Since returning from LOTOJA, our rides have been much shorter, and we’ve gone back to climbing when we can.  Each ride has resulted in a personal record (PR) for one or both of us on a portion of the ride.

I had been anxious to climb Mt. Baldy since returning from France, but training for LOTOJA had to come first.  We finally made it back to Mt. Baldy last weekend, and while it is still a very tough climb – 6.9% average grade with sustained 15% at the very top – it was much more fun to climb this time.  Both Jonathan and I set PRs from Mt. Baldy Village to the top, and Jonathan set some on the bottom part as well.

This past weekend (2 days ago) we were not planning to ride hard as I was not having a good day on the bike.  As an aside, it’s been months since I’ve had to say that…I guess I was due for a “bad day.”  But what I thought was a bad day actually wasn’t when I looked at my results.  I was riding harder than I realized and just didn’t feel great.

We climbed one of our favorite local hills – not too steep but enough to wake up your legs – and were returning home when we connected with a group that had a very strong rider in the front.  There were 2 times I looked down at my computer to see we were going 32 mph. And we were going this speed in the flats – not downhill!  It was the first time I’d been able to sustain anything close to that speed on a flat road so I was pretty excited.  Once the super strong rider pulled off, our speed hovered around 26 before another guy accelerated and we were back to 31 mph.  Thankfully our turn for home came up right before it was my turn to pull!

Food has been a challenge for me the past few weeks.  Despite fasting throughout the morning, my ketosis levels have been very low – .5 or less.  When I do eat, my stomach hurts or I feel bloated.  Normally this happens when I eat too many sugar alcohols so I’m trying to be very careful about that, but the past few days it hasn’t seemed to matter.  I feel like the person in the commercial whose food is hitting her in the face.

I am going to continue fasting in the morning, and trying to only take in fat in liquid form for most of the day, and then be very particular about the food I do eat in the late afternoon and evening.  I’m hoping to narrow down the problem foods so I can stop the stomach aches and bloating.  My energy levels have been pretty good (no highs followed by lows) but I do need to figure out why my stomach is upset or bloated so much of the time.

Last note – I’ve been reading some terrific books on cholesterol and how fat ISN’T connected to heart disease.  I plan to post on both topics as soon as I’ve finished the second book, “The Big Fat Surprise.”