Trying to get the house in order to begin my 2010 bike season. With a target mileage of 2,000 miles for 2010 (or 3,500 km whichever one is quicker)- I need to start adding miles. Yesterday – with all the snow on the ground in Alasktlanta I went for baseline VO2 and RMR testing. The plan is to do it again at the end of my year with Optibike at the end of September. The numbers were interesting to say the least. I’ve been able to keep the weight down during the winter with very little biking. The waist is still at the last notch of the belt and the scale at the Sport Factory showed 294 with heavy jeans…
What is RMR and what does it matters? RMR is resting metabolic rate – the amount of calories you burn by just being alive. That for me is 2,448 calories. If I eat less than that I lose weight. Wait!! So if I sleep for 30 days would I lose 25 lbs? (3,500 calories per lb) Not that easy. Check out why. My test results tells me if I only eat 2,000 calories per day I can lose 1 lb per week. I have obviously not done that in a long while.
Here is where the Vo2 max test comes into play. My Vo2 results tell me that I must keep my heart rate at 120-130 bpm for aerobic (fat-burning) exercise and at 150 bpm for my anaerobic threshold. If I hit my cardio peak limit of 162 bpm I will be burning 1,076 calories per hour. If I exercise 3.5 hours a week I can also lose that same 1 lb per week. Thus the idea with my Optibike rides is to make them long and to work out a sweat every time I hit a hill to increase my cardio endurance. I’m starting this year with a peak rate of 28.3 ml O2/kg/min which is low for my age. The question is – will I be able to increase that to the good (35.8-40.9) or excellent range (41.0-45.3) at the end of my Opti year? The bet is on.
This puts me back to my initial motivational statement. I hate to exercise and I love to eat. That pre-Optibike statement kept my weight stable at 306 lbs for a few years. Now is time to bundle up in layers and start riding again. Today with a high of 47 degrees should be warm enough to go for a ride.
Let’s get my butt in gear for 2010!
Update 2/16/2010 – Went for a 6 mile ride around the block with 3 layers. Layer 1 stayed dry all others were drenched – I guess fleece and a wind breaker doesn’t cut it. It still felt like cycling inside your freezer – but colder while going downhill. 1,994 miles to go.