An Epiphany, Of Sorts

The tank is actually
purple. Cute, right?

I sleep in until 8:30, but then I have to tend to the dog. Gone are the days when I could just let him out to pee and then have him rush back up the steps for breakfast. I have to harness him up just to get down the ramp, then he'll meander for a few feet before relieving himself. Once urgent business is attended to, it's back up the ramp, unbuckling him and prepping his food and medications. Then I'll re-harness him so we can go for a walk where the more pressing matters are dealt with.

If you think it's a pain to pick up after your dog, try doing it while holding his butt harness and leash, and trying to keep him from walking away while bagging the poop with the other hand. If I restrain him too harshly, he'll just fall backwards, and potentially slip out of his harness. Don't ask me how, but he's done it. It's already too hot for fresh coffee so I'm glad I have some cold leftover coffee in the fridge. I don't bother with breakfast for myself. I am resigned to the fact that I'm going to be hungry in the middle of my workout. Ggrrr...

The gym is fairly empty when I get there because I'm right between the morning rush, and the lunch crowd. I'm going to take it easy today. It's Friday and I'm tired. Last night's swim class went well, and I wound up buying the goggles the school offers. They don't leak, but they do fog up. Because I had on a "loaner" pair, I didn't want to spit into the lenses, but that's probably what I'll do next week. They're pricey at $25, but at least they don't leak, and they leave minimal marks on my face. There's now so many folks in the class with varying degrees of skills that we've been separated into two classes, with the more "advance" swimmers coming 45 min earlier. That's good because I'm a bit frustrated being in a class with people who are afraid to put their face in the water. I can actually swim after a fashion. I just can't tread water. Which puts me in the Adult Beginner category anyway.

Yesterday's entry

I get 6.6 miles total cardio today, which is pretty good for the end of the week. I still can't figure out how to make the FitNotes workout data accessible. I can email or send the workout to my notepad, but it's still in the fnw format, which is useless. The lovely support people answer that it's something they're working on, and should be available in the next iteration. Oh jeeze...

I've set up a Workout entitled LeftOvers because it's basically the stuff I didn't get to during the week. Well, some of it is. Things like cardio, push ups, pull ups and crunches are just part of every workout. I like that I can add exercises on the fly as I think of them, or delete them. I'll get the hang of this eventually. When I get to the Smith, I'm pleased to see the small flat bench and no one around. I don't go for my max though. Every time I do, I worry about tweaking my shoulder. What I should do is not jump from