Born Again Gym Rat: Raising the Bar

Monday, February 23, 2015

Raising the Bar

Saturday's weather turned nasty just as scouts from our pack volunteered at a local church to help prepare, transport and serve dinner to homeless people at a shelter across the county. Oddly, there were more scouts than meal recipients although the shelter had 17 people (men and women) registered for beds that night. Only 4 or 5 people actually showed up. We had 8 scouts and the additional scout parents, den leaders and the cub master in attendance. The meatloaf, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and green beans, all freshly made, were actually quite tasty. Sunday we had a Den meeting where we practiced knot tying, and discussed (and practiced) important first-aid procedures like tourniquets, the Heimlich maneuver, and how to treat frostbite. I'm really tired by this morning. After I see my son off at the school bus stop, I have to travel across the county to see the glaucoma specialist.

I don't wear glasses yet but I'm guessing my vision is now 25/20. There was a time when it was 20/15 meaning I could see at 20 yards what most people could see at 15 yards. Still, coming up on 55 years with uncorrected vision is pretty good. The doc puts drops in my eyes to dilate the pupils and other drops that are a mild anesthetic. My IOPs are good for most people, but probably not good for people like me, who have an inherited form of glaucoma and oddly shaped optic nerves. The doc tells me to make an appointment for a Visual Field test, and then to see her in September. I'll see my regular opthamologist in 4 months. I'm always a little stressed when I have to drive distance, especially the highways because I don't fit comfortably in my car, perched up on two pillows with my arms fully extended. I'm too short to really be able to see over my shoulder because the headrest gets in the way. When I get to the gym, my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

I'm sure that I'm having an odd reaction to those drops because pedaling on the cross-trainer at a good clip barely registers a heart rate. When the machine finally does register, it reads an unlikely 108 BPM. That can't be right. Toward the end of 30 minutes, the numbers zoom up to 120, giving me an average heart rate of 113 BPM, which is totally wrong. It must be the eye drops. But is it the dilating drops? Or the anesthetic? I suspect the former because I've had the "reversal" drops to un-dilate your pupils and that makes my heart race. I feel tired, but the machine tells me I've logged in just over 4 miles. I'll take it.

The Smith machine is free so I'm happy. I can Bench Press and then swap benches for Inclined Bench Press. My benching feels okay, the 130 lbs not as easy as I would like. What feels really good is the 25 reps at 90 lbs that follows. Inclined Benching on the Smith is better, and I realize that I should probably be pushing more weight after my 2nd set of 12 reps at 70 lbs. Next week I'll see what 90 lbs feels like and hope I don't hurt myself.

DB Laterals super set with DB Reverse Flyes feel really heavy today. My left elbow is a bit ornery from shoveling the heavy wet snow we got Saturday night. Still, I grind out my sets and am really happy to have all the ellipticals to myself. I pick one and punch in Performance Program #2. I do most of my Mat Stretch but leave out Pistol Squats and Planks. Dive Bomber Push Ups are hard today. The stretch feels good, the hot shower feels better. Tomorrow is Back Day. Hope I'm up for it. My glutes were sore all weekend, but that 6.6 miles today got the kinks out.

Monday Cardio and Chest/Delt Workout
(total mileage = 6.6; 13,860 lbs moved)