Happy August! Where has July gone? I know I had one hell of a month but honestly, all I remember was cycling and looking forward to my bike rides. Harharhar. It rained in Vancouver today too— our first rain fall in a month and I totally felt at home. My morning walk to my girlfriend’s apartment on the other side of downtown with the gloomy skies looming over me and the rain drizzling around me felt so nice compared to walking to her place in the blistering heat we had in July.  The sun is nice, the heat is not but rain is comforting and feels like Vancouver. Hate me all you want but I don’t like summer because of the heat and the tan lines I get from cycling!
- It’s ironic because I biked to work a lot in the winter but not so much in the summer. Cycling in the summer is messy and sweaty. In the winter, I can cycle to work layered up in warm gear and not break a sweat because it’s so cold out. All I need is my skull cap
and a good pair of gloves
and I’m all set to go. The good thing about summer is that you don’t have to worry about layering and how to carry things!
- I really really wanted to do the Grind. I finally finished my work, got in bed and set my alarm to 5am then realized it was already 4am so definitely no Grind for me this morning. Last year, I would’ve been able to pull this off but I’m getting old because my body can’t handle these late nights like it use to.
- We rented a house and are going on an  impromptu getaway to Portland this long weekend and I’ve been counting down the days this week which is something I rarely do. I’ve been working so hard the last couple of weeks and pulling all-nighters so I cannot wait to get away! Even though I found out yesterday that I will probably be working most of the weekend but whatever. Mind will still be in vacation mode.
- I am quite sad because we are going to Portland— the #1 bike city in America and we are not bringing our bikes. BOO.
- My life is in perfect harmony. Plenty of guilt-free and earned indulgences and also plenty of clean meals in July.
- I’ve been totally slacking off at the gym ever since summer started. I’m getting PLENTY of exercise but not enough weight-training and metabolic conditioning as usual because I am in my annual summer Cardio Queen mode. I lost strength and am not lifting as heavy as I use to (or it just seems A LOT harder) but I need to get my dose of cycling and Grinding outside in the beautiful weather!
- And no surprise, I gained some body-fat because that’s what doing too much cardio does to you! With the amount that I eat, it’s pretty crucial I have lean mass or it’s totally unstainable! I don’t mind too much though because I’ll get back to gym-ratting when the weather gets cold.
- I did take a break from cycling this week because I recently started SUPER intense leg days again and I find that they’ve been taking too long to recover. It is really hard trying to find a balance between all these physical activities and recovery. Since cycling is more important to me, I am going to tone down my leg day the next few weeks or just stick to full-body workouts.
