Week Three Day Five is Leg Day!

Hill 5 and Intervals 8

Counterintuitively, it doesn't seem to matter whether I do one or two sessions of cardio on Leg Day so if I have the time, I prefer to do two. I'm a tad disappointed in my mileage today, but only because I've come to expect better of myself, and I can't always deliver. I should be happy that I made my 8-mile quota for a double cardio session, but instead I feel a bit let down that it was well short of 8.5 miles. Yes, we are our own worst critics!

I'm not even sweating that much and I attribute that to the air conditioning that's running full blast. My hoodie is sodden but not as much as I've come to expect. I do, however, drink my water bottle dry, which is something I haven't done in a long time. The free weight area is sporadically peopled with HS kids and a few regulars. The Mayor, M, Pony Tail Tattoo and Hoodie Tattoo seem to be finishing up their workouts. The Mayor looks sodden in his splotchy over-sized polo shirt, but no amount of fabric can hide the man-boobs. He's not obese by any means, but he's not in shape either. Or at least not a shape I'd consider good. B flits from group to group, chatting. I'm surprised to still see her here this late in the morning, but chatting seems to be her drug.

My right knee felt odd while I was peddling but it didn't hurt. Eventually, by the end of the 2nd session, the knee felt ok. Perhaps it just needed a vigorous warm up. Squats don't feel too bad either and I concentrate on my form, keeping the pressure off my lower back and more on my quads. The Still Legged Dead Lifts taunt me, but I manage to knock out my sets without having to pause or readjust my grip. This is an improvement! The teenage boys who were hovering by the Smith machine quickly dissipate after I strip off my hoodie. No, I don't look anything like those leggy teenage girls in their tiny shorts and neon tanks.

After stretching out in the Cage and performing a few side kicks, I try to knock out a dozen or so Pistol Squats but I'm distracted by a tiny little boy running up and down the exit ramp. He's just in my peripheral vision, and like any mom, I'm half keeping an eye on him to see that he doesn't hurt himself or accidentally escape into the parking lot outside. My right knee starts to act up a bit here and I'm not able to perform my moves smoothly this time. But I don't linger over this because there's Leg Curls and Extensions to do, as well as Abs.

I have half a mind to try a suggestion from the Muscle & Strength forums which cuts sets down to 5 sets of 5 reps. Of course, these have to be heavy weights! Instead I compromise and do 3 sets of 12 reps at my last heaviest weight, then up the weight a tad (adding a 7.5 lb brick to the stack) and doing 3 sets of 6 reps. It actually feels pretty good considering that at 112.5 lbs, this stack weighs more than I do and I'm struggling to remain properly seated. I'm encouraged by seeing my legs in profile and noting a slight curve on the back of my thighs where previously there'd been none. Little things can be so exciting!

The Leg Extensions are still hard and painful, even with me limiting the range of motion of the machine. Feeling a bit guilty I see that most of the abdominal stations are available and I do a few sets of abs. I don't seem to have a flat stomach anymore. Instead, my abs protrude slightly like the underside of rounded beetle carapace. I've only ever seen this on hugely muscled people, and I'm not one of them, so perhaps it's good not to do abs every day.

Week Three Day Five Leg Day Workout
35 min hill #5 = 3.94 miles + 35 min intervals #8 = 4.34 miles  Grand Total = 8.28 miles Yippee!
Smith Squats: 12 @ bar  (butt to heels) / 12 @ 95 (thighs parallel to ground) / 12 @ 115 / 12 @ 135 / 3 x 12 @ 155 lbs
Smith Still Legged Dead Lifts: 12 @ bar / 12 @ 95 lbs / 5 x 12 @ 115 lbs
I can finally do these without having to pause in the middle of a set! Yay!
Cage Stretch with BW Heel Dips and  Side Kicks
14 Pistol Squats each leg
Seated Leg Curl: 3 x 12 @ 105 lbs / 3 x 6 @ 112.5 lbs
Thought briefly about doing 5x5s but couldn't figure out what weight to use.
Seated Leg Extensions: 6 x 12 @ 75 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 150 (yep, I counted)
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Torso Twist Station: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Mat Stretch with full splits. The verticals are good although my left hamstring is always a tad tighter than the right (old rugby injury back in college); the horizontal hurts my knees when I roll forward but I manage to hold the position for a few seconds. In general the stretches were successful.

I'd rather eat the blossoms!

The gym scale reads a surprisingly heavy 109.8 lbs. I suspect that draining my water bottle didn't help. But my clothes fit okay, and I don't see anything gruesome in the mirror, so I'm good! I've harvested another 5 zucchini blossoms this morning and I'll be stuffing them with herbed goat cheese (and American cheese for my son).

Yesterday I introduced him to his first root beer float. Since we don't normally drink soda, he had no idea what root beer tasted like either and wasn't sure he'd actually like it. We made a special trip just to get Virgil's Root Beer (no high fructose corn syrup please!) and Blue Bunny All Natural Vanilla Ice Cream. I split one 12-oz bottle between the two of us. Add a straw and long-handled spoon and he was in heaven. I was pretty happy too!