I'm a Loser!!

Okay, so I don't recall exactly what the scale's ugly and depressing figure was last month, nor whether I weighed myself with or without my shoes, so I don't know how much the actual loss was. But it was somewhere between 7 and 10 pounds. And considering that I missed 4 days at the gym last week because of transportation issues, I think that's pretty darned good! For the record, it was shoes-off this time.
Finals for October:
14.85 miles walked on treadmills
121.11 miles on ellipticals and stationary bikes
135.96 total miles
555.95 cumulative miles from Bag End by way of Rivendell
As for today, I arrived a bit later than I'd originally planned, so again no time in the pool or spa. And again went for just stationary bike and treadmill. An hour on the bike, with 50 minutes at Level 7, 5 at Level 9, and the 5-minute cooldown at both Level 2 (2 minutes) and Level 1 (3 minutes). A full hour on the treadmill, too, with a bit over 8 minutes at 2.6 mph, about 44 minutes at 2.8 mph, and a hair over 7 minutes at 3.0 mph. And like last week, I opted not to take the whole 5-minute cooldown because the last couple of minutes are less than 1 mph. All but the cooldown period was at an Incline of 2.0.

Weekly WrapUp

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

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

Sunday Roundup

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

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