Slouching toward Rivendell

Endings and Beginnings

2012-01-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

My last bike ride of 2011 was last Monday. I'm headed out soon for the first ride of 2012.

1961/1981

2011-04-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

January 2011

2011-02-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

33.704 walking miles. 6.18 elliptical miles. 38.64 cycling miles. 78.524 total miles.

On the latest journey through Middle Earth: 88 miles past Rivendell on the road to Lothlorien.

100 Days Challenge, Weeks 3 & 4

2011-01-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

Week 3: 170 minutes, 7.18 miles
Week 4: 200 minutes, 8.151 miles

The first 28 days: 860 minutes (20 minutes' surplus), 38.38 miles of walking/trotting and elliptical.

100 Days Challenge, Week 2

2011-01-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

Second seven days: 4 days walking on the treadmill, 6.696 miles, 160 minutes; 2 days using the elliptical at the gym, 6.18 miles, 90 minutes; one rest day. 250 minutes of intentional movement.

100 Days Challenge, Week 1

2011-01-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

First 7 days: 10.173 miles walking on the treadmill, 240 minutes.

It's Been A While

2011-01-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

I've really been lackadaisical about posting to either of my blogs since becoming so involved in Facebook--and I'm not even playing any games there! I'm planning, this year, to be more consistent about posting to my blogs. I do know that some time during 2010 I managed to complete the mileage for The Hobbit. The source material for the distances does not include the estimated mileage for Bilbo's return to The Shire, so I just did it as an "out and back" with the same distance for the "back" as for the "out."

When I was looking over my 2010 mileage, before I realized how far I'd gone, I decided to repeat the LOTR mileage, but this time selecting a path from Rauros and following that one through to the end, and returning to The Shire without regard for which group I was with when I left Rauros. Then I'll start over again from The Shire and join a different group at Rauros, and on and on until I've done the whole trip with all the groups. This differs from my original journey in that the first time, I accompanied a group from Rauros as far as Minas Tirith, where I teleported myself back to Rauros to join another group, until I'd traveled to Minas Tirith with all of them, and then returned to The Shire. I'm starting 2011 somewhere between Rivendell and Lothlorien, on the first of the new LOTR journeys.

I've also joined the 100-Day Challenge, wherein you commit to 30 minutes daily of intentional movement. My very dear friend Melissa turned me on to this one, and she and I talked about the nature of the challenge and how to deal with rest days in a challenge like this. She's decided, and I agree, that committing to 210 minutes per week is the best way to go. That averages to 30 minutes per day and leaves room for rest days.

My mileages for 2010 are pretty pathetic:
Walking (mostly treadmill, but also what turned out to be the last Surf City 5K): 121.32
Ellipticals at the gym: 29.3
Cycling (all outdoors in 2010): 1720.13
Total: 1870.562
Trips to the gym generally included the strength-training circuit.

I'm Still Here

2010-09-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just not being very conscientious about blogging.

Hate to Do This...

2010-01-27T14:54:00.000-08:00

…but I've been getting spam comments to this blog, so I've reset the comments options to include word verification.

There And Back Again

2009-11-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a month since my last post here, and even longer since my last Rivendell update. Well, I've not only returned to Bag End, I've gone to the Grey Havens to see Gandalf, Bilbo, and Frodo off with the elves and gone back to Bag End with Sam! And am now on my way to the Lonely Mountain with Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves. And have gone over 7,000 miles!! Total miles so far: 7042.573. A combination of walking, riding both stationary and outdoor bicycles, and ellipticals. A YMCA membership that I used in 3 different Y facilities (my home Y was Lakewood, but I also used Van Nuys and Fullerton), a hotel fitness room, a cruise-ship fitness room, and my home 24-hour Fitness. Plus a couple of home treadmills and some charity events both walking and riding.

Quite the Difference

2009-10-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

The Y is a quiet place, with no music being broadcast into all the rooms, whereas 24-Hour Fitness blasts the staff and customers with an obnoxiously loud sound system.

There are also 3 different kinds of ellipticals there, one of which is lower-body only, while one of the combined upper and lower machines could best be described as the bastard offspring of an elliptical and a stair-stepper. On the more traditional machine, the rise is higher and the stroke shorter than the LifeFitness machines at the Y, so these are going to take some adjustment. I'm also seriously missing the fans that help keep the cardio rooms cooled down at the Y.

Ever since I got the bike(s), I don't spend much time on stationary bikes, but they do have both the upright and recumbant styles

Four TVs in the section of the cardio area where the ellipticals and bikes are located, one on some morning talk show, one on ESPN, one on Faux News, and one on some game show; I didn't pay any attention to what the TVs in the other section (treadmills and traditional stair-steppers) were showing. The TVs gave me something to look at besides the panel on the machines while I was listening to my music.

I did it.

2009-10-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

I discontinued my membership at the Y and joined 24-Hour Fitness. I needed a gym with more hours available, and the Y couldn't provide that. I have an appointment with a trainer on the 24th to learn how to set up their strength-training machines.

Whittier Greenway Ride

2009-09-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, instead of putting my Caps-hockeyfied bike helmet on and riding over to Anaheim Ice to watch the Ducks open training camp, I rode up to Whittier to their nearly new (opened last year) Whittier Greenway multi-use trail. This is an out-of-service rail right-of-way (IIRC, it was purchased from the Union Pacific) which has been paved and planted for use as a pedestrian-cycling-equestrian trail, and runs from just shy of the San Gabriel River Trail on the northwest end to just shy of La Mirada Blvd on the southeast end. There are hopes and plans to try to complete the connection to SGRT (that stretch of land is currently privately owned) and south-eastward into Orange County (that would just rock!).

Here's Orion at the beginning of the trail, on Pioneer Blvd just a little south of Beverly Blvd.

Commemorating the Salt Lake Route, near the old citrus warehouses.
Orion at the far end, at Mills just off of Lambert.

More Ride Pictures

2009-08-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

Posted in a Picasa album.

Fun Day Today

2009-08-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, kinda. And kinda not fun at all. Parked the van at Maxwell Park in Anaheim and rode Orion down Magnolia to Warner, then Warner to PCH, and then up PCH into Seal Beach. Stopped to refuel a bit (I'd ridden that bowl of cereal away completely), then went out Marina Av over to Alamitos Bay to the farmers' market there. Very pleasant so far, and even saved a wallet from who knows what when I picked it up off a bus bench and turned it over to the first LEOs I saw (actually the second ones; the first two were on the other side of the road, headed in the opposite direction from me). Stocked up on some stuff at the farmers' market, then headed over to the San Gabriel River Trail.

And hit my heel on the grocery pannier so hard that I knocked one of the pannier's hooks off the rear rack, and it crashed into the wheel, breaking a spoke in the process.

So I limped it back to Maxwell Park, and headed over to a bike shop in Fullerton. Where it'll be ready by Wednesday close-of-business, but I won't be able to get back over there until Sunday. So Radagast the Beige-and-Black will be getting some attention this week.

And I'm now about 20 miles from Bag End.

Puzzling

2009-08-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

After I posted the update on my Walk to Rivendell mileage I went over to the Eowyn Challenge page to update my shields and to get the distances for The Hobbit. I decided to go ahead and do the Grey Havens leg of LOTR after I get back to Bag End. But when I went to the section for The Hobbit, I learned that they have the Bag End to Rivendell and the Rivendell to the Lonely Mountain distances posted, but nothing for the return to Bag End! Somehow I don't think Bilbo retraced his exact steps. Wonder what my chances are of hunting down a copy of the Fonstad book.

Rivendell!

2009-08-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! Some time during the month of July I made it back to Rivendell! Next stop: home at Bag End, just 198.307 miles away. Last week I also registered for the Surf City 5K, which will be February 7, 2010.

San Diego Rides

2009-07-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have an album showing most of the few pictures I took while visiting San Diego last weekend.

Last Week's Rides

2009-07-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

Just the usual jaunt down the SGRT from Rynerson Park in Lakewood to Seal Beach. The Falls of the San Gabriel River, this time at or very near high tide. The concrete river bed is about 10 miles long, and this point is about 3 miles or so from the beach.
A white pelican near the Falls.
A sign in Seal Beach at Marina and Pacific Coast Hwy:
Later on, probably tomorrow, I'll post some pictures from last weekend's trip to San Diego.

Alameda

2009-07-19T19:52:00.001-07:00

By the time I got to Alameda, there wasn't much time left for a ride before the stitching get-together, but I did get to see a few things of interest. Like this tattered but interesting looking house about a block away from where the GTG (Get ToGether) was held:
Then I started to ride past it and saw the doors:
They don't seem to be using it for anything right now, but like Anaheim (which is at least using theirs for a museum), Alameda has a Carnegie Library building:
And a dyslexic lane marker:
And apparently just one park:
But a charming little cottage complex with an irrestible-to-me name:
The view through the gates:
And a 13th Commandment at the Episcopal Church:
Finally, here's Orion at the beach in Alameda:
I want to go back. I want to see more. And not just of Alameda, but of Santa Clara and San Jose, too. It's so very, very bike-friendly up there!! What's the weather like in December? The Caps have a West Coast road trip which has them at the Shark Tank on December 30.

More Pictures!

2009-07-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

They have directional signs up telling you how to get to the Columbia Memorial Space Center, but the facility still wasn't open a week ago when I last rode by there. I'm beginning to think they're never going to open it.
Many many years ago I worked for what was then known as Union Oil Company of California. I saw this plane over near the West Imperial terminal on my ride last weekend:
Next rest stop: Tokyo. The end of Imperial Highway:
And this bridge crosses Torrance Blvd not far from where I work:

A few pictures from recent rides...

2009-07-11T22:21:00.001-07:00

A coyote in Coyote Creek, along the eponymous trail.
One of the Navy's blimp hangars in Tustin, seen from the north side:
A heron hunting for breakfast near the San Gabriel River Trail:
The Falls of the San Gabriel River:
Orion in Old Town Tustin, in front of a redwood:
A jacaranda in bloom in El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach:
A tree trunk I thought looked interesting, Hyde Park, Orange:
A begging squirrel in Rynerson Park, Lakewood:
And if you're going to immortalized a guy in concrete somewhere in Tustin, at least spell his name correctly!

Less Than 12 Miles!!

2009-07-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

The BFFs and I went to the Joint Forces Training Base (formally NAS Los Alamitos [the Navy still holds the lease] but currently being run [down] by the Army, hence the name "change") for their annual Independence Day celebration. We had a good time, but on one of my bicycle tours of the base, I got a flat tire. So today I'm off to the bike shop. This is the same tube I had replaced on Thursday. This just sucks out loud!

One of my coworkers is on vacation this week, so I'll be starting work about 11:30 each morning. That gives me about an hour and a half for a ride each morning, unless I opt to go to the gym.

And how is it that gardening seems to use muscles you don't use during strength training?

Rivendell

2009-06-14T19:55:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a long time since my last mileage update, so here it is: as of May 31, I was 5328.288 miles from Bag End and had left Isengard for the return trip to Bag End.

LA River Ride 2009

2009-06-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Crashed and burned. I don't know what I did wrong, but I only made it to the second pit stop, the one right after we get off the streets of Vernon and back onto LART. Just a hair under 18 miles, when I should have been able to easily do the half century, and probably a metric century! I was also disappointed to see that they didn't have the bike-wheel arch out this year. No pics of the starting/ending point at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park (near the LA Zoo), but here are a few pics of things I saw along the way, including an Xtracycle at the Maywood Pit Stop.

Checking In

2009-05-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long time between posts. Just not a lot to talk about here lately. Periods of conscientious exercising mixed with (too many and too often!!) periods of laziness.

Yesterday's bike ride was really shorter than usual because the BFFs got up much earlier than they normally do, so I was only about 15 minutes into my ride when the phone rang and it was them, telling me they were ready for our breakfast date. Anyway, after breakfast I headed over to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana to see the new Science of Hockey exhibit. Well, I was in the wrong lane on the freeway, couldn't get over, and found myself trying to find the back way into the facility. Ended up in Santa Ana's "Floral Park" neighborhood, which I'd heard of but had never seen. Omigawd, it's gorgeous! Can you say "house envy"?

So today when I headed out for my Sunday Long Ride, I parked over by the stadium, as usual, and headed over into that area. And spent nearly an hour roaming the streets of Floral Park, and still haven't seen anywhere near all of it. I did see enough to know that if the lottery gawds ever smiled upon me, that's where I'd buy a house in Orange County!! Then I wandered back over toward the DSC, because I'd seen a bike trail yesterday and wanted to know where it goes.

It—Santiago Creek Trail—goes to just a teensy bit past Tustin Av, just north of the 22 freeway. So I wandered down Tustin Av to 4th St, headed east on 4th until it turns into Irvine Blvd and stayed on Irvine Blvd until I reached Tustin Market Place (I know this is meaningless to some of my readers, but the local ones will have an idea where I was), then onto Peterson Canyon Trail (after stopping at Performance Bike Shop's store at TMP to have the tire inflation checked, then going over to the formerly Chick's now Dick's Sporting Goods [yes, Melissa, the one where we picked up the packets for Make Room for Santa] to stock up on Body Glide, which Performance didn't have in stock), and on down to Jamboree Rd/Dyer Rd. From there, I wandered over toward the Tustin Legacy shopping center, near the old Tustin Air Base (two separate links there), and gradually wandered back over to SART and to where I'd parked. 42.9 miles of wandering, many of them places I'd never seen. And I still didn't find the trails that part of the Make Room for Santa 5K was on!

A note on the SCT link above: the trail's western terminus is at I-5 and Broadway on the Bikely.com map I linked to.

Has it really been so long since my last post?

