Home Again, Home Again

Back in New Orleans now after a couple of rather long airplane rides that took us to through Dallas, TX (and a brief stop at the airport Chili's for a badly needed Samuel Adams). It was a whole weekend completely off the bike, and considering the dreary, wet and cold weather in Iowa City, I should add that I never once wished I had my bike with me! I did, however, notice one rider in shorts on Saturday when the temperature was around 40F and there was a steady light drizzle that had been going on all day. The Daughter had a good meet Saturday night, and although they didn't beat the highly ranked Iowa State girls, they had a very good showing, posting their highest score so far this season. The Daughter was especially happy to have finally convinced the coach to let her at least do her floor routine as "exhibition," racking up in the process the highest score of anyone on the team (which of course didn't count since it was exhibition). I think she may have convinced them that she has recovered from her ankle surgery last summer and her knee surgery last October, and she seems determined to make the floor lineup. The coaches, of course, don't want to risk further injury and so have been fairly conservative.

So I guess I've probably gained a couple of unwanted pounds this month. The combination of readily available chocolate, a heavy workload at the office, and reduced riding time is a bad one, and I'll have to start paying more attention to the balance of caloric intake and expenditure. I hate being hungry, and certainly won't go too far in that direction, but for sure I'll be pushing back from the table a little earlier than usual for a couple of weeks and making more carefully considered choices when it comes to diet. Even at my relatively light weight, I quite easily notice the effect of an extra couple of pounds, and trust me, it's not good. Being older makes it even worse. Sometimes it seems like after 12 hours off the bike I'm already starting to lose fitness. At my age, that might be pretty close to the truth.