I am Jester. Hear me whimper.

[Jester]

20 miles. Had I gone out earlier, I could have gone even further, but I stopped due to the sun setting.

But I did get a couple of pictures for you guys. They're not great, because as much as I love my phone, the camera on it blows chunks, and they make things look a touch darker than they were, but it should give you an idea of what things looked like on my final lap of The Loop. For the record, I was going clockwise on The Loop, which means that along the seawall, the sunset was in my face, the shadows were behind me, and the water was to my left. If you look at the second picture, you'll notice the shadow of me on my bike. The third picture is just one of my really awesome bike...because I can. (Okay, technically that isn't my actual bike, just a picture of one that is identical that I found on the net. But you get the idea.)

[raw456]

Friday my hubby had my car so I had to make my own way home from work. Which would normally be 2 busses or 2 trains and a bus. I walked to the station from work (not quite 1km) took the train to the station I have to change at and then just walked home from there. 4.3km and I did it in 44mins and that was with a 5kg backpack on, so I'm rather chuffed at that.

I'm also thinking about buying a pushbike. Not necessarily for the commute to work as there are too many major roads and very few bike friendly areas during peak hour traffic, but more for after work, popping down the shops, etc... I found a really nice one, but it's $500 so I need to save up a bit first.

Jester - love the photos! it must be amazing to have that view while you workout.

[Jester]

Jester - love the photos! it must be amazing to have that view while you workout.

Yes and no.

Having lived here 11 years (and being from another beautiful place, Arizona), I am quite used to it.

But it is still nice. Of course, my head is far more often turned by the Hot Babe rollerblading, jogging, running, or bicycling down the same stretch. The bad part for me is that when I do this near sunset, I am usually semi-blinded by the sun on the beach part of The Loop (the part pictured). I really should have gotten out earlier today.

[Sapphire Silk]

Friday my hubby had my car so I had to make my own way home from work. Which would normally be 2 busses or 2 trains and a bus. I walked to the station from work (not quite 1km) took the train to the station I have to change at and then just walked home from there. 4.3km and I did it in 44mins and that was with a 5kg backpack on, so I'm rather chuffed at that.

I'm also thinking about buying a pushbike. Not necessarily for the commute to work as there are too many major roads and very few bike friendly areas during peak hour traffic, but more for after work, popping down the shops, etc... I found a really nice one, but it's $500 so I need to save up a bit first.

You managed the average mph speed for a human walking, which is good. If you do that every day you will manage to burn some calories over the long term.

I bought a bike last year and haven't used it much . . . found I was too out of shape. My part of North Carolina is fairly hilly, and my knees just weren't up to it. However, a stationary bike is part of my regimen at PT, so I'm thinking soon I'll have enough muscle mass to handle the hills (I do fine on level surfaces). I really did not realize just how out of shape I had gotten--I used to bike everywhere when I was in college, and even when I was in California (until I hurt my knee--again).

Jester, the sunset looks just lovely. I love sunsets. Thanks for sharing.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Okay, put on some jeans with a lower rise and belt today and looked great. Still have a bit of the dreaded muffin top, but it's nowhere near as bad and my clothes fit better. Wore a nice fitted tshirt and a fitted "shrunken" style blazer and no rolls visible at all.

Looked good. Was much pleased.

Fell off the wagon a bit and ate a cookie. However, my daughter made the cookies so I kind of had to eat one. Still, didn't lose control and eat a bunch of them.

Went to Travinia for supper and deliberately ordered the ahi tuna so they would not bring any pasta out to the table Their pasta is irresistible so I didn't want it anywhere near me.

Also remembered a side effect of doing hardcore low carb: it takes very, very little alchohol to make you drunk.

[Jester]

Also remembered a side effect of doing hardcore low carb: it takes very, very little alchohol to make you drunk.

I haven't noticed that.

Then again, I may not be going as low carb as you. Also, since I drink mostly beer, which has plenty of carbs, that effect may not be as obvious with me.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

People have different tolerances as far as daily carb count goes. Mine is very, very low. If you're drinking regular beer every day, you're taking in more carbs than I am by a good bit. Beer isn't terribly carby, believe it or not, but it is if someone's trying to do Atkins induction, which I am right now.

I have to shave the carb count down to below twenty to thirty a day to see any real weight loss. You take in twenty carbs a day for a couple and weeks and then start drinking and see what a cheap date you are.

