Keep Moving Tee

New Blog Site

2011-02-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

Same blog, just going BACK to WordPress. Make a note of it. I'll leave this blog up for another week or so, then it will be gone. All of my posts have been transferred to WordPress.

Keep Moving Tee http://keepmovingtee.wordpress.com/

Biggest Loser Rant Post

2011-02-03T13:06:00.001-08:00

If you haven’t seen this week’s Biggest Loser episode, then don’t read this until you do. I’m annoyed at several of the contestants this season. Why? Because they basically quit. I’m referring to Dan, Don (twins – black team), and Irene (orange team). Both Dan and Don were missing home and missing their families. I can understand that, but you signed up for the show for a reason. You were chosen to go to the Biggest Loser ranch out of millions of contestants. I’m not sure how long the contestants are on the ranch from the first week to the last, but I think it’s about 4 months. Yes, that’s a long time to be away from your family. But again, you signed up to do it. If you’re not sure you can handle being away from home that long, think twice about applying.

A few weeks ago, Dan and Don had enough (it was only week 3 at the time), and decided (in my opinion) to sabotage themselves. They both gained 9 pounds at that week’s weigh in. My jaw dropped at that, and I could not believe it. Nine pounds…each. I’ve seen contestants gain before, but 9 pounds? My first question was how. How can anyone gain 9 pounds in one week? One pound is equal to 3,500 calories. To gain 9 pounds, they’d have to consume 31,500 calories. Each. How do you do that? The cameras never showed them eating, but they had to have eaten a ton of food when no one was around.

Here’s my problem with Dan and Don (I’ll get to Irene in a minute). If you’re that homesick, why not just walk away? Why wait to be eliminated? Why waste everyone’s time? My husband gave me that answer. They waited to be eliminated so they could still participate in the “at home” challenge. This made me even more annoyed. If you sabotage yourself (and I have no doubt they did), you should be disqualified for the at home portion of the competition. It’s the same thing with the show Survivor. Last season, two contestants on Survivor quit, but were still a part of the jury. I am so glad that Survivor put a new rule stating that if a person quits from now on, they will not be on the jury (I was angry last season about the two being allowed to stay). Anyway, back to The Biggest Loser. If you gain weight on purpose, you should be out, gone, and not allowed to come back. It may sound harsh, but that type of B.S. gets on my last nerve.

Now, onto Irene. Since Irene’s partner went home the first week, and one of the twins left, Irene and the other twin got paired up to be a team for the week. Fine. Fast forward to the weigh in. Not only did the twin (keep forgetting which one) gain 6 pounds, but Irene gained 6 also. What?!?!?!? Why did she agree to gain weight? I don’t get it. Again, if you want to go home, go home. Just leave. Don’t bring someone in on your plan to be eliminated. Why did Irene agree to gain weight? I have no clue. It makes no sense to me. I want her gone soon.

I understand this is just a show, but for a lot of the contestants it’s more than just winning $250,000 at the end. It’s about learning a healthy way of living. They want to learn how to eat right and exercise to maintain a healthy weight. Obviously Dan, Don and Irene blew the healthy eating (even if they didn’t show it, I believe they ate a lot), part of the lifestyle change. I keep thinking about all the other people out there who would love to have been chosen for the opportunity to train with Bob, Jillian, Cara, and Bret. Even Bob said that a few weeks ago when Dan and Don gained 9 pounds. He said he couldn’t help but think two other people could have been there instead.

So, that’s my rant. It bugs the heck out of me that these three people just blew it like that. I want them to lose the weight and be healthy, don’t get me wrong. Both Dan and Don continued to lose weight, and are looking good. But, it just irks me to no end that they pulled that stunt.

I don’t have a favorite contestant this season yet. I am sad that this will be the last season with Jillian Michaels in it. I’ll miss her on future seasons, but understand her reasons for leaving. I need to get used to Cara and Bret. I need to see more of how they train people. Right now, it seems to be only boxing workouts. I’m glad Bob Harper is staying (as far as I know). I always flip flop on who I would choose to train with if I had the opportunity. Bob or Jillian. It’s hard to choose.

How do you all feel about what happened on the show? Are you annoyed?

Mileage Update

2011-02-03T07:57:00.001-08:00

Still moving along the virtual walk. Took a couple days off last week because I was tired and a little sore. Back at it though. Just posting the pictures really quick this morning, and then I’ll be doing 1.1 mile afterward. I also plan to rant about The Biggest Loser in another post.

