The Cardio Cure-All

Maybe it was not putting bee bread in my oatmeal. Or maybe it was the double dose of fish oil and zinc I took yesterday. Or maybe I'd just had enough time to recover from Monday's workout where I'd upped the intensity. Or maybe it was finally doing a Double Cardio session. Whatever it was, it kicked in during the first five minutes of Session Two when suddenly it all felt really easy. It wasn't actually easy because I just squeaked past my 4-mile quota, but it felt easy, as if someone suddenly greased all the wheels. I felt really good. Thoroughly warmed-up and drenched. True, I didn't get close to nine miles today, but it was over eight and a half. I'm really good with that.

There's no one at the Smith even though I spied the Manchurian earlier. But I've been getting to the gym a tad later, hoping to avoid the Zumba ladies in the locker room. Cackling makes me cringe. Because I don't want to cool down too fast, I leave my drenched hoodie on while I squat. I figure it also adds a bit more padding to the back of my neck. When I get to my heaviest weight, I feel the rice krispie popping in my back. My right knee also starts to complain. I can't quite get to parallel on the heavy weight. But when I drop the weight down, my form is better and the bubbly popping sensation is gone. I'm too tired to do a speed squat set so I set up for a few Dead Lifts. When I get done with them, I'm ready for speed squatting just the bar. I get 25 reps but I need to pause for a breath before I finish the last 5.

The gym is fairly empty now, except for M who is busy chatting with Barbie Doll and J, while Nixon waits patiently for him to spot his benching. He's just standing around, watching everyone else talk. And he seems surprised that I finish with a set of speed squats after the dead lifts. In truth, I'd half a mind to skip them because I was tired after the last "weighted" set of squats and then felt guilty. I recover quickly and get a good Cage Stretch and kicks in before eyeing the Cybex machines. There's a lot of seniors here now. They don't seem to know how to adjust the machines because I find odd combinations of seat and leg lengths. The leg curls are a little hard, but the leg extensions are a lot easier, and I'm still really surprised.

Between sets I stare down at my feet and giggle. My shoes don't match! Yes, they're both black Asic gels, same style but not the same year. Ugh. Glad no one else noticed that! When I find something that fits well, I go back and get a second pair. Of course, there's no guarantee that the 2nd item is exactly like the first because manufacturers constantly want to "improve" their products. I find the newer model is slightly narrower in the right foot. So I'm apparently wearing a newer left foot and older right foot.

I still have a lot of energy so my Mat Stretch is good with decent splits and stretches and I'm fairly sure that I'm bouncing to my iPod as I head to the showers. The scale reads 109.4 lbs. I like the cotton Reebok unitard I have on under my shorts and tank, but it's a pain because you literally have to strip naked if you need to pee.

Leg Day Workout:
35 min Interval 7 = 4.48 miles + 35 min Hill 5 = 4.06  Grand Total = 8.54 miles Yay!
Smith machine Squats: 25 @ bar (butt to heels as fast as I can go) / 12 @ 95 lbs / 12 @ 115 lbs / 12 @ 135 / 12 @ 155 / 12 @ 135 / 12 @ 115 / 12 @ 95
Smith machine Dead Lifts: 12 @ bar / 3 x 12 @ 95 lbs
Smith machine speed squat with just the bar: 25
Cage Stretch with BW Heel Dips and Calf Raises and Side Kicks
Seated Leg Curl: 12 @ 90 lbs / 12 @ 105 lbs / 3 x 8 @ 120 lbs
Torso Twist Machine: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Seated Leg Extensions: 12 @ 75 lbs / 12 @ 90 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 105 lbs (up from last week!)
Ab Crunch Station: 120 (I meant to do 100 but got distracted)
Mat Stretch with 10 DBPUs and 5 rolling PUs... tomorrow I'm going to make some modifications to this routine again. Splits and stretches are otherwise really good today.