March 14th marks exactly one year since I started taking better care of myself. It's a hard day for me to forget, because not only did I start going to the gym, but there are a couple notable birthdays and it's also the date I got the S2000 (that's the single guy's equivalent of remembering your wedding anniversary).

One year ago I was on medication for high blood pressure. I wasn't able to climb a flight of stairs without breaking a sweat. I was certain that my clothes kept shrinking in the wash, because they never seemed to fit around my pot belly. I didn't know why they didn't fit as well as they used to. I didn't feel too good about myself either. I knew what the problem was, and that's when I started to fix it.

It started with a trip to the gym I made a month earlier. The Goodlife across the street was opening, and I signed up for a personal trainer and everything. My first session was on March 14th, and he got me started. I started with a spinning class twice a week almost right away. I always liked cycling, so I figured it'd be the most enjoyable way to get in shape.

I kept up spinning twice a week, and started to look after what I ate too. My trainer touched up a little bit on caloric intake and ratios of carbs:protein:fat, and what I needed to do to lose what I had. Nothing specific, but he got me pointed in the right direction. I started logging everything I ate.

When the weather started getting better I started riding with the Friends For Life Bike Rally crew. They started off as a group of people who were riding to Montreal and that was all I knew. Every week I would join them on their training rides, starting from around 50k or so until ultimately around 120ish or so. I met a lot of riders and learned a bit about their cause to benefit people suffering from AIDS. I'll be posting more about that soon.

After the FFLBR crew left for Montreal I was a little lost. My ultimate ride was to Ben's cottage in Honey Harbour and back. 382k in two non-consecutive days in a weekend. That's way over 200 miles, or 2/3 of the way to Montreal! I was pretty happy about that! I dropped five pounds from doing that ride alone!

A little while after that I started getting pains in my knee. On my last medium distance ride to work in Newmarket it was getting pretty bad. I couldn't spin anymore or ride. I figured after Ben's cottage ride it wouldn't be too big of a deal. I had already lost so much extra weight, I was in great cardiovascular shape, and I was still eating healthier.

I tried taking up running for a while. That hurt my back a LOT. It was worse than the knee pain, although it was quicker to subside. It was a pretty big disappointment, because I was seeing improvements in my running abilities almost daily! It's amazing how little of the fitness carries over from cycling.

With the winter here I slowed down a lot. It's hard to be motivated. I finally hit 160 pounds, down from the 200 I started at on March 14th. I started eating a little more normally by this point. Trips to Chicago, Vegas, Vancouver... it was hard to keep in line. I still kept out most fries and sugar drinks though.

Since the winter started I've gained a few pounds, somewhere around three or four. I'm not happy with it considering all the work that went into losing them! I don't want this post to sound like I'm patting myself on the back. I'm very proud of what I've accomplished, but that doesn't mean I can sit back and be happy. Now that it's March 14th I have to get of my ass and get going again!

I'm starting to come up with some new goals for this year. I've already signed up to join the FFLBR crew for this year's ride for people with AIDS. I'm very excited about this event. It's something I've wanted to do for years and now I've been lucky enough that I'll actually be able to do it. I'm sure most of my posts this year will be about training for and planning for this ride.

I'm also hoping that if I can ramp up my mileage quickly enough I might ride in the TBN Hairshirt. When I first read that page I thought it was a joke... it seemed preposterous:

Training:
Train at the pace you plan to do the ride at or faster. Eat and drink as you plan to do on the ride. Unless you enjoy suffering you should be completing weekly cumulative distances of 300 km or more by the end of May. Two weeks before the ride do back-to-back centuries on Saturday and Sunday—the TBN's TNT Overnight is perfect for this and fun to boot! The following Saturday do about 220 kms. The next day you should do an easy spin (active rest) of 50 km or less. You can ride through the week but avoid any hard efforts. Starting Thursday make sure you eat well for the next three days. Get plenty of sleep Friday night.

I'm also hoping to drop a few extra pounds before then, maybe to get myself to an even 150. That's been my goal for a while, and it's definitely in reach within a few months. It's harder to qualify this, but I'd also like to have a little more upper body mass. Just a little.

I should have my cycling goals done by the middle of the summer. Hopefully if I get my back looked at I'll be able to start running again. We'll see. There will be a whole slew of new goals if that happens. I'd like to do some rock climbing, maybe some kayaking... but I don't want to overextend myself. That's what got me into this trouble in the first place!

I've made some adjustments to my bike and my shoes, hopefully that'll be enough to keep my knee/IT band happy. If not I have an idea of how to correct that. My back... I think that should be a professional thing. My doctor said "you'll have to live with it," which bothered me a lot. This was after he was shocked that I was able to bend over and touch my palms to the ground. I don't get it.

It's been an amazing year in a completely unexpected way. Here's hoping that this year will be even better!