Born Again Gym Rat: Pushing Through

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Pushing Through

Saturday was more of a workout than I was expecting. Spending 6 hours at FDR Park for the Cub Scout Webelos Klondike event was definitely challenging because of the knee-deep snow and cold temps. Good thing I had several packets of those chemical hand warmers. I gave two to a child in our Den because he just couldn't keep his hands warm, even with gloves. I wound up putting a packet in each boot to keep my toes warm, and a packet in the palm of my gloves as well. Sometimes we ran towards the next station only to wait in line for the Scouts in charge to get everything together. It snowed and the wind whipped up. Ten outdoor events (some involving skills such as fire-making, knot-tying, first aid, and others being cooperative relay races) definitely tested endurance limits of both parents and kids. Most sailed through in good spirits. One dropped out after the 2nd event because his parents had neglected to prepare both physically and mentally. How do you go to an event you've known about since November without snacks or food, or any basic knowledge of the skills to be tested?

This is a family that continues to befuddle me because they're in the food industry and yet their son asks me if I have food for him. He hoards snacks at our Den events, remarking that it's free so it's okay for him to take them all. They don't seem to have any money for groceries so when the mother brags to me that they bought $700 worth of groceries for $350 and let's slip that some of it is soda, I have to bite my tongue. That's not even vaguely nutritious. Why am I not surprised that the mother and daughter are Jabba-the-Hut obese? The child is not. But I'm beginning to wonder whether they feed him at all. I'm reminded of Strindberg's play The Pelican. Perhaps they're protecting their only son from obesity by restricting food, or perhaps, as my husband jokes, he's too slow to get to the table in time?

The only child in our Pack who completely embarrasses his parent is a child who had to be dragged by his Den mates from the field to the finish line in order for our Den to complete the task. It wasn't that he couldn't finish, he just didn't care and disliked being uncomfortable, disliked having to push himself. I commended my son on his endurance and perseverance, because even though he was "dead tired" and threw himself into snow banks in between events, he did his absolute best when his turn came. You just have to push through.

I spent yesterday shoveling. Today I have to shovel again to drive my son to the bus stop. There's a two-hr delay. Of course. So I'm not even at the gym until after 11 am. 30 minutes of cross-trainer and I feel hung over. I'm not, but that's how I feel. The Smith is free and I drag myself over to set up for Bench Presses, forgetting to cut my reps until my 3rd set. Oh well, those are warm up sets. My right shoulder twinges intermittently for the first two sets. I'm really careful to keep my elbows tight and my shoulder actually feels okay for the heavier sets. Yaaay! I haven't done Inclined Benching in a while so I swap benches and use the Smith for those. I feel pretty strong today and it's all good.

Finally, I get to grab some DBs and do two sets of DB Lateral Raises superset with Inclined DB Reverse Flyes at 20 lbs. It's a shoulder warm up. I don't want upper back cramps like last week. Then I do another four sets with the 25 lb DBs. I'm a little tired now. Perfect time for me to hop onto an elliptical. R stops by to say Hi and to tell me that he and his wife are expecting another child in August. Their son just turned one last month so this is a surprise, but he's happy as punch. He's not happy about missing four successive Mondays of work as a semi-pro football trainer though. He's rambling about finally having to buy a house but not wanting to stress his wife too much, but he's running late, gotta go. He's such a sweetie. I'm going to miss him when he moves away.

I tap in Performance Program #3 for 30 minutes and I'm thinking that I'm probably logging 5+ miles. When I get home I tally up over 6. Yaaaay! But to put it in perspective, normally when I've taken two days off (weekend), I usually do closer to 6.5 miles. I realize I can't always have those peak cardio days. Today was more of a power day. I haven't done Dive Bomber Push Ups in a long time so I do two sets of those, plus a 90 second plank and a few pistol squats. It's late and I'm feeling pressured to be done, be showered and changed. High school kids are starting to wander in. Tomorrow is Back Day. Plus I've got at least two more paths I need to shovel out before the next snowfall. Bleah.

Tuesday Cardio Push Workout
(total mileage: 6.15; 14,905 lbs moved)