2009-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

I keep telling myself I'll write a catch-up post, but then never seem to get it done. Nice bike ride, today, though! And I actually made it to the gym on Friday after work. But I have just been incredibly lazy lately, smacking the snooze alarm instead of getting out of bed. What is it about late winter/early spring that seems to bring on the lazies? I still haven't figured out how far I walked on the ship during the cruise, even though I wore a pedometer and kept track of my distance. Even managed to get up to the gym on the ship one morning for some time on the elliptical. I haven't a clue where I am on the Walk to Rivendell right now. I registered for the Coaster Run this year, and even though I picked up my goodie bag, I chose not to do the walk. Did go for a nice ride that day, though; does that count? I also managed to do the 15-mile version of the Tour de Sewer this year. Did the short one because I somehow managed to have two events that day--the TdS and a stitch class at my LNS. It turned out to be a good thing that I only did the 15-mile ride, since I ended up with rear-wheel problems when the new spokes on the new wheel that I had to have put on Orion loosened up and made the bike unsafe to ride. I'm still considering registering for the City of Angels ride later this month, and have already registered for this year's LA River Ride. Pics from today's ride are still in the camera, but there are pics from past rides over there <--- in the Slideshow.

Surf City 5K

2009-02-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

And yes, I was wearing my Columbia Memorial pin (which looks just like the second patch down on the left in the link). If I'd had more time, I might have basted the patch to my pants leg. 2454 out of 2508 in the 5K; 1584 out of 1621 women in the 5K; 1:04:01 chip time.

This event was actually worse than last year's, even taking into account last year's sideways rain. Our gorgeous Santa Ana conditions turned into morning low clouds and fog, which brought the temps down quite a bit until the marine layer started burning off. Short-sleeved shirt, shorts, my cycling tights, my cycling windbreaker (which quickly became too much). Horrendous traffic, which led to me being so late that my gun time was nearly 1.5 hours! I really do wish I'd ridden my bike from the parking to the starting line area; all told, I walked nearly 5 miles today, with 3.1 of that being the event itself. So I walked the whole thing, rather than trying any of that faster-than-a-walk-slower-than-a-jog motion that Melissa (I missed you, gf!!) calls a wog. And have you ever tried walking on a center divider? Those concrete imitation bricks are dangerous! But I had to try to stay out of the way of the half-marathoners, who started about 10 minutes after I crossed the start line for the 5K. As far as I can tell, the shuttle stops depicted on the website were purely fictional.

I had one other friend participating in this event, Cindi from our Local Needlework Shop.

2009, Weeks 1 through 4

2009-01-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

2009, Week 1 (29 Dec to 04 Jan)
Monday, December 29: 2.51 miles on the elliptical; 6.30 miles bike ride; full strength-training circuit.
Tuesday, December 30: 1.426 miles on the treadmill; 3.97 miles on the elliptical; 2.37 miles bike ride.
Wednesday, December 31: 18.13 miles bike ride.
Thursday, January 1: nothing; had to work today; gym closed.
Friday, January 2: nothing.
Saturday, January 3: 13.30 miles bike ride.
Sunday, January 4: 39.30 miles bike ride.

Total mileage this week: 87.306
Miles from Bag End: 4408.787
Miles to Mount Doom: 228.213

2009, Week 2 (05 Jan to 11 Jan)
Monday, January 5: 1.664 miles on the treadmill.
Tuesday, January 6: 1.375 miles on the treadmill.
Wednesday, January 7: 1.600 miles on the treadmill; 21.25 miles bike ride.
Thursday, January 8: 22.10 miles bike ride.
Friday, January 9: nothing.
Saturday, January 10: nothing.
Sunday, January 11: 39.13 miles bike ride.

Total mileage this week: 87.119
Miles from Bag End: 4495.906
Miles to Mount Doom: 141.094

2009, Week 3 (12 Jan to 18 Jan)
Monday, January 12: nothing; temporary schedule change at work for the week.
Tuesday, January 13: nothing
Wednesday, January 14: 15.14 miles bike ride.
Thursday, January 15: nothing
Friday, January 16: nothing
Saturday, January 17: 2.767 miles on the treadmill; 32.50 miles bike ride
Sunday, January 18: 2.543 miles on the treadmill; 36.70 miles bike ride

Total mileage this week: 89.65
Miles from Bag End: 4585.556
Miles to Mount Doom: 51.444

2009, Week 4 (19 Jan to 25 Jan)
Monday, January 19: nothing; temporary schedule change ended today
Tuesday, January 20: 2.414 miles on the treadmill
Wednesday, January 21: 1.8 miles on the treadmill; 21.80 miles bike ride.
Thursday, January 22: 7.969 miles walking around Disneyland.
Friday, January 23: nothing.
Saturday, January 24: 2.521 miles on the treadmill.
Sunday, January 25: 32.10 miles bike ride.

Total mileage this week: 68.604
Miles from Bag End: 4654.16
Arrived at Mount Doom at mile 4637. Frodo and Sam fly via Deus Ex Machina Airlines to Morannon.
Distance from Morannon to Minas Tirith: 102.84

My Rides

2008-12-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

Radagast the Beige-and-Black, visiting the Soviet-era diesel sub Scorpion and the Queen Mary, in Long Beach CA, 11-23-08:

Orion, at the Corral Rest Area on the Santa Ana River Trail (SART), 12-28-08:
ETA: Orion is a Bianchi Premio, in a luscious dark green that could be called "Bottle Green."

N+1

2008-12-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

On BikeForums.net, N= the number of bicycles a person owns. N+1, then, is a new acquisition. I achieved that today when one of the BFers gave me a bike his wife no longer rides. It's a road bike, complete with drop bars (those curved handlebars that have you hunched over and looking like Igor from Young Frankenstein), and a fancier computer than I had put on Radagast the Beige-and-Black. It's a dark green, somewhere around a '97 or '98, they think, and I'm not sure which model it is. Pics to follow later, after I download them out of the camera. I'd give you a link to the BF threads where the bike is shown, but you have to log in to see any pics. No name yet, though "Kermit," "Vulcan," and "Spock" are under consideration. Please don't even think "Green Monster" in this Angels fan's direction!!! Or maybe "Orion." The test ride ended up being nearly 28 miles, and if it hadn't been for the cold wind coming down the canyon, it might well have been longer. The next step will be more comfortable handlebars (which means new brake levers and cables), a frame pump (and I really should have some kind of portable pump for Radagast), a tail light (at the minimum), a handlebar bag, and another bottle cage. At least some of that will use up the rest of the GC from the bike store. And, of course, a Rat Fink bell.

Another Catch-Up Post

2008-12-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

2008, Week 47
Monday, November 17: Home treadmill for 1.8 miles.
Tuesday, November 18: Home treadmill for 1.81miles.
Wednesday, November 19: Home treadmill for 2.151 miles.
Thursday, November 20: Home treadmill for 1.801 miles.
Friday, November 21: Rest day.
Saturday, November 22: Home treadmill for 2.029 miles.
Sunday, November 23: Home treadmill for 1.0 mile; bike ride for 35.5 miles.

2008, Week 48
Monday, November 24: Home treadmill for 1.282 miles.
Tuesday, November 25: Nothing. Karma cold.
Wednesday, November 26: Nothing.
Thursday, November 27: Nothing.
Friday, November 28: Nothing.
Saturday, November 29: Bike ride for 3.67 miles.
Sunday, November 30: Bike ride for 15.21 miles.

2008, Week 49
Monday, December 1: Nothing.
Tuesday, December 2: Home treadmill for .83 miles.
Wednesday, December 3: Nothing.
Thursday, December 4: Bike ride for 13.19 miles.
Friday, December 5: Nothing.
Saturday, December 6: Bike ride for 21.16 miles.
Sunday, December 7: Home treadmill for 1.505 miles; bike ride for 23.95 miles.

2008, Week 50
Monday, December 8: Home treadmill for 1.808 miles.
Tuesday, December 9: Home treadmill for 1.41 miles; bike ride for 5.23 miles.
Wednesday, December 10: Bike ride for 20.08 miles.
Thursday, December 11: Bike ride for 21.01 miles.
Friday, December 12: Home treadmill for 1.375 miles; elliptical for 3.88 miles.
Saturday, December 13: Nothing.
Sunday, December 14: Make Room for Santa 5K for 3.5 miles.

2008, Week 51
Monday, December 15: Elliptical for 3.63 miles.
Tuesday, December 16: Home treadmill for 1.276 miles.
Wednesday, December 17: Home treadmill for 1.414 miles; elliptical for 2.44 miles; full strength-training circuit.
Thursday, December 18: Home treadmill for 1.8 miles; 1 hour of Pilates; elliptical for 1.83 miles.
Friday, December 19: Home treadmill for 1.8 miles.
Saturday, December 20: Home treadmill for 1.756 miles.
Sunday, December 21: Combined home treadmill and walking a flatted bike: 3.118 miles; bike ride for 20.43 miles.

Total Distance since November 16: 234.51
Distance from Bag End: 3889.437
Distance to Minas Tirith: 139.563

Falling Behind Again

2008-12-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

I had the Make Room for Santa 5K this morning, and while I didn't PR, I'm feeling pretty good about the event. After all, I spent something like 4 of the last 6 weeks sick and unable to do much training. It was freaking cold out there! When I turned on the windshield washer option on the wipers to clear the dew from the windshield, the washer fluid froze!

ETA: That 58:30 was "gun" time. Had I realized before the start of the event that it wasn't chip-timed, I might have tried to remember to take my HRM, which IIRC has a stop watch function. But then, I think my brain was frozen, since I remembered to grab a jacket but completely forgot my arm warmers!

Catch Up!

2008-11-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

2008, Week Forty-Two
Monday, October 13: Rest day.
Tuesday, October 14: Home treadmill for 1.525 miles; no bike ride for; no after-work Y visit.
Wednesday, October 15: Home treadmill for 1.801 miles; no bike ride for; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, October 16: Home treadmill for 1.851 miles; bike ride for 5.78 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, October 17: Home treadmill for 2.003 miles; bike ride for 6.61 miles; no after-work Y visit on Friday.
Saturday, October 18: Home treadmill for 3.123 miles; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, October 19: No home treadmill; bike ride for 30.01 miles; no Y visit.

2008, Week Forty-Three
Monday, October 20: Sore throat.
Tuesday, October 21: Sore throat.
Wednesday, October 22: Sore throat.
Thursday, October 23: Sore throat.
Friday, October 24: Snotty nose.
Saturday, October 25: Snotty nose.
Sunday, October 26: Snotty nose.

2008, Week Forty-Four
Monday, October 27: Snotty nose.
Tuesday, October 28: Snotty nose.
Wednesday, October 29: Snotty nose recovery.
Thursday, October 30: Snotty nose recovery.
Friday, October 31: Snotty nose recovery.
Saturday, November 1: Errands.
Sunday, November 2: No home treadmill; bike ride for 17.26 miles; no Y visit.

2008, Week Forty-Five
Monday, November 3: Home treadmill for 1.531 miles; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Tuesday, November 4: Home treadmill for 2.214 miles; no bike ride because I had to vote for Obama and against h8; no after-work Y visit because I was watching the returns.
Wednesday, November 5: Home treadmill for 1.9 miles; bike ride for 5.18 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, November 6: Home treadmill for 1.832 miles; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, November 7: Home treadmill for 2.001 miles; bike ride for 5.22 miles; no after-work Y visit on Friday.
Saturday, November 8: no home treadmill; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, November 9: no home treadmill; bike ride for 44.40 miles; no Y visit.

2008, Week Forty-Six
Monday, November 10: no home treadmill; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Tuesday, November 11: no home treadmill; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Wednesday, November 12: no home treadmill; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, November 13: no home treadmill; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, November 14: Home treadmill for 1.806 miles; bike ride for 5.23 miles; no after-work Y visit on Friday.
Saturday, November 15: no home treadmill; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, November 16: no home treadmill; bike ride for 43.15 miles; no Y visit.

Total distance since October 12: 184.427
Distance from Bag End: 3654.927
Distance to Minas Tirith: 374.073
Last Friday morning's weigh-in showed a three-pound (!!!!) drop from the previous week. In spite of a total slugitude week!

2008, Week Forty-One

2008-10-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 6: Home treadmill for 1.601 miles; bike ride for 2.61 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Tuesday, October 7: No walk today because I had to be at work really early. After-work bike ride for 10.18 miles; no after-work Y visit
Wednesday, October 8: Home treadmill for 1.917 miles; bike ride for 6.14 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, October 9: Home treadmill for 2.003 miles; bike ride for 6.21 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, October 10: Home treadmill for 2.010 miles; bike ride for 5.44 miles; no Y visit.
Saturday, October 11: Home treadmill for 3.302 miles; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, October 12: No walk today; bike ride for 40.62 miles; no Y visit.

Total distance for the week: 82.033
Distance from Bag End: 3470.5
Arrived in Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin, then popped back to Isengard to journey to Minas Tirith with Merry.
Distance to Minas Tirith: 558.5

Left work earlier than usual on Monday because I had to be at work 5+ hours earlier than usual on Tuesday, so that's why no Y visit on Monday and no walk on Tuesday. Having my schedule whomped like that threw me off the whole week, and I just kept going straight home from work and hitting the sack earlier than usual. It's also been really windy these last few days, and that's made the rides less than their usual pleasure, which is the reason I skipped the Saturday ride. At least I did well for the Kick the Couch 5K, going a bit past 5K, although the time isn't all that great. But then, I wasn't doing it for the time, just the distance. The wind has been pretty cold, so this morning I pulled on my cycle tights and discovered the fit isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I wore them for the whole ride today, although I did finally take off my windbreaker. I think I'll be able to use them for the Surf City 5K, too, if it's cold like this year's was.

It's also looking like we won't be doing that Tri after all.

Obligated Now

2008-10-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

I registered for the Surf City 5K this morning. I hope it doesn't rain this time.

2008, Week Forty, September Recap

2008-10-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 29: Home treadmill for 1.411 miles; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Tuesday, September 30: Home treadmill for 1.665 miles; bike ride for 6.18 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Wednesday, October 1: Home treadmill for 1.516 miles; bike ride for 5.23 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, October 2: Home treadmill for 1.613 miles; no bike ride; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, October 3: Home treadmill for 1.751 miles; bike ride for 6.21 miles; no after-work Y visit because it’s Friday.
Saturday, October 4: Home treadmill for 3.3 miles; no bike ride or Y visit today because it was All-Day Open Stitch Class at the LNS.
Sunday, October 5: Today turned into a rest day, and that’s probably a good thing, since I haven’t had a full rest day since September 22.

