Yeah, I'm excited...

You may recall reading of my struggles to finish the longer and hillier 14-mile bicycle route from my home to my business during Induction. I kept bonking at about 11 miles, and my times were getting slower and slower. Anyway, after reading in NANY that it takes "elite cyclists" about 4 weeks to fully adapt to fat-burning when they switch from hi-carb to hi-fat diets, I decided to take a week off from riding at all, and 10 days off from the long course.

Fast-forward to last Friday, and I rode the easier short course to work, which is 10 miles and almost perfectly flat. I felt so good that I nearly set a new PR on the ride without even thinking about it, so decided to take the long course today. I also consciously decided not to try for any kind of PR today. To that end I rode the first several miles very easy leading up to the first of the three hills on that route.

I topped the first hill feeling fine, and the second as well, then started the 3 mile flat section leading to the third, and highest of the three hills. My first clue that things were going well was when I hit the bottom of the third hill in 23:30. That's about a minute faster than I've reached that point before, and I felt fine. I was giving myself a solid workout, but not out of breath or feeling like I was overdoing it.

The second surprise came when I reached the top of the big hill, and went to select tall range only to discover that I'd never shifted down to mid range. Instead I had powered up to the top in the tallest gears my bike has. Down the back side of the hill I went to join the city bike path leading to within a few blocks of work.

I didn't look at the clock. I simply rode at a sustainable pace that was giving me a good workout without chancing a "bonk" prior to reaching work. The bonk never came, and I was able to lean into the pedals all the way. When I stopped in front of the door I was pleasantly surprised to see a time of 53:19, a new PR by 47 seconds. I had left with enough time to take an hour and 10 minutes before needing to open the shop "on time", so was so early I had time to make coffee and open the shop doors to let it cool off in there before my wife and the other employees showed up.

Since I am now three weeks into a very LC diet, normally about 12-15 grams of carbs a day...never more than 20, there is only one possible explanation: my muscles are burning fat. This is a great day!

I meant to attach this graph of my times over the long route.

Attached Images

NorCalStans Long Course Times.JPG (27.7 KB, 6 views)

Great job.....doesnt it feel awsome

Moving forward another week and things are still going well. Last week I managed to fit in riding to work only once, and worked on a valuable customer order until 8:20 last night, but decided I simply HAD to get back in the saddle this morning. To my surprise I powered all the way on the short (10 mile) course today, setting a new PR by 47 seconds (down to a 36:09).

It is now an hour after arriving, but instead the usual post-carbo-ride feeling of being washed up, my legs feel great and are ready for more. Not today, though...I will take the car home and ride the long course tomorrow.

Hope everybody else' day is off to as good a start!

keep it up

Well, I skipped my ride yesterday to go in early and knock out that rush order. I'm glad I did as we didn't leave work until almost 9 last night. Got home and was so wired up I couldn't go to bed until 11. Got up at 6; ate an omelet, watered the garden and played with the dogs until it was light enough to ride, then took the short course again. Took it consciously easy and still arrived in 38:15.

If I feel okay in the morning I may ride the long course tomorrow. Turns out I don't have to deliver to Monterrey tomorrow (3 hrs drive each way), as my customer is busy all weekend with his own customers.

That's really inspiring! I've been mountain biking all summer with friends and haven't really been able to switch into the fat-burning mode.
The problem is feeling competitive and not wanting to fall behind my buddies on the trail - so I end up supplementing with carbs on riding days.

Thanks fibersnap! I don't ride with anyone, so have only my own times to go by. I also don't eat or drink while riding to work, as even the long course is too short to bother. After all, I'm just getting in a good workout.

That said, I was reading an article about Olympic Gold Medal winner Anna Tunnidiff, a paleo dieter who makes her own low carb energy bars. I'd skip the raisins, but you can read about it here.

BTW, I did end up riding the long course yesterday as planned. Even though I took it deliberately easy the first half I still came within a few seconds of my personal best without even consciously trying. Yes, I ensured that I pushed the back half all the way to work, but because I turned off my clock display (so it shows speed and distance, but not elapsed time) I really was not trying to set any record. It just worked out that way because I had no energy availability issues.

I cannot overstate how happy I am that I finally tried LC. My body is adapting really well and I'm losing weight, too. I can't wait to see what my lipid panel looks like this fall when I go in for my annual checkup.

Hey, I tried making my own low carb energy bars today, with mixed results. And like Ms Tunnidiff says in the article, they don't taste "too bad".

1 1/2 cup almond meal (ground from raw almonds in my food processor)
3/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup powdered unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (unsweetened and non-hydrogenated)
1 stick butter
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 F. I melted the butter and PB together in the microwave while mixing the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Poured the PB/butter mix into the dry ingredients while stirring. Worked them into a stiff paste, then added the egg and thoroughly blended it all together. Add salt to taste if you wish.

Spoon onto a cookie sheet like you're making oatmeal cookies and bake for 10-12 minutes. They come out a bit dry and crumbly, which will work fine as is for "granola", but the recipe needs some work if they're going to be chewy bars. Anybody got any ideas?

I wonder if sugar free syrup might help it stick a bit better. You just have to be careful with sugar alcohols. There's a thin line when devling into processed/fake foods. Anyway, here's a thread that may give you better ideas on what you might be able to add: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=105802

Nice work on the riding!