The Summer Solstice was Yesterday?

For years I thought that the solstices fell on the 21st day of June and December. Apparently that's changed because even though today is the first day of summer, yesterday was the longest day. Or the hottest. I know it's been hotter, but it was hard to put my hoodie on over my gym clothes this morning. I did anyway. Didn't zip it up until I got on the cardio machine though. 45 min gives me 5.08 miles and I'm drenched.

Why do I wear the hoodies? One, because I'm usually cold when I first start out in the gym, and two, and this is probably closer to the truth, I like pulling the hoodie down over my eyes because I "run" with my eyes closed. And apparently, as B has told me, I have a big grin on my face.

"How can you be smiling going that fast?" she wants to know. But I can't imagine not because it feels so good. It's a weird kind of pleasure, not quite the breathlessness where your lungs ache. Sometimes I lip-synch along with my iPod. That'll definitely take your breath away! If I were a "hat" person, I'd have a baseball cap with the visor pulled down over my eyes. And third, the hoodie keeps my sopping wet hair from flopping all over the place and spraying innocent bystanders. (I've been having to wipe down all my stations with the paper towels and bleach solution the gym kindly places in strategic places.)

My shoulder is sore but I haven't changed my routine so that's puzzling. Muscles don't suddenly develop soreness for no reason. Aw hell, I decide to bench heavy today and get almost 3 sets of 12 reps at 135 lbs. On the last set I falter at 10 reps so to compensate, and because I'm disappointed in myself, I pyramid sets down without resting. Then off to do abs or cage stretching (and side-kicks) before I come back for the delts. Twisting situps and lower ab kick outs are so routine now that I lose count as soon as I hit 100. At the cage I realize that I'm knocking against it when I dip to do high side kicks. Hadn't noticed because I'd been too focused on hitting my targets (points on the cage) with my heel instead of the side of my foot. Gosh I'm such an idiot sometimes.

Not brave enough today to up my weights doing delts. 15 lb dumbbells for 3 sets of front raises, 6 sets of lateral raises and 6 sets of seated rear inclined raises. And I'm wearing braces on both elbows. At first I have the area to myself but soon the floor is inundated with gangly high school boys who really really have no idea what they're doing. Well, maybe the one or two jocks do, but the rest of them would be better off watching Schwarzenegger's Pumping Iron.

Tricep extensions ends my workout. I do a set with 15 lbs but I can get 20 reps. With my left arm (the weak arm). So I do another 2 sets with the 20 lb dumbbells. That's much harder, and my wrists aren't at all happy. I'm done. Just enough time to stretch out, shower and change. The scale works today and it reads 106.2 lbs. That feels right. I've actually been eating instant oatmeal for breakfast, and an extra protein shake when I get home. It's a great way to use spotty bananas! I'm looking to see a little increase in size somewhere (not my waist!) so I guess I'll just have to see what develops!