Swam

Speaking of calories, somehow it doesn't seem fair that a 45-minute swim burns off only 366 calories, and sitting at my computer reading about these crazy election shenanigans would have burned 65 calories. The net result is that I'm only 301 calories ahead of the game.

I'll break exactly even if I eat 87 plain M&Ms tonight.

This stuff will make a person insane. Maybe it already has.

But I did one set of 500 yards in 10:20, which is very speedy for me.

Well it was with flippers, but still....

Calories burned

I'm working on some estimates of calories burned during my typical workouts, to balance my calories in and out a little more accurately.

For a body weight of 172 pounds (let's just use that for a number for now, without further comment) the tables tell me:

• Run 12 min/mile: 626 cal/hr or 10.4 cal/min (5.5 hours per pound body weight lost)
• Run 11 min/mile: 704 cal/hr or 11.7 cal/min (4.9 hours per pound body weight lost)
• Run 10 min/mile: 783 cal/hr or 13.0 cal/min (4.4 hours per pound body weight lost)
  
• Swim, hard effort: 783 cal/hr or 13.0 cal/min (4.4 hours per pound body weight lost)
• Swim, moderate effort: 626 cal/hr or 10.4 cal/min (5.5 hours per pound body weight lost)
  
• Bike 15 mph: 783 cal/hr or 13.0 cal/min (4.4 hours per pound body weight lost)
• Bike 16+ mph: 939 cal/hr or 15.6 cal/min (3.7 hours per pound body weight lost)

Personally, I think those estimates for cycling are on the HIGH side - riding my bike doesn't seem like that much exertion, especially when you compare the heart rates of running vs. cycling. I suspect the tables were made up long ago, long before the advent of efficient, aerodynamic, light-weight tri-bikes.

And jeez, it's a whole lot easier to skip one Death By Chocolate dessert than swim or bike for 2 or 3 hours.

And the real kicker? The more weight you lose, the fewer calories you burn going at the same speed. But it's easier to go faster!!!

Update: After some consultation with friends, I think these estimates are significantly high for women. Figures, doesn't it!?

Real food for real athletes

That's what I'm all about - I try to avoid the overpriced stuff marketed to triathletes and runners!

Here's a great idea for road food for cyclists that is eaten by all the Garmin-Chipotle guys riding right now in the Tour de France: Rice cakes with Alan Lim (and no, not those styrofoam things, these look like hearty nutritious treats).

I pay for convenience

Yep, I bought these today.

The best fitness food! The perfect protein! Excellent pre-race meal and foremost recovery food! And . . . the ultimate in culinary laziness!

Hard-boiled eggs in a bag. Pre-boiled and peeled.

Kind of rubbery but the girls like them.

Yum yum!

Hooray! I'm happy!

Now I truly adore the small town that we live in - an old shipbuilding town on a Chesapeake Bay tributary that is now full of great shops and restaurants and even a winery. But the one thing it always lacked was any kind of non-American cuisine. Well, except for one little French bistro, but that doesn't count as very "ethnic" with me.

Yay! A little shop advertising "Chinese Food" is opening in the strip mall along the highway about a mile from my house, right next to the local branch of our YMCA that is opening there this summer.

Woot! I can go over and lift weights and pick up some lo mein and General Tso chicken on the way home! Gawd, I sure hope they can actually COOK.

And then there's a new Italian ice place a couple blocks away in the other direction, too!

Simple pleasures. . . .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to my dear readers! And even to a few of those not-so-dear readers!!!

This is what Elisabeth is bringing to school tomorrow (if there isn't a snow day) along with some chocolate-peanut butter treats for all the kids and teachers in her class. They're not too bad - I had one today, and duly logged the 200 calories. Catherine ate a couple and loved them. I figured Valentine's cards were kind of superfluous, since they can't read yet anyway.

We're combatting the Food Nazis in the trenches of the public school system, day by day. We shall overcome.

Ack! I just realized - peanut butter in the candies! Some people go berserk about peanut products because of allergic kids. I'd better warn the teacher. Sigh. Oh well, at least they're individually wrapped and labeled.