Health Goal: Building Stamina Age 53

 One way I'm coping with this continuing pandemic pandemonium is by solo - cycling. ✌ Tall words, wow, lols! 😄...Ok, maybe not entirely all solo just yet (?) Mostly, I bike around with my husband, but I've had significant rides were I went at it alone - so proud!  

--- I speak for myself when I tell you, city biking isn't easy ( as it looks). It's surely so not for the faint of heart. Hats off to cycling commuters who brave the perils of  mad swerving cars and bike lane hogging vehicles!  

As for me, I just want to seriously be super strong enough and street 'smarter' enough to intrinsically ease myself onto longer adventures without that constant worrying edge that I might swerve wrong or fall flat, which thankfully hasn't happened. 

And while there's an adolescent like thrill in  navigating busy streets, I have to realistically admit this cycling thing is proving to be a heady challenge in this choked up concrete jungle where we live. 

--- From pictures and videos posted online, cycling in more rural settings appears challenging, but at the same pace, a great deal more leisurely relaxing with landscape rewards of the picturesque.   

I must note one significant positive point about my area though; Street dogs in our hood ( make that - the increasing population of street dogs) don't mind cyclists. The poochies are  super cool and so used to the general havoc, sounds, and chaos of our streets that they don't give riders a passing glance. That's thug life for all!

Going back to me, I was 20 when I last went cycling with my then boyfriend. We'd insanely circle around the PICC grounds in a rental clunker (come rain or shine without a care) and have a total  blast! I thought I'd simply pick up from then and it would be the same super breezy experience at 53. Not quite. There's a clunker still, but it sure isn't the bike!😀

-- Of course, the  boyfriend and I got hitched. It's been 33 years. 

Life was life until the world went pandemic with lockdowns worming through sanity. Cycling is a breakthrough light that pierced this  menacing circumstance.

But here's the thing -- 53 is a long ways back from my 20's. 

Honestly, those decades...it's not like I used up my youth in the gym. I'd do walks and runs in the evenings, plus some yoga or cardio, but I won't pretend I was one for seriously exercising. When it comes to sports, unless it's swimming, which I'm pretty good at, any other activity made me feel awkward and ungraceful. At least, that's how I perceived it all those years. 

So here I am at my age hell bent on defying my limitations!! Cycling isn't just easy free push and pedal, it turns out. I didn't realize  there were specific skills  for starting and stops, plus tough nerve for traffic, and super strength for inclines. I can haggle the first two, but uphill is tricky to conquer. I need a whole lot of strengthening up. I mean, I need clunkers and clunkers of energy! Here's the plan. 

One month goal: September 23 to October 23, 2021--

Exercise 6 days a week. ( I've done it before can do it again - better! ) 

1. Stretching yoga everyday

2. Conquer 5 kilometers on weekdays concentrating on uphill climbs nearby. 

3. Walk 3 kilometers minimum 4x a week

4. 45 minutes stationary bike everyday for the next 2 weeks

5. Weekend bike 15 to 20 kilometers.

6. Strength building band exercise as well as  lifting 4x a week for muscle

Diet: Less sugar, less fried,  rice once a day, no meal after 6 pm,  Drink protein 

-- It's a plan.