Yesterday we did a 27-mile course on the Computrainer with moderate hills. Average wattage was in the area of 257 or so.

Larry decided to sprint to the top of a hill when we were just over half way through the course. Staying seated, I ramped the watts up to 895 for just a few moments. Of course, Larry was left in my wake…

Fast forward five minutes and I was completely trashed. I actually had to climb off the bike. Feeling like a complete loser, I watched Larry as he rode along a couple of miles ahead of me. I climbed back on and limped my way across the finish line. This was arguably the most difficult ride I have ever had in my life.

Funny enough, I actually prefer to ride on that damn Computrainer than I do the road right now. We will see how long that lasts…

Another difficult ride tonight. Will try to write about it if I am not hospitalized from the effort.

Chris Ronan

Friday I had the best ride I have had yet since I have been on my road to fitness. Larry and I rode 80 minutes on a moderately hilly course on the CompuTrainer. The great thing about the CompuTrainer is that you never really get to rest. So, the 80 minute workout was not only fun, but my legs throbbed the entire weekend. Then, I broke my diet when the hunger pangs kicked in and there was just a never ending supply of Christmas chocolate at the office (more…)

Today was a blur. I was able to catch my 6:00 flight out of San Jose and landed into the icy city of Dallas just in time to race off to lunch for twenty minutes before our first meeting. We accomplished a lot in business today, but with respect to the Road to Fitness, my day was lackluster (more…)

It has been Sunday since I had my last workout. And, my diet is not happening. Lots of bad stuff over the past couple of days. I am in San Jose visiting a client (LogLogic). Apparently, the weather is bad enough in Dallas for my flight to have been cancelled. Of course, I thought I would be home more quickly than this, so I did not think to pack any workout gear (more…)

For the fourth time in my life, I have broken a set of handlebars while riding. Unbelievable (knock wood), I have never gone down when this has occured. Today was day six of my program and it almost ended with me going down in a heap. I was only a mile from the house and accelerating away from a traffic light when, all of the sudden, the bar snapped off in my hand. For a second and a half, I was fairly sure I was going to go down, but as I regained my balance, I was able to manipulate the brake in my right hand (the hand holding the broken bar) and safely slow the bike. In this situation, you want to use the rear brake to slow since you are essentially riding one handed. Luckily, I was not going that fast in the first place (more…)

It is day five only because it is nearly 1:00 am on Friday. Starvation seems to be the feeling of the day for me. Even though I am hungry as hell, my energy levels at work are increasing. After lifting weights and rushing off to a meeting, I was not able to eat until 10:30 am. Eggs and bacon. Bad, bad, bad. Not clean, but there were no carbs. Then, I found myself rushing back to the office from another meeting to be greeted by the computrainer. Unfortunately, I only had one protein bar before the workout at 6:00 pm, so my performance was lackluster, even worse since I am so out of shape (more…)

Years ago, I was a competitive athlete. Racing bicycles was my thing. As a six foot and seven inch racer, I weighed more than most. My last fighting weight was around 220 pounds. I was weightlifting often and very lean and fast.

Fast forward about ten years, now I am a married with two children guy who is rounding out the corner of 267 pounds. Enough is enough!

Monday (November 28th, 2005) I began my new lifestyle. I am eating more often. I am eating better quality foods. While you might think of my diet as a typical Atkins or South Beach diet, it really is not. There just happens to be some things on those diets that jibe with me. I am of the absolute belief that we need to retrain our bodies to learn how to burn fat. How can our bodies learn to burn fat when all we eat are simple sugars and starches? So, I have killed simple sugars from my diet and starches except for my breakfast meal. Typically, this meal would be a cup of oatmeal and splenda (more…)