Thinking about training.

I am not an athlete. If I was a lucky girl who could remain 120 lbs (something I haven't seen in a while) without eating healthy or exercising....I would live it up and never leave the couch. Well, I suppose it isn't something to consider lucky. This morning it was 13.5 degrees with a 5 degree wind chill. This has become a common thing in Asheville... When I am startled awake by my cell phone alarm, I am not thinking about getting out from under the covers, going outside wearing Lycra, and going for a ten mile ride. No, I am thinking about internetting with coffee, or maybe reading until it's time to go to work, anything but going outside in the cold.

People with money usually try to remedy this with a gym membership. I did this for a while, it was not for me. Exercise should be free. So, then the only clear option for me is to stop complaining. If I repeat to myself that "people all over the world do this, there is no reason that you can not" or "hey, think about that crazy guy in west Asheville you saw running in shorts and no shoes!" or maybe "its just going to be that much more terrible pedaling the parkway if you don't get your lazy ass up and move" I like that one.

Now I must have a plan. The difficulty is that I have two jobs that take up a lot of my time. One job is in Fletcher (about 30 mins away by car) and the other is in west asheville....brevard road area...etc...(about 10 mins away by car). So, I plan to start cycling to work as part of my training (the closer one). It would be about 10 miles (there and back). I would do this 2 days/week. The only thing that has stopped me from this is that there is about a 1 mile stretch where I will be riding on an unfriendly road and I just haven't had the guts for it yet). I have invested in making my bike quite visible, and I have more experience with vehicular cycling, I think I can manage. I would not do this at night. So this will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays I work 13-14 hours straight, so that will have to be my day off of cycling. Mondays are typically my day off, so I plan to reserve it for a very long bike ride. Meaning, 20-30 miles to start and eventually working my way up to the 60-65 I plan to ride/day on my trip. Fridays I will take a short ride after work. Weekends....I will take a moderate/short (weather/hangover permitting) ride, and more than likely take Sundays off.

This is to only to start. I have also started taking small jogs and doing some weight lifting/muscle conditioning. A problem that I face right now is that there is snow and ice all over Asheville, making it unfriendly for biking. SO, all of this is weather permitting right now. I'll let you know how it goes.