Posts by umneydurak

Original Post by rosieblue:
A beer?  I'd be downing a bottle of scotch.

 

Sophie, I hope you're okay.  Please let us know.

I would be pouring it on the wound after I cleaned it. It will hurt like hell, but will disinfect the crap out of it.

dnrothx- Yeah I was thinking the same thing, or at least why not google "cleaning/disinfecting open wound".

UD

How long is the hill, and how long are the steep short hills? What kind of deficit you are running on your riding days? When you say your muscles have not been recovery, what do you mean? Do they feel sore, do you feel tired or lethargic in general?

You are probably pushing yourself too hard and too often. If you feel tired and your legs are sore all the time it might be a sign of over training. In which case take a rest week, eat maintenance, and take it super easy on the way to and from work. After recovery days try eating maintenance, maybe a bit of surplus and see how you feel. If you are continue riding there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do metric century in a couple of month.

UD

Well where do you want to gain muscle, and why? For upper body, or even legs you need to hit the gym and pump those weights. If you want to gain muscle for cycling, well that is a somewhat different story. The debate is still on whether weight lifting actually helps or not. Although I would recommend some weight lifting in general. heh If only I could follow my own advice. lol

Cycling is really an endurance sport so muscle gain although does exist is not a whole lot. I guess what I am trying to say if you want to get better at it, look at it from perspective of increasing your endurance, and power. The muscle gain is kind of a side effect of that.

If you are commuting everyday during a week and just "light biking" on weekends I would suggest incorporating intervals one or two days a week. The rest just try to ride at a steady pace that is not super easy, but doesn't kill you when you get to work/home. For intervals it will depend on how long you can ride without stopping. If you can do 5-10 minutes without stops try doing some zone2-zone3 intervals. About 4-5 should do it. If longer intervals are not possible do shorter ones, but at a higher intensity.

Actually another question to ask is how long have you been riding? If you just started then just continuing to ride will improve your performance. If you have been riding for a while, then some more structured training will help. When I got in to this crazy sport I asked a similar question, and the answer I got was "Just ride more". I thought it was kind of a rude answer, but looking back it was a really good advice for someone who just starting out.

Now on to calories. Are you trying to gain, maintain, or loose? I would say on recovery day eat at your maintainance level. In general increasing power (getting faster), and caloric deficit just do not go together. That is why most cyclists try to loose weight during "off season" when they are building their base doing Long Steady Distance (LSD) rides. Once race prep/race season starts, it's maintenance or a bit of surplus to feed those muscles. This is because intensity of training increases.

I am sure someone will recommend some super duper recovery drink, or whatenot. I am of the opinion that majority of the people do not need them. Unless someone is trying to squeeze that last .1% of improvement after getting the rest of the diet, training, recover, stress management, etc regular food does the trick.

If you want to look in to more structured training a book I recommend is "A Cyclist Training Bible" It covers all the basics quite well. Another fun read is "Roadie: The missunderstood world of a bike racer". The last one has nothing to do with training, but it is a fun read and sheds some light in to crazy mentality of roadies. :)

UD

Was it at a restaurant or did you cook it yourself? Doesn't sound like a bad meal actually. It had beans, veggies, and rice (which is perfectly OK in moderation). Seems like your biggest problem is not the "cheat days", but overly restrictive diet with "good foods", and "bad foods".

UD

Well what have you tried eating so far, and what worked what didn't? This should provide a point of reference for people of what to suggest. Otherwise you will just get people recommending their favorite energy bar or the super duper recovery drink.

UD

Original Post by dngrscrvs25:

One of the main reasons that I'm looking at them is that I am training on jogging a half marathon next year, Amethystgirl.  And you're right, its all an estimation on how much cals have been burned because everyones body reacts differently.  I'll be honest, one of the trainers at my gym told me about the "Fat Stores" and the "optimal fat burning zones" and I took her for her word.

Well now you know which trainers advice to ignore in the future. The Zone training has it's uses, but it is not for "optimal fat burning". It is more for developing different aspects of your fitness: Aerobic capacity, Power, etc.

UD

Original Post by vanilla_swirl:

I do this too :)

I'm still wondering why companies makes tons of fruit-flavored yogurt, while they can do chocolate-flavored yogurt (I never saw this kind in Canada...does it even exist?).

Even if it did exist, I wouldn't buy it. Every flavored yogurt I have seen was either loaded with added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Plus it will be a thinner regular yogurt, not the thicker greek yogurt. So it won't work for this anyway. Unless someone enjoys stuff dripping from their burrito...I rather just splurge on some quality unsweetened cocoa, greek yogurt and mix it to my tastes. Even then I am pretty sure it is cheaper per serving then those flavored yogurts.

UD

I think pretty much every place I rented from had that. They are just covering their azz in this sue happy state of ours.

UD

It's like Americanized Chinese food on steroids, so no surprise there. Other option is the Oolong marinated Bass and actually the spiced lamb doesn't sound too bad. Keep in mind that it's of lamb only. I bet the glutenous amount of rice they serve on a side is extra...

UD

I googled Bandejan Borani.

Eggplant sauteed and simmered in a lightly spiced tomato-based sauce, topped with ground beef specially seasoned with coriander, turmeric and cayenne pepper, and yogurt-garlic sauce.

Sounds delicious, I would so go for that. I think I just found a new dish to try to make. :) Or some lamb kababs. Mmm lamb.

UD

Soondubu Chigae so delicious! http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/soondubu-jjiga e

My creation: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail. asp?recipe=631075

UD

Why not eamil them and ask?

UD

They all work about the same. Only difference is really personal taste and what your stomach/taste buds can tolerate. When I used them I went for Hammer Gel stuff. Mainly because you can buy them in jars and use the flask. Easier to use and no need to carry empty wrappers around. I freaken hate when people litter with them.

UD

I would stick with 2% condensed milk. Not sure about other brands, but Nestle fat free and 2% have same amount of of calories, but fat free has more sugar to replace fat.

UD

Original Post by merylwhite1:

I think coffee in my part of the world (New Zealand) is different to American coffee - generally much smaller and stronger.

I go out to coffee shops and buy a flat white or a macchiato, both have to be made with an espresso machine... would never EVER step inside a starbucks though, a bucket full of milk and syrup is not a coffee!

I don't drink instant coffee or filter. I need some milk in my coffee (hence the coffee choices above) but no sugar and no half and half.

I love fruit teas or the occasional Earl Grey tea with milk.

ETA: the one sweet coffee I have liked is Vietnamese coffee, which is strong black coffee drip-brewed into a tiny glass with condensed milk.

He, He. Yeah coffee is definitely different in Europe and other countries. It's more of an espresso, then drip coffee. I don't mind that for coffee, but getting tea in this small cup kind of sucks.

I agree no one, or almost no one, goes to Charbucks for coffee. It's usually the foo foo "coffee". If I want some descent coffee I usually go to Peets Coffee & Tea (Northern California chain). They also have some great teas.

Speaking if Vietnamese coffee. I saw a version of it being maid in Bangkoks weekend Bazaar. The best part was seeing how it was made. The guy was doing "tricks" with two cups and the content to mix it. I wanted to buy it, until I saw what the content was. It was literally a can of condensed milk with some drip coffee.

UD