Mile 223

Mile 223.6

Mile 224.8

Mile 225.4

Mile 226.6

Trucking Along

2011-01-20T13:14:00.001-08:00

I’ve been pretty consistent the last week with my elliptical (and strength training). I didn’t take as many days off as I have been. I did take Tuesday off because I was a little sore. I added five minutes to my elliptical workout on Sunday, and I needed the break. It’s funny how just five minutes can make you sore and tired. I am estimating my distance, and I’m no longer trying to beat my one mile time. The display screen just won’t cooperate. The springs in the battery compartment are smushed. That’s OK though, the important thing is, I’m moving. I’ve been tracking my fitness consistently on SparkPeople for the last four yeas (four years in the beginning of March actually), so I know about how far I go depending on how long I‘m on. I’m doing about 1.1 miles (a little more I think, but but not quite 1.2) in 40 minutes. I burn about 370 calories in that amount of time, so that’s not too shabby. Eventually, and this is still a long ways off, I’d like to do a full hour on the elliptical. I’m slowly getting there. I’ll do 40 minutes for a few weeks and see if I want to try for 45.

I’ve had no issues for a while either. Such as blisters, ankle problems, foot problems, or anything. I do occasionally get muscle knots in my lower legs, but they’re not bothering me too much. Since my last post, I’ve gone about 9 miles. I just passed through Rockfish Gap, VA, and am now on my way to Vesvius, VA in Nelson County. Here are my current stats from the virtual walk site:

222 miles since 4/28/08
31.97 miles to Vesvius, VA, Nelson County

About 32 miles until the next town. That will take me a while. At least a month. I actually like to watch the distance shrink as I’m heading to the next town. And of course, I love the pictures along the route. Speaking of pictures, here are the nine photos for the last nine miles.

213.6

214.6

215.6

216.6

217.6

218.6

219.8

220.8

222

I didn’t see too much activity in Rockfish Gap, but I pretty much blew through it. Yesterday (the 220.8 picture) I had about .16 miles to go until I hit town. Then today, I went a little over a mile, so I think I’m past in now. Or just about past it. Looked like I went by a motel.

I’ll keep moving along and see where I end up next. Thirty two miles until the next town. I just hope there’s a little activity before that. Cars, people, buildings, something. We’ll see. Keep on moving!

Getting Caught Up On Mileage…Again

2011-01-06T15:06:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, I’m slacking again. Hope everyone had a good holiday and a great New Years. I don’t intend on making any new year’s resolutions. I tend to make goals every month (even if I don’t post them), rather than look at the entire year. One month at a time is good for me. Basically, my goal is to just keep moving.

Good news is, we discovered what is wrong with the elliptical display screen. Bad news is, it doesn’t stay fixed for long. What the problem is this. The springs in the battery compartment are squished too much, and the batteries are bouncing around. When they bounce around too much, the display resets. My husband stretched the coils, and that seemed to help for about a day. It’s back to resetting every 30 seconds again. I’ll have him stretch the coils again soon. But in the meantime, I’m estimating my distance. I’m going one mile in 35 minutes. I’m probably going a little over a mile, but not much.

So, on to the photos from the virtual walk. I’ve gone five miles since my last post. Now that the weather is clear again, I should be able to get in more consecutive days, and stop taking days off for one reason or another. I’m aiming for about 6 miles a week.

Mile 208.8

Mile 209.8

Mile 210.8

Mile 211.8

Mile 212.8

Still looks nice an sunny on the VA roads. I’m about 8 miles away from Rockfish, VA in Charlottesville County. Hopefully, I can post more than once every week from now on. Bets? Keep on moving!

Mileage Progress

2010-12-22T13:15:00.001-08:00

I’ve been slacking with the posts again, I know. My walk across the country is still going. I’ve had no more blister issues (so far) since I switched socks. I’m up to doing a full mile again with no problems. I haven’t been doing my elliptical every day, but I am doing it. I’ve had several unintentional days off due to people coming over, or my husband has the day off (due to rain), but I am still moving. Monday was one of those days off. Southern CA is getting hit by a storm coming up from the south. When storms move in from the south, that’s when we get a LOT of rain. Streets flood, people forget how to drive, it’s nuts.

Monday was the first day of the rain, so it wasn’t too bad yet. People were still somewhat sane on the roads. We ended up going to see the movie Tron: Legacy. I actually sort of snoozed off and on during the movie. Oops. It was OK, but rather blah. Not boring really, just not very exciting in my opinion. And definitely NOT worth the 3D priced movie tickets. Most of the movie was in 2D. If I had known that ahead of time, I would have pushed to see the normal 2D version. Paying 3D prices to see only half of the movie IN 3D is a rip off.

Tuesday I did get on the elliptical and did my mile. After I was done, the last of my calluses came off. I had one left on my big toe, and it popped off. I‘m taking today off, because I’m feeling kind of blah. I have some thoughts on that, which I’ll write about tomorrow. But today’s post is to get you all caught up on my virtual walk pictures.

I’m up to 207.8 miles and have reached the town of Whitehall, VA. I’ve not got 13.19 miles until I hit the town of Rockfish Gap, VA. There’s some pretty strange names in the state of VA. Here are the pictures from miles 203.6 to 207.8.

203.6

204.6

205.2

205.8

206.8

207.8

I’ll try not to be such a slacker with posting these pictures from now on. I may skip a day here and there, then post two pictures, but I’ll try not to skip THIS many. I plan on getting into my workouts steadily again starting tomorrow. This rain has thrown everything out of whack. I love the rain, but it causes unintentional days off because my husband can’t really work on rainy days. It’s “supposed” to be sunny again tomorrow.