Total distance for the week: 28.846
Distance from Bag End: 3388.467
Distance to Minas Tirith: 62.533

September Recap:
Walk: 46.898 (August: 43.165) +3.733
Bike: 198.80 (August: 256.92) -58.12 (7 days in a row off the bike during my FanFest vacation really shows here!)
Elliptical: 7.39 (August: 11.41) -4.02 (and the only times I hit the elliptical were on my FanFest vacation!)
Strength-Training: 3 times (August: 6 times) -3 times

October Goals: Improve each category—which should be fairly easy since I don’t have any vacations planned for October!

I bought a scale on Thursday morning (when I skipped the morning bike ride) for use at home. I've decided on weekly weigh-ins, and getting to the gym doesn't always work out. Also, having a scale at home allows me to not only weigh myself consistently on a particular day, but also a consistent time of the day, under more or less nearly identical circumstances. I've opted for Fridays after my morning treadmill time. Since I don't know how this one compares with the one at the gym (a $30 Taylor "Biggest Loser" model with digital display v a "doctor's office" type), I don't know how much my September loss was. But I've reached my first milestone of Under 250, and by enough that the scale at the Y would also be "Under 250"; I just don't know how much difference that one would show. So I'm keeping weekly records from this point on.

Next weekend is the Kick the Couch 5K, and I still haven't decided where I'm going to do mine. Probably here at home on the treadmill, since going outside always makes me want to ride and not walk or walk/jog.

2008, Weeks 37, 38, 39

2008-09-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 8: Home treadmill for 1.751 miles; no bike; no after-work Y visit.
Tuesday, September 9: Home treadmill for 1.901 miles; no bike; no after-work Y visit.
Wednesday, September 10: Home treadmill for 1.176 miles; bike ride for 6.32 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, September 11: Home treadmill for 1.763 miles; bike ride for 6.25 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, September 12: Rest day.
Saturday, September 13: Home treadmill for 3.334 miles no bike; no Y visit.
Sunday, September 14: Spent the morning preparing for NCIS FanFest later in the week. No home treadmill; bike ride for 25.08 miles; no Y visit.
Monday, September 15: Home treadmill for 3.3 miles; bike ride for 5.98 miles; no Y visit.
Tuesday, September 16: Home treadmill for 3.252 miles. Spent the rest of the day preparing to spend the next four days at FanFest, so no bike ride and no visit to the Y.
Wednesday, September 17: Errands to run on the way to the hotel, so no exercise time except for the walking around the hotel. I could give myself about a mile for that, because my roomie and I walked about that far to pick up some stuff at the store down the street from the hotel.
Thursday, September 18: Elliptical in the hotel fitness room for 3.76 miles. Same brand as the ellipticals at the Y, but a newer, fancier model, complete with widescreen TV. FanFest activities.
Friday, September 19: Elliptical in the hotel fitness room for 3.63 miles. FanFest activities.
Saturday, September 20: FanFest activities.
Sunday, September 21: FanFest activities.
Monday, September 22: Recovering from FanFest and running errands.
Tuesday, September 23: Home treadmill for 2.524 miles; bike ride for 28.42 miles; no Y visit. I was going to ride up to Whittier-Narrows, but there's a work project which has a section of the San Gabriel River Trail closed just north of Beverly Blvd, and I don't know the area well enough to find my way through the detour, so I turned around and returned to Liberty Park.
Wednesday, September 24: Home treadmill for 1.26 miles; no bike; after-work Y visit for strength training. Four people at work mentioned my trimmer figure!
Thursday, September 25: no morning walk; bike ride for 5.14 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, September 26: Home treadmill for 1.808 miles; bike ride for 5.51 miles; no after-work Y visit because it’s Friday. And a fifth person at work mentioned my trimmer figure! I guess it really is starting to show.
Saturday, September 27: Home treadmill for 3.53 miles; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, September 28: Home treadmill for 3.542 miles; bike ride for 30.12 miles; no Y visit. Decided I needed a little variety in my Sunday ride, so I headed north on SGRT to the Foster Rd bridge, then rode west on Foster/Gardendale to cruise by something I'd seen on the Tour de Sewer last spring. Then I continued on to Garfield, then to Imperial so I could cruise by the Columbia Memorial Science Center still under construction on a piece of former Rockwell Space Division (birthplace of the Apollo command modules and the shuttle orbiters) property to check on its status (I don't think it's going to be open by its advertised "mid 2008"!), then wound south and east and south and west and south and east and around El Dorado Regional Park and back north to Liberty Park. I once saw the earlier Columbia, the Apollo 11 command module, on display at Rockwell in Downey.

Total distance for the period: 149.371
Distance from Bag End: 3359.621
Distance to Minas Tirith: 91.379

If you've been following along with Melissa and Terri, you'll know that We Three Athenas will be participating in a sprint-distance tri on October 19, with Terri the water baby, Melissa the running bunny, and Yours Truly the wheel girl. Keep us in your thoughts, please!

2008, Week Thirty-Six

2008-09-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 1: Home treadmill for 3.217 miles; bike ride for 26.56 miles; No Y visit because the Y was closed for the Labor Day holiday.
Tuesday, September 2: Home treadmill for 1.647 miles; no morning bike ride; after-work stop at the Y for strength training.
Wednesday, September 3: Home treadmill for 1.701 miles; morning bike ride for 6.27 miles; no after-work stop at the Y.
Thursday, September 4: Home treadmill for 1.753 miles; morning bike ride for 3.91 miles; no fter-work stop at the Y.
Friday, September 5: Rest day.
Saturday, September 6: Home treadmill for 3.201 miles; morning bike ride for 17.72 miles; no stop at the Y.
Sunday, September 7: Home treadmill for 3.252 miles; morning bike ride for 25.32 miles; stop at the Y for strength training.

Total distance for the week: 94.461
Distance from Bag End: 3210.25
Distance to Minas Tirith: 240.75

A good week for walking, but not so good for either bike or elliptical. And while I did get in two Y visits for strength training, it's still not so impressive.

2008, Week Thirty-Five

2008-08-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 25: Home treadmill for 1.277 miles; morning bike ride for 8.32 miles; no after-work stop at the Y.
Tuesday, August 26: Became a rest day, although right now I don’t remember why.
Wednesday, August 27: Home treadmill for 1.345 miles; morning bike ride for 8.03 miles; after-work stop at the Y for an upper-body workout (plus, of course, the two hip machines).
Thursday, August 28: Home treadmill for 1.607 miles; morning bike ride for 6.54 miles; no after-work stop at the Y.
Friday, August 29: Home treadmill for 1.471 miles; morning bike ride for 7.86 miles; no after-work stop at the Y, which is normal for Friday.
Saturday, August 30: Home treadmill for 3.251 miles; no bike ride; no stop at the Y.
Sunday, August 31: No walk because I straightened out a book case in hopes of finding two of my Harry Potter books; bike ride for 23.00 miles; no stop at the Y, though I’d planned to, until my BFFs called mid-ride to tell me that our favorite English tea house was open today, so we met for afternoon tea, and the Y closes at 5 on Sunday. Which means I won’t get to the gym before Tuesday because of the Monday holiday, so no weigh-in yet for August.

Total distance for the week: 62.701
Distance from Bag End: 3178.490
Distance to Minas Tirith: 272.51

August Accomplishments:
I exceeded July’s mileage on the treadmill (43.165 for August v 35.045 for July), and squeaked past July’s mileage on the elliptical by a few hundredths (August 11.41; July 11.37). But I was down by one strength-training session from July. And, of course, the cycling mileage is down (256.92 in August v 315.35 in July) from July because it really is unreasonable to think I could increase my mileage when I have less time to ride! It’d take a lot of riding on weekends to make up the difference.

September Goals:
Increase the treadmill and elliptical mileages. Increase the number of strength-training sessions. At least meet August’s cycling mileage. The NCIS FanFest is this month, so I don't think I'll get much riding done between the 17th and the 21st, but the venue does have a gym.

High point of the week: One of my BikeForums.net cycling buds, Mr Beanz, PMed me to tell me that when he and his DW Gina saw me last week on SART, he hadn't been completely certain it was me and wanted to know if I'd lost some weight. Thank you, Fred; I needed that!!!!!.

2008, Week Thirty-Four

2008-08-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 18: No walk this morning because I stayed up late watching the Olympics (and still didn’t get to see everything I wanted to see!), so I slept late; no morning bike ride; and stuck late at work, so no Y stop, either. I guess that makes it a "rest day."
Tuesday, August 19: Home treadmill for 1.164 miles; morning bike ride for 7.91 miles; after-work strength training at the Y.
Wednesday, August 20: Home treadmill for 1.701 miles; morning bike ride for 5.8 miles; after-work stop at the Y to ride the elliptical for 3.58 miles.
Thursday, August 21: Home treadmill for 1.501 miles; morning bike ride for 7.96 miles; after-work strength training at the Y.
Friday, August 22: Home treadmill for 1.256 miles; morning bike ride for 7.89 miles; no after-work stop at the Y because that just doesn’t happen on Fridays.
Saturday, August 23: Home treadmill for 3.251 miles; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, August 24: Slept late and lazed abed, so no morning walk; bike ride for 34.28 miles; no Y visit.

Total distance for the week: 76.293
Distance from Bag End: 3115.789
Distance to Minas Tirith: 335.211

2008, Week Thirty-Three

2008-08-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

…and a brief nod to the Olympics.

Monday, August 11: Home treadmill for 1.415 miles; morning bike ride for 8.14 miles; post-work visit to the Y for the upper-body-plus-two-hip-machines workout.
Tuesday, August 12: Home treadmill for 1.306 miles; morning bike ride for 7.47 miles; post-work visit to the Y’s elliptical for 3.81 miles.
Wednesday, August 13: Home treadmill for 1.404 miles; morning bike ride for 8.12 miles; post-work visit to the Y for the upper-body-plus-two-hip-machines workout.
Thursday, August 14: Home treadmill for 1.481 miles; skipped the morning bike ride for reasons I forget now; post--work visit to the Y’s elliptical for 4.02 miles.
Friday, August 15: Skipped the morning walk; morning bike ride for 6.74 miles; and no post-work visit to the Y because it’s Friday.
Saturday, August 16: Home treadmill for 2.504 miles; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, August 17: Home treadmill for 2.752 miles; nice long bike ride down SGRT and into Long Beach (Naples) for 25.87 miles.

Total distance for the week: 75.032
Distance from Bag End: 3039.496
Distance to Minas Tirith: 411.504

I’ve been able to watch some of the Olympics, too. Congratulations to the USA men’s and women’s swim teams. And to Constantina Tomescu Dita of Romania in the Women’s Marathon.

I also bought the grocery panniers from REI and gave them their first trial today when I stopped at Whole Foods in Naples (a neighborhood of Long Beach across Alamitos Bay from SGRT) during my ride today.

2008, Week Thirty-Two

2008-08-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 4: Home treadmill for 1.511 miles; no morning bike ride (took the desktop computer to shop because the USB ports went crazy); no post-work stop at the Y because of crisis control.
Tuesday, August 5: Home treadmill for 1.276 miles; morning bike ride for 7.95 miles; no post-work stop at the Y because of crisis control.
Wednesday, August 6: Home treadmill for 1.426 miles; morning bike ride for 7.97 miles; post-work stop at the Y for strength training: all upper-body machines plus the two hip machines.
Thursday, August 7: Home treadmill for 1.503 miles; morning bike ride for 7.97 miles; no post-work stop at the Y because of crisis control.
Friday, August 8: Rest day: the water heater went out and Jill got married.
Saturday, August 9: Home treadmill for 2.1 miles; bike ride for 21.84 miles.
Sunday, August 10: Home treadmill for 2.101 miles; all-day class at the LNS.

Total distance for the week: 55.647
Distance from Bag End: 2964.464
Reached Isengard with Merry and Pippin; continuing to Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin. Distance to Minas Tirith: 486.536

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

2008-08-05T21:27:00.001-07:00

I really, really dislike these late-in-the-shift crises that keep me at work past 8! Two nights in a row I've had to skip the Y. Bleah.

2008, Week Thirty-One, and July Recap

2008-08-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 28: Home treadmill for 1.257 miles; morning bike ride for 14.84 miles; post-work stop at the Y for the predominantly upper-body workout.
Tuesday, July 29: Skipped the home treadmill this morning; headed to the park for the morning bike ride, and had a flat about 6.25 miles into the ride. Walked about a mile total, between walking the bike out of the middle of El Dorado Regional Park to the nearest bus stop, rode a couple of buses back to Liberty Park, and walked a few hundred more feet to the van. And left the office too late to make it worth my while to stop at the Y.
Wednesday, July 30: Home treadmill for 1.177 miles; no ride today because the bike was in the shop, and no post-work stop at the Y. I was able to take a “dinner break” and get the bike from the shop.
Thursday, July 31: Home treadmill for 1.503 miles; morning bike ride for 9.92 miles, and a stop at the Y after work for the upper-body (and, of course, the two hip machines) strength training.
Friday, August 1: Home treadmill for 1.367 miles; morning bike ride for 6.94 miles. No visit to the Y because I don’t finish up at work early enough on Fridays to get there. Shorter bike rides before work because I’m officially back on the 10-8 schedule.
Saturday, August 2: BFF-J’s credit union is celebrating their 70th anniversary (and it turns out this credit union includes my former employer’s credit union, the one at the old Long Beach Naval Shipyard!), and so we all went to the Santa Ana Zoo, and then spent some time at her great-niece’s 1st birthday. About 1.188 miles of traipsing around.
Sunday, August 3: Home treadmill for 2.007 miles; nice long bike ride for 30.32 miles; skipped the Y because the banana-and-granola-bar breakfast just wasn’t enough after all of that.

