2007-10-28

Weekly WrapUp

And, given the kind of week it's been, likely to include some reruns.
Monday: skipped the gym for some more pre-work errands. Which means two consecutive weight-training days skipped.
Tuesday: late start, so just the elliptical, 35 minutes at Level 2 and a 5-minute cooldown at Level 1; 2.84 miles.
Wednesday: another late start, so the elliptical, 35 minutes at Level 2 and a 5-minute cooldown at Level 1; 2.70 miles. And the weight-machine circuit.
Thursday: A little bit better showing, with an earlier arrival at the gym. Elliptical, 35 minutes at Level 2 and a 5-minute cooldown at Level 1; 2.74 miles. Stationary bike, 15 minutes at Level 7 and a 3-minute cooldown at Level 2; 3.54 miles.
Friday: Elliptical, 35 minutes at Level 2 and a 5-minute cooldown at Level 1; 2.69 miles. And the weight-machine circuit.
Saturday: rest day.
Sunday: Wear myself to a frazzle day: no time on the elliptical, but the Stationary Bike for 35 minutes at Level 7, 5 minutes at Level 8, 5 at Level 9, then a 5-minute cooldown at Level 1; 10.11 miles. Treadmill at Incline 2.0 and 2.5mph for 60 minutes, followed by a cooldown of only three minutes, because the first minute of cooldown dropped the incline to 0.0 and 2.0mph, the second dropped the speed to 1.5mph, and the third dropped the speed to 1.0mph. But when the speed dropped to 0.5mph, I decided that was just too damned slow and shut the machine down. 2.57 miles. Then I opted out of using the pool and/or spa, changed my clothes, and came home.

I'm now 553.14 miles from Bag End. That's a bit over 100 miles past Rivendell. I also increased my time on the elliptical to 35 (plus the 5-minute cooldown) this week, so all the (pre-cooldown) elliptical time was at Level 2.

2007-10-22

This is the one I want

(today, anyway) Schwinn Cimarron
• Ladies’ Cimarron 21-speed bike by Schwinn features Inspired Comfort-Tuned 7005 Aluminum with SR M2000 suspension fork
• Shimano rear derailleur with SRAM 21-speed grip shift; alloy linear pull brakes; Suntour alloy crank
• Spring saddle seat on alloy suspension seat post for maximum comfort
• Schwinn riser handlebar with alloy adjustable stem; rustproof alloy rims with stainless steel spokes

2007-10-21

Sunday Roundup

Catching up:
Friday: Had a bunch of errands to run before work so I skipped the gym, thinking maybe I could squeeze in a visit on Saturday. Ha.
Saturday: The best-laid plans… Spent the day having my van worked on, and they still aren’t finished, so I’ll be taking it back next Saturday.
Sunday:
Elliptical: L2 for 25 minutes, L3 for 5 minutes, + 5-minute cooldown (L1); 2.57 miles.
Stationary Bike: L7 for 40 minutes, L8 for 5 minutes, + 5-minute cooldown (L2); 9.91 miles.
Also decided to spend some time in the pool, so I changed into my suit, stuffed my hair into swim cap, doused myself in the shower, then went into the pool. For about 5 minutes. I'm sure it’s all—or at least mostly—in my head, but I felt the water was pressing in on my chest and my breathing was nowhere near smooth and relaxed. Kinda hard to swim when you’re feeling like that. And it’s literally been a couple of decades since I was last in a pool. Baby steps. Climbed out and parboiled myself for about 10 minutes or so in the spa.
Current mileage on the road to Lothlorien: 525.95.

One of the stops I made on Friday was a bike shop. Much as I’d love to have a Trek bike, they’re just a bit out of my price range right now. So I'll be looking closer at the offerings at WallyWorld and KMart. WallyWorld carries Schwinn and Roadmaster. I like the looks of the Schwinn Avalon, but the women’s version comes in a purple that tends toward the red range, though not closely enough to be a true red-violet. That is just so not my color! The clerk said the men’s version is green and pointed to another bike and said, “Like that,” which turned out to be about DMC 699 or 700, or perhaps 910ish, but I don’t think it was that blue a green. I could live with that. But I’ll keep looking. I was so intent on the Avalon model that I didn’t really pay much attention to the Roadmaster bikes. I also need to see what KMart carries. And maybe Sears, Target, and Jacques PennĂ©. I can’t see spending the bigger bucks for the Trek bikes if I don’t know how much time I’ll actually be riding. At this point, it’s certainly not going to be more than two days a week—Saturday and Sunday—if that.

2007-10-17

Mid-Week Update

Monday:
Elliptical: Level 2, 30+5 minutes, 2.18 miles
Weight Circuit
Tuesday:
Elliptical: Level 2, 30+5 minutes, 2.26 miles
Stationary Bike: Level 7, 25+5 minutes, 5.67 miles
Wednesday:
Elliptical: Level 2, 30+5 minutes, 2.34 miles
Weight Circuit
I keep forgetting to mention that starting on Sunday, I increased the "reverse" time on the elliptical to 5 minutes.
Total mileage from Bag End: 513.47
Location on the journey: 55.47 miles from Rivendell. We'll soon reach a stream and turn west on the trek to Moria.

2007-10-16

Is it true?

I found this in the "Fitness Tips" on my Google homepage. Should I be hitting the home treadmill when I get up in the morning?
Do Cardio. The overall best way to shed fat fast is to do cardio (30 min minimum) right when you wake up. Your body will search for energy to use, when it finds nothing in your stomach, it will go directly to your fat storage for energy and the fat will burn up so fast!

