2008, Week Thirteen Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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,

Melissa!! On your biking progress today!!

2008, Week Two Review

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

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

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

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?

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

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

I think...

…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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

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).