{"id":2818,"date":"2017-08-27T22:57:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T13:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2017-08-27\/2818"},"modified":"2017-08-27T22:57:45","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T13:57:45","slug":"my-cycling-is-all-fasted-recently-and-i-dont-know-why-but-im-not-complaining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2017-08-27\/2818","title":{"rendered":"My Cycling is All “Fasted” Recently, and I Don’t Know Why (But I’m Not Complaining)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

It's not been a good year for me so far, having been beset by all manner of colds, injuries, and other things that have made a\nbig<\/span> dent in my fitness. As I mentioned<\/span> earlier in “<\/span>The Silliness of\nJapanese Medicine-Dosage Rules<\/a>”<\/span> a couple<\/span> of weeks ago, I topped<\/span> things off with a horrible<\/span> cold that put me out of commission\nfor the better part of two weeks. The third<\/span> course of antibiotics seemed to have finally done the trick, and now I'm looking to\nreclaim my life.<\/p>\n\n

When in good form last year, I was about 86kg (190lbs) with little fat and a lot<\/span> of upper-body muscle. But this bad<\/span> year had\ntaken its toll, and as I emerged<\/span> from the bad cold a week<\/span> ago, I found<\/span> myself over 90kg (~200lbs) and without muscle. Ugh. Enough.\nGotta get rid of the fat and start to rebuild muscle.<\/p>\n\n

The upper-body muscle will be a challenge,<\/span> since some nerve damage to my left triceps leaves them very weak. They're slowly\ncoming back and have doubled in strength to about 30% of normal capacity, so at long last I can<\/span> finally do a pushup,<\/span> but it's a\nfar<\/span> cry from last year when I could<\/span> do 50 pushups in as many seconds. I just have<\/span> to wait.<\/p>\n\n

On the other hand, loosing the fat is looking to be easier than I expected.<\/span> Something about the recent bad cold changed my\nmetabolism, and I was<\/span> left without much apparent need to eat. I'd spend<\/span> the day working, and suddenly realize in the evening that\nI'd not had a thing<\/span> to eat all day, and even then wasn't particularly hungry.<\/p>\n\n

In cycling, there's the idea of a short<\/span> morning “<\/span>fasted”<\/span> ride, which means a ride<\/span> done before anything's been eaten that day. The thought<\/span> is that getting a good<\/span> hour or so of exercise in the morning before<\/i> taking in food will force your body to dip\ninto its fat reserves.<\/p>\n\n

Last Tuesday my metabolism was no different, and by noon when I decided<\/span> to make my first short ride since the cold, I still<\/span> hadn't had anything to eat. I did bring<\/span> calories with me, expecting that the exercise would demand it, but I never<\/span> felt the need\nduring the 2½ hour, 40km (24mi) ride<\/a>, and ended up not eating\nanything until dinner.<\/p>\n\n

Well, that was fortuitous for my weight-loss hopes. I didn't<\/span> expect it to continue for longer rides, but so far is has, over two\nmore rides of 76 and 121 kilometers (47 and 75 miles). This post is about those two longer rides.<\/p>\n\n

The first of those two was really interesting, as I explored<\/span> a bunch<\/span> of things that may or may not have turned out to be actual\nroads, which did indeed turn out to be very lovely roads. Here it is: @ Strava<\/a><\/p>\n\n