Plateau, shmateau. I weighed myself on Wednesday morning, and I’m down to 192 lbs. That’s officially 14 lbs lost since February. I was seemingly stuck on 194 for over a week, so I thought I was trapped on a fabled plateau. Woohoo.
After the Bike MS ride, I got home at 9pm. I freshened up, ate a nice pasta dinner my wife whipped up, and I hit the road. I was meeting my friend Doug in New Brunswick to see Thor. Was I tired? Of course, but I didn’t want to cancel on my friend. We hang out rarely, so I hate to be the one to screw up our plans. I met up with him in New Brunswick for the 11:15 PM showing of….. THOR!
So who or what is Thor? Directed by Kenneth Branagh, it’s the story of the arrogant Norse God of Thunder who is sent down to Earth as punishment by his father Odin. This is based on the Marvel Comics character, not the actual Norse mythology. This film fits into the Marvel film continuity that kinda started with Ang Lee’s 2003 film Hulk (but more directly with Leterrier’s 2008 The Incredible Hulk) and truly started in earnest with Favreau’s 2008 Iron Man. I’m a big fan of continuity in fiction, so I’m all for this.
Anyway, the film starts in the Norse mythology realm of Asguard with a little backstory on the war between the Frost Giants of Jutunheim and Odin’s people in Asguard. Thor gets punished and sent to Earth, where he is a slight fish out of water, but meets Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster character. Meanwhile, Thor’s brother Loki is up to no good, and Thor will have to battle him towards the climax of the film. Oh please, is this a surprise? No spoilers here. The cast was good — Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Portman as Jane, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Stellan Skarsgård as Dr. Selvig. Most interesting tidbit was Chris Hemsworth as Thor, as he also played George Kirk in J. J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek. Interesting!
I thought the film was good, but found the scenes in Asguard and the battle scenes to be the best parts. Before I actually sat through the film, I thought the “fish out of water” scenes on Earth might be interesting, but they weren’t all that exciting. They were okay, but I started waiting to find out what was happening in Asguard. It was also good to see Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Coulson again.
Thor (2011)
I did it! I rode 85 miles in one day.
I decided to not repeat last year’s late morning start and missing the team photo. No, not again. Friday night, I got my equipment together, and placed it next to the door. As soon as I got ready Saturday morning, I take everything there and put it in the car, load the bike, and take off. Saturday morning, I woke up at 5am, and my wife kicked me out of the bed. I got ready, loaded up the car, and was on the road by 6:20 AM. I unfortunately took the somewhat longer route, but got to Monmouth University in West Long Branch by 7:15 AM.
Everyone was arriving after 7am
There were lots of people arriving in the morning, and I got parking, then walked into the Boylan gymnasium to drop off paperwork at the Team CentraState table. So did I forget anything that day? Yes. I forgot the rider packet they mailed me earlier this month with my rider number and luggage tags. I ended up heading over to the “Solutions” table to get a replacement tags.
Interesting story — Friday night, I got a message from a mutual friend of my wife & me, who has a work colleague/friend who was to ride the 170-mile two-day ride, but a companion backed out. The mutual friend knew I was riding, and put me in touch. I called this colleague/friend, Jacqui, and she decided to ride the one-day Saturday 85-miler with me instead. I figured this would be good, since I’m helping someone out, and it’s nice to have company. We met up in the gym Sat morning after I participated in the team photo, and then got our bikes ready.
8;05 AM, after a speech and “opening ceremonies”, we were off! The mapped route was 85 miles from West Long Branch down to Tuckerton. We had rest stops for stretches and snacks/drinks every 15 miles or so. If you check out the map (previous link), the route hugged the Jersey coast for the most part down to Seaside Heights, then took us all across the water on a long bridge (Rt 37, “Little League World Champions Blvd”) towards Toms River. This part of the ride was cool, as they closed of two lanes on the bridge for us, and I’ve never ridden on such a large bridge before.
Lunch stop
We went inland the rest of the day. Apart from the rest stops, we had lunch at mile 52 at an elementary school in Lacey Township. I don’t believe I was ever so happy to see a turkey sandwich in my life. Lots of food, and a DJ playing music for entertainment. Around 2PM, Jacqui and I hit the road for the next 35 miles. At this point, 50+ miles has been the most I’ve ever ridden on my bike. When I got back on after lunch, my saddle-area was aching very badly, and my legs were feeling the first pangs of muscle fatigue. I’ve never asked my body to go farther than this, so it started to rebel. Still, we went on, and my posterior settled down for the most part. Over the next 35 miles, I started to experience more pain in my neck, my lower back, and a lot in my left wrist. The wrist pain go so bad, I struggled to find a comfortable position for my left hand to hold the handlebar. My knee held up surprisingly well, but the rest of me wasn’t so hot.