Long Time No Post…Again

2010-12-07T09:21:00.001-08:00

Well, I was right when I saw myself having to deal with blisters. I first had a regular blister (after I did a mile on November 24), which popped on it’s own. And then I ended up with a blood blister (a few days later), which I had to pop and drain. I’m thinking the socks that I wear are too thin. Strange since I’ve worn them before and have had no problems. This was before the calluses got soft and came off. Anyway, yesterday I wore a pair of new (old, just not really ever worn) socks, and they seem to be OK. I also had a band-aid over the blister area. All was well. I managed .7 mile and spent 25 minutes on the elliptical yesterday.

I haven’t uploaded any of the pictures from the virtual walk site for a while. I got lazy and kept telling myself “I’ll post it later”. Well, you know what “later” means? You won’t do it. When you say “later”, things just end up piling up and then your list of things you’ll do “later” gets longer and longer, and you procrastinate even more. Then you get overwhelmed, and nothing gets accomplished. Time to buckle down and get it done. I get dangerously close to doing this with writing assignments also. I’ve got 8 articles to write by the end of the week. One I can technically extend by sending it back into the queue and claiming it again (giving me 7 more days). Five I can ask the client for more time (he’s the best client ever and is very flexible), and two I have to do by a certain date or my “rating” goes down. So after I post this, I need to get busy. Time to break out the egg timer and set a specific time to write. Once the timer goes off, I’ll give myself a five or ten minute break and then get back to it.

Here are the last several pictures from the virtual walk site.

Mile 201

Mile 202

Mile 202.6 (I went .7, but it registered as .6)

Looks like it’s nice and sunny on the tour. Don’t know if I’ll do any exercise or not today. We’ll see how much I get done the rest of the morning.

I’ve gone a total of 202.6 miles. I’m 3.24 miles from Whitehall, VA Charlottesville City County.

Hope you all have a great week. Don’t procrastinate! Get it done. But remember to take breaks so you don’t burn out.

The Big 200 Mile Mark

2010-11-22T14:15:00.001-08:00

Well, after two weeks of not exercising, I am back on it. I did do my strength training the first week I was off, but I took last week off from everything. Sunday I decided to get on the elliptical, as I did not feel any pain in my foot on Saturday. Everything went well, and I went .6 mile. The only real issue I had was the folded towel kept slipping around underneath my foot. So I decided to not use it today.

Like I said, yesterday I went .6 mile, and here is the picture for that day from the virtual walk site.

And today, I did one full mile. Actually I can't say I did a mile, as I don't know exactly how far I went. The display screen on the elliptical decided to restart about seven times at least in the first 20 minutes. I was using my egg timer as a backup like I usually do, and I'm glad I did. I told myself that I was going to do 1 mile or 35 minutes, whichever came first. And since the screen decided to reset in the first 2 minutes, the decision was made. It was annoying to keep having to stop so I can turn the fan back on, and after the seventh time I decided to just go without a fan. About 2 minutes later, I had to turn it on again.

I did get a little tired the last ten minutes of my workout, but I think that was because I kept stopping and starting to turn the fan on. I can't turn the fan on as I'm using the elliptical. It works the muscles in my thighs to start and stop the pedals, so they got an extra workout. Needless to say, I obviously need to replace the batteries again. It seemed like I just changed them three weeks ago, and I was off for two. I should buy stock in Duracell. I go through a ton of D cell batteries.

I am back to wearing my tennis shoes also, and my next issue I foresee is blisters. Yippee. With the Vibram Five Fingers, the calluses I had developed got softer and ended up falling off (just on my right foot, not the left, weird). So now that I'm back to the tennis shoes, those calluses are going to need to build up. So, my right foot on the inside of the foot up by my big toe is sore. I'll need to buy stock in Band-Aid also, as I'll be the Band-Aid Queen for a while.

But, all in all, my elliptical workout went very well. I needed to get back on it in a big way, as my balance was starting to go bye bye. Saturday my husband and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, and my balance and walking were really bad. It wasn't pretty. Not sure what the deal was, but I think part of it was my back was out of alignment. That night, my husband gave me a big bear hug (in an attempt to pop my back), and I heard about 12 pops, from my mid back to upper back. Ahhh...better. I miss my chiropractor in WA State.

So, I'm back to normal, and hopefully won't have another forced time off for a long time. No sign of muscle knots yet, but I expect to get them by the end of next week, at least a little bit.

And hey, I made the big 200 mile mark on the virtual walk today! Took me over two years, but I did it. Still in Virginia, and I have a long way to go still in that state. Here are the stats and the picture from today from the virtual walk site. I'm leaving out the elliptical stats for today since they're not accurate. I went 35 minutes, and I'm guessing I went one mile. At least I seem to be over my obsession problem about mileage.

