Weakest Link is A Pinky

I can tell it's Winter regardless of what the calendar says because I've had to reset the mouse traps a few times already. When I say reset, I mean toss the little rodent body in the outdoor trash, wash off the old peanut butter because there's usually traces of blood in it, put new peanut butter in it and stick it in a slightly different spot. I really love these new plastic snap traps. They're so much easier to use and re-use than the old-fashion metal bar traps, and infinitely more humane than glue traps or warfarin. I've experienced the agony of a tiny critter screaming while its insides dissolved and I'm never doing that again.

I also keep refilling the bird feeder with sunflower seeds, figuring that's the most calorie-dense food I can provide other than suet. The squirrels aren't making this easy. I'd buy suet except the animal feed store burned down a few weeks ago and I always forget to look in the super market. The cold is making my dry skin positively cranky: fissures have formed on my thumb and index fingers. Sometimes I take a callous file to the sides of my fingers just to keep them feeling human. Lanolin and petroleum jelly are my friends in the winter.

Today is a rest day between lifting days so I can either whack the kickboxing machine, or do a full body workout. Since tomorrow's a Back Day, I figure it'd be best to spare my arms and elbows by not doing pull ups or inverted rows. 10 min cardio warm up, a quick stretch and then I'm wrapping my taped hands and stuffing them into my kickboxing gloves. But I can already tell that something's not quite right, as if the stiff padding atop my knuckles is actually part of the problem. My pinky knuckle is bruised by round 3 but since I doubt if anything's broken, and there's no sting (so I didn't rip any skin) I keep going until I've finished all my rounds. I'm not sure what else I can try.

A guy shows up to spar the machine next to me, He goes two rounds and then he's done. I guess that's kind of a work out. I'm not even really warm until round 4 or 5. When I'm done, I grab all my gear and sit by the Mats to unwrap my hands and put my hoodie back on. While I'm doing this, the same guy drops onto the Mat and tosses a small weighted ball into the air while he's laying on his back. He does this three or four times and then he's back to whatever he was doing before.

There's only one Precor elliptical free. All the others are occupied by women dutifully steady-state pedaling in a trance. I make a point of turning the TV off on my station because I need to focus on the timer. One minute of steady state to get started, then 15 seconds all out, as fast as I can, then 45 seconds of gasping for air and catching my breath before the next 15 second round. Repeat for 10 minutes. Done. The women on either side of me seems a bit befuddled. Whatever. Another quick stretch followed by some ab work and I'm done. Yaaaay!

Tuesday Workout

10 min elliptical = 3 min steady state + 4 min Tabata + 3 min steady state = 0.75 miles (74 calories)
I'm amused that I seem to burn fewer calories but cover more distance below.

Nexersys 12 rounds Beginner Follow Me (48 min)
  Accuracy 97% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 136%

11 min elliptical = 1 min steady state + 10 min Tabata  = 0.84 miles (82 calories)

50 crunches / 50 Pulse-ups / 50 alternating bicycles

photo posted for actual stats: