I started a combo commute at the beginning of April.  I take the train then a shuttle as far as it goes then bike the last 5 miles to my office.  These 5 miles are a series of killer hills, so far my top speed going over them is about 4 MPH, and it takes me around 40 minutes so far to make the ride.  Then I turn around and do it again to get home.  It's hard, I know it will get easier and that my times will improve but right now it is hard.

I need to lose 20 pounds so at the beginning of the year I started restricting my diet to between 1200-1600 calories a day.  I have not changed this since I started bicycling.  A typical day breaks down like this:

4:00 am wake up
5:10 am catch train
6:10 am shuttle drops me as far as it goes
6:50 am arrive at work
7:00 am have 1 cup frosted mini wheats dry
9:30 am have an orange
12:00 pm have a smoothie with dairy and protein powder
2:00 pm have 1 cup baby carrots
3:30 pm leave work
4:15 pm get on shuttle
5:30 pm get off train
6:30 pm have 1-2 cups dinner consisting of pasta or rice, a lean meat and vegetables
9:00 pm go to bed

I stopped keeping my fitday journal because every day was the same I get 700ish calories before 4:00 pm and the rest at dinner for a total between 1200-1600 calories a day.  I conquered the Diet Coke addiction I had and now drink nothing but green tea and water.  I can't take a multi vitamin because I have a violent reaction to manufactured zinc, but really I can’t see what is missing from my diet nutritionally.  Something must be missing because I can't stay awake.