1 mile today
200 miles since 4/28/08
.72 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Bah…More Time Off

2010-11-08T13:38:00.001-08:00

Well, I hate to say it, but it looks like I'll be taking this week off from the elliptical. Last week, I was feeling a weird muscle ache in my left foot. I thought it was because of the folded hand towel getting scrunched up beneath my foot, but I think it's more than that. I felt the same sort of muscle ache in my right foot back in July when I hurt my ankle. So rather than be stupid (which I have been in the past), I'm taking this week off. I think it will only be one week, as the pain isn't too bad. Not nearly as bad as my right ankle a few months ago.

Unfortunately, that means I'll the switching back to my tennis shoes when I exercise. That's unfortunate because I feel much more stable in my Vibram shoes. I will still wear my Vibram shoes the rest of the day. I am glad that I went slow as a test to my feet and shoes. I did do something earlier when I realized I wasn't going to exercise on the elliptical today. I got off the elliptical, took off my Vibram shoes, put on my tennis shoes, and got back on the elliptical. The ache in my left foot was a lot less, but it was still there. So that gives me a little bit of hope that it will be only one week until I can get back on. Here I was worried about my right ankle, and my left foot is the problem. My injuries seem to switch sides every time I get one.

I think I would rather deal with muscle knots in my lower legs (caused by my tennis shoes), than this weird foot thing. The foot thing could possibly turn into something worse, like plantar faciitis or something (which I think I had a few years ago).

I have thought more than once about changing cardio equipment. I always decide to stick with my elliptical because I want to be upright when I exercise. The only other piece of cardio equipment that I would feel comfortable using on my own (without anyone around) would be a stationary bike. Don't get me wrong, bicycling is great exercise, but I would really like to stay on my feet when I exercise. I keep thinking about it though. I want to stay away from treadmills since I have accidents on those. I've fallen more than a few times, and I do not want to use one when no one else is around in case I have a really nasty fall. I've never fallen off the elliptical before. I've had mine for two and half years (I think) and I've had no problems.

So I'm a bit bummed, but what can you do? You just have to keep rolling with punches. Hey that reminds me of a song that keeps me moving too. Here are the two stanzas that work for me (and yes, it’s a Bon Jovi song):

“I've been pushed around
Been knocked down
Lost a round or three
Life took a couple of things I loved
When I was too blind to see

But I’ll survive
I gave up on luck but I’m still getting by
Yeah I’m going to be alright
You can test my faith
But you can't take my pride
Thorn in my side, thorn in my side.”

I will continue my strength training the rest of the week, on Wednesday and Friday. And we'll see where I am at them. Obviously there's no mileage update or picture of the day, and I will not reach the 200 mile mark this week. I was so close too. Oh well. I'll get there eventually.

Have a great day, and I will see what I can come up with in terms of posts for this week.

Tired, Tired, Tired

2010-11-05T13:16:00.001-07:00

It's Friday! It does not feel like Friday to me. I'm not sure what day it feels like. My husband hasn't had a day off in almost a month. Good news a is, I think he has this Sunday off. It's not for certain, but he's trying. The days are starting to bleed together. I plan on taking Sunday off from the elliptical. My feet and calves feel achy and tired today, and I feel a little worn out. Got to keep moving though.

I'm still amazed at how my walker is improving my balance and stability. I think I might be ready to try to walk with it with no shoes. Maybe. My Five Fingers shoes had to be washed today, so I am barefoot right now. I could put them on when they're still wet, but I don't feel like sloshing around when I walk. They take about 12 hours to dry completely when they're inside. I'm sure they only take an hour or two if I put them outside in the sun. But I don't feel like doing that right now. All I feel like doing at the moment is relaxing on the couch, and reading my book. It's 1:00 PM right now, but it feels like 7:00 PM. Maybe I'll make a cup of green tea to wake myself up.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance- .7 mile
Revolutions-1322
Resistance level-1
Endurance- Great. Got a bit tired the last two and a half minutes.
Injury- None. Feet feel tired and achy, but that's all.
Time-25:10

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.7 miles today
198.4 miles since April 28, 2008
2.89 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here is the picture of the day.

Writing Sites And Mileage

2010-11-04T13:10:00.001-07:00

I took yesterday off because I had a lot of writing that I want to get done. I now have no writing assignments at the moment, and I need to go look for more. I still have my one client over at Text Broker (well two, but they're on the same account), but I am mainly writing for a site called Demand Media Studios. I have a love/hate relationship with this site. I have been a member of the site since March or April of this year I believe. They have various formats of writing such as the "how to" format, the "list" format, the "short answer" format, and a few others I think. I do the "how to" format.

Demand Media Studios was a site that I had always wanted to be a part of. I was always frustrated to see that they required a resume and writing samples. I didn't have either one of those (I am working on those slowly), so I always gave up. I got brought into this site through another site called eHow. Demand Media Studios is the parent company of eHow, and eHow was changing the way they did their site. They were switching to the Demand Media Studios platform for writing. Due to this merge, I was brought into Demand Media Studios. I was very excited when I got the e-mail earlier this year.

