January 2011

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.

It's Been A While

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.

There And Back Again

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.

Fun Day Today

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

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!

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.

Rivendell

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.

2009, Weeks 1 through 4

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

2008, Week Forty, September Recap

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.