[Jester]

Yesterday, due to the chicken wing cookoff, I did not get a workout in. Today, due to the booze inhaled at the wing cookoff, I had to have a Coke to help combat my hangover. (Caffeine is a vasodilator, and thus helps combat the effects of hangovers.)

So I'll be off to work soon, and then tonight either hitting the gym or the bike. I ma leaning towards the gym today, just to mix things up, and also to weigh myself. I don't own a scale, and use the one at the gym. But I have decided that, rather than weighing myself every time I'm at the gym, I am only going to weigh myself once a week, either on Monday or the first day of the week after Monday that finds me in the gym.

And there is nothing now in my fridge that is off my lower carb diet. There is the whole shitload of craft beers I bought yesterday, but as I've said many times before, beer is ON my diet, and I am NOT giving it up. Especially when I can try so many cool craft beers. See, my local beer monger (one of the cooler liquor stores in town) happens to carry a lot of craft beers, and they have a killer deal where they sell a lot of them as single bottles, so you can try them out without committing to (or spending for) a whole six pack. And if you get a mixed six pack, they give you 10% off the price of all of them. Yeah, you still end up spending about $15 on a six pack of beer, but it's a way to try six different beers that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. What a deal? Amusingly, I picked up two mixed six packs, and a six pack of each of two beers that I like a lot. And THEN the bastard clerk working there talked me into a bottle of Spanish red wine I have not had before. How did he do this? By telling me that it was, in his opinion, far superior to my favorite Spanish red wine, with which he was actually familiar. (Not everyone is.) So, yeah, I'm stocked up on booze.

Now I have to get into the gym so I can feel justified in all this alcoholic splendor.

[trailerparkmedic]

I didn't want to, but I got up early this morning and ran. It had the added benefit of getting me up and focused for the crap ton of work I have to do today.

[Sapphire Silk]

Okay, put on some jeans with a lower rise and belt today and looked great. Still have a bit of the dreaded muffin top, but it's nowhere near as bad and my clothes fit better. Wore a nice fitted tshirt and a fitted "shrunken" style blazer and no rolls visible at all.

Looked good. Was much pleased.

Fell off the wagon a bit and ate a cookie. However, my daughter made the cookies so I kind of had to eat one. Still, didn't lose control and eat a bunch of them.

Went to Travinia for supper and deliberately ordered the ahi tuna so they would not bring any pasta out to the table Their pasta is irresistible so I didn't want it anywhere near me.

Also remembered a side effect of doing hardcore low carb: it takes very, very little alchohol to make you drunk.

Congrats on the progress!

Don't worry about treating yourself once in awhile. Completely depriving yourself just makes it easier to fall off the diet wagon. The trick is frequency and portion control: treats once or twice a week, small portions. IE, one cookie, not five

Yesterday, due to the chicken wing cookoff, I did not get a workout in. Today, due to the booze inhaled at the wing cookoff, I had to have a Coke to help combat my hangover. (Caffeine is a vasodilator, and thus helps combat the effects of hangovers.)

Actually, caffeine is a vasoconstrictor . . . it helps the headache by stopping vasospasm. It's also a stimulant, makes you more alert at the time time because it improves blood flow through the brain.

So I'll be off to work soon, and then tonight either hitting the gym or the bike. I ma leaning towards the gym today, just to mix things up, and also to weigh myself. I don't own a scale, and use the one at the gym. But I have decided that, rather than weighing myself every time I'm at the gym, I am only going to weigh myself once a week, either on Monday or the first day of the week after Monday that finds me in the gym.

I weigh myself once a week, on Thursdays, in the mornings. Your weight can fluctuate a bit from day to day, hour to hour. By weighing oneself at the same time of day, once a week, on the same scale, you get a better picture of what your weight loss actually is. I'm lucky: I have a good quality medical scale at work I can use. So if you can discpline yourself to go to the gym every Monday and keep it consisent you should have a better idea how much weight you are actually losing.

Of course, you work two jobs, so that might be a little more difficult, but if you can . . .

I also have a tape measure and am keeping track of my waist size in inches.

Did not work out yesterday due to not feeling well. Took off today from work as well. However, I am feeling much better now, so I plan to go to my TKD class after my PT appointment this afternoon. I did do my stretching exercises and my leg lifts yesterday even though I didn't feel all that good so at least I got that much done

[Jester]

Actually, caffeine is a vasoconstrictor . . . it helps the headache by stopping vasospasm. It's also a stimulant, makes you more alert at the time time because it improves blood flow through the brain.

