End of Week 9 - Spinervals 7.0 - The Uphill Grind

I've had an off couple days, so I really needed to find the time to get in a workout tonight.  After my daughter's gymnastics class, I managed to find time for a 45-minute Spinervals workout.

Good news!  I just saw this article in USA Today which cites a new study showing that working out before bed isn't necessarily bad for you.   The common thought until now was that exercising too close to bedtime would disrupt your sleep patterns, thus making you more tired the following day.  Turns out, this study shows that the anecdotal evidence was just that, and the relationship between exercise and sleep varies from person-to-person.  So, if working out in the evening works for you, and you can still easily fall asleep and stay asleep, go for it.  That's great news for those of us who have to wake up, make breakfast for a whole family, make lunches for the kids, get kids dressed and ready for school, take a shower, and walk the kids to school, and then go to work, come home from work, make dinner for the whole family, get kids to their evening activities, get the kids in the shower and then to bed, and maybe have an hour or so before I have to go to bed.  I try to squeeze in a workout and blog entry into that hour or so right before bed, and it's been working for me with no ill effects as far as I know.  So, thanks USA Today, and I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

Food:

• Breakfast:  Fruit / protein smoothie
• Lunch:  Protein bar at my desk
• Dinner:  Chicken wrap

Exercise:

• My usual morning routine
• 45-minute ride on the trainer.  Spinervals 7.0 - The Uphill Grind.  Haven't done that workout in a while, and it beat me up pretty good.  It's about a 45-minute workout focusing mainly on pushing big gears for long periods of time.  It's also a really good high-intensity workout, occasionally push to and past anaerobic threshold.  Strava report HERE.  I maxed out at 178 bpm today, which is crazy-high for me.

I am hoping to get the weight down today.  I weight jumped a lot yesterday.  I ate a ton, and didn't really work out like I'd hoped.  I still feel kind of bloated for some reason, so we'll see.




Today's weigh-in:  195.8

Down from yesterday, which is good, but still up a bit from where I was a few days ago.