Total distance for the week: 77.769
Distance from Bag End: 2908.817
Distance to Isengard: 25.183

July Recap:
Walking Distance: 35.045 miles (June: 11.9)
Elliptical Distance: 11.37 miles (June: 6.6)
Biking Distance: 315.35 miles (June 347.29)
Cybex Workouts: 7 (predominantly UBWO) (June: 2)
Weight Loss: 1.5 lbs

August Goals:
Increase all distances, especially walking and ellipticalling. Increase strength training occasions. Take better control of portion sizes and snacking. Today, August 3rd, marks the one-year anniversary of joining the Y.

Oh. My. God.

2008-07-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Another flat!!!! This one in the middle of El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach, during my morning ride. So I hoofed it nearly half a mile out of the park, hoofed it another half a mile or so to the nearest bus stop, rode a bus to Del Amo and Norwalk, changed to a Cerritos bus, and took that to Liberty Park in Cerritos, where I park my van for my morning rides. Drove to my LBS, where Steve was utterly astonished to learn about the flat—remember, this is new tire, new tube, new liner, and new Slime! So Radagast the Beige-and-Black is in the shop again. I didn't even stop at the Y on the way home, just came straight home to blog about the earthquake (you'll have to head over to the Gathering Place for that account) and the flat.

2008, Week Thirty

2008-07-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 21: Home treadmill for 1.301 miles; morning bike ride for 15.78 miles; post-work stop at the Y for 2.28 miles on the elliptical.
Tuesday, July 22: Home treadmill for 1.357 miles; but when I got to the park this morning for my ride, I discovered a very flat rear tire. Went to the gym and spent 40 minutes on the elliptical, for 2.52 miles; the post-work visit to the Y was spent on strength training.
Wednesday, July 23: Home treadmill for 1.40 miles; no ride today because the bike is in the shop (and things were so hectic in the afternoon that I couldn’t get away to pick it up); no pre-work visit to the Y because I had to be at work early because the morning guy had to take a day off for personal stuff; post-work trip to the Y was spent on the elliptical, for 2.88 miles.
Thursday, July 24: Home treadmill for 1.401 miles; picked up the bike from the shop, but not early enough to find a place to ride before work; post-work stop at the Y for strength training (UBWO, plus the two hip machines).
Friday, July 25: Home treadmill for 1.251 miles; morning bike ride (yay!!!!!!!!) for 14.88 miles. No visit to the Y because I don’t finish up at work early enough on Fridays to get there.
Saturday, July 26: City of Cypress 5K today with Melissa. And even with the early (7:30) start, the heat and humidity were nearly unbearable. While at the water stop, I chatted briefly with a family out on their front lawn, and jokingly asked one of them if they had “any more of that coffee.” He said they had plenty; was there anything in particular I wanted? I laughed and said the song I was listening to at the time was “Wildwood Weed,” and the whole family laughed. The Big Stick Popsicles were a wonderful “prize” and I was tempted to grab a second one. But I’d had to ask for help getting the wrapper off the first one—my hands were so slippery! Anyway, I came in 490 out of 492 listed on the results page, with a chip time of 57:05, and 17th in my Division. My pedometer said I covered a total of 3.9 miles, including all the walking before and after the actual event. That’s an improvement for me by a full minute. And congratulations to Melissa for her new PR!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, July 27: Home treadmill for 1.503 miles; no bike ride; no visit to the Y. Kept driving around to different stores and just never stopped for a ride nor got to the gym.

Total distance for the week: 50.282
Distance from Bag End: 2831.048
Distance to Isengard: 102.952

Halfway...

2008-07-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

…to eleventy-one today. And what a day it's been so far. Got to Liberty Park in Cerritos, where I start my daily ride, opened the back of the van, and found a flat tire. This is the same tire (different tube) which went flat a couple of weeks ago. So I went to the Y instead and spent 40 minutes on the elliptical in my cycling clothes because I forgot to grab clean gym wear on my way out this morning. I also forgot to take my water bottle in with me. Then I took the bike to the shop, where they'll install a new tube and new rear tire, replace the broken spoke, true the rear wheel, clean the hub, and install the liner in the front tire. Happy Half-birthday to me.

City of Cypress 5K on Saturday.

2008, Week Twenty-Nine

2008-07-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Moon Day! Has it really been thirty-nine years since Armstrong and Aldrin stepped out of the lander onto another celestial body?

A pretty good week for once, I think.

Monday, July 14: home treadmill for 1.175 miles; morning bike ride for 14.06 miles.
Tuesday, July 15: home treadmill for 1.351 miles; morning bike ride for 115.15 miles; and—finally!!!—an after-work visit to the Y, for an upper-body workout. I also used the two hip (adduction and abduction) machines.
Wednesday, July 16: rest day today, mostly, though I did stop at the Y after work to spend nearly an hour on the elliptical, for 3.69 miles. Hey, it was nearly 24 hours; that’s a day of rest!
Thursday, July 17: home treadmill for 1.155 miles; morning bike ride for 15.14 miles; and another post-work Y visit for more upper-body strength training (and the two hip machines).
Friday, July 18: home treadmill for 1.252 miles; morning bike ride for 14.59 miles.
Saturday, July 19: home treadmill for 1.502 miles, but never did manage to get in a bike ride.
Sunday, July 20: home treadmill for 2.112 miles; bike ride for 25.33 miles; upper-body workout at the Y (plus the hip machines).

Total distance for the week: 96.507
Distance from Bag End: 2780.766
Distance to Isengard: 153.234

I Can Already Hear...

2008-07-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

… Melissa's virtual razzberries, but I did 3.85 uninterrupted hands-free miles today at El Dorado Regional Park. This is all the more impressive (or wacko!) given that the Santa Ana Riverbed effort was a level straightaway on concrete, while the El Dorado ride included both concrete and asphalt and was full of curves and not completely level.

2008, Week Twenty-Eight

2008-07-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

What a week this was!

Monday, July 7: with the treadmill dead, it was just a bike ride today, 10.81 miles.
Tuesday, July 8: rest day today, unless you want to count muscling the old treadmill out into the alley by the garage before work (and it was gone by the time I got home!) and muscling the new one into the house and assembling it and shoving it into position, and no ride because I went treadmill shopping on the way to work.
Wednesday, July 9: the distance goes to three decimal places on this thing! On the new treadmill, 1.071 miles; morning bike ride, 12.90 miles. I also finished the audio version of the second Harry Potter book this morning, so there was a mad rush to get the next one ready to load into the MP3 player I use for audiobooks, then uninstall HP2 and load HP3. And not all of HP3 fits, so once I get through a few chapters, I’ll have to uninstall some early chapters so that I can load the last couple or three of chapters. Ah, the disadvantages of buying the 1G MP3 player!
Thursday, July 10: home treadmill for 1.005 miles; morning bike ride for 15.14 miles.
Friday, July 11: home treadmill for 1.200 miles; morning bike ride for 15.10 miles.
Saturday, July 12: home treadmill for 1.601 miles; morning bike ride for 5.54 miles until the rear tire went flat, then pushing the bike for 0.77 miles from the river bed to a grocery store to get cash, then to Bus Stop A, then from Bus Stop B to Bus Stop C, then from Bus Stop D to my BFFs’ home. Left the bike in their garage while we four went to our regular Saturday breakfast, then they took me to where I’d parked the van near SART’s Rampart access. BFF-N rode shotgun on the way back to the house, where I loaded up the bike, and then I went on to Performance down in Fountain Valley, where I left the bike for tire repair while I hoofed it over to A Snail’s Pace to pick up a couple of packages of Body Glide. A new tube, a liner to add a layer of protection between the tube and the tire, and another bottle of Slime now have me ready for a ride tomorrow morning before class at the LNS. The bad news is I have another broken spoke! I also need to replace that tire. I opted for the liner instead of a new tire because that particular shop didn’t have a tire in the same size. No trip to the Y today.
Sunday, July 13: home treadmill for 2.002 miles; no bike ride before class at the LNS, and it's the class at the LNS which kept me from the Y today, so no weight training at all this week.

Total distance for the week: 67.139
Distance from Bag End: 2684.259
Distance to Isengard: 249.741

The new treadmill is, of course, fancier than the old one, with a magnetic “key” and digital displays of time, distance, speed, and calories walked off. There’s a lap counter, an oval track a quarter mile long, and also a heart-rate monitor that’s activated by a light thumbprint (don’t press too hard or you’ll cut off the circulation and get an inaccurate reading!). It’s also bigger—longer, a bit wider, and taller—than the old one, so I had to move a cabinet several inches over to make it fit into the old one’s space. I also have to push the stop button; just removing the key wipes the display and there doesn’t seem to be a way to retrieve the information. I still have to install the locking devices for the "stored" position, and don't have the locking pins for the incline device in place.

New Treadmill

2008-07-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

I took a rest day today so I could bite the bullet and buy a new treadmill. Ouch. It's the Weslo Cadence G40, and a good bit fancier than the old one, even though it's a "cheapy" model sold through discount houses. Now I wanna go home so I can put it together and put the bike back in the van.

2008 Week 27, June Recap, and 2008 The First Half

2008-07-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

2008, Week Twenty-Seven
Monday, June 30: morning bike ride for 12.84 miles.
Tuesday, July 1: home treadmill for 1.01 miles; morning bike ride for 15.45 miles.
Wednesday, July 2: home treadmill for 0.46 mile (treadmill stopped and wouldn't start again); morning bike ride for 15.44 miles.
Thursday, July 3: home treadmill won’t start; morning bike ride for 15.12 miles.
Friday, July 4: morning bike ride for 18.48 miles; walking around 4th of July celebration venue for 0.5 mile.
Saturday, July 5: morning bike ride for 21.64 miles.
Sunday, July 6: morning bike ride for 23.79 miles; upper-body (and hip adduction and abduction machines) workout at Y.

Distance from Bag End: 2617.12
Arrived in Minas Tirith with Aragorn partway through Saturday’s ride and jumped back to Rauros to join Merry and Pippin.
Distance to Isengard with Merry and Pippin: 316.88
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June Recap
Walk: 11.90 miles (May: 7.19) (even discounting the Downtown Anaheim 5K the mileage increased slightly)
Elliptical: 6.60 miles (May: 1.25)
Bike: 347.29 miles (May: 421.26) (the bike was out of service for 3 days in June)
Weight Training: 2 Upper-Body workouts (May: 1 UBWO)

Goal for July: increase all distances, increase the weight training.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Half of 2008
Walk: 82.02 miles
Elliptical: 46.16 miles
Bikes: 1,533.23 miles (7.29 miles of that on stationary bikes)
Weight Training: 17+ times (I don't have a count for January)

5 Things

2008-07-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Found this one on Melissa's blog:

TB posted this interesting twist on the Five Things meme on his blog in honor of his 1st anniversary of blogging. The rules are to post five things about yourself. The twist is that four of them should be true, but one should be false. I thought it sounded like fun, so I’ve decided to play along. Here is my list of five things about me. I’ll leave it up to you to guess which is the false one. Of course, those of you who know me well will immediately know.

As for me and my five things:
1. My first (and only) new new car was a 1975 Pontiac Trans Am.
2. I was at the 1967 All-Star Game.
3. I was at the only game the Angels won in the 1979 ALCS, the first post-season series in Angels history.
4. I'm an only child.
5. I've lost somewhere around 40 pounds since I started working out last August.

2008, Week Twenty-Six

2008-06-29T20:31:00.001-07:00

Omigosh, are we really halfway through the year? I was tempted to leave this until tomorrow, since tomorrow's the last day of the month, but decided that I'd go ahead and do this now…in case things are so crazy at work that I fall behind in this.
Monday, June 23: home treadmill for 0.51 mile; morning bike ride for 16.01 miles.
Tuesday, June 24: home treadmill for 0.80 mile; morning bike ride for 14.41 miles.
Wednesday, June 25: spent the day with a visiting NCISer doing touristy stuff.
Thursday, June 26: home treadmill for 0.91 mile; morning bike ride for 15.45 miles.
Friday, June 27: home treadmill for 0.95 mile; morning bike ride for 16.50 miles.
Saturday, June 28: A good day: 1.08 miles on the home treadmill, then a 10.40 miles bike ride, then breakfast with the BFFs, then a visit to a store, then off to the Y for an upper-body workout (plus the hip adduction and hip abduction machines, but no other lower-body work), then an hour on the elliptical for 3.50 miles.
Sunday, June 29: home treadmill for 1.01 miles, but puttered around too much to get in a bike ride before the All-Day Open Stitch Class at my Local Needlework Shop.

Mileage for the week: 81.53
Distance from Bag End: 2492.39
Distance to Minas Tirith: 46.61

Looks like I'll be in Minas Tirith by midweek. Then it's back to Rauros to join Merry and Pippin.

Please keep my dear buddy Melissa in your thoughts: she's just having the darnedest time learning to ride her bike! And spare a thought for my home treadmill, which I suspect is trying to die, and which I really can't afford to replace right now.

2008, Weeks 23, 24, and 25

2008-06-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

Finally taking the time to get caught up, since it's too darned hot for much of anything else.
Monday, June 2: home treadmill for 0.83 mile; morning bike ride for 14.34 miles.
Tuesday, June 3: home treadmill for 0.91 mile; morning bike ride for 13.03 miles.
Wednesday, June 4: morning bike ride for 14.35 miles.
Thursday, June 5: morning bike ride for 10.95 miles.
Friday, June 6: morning bike ride for 15.25 miles.
Saturday, June7: home treadmill for 0.5 mile; morning bike ride for 17.78 miles.
Sunday, June 8: walking around the LA River Ride venue for 0.75 mile; LA River Ride for 50.96 miles.
Monday, June 9: rest day.
Tuesday, June 10: went to the gym and used the upper-body machines.
Wednesday, June 11: bike in shop; went to the gym and did a 5K (3.10 miles) on the elliptical.
Thursday, June 12: morning bike ride for 10.19 miles.
Friday, June 13: morning bike ride for 15.55 miles.
Saturday, June 14: Downtown Anaheim 5K, 3.9 miles.
Sunday, June 15: morning bike ride for 18.46 miles.
Monday, June 16: morning bike ride for 10.74 miles.
Tuesday, June 17: morning bike ride for 13.35 miles.
Wednesday, June 18: morning bike ride for 16.086 miles.
Thursday, June 19: morning bike ride for 15.47 miles.
Friday, June 20: morning bike ride for 15.26 miles.
Saturday, June 21: morning bike ride for 10.12 miles.
Sunday, June 22: rest day.

