Bob
and I rode the Reston Century Ride yesterday; a 102 mile jaunt through the
gorgeous Virginia countryside (up and down at
least a million hills). The weather
was perfect, starting out a little cloudy and chilly and ending up with
sunshine and blue skies. The ride was
very well supported and, joy of joys, I got to eat PB&Js at almost every
rest stop! I’ve often told people that I
climb mountains because I can eat chocolate for breakfast on expedition, and I
think the same concept applies to riding centuries J
I’m
not going to fib to you though; my glutes are talking to me today. They are sore. The capital S, ‘why’d I do that?’
kind of sore. Well, first of all, it was
fun. I don’t expect you to agree with me
on this point; I realize sufferfests aren’t for everyone. My hubby and I do enjoy them though, so yes,
the main point was to have fun. However,
the second reason we do this is for our physical and mental wellbeing. The health benefits of regular exercise have
been proven time and time again, yet they get little media attention in spite
of the current crisis surrounding the health of our nation. Most of the focus is on the state of the
American diet. Undeniably, our diet is
in an atrocious state and deserves attention, but we need to examine our
physical activity levels also. Sitting
for too many hours each day has actually coined the phrase ‘Sitting Disease’,
and it is wreaking havoc on our health. The
key to good overall fitness is both proper nutrition and being physically active. This doesn’t mean adopting a stringent DIET
or doing planned EXERCISE; don't get pyched out by those words. A great start
is to be a bit smarter about what/how much we eat, and to choose the stairs instead
of the elevator. Here’s a brief article that sums things up nicely:
And there’s no need to jump on your bike and ride 102 miles!
These are the recommendations for physical activity levels for adults:
Fitness is
FUN; leave the suffering to us...
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment