Basket Case

So I'm working at DreamWorks Animation again and I decided that there wasn't much point to getting up early to run then drive to work so I'm combining exercise and commuting by biking to work. Last time I did it the backpack was rather uncomfortable and I wanted to figure out how to get that weight off my back. Out of all of the racks, panniers, saddle bags, etc. I decided to get a big front basket. Big enough to give rides to my dog--though I didn't take my dog to work! Oh, and I normally ride with a helmet so the photo isn't exactly what I look like riding my bike.

I'm starting out by riding just a few days per week, though I didn't get as tired as I thought I would. It only takes about 1 hour 8 minutes to make the trip. That's not bad considering that driving to work takes 45 minutes and if I add the morning run it's about 1 1/2 hours. The ride home takes the same amount of time on the bike but I've got to deal with the traffic driving home so it often takes me over an hour to get home by car. I have to admit it was fun zipping by the traffic jamed up at the Hollywood Bowl.

I've been debating wearing my Polar heart rate monitor and even getting a GPS unit so I could track my workouts better, but that might turn a pleasureable bike ride into an exhausting workout. I also thought about getting an electric assist for the hills, but that would mean that I'd be exercising less. I even thought about getting another bicycle, either a recumbent or a light weight triathalon model but I'm doing fine with what I've got for now.

Integrating exercise with commuting seems like a good idea. I'm not sure if I'll get involved with the racewalking or running groups on the weekend because at least for now I'm getting plenty of exercise just commuting to work and around town.

Let's see what exercise and a good diet does for my cholesterol. I was able to get it down quite a bit just by being a bit more careful in what I eat, doing some moderate exercise and reducing whatever stress I could out my life.

                             January    June

Total Cholesterol             289        215
LDL Cholesterol               214        121
HDL Cholesterol                48         56

Too Hot to Run

Since returning from Hawaii I've only been able to get one in 5k training run on June 6. Nothing much to talk about, the pace was just a little slower than my usual 7 minutes per kilometer. However, my left knee was hurting for several days after the run. I'm pretty sure that the cause was simply a matter of not easing back into it rather than bad form or over use.

We went to Puerto Vallarta from the 9th through the 20th. There's a good community athletic park there complete with a nicely surfaced track but the heat and humidity was too much to try it out.

Today we're going on a car trip to Northern California to take a Dr. McDougall cooking workshop. This doctor believes that most health problems, including my high cholesterol, can be solved with diet.

Of course the key to good health is a balance of diet, exercise and happiness. I'm certainly happy not having to report to work every day but I'll be back at work on July 1. Hopefully I'll be able to return to a regular exercise routine soon but for June it looks like 5k for the whole month is about it.

Not So Active Lifestyle

Well the first week was quite active. I walked several miles every day between the set where Rosie was working to the hotel in Honolulu. The next week base station was a boat off of Makaha and I spent the week reading and not moving very much. Any little pain that I had from exercising is gone and being replaced by aches from lack of exercise.

Active Lifestyle

So here I am in Waikiki Beach. Thursday was the travel day and Friday I spent mostly walking to and from the Hotel Ilikai to the set at Queen's Beach where Rosie is working. I even made a trip to the local WalMart to pick up some sun screen they needed on the set. Although it might seem like a lazy day it turned out that I walked about 15 miles, much of it barefoot on the sand, so you could call it exercise, work or simply an active lifestyle day. If every day was like that there would not really be any need to take the time to exercise because there's enough activity in the day to keep fit. Hum--give up a life of driving the car to work and sit in front of a computer for 10 hours? Sounds good to me.

There is a lagoon right next to the hotel and it looks like lots of people jog around it for exercise so I went down and did 5 kilometers this morning.

                HR             Pace                Cadence    Distance

Saturday    -   157   6:57 min/km  11:11 min/mi    85         5.0 km

Why a daily run distance on the weekend? Rosie is working today, Saturday, so it feels like a weekday today--Toto I don't think we're in Jerusalem anymore! Besides yesterday was sort of a long day for me and I'm getting plenty of exercise just walking on the beach. I also got a swim mask and snorkel and have been checking out the local marine life. Now I've only got to rent a bicycle and I'd be doing a tri-vacation!

Off to Hawaii

In all the flurry of activity getting ready to go to Hawaii to be with Rosie for a few weeks while she is working on a movie there I just realized that I reached a milestone today--50 kilometers and the week is only half over. Well, OK I cheated. Monday I rode my bicycle to and from work so it doesn't really count!

In any case I did put in a couple of 5 k runs and wanted to note them down before taking off. Interesting, same cadence but different pace, I must have been taking longer strides on Tuesday. Yesterday I was feeling a little tired so I took it easy. I didn't do the daily run this morning.