Total miles for the 3 weeks: 271.67
Distance from Bag End: 2410.86
Distance to Minas Tirith: 168.14

Goals for the next week: get back on the home treadmill regularly! Gotta do this, because I've signed up for the City of Cypress 5K on July 26. Get the new guy at work ready to be turned loose so that I can get back to the gym!

Six Month Anniversary

2008-06-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Six months ago I purchased my bicycle. Today while riding through the parking lot to my van at the end of my morning ride, I let go of my handlebars. For about 75-100 feet I rode hands free, for the first time in over 40 years.

Race Update

2008-06-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

I looked through all the results for several minutes, making sure I'd found the highest numbers in both Overall and Female listings. It's kinda hard to believe there were fewer than 800 people in this event, but 788 is the highest number I found. Anyway, 378 out of 388 females, 765 out of 772 Overall, and 6/6 out of Females 55-59. Melissa, who's been at this longer than I have, fared better. She also found, and forwarded to me, a really dreadful picture of me at the River Ride last Sunday. No, I'm not going to share that one; you'll have to hunt it down yourself. My Chip Time was 58:07.0, which is about 4.5 minutes faster than my Stubble Time. Which, I think, isn't too shabby for someone who doesn't really train for these events.

Well, I'm off for a ride before it gets too hot. I also have one more errand to run for a cross stitch project.

Nearly Two Weeks Behind!

2008-06-14T14:10:00.001-07:00

Yikes! But my BFF-N spent last weekend in the hospital with some cardiac issues, so even though I didn't pass up any bike rides, I did decide that spending some time with her was more important than posting an update.

Briefly: last Sunday was the LA River Ride, so I now have completed an official Half-Century (50 miles) bike ride! Thank goodness it wasn't a race, because I'm just not a fast rider. I also had an extended break with 18 miles remaining when I had a couple of guys at one of the Pit Stops make some adjustments to my rear wheel and rear brake after I had a spoke break. Monday became a total rest day, then Tuesday I made it to the gym for some upper-body work before stopping at the bike shop. Wednesday, with the bike still in the shop, I again stopped at the gym for some cardio on the elliptical, which made me realize just how much I miss those after-work stops at the gym!! I sure hope the new new guy at work learns the job faster than the old new guy (the one who was—ahem—"released" from service Thursday). Do you realize that with the URI at the end of April/beginning of May and with training people at work, I went very nearly an entire month without getting anywhere near the Y!!

And today was the Downtown Anaheim 5K with my dear friend Melissa, who came close to her personal best in spite of the health hazards of holding an event on city streets only partly closed off to auto traffic. My own unofficial ("gun") time was a fraction under 59 minutes, a personal best for me and my first finish in under a full hour! I even got in a few seconds of what she calls "wogging," which is not quite jogging, but a bit beyond walking. Not too shabby, considering that I hadn't actually done any training for this event and have been quite the slacker with respect to getting out of bed and onto the treadmill!

LA River Ride

2008-06-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Because of a death in the family at my Local Needlework Shop, the Saturday night event there has been cancelled. So I signed up for the LA River Ride. I'll be doing the Half Century (50 miles), from Griffith Park to Paramount and back.

2008, Week Twenty-Two

2008-06-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've had better weeks exercise wise, but I've had worse ones, too.
Monday, May 26: Home treadmill for 0.90 mile and morning bike ride for 13.78 miles.
Tuesday, May 27: Home treadmill for 0.90 mile and morning bike ride for 13.60 miles.
Wednesday, May 28: Home treadmill for 0.95 mile and morning bike ride for 15.69 miles.
Thursday, May 29: Home treadmill for 1.03 miles and morning bike ride for 13.62 miles.
Friday, May 30: Morning bike ride for 14.85 miles.
Saturday, May 31: Bike ride for 31.14 miles, and then a short stop at the Y for some upper-body exercises and 1.25 miles on a couple of different ellipticals.
Sunday, June 1: rest day.

Total miles for the week: 107.71
Miles from Bag End: 2139.19
Distance remaining to Minas Tirith: 439.81

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

2008-05-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

…or, The May 2008 Recap.

The Good: 421.16 miles on the bike.
The Bad: Down only 3 pounds (and that's for the last two months, since I missed the May 1 weighin because I was sick!). Even so, I recently had a co-worker tell me she can see that there's less of me.
The Ugly: I did finally manage to get to the gym today, but mostly to kill time. But this time-killing visit meant the Ugly wasn't quite as ugly as I'd originally expected it to be, and that was zero trips to the gym! Since I was in Orange County and nearer the Fullerton Y than the Lakewood Y, I went there. This facility recently underwent (in fact, is still undergoing, since they're still working on the new gymnasium) a massive renovation, and it's just gorgeous! Looks like all new equipment, and I'm unfamiliar with the workings of the strength-training machines (these aren't built by Cybex—or at least, don't have the Cybex name showing anywhere on them), so my upper-body work wasn't my usual. And after a 31-mile bike ride, using the lower body equipment just seemed kinda redundant. I also spent a few minutes on two different kinds of ellipticals, and wouldn't mind the chance to become more familiar with both of them (and I'm allowed to use this Y up to three times per month). Didn't get a close look at the treadmills, but they look quite fancy, too.

Totals for the month:
Walking (outdoors and treadmill): 7.19 (April: 16.68)
Elliptical: 1.25 (April: 3.08)
Bike: 421.26 (no stationary bike time) (April: 215.36)
Strength Training: 1 day of upper body (April: 4 days of upper and lower body)

The biking distance rocks! But it's the schedule change at work which allows me more riding time in the morning. All the others suck out loud. But it's the schedule change at work which is keeping me from the Y. I sure will be glad when I can turn the new guy loose and get back to my old schedule, even though that will mean cutting back on the bike time. And there's just plain no excuse for the poor showing on the treadmill in May (except for the first week, when I was sick). I gotta get cracking on the treadmill, since the Downtown Anaheim 5K is less than two weeks away!

2008, Week Twenty-One

2008-05-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Of course, the work upheaval is still keeping me from the Y, but I did get in some treadmill time this week, as well as the bike rides.
Monday, May 19: 0.5 mile on the treadmill and 16.72 on the bike.
Tuesday, May 20: 0.65 on the treadmill and 16.26 on the bike.
Wednesday, May 21: 0.96 on the treadmill and 15.03 on the bike.
Thursday, May 22: 0.8 mile on the treadmill and 15.79 on the bike.
Friday, May 23: I decided to snooze a bit longer today because of so many work-related phone calls during the night, and the weather was just too ugly for riding, so this became a rest day (and allowed me to buy a new mouse for my desktop 'puter, since the old one died Wednesday morning without warning).
Saturday, May 24: the annual Strawberry Festival Parade in my childhood hometown of Garden Grove with the BFFs this morning, then lunch at our favorite Mexican place, then the new Indiana Jones movie (which rocked; damn, but that man's still good lookin'!!), and then some errands. But I did manage to squeeze in a chilly 10.27 miles up the Coyote Creek Bike Trail from Cerritos Regional Park (technically, only 5 miles up the trail, then return).
Sunday, May 25: personal best on the Santa Ana River Trail today, from the Lincoln and Batavia access in Orange all the way down to PCH in Huntington Beach…34.01 chilly, windy miles.

Total walking distance: 3.41
Total biking distance: 108.08
Distance from Bag End: 2047.08
Distance to Minas Tirith (with Aragorn): 531.92

Goals for the coming week: increase treadmill time, keep riding, try to get to the gym

2008, Week 20

2008-05-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I never did make it onto the treadmill this week. What a deadbeat! And, of course, no gym time, what with training the new guy at work. But lots of bike time!
Monday, May 12: 14.14
Tuesday, May 13: 15.13
Wednesday, May 14: 14.01
Thursday, May 15: 16.44
Friday, May 16: 16.20
Saturday, May 17: turned into a rest day, what with the safety meeting at work, breakfast with the BFFs, and then the newest Narnia movie. And it's been unseasonably warm, or I might have taken a ride after the movie. And since I went 13 days between rest days, it's probably a good thing I chose to rest.
Sunday, May 18: 16.39. And would have ridden more, but it was All-Day Open Stitch Class at the LNS. We missed you, Melissa!!!!!!!

Total mileage for the week: 92.31
Distance from Bag End: 1935.59
Distance to Minas Tirith: 643.41

The goal for this week is to get in some treadmill time in addition to the bike time. Thankfully, it's supposed to cool down this week.

2008, Week Nineteen Recap

2008-05-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Bicycle only this week. No treadmill time, no gym time.
Monday, May 5: 10.57
Tuesday, May 6: 12.96
Wednesday, May 7: 15.39
Thursday, May 8: 15.07
Friday, May 9: 13.08
Saturday, May 10: 12.35
Sunday, May 11: 15.98
The good thing is that I'm leaving the house at pretty much the usual time, give or take a few minutes, but since I don't have to be at work until 11 (instead of 10) I'm taking advantage of the longer riding time available. The bad thing is that I know that the bike isn't enough, that I need to spend time on the elliptical, the treadmill, the sidewalks, and the strength-training circuit.

Total miles for the week: 95.40
Distance from Bag End: 1843.28
Distance to Minas Tirith: 735.72

I really need to get back on the treadmill, since the Downtown Anaheim 5K is only a month away!!

I found out...

2008-05-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

…about a bike ride today that's about a month from now. I'd love to do the 50-miler. But right before I clicked on the active.com link to register, I checked my Yahoo calendar. Good thing, because the LA Bike Coalition's LA River Ride this year is the morning after the next all-night Stitch-Inn at the LNS. I don't think the two events would be a very good mix. Bummer.

Isengard!!

2008-05-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

About halfway through my morning bike ride yesterday I made it to Isengard with Aragorn. That's 1793 miles from Bag End. On to Minas Tirith now!!

2008, Week Eighteen and April Recap

2008-05-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

A bit better this week, though I've been taking it easy. Upheaval at work continues, so stops at the Y will continue few and far between this month.
Monday, April 28: Nothing today.
Tuesday, April 29: A short ride before work for 2.42 miles.
Wednesday, April 30: A slightly longer ride before work, 3.9 miles.
Thursday, May 1: And a little longer ride today before work, 4.5 miles.
Friday, May 2: And longer again, 6.29 miles.
Saturday, May 3: Ended up not riding anywhere today.
Sunday, May 4: My longest ride in two weeks, 12.96 miles.

Total mileage for the week: 30.07
Distance from Bag End: 1748.84
Distance to Isengard: 44.16

April Recap:
Walk: 16.68 (March: 18.41 miles)
Elliptical: 3.08 (March: 2.63 miles)
Bike: 215.36 (total miles on stationary bikes: 0) (March: 257.20; February miles on stationary bikes 0)
Total: 235.12 (March: 278.24)
Cybex Circuit: 4 (March: 6)
Well, at least the elliptical mileage improved a little, even though everything else fell short. But then, upper respiratory infections tend to make it hard to work out, so I suppose I should cut myself a little slack.

May Goals will be to increase everything as my work schedule allows. At least I'm feeling well enough to ride and to resume walking, even if work doesn't let me visit the Y very often this month.

2008, Week Seventeen

2008-04-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, as I said earlier this week: I hate being sick. One ride, Monday, for 11.48 miles, and absolutely nothing else all week long. At least I'm feeling better now, and will start easing back in tomorrow. We'll be going through some upheaval at work over the next several weeks—the guy working the morning shift will be leaving soon, so the guy working the late shift (my old shift) will be working the morning shift with him, getting additional training/experience on those duties, while PC and I train the new guy who is starting Monday at noon. My after-work stops at the Y are probably going to take the biggest hit for a time. That means reduced opportunities for strength training and time on the ellipticals.

Mileage: 11.48
Distance from Bag End: 1718.77
Distance to Isengard: 74.23

I Hate Being Sick

2008-04-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Been fighting off a cold since Sunday afternoon. Didn't feel up to the morning treadmill on Monday, but did get in a nice bike ride on the way to work. By Monday night, I knew there was no way I'd make it through either strength training or cardio, so it was just as well I'd forgotten to put clean workout clothes in the van. Stopped on the way home to buy some generic NyQuil and knocked myself out. Still felt crappy Tuesday morning, so I not only skipped the walk, but the bike ride, too!! I decided this would be a good time to take the bike in for service, and that worked out well, since Steve found a broken spoke! I'll pick the bike up tomorrow on the way to work. But for now, I'm gonna go knock back a couple more fingers of generic NyQuil.

2008, Week Sixteen

2008-04-20T17:28:00.001-07:00

A big sluggish this week, I think.
Monday April 14: No home treadmill time at all; then I had to make a stop before work and that cut into my bike riding time, so only 3.51 miles; and then I failed to go to the Y on the way home.
Tuesday April 15: Again no home treadmill time at all; but a good bike ride, for 11.22 miles; but again no stop at the Y after work.
Wednesday April 16: Skipped the home treadmill again! And a shortened bike ride because I decided to go ahead and put the final stitches into a project before leaving for work, so only 8.3 miles on the bike; but I did at least partially make up for it all by actually making it to the Y and doing a full set of strength training on the Cybex machines!
Thursday April 17: Again skipped the home treadmill--what is it with that snooze alarm this week? Bike ride for 11.45 miles; and another stop at the Y on the way home, this time to spend 45 minutes on the elliptical, for 3.08 miles.
Friday April 18: Yet another day off the home treadmill; but the morning bike ride was for 11.44 miles; and no stop at the Y because it's Friday and I can't get away from the office early enough to get there.
Saturday April 19: The usual Saturday morning breakfast with my BFFs led to me going to their house to watch the Caps game, so this day became a rest day.
Sunday April 20: Again too lazy to get on the treadmill, but I did take a nice bike ride today down the Santa Ana River Trail, though I didn't get all the way to the beach. 22.97 miles.