My problem came about when I started to look for titles to write on. They have over 100,000 titles, but most of them make no sense whatsoever. For example, the title "How to Clean a Sharp SF 2052 Copier". Luckily there are some easier titles that come around every now and then. I find most of the tiles I write under the health section or the culture section. Sometimes those sections are empty, or filled with random titles about cars. I'm glad they came up with a way to hide titles that you don't want to see any more. That's made everything a lot easier.

I've written about eight how to articles in the last two days. It takes me about an hour to write one (and that's slow compared to most people). My process is like this. I look up titles, and claim the ones I think are going to be the easiest to write. Once I've got 10 (the claim limit), I look up research links. Demand Media Studios is very specific in the research links you use. They have certain web sites that are banned for use, and they like web sites that end in .edu, .gov, and sometimes .net. I never use sites that end in .com. Thank goodness for SearchEdu.com. Once I have all my research links, I get to work. The great thing about this site is that the articles have a minimum word limit of 400 words. And every article is worth $15.00 (no matter what the word count is). So if you can find 10 articles every time you search, you can make a good deal of money. My problem is always finding titles. Oh and the other good thing about the site is that they pay twice a week.

On to the fitness portion of my day. Things are still going well with my elliptical. I'm looking forward to Saturday or Sunday when I increase my time to 30 minutes. I'm trying my best to be patient. I know it's in my best interest to take it slow using my "new" shoes. I figure I can go about .8 or .9 mile in 30 minutes. That's really close to 1 mile, and I'll be tempted to go further, but I will try my best not to.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance- .7 mile
Revolutions-1324
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Excellent
Injury- None.
Time-25:10

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.7 miles today
197.6 miles since April 28, 2008
3.61 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here is the picture of the day.

Must Be Patient

2010-11-02T12:39:00.001-07:00

It's been very tough for me to go less than a mile on my elliptical this last week. I'm thinking about going a mile tomorrow, as I feel fine and have no pain anywhere. But I know I should be patient, and I should take things slow like I had intended to. It's only about two more weeks until I will hit a mile again. That will get me up to 35 minutes. So I will continue to take it slow.

Today's .7 mile was very fast. I think I hit the 1/2 mile point in 16:30. That puts me on track for being close to my personal record for one mile. My pace was somewhat fast today, I saw 60 RPM a few times. I kept my average pace at 55 to 56 RPM. I need to figure out a way to keep the towel from slipping out from under my left foot when I go faster. Maybe I can use duct tape. Heh heh heh. We'll see what I can come up with.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance- .7 mile
Revolutions-1339
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Excellent
Injury- None.
Time-25:20

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.7 miles today
197 miles since April 28, 2008
4.33 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Interesting section of the road. Looks like it's a narrow part with a bridge of some sort.

Quickie Update

2010-11-01T13:53:00.001-07:00

Quick update today. I increased my time to 25 minutes, and everything looks good. My toes might start aching around 22 or 23 minutes, but it's still OK. I went at my usual pace for today, and that seemed to be fine also. I went about 55 RPM and then made it up to 57 or 58 with no problems.

Elliptical stats for the day: All estimated:
Distance- .7 mile
Revolutions-1325
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- None.
Time-25:11

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.7 miles today
196.2 miles since April 28, 2008
5.06 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Looks like a sunny day when this was taken. Gotta run! Have a good one!

A Day Of Races

2010-10-31T10:29:00.001-07:00

Apparently, it was the day of races yesterday. I knew Caitlin, from the Healthy Tipping Point blog was running a marathon Saturday. She smashed her previous time by 32 minutes. She ran the Disney marathon last December. She finished the race in 4 hours, 22 minutes, and 38 seconds. This was her second marathon. Congratulations Caitlin!

My mom sent me an e-mail right before I got on my elliptical saying that the street by my parent's house was closed due to an Ironman triathlon. A marathon is one thing, running 26.2 miles, but an Ironman is another thing. First there's a swim that is 2.4 miles long, next is 112 mile bike race, and finally there's a marathon run at the end, 26.2 miles. All of that has to be done within an 8 hour time period. That's absolutely insane in my opinion. I think I would be dead just from the swim alone. Rudy Pauls from The Biggest Loser season eight participated in the Ironman triathlon in Miami. He finished the race in 8 hours, 7 minutes, and 8 seconds.

It was neat to see the race maps from the triathlon, since it was conducted in my hometown. I know I would've watched some of it if I'd been, there since it was so close to my old house. Apparently my mom watched for about an hour and a half. I think they were on the bike part during that time.

I'm not sure exactly how far I went on the elliptical this morning, because the display screen reset on me. I estimated that I went .6 mile, in about 20 minutes. I had intended on going 25 minutes, but since the screen reset, I decided to just go 20 minutes. I did not feel like going back through my exercise log to see how many calories are burned in 25 minutes on resistance level one. Tomorrow I plan on going 25 minutes.

