Sveldt Sven and Big Hills

I am less fat than I was in Minneapolis.

I have been here about three months now and have dropped a couple of notches on the old belt. I am not exactly sure what is the main contributor, but I suspect the following:

More walking - I am really not sure if I get anymore exercise than I did in the states. I definitely walk more, but I don't do anything for exercise. In Minneapolis, I either biked to work or spent 40 minutes or so on the elliptical 5 days a week. Overall, I think I may get a little more here, but not enough to make a difference.

Meals - I am following the same eating pattern here as I did in Minneapolis. Just coffee for breakfast, a big lunch as my main meal of the day and then a smaller dinner. There are very few fast food options and the fast food available is generally healthier. So that is a definite contributor. Too often in Minneapolis I would be rushed for lunch and end up eating a saturated fat sandwich and fries. On the other hand I eat a LOT more high fat foods; cheese, cream based sauces, cheese and then cheese. So once again I give the advantage to Switzerland but not enough to account for the total.

Nightly Snack - This is bigger one. In Minneapolis, nightly I had some sort of chippy type thing and a couple of tasty vodka drinks before bed. I cut out the vodka because alcohol is way too expensive (at least spirits, wine is CHEAP and beer is a little cheaper). A 750 ml bottle runs the same as the big bottles in Minneapolis (I know this factor eliminates any possibility of mom and dad visiting). I do have a couple beers a night and maybe some pretzels, but not nearly the amount from Minneapolis. So this is a definite contributor.

Sleep - I think this is big one. I never got enough sleep in Minneapolis. I would stay up late for no apparent reason and was constantly tired. Being in my little barren room for a month and a half removed that stay up for no reason lifestyle. There were several nights I would be asleep by 9:00. I am consistently in bed by 10:00. I totally underestimated the value of actually getting a good 7-8 hours of sleep, in Minneapolis 6.5 was a long night.

So thats that. Probably not the most entertaining blog post so far, and unfortunately it isn't going to get much better.

Big Hills

Today was the first day I rode my bike to work. I left home a little early and got to work a lot early. I knew it was a short ride, but I didn't want to take the route my bus takes. A little too much traffic and a couple round-abouts. I don't like round-abouts in a car, so I try to avoid them whenever I am on my bike. So I left early due to the high probability of getting lost.

On the way out, the first thing I noticed was how steep the hill was from our place to the bottom of the hill. I rode the brakes the whole way down, the streets are very narrow, probably the width of a single car driveway, as well as fairly windy. After I hit the bottom, it was a quick 10 minute easy ride with just one little hill.

The way home was a wee bit different. First of all I got a little befuddled and ended up on the street with the round-about. No big deal just paid a little more attention. There is a great little downhill as you come into Ittigen, and the road is straighter and wider. I was able to actually keep pace with the cars on the road.

Then I hit our hill. I have ridden up the hill twice before. Well ridden is too strong of word, I attempted the hill twice before. The first time it caught me by surprise. I was in too high of a gear and kept expecting the hill to end. It didn't end. The second time I was in too low a gear and it was snowing. I couldn't stand up and pedal because my back wheel would loose traction and basically I am terrible at spinning. Both times I ended up walking more than riding.

Today, I had the right gear, there wasn't any snow, and I knew when it would end. To give some perspective on our little hill. Ya know as you are driving on highway 52 and you hit that great big honking hill just on the other side of Decorah (or for MN folks, right before you get to Decorah)? That hill is about a 300ft increase in elevation in about 8/10 of a mile. Our lovely little hill is about 300ft increase in elevation in about 6/10 of a mile. Of course as I plotted these to make our hill look more difficult. Anyway, I was going to make it up the hill today or die trying.

I came closer to dying than making it. Actually that is not true, I pushed myself through the steepest part and stopped and took a rest. I was panting like a old out of shape guy riding a bike up a hill (I'm really good at similies). Anyway, I didn't make it but I don't feel bad. It was a total endurance thing, I have done nothing approaching cardio in almost 4 months, and this was simply not having the wind to do it. I am sure I'll get my endurance up in a couple weeks and have no problem.

Now the idea of dragging the Burly behind the bike packed with groceries and a case of beer...I'll leave that for Kim.