Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night...

Sometimes people ask me how I can go to the gym and work at such a high intensity all the time. I tend to give them the blank "deer-in-the-headlight" look because it takes a moment for me to register what the question is. Then another moment for me to formulate a coherent answer other than "But this is how I work out." Because this truly is how I work out. I'm not adhering to any schedule or any pre-imposed routine. This is my routine. This makes me happy.

I do worry about a time when I won't be able to build muscle the way I can now. But for now, I'm taking advantage of perio-menopause, figuring that there's no better way to deal with crazy hormones that with intense vigorous exercise. With dropping estrogen levels (and I was never a girly-girl anyway), this is probably the best time to build muscle. Of course, if my body wasn't responding to the routine, I'd change it. I've done it before. You have to pay attention to yourself and then determine whether it's working or not. Then do something about it.

That's probably the hard part: doing something. I'm pleased to see a bunch of regulars today. New ones too. Women who've been shy about working out but have found the determination to say "the heck with it, I'm still gonna move some dumbells." I've been trying to be better at the small gesture of waving or smiling just to acknowledge them. I'm not always successful. B confronts me today and wants to know if I'm mad at her because I didn't talk to her yesterday. Naw, just never got an opportune moment. V ambushes me as I'm heading towards the front desk and I give a quick wave and side-step him. I hate being ambushed. Later, when I'm leaving, I see him reading the newspaper and sipping coffee. I call out Bye to him, but he doesn't hear me and I'm already late for a doctor's appointment. Just as well. I don't think I'm the only one who avoids chatting with him.

During my workout, I see Tall Pace U, Mr T-shirt and Fish Guy all chatting while spotting each other on the flat and inclined bench presses. Mr T-shirt wrestles a bench back from where I'm standing while yelling (because I'm completely plugged-in and can't hear him anyway), asking me if it's in my way. I give him a blank look and just move horizontally out of the way. I know he's desperate to make conversation, but I can't imagine what he'd say that'd be interesting. Maybe I'm being too harsh. But I don't want to be B, who spends hours at the gym, chatting. If you really want to chat with me, catch me as I'm leaving, when I'm done with my workout. And damn, you'd better have something interesting to say.

Today's Total Workout:
35 min hill #5 (just for variety) = 4.07 miles (my legs feel stiff and I'm breathing hard, but the sweat is running down my face, and I enjoy it!)
Seated Cable Rows: 12 @ 90 / 12 @ 105 / 3 x 10 @ 120 lbs (Amazing Stretch & Curly Cap are doing consecutive sets of Pull Ups, side-hopping Push Ups, then something else just out of my peripheral vision. They're pretty impressive and very intense. I like watching them without actually staring.)
Cage Stretch & Kicks (the right calf is much much looser today)
Lower Back Extension: 25 @ 90 lbs / 25 @ 97.5 lbs
Pull Ups: 12 / 12 / 10+2 (but for the last 2, I can barely get my face halfway to the bar and my right front shoulder twinges ominously)
Reverse Grip Bent-Over BB Rows: 15 @ 70 lbs / 6 x 15 @ 75 lbs (I see the two girls from last week at the squat rack and they're doing Bent Over BB Rows with an Olympic bar which is 45 lbs. They're much taller than me so they can balance the length of the bar much better than I can.)
Torso Twist: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs (oddly, the seat adjustment peg is horribly bent, as if some massive body plopped itself down on the station and bent the seat pin -- I shudder to imagine it)
Alternating DB Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs (I'm going to have to up the weight on this)
Concentration Curls: 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Ab Crunch Machine: 2 x 60 (feet up on stays) / 2 x 60 (feet flat on floor)
Reverse Grip BB Curls: 6 x 20 @ 40 lbs (just to see if I could do it and how bad would it feel, and I guess now that I've done it, there's no excuse to do 6 sets on a regular basis)
Mat Stretch

The gym scale reads 110.2 lbs and my home scale confirms a weight of 107.4 lbs. I'm good. What's not good is that my eye doctor says the eye drops are not controlling my glaucoma so he's sending me off to a glaucoma specialist. The options will probably include various forms of surgery. I'm not at all pleased. I've already had an iridotomy where a laser punches a hole in your iris to allow fluids to drain. It's been determined that I'm allergic to a variety of eye drops, but not the standard Xalatan®. However, that's not controlling my pressure as much as it should. According to my eye doctor, treatment involves dropping the eye pressure at least 30% of whatever the normal pressure is. So someone like me, who had fairly low pressure to begin with (18), needs to have pressure down in the 12-13 range. Sigh. As the late great Gilda Radner's Roseanne Rosannadanna said, "It's always something!"