Born Again Gym Rat: Abbreviated Is Better Than Nothing

Friday, February 20, 2015

Abbreviated Is Better Than Nothing

Some years ago for my 50th birthday, my family and I took a trip to Hawaii where we spent a week on Oahu visiting all the tourist sites (Diamond Head, Honolulu Aquarium, Waikiki, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Military Museum, etc), and a week in Kauai. My son was bored silly in Kauai but we managed to visit some local attractions, one being the Smith family Luau. I'd been here once before with my sister, a very long time ago. My husband and I have been to other luaus and generally enjoy the dancing, music and especially the food: kalua pork, lomilomi salmon, poke, poi, taro, pineapples... This time however, after a long wait, we were finally seated and my son started nibbling at his food. Then he felt bad and ran off to the bathroom where he puked so hard he gave himself two black eyes. My husband said he also felt a bit off. Because I'd never seen anyone give themselves black eyes from puking, we went to the local hospital.

The doc on call told us that sometimes the force of vomiting is so violent that the tiny blood vessels near the eyes rupture, hence that "fight club" look. The staff insisted on taking blood tests to rule out any blood disorders. They'd had a child who presented similarly but turned out to have a major illness and the doc didn't want anything like that to happen again. My son felt better and the next day we visited Hanalei Beach (Puff the Magic Dragon, anyone?) where he lost his first tooth in a fish taco.

Last night was probably the first time I've every been sick enough to come just shy of giving myself two black eyes. My son also got sick so I knew it was from dinner. But what? Then this morning the dog was sick. All over the kitchen. He'd only gotten some leftover potatoes from dinner, not any steak or spinach. It was the potatoes. We all feel fine today, but cleaning up the kitchen ate into my gym time, and I'm a bit tired. Maybe it was the six and three quarter miles of cardio yesterday, but more likely it was being sick for a few hours. My face is oddly blotchy, and the skin around my eyes discolored. I hope it fades before I have to visit the glaucoma specialist on Monday.

I have exactly two hours at the gym. There is literally no one in the Child Care room except for the caretaker and an 8 mos old girl. I feel exhausted on the Cross-trainer but I still manage to get decent mileage. The gym is ridiculously crowded today. Perhaps because it's deceptively sunny outside. And bitterly cold. There are old people stretching at the Cage, and the Smith is busy too. I knock out a set on the Torso Twist and then clamber onto the Step Mill for a few minutes. I've already asked the tall skinny man at the Smith to let me know when he's done. At a bit over 9 minutes, he waves at me. Yaaay! I'm a Smith machine hog on Leg Day and I'm rushing because I still need time to shower and change.

I feel like I'm building a fort when I pull the small flat bench perpendicular to the Smith machine. I don't want to hunt for it when I get to the One-Leg Split Squats later. Instead, I put all my gear on it and use it to rest between Smith Squat sets. Again, I cut my Smith SLDLs short: only three light sets. The Smith Split Squats are harder this week even though I'm using the same weight. My knees are complaining slightly. If I wasn't rushing, I'd do another 30 minutes on the elliptical and then GHRs at the Lat Pull Down. But I don't have time. I do a quick quad and lower back stretch and run back to the locker room. I get to the Child Care room a minute past 1 pm. The woman has already put all the sign-in sheets away. We have errands to do before heading home. Chinese school tomorrow, and then a public service Boy Scout project to feed the homeless at a shelter at the other end of the county. I am soooo not looking forward to this weekend. But I got my workout done. And that makes me feel better.

Friday Leg Day Workout