Sunday, September 30, 2007

While I wait for the Rain to Go Offshore

Woman with worlds most expensive (and worth it, cuz sunstroke sucks) backpack (camelbak) wins wet tshirt contest. SOAKED. Head to toe. Hehe. If you click on the pic, it'll enlarge and you can see the thoroughness of the drenching.

Happy as a clam. And waiting for the storm to head offshore so I can continue my Sunday ride. :)


Happy Sunday!

It's 10 past 9 in the morning, and I'm barely coherent.
One of P's idiot international fans was kind enough to give me a wake up call
about an hour ago... grumble... I can't believe those numbers are still circulating.

OK.. so the week in review:
Food: Perfect - no carbs week number 1 complete. Ironically, it was Mark that wanted to restart/kickstart with another induction phase, and I hopped on to be supportive, and he gave up a couple days in saying he just didn't have enough energy with lifting and no carbs... s'ok - he has less to lose than me - take your time, dear. ;)

Exercise: Very Good, but not excellent... or maybe I'm just being hard on myself, because I only went cycling twice, due to all the rain...

I rejoined the gym this week, and added gym cardio and weightlifting back into the equation. Did I actually take a day off this week? Umm.. yeah. Yesterday. I went to the spa next door and got a facial and soaked in the jacuzzi for hours... Ahhhh...

My skin looks great, but my spine is nowhere near as happy as I would have liked. I don't get it - how can I feel worse after a day of pampering than before it? Sigh... the esthetician must've hit a couple of my landmines.

I'm hopeful that a nice ride this morning will calm the beasties within.


Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Rain Rain Go Away!

3rd morning
in a row
I wake up and it's raining too hard to go ride!
and thunder
and lightening.

This sucks.

Definitely feeling the weight lifting from yesterday though,
so that's good...
means I did enough to make an impact.

OK.. to the gym I go for cardio and more lifting.
Since I didn't do biceps or triceps yesterday,
I'll figure out a way to do those today,
without troubling all the herniated disks...

C2-3, C3-4, C4-5, C5-6, C6-7

or the RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) in T10-12...

Ahhh, all the little landmines of my spine...
lol...
and the challenge of not setting them off...

So far so good.


Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Back to the Gym

A little updating...

I went on the ride with Mosaic Sunday, and it was gorgeous... not in a traditional sense of the word, since it was overcast and a little rainy, but for a 24 mile ride (20 with them and another 4 on my own after), it couldn't have been more ideal.

I really enjoyed the pack riding experience. It was a first for me, and I found myself doing things, like riding on a very busy road and over bridges, that I wouldn't have normally done on my own.. very freeing. :) I also learned a little about how to maximize the pack riding experience... like making sure to be in the front of the pack when a bridge comes up - I got stuck in the back for one, and it was brutal being behind the slowest riders going up a bridge. Yucko.

Gonna upgrade the bike soon too.

Monday I did nothing but get a massage... also quite wonderful... and even better, I didn't need to recuperate after the massage - big bonus. The last time I got one, it released so much lactic acid into my system it actually knocked me out of the loop for 2 days.

Today, Tuesday, I re-upped at the gym at the community center. It was raining again this morning, so I couldn't ride, and it was just time. I've been wanting to start lifting weights again anyhow. So, I went to the gym, did my cardio there on the arc trainer for an hour, then set about to the machines... and I found myself totally lost & totally hating being inside a gym for a workout - instead of out on my bike... a very odd feeling for me since I used to be such a gym rat... With the spinal issues and not wanting to injure myself, I kept to the lat pull, chest press and the leg machines... and then abs, plenty of abs...

All the while I was hoping my trainer would walk through the door and put me out of my misery... I waited and worked out about 3.5 hours... no luck. SO I just called him a few minutes ago - he's on vacation in Puerto Rico, and he answered anyway - and we're gonna get going again next week. :)

I'm very psyched. I've dropped about 60-65 pounds since I was last working with him, so the workouts should be much more productive this go around... I can't wait to start lifting in earnest. And more Pilates...

Ahhhh...

I'm also back on induction phase... This should be a VERY productive next couple of weeks.


Saturday, September 22, 2007

Random Thoughts

The Rabbi last night was really great...
I'll be going back for more shortly,
Just want to get a random thought out there first.

I am my job.

First and foremost.

Tomorrow, I'll begin to celebrate that with a 20 mile ride up in Hollywood.


Thursday, September 20, 2007

Big Fat Reality Check

Sigh...

OK.. still thrilled with my progress, but I just had a big, fat reality check in the clothes trying on department. :( 12 capris fit, 14 shorts don't. I just tried em on, and I was hoping for an easy on, but not even by a long shot... I'd guess another 10-20 need to come off in the belly. The legs and tush were fine. Where the hell did this belly come from? Used to be the only thing that always stayed flat.

I'm making progress, but not as fast as I thought...

Forging ahead... as soon as the exhaustion from BB wears off.

And making a re-upping my gym membership to add on to all the cycling.


Saturday, September 15, 2007

Holy Cow

I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since I wrote anything here. Unreal. Big Brother has taken over my writing life for the past little while, but it's about to be over, so... back to personal blogging I shall be. :)

OK.. here's the good news: while I haven't updated my big fat blog, I have been working out (cycling) and eating as if I had. Drumroll please...

When I started sometime in April, I was in 20s and 22s... Last week, I randomly picked something marked 12 off a hanger to try it on, and it fit!!!!!!!!! OK.. the word "fit" may be a bit of a stretch, cuz I wouldn't actually dream of sitting down in those pants just yet. But... (a big miami sized buttt) I was able to get them on, no shimmying, no sucking anything in, no lying down... ON.

So, there is definitely progress. :)

Yippeeee!

Still loving riding, and can't wait to get back to massive morning rides once it cools down just a little. It's brutal by like 9am now, so I've barely gotten like 90 minutes in in the mornings lately. I overdid it once a few weeks ago, and made myself pretty ill with sunstroke - damn near puked & passed out at the oasis while I was ordering my cortadito. So, no more hero rides for me till it cools down... Sunstroke is scary.

Also cool.. LOTs of people noticing the loss now.

Gonna re-start with my trainer October 1st. :) And gonna upgrade the bike for my bday present to myself...

Life is very good.