In earlier posts I had written about a rough period in my life where I gained a lot of weight. I worked hard to lose around 40lbs.

Unfortunately, things got in the way and I lost my way. My work increased and changed in some ways and I wound up spending most of the day sitting in front of a computer. Around October of last year I had trouble fitting into one of my favorite pairs of jeans and it really hit home.

That's when I got back into the habits that helped me lose the weight the first time around. After going through it a second time I made some changes to how I went about things and it's made it easier to keep up with this time.

A couple of months ago I decided I should start wearing a bicycle helmet again and I really agonized over which commuter bike helmet to get. I finally decided on the Giro Hex .

I spent many hours over the course of a week looking at different bicycle helmet styles trying to find one that wouldn’t look too dorky or make my already large head look even bigger.

You can read more about the requirements I had in my earlier post: how to choose an adult bicycle helmet that looks good .

Before purchasing the P90X workout program I did a lot of research. I looked through a lot of articles and blogs of P90X users.

There were a lot of good and honest P90X reviews and many people had impressive results.

There were also some that had started blogging about their P90X transformations and just disappeared from the blogosphere. That's kind of what happened to me too.

A sweaty shirty can make you feel uncomfortable when working out or heading back home so I started looking for shirts that don't show sweat.

I remember the first time I tried to jog. It was horrible. My heart was racing and I was exhausted and I barely made it a block. Recently I have had much better results than that first attempt.

One day I was very impressed with my performance. I had jogged longer than I ever had before. It filled me with such great joy.

Walking home from my run led me through my town's crowded main strip. Past many businesses and restaurants with open air seating. Along the way I noticed a few people staring at me. Was my elation so obvious as to draw that attention? Not really. It was a very hot day and my jog had made me obviously sweaty.

Blaze Headlight and Superflash Taillight

I've been on a few bike rides this summer that wound up being longer than expected or I got a later start than I had wanted and wound up bicycle riding at night. As the days are getting shorter, that could happen more frequently.

If I get tied up, I don't want to have to miss my after work bike ride because it's too dark.

To increase my safety when I ride my bicycle at night I decided to get a bicycle light set.

After checking out different bicycle lights and reading many reviews I decided to buy the Planet Bike Blaze 1-Watt Headlight and Superflash Taillight Combination Bicycle Light Set.

Read more for the bicycle light set review and video of Blaze 1Watt and SuperFlash at night.

Getting back in shape all started with walking for me and it's something I still do. During the summer it's mostly hiking and one hike I try to get in once a week is what I call Carpenter's 8 at Palisades Interstate Park in Fort Lee, NJ. It's a combination of Carpenter's Loops I & II where I go up Carpenter's Trail twice creating a sort of figure eight.

The hike is easy for me to get to and it combines a wide variety of scenery as the trail goes along the banks of the Hudson River and along the wooded area on top of the cliffs.
In total, the hike is about 8 miles and takes me roughly 2.5 hours to complete. Most of the trail is fairly flat along the Shore Trail and Long Path but Carpenter's Trail is a 0.2 mile long, 300' climb on old steep stone steps. This really gets my heart rate up as if I was jogging. It's a pretty tough climb but a good workout. Sometimes I'll jog for parts along Shore and the Long Path.

I remember reading that stair climbing is a great workout for your butt and since I spend a lot of time with my butt sitting in front of a computer, I decided to include Carpenter's Trail twice in my route.

In this post I'll describe the route and include some photos.

Plain water is fine for most workouts, but when it is hot, humid, and you have been sweating hard for a couple of hours, it stops being enough. This homemade orange matcha sports drink replaces the electrolytes you lose in sweat, adds quick carbohydrates for sustained energy, and costs a fraction of what you would spend on a commercial alternative.

Sports drinks do more than quench thirst. They restore electrolytes like sodium and potassium while providing carbohydrates your muscles can use quickly. I do most of my summer cardio outdoors through hiking, biking, and jogging, and I sweat a lot. When I replace all that lost fluid with plain water, I sometimes end up feeling groggy and mentally foggy afterward in a way that does not feel like normal fatigue.

After looking into it, I found that drinking large amounts of water while sweating heavily can dilute sodium levels in the blood, a condition called hyponatremia. I am not diagnosing myself with anything, but I knew plain water was not the full answer for longer efforts in the heat.

The fix is simpler than I expected, and the ingredient that makes the biggest difference is one most people already have in their kitchen.

I used to think bicycle helmets look dorky. A bicycle helmet makes my big head look even bigger.

In the warmer months I enjoy biking. It’s a nice change of pace from my usual exercise routine and I get to see some nice scenery. It makes exercising more pleasurable. In the past I’ve even used my bike to commute to work.

When I’m riding my bike on the road I never wore a helmet. I owned one because I used to do a bit of trail riding in parks that required them.

If you’re reading this, you probably think like me about how bike helmets look but, as I do, you understand the safety benefits if (god forbid) your head hits the pavement. Or maybe helmets are required by your local laws or the regulations of areas you’d like to ride in.

I have such a hard time buying things without doing a lot of research. For months I've been meaning to buy a heart rate monitor for working out and bike riding but I couldn't settle on which one.

I didn't wan to spend a lot of money but I didn't want to get one that was useless. So many of the reviews for affordable heart rate monitor watches seem to be negative that I was very nervous about purchasing one.

The more expensive Polar Heart Rate Monitors seemed to be worth the money but I didn't want to spend that much.

The Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor has over 700 good reviews and is only around $30 with free shipping and looked to be the watch I was going to get but this morning I saw a sale on the Timex T5J031 Unisex Digital Fitness Heart Rate Monitor Watch.

It lists for $100 but I saw it for $49 so I ordered it.

I liked the Timex because it has some extra features that the Omron didn't such as a calorimeter (calorie counter) and review. Most of the reviews also seemed to be favorable. Once I get it and put it through it's paces I'll add a full review but in case anyone reads this try and snag this great deal before it goes up again.