.

Evening meal was simple;

Fresh egg pasta

Grilled chicken cut into small chunks

white sauce.

600 ml water.

This was a good day as I did not ache so much as I used to when I rode. I am pleased that my flexibility and overall shape and tone are improving.

Thanks for reading.