Things are going well with my feet and ankles still. I went a little faster again today with no problems. I can't wait until I'm doing one full mile again. I need to be a little patient still, and take things slow. I figure I'll be doing 1 mile in about two weeks or so. I hope so anyway.

Elliptical stats for the day: All estimated:
Distance- .6 mile
Revolutions-1056
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- None.
Time-20:00

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.6 miles today
195.6 miles since April 28, 2008
5.78 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

The picture on the virtual tour did not change again today. I'm not sure why, but it's a little bit annoying. I look forward to the picture changing everyday. Hopefully it will change tomorrow. Have a good Halloween, and keep on moving.

Walker And Mileage

2010-10-30T12:51:00.001-07:00

I took Friday off from the elliptical and strength training, because I think I needed the rest. I got back on the elliptical this morning, and did .6 mile. It took me 20 minutes to do, which was my goal. Still no problems with my ankle. I even went faster than I have in the last week, about 54 RPM.. So far so good.

As for my new walker, I love it! It is so much more stable than my other walker. I'm having no problems at all getting around. Even when I've been sitting down for several hours, and my legs are stiff, I still have no issues with the new walker.

This walker has a hand brakes, which makes it even more stable. And the basket comes in handy for sure. All in all I am very happy with this walker. I've only been using it since Wednesday night, or is it Thursday night? I'm losing track of my days.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance- .6 mile
Revolutions-1056
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- None.
Time-20:10

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.6 miles today
195 miles since April 28, 2008
5.78 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here is the picture of the day.

Five more miles until the big 200 mark. I should probably hit that sometime in the next week. I plan on going .6 mile at least in the next week. I might try and increase my time to 25 minutes, so I might go even further than that, like .7 mile or so. We'll see. Until later, keep on moving.

Thursday’s Mileage

2010-10-28T12:34:00.001-07:00

Another day down. Got my half mile in today, and everything was fine. I keep a folded hand towel underneath my left foot, because my left leg is shorter than my right, and it gives me a bit of a lift so I'm not too uneven. I have to make sure that it doesn't slide off the pedal. It got bunched up underneath my foot, and started to slide off and it didn't feel right.

I went a little bit faster today, as a kind of test to see how it would feel. For the most part, it felt OK. I went as fast as 55 RPM, and that seemed to be fine.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance-0.5 mile
Revolutions-880
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- None. Need to make sure that towel stays under my left foot. It started to slide out from underneath, and made my foot feel weird.
Time-17:11

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.5 miles today
194.4 miles since April 28, 2008
6.5 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here is the picture of the day.

Still Going

2010-10-27T14:19:00.001-07:00

Got in my half mile for the day on the elliptical. I went a little faster than the last couple of days, and still no problems with my ankle. I plan on finishing up the week by doing a half mile each day, and then I will go .6 miles starting Sunday. I might try and go a little faster the rest of the week, to see what happens. I think my stretching is helping a lot. I stretched my heel cords about three times before I got on the elliptical, and then once when I got off.

I just checked the status of my order for my walker, and it's out for delivery right now. It should get here within the next hour or so I would think. It is coming from Palm Springs, which is about 30 minutes away. Looking forward to seeing what this new walker is like.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance-0.5 mile
Revolutions-880
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- None.
Time-17:33

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.5 miles today
193.8 miles since April 28, 2008
7.22 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here is the picture of the day.

I'm happy to see it changed today. I can't tell what the sign says, I wish I could zoom in and see.

Day One Done

2010-10-26T10:41:00.001-07:00

The first day of using my walker went OK. I used it a total of two times going to the bathroom and back. The first time, my nephew was in the kitchen making lunch. He saw me with the walker and asked if I needed help. I told him no, I was fine. I said it was time for me to get out of the wheelchair. He said, "Yeah!" The second time I went, my mother in-law was making dinner. She saw me, but didn't say anything. That was fine with me. I also saw my father in-law in the hallway. He did a double take and said, "That's new".

This morning I used it after my workout, and my mother in-law asked me why I was using it. I told her I wanted to get out of the chair. She just nodded and said OK. So it's not a big deal. My main issue right now is my self confidence, myself consciousness, and my balance. My steps are a bit hesitant sometimes, but I'll get the hang of it. I need to get my mind away from the scary thoughts of falling. I just need to pretend I'm on the elliptical and just keep my stride smooth and continuous. If I fall, I fall.

I went ahead and bought the new walker. I think that will be a good thing. I decided to go ahead and buy it because I'm determined this time. It will come in handy for times I have to carry something, and it will force me to use it.

I did 1/2 mile today on the elliptical, and everything was fine. I did not feel the muscle knots in my lower right leg until the very end. The muscle knots are slowly fading away, and that's a good thing.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance-0.5 mile
Revolutions-880
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- None. Felt the muscle knots only at the very end, but not bad.
Time-18:08

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.5 miles today
193.4 miles since April 28, 2008
7.94 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

The picture did not change today for some reason. I'm not sure why it didn't. My "miles to go" also did not change. My total mileage did change though, so I don't know what is going on. I know when I only enter .1 mile, the picture sometimes does not change. But I've never had that happen with a distance over .1 mile. I hope the picture changes tomorrow.