2007-10-14

Catching Up

Friday, the last day of a long, stressful week, was weight-circuit day, so the mileage was only from the elliptical: Level 2, 30+5 minutes, 2.31 miles.
Saturday was my day of rest and consisted primarily of sitting and stitching and walking around my favorite needlework shop spending money. Melissa and I opted to walk to the restaurant where we had lunch, so each of us gave ourselves 0.25 mile of walking credit for the day.
Sunday is the day I usually overwork myself at the gym, since it's pretty much the only open-ended day I have for working out, limited only by what time I get there and the 6pm closing time.
Elliptical: Level 2 for 30+5 minutes, 2.39 miles
Stationary Bike: Level 7 for 45+5 minutes, 10.70 miles
Treadmill: Incline 2.0, Speed 2.5-2.6mph, for 35 minutes, 1.50 miles
Total mileage for the day: 14.59
Mileage on the Road to Lothlorien: 501.02

2007-10-12

Hectic Week

And a stressful one at work. I don't think one night has gone entirely smoothly. Yuck.
Monday the 8th was weight-circuit day, so only 2.31 miles on the elliptical, at level 2 for 30+5 minutes, and then the weight machines.
Tuesday:
Elliptical: Level 2 for 30+5 minutes; 2.07 miles.
Treadmill: Incline 2, Speed 2.4 mph; 1.40 miles.
Wednesday:
Elliptical: Level 2 for 30+5 minutes; 2.10 miles
Weight-training circuit.
Thursday:
Elliptical: Level 2 for 25 minutes and Level 5 for 5 minutes, plus 5-minute cooldown; 2.14 miles.
Bike: Level 7 for 30+5 minutes.
It was a really lazy day Thursday. I think the stressful week is catching up with me, because I just couldn't get any decent speed going on the elliptical. Plus there was some lower-back tension/stiffness, which is why I opted to go for a bike ride instead of a walk. I've also been sleeping half an hour later each morning than I normally do, which means I'm getting out of the house a bit later, and that's cutting into my workout time and the reason I haven't done any biking or walking on weight-training days so far this week. It was the inability to get up to and maintain a decent speed on the elliptical this morning that made me punish myself with the higher level for that last 5 minutes before cooldown.
Total mileage on the Road to Lothlorien (from Bag End): 483.87.

2007-10-07

Two Months

It’s been two months since I joined the Y and started working out. And since I like Melissa’s listing of the various activities, I think I’ll start doing the same, beginning today.
Elliptical: Level 2 for a total of 35 minutes (30 minutes plus a 5-minute cooldown)—2.46 miles
Treadmill: Incline 2.0, Speed 2.3 mph for 35 minutes—1.34 miles
Stationary Bike: Level 7 for 25 minutes (20 minutes plus a 5-minute cooldown)—5.09 miles
Total mileage today: 8.89
That’s a new level on the elliptical; I’ve been exercising at Level 1 until today, although last week I began increasing the level for part of my workout. And still only 4 minutes of that time is spent in reverse (and at a slower speed than forward).
And I'm on my way from Rivendell to Lothlorien.

2007-10-05

I'm There!!

Made it to Rivendell this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-04

Closing in on Rivendell

Good day today, though I felt a bit slow on the elliptical. But that may be variations in individual machines, since my mileage was about average for this week, and the slowness may actually have been in my head. I then went for 40 minutes on the bike, and decided I could spare 5 more minutes and spent that time on the treadmill. Based on past performance, I should make Rivendell Friday, even though it's a weight-machine day (I've never figured out how to convert my weight-machine time to mileage). I also figure I need better walking shoes. The problem there is deciding which shoe type is best for what I'm doing right now: walking, running (don't actually plan on doing much of that any time soon, but who knows?), or cross-trainer. Now where do I go to buy a good jock bra? I also keep eyeing the bike trails along the rivers and flood-control channels as I'm driving from the Y to work. Is there a bike in my future?

"The task ahead of you…

…is never greater than the strength within you." Scott Bassett, challenged athlete

I found that one yesterday at the gym while perusing a magazine while on the bike. The magazine is Competitor (or maybe Competition; now I can't remember!), and is geared to runners, walkers, bikers, and triathletes, and this particular issue included an extensive discussion of challenged athletes. This isn't the first copy of this magazine I've scanned while biking, and I always think of Terri and Melissa (and Terri's Kahuna) when I'm looking at it. And am thinking of getting myself back on the treadmill (I can't believe how I've neglected that since joining the Y!) and training and preparing to join them some time in one of their walks.

It's Day 27 on the journey from Bag End to Rivendell, the 14th day from Weathertop. Within the next few miles we'll be confronting the Nazgul. And since Aragorn has always been one of my favorite characters in The Trilogy, I think I'll join him when the Fellowship leaves Rivendell.

2007-10-01

Brand New Month

But off to a kinda mediocre start. I'm not sure if I was late getting to the Y or just pokey today, but I didn't get any bike time at all. 35 minutes on the elliptical, including 4 minutes in reverse, and the weight-training circuit and I needed to head for work. I'll make up for it tomorrow.

And, since it was the first of the month, I got on the scale. I keep telling myself that I'm building muscle—and I know I'm losing girth—but I'm down only about 3 pounds since the last time I weighed, a month or so ago, IIRC.

I'm now within 36 miles of Rivendell. It's October 19, the 26th day since leaving Bag End, and the 13th since Weathertop. I've passed the Stone Trolls and Frodo is now on Glorfindel's horse.

Congratulations to BunnyRunner Melissa on her day at the gym today, and to Girly-Girl Terri on running in the rain!