I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a medical professional. But, uhhh, even dumb me knew caffeine good for hangover, yup yup. Knew it something with blood, yup yup.

By weighing oneself at the same time of day, once a week, on the same scale, you get a better picture of what your weight loss actually is.

It won't always be the exact same time of day, but on Monday or Tuesday it will be some time between 6 & 9 pm-ish. And of course, always on the same scale.

Of course, you work two jobs, so that might be a little more difficult...

Actually, I have three jobs. Bartend at The Bar, magic at the toy store, magic at the restaurant. But believe it or not, that doesn't make keeping such a schedule more difficult. I do the magic at both places on Wednesdays, and tend bar the rest of the week. Pretty cake schedule. No reason not to get to the gym or a workout almost every night. (More about this in the update below.)

I also have a tape measure and am keeping track of my waist size in inches.

I'm thinking I should do this, as my biggest complaint is my burgeoning middle.

UPDATE: I did not go to the gym today. And I have an excuse. Unlike all the rest of the excuses I've had before that I've shot down, this was a very valid excuse. To wit: I got home from work, got into my workout clothes, and made an important phone call that I figured would not take all that long. As this was a Very Serious Matter (financial/legal issue), it was something I had to take care of. Well, the call not only lasted far longer than I expected (as I had many questions I needed answers), it turned into another call, as I wanted to get the advice of my attorney. (Yes, I call my attorney at night. As she is the friend I've had the longest on this planet, in addition to being my attorney. Advantage: to date, no attorney fees. Disadvantage: Kids interrupting her while she's proffering her legal advice unto me.) By the time all was said and done, the gym was closed. "But Jester, you could have run."

No.

I CAN. I'm not going to. Why: I hate running. But I am going to do it once a week. Wednesday night, after I get done with the magic at the restaurant. Every Wednesday night (or as many as I can when other things don't interfere). I don't have a real excuse not toe exercise Wednesday nights other than that it's too dark too ride and too late to hit my gym. Well, I can still run The Loop. And I am putting that in my schedule for every Wednesday night, and chalking tonight up as One of Those Things That Happen In Life. We will all have days when something interferes and we can't work out. I am not viewing this as a bad thing, it;s life. And as I said, this was a Very Serious Matter, and it needed my attention.

Now, I figure this would be the perfect place to post some pictures I found online of me in the sprint biathlon that inspired all this.

Picture 1: Me on my lovely bike Amanda. I have many times before posted pics of a bike that was identical to Amanda, but not one of Amanda herself. Here she is in all her glory. And oh yeah, that slow moving fuck on top of her is me. Notice the chill expression. Like I'm out for a casual beachside ride. Sadly, that is about the speed I am going.

Picture 2: Amazing the powers of modern photography. This picture actually makes it appear that I am moving at something vaguely resembling speed. I believe this was the point near the end of the bike portion where I was thinking, "And now I'm supposed to run 3 miles? Hahahahahahaha!!!"

Picture 3: This should be labeled "The Agony of Defeat." Notice how gassed I look. That is because I was, of course, gassed. Notice also the almost complete lack of running form. I am basically stumbling to the finish. Notice also the almost completely lack of runners behind me. Most of them are behind the photographer, as most of them have finished, some looong before me. Now, most humiliating of all, notice the runner behind me. Yes, the child. Yes, the (approximately) ten year old child. He is not running to play with his friends, or to meet his uncle, or to cheer on some adult. He is running to finish the race. Now, he did the full triathlon, which means he also swam over half a mile in open water (not a pool, but a lagoon), which I did not. And, despite the fact that those not swimming were delayed 10 minutes from after the start of the swim to start riding, I know I started riding before this kid, as I saw no kids finish their swim before I took off on my ride. Which means a snot-nosed ten year old brat swim over half a mile, and THEN rode ten miles and ran three and almost did it faster than me. Hell, depending on when he finished the swim and started the ride, he may have actually been faster than me. All this....and he's half my size! AND, unlike my lame ass, he actually has something resembling a running form. He is giving a final kick towards the finish. I, on the other hand, have no kick to give.

Forget "The Agony of Defeat." This picture should be labeled "How Fucking Embarrassing!"