I Have A Plan

2010-10-25T14:01:00.001-07:00

Today's half mile went smoothly. I had no problems, but I think I see a potential for my heel or ankle to have issues. I tend to stretch with my heel stretcher after my workout. I need to use it both before and after. Also I should use it throughout the day. And I should use it for more than 30 seconds. I just do a 30 second stretch on each foot after my workout. That area needs more attention. I can feel my heel cord stretching (not in a good way) on my elliptical too much. I remember my ankle injury in August, and it felt like the muscle or tendon was being ripped off the bone. Don't know if that was what was happening, but that's what it felt like. So, more stretching. I do get a deeper heel cord stretch when I'm in my Five Fingers too.

I'm also getting my butt in gear finally with my walker. I'm a bit hesitant to mention anything about it here, but I suppose I will. Since I have so much better balance in these shoes, I figure it's time to use my walker. I used it a few weeks ago at a doctor's appointment, and once I got the feel for it, I did just fine. I think I'm finally in the right frame of mind to get out of the stinkin' wheelchair I've been using. There will still be instances (for now) where I'll need to use the wheelchair (transporting things), but I have a plan.

Right now, I have a basic walker. Two wheels in front, and two rubber stoppers in back. No basket, no shelf, nothing to put things on. So, when I need to carry something, that's an issue. My plan is this. To get used to using my current walker. I'll use it when I go to the bathroom, since I don't need to carry anything on those trips. Once I use my walker consistently for about a month or two, I'm going to "upgrade". I found a walker on Amazon.com which will do nicely. It's got four wheels, handbrakes, a basket, and a seat. I don't plan on sitting on the seat, I plan on using that as a shelf to carry things.

I don't want to buy it now because I don't want to get it and then not use it. So if I can use my current one consistently for a few months, I'll get it. I need to get used to it first. I already had one trip to the bathroom and back, and I did fine. I was slow, and I hesitated in my steps a few times, but all in all, it went OK for my first time. I'll get used to it more and more as I use it. My husband said I should buy it now, and I’m tempted. We’ll see. I might.

Enough about that for now. I'll keep you all posted on my walker progress. It's sort of what happened when I finally decided to lose weight. A light switch went off, and I'm going to do this.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance-0.5 mile
Revolutions-880
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury- No real issues.
Time-18:10

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.5 miles today
192.8 miles since April 28, 2008
7.94 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here's the picture of today's mileage point.

Looks like a nice and sunny day. Open road ahead and blue skies.

Too Early To Tell

2010-10-24T11:39:00.001-07:00

First day of the elliptical using my Vibram Five Fingers shoes again. I did a half mile in 18 minutes, and I really wanted to go more. I told myself that I would not go more than a half mile or 20 minutes, whichever came first. It was really hard not to go longer, and even harder not to go too fast. I had to keep telling myself to slow down when I noticed I was going faster than I wanted to be.

The good thing is that the muscle knots aren't as aggravated as they were on Thursday. It's still too early to tell whether or not I will have any problems with my ankle. My mind was playing tricks on me, as I thought I felt a twinge in my right ankle. I just think that was the muscle knots that I was feeling. We'll see how it goes the rest of this week. I plan on only going a half mile the rest of the week.

Elliptical stats for the day:
Distance-0.5 mile
Revolutions-880
Resistance level-1
Endurance-excellent
Injury-some muscle knot issue, not bad though. Not sure about the possibility of an ankle problem yet (switched shoes to Five Fingers)
Time-18:22

Virtual walk tour stats for the day:
0.5 miles today
192.4 miles since April 28, 2008
8.67 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Here's the picture of today's mileage point.

Looks like there are a couple of tractors on the side of the road. I wonder what they're doing.

Hope everyone had a good weekend, and has a great week ahead.

Workin’ On The Weekend

2010-10-23T17:13:00.001-07:00

I took the last two days off from exercise because I wanted to see if the muscle knots in my lower right leg would go away. They have somewhat, but they are still there. I plan on getting onto the elliptical again tomorrow. I also plan on switching back to my Five Fingers shoes. I'm not sure how long I'll go on the elliptical tomorrow morning, but I want to try for at least a half mile. That will probably take me about 20 minutes, which will be enough time to see how my shoes do.

I am enjoying the cooler weather lately. The weather has finally changed from summer to fall out here in the California desert. We are now having highs in the lower to mid eighties, instead of in the nineties or lower hundreds. We also got a ton of rain earlier in the week. I think we ended up getting over an 1½ inch, but I can't be sure.

I did get a lot of writing done today. I wrote five articles plus this blog post. I have two more to write before looking for more. I will do those tomorrow as my eyes are dead.

