06/12~06/18 week started early and unexpected. I guess that's life. You can plan for it, but one has to be prepared for when it goes wrong. Nothing went wrong with my week, but I probably overdid it with the hours, and then fatigue just took most of the day during my weekend.
Regarding bike manteinance, I went to Gnarly to check on my gear shifting since chain had failed me twice causing me mostly chain drops but, probably the most annoying, two crashes and some heavy scratches. The first time I let it go. The second one I could not ignore the problem anymore. The problem, as I expected, was the weared chain rings and the chain. As one weared and the other stretched respectively, it gets easier for the chain to lose contact, and thus drop spontaneously, specially on the lower gears (50x28, 50x26). I was suggested by Keo-san to avoid those gears and use the small chain ring if I were to lower the gear on the big chainring. I guess I can only do that until my new gear is ready to replace.
On the other hand, I am having trouble deciding whether 53x39 or 52x36 would be the appropiate replacement over choosing the same compact combination 50x34 I am currently riding with. I know that for racing 53x39 would be the best. It's easy to gain more speed on descents, and push more on flats ( if I were to have a lot of power). However, I feel it would slow me on the climbs as Giordano suggested. Currently, I am more ambitious towards climbing faster, since it's my weaker point and also my long-desired ambition. I am overweight currently with 74~75kg, so spinning on the compact 50x34 helps a lot, though when tired I certainly cannot push more than the smallest 34x28 gear. As another option, 52x36 combination also looks like a good intermediate option since the big chain ring allows more flat speed, and 36 would not hurt as a 39 by still allowing me to spin on the climbs. I will decide this through this week, but if fellow seniors have any suggestion I would appreciate their comments (in Japanese it's okay!).
On the weight, I just leaned towards a more protein diet reflecting on what actually helped my nutrition last year and wow! Last two weeks I used to feel hungry all the time, then I changed a bit my diet by starting with eating more protein than normal. Special thanks to the half-discount on eggs from Welcia! ( even after the limit date, frying is still okay so I can make Spanish Omelettes!). After that changed, now I feel hungry because of the calories I must be burning, but also full all the time. It's a feeling I remember from last year. I fell like I want to eat more, but I also feel full because of the satiety effect from protein. It's weird. I've read about it before on Nils Van der Poel's "How to Skate 10K" as he did 7h 250W rides supplementing himself with 7000 calories per day and feeling also the still-hungry-but-full sensation. So I may not be the only case with that feeling.
Even though I went to 74kg this week, I feel weak though. Hopefully, recovery days will do its work.
On schedule's remarks:
-> 06/13 I was not expecting riding today, but Gio suggested. So just following Keo-san's advice, everything went fine.
-> 06/14 Feeling tired but with some replenished energy. I had the patience to make it a rest day as weekend I was planning to do a hike at Fushiminari with Quantum Optics group.
-> 06/15 Chill ride, though legs not working at beggining. Liers!
-> 06/16 2h run and first sign of improvement! Though I may have push it a little on the excitement on my higher-than-usual pace. I used a protein fudge cake as pre-run, so that may have helped too as I usually don't eat before running.
-> 06/17 Felt light weighting 74.4kg! But weak after waking up. Most probably because of the lack of sufficient sleep and not being able to eat much after running since I was feeling full already. As usual, suffering on Kyomi, then pushing it to Sandaiko. Then, splitting alone for Hanase.
-> 06/18 Antonio invite for morning ride. I said, why not? Good warm up before fushiminari hike. Easy pace half-Hanase, then we just went steady-effort. Suffered last part but kept the pace constant. Antonio is light and a fast runner, so good to know I could keep his pace. Fun entertaining morning with chats and climbing. Then, Fushiminari hike with Quantum Optics group members. I was told Q6 group is going to divide into different sections for each different lab, so now worried I might not get my first choice. Happy though I got to meet most members of Rydberg Atoms group, and now I know I need 60%~80% on the Inshi to get in the lab. I still have some desire to move to Okazaki too though. I really liked working on that lab during the spring break.
Well, that's enough. 今週もお疲れ様です。
Pd: Creed 3 Original Soundtrack really rocking! "Ogogoro", "Headhunters", and "Blood, Sweat & Tears" songs among my favourites.