Total mileage for the week: 71.97.
Distance from Bag End: 1707.29
Distance to Isengard: 85.71.

2008, Week Fifteen

2008-04-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

A flop when it comes to the morning treadmill time, as well as elliptical time. But I did get in two weight training days and a couple of good walks on concrete after work. And while I probably should have spent time on the treadmill, I also felt it was important to try to get plenty of rest this week, too. I tried to make up, at least a little, for that with the longer walks outdoors on concrete and asphalt. The bike has also been more comfortable with the changes that were made—this latest saddle plus the raised handlebars and the smaller grips (even though my hands aren’t really all that small).
Monday, April 7: The only day this week with morning treadmill time, for 1.05 miles; then the morning bike ride, for 10.66 miles; and the Cybex circuit at the Y on the way home.
Tuesday, April 8: Morning bike ride for 10.87 miles, then a 1.81miles walk around the lake at Cerritos Regional Park on the way home from work.
Wednesday, April 9: Morning bike ride for 11.19 miles, then the Cybex circuit at the Y.
Thursday, April 10: Morning bike ride for 11.01 miles, then a 2.38 mile walk around Cerritos Regional Park after work.
Friday, April 11: Bike ride only, on the way to work, for 11.41 miles.
Saturday, April 12: This was my rest day. Not even a bike ride today!
Sunday, April 13: The Coaster Run 5K! This event wasn’t chip timed, but I did Shave My 5K, by around 5 minutes. My gun time at Surf City was 1:09:something IIRC and my time for this event was 1:04:37.

Total mileage this week: 63.88
Miles from Bag End: 1635.32
Miles to Isengard: 157.68

These last couple of weeks I’ve been gearing my exercise toward preparation for the 5K, but this week I’ll probably go back to the mixed efforts of the recent past: home treadmill, bike rides, and the after-work gym time alternating between strength training on the Cybex machines and time on the elliptical. And try to get in at least one good long (45-60 minutes) walk outdoors each week, too.

I'm Think...

2008-04-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

…I'm ready. Picked up my packet and goodie bag (one of those nice reuseable bags like they sell at grocery stores, instead of the wasteful plastic things we got at Surf City*) at the mall today. Got the bib pinned to the shirt. Pants are hemmed up, so I won't be tripping over too-long pants. Alarm is set for plenty of time to get up, get dressed, and have a bit of breakfast (a granola bar and a glass of milk, and maybe a banana if I remember to buy one while I'm out later today). Still need to put a fresher (as in "nearer to fully charged") battery in the MP3 player. The tee-shirt is a regular cotton tee, not a tech shirt, but a nice one nonetheless. The only "exercise" I've had today is walking from the van into the mall for the packet pickup and back to the van and an errand to the local Orange Despot store. No exercise/workout/training type walking since Thursday night after work. Not even a bike ride today!

*which I'll admit came in handy for bagging up wet clothes!

2008, Week Fourteen

2008-04-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

In some respects, it was a pretty good week; in others, it was really crappy.

Monday, March 31: No morning walk, no time on the elliptical, no Cybex circuit. But I did take a bike ride, for 8.39 miles.
Tuesday, April 1: At least I took a walk today, for a piddling 0.84 mile; morning bike ride for 9.18 miles; and a post-work stop at the Y, but I only got about halfway through the machines.
Wednesday, April 2: Home treadmill for 1.10 miles; morning bike ride for 9.46 miles; and finished up the Cybex circuit on the after-work stop at the Y.
Thursday, April 3: I didn't do a morning walk at home, but I did stop on the way home from work to get some outside-on-pavement walking, for 1.24 miles. I also did the morning bike ride as well as a short ride after work, before heading off to another park to do the aforementioned outside-on-pavement walking, for a total of 14.01 miles riding.
Friday, April 4: No morning walk, but the morning bike ride was 10.34 miles. And since it was Friday, there was no stop at the Y. And even though I got off work early enough for another outside walk at the park, there was a nasty cold wind blowing, so I went home, shut off my alarm, and slept late Saturday morning.
Saturday, April 5: Home treadmill for 2.25 miles and an afternoon bike ride in a cold wind on the Santa Ana River Trail for 10.54 miles.
Sunday, April 6: Home treadmill for 2.51 miles and a late morning/early afternoon bike ride on the Santa Ana River Trail for exactly 20 miles. This time I started at the Lincoln Av entry to the SART and thoroughly enjoyed the tailwind coming back. I also stopped at one of the LBSs and purchased new grips, had the handlebar raised, and a couple of other small adjustments. Could hardly wait to get out there Monday morning to try the changes!

Total distance travelled for the week: 89.82
And since I'm composing this at work, I don't have all my other data with me.

This Sunday: The Coaster Run!!

March Recap, April Goals

2008-04-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

March recap:
Walk: 18.41 miles (February: 11.92)
Elliptical: 2.63 miles (February 11.64)
Bike: 257.20 (total miles on stationary bikes: 0) (February 186.17; February miles on stationary bikes 0)
Total: 278.24
Cybex Circuit: 6

How I did: Nice improvement in the walking and the biking, but a very poor showing indeed on the elliptical! In fact, the elliptical could be considered a complete flop! Improved performance on the Cybex circuit, too, but need more improvement in the form of making certain I get to the Y at least twice each week.

April Goals: Increase all three distances. At least twice weekly on the Cybex circuit. Increase sets on Cybex circuit.

And in the really good news dept: the monthly weigh-in showed a loss of 5.75 lbs for the month of March, which puts me below 260 for the first time in I haven't a clue how long.

2008, Week Thirteen Review

2008-03-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

And I'm wondering if I should just wait until tomorrow and do the week and the month. But then it'd probably take all week to get the post done, so I'll do the weekly, then try to get the monthly done early this week.
Monday March 24: A good start to the week. Home treadmill for 1.21 miles; morning bike ride for 8.41 miles; then the full Cybex circuit at the Y on the way home from work.
Tuesday March 25: Home treadmill for 1.21 miles; morning bike ride for a paltry (for me) 6.72 miles. Don't recall now why I didn't stop by the gym on the way home.
Wednesday March 26: A bit of morning laziness today, with only 0.86 mile on the home treadmill; morning bike ride of 8.72 miles; and instead of the gym I stopped at one of the parks where I start my morning ride and did a bit of walking around the track. But I included the mileage in Thursday morning's mileage.
Thursday March 27: Including last night's park walk, the walk mileage is 1.7 miles (each walk was about half that distance); morning bike ride for 9.45 miles. I'd planned to stop at the park again, trying to get some more non-treadmill walking done before the Coaster Run on 13 April, but as the day went on I got progressively achy-er—a generalized muscular achiness—and while I thought my face felt kinda feverish, I was cold and couldn't seem to get warm. So I came home, took a couple Advil, reset the alarm for an hour later, and went to bed early.
Friday March 28: Felt better for the extra sleep, but not enough better for the morning bike ride. And since this is late-at-work night, no chance to stop at the gym, even if the generalized achiness hadn't lingered.
Saturday March 29: Feeling much, much better, but never did make time for a ride. Stopped at the LNS during my errands (started with oil change and tire rotation and concluded eventually with a Trader Joe's visit) and ended up staying about 3 hours, just socializing. Met SCSarah from the XS boards and Melissa and my friend Nancy also wandered in, as well as a stitcher I know from the old AOL boards.
Sunday March 30: Went for distance this morning on the home treadmill and did a whole 5K. Good thing this was just a training walk and not for the Shave, because this 5K was fully bearded!! 3.11 miles including warm up and cool down times, and a more or less leisurely 82 minutes. A few more errands today, including a stop at the place I'd like to call Snub-Clydes Central, but for once I was actually greeted before I was 10 feet into the store! Got my sit bones measured (and doesn't it just figure that I'm between sizes!) and left the store with yet another new saddle, this one narrower overall and with a longer nose (and comparably shorter sit part). I did eventually get over to SART for a ride and stupidly chose to ride north instead of south. Should have ridden into the wind on the outbound portion and with a tailwind home instead of the other way 'round. There's rain predicted for later this week and the wind was cold, like it was trying to move an Arctic Express in for the week, and coming straight up the riverbed with no respect at all for compass direction, so with the later than normal start for the ride, I didn't ride as far as I usually would on a Sunday. But I also discovered a couple of different SART access points with parking very close by which would not only be closer to home but would also give me more distance for my weekend rides. One is on Lincoln and is a dirt area just outside the access to the SART, right next to R J Noble's Orange quarry at the end of Glassell. The other is a little farther up the river, on Riverdale at the end of Orange-Olive Rd in Orange. Since I'd like to increase my weekend mileage without having to ride through all the loony pedestrians, weekend cycle-renters, skaters, skateboarders, surfers, and other assorted beach hanger-outers between the end of SART and the pier, these two entry points are looking pretty good. They have the added advantage of not being with walking distance of the stadium, so I wouldn't have to worry about my van being impounded because someone thought I was trying to beat out paying for parking for a ball game. A paltry-for-me 16.15 miles.
Mileage for the week: 57.54
Distance from Bag End: 1481.58 miles.
Distance from Rauros: 172.58 miles.
Distance to Isengard: 311.42 miles.

2008, Weeks Eleven and Twelve

2008-03-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Exhausting week! I don’t know why, but I’ve been in sleep debt all week long. Just haven’t been able to get caught up. So everything has suffered—walking, riding, using the elliptical, doing the Cybex machine circuit. Last week I walked nearly every day and averaged more than 10 miles per day on the bike, but since Sunday I’ve just been pooped. Some stressful work days haven’t helped any, either. And all of those add up to why I never managed to get last week’s recap posted.

The Weekly Review (for the last two weeks):
Monday February 10: Didn’t do anything!
Tuesday February 11: Home treadmill for 1.04 miles; morning bike ride for 11.42 miles; and a full Cybex circuit at the Y on the way home from work.
Wednesday February 12: Whacked the snooze alarm a few too many times and left myself with just enough time for a walk of a puny 0.52 mile; morning bike ride for 10.91 miles; and a nicely productive time on the elliptical at the Y on the way home, for 2.63 miles.
Thursday February 13: Home treadmill for 1.27 miles; morning bike ride for 10.49; and the whole Cybex routine after work.
Friday February 14: Home treadmill for 1.30 miles, and the morning bike ride for 9.93 miles.
Saturday February 15: The 23rd annual Tour de Sewer in Bell Gardens. As I’ve posted before, I opted for the 30-mile version, which turned out to be only 28 miles. Still and all, that’s a fair piece o’ ridin’.
Sunday February 16: This was supposed to have been a rest day, but a couple of friends from NCIS fandom were out here for their studio tour and they called late Sunday morning, so the three of us spent the day doing things like visiting the UCLA bookstore (Mark Harmon is an alumnus, and Marion’s an even bigger MH fan than I am) and cruising Griffith Park while trying to find parking for the Observatory. So I’m giving myself 0.75 mile for the hiking we did on that mountain.

Monday February 17: So I tried to stretch the “day of rest” into today. No treadmill time, no bike ride, no elliptical. But I did get through most of the Cybex circuit at the Y. Lost out on a couple of the lower body machines because there was a medical emergency blocking access to those machines. And since it was getting close to closing time, I decided to save those until later.
Tuesday February 18: Finally hit the treadmill today, but only 1.04 miles, and got in a short bike ride, 6.53 miles.
Wednesday February 19: Took a vacation day to spend the day with Marion and Jo and ended up with a visit to the NCIS Production Offices at Sunset Gower in Hollywood. No morning home treadmill time, no bike ride, no Y visit. But a very late night and a long drive from Van Nuys to Anaheim. And a very good time was had by all.
Thursday February 20: Set the alarm clock for an hour later than normal and slept in after yesterday’s fun. Did take a short bike ride, only 6.53 miles.
Friday February 21: Once again set the alarm for an hour later than normal and skipped the morning walk. And a slightly longer bike ride: 8.40 miles. And once again there was a crew setting up to film something near one of the lakes at El Dorado Regional Park.
Saturday February 22: Had to work today, and ended up not even getting a morning bike ride after once again deliberately sleeping as last as possible.
Sunday February 23: Breakfast date with the BunnyRunner, and we really need to do that more often. And include Nancy from the LNS. I did start the morning with a stroll for a full hour on the home treadmill, for 2.10 miles, before heading over to the local IHOP for breakfast. Then after breakfast it was off to the Rampart St access to the Santa Ana River Trail and south to Huntington Beach on one of those days that are the reason we live here and put up with all the smog and the loonies. Rode all the way to PCH and met up with some BikeForum folks, then rode on up to the HB Pier, where I turned around and started back to SART and my parking space just south of Angel Stadium. Personal best distance of 32.55 miles. Which is also just a bit farther than a metric half century.

Mileage for the whole two weeks:
Distance from Bag End: 1424.04 miles.
Distance from Rauros: 115.04 miles.
Distance to Isengard: 368.96 miles.

Tiny Disappointment

2008-03-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

The "30-mile" Tour de Sewer was really only 28 miles. But I had a good time, didn't stress over not being fast. There were only a couple places where I didn't downshift soon enough and ended up walking the bike a short distance (60 feet or so one time and 20 feet or so the second time). I also managed to do the whole Montebello Blvd hill climb on two wheels, though I did stop three times to get my heart rate and respirations down below cardiac-and-respiratory-arrest levels, but even then the stops weren't even a minute in duration each time. Lots of encouraging words, too, from other riders as they were passing me. I also passed a walker who was wearing a Surf City Marathon shirt, so of course I had to call out to her that I'd been there too! And then during the post-ride lunch I sat with another woman who'd been there (she wasn't wearing the shirt; it came out in conversation). The route covered a lot of territory I wouldn't ordinarily ride in (Bell Gardens is not Beverly Hills!), so there were a lot a things to see as I rode, not the least of which was the natural area near the Whittier Narrows Dam. Lots of squirrels and birds, including some buzzards, as well as the usual herons, assorted ducks, geese and other waterfowl, seagulls (the large winged rats) and pigeons (the small winged rats). The weather also held quite nicely, though I couldn't seem to find a happy medium between wearing and not-wearing the windbreaker. And silly me, I never once stopped to take a picture of Radagast the Beige-and-Black (aka Duckbike) on the trail. Maybe I thought that if I stopped I'd never start again! All in all, I had a good time and I'll likely do it again next year. ETA: It took me about 3 hours and 20 minutes to complete the course, including a potty stop around the 7-mile point and then a snack stop at Wilderness Park along the San Gabriel River Trail in the vicinity of the 20-mile point.