Hope your weekend is going well. Keep on moving.

Grrr…Ow.

2010-10-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

This morning's elliptical workout was a bit frustrating. It started off well enough, but then the muscle knots in my lower right leg started to aggravate me. Not only that, but around .6 mile, the display screen on my elliptical reset. So I went .1 mile more, and decided to call it a day. Not sure why my display screen reset, I just replaced the batteries last week. I did see the low battery sign flash once during my workout, but I thought that was just a fluke. Then later on, I bumped the machine with my knee, and it reset. I actually said out loud, "You did not just do that!" Yes, I do talk to inanimate objects sometimes.

Later tonight I will break out my heating pads and tens unit. Both of those seem to work well on muscle knots. Funny thing is now my leg feels fine.

Here are today's elliptical stats.

Distance-About .7 mile
Revolutions-1408
Resistance level-1
Endurance-OK
Injury-Muscle knots were bugging me.
Time-Not accurate. I'm saying about 30 minutes at most.
1 mile time-N/A

Virtual walk website stats.

.7 miles today
191.8 miles since April 28, 2008
9.39 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City county

Here is the picture for today.

Still pretty active right now in this area. Pretty cool.

Mileage For Wednesday

2010-10-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

I decided to take Tuesday off from exercise, because I thought my legs were tired. I probably could have managed one mile at least, but I decided to take it easy. Better to be safe than sorry. Today I did my strength training, and I'm thinking about going up to two sets of my arm exercises. I will see how I feel Monday, and if I feel up to it I will do two sets. I've been using 10 pound weights for about four or five months I think now. It's time I made some progress on that.

I also got in 1.3 miles on the elliptical today. I had no intention of beating my time for one mile, but I ended up doing it in 33:30. About 20 seconds off of my time from Monday.

One thing I've noticed in the last few weeks, is that I am constantly hungry! I had my normal breakfast of a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crisp cereal. I decided to eat a banana right before getting on my elliptical, and I'm very glad I did. I was starving by the end of the 45 minutes. I had to eat lunch before writing this post because I was so hungry. Hee hee hee.

I am only about 9 miles from the big 200 on the virtual walk tour site. Very exciting! Looks like I'll be in Mechums River by then.

Here are today's elliptical stats.

Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2331
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Great
Injury-No problems
Time-45:07
1 mile time-33:30

Virtual walk website stats.

1.3 miles today
191.2 miles since April 28, 2008
10.11 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City county

Here is the picture for today.

I'm still seeing cars on the road. I wonder how long that will last. Until tomorrow, keep on moving.

New Personal Record

2010-10-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

Got an a good solid half hour of strength training in this morning, plus 45 minutes total on the elliptical. I felt good and strong when I first started elliptical, so I decided to try to beat my personal record for one mile. The first half mile went so fast I wasn't sure where the time went. That's when I decided to go for it. And I beat my time! By about 9 seconds. My previous time was 33:20, and today's time was 33:11.

Since I beat the time today, I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see how my legs feel tomorrow morning. I was able to get to my sprit pace for a little longer today, and I was able to keep my normal pace around 55 RPMs. I did have to stop around 0.8 mile to get a drink of water, but that was my only stop during the mile.

Here are today's elliptical stats.

Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2349
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Good.
Injury-None, just muscle knots.
Time-45:17
1 mile time-33:11

Virtual walk website stats.

1.3 miles today
189.8 miles since April 28, 2008
10.83 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City county

Here is the picture for today.

There's another biker! It's fun to see so much activity on the road lately. Up until now, the road has been dreary and empty, just lined by a lot of green trees. Which is fine, as I like green trees. But it is nice to actually sees signs of life along the road.

Hope you all are doing well. What does your week look like?

Mileage And A Movie

2010-10-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

I got in 1.3 miles this morning. Didn't have a chance to blog about it until now. I showered, got dressed, ate lunch, and watched a movie from Netflix with the hubby. We saw The Lovely Bones. It was a good movie, a bit slow, but well done. I enjoy Mark Wahlberg a lot as an actor. He did a good job I thought in this movie. I also like Rachel Weisz.

The 1.3 miles went OK today. Wasn't a fast or hard workout, but not too slow either. Legs weren't too tired, so I went ahead did 45 minutes.

Here are today's elliptical stats.

Distance-1.3 miles
Revolutions-2288
Resistance level-1
Endurance-Good.
Injury-Muscle knots in my lower right leg. Not a big problem though.
Time-45:26
1 mile time-34:40

Virtual walk website stats.

1.3 miles today
188.6 miles since April 28, 2008
12.28 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City county

Here is the picture for today.

Passing through Charlottesville, I'm seeing a lot more activity. I like it a lot. Those two ladies on the side of the road speed walking brought a smile to my face. And more cars too. I did a virtual wave to Kath who owns a blog: KERF (Kath Eats Real Food), as she lives in Charlottesville. Wonder what it will look like tomorrow. I plan on doing at least one mile tomorrow morning.