Mile 85, 5:05 pm, we pulled into the Pinelands Regional Junior High School, and I was happy to not go any further. There was an option to now complete a 15-mile “power loop” around the school, to make it a full 100 miles for the day. However, since I wasn’t much shape, and it was getting late, I ended my flirtation with trying for another 15 miles. I’ve never done 85 miles in one day, so there’s no reason to be crazy to try for 100. I can leave that for next year!
Jacqui and I just after arriving at the Pinelands school
We loaded up the bikes on the bus, and the bus eventually left around 6pm. We got stuck in traffic northbound on the Garden State Parkway, and arrived back at Monmouth University at 8 PM. I hobbled back to my car with the bike, loaded up, and drove home. I got home at 9:00 PM, and I was pretty tired. Of course, I had plans to go see Thor, but that’s another story. 
All in all, I’m happy that I could do the ride this year. I started training back in February, dieting and exercising towards a better, healthier lifestyle. I lost 12 lbs along the way, and my doctor likes my blood test results and weight loss. I like accomplishing a new cycling milestone in my life. I liked riding and realizing that I’m not half bad climbing hills. I like that I raised $1,050 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I like that I’m now a “Super Cyclist” for MS, and I earned myself a cool 2011 Super Cyclist jersey. These are all good things.
Photos are now up in the May 2011 Photos gallery, so please enjoy.
I accomplished most of the items on my checklist for today:
The only stuff left to do is go over the paperwork in the morning.
My race-ready streamlined haircut
Earlier this year, while we had the HBO/Showtime free trial, I recorded the film Coraline, as I heard good reviews about it. Also, I’m not a snob, and I can appreciate a good animated flick. Life, as always, adds complications, so I never finished watching it in one sitting. I took a day off today to prep for my Bike MS ride, so I had some time to watch the last 20 minutes at lunchtime.
Coraline is a 2009 animated film, and based on the 2002 Neil Gaiman novella. What’s interesting is a fellow named Henry Selick wrote the screenplay, directed, and produced the film. Also, film has a nice cast — Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Ian McShane. The story has a certain Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland theme to it. Coraline is a young girl who, along with her gardening catalog-writing parents, move from Michigan to Oregon to these apartments. Her parents are so busy writing this garden catalog that they don’t have time entertain her, or even cook proper meals. The neighbors are a strange cast of characters, including a boy named Wybie and a black cat. Wybie finds a mysterious doll that has a strong resemblance to Coraline, and gives it to her. Coraline later finds a small covered-up door in the living room, and crawls through it to the “Other World”, which has doppelgängers of the people in her life, except that they have black buttons in place of human eyes. This “Other World” initially seems better, as life is more fun, her parents cook grand meals, and shower her with love. As she spends more time there, the world doesn’t seems so benign after a while.
What I liked about this film is that, while it is an animated film directed for a young audience, parents could sit and watch it too. The story is intriguing, the animation and music are good, and at no point did I feel that this was a dumbed-down story. It was exciting and full of feeling. I’d recommend this film.
Coraline (2009)
I think I’m basically ready for Saturday’s big 85-mile ride. I’ve got two more days to go, and although I’m a little nervous about attempting to traverse that long distance, I’m sure it will be fine in the end. I’m even considering, depending on how fast I ride throughout the day, to attempt the 15-mile “power loop” at the end. More on that later.
For the past 3 months, I’ve been working out at least 2-4 times a week. Most of the time, it was only twice a week, but sometimes I was able to squeeze in an additional workout or two. The whole knee injury in Feb certainly through a monkey wrench into the plans, but I’ve mostly recovered. I may take it light on my knee for 1-2 weeks after all of this so I can let it recover with quality. I worked out last night, and I’m no worse for wear. Back at 194 lbs,
Today is my “Friday”, since I’m taking off tomorrow. I have no major plans, but want to run a few errands in prep for Saturday:
The last item, about going to bed early, is pretty important. Last year, I woke up late, and with the hour drive to Monmouth University (and getting lost trying to find the correct entrance), I missed out on the Team CentraState group picture at 7:30am. Argh, that still bugs me. Of course, I was so wired last year, I didn’t go to bed until 2am the night before. This year, I’m making the group photo!
