Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Since starting back to work in August, I've been cycling to work nearly every day. I've had an odd day here or there when I rode the bus, like rainy days, but usually I ride my bike. This gives me ten miles a day, five miles to work and five miles to home. Depending on how fast I go, my Garmin tells me I burn anywhere from 230 - 280 calories with each five miles, so I burn around 500 calories a day by riding my bike (and this afternoon, after I arrived home, I achieved the 1000 miles cycled for the year -- really since June 1). Also since starting back to work in August, I've stopped eating breakfast. This came about for two reasons: 1) it frees up time in the morning. I used to spend anywhere from a half hour to 45 minutes making the meal and eating the meal. Now I use that time to read or clean the apartment; and 2) I wanted to try the intermittent fasting I'd read about. I was really never all that hungry after waking, and I wanted to try to lose about ten pounds...

I ran a sub10 minute mile this evening. I should qualify this by saying I did it by switching to the trainer and cycling for five minutes after each quarter mile. For one quarter I ran a 5.5 mph pace, then the trainer. The next quarter mile I ran at a 6 mph pace, followed by 5 minutes on the trainer. I continued this until I had one full mile at 9:44. While on the trainer, I did one-minute intervals to increase my heart rate. By the end, I'd worked up a good sweat, which is saying something since it's only 36 degrees in the garage. After not working out for all of November, and only sporadically at best during the last two weeks, this was a good workout for me. I'm realizing I really need to do some kind of workout on a daily basis. Having that time to focus on improving an area I'm weak in helps me in every other aspect of my life. During the last two weeks when I let myself slip out of my routine, away from the working out, the writing, the reading, just the structu...