THIS picture, this last one, is the one that will haunt me and inspire me. Yes, I am 30 years older than this kid. But, despite his advantage of youth (and probably training), he is still a kid, and still much smaller than me, and thus has shorter legs. And yet he was right on my ass at the finish. This should never happen.

(I didn't even know about this kid being right behind me until today when I saw the picture for the first time. I was just wanting to get to the finish line so I could crawl into some bushes and die.)

Yeah, I am going to make a point of looking at that last picture A LOT.

[raw456]

.....chalking tonight up as One of Those Things That Happen In Life. We will all have days when something interferes and we can't work out. I am not viewing this as a bad thing, it;s life.....

This used to be my biggest hurdle with exercise. If I missed a night, I would beat myself up, lose my confidence and motivation and quit.

Sometime shit happens and you have to just say to hell with it and pick up when you can. I missed 4 weeks at the gym back around Christmas due to a pinched nerve in my back, but once I got the all clear - I was back at it.

There will be nights I cant make it, there will be nights I feel like shit, or I have other appointments to attend. It's all about balance.

I do like the photos, your bike is cherry (BTW, Amanda is my sisters name) and next race you will crush that kid and there will be much rejoicing

[Jester]

I do like the photos, your bike is cherry...

Damn straight it is. Sadly, Softride, the company that made Amanda, no longer manufactures bikes. They quit doing that about 4 years ago. I found out about a year ago. I almost cried.

No, I am not joking.

By the way, notice the lack of seat post on Amanda. This is a V-frame, something that Softride did, and a few other companies have done. It is sweet, and the guys at various bike shops and my own observations have confirmed for me that I have the only Softride in Key West. And yes, even some of the hardcore triathletes were grooving on my funky bike. Of course, once we got going, they were only seeing it in their rearview......

My goal is to not just have a bike that turns heads, but to be able to ride said bike well enough to be worthy of such a fantastic bike.

...and next race you will crush that kid and there will be much rejoicing

How shall I say this politely? Oh, yeah: Go fuck yourself.

Seriously, I better not see that kid anywhere near me next time. I better be lapping him, his parents, and his dog.

Honestly, I don't care about the kid. I am competing against on person next time: me. That being said, I still don't want to be one of the last people crossing the finish line. Or almost being caught by a damn kid.

If that happens again, I'm going to be telling myself to "Go fuck myself."

[Sapphire Silk]

Middle? What middle?

Have faith, my friend. Before you know it, you'll be hitting your goal numbers.

You actually look pretty good

I haven't weighed myself yet this week, but from last week, I actually gained 3 pounds.

But lost another 1/4 inch off my waist. Shirts that didn't fit me 6 months ago, now fit me again.

Best guess is I've built up some muscle mass, hence the slight weight gain. So I"m not sweating it right now.

My physical therapist pissed me off yesterday, though. I went in for my 1 month evaluation. He feels that I don't need any more therapy, and that I'm "babying" my knees.

I'm annoyed because a) my left heel, which is also causing me problems, is no better and is supposed to get additional therapy per my orthopedist, b) while my left knee is doing much much better, my right knee is still giving me problems. I couldn't do several of the new exercises he wants me to do at home.

Basically, I still have a lot of muscle weakness in the quadraceps, and a lot of pain in the left collatoral ligament and quadraceps tendon. My PTA, who is wonderful, feels I need to build up that muscle strength, but I have had difficulties doing the exercises correctly to get the best benefit which is why I went to PT in the first place.

I can do most of the exercises at home, I'm just anxious about not hurting myself, and annoyed because the physical therapist considers my pain to be an "annoyance" rather than anything serious. If I end up getting more PT it will not be at that place . . . which is a shame since the PTAs were wonderful.

I'm planning to hit the dojang tomorrow for the adult class instead of the family class I usually go to . . . on the assumption I finish grading my students' clinic homework first. That's got to get done before I go to clinic tomorrow afternoon because they have only 48 hours to get this week's work done, so they need the feedback.

[ArcticChicken]

Bad day today. Been working on a paper for my Criminal Procedure class, and I have Issues when it comes to writing. Let myself sleep in today because I was up late last night working on it, so I got up at 10:30EST, ate breakfast, and was going to finish the part of the paper I needed to finish, then do my workout and get on with my day. I didn't finish it until about an hour ago. On the way I ate an entire bar of Lindt dark chocolate truffles. I know that dealing with my emotions via food isn't healthy, but I decided that it was more important to pass this class than it was to loose weight this week.