2008, Week Ten Review

2008-03-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

A pretty good week, although I spent less time at the gym than I would have preferred. And I feel pretty comfortable about the prospect of doing 30 miles on the bike next Saturday on the Tour de Sewer.
Monday, March 3: Home treadmill for 0.94 mile; then the morning bike ride for 8.35 miles, and a stop at the Y on the way home for the full Cybex circuit with increased sets and/or weights.
Tuesday, March 4: Home treadmill for 0.95 mile, and nothing else! I put off the bike ride so that I could check on my new (to me, anyway) laptop, which turned out not to be ready, and then crisis control kept me at work until too late to stop.
Wednesday, March 5: Home treadmill for 1.0 mile, morning bike ride for 10.5 miles, and another stop at the Y for the tougher Cybex circuit.
Thursday, March 6: Home treadmill for 1.2 miles, morning bike ride for 10.1 miles, and then staying late at work because the night guy called in sick.
Friday, March 7: Home treadmill for 1.1 miles, morning bike ride for 11.29 miles, and because it's my late night at work, no stop at the Y on the way home.
Saturday, March 8: Decided to skip the home treadmill because I was going for a long bike ride, which was on the Santa Ana River Trail (SART) and lasted for 23.6 miles.
Sunday, March 9: Blew off the treadmill again—and the gym!—for another SART ride, to the beach this time where I wasted a good hour BSing with some other bikeforum.net riders. If it hadn't been for the wind—the Santa Anas, which take their name from the fact that they come in off the desert through El Cañon del Rio de Santa Ana, were blowing pretty hard, which made the ride toward the beach pretty easy for nearly the entire length (Santa Ana winds tailwind became onshore headwind about Mile 5 [Mile 1 is Pacific Coast Hwy]), but made it pretty grueling on the ride back to where I park near Angel Stadium. 28.07 miles.

All in all, this week definitely has me on track to increase my mileages on everything except the elliptical.

Total Miles for the Week: 97.10
Miles from Bag End: 1287.11
Miles from Rauros: 21.89

2008, Week Nine Review, February Recap

2008-03-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

All in all, a far better showing this last week than in too long a time!
Monday, February 25: Home treadmill for 0.70 mile, morning bike ride for 7.61 miles, and the full Cybex circuit at the Y.
Tuesday, February 26: Home treadmill for 0.82 mile, morning bike ride for 9.25 miles, and the elliptical at the Y for 3.02 miles.
Wednesday, February 27: Home treadmill for 1.06 miles, morning bike ride for 11.23 miles, and the full Cybex circuit at the Y.
Thursday, February 28: Home treadmill for 0.90 mile, morning bike ride for 8.35 miles, and the elliptical at the Y for 3.21 miles.
Friday, February 29: Took the day off from the treadmill, but the morning bike ride was 8.12 miles. No Y because Fridays are always late nights at work.
Saturday, March 1: My first attempt to join a BikeForums.net group ride that failed in that I didn't get started early enough to meet the group at the At Rivers End Cafe in Seal Beach, but I did see them as I was heading south toward the cafe and they were on their return journey (some to the Rose Bowl, others to Encanto Park). But though I failed to meet the group, I did put 20.42 more miles on the bike.
Sunday, March 2: Lazy day today, since it was All-Day Open Stitch Class at the LNS, and I didn't plan on doing much. But since I arrived early, I pulled the bike out of the van and put in a couple more miles before class. I'll have to get that mileage later, since I didn't record it in my ride log and can't remember the exact distance right now. 2.52 miles.

Total mileage for the week: 75.20 (plus today's bike mileage). 77.72
Distance from Bag End: 1187.19 (plus, of course, today's bike mileage). 1189.71
Distance remaining to Rauros: 141.93 (less today's bike mileage). 139.41

February recap:
Walk: 11.92 miles
Elliptical: 11.64 miles
Bike: 186.17 (total miles on stationary bikes: 0)
Total: 209.73

March Goals: Increase all three distances. At least twice weekly on the Cybex circuit. Increase sets on Cybex circuit.

Events this month: The Tour de Sewer on the Ides of March. 30-mile bike ride.

After the bike ride on Saturday I took the bike over to Jax in Long Beach (the nearest cycle shop to where I was) and had another adjustment made to my saddle position, but of course the ride this morning wasn't enough to give the new setting a good test. Tomorrow's pre-work ride should give a fair test.

I've also joined the Shave Your 5K Challenge, so I'll be working to increase my walking speed before the Coaster Run next month.

2008, Week Eight Review

2008-02-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

My, how time flies!
Monday, February 18: A morning bike ride for 6.32 miles, then an after-work stop at the Y to do the Cybex circuit.
Tuesday, February 19: The best day of the entire week. 0.83 mile on the home treadmill, morning bike ride for 5.14 miles, and then the evening stop at the Y for the elliptical for 2.43 miles.
Wednesday, February 20: Total slacker, in every respect. The morning rain kept me off the bike, but there's no excuse for blowing off everything else. Even though I forgot to put clean gym clothes in my van when I left for work.
Thursday, February 21: 7.22 miles on Radagast the Beige-and-Black. No gym time again!
Friday, February 22: More rain kept me off Radagast, but there just isn't any excuse for not stopping at the Y on the way to work. And since it's Friday, there's no stopping on the way home.
Saturday, February 23: Safety meeting at work, then traipse around the Queen Mary Dome (former home of the Spruce Goose) for several hours enjoying Star Trek: The Tour before it closes and moves away next weekend.
Sunday, February 24: I was headed for the gym when the rain stopped and the clouds broke. Still windy and cold, but I put 10.44 miles on the bike. I was going to ride from Liberty Park down the SGRT to El Dorado Regional Park, but the gate was locked, blocking the way into the Del Amo underpass, so I just cycled around Liberty Park.

I also bought a new saddle this week. Definitely a major improvement for the tail bone, but still a bit tough on the ischial tuberosities (the "sit bones"). And it's only three weeks to the Tour de Sewer!

2008, Week Seven Review

2008-02-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

Aack!! Another crappy one!
Monday, February 11: A lazy day, "justified" with the excuse that I'd spent so much time riding over the previous two days.
Tuesday, February 12: The home treadmill for 0.72 mile; the morning bike ride for 6.63 miles; and the whole Cybex circuit at the Y after work, including adding one more machine.
Wednesday, February 13: The home treadmill for 0.91 mile; the morning bike ride for 7.19 miles; delayed at work until it was too late to stop at the Y.
Thursday, February 14: No treadmill time, but a late start at work that allowed me a 10.34 mile bike ride. Had to close the office, so again no chance to stop at the Y after work.
Friday, February 15: Let myself sleep late after the late stay at the office the night before, so just the morning bike ride for 6.68 miles. And, of course, it's Friday, so no chance at all of hitting the Y on the way home.
Saturday, February 16: Ran errands all day and never even got a bike ride!
Sunday, February 17: Had to work today, didn't get on the treadmill, and didn't go to the Y because I had to be at the office before the Y opens on Sundays. Did get a nice bike ride in, though, on the San Gabriel River Trail from Liberty Park in Cerritos down to Alamitos Bay (Long Beach) and back again, for 20.32 miles.

My bike shorts and shirt arrived on Thursday, so I wore them today on my ride. My sitbones still hurt! I need to find out if the local Trek dealer has one of those sitbone measuring devices; maybe I need a different saddle. It's the tip of the tailbone, I think. I also ordered a jacket.

Happy birthday, Melissa!!!

Registered!

2008-02-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Got one of my tax returns, so I've been busy this morning registering for a couple of events. I'm now officially obligated to the Tour de Sewer bike ride and the Coaster Run 5K to benefit the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park. Links are in the Upcoming Events section over there on the left. But a warning to those of you who want to participate in the Coaster Run: the website link takes you to last year's event, so go to Active.com and search on Coaster Run for this year's registration.

Now off to buy some biking wear. ETA: A plain blue cycling jersey and a pair of plain ol' padded shorts.

2008, Week Six Review

2008-02-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

Not a great week, but not as bad as it might have been.
Monday, February 4: A bit sluggish today, recovering from the soggy 5K, so only some Cybex machines on the way home from work.
Tuesday, February 5: A bit less sluggish today, but still not terribly active. A full round of all the Cybex machines on the way home from work.
Wednesday, February 6: Finally starting to move around some! Home treadmill for a pretty paltry 0.6 mile; a morning bike ride for 3.3 miles, and the elliptical at the Y for 2.98 miles.
Thursday, February 7: a bit longer jaunt on the home treadmill for 0.83 mile, then a bike ride for 7.02, and a full set of Cybex machines on the way home.
Friday, February 8: I fully intended to go for some bike rides over the weekend, so I made this a rest day.
Saturday, February 9: Drove up to Yorba Regional Park, hopped on the SART (Santa Ana River Trail), and rode all the way down to Chapman Av in Orange, for 22.03 miles. That pushed me to just over 1,000 miles from Bag End. I updated my shields over at the Eowyn Challenge site.
Sunday, February 10: Yesterday on the way back to YRP from the Chapman Av turnaround point, I stopped at a rest area on the SART that's alongside the Ponda (the Honda-sponsored facility that used to be known as the Arrowhead Pond, home of the Anaheim Ducks hockey team), I met a poster (and his cycling wife) from BikeForums.net, who told me about a couple of other entry points to the SART with good parking, so today I parked over by the local fire-training facility (south of Anaheim Stadium, just off of Orangewood) and rode all the way down to Pacific Coast Hwy in Huntington Beach. That ride was 25.59 miles. My girlybits are okay, but my sitbones, which still haven't recovered from yesterday's ride, hurt like hell!! If next weekend is as gorgeous as this weekend was, I'm going to wear my bike shorts! May wear 'em anyway, and wear my track pants over 'em.

Total mileage for the week: 62.35
Total distance from Bag End: 1,026.88 Still drifting down the Anduin River on the way to Rauros.

2008, Week Five Review

2008-02-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

Finally!
Monday, January 28: Treadmill at home, 0.93 mile; elliptical at the Y, 1.47 miles; plus some Cybex machines.
Tuesday, January 29: morning bike ride, 5.49 miles; treadmill at the Y, 2.96 miles.
Wednesday, January 30: morning bike ride, 6.22 miles; treadmill at the Y, 2.65 miles.
Thursday, January 31: morning bike ride, 6.23 miles; elliptical at the Y, 2.73 miles.
Friday, February 1: day of rest.
Saturday, February 2: afternoon bike ride at the beach, 2.89 miles.
Sunday, February 3: My first-ever 5K, plus a hike from the shuttle stop to the starting line and a hike from the finish line to the shuttle stop, 4.3 miles.

Total mileage for the week: 37.87.
Current mileage from Bag End: 971.41

I can't thank Melissa enough for her support before, during, and after the 5K! Particularly in the midst of her grief. And all the rest who've offered congratulations and kind words!!

2205/2265

2008-02-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

Which means, of course, I wasn’t quite dead last! We started the race cold and wet and finished it colder and wetter. But we finished the first annual Surf City Marathon/Half-Marathon/5K. I came in 1357 of 1398 women in the 5K, 2205 out of 2265 overall in the 5K, and 66th in Females 55-59 (don’t know how many there were in that age group). Not such a bad showing for a waddling first-timer. 1:02:40, which is faster than I felt I was going.

All things considered, the first half wasn’t so bad—northbound on PCH from Main St (very near the former location of the renowned Golden Bear) to just past Golden West—with the rain and wind coming in toward the left butt cheek. Of course, when we made the turn to head back past the oilfields into town, we were bucking a headwind with the salty rain pouring into our right eyes. Melissa’s iPod tracking chip thingy decided it didn’t like the cold and wet, so we don’t know how far we walked from the shuttle stop to the staging area and then from the finish line (south of the pier) back to the shuttle stop. Somewhere between half and three-quarters of a mile for the shuttle-stop-to-staging-area jaunt, then around half a mile from the finish line to the shuttle stop.

I’m exhausted, my legs and feet hurt, my body didn’t like the hotel bed. But I had a blast!! Our stitching friend Nancy is planning to join us at the event at Knott’s. And all healing thoughts directed to Terri so she can continue training!!

Too bad the Y closes so early on Sundays. I wouldn’t have minded spending a little time parboiling myself in the jacuzzi. And maybe tomorrow I'll have the energy to post the weekly report.

2008, Week Four Review

2008-01-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

Coulda been a better week.
Monday, January 21: Started the day with a 6.29 mile bike ride (which turned out to be the last until Sunday!), and finished with 1.38 on the elliptical at the Y.
Tuesday, January 22: a short walk on the treadmill at home, for a puny little 0.63 mile; and since it was my birthday, I decided I could take the night off.
Wednesday, January 23: A walk on the home treadmill for 1.10 miles, and the Cybex machines at the gym.
Thursday, January 24: my morning treadmill time got interrupted, so only a pathetic 0.08 mile; on the elliptical at the gym, I managed 1.38 miles.
Friday, January 25: just the morning walk today because I had to be at work early, and stayed late as is usual on Fridays, so only 0.71 mile.
Saturday, January 26: if I'd known the rain was going to hold off until late afternoon, I'd have gone for a ride. But since Saturday is usually my day off from workouts, all I can come up with is the 0.10 mile walk a friend and I took from where I parked at the Olive Garden where we went to celebrate my (last Tuesday) birthday to a credit union ATM and then back to the restaurant.
Sunday, January 27: Since this is the last long-walk day before next Sunday's Surf City 5K (with Melissa), I hit the home treadmill first thing for 2.41 miles. Then I left a bit early for the Sunday gym visit and managed to squeeze in 3.04 miles on the bike before the rain got too bad. And at the gym I tortured myself on the elliptical for my first really long workout on an elliptical in a long time, for 2.88 miles. And the Cybex machines after that.

