Constant Progression is Difficult

This week is a bit crazy so I'm glad I haven't signed my son up for any martial arts classes yet besides the one kung fu class he takes after the two hour Chinese school class on Saturdays. Yesterday we'd volunteered to be part of the recruitment table for Cub Scouts at our grade school's "Back To School" night for grades K-2. Tonight is grades 3-5 so my son and I will have to be at school by 6:30 pm to ensure we get a parking spot. Tomorrow is the Cub Scout Pack Meeting which runs from 7 to 8:30 pm. Through all this, my son has agreed to do 30 min on the elliptical in the garage right after school (while watching youtube videos on his iPad, because the iPad has a timer) in order to win a pack of Pokemon cards each week. But we also want to get all his grade school and Chinese school HW out of the way, which doesn't leave much time for dinner, much less feeding and walking the dog. Luckily, we can usually reheat leftovers for the first few nights. Last night we ate dinner after we got back from school. It would probably help if he got home sooner than 4 pm, but that's not the case.

I'm tired when I get up this morning. Instead of putting an egg in my oatmeal, I decide to add a scoop of protein powder to it after it's cooked. I don't like the results because the oatmeal is too soupy. The dog's unhappy because usually I let him lick the bowl, but since this is mocha-cappucino flavor, the bowl goes directly into the sink after I'm done. Tomorrow I'm putting an egg in it. The dog will be happy too.

It takes me a while to get to the gym. I have to call the plumber again because even though the leak is fixed, the water flow seems restricted for both the cold and hot water taps. Now I have to order new parts from Kohler and then the plumber will return to install them. Again.

I'm also concerned about my new eye drops because they appear different in the bottle. Normally it's difficult to discern the level of the clear, colorless liquid in the bottle. This time, the meniscus appears thick and foamy, like egg whites and that's disturbing. The pharmacist checks her other bottles but they all appear the same way. My ophthalmologist notes my concern but hasn't heard anything regarding any new formulations of this particular drug. Okay, maybe I'm just paranoid. But news of those patients who died from fungal contaminated steroids is still fresh in my mind.

I tape my hands before I get to the gym and make a mental note to buy more sports tape (but I completely forget while I'm grocery shopping afterwards). Ten minutes of cardio (4 min of Tabata) barely warms me up. I don't actually break a sweat until the 3rd round of whacking the Nexersys. I actually hit the machine so hard with a right Cross that the screen goes completely blank for a moment. Uh oh. I've broken it. But then it flashes back on again. Whew! Kickboxing the machine is a constant battle between punching hard but not too hard (detracts from accuracy points) and scoring accurately, but not pulling back so much that the blow registers less than 100%. By the 14th round I start to lose a little focus, and I have to remind myself that I should finish strong.

I do 10 more minutes of cardio (5 min Tabata) and stretch out my lower back on the Mat. Oh yeah, I should do some abs. Knock out some crunches, pulse-ups and then more crunches (sets of 50). Done. Yay! Tomorrow I'm going to give some serious thought to using the Smith machine again. If I can get on it. I'd still like to keep the body weight movements in my routine, but maybe whittle that down to once a week. Just to change things up. Change is good.

Wednesday Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.79 miles

Nexersys 15 rounds Beginner Follow Me (60 min)
  Accuracy 98% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 139%

10 min elliptical = 2 min steady state + 5 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.80 miles

50 crunches / 50 pulse ups / 50 crunches

Photos posted for actual stats: