Knees Be Complaining

Yesterday's abbreviated Leg Workout kicked my butt. I'm not sore or so tired that I can barely move. But my time to log 2 miles is considerably slower than it's been. My knees are a bit achy again as well. My time to log 3 miles after my kickboxing the machine session is totally abysmal. Okay, I did do my 4 min of Tabata at "warm up", and 5 min of Tabata at "cool down" but since I always do that, it's not a valid excuse. The ball of my right foot complains, but only during the second cardio session. 5 miles may be asking too much of my joints on a regular basis. Bummer.

I don't normally do Legs midweek either. Next week I'll switch back to doing Legs on Friday. I did make it through an entire 15 rounds of kickboxing, but my performance was better on Tuesday. Today I actually had a chance to better examine the accuracy and power readings. I'm definitely right-handed when it comes to power. My cross punch and power kick score 175-186%. I guess if it goes over 200, the warning buzzer stops the machine. In comparison, my jab and lead kick only score 89-106% power. I don't miss any punches, but stopping the machine counts as a miss. I'm not sure what the reason is for that other than to discourage you from punching as hard as you can.

Punching isn't painless either. Even with cotton wraps and padded kickboxing gloves, landing a punch makes my knuckles sting. I kick with the ball of my foot. During the 14th round, D shows up and starts boxing the machine to the right of me. She's a much bigger woman and her mass is behind her blows. I'd hate to have her mad at me. I drape my hoodie over my head as I unwrap my hands because I don't want to drip sweat all over the filthy gray gym carpet. I doubt if they really clean it. Still, I don't want to add to the gym aroma.

The 2nd round of Tabata is always hard. I toy with the idea of only doing 3 minutes instead of 5, but I never let my thoughts interfere with my intentions. It sounds funny, but you can talk yourself out of anything. I'm trying to keep my heart rate from skyrocketing. My right foot aches and both knees are intermittently sore. If this was a consistent soreness then I'd be worried. But my joints tend to complain sporadically. Excruciating bone pain in my hand, foot, arm, or rib seems like a phantom nerve ailment because it only lasts for a few seconds, and then may not reoccur for months. I'm not crazy. But I'm attuned to the quirks of my body. Well, at least it still works.

After cardio, I check to see if the Torso Twist machine is vacant. It's not. It's a very popular machine. I'll probably do it tomorrow. I haven't done them in weeks and my waist is wider than I'd like. Instead I pull my hoodie on all the way and take my ponytail out to do a few crunches. Then a few bastardized pulse-ups. Then more crunches. I'll end the week tomorrow with a full Mat Stretch. The gym scale wavers with peculiar numbers. Then I realize someone has set it to kg instead of pounds. 111.0 lbs. I'm good with that.

Thursday Double Cardio Workout

2 miles Precor elliptical with 4 min Tabata 

Nexersys 15 rounds Beginner Follow Me (60 min)
  Accuracy 97% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 135%

3 miles Precor elliptical with 5 min Tabata 

50 Crunches / 50 Pulse-Ups / 50 Crunches

photo posted for actual stats: