Max Riffner

The Parlor

My weblog work journal.  »Archives  »Links

In Dire Need of Stress Relief

It wasn’t that I worked all weekend on a massive site redesign for the day job, and it wasn’t the recent announcement about Golden Boy. No, it was definitely when my new-ish employee accidentally overwrote all of my work for said massive site redesign that I started to freak out (not on this poor guy – it wasn’t his fault at all). I felt like crying my eyes out (we’re talking about 20 hours worth of work crammed into one weekend).

Thankfully, I was able to retrieve a version from Safari’s cache, and everything was euphoric in the world. However, going from down to extreme down to elation plays hell on me. I need to unwind a bit…

Enter the newly purchased bike trainer.

Last year, I wanted to boost my cardio with cycling, but spending precious moments of my time loading the bike up, changing, gearing up, and driving to the trail was a drag. If I had nothing else going on in the evenings, sure, this wouldn’t be a problem, but working like I do every moment counts. And then the actual riding would be problematic as well – I could never set a steady cadence for any actual benefit. I’m sure getting out there and doing it was fine and all, but focused exertion is better than avoiding pedestrians, winding curves, winds, etc. I could never get into a groove.

Excercising on a trainer for a week has been amazing. All the things that would bug me about cycling outdoors has been eliminated. I can set a steady cadence of pedal strokes, and a cycling buddy at work has given me some great excercises to use that last about 40 minutes. When I get off the bike, I feel like I used to when I was running, minus the pain. Plus I’ve already lost two pounds (which is amazing because with as much work as I’m doing right now I’ve been eating like crap).

My new plan this spring is to go on one long ride during the weekends (2+ hours) and spin inside on the trainer. My weekend ride will be leisurely and not turn into heart rate obsession run.

Now, I have yoga tonight, but I think a quick run on the bike will help. The last thing I want to do with this much work on my plate is to succumb to stress and its accompanying pitfalls (depression, sickness).

You can also browse through the Parlor archives.