26 April 2010

A couple of weeks ago, right after I got the Trikke, I was told about this nifty little device that would help me keep track of the distances I go, time it takes, and more importantly, heart rate and calories burned.

Out of all of that knowing my heart rate has been important; a few times I've had to stop and cool down a bit because I've exceeded my max HR, though not by much. What I've liked most about it is knowing how far I've gone and how fast--seeing that I can shave some time off my distances--and the calorie burn (used to justify a burger, of course...)

But then I discovered I can do this:



Clicky to see full page

I can see maps of where I've been, my average paces, sweet little graphs.

It's awesome.

And because it maps my whereabouts and I can share them with the world, I'm likely to expand my distances, because my ego is that big.

Barring rain, over the next 10 days the Spouse Thingy and I are going to check out some other places to Trikke (because he has a few days off...) and we'll probably do some other things, but dangit, I want to make my maps all squiggly with red lines.

And then, justify a burger and fries.

A really big burger and fries...

24 April 2010

Odds n Ends #987,267

• I am having way too much fun with the Trikke. I managed to get it going fairly easily when I started, which made me happy, but tiny little, nearly invisible inclines were kicking my ass. Now I can get up with with only marginal effort.
• I'm up to 4 miles at a time on it; yesterday (with frequent water breaks) that took me an hour. Today I did it in 50 minutes, with a couple of water stops and a couple of stops to answer questions from curious people.
• I did not mind; one of those people seems to want one, the other was just curious about it, but it was good to stop to get my heart rate down a little, as it was a touch over what I think my max should be.
• I need a bigger water bottle. I could have stayed out a little longer today and gone further, but I ran out of water, and for me that's a big no-no.
• I wore shorts. That's a Big Farking Deal.
• Only lost one pound last week, but that's all right. If I can get back to a pound a week, I'll be happy.
• I shaved my legs so I could wear shorts...that might be a pound right there.
• I may not resist the temptation to go back out later for an easy. Just for fun ride.
• I want cake.

23 April 2010

Max needs an iPad, too...

19 April 2010

Tell me why someone would wear this t-shirt to a TV interview about one's little brother who is recovering from a coma?

I mean...really?
Made me LOL, but...really?

16 April 2010

I had honestly expected that by now I would have reached my goal weight; we started this back in July and I was losing weight at a pretty good clip thanks to Jenny Craig, and I did reasonably well on my own after being booted out of the program—right up until the beginning of 2010. Since then, I've lost a grand total of 3 pounds, and to say I'm discouraged is an understatement.

I wasn't overeating; if anything I was under-eating, but adding a couple hundred calories a day to my diet didn't work. I was having some serious medication issues—my DDAVP was working too well, and I had to skip it a couple of nights a week in order to shed added water weight—but that shouldn't have affected my metabolism.

Other than jacking up my activity level, I'm stumped. At my height and weight, with the calorie level I've been taking in, I should be able to drool and burn body fat.

Hence, the Trikke. It's a very low impact, full body workout, and something I can do every day, especially now that I can really get it moving. I had it out for an hour this morning and half an hour again later this afternoon, and was on it for an hour yesterday...but if I don't start losing weight again, I swear, I'm throwing in the towel and going on a pizza and Sees candy diet.

I should have reached my goal by now, and frankly, I'm kinda pissed that I haven't.

14 April 2010

Just to show I can... ;) (and I apologize for the crappy video quality...it was taken with my iPhone...)




And because I was having so much fun The Spouse Thingy decided he'd give it a try, too, and damn if he didn't really get it moving his very first time on one:

13 April 2010

Sweet...I actually have a workout tool that's fun. The Spouse Thingy and I headed out this morning, him on his skates and me on my Trikke, and we zipped around the park for not quite an hour, and late this afternoon we went back out for another almost-hour. My legs are like rubber right now and my arms ache, but I had a blast. I think I've really got the hang of it; I doubt I could go uphill yet, but that's not because of not knowing what to do, it's being in such piss poor shape.

I'll get there, and it beats going to the gym by a long shot.

He may give the Trikke a try tomorrow to see if he likes it...but if he does we're buying another on because I'm not sharing. I'm mature like that.

11 April 2010

I like spiffy toys, that's no secret. My scooter, my Kindle, my new Trikke...very spiffy toys.

Someone made the mistake of pointing out a new spiffy toy that would have me surely coveting, and they were right. I want.

I'm going to share because I'm betting someone else will want it, too.

It's a StreetStrider, kind of a bike/ellpitical/jogging hybrid. Major calorie burning potential here.

The countdown to my birthday begins...now.

9 April 2010

The day before yesterday, after the Spouse Thingy nicely assembled my Trikke, I tried riding it in the court out in front of the house; the problem is that the court is just not an especially level street surface, which is not ideal for learning on. It crowns in the middle, and slopes a little bit downward on one side and upward on the other. I needed flatness, so we headed for a grade school parking lot, where I got the thing to move, decided I wanted to expand a little bit, so we went to the park where I could go round and round on the sidewalk. Flatness, other than the annoying seams in the cement.

Today I took it back out to the court, determined to figure out how to ride it there, getting it up the very, very slight incline, and still maintaining some speed.

I knew I had to lean, that's what makes it work. It finally clicked that it would move and accelerate if I rode it like I was taking a motorcycle through a slalom of cones: back and forth, weaving through the imaginary cones. It worked; other than a few times when I lost momentum because a car came onto the court, I zipped around for a hour, and only stopped because I didn't want to overdo it.

My legs are feeling it now and I may be sore tomorrow. But, this is what I wanted—a workout I would actually look forward to doing. It's supposed to rain this weekend, which is bumming me out. Not only will the Trikke stay put, but I finally got my scooter back after being in the shop for 2 weeks, and I might not be able to ride it, either (ok, I could ride in the rain, but that doesn't float my boat...)

My goal: to be able to use it as transportation, and get it over to the frozen yogurt shop where I can negate all the calories I've burned.

Everyone needs goals.

8 April 2010

Last night's freaking odd dream...

Funny: I was living inside The Big Bang Theory.

Not so funny: the Spouse Thingy was Sheldon.

7 April 2010

WooHoo. I got my new toy.




And I got it to move. I was worried because I read a ton of "I can't get this thing to move at all, what am I doing wrong?" on Trikke forums and blog posts, but part of it is not unlike being on a motorcycle--as long as you're not afraid to lean, you can make it go. To turn on a motorcycle, you have to lean; forward movement on this, you have to lean.

But dang, it is a full body workout...just what I needed, to be sure. I think I have a favorite new toy, after the Spouse Thingy and my scooter.

4 April 2010

Thanks to rain, I still haven't had a chance to take the skates outside and risk humiliation and multiple fractures. But! Thanks to the rain I've had a chance to do other things, one of which reminded me of this really cool scooter I once saw on TV, which compelled me to get online and research it.

And, well, me being me, and me being a toy whore, I developed a mad case of the Wants.

It's a Trikke. A Human Powered Vehicle. And from everything I've read, it's a bitch to learn how to ride, but once you get the hang of it, it's a royal blast and one hell of a full body workout.

Oh, yeah, I wanted once even more. Hard to ride? Phfft. Surely I would be a natural and take to it like a duck takes to water, except for that one weird little duck that used to wander around the air force base pond; all he ever did was hump other ducks, and I don't think I ever saw him in the water. I can ride a motorcycle, I can get the hang of this thing.

I hope so, anyway, because mine gets here on Wednesday...