The Friday morning treadmill time got me to Lothlorien, and now I'm on my way to Rauros.
Total mileage for the week: 20.0

This week I really need to focus on walking, in preparation for the 5K.

Welcome to Lothlorien

2008-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Lothlorien this morning on the treadmill. I won't be staying, as the Fellowship did, until February 17, but will head for Rauros tomorrow morning.

2008, Week Three Review

2008-01-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

A mediocre week, I think. At least in terms of getting to the gym.
Monday, January 14: Home treadmill before work, 0.55 mile; bike ride before work, 5.62 miles. Upper body Cybex routine at the gym.
Tuesday, January 15: Home treadmill before work, 0.83 mile; bike ride before work, 5.45 miles; elliptical at the gym, 1.53 miles. Lower body Cybex routine at the gym.
Wednesday, January 16: elliptical at the Y, .99 mile. Upper body Cybex routine at the gym.
Thursday, January 17: Home treadmill before work, 1.0 mile. Skipped gym because I was late getting away from work.
Friday, January 18: Took a vacation day from work to attend a quilt show in Ontario. 0.5 mile general walking around.
Saturday, January 19: Normally my rest day, but this is the day Melissa, Nancy (from our LNS' classes), and I had our own little GTG to make up for the cancellation of the LNS' Stitch Inn, and we met for brunch, visited the LNS (and many, many thanks to Melissa, Terri, and Nancy for the GCs!!), stitched, gabbed, taught Melissa how to ride her bike, and stitched and gabbed some more. I find it hard to believe that I managed 3.19 miles cruising around that grade school, but that's what the odometer said!
Sunday, January 20: If I'm going to go to the gym and go for bike rides on Sundays, I really need to get started early. Never did get to the gym, but I did use Liberty Park in Cerritos to access the San Gabriel River Bike Trail and rode from between Del Amo and South St all the way to Whittier Blvd, a distance of a bit over 10 miles. Round trip totalled 21.68 miles. My girly-bits are okay, but my sit-bone is still tender.
Total miles for the week: 41.34.
Distance from Bag End, Hobbiton, The Shire, Middle Earth: 916.33
It's a little less than 4 more miles to Lothlorien.

Congratulations,

2008-01-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

Melissa!! On your biking progress today!!

2008, Week Two Review

2008-01-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

Oh, but this was a sucky week! What is it about putting your vehicle in the shop that is so damned dispiriting? Especially when it turns out to be expensive. Shouldn't I have been at the gym getting it all out?
Monday January 7: Started off the week well with morning and evening stops at the gym, 2.27 miles on the elliptical and then the Cybex machine circuit.
Tuesday January 8: Zip, zilch, nada.
Wednesday January 9: Zip, zilch, nada.
Thursday January 10: A single pathetic stop at the gym, 1.82 miles on the elliptical. Admittedly, I did punish myself in the little time I had that night at there—5 minute warmup at Level 3; 5 minutes in Reverse at Level 3; forward again for 5 minutes at Level 3; 5 minutes at Level 5; 5 minutes at Level 7; 5 minutes Cooldown.
Friday January 11: Zip, zilch, nada. And for no good reason. Not even a bike ride before work, which makes it even more disgusting.
Saturday January 12: Why on earth do I need a "rest day" for such a pissy-assed slothful week? Well, okay, I did give myself 0.10 mile of walking credit for all the errands I ran.
Sunday January 13: didn't go to the gym, but I did cruise over to Yorba Regional Park in East Anaheim/Yorba Linda and rode for 20.03 miles. Beautiful little park with lots and lots of bike/walking trails, a no-bikes 5K trail (no, I didn't take advantage of this, though goodness knows, I should have!), and multiple access points to the Santa Ana River Trail. I even ventured out onto that for a short distance. I really should have gotten the regular bike shorts instead of the baggy bike shorts; it's still a bit chill out for riding in shorts, even on such a gorgeous day as today was, and the regular bike shorts could be worn under something else without looking pretty damned silly.
Totals for the week: 5.09 on the elliptical; 0.10 walking; 0 on the stationary bikes; and 20.03 on the road bike. Overall, 25.22 miles.
Currently 867.30 miles from Bag End and 409.30 miles from Rivendell. We've left the Mines of Moria and entered the woods of Lothlorien.

DGN Lisa, my stitching and general life blog is over at Gathering Place.

2008, Week One Review

2008-01-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

As I said in my earlier post, the weather's just too nasty for a real bike ride, so I did all my work today at the Y.
Monday, December 31: 0.61 on the home treadmill.
Tuesday, January 1: enough wandering around that I generously credited myself with 0.10.
Wednesday, January 2: 0.90 on the home treadmill; 1.13 on the elliptical at the Y; and an outside bike ride of 5.05.
Thursday, January 3: 0.93 on the home treadmill; 2.38 on the elliptical; and an outside bike ride of 5.35.
Friday, January 4: 1.07 on the home treadmill.
Saturday, January 5: day of rest.
Sunday, January 6: 3.2 on the Y treadmill; 7.29 pm the indoor bike.
Total mileage for the week: 28.01
The treadmill at the Y today seemed to think that a 60-minute walk was enough, so it threw me into Cooldown before I completed my 5K. I tolerated 1 minute of 2.5mph cooldown, stopped the treadmill, wrote down my mileage so far, then restarted at 3.0mph to complete the last .24 mile of the 5K. Then I let it do a cooldown. Anyway, warm-up and unintentional cooldown included, my 5K took 66 minutes. My own fault I'm not doing better than that, as for the last two Sundays I've opted for long bike rides rather than hitting the gym (or, better, doing both).
I can't get to the Walk to Rivendell site to update my shields, but I am now 86 miles away from Lothlorien.
ETA: I finally managed to get in. I've updated my shields and checked my location: I'm in the Mines of Moria, near Balin's Tomb. Sometime in the next few miles, we'll lose Gandalf to the Balrog.

Ugly Weather

2008-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Although goodness knows, we need the rain! So it doesn't look like there'll be an outdoor ride today. Bummer.

Looks like there'll be three of us locally (as in the Orange County flatlands) becoming "Goal Sisters" on our paths to health. Maybe we should bring our bikes to Stitch Class every month and ride to lunch? Anyway, we're talking about starting to get together monthly for a ride on one of our non-stitch class weekends. I'm looking forward to it!!

2007 Recap

2008-01-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Well, first off, December turned out to be not as crappy as I thought it would: down by 2 pounds for the month!

I started the year just 55 miles from Bag End, made it (finally!) to Rivendell, and ended at 809.51 miles from Bag End. It's just over 100 more miles to Lothlorien.

But Why is the Rum Gone?

2007-12-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

Found this on both Melissa's and Terri's blogs and of course have to join in!

The Recipe For Darla

3 parts Slyness
2 parts Recklessness
1 part Genius

Splash of Warmth

Serve over ice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

I know I usually try to post the weekly progress on Sunday, but it's nearly the end of both the month and the year, so I've decided to wait a couple more days. Didn't make it to the Y today, but I did visit a nice bike shop in Fountain Valley before cruising by Mile Square Park. It looks like the bike path at Mile Square is pretty much limited to the sidewalk that goes all the way around the park. There's also some construction going on there, and I thought that would complicate things. So I opted to take my Sunday ride at Cerritos Regional again. As long as I wasn't moving, it was a pretty nice day, but once the bike got rolling the windchill really brought the temps down! I felt like I could have gone 20 miles today but for the windchill, so I only did 15. And no, I didn't try out my new shorts, although I did take them with me. Definitely need some kind of windbreaker for the upper body and leggings or tights or something to extend the shorts, 'cause I don't think the sweats will do the job.

Here it is

2007-12-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

and I stopped at the nearest Anaheim FD station to get the license on my way to work this morning.

I think...

2007-12-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

…I need to increase the incline on the treadmills at the Y. I don't know what the setting is on the one here at home—it's manual, doesn't have a readout, and just isn't very fancy at all—but it definitely seems to be a bit steeper than my usual 3.0 choice at the Y. Anyway, I spent about 35 minutes on the treadmill here at home this morning, and walked 1.32 miles. Puttered around on the computer for a while, then did a bit of stitching, then went out for a ride. Went over to Cerritos Regional Park and rode around there for 10.4 miles, then came home to our Xmess dinner.

Oh, and have I mentioned yet that I ordered a pair of bike shorts online from Terry's Bikes? Thank you, Terri, for the recommendation!

I'm also seriously considering signing up for the 5k to benefit the Speech and Language Center in Buena Park, where BFF-M is employed when she isn't on disability with a broken ankle she acquired just before Thanksgiving trying to make sure one of her students didn't slip and fall and get hurt.

Weekly Report

2007-12-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Wow, a week's gone by already?
Saturday 15 Dec: rest day.
Sunday 16 Dec: Managed to bump the magnetic safety key thingy about a mile and a half into my treadmill time, and my poor grammarian's brain can handle adding .25s and .50s and .75s but gets stretched when it has to do the other stuff like the .28s, so I figured another 40 minutes would get me at least to 5k, and I was right: 3.46 miles on the treadmill. And then 13.26 on the stationary bike.
Monday 17 Dec: Actually hit the home treadmill for .83 mile to start the day! Then the Y in the morning for 1.07 (only 18 minutes including the 3-minute cooldown, so I chose a higher level than I'd normally use) miles on the elliptical to warm up again for the weight-machine circuit. Then the evening stop put 9.45 miles on a bike.
Tuesday 18 Dec: Only managed to put in 30 minutes on the elliptical, for 1.68 miles, on the morning stop, then 1.8 miles on the treadmill for the evening visit.
Wednesday 19 Dec: 25 minutes on the elliptical for 1.47 miles and this time kicked up the final four minutes before cooldown to Level 8! And the weight machines.
Thursday 20 Dec: 25 minutes at Level 4, alternating forward and reverse in 5-minute blocks (so yes, that's 10 minutes going backwards!), then 5 minutes (forward) at Level 5, plus cooldown, for 2.20 miles. The evening treadmill lasted 40 minutes, with 5-minute blocks of time spent at 2.5, 3.0, 3.3, 3.0, 3.5, 3.0, 2.5, and 3.0 mph and a 3-minute cooldown, for 2.06 miles.
Friday 21 Dec: .80 mile on the treadmill at home because it was payday, rent day, and the last banking day (I bank at a credit union) before a major holiday, so I knew I would have to skip the Y. And, of course, it turned out to be the day I picked up my new bike.
Saturday 22 Dec: normally a rest day, but a friend was laid off Thursday and when the four of us were at breakfast Saturday morning, we decided that three of us would hit her gym with her membership and her two guest passes. So 1.5 miles on an elliptical I didn't like at all—ours at the Y have a shorter rise and a longer stride, so those differences were throwing me off my stride. And a little time spent on the weight machines. But then my friends, who don't spend as much time at the gym as I do and who've never been particularly athletic anyway, pooped out before I could get through the whole Cybex circuit. Oh well, a little is better than none at all, and I missed Friday's weight circuit with the banking and the bike-buying, so this helped make up for that.
Sunday 23 Dec: Normally I hit the Y on Sundays for a little mindless biking and walking, but today I opted to take my new bike out to the bike paths at El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach instead, for 10.4 miles. I had a ball, and will probably go riding Christmas Day, too! I'll just have to remember to bring along some water.

Current mileage on the Walk Beyond Rivendell: 776.42. It's 143.58 miles more to Lothlorien.

I really had a lovely time at the park, but the parking's outrageous! $7 on weekends to park in the lots on the east side of the park. There's free parking on the west side, but no bike paths on the west side and no really good access, that I could see, from the west side to the east side via bike. (The park is divided on the north-south axis by the San Gabriel River, which also has a bike path, and something like three or four times on the east-west axis by major streets.) Maybe I'll go over to Featherly Park in Yorba Linda/East Anaheim on Christmas.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-21T10:55:00.000-08:00

Came in to work today a bit early because it's payday and the rent's due, so I needed time to get to the credit union to get the rent check. I'm still reeling in shock from the surprise of the bonus check! Do I really need to say that I visited the bike shop on the way to the CU? Dunno if they'll have it ready to be picked up this afternoon, or if I'll have a chance to get away from the office if they do, but definitely will have my bike in my possession tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! They're installing a rear rack, head- and tail-lights, and computer. Gotta buy a helmet. Good thing I was planning to do some shopping after work! I just never expected it to include stuff for me!

Another Week Done

2007-12-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

I guess if I normally hit the gym five days a week on the way to work and also as many as four times each week on the way home from work as well as most Sundays, I think I'm entitled to blow off the occasional Friday morning stop, right?
Tuesday AM: 35 minutes on the elliptical, 2.40 miles
Tuesday PM: an hour on the treadmill, mostly at 2.5mph but also 15 minutes at 3.0, all at an incline of 3.0, 2.68 miles
Wednesday AM: got there later than I should have, so although I did get the whole weight-machine circuit done, I only had 10 minutes on the elliptical to get me warmed up. That was all at Level 4; 0.92 miles
Wednesday PM: on the bike for an hour, 10 minutes at Level 7, 10 minutes at L9, 5 minutes at L11, 10 minutes at L9, and 5 minutes of cooldown, 9.56 miles
Thursday AM: 40 minutes on the elliptical, back to the 10 minutes of Level 3 forward, 5 minutes L3 reverse, 5 minutes L3 forward, 10 minutes L4 forward, 5 minutes at L3 with two of those minutes in reverse, and 5-minute cooldown, 2.51 miles
Thursday PM: a total of 50 minutes on the treadmill mostly at 2.5 and 3.0 mph on a 3.0 incline, but with a few short periods at 3.1 mph (3 at one minute each and 1 energetic burst of 2 minutes), 2.30 miles
Total mileage from Bag End: 726.44 (268.44 miles from Rivendell toward Lothlorien).