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Why you should be biking!

Last day of my work week – happy, happy day!  I was up early to eat (of course).  Fairly clean eating day commenced:

Love those protein waffles.  I noted that these blueberries did not taste as sweet as they normally do, and I think it was due to the sweet stuff I had yesterday.  Interesting….

Lunchtime was a tuna salad wrap.  My wrap was  a little wet from being in the bag (and stale on the edges – how does that happen), and it exploded on my plate.

Tuna is once again losing what charm it had for me.  Need a hiatus again pretty soon.  Pears on the other hand, I am still in love with them!

Gorgeous day today, just meant for biking! Speaking of biking, Beth posted an article from Women’s Health about the 7 benefits of biking:

  1. Calorie burn: A 135-pound woman pedaling 12 to 14 miles an hour blasts 488 calories in 60 minutes.
  2. If you live close to your office, you can pedal to work twice a week and burn up to 3,000 extra calories—close to one pound of fat—each month
  3. It works out your whole body (yes – upper, too!)
  4. A study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics found that bike riding improved energy levels by 20 percent and decreased fatigue by 65 percent.  Thank you dopamine!
  5. It’s a low-impact activity.
  6. You can really work some muscles. Pedaling while standing engages your core and triceps as you stabilize your body over the bike.
  7. In one study, researchers had 32 women ride at a moderate to high intensity three times a week for at least half an hour. After a year, they’d lowered their blood pressure and LDL, as well as significantly increased their aerobic fitness.

Do you need anymore reasons to dust off that bike in the garage??  Not mentioned was just the fabulous fun that biking is :D , especially if there is a yogurt shop on the path…

Afternoon snackie before the ride. I had the last of the Kind bars I got on sale:

My least favorite, I have to say.

with a latte:

Then finished up work for the day.  I was ready to ride at that point!  I adjusted my clipless shoes a little bit so they set back just a bit and I think that was much better.  We rode a different way today, down south.  It’s along the main road and fairly flat except the big hill leaving from and getting home to our house.  We stopped at the half way point:


It’s getting so green now!

We booked along really well.  There was a pretty stiff headwind on the way out, but that meant fast speed on the way back!  16.4 miles with average speed of 13.2 mph!  Woo Hoo!  I made it up the hill at the end…. barely.  That hill is really hard when I am 100%, let alone recovering.  I kept thinking, “How slow can I go up this hill and still remain upright?”  But, I squeaked it out.  Really hard.

I slugged a quick protein drink and then we set up  making dinner, as it was well past our normal dinner time.  I made the best shrimp and grits.  I used one strip of shoulder bacon (it’s leaner) and cooked the grits in water, then added a wedge of laughing cow.  I reserved 1 tsp of the bacon drippings and cooked the shrimp in it.  This was really good!  A healthier version of shrimp and grits.

I guess bacon doesn’t really count towards eating clean, per se, but it was sooooo good!

Tonight’s snack will be that protein cheesecake thing, I think.  And some relaxing!

My weekend officially starts……. now.

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May 13th, 2010 | Tags: | Category: eating clean, protein pancakes | 17 comments

17 comments to Why you should be biking!

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