I’ve never done 85 miles before, so yeah, I’m a little nervous, but I’ve got from 8am to 6pm. Riding at least 16 MPH should get me there in about 6 hours, which would be around 2pm. Now, here’s the interesting part — there is an option at the end to follow a marked 15-mile loop. If I have the energy for another hour of riding, I could ride another 15 miles, and make it a full 100 miles (also called a ‘century’ ride.) Again, I haven’t done more than 51.5 miles (back in May 2004), and that took me 6 hours when I was more fit and thinner. How the heck would I do 85 or 100 miles in about the same time?
Well, I figure that the Valley Forge ride consisted of a lot of me getting lost in the Philly suburbs and going uphill many places. Also, I was fairly inexperienced at the time. I’m older and less fit, but the Jersey shore route will be fairly flat (to uphill bridges though, I’ve been told), so as long as the wind is to my back, I should make good time. I’ve done 50 miles in 3+ hours since May 2004 on more reasonable terrain, so I don’t think this will be as bad. Compared to last year, I’ve got better shoes and pedals, new handlebar tape (with extra gel padding), I’m lighter, and I’ve been working on my cardio and muscle-building for three months now. I’m definitely in better shape than I was last year.
In the end, I’m ready for Saturday, rain or shine. Um, okay, not the “rain” part, but I’m ready for Saturday…. shine or partly cloudy. Overall, I’m pretty psyched!
It’s been nearly a week, and I’m apparently stuck at 194 lbs. Have I reached a plateau? For those unaware, in fitness terms, weight loss can halt at certain stages, which can be frustrating. From what I’ve learned, it happens because your body has noticed the fat loss. It likes its fat, so the metabolism adjusts to counteract your attempts to deprive it of the ‘safety net.’
When one reaches a plateau, the remedy is to switch it up — change the diet and the exercise you do. I don’t know if o have hit an actual plateau, but I was shedding the fat fairly consistently doing what I was doing. This past week, nothing has changed. I will have to put some thought into how I can adjust
I wanted to get down to 190 before Saturday big ride, but I find it highly unlikely at this point. I don’t want to get discouraged, because 194 is a lot lighter than I’ve been in years. Literally, years. It is Wednesday, and I have two more workouts (Wed and Fri), so I can continue to watch my diet and get some good cardio done in the next few days. Still, this plan of getting healthier has already worked. I’m lighter and healthier.
Furthermore, this isn’t a sprint, but a lifelong marathon. I am trying to hit my goal of 170 by Dec, but even after, I need to continue to be healthy for the next 65 years. I don’t think I could ever go back to eating unhealthy on a regular basis again. Fries and ice cream every once in a while after I reach my target weight? Absolutely! By then, I’ll have plenty of buffer. Still, I won’t be doing it every day like I used to. I wont be eating portions for two people. I’ve learned too much. Those days are over.
I wish there was more time in the day.
I’m sure everyone else’s life is like this, so I’m not at all stating that I’m in some sort of unique situation. I just wish there was more time in the day. I have to figure out a better way to prioritize and work more efficiently.
On Saturday night, after the kids went to bed and the dishes were done, my wife and I sat down to have a little movie/date night. On the menu tonight? Going the Distance, a 2010 romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin “I’m a Mac” Long. I have little faith in films in the romantic comedy genre, as the track record is pretty shoddy. I believe that the last 20 or so that I’ve had the displeasure of watching were mind-numbing cloying and terrible. The plots are contrived, the characters are bland, and who is the audience? Women? All of the women act ridiculous. How can a film targeting a female audience always be about women talking about not having a man in their lives? This is supposedly what women’s lives are about? It doesn’t ring true, but maybe that’s just me.
Back to this film — to summarize, Barrymore and Long meet up through happenstance at a NYC dive bar, and they hit it off. Actually, they hook up, but they continue their little budding relationship in the six weeks that she will be in town before moving back to California. The two ultimately decide to continue their relationship long distance through phone calls, texting, and the occasional flight to see each other. The film features on how they attempt to keep the relationship going in spite of being thousands of miles apart.
Okay, so this wasn’t a terrible film. I didn’t quite find the two main characters very exciting, but the good news is that I didn’t feel the need to roll my eyes at any time. I’ve actually hurt myself during the viewing of a rom-com due to a reflex eye-roll, so I guess since I didn’t roll my eyes in this film, that’s a plus, no? This movie was definitely a rental, but it’s not that bad. I’ll rate this film zero eye-rolls, which is actually good thing.
Going the Distance (2010)
Yeah, baby. I’m down to 193.5 lbs! That means that I just need to lose another 3.5 lbs by next Saturday to hit 190 lbs. I think it would be nice to weigh 16 lbs less than last year. The less I weigh next week, the less energy it will take to drag my body each mile. I haven’t been 190 in a long time, but you gotta believe.