               HR            Pace                Cadence     Distance

Tuesday    -   161   6:53 min/km  11:04 min/mi    84         5.0 km

Wednesday  -   157   7:19 min/km  11:46 min/mi    84         5.0 km

I'll try to put in some runs while in Hawaii but I'm not sure if I'll keep up my training blog.

Bike to Work and Back

Well, since this is bike to work week and I'm working--I did it! I took the long way around the hill through Silverlake to get from my home in West Hollywood to DreamWorks Animation. It went quiet smoothly, though I got a little lost around Los Feliz going to work and it seemed like every light turned red on me when I came back via Melrose. The best part is that I did it on my 10+ year old cheapie bicycle. It was in pretty good shape because it sat in the garage all these years. All I did was clean it up a bit before the ride.

I'm only working Monday for this week. Would I have tried biking to work the whole week? How about biking to work every day? That's something I'm going to have to consider once I get back to work! One thing that I'm thinking about is adding an electric assist to make going over that hill a little easier and not having to arrive at work all sweaty.



The ride to work took me 1 1/2 hours. That's a little longer than I anticipated but considering that I got lost and hit some unexpected hills it wasn't too bad. I don't have a way to measure speed or distance on the bike but according to the mapped route it should have been 14 miles.

On the return trip I decided to come back the same route that I usually drive. Over the weekend I bought a head and tail light for the ride home and I confess that the ride home had me a bit worried. I thought I would have to walk over the Cahuenga pass and when I got there I saw a couple of other cyclists walking their bikes but I dropped it down to the lowest gear and climbed the hill just fine. Coming down the other side was exhilarating to say the least. The trip took just over an hour--about the same as it usually takes to drive home!

One thing that I wasn't expecting was that it felt very cold riding the bicycle. I'm used to getting warmed up when running but I never got warmed up on the bike. Part of the reason was that it was an unseasonably cold day, I was taking it easy for the most part and the speed I was riding generated quite a bit of wind chill.

I wore the Polar running watch and although I didn't have the GPS to measure distance on the bike, once I entered the total distance on the ProTrainer 5 software, it gave me information about pace. The hill looks much more challenging on the graph--since it is measuring time and not distance, the trip home compressed the downhill to make it look like I was going down a ski jump!



In keeping with my exercise log-blog, here are the statistics:

                        HR               Pace              Distance

Home to DreamWorks   -   134    3:58 min/km  6:23 min/mi    22.5 km

DreamWorks to Home   -   120    3:24 min/km  5:28 min/mi    19.3 km

I guess that in bicycling you don't really measure pace in minutes per kilometer or mile but in kilometers or miles per hour. My average was about 10 miles per hour or 16 kilometers per hour.

Changes...whoa whoa whoa

A lot has happened since my last post. First of all, I'm home! Through a series of events that happened at my job in Jerusalem I had an opportunity to move my departure date up by a month so I took it. That last week of April was crazy for me, trying to pack up and scheduling working at my old job at DreamWorks Animation the following week. Needless to say, once again work got in the way of my workouts, though my sore left ankle would have put me down for the week anyway.

I immediately started working out at my old familiar course in West Hollywood. Monday Rosie and I took the dog out for a stroll but I strapped on the heart rate monitor and made it count--the pace was very slow because of all the pee breaks the dog took. Tuesday was one lap around the block to test my ankle. Wednesday Rosie was getting ready to leave for a month long job in Hawaii so I skipped the run--wouldn't you know it, as soon as I get home she leaves, but the good news is that I'll be following her to Hawaii soon. Thursday I started extending the distance and Friday I finally got around to doing a 5 kilometer daily run. My course at home is much flatter than the hilly Jerusalem course so it wasn't that hard to get to 5K.

However, my ankle is still a bit sore so I'm going to give it a couple of days rest and skip the long run.

               HR           Pace                Cadence     Distance

Monday    -    95   12:30 min/km  20:07 min/mi    54         1.7 km

Tuesday   -   164    6:27 min/km  10:22 min/mi    87         1.9 km

Wednesday -   off

Thursday  -   164    6:40 min/km  10:43 min/mi    86         3.7 km

Friday    -   164    6:49 min/km  10:58 min/mi    87         5.0 km

I am just filling in for someone at DreamWorks. It was only supposed to be for a week but he isn't returning until Tuesday so I'm also going to work on Monday. Since May 12-16 is "Ride your Bike to Work Week" I dusted off the old bicycle and am planning on riding to work and back on Monday. At 12 to 14 miles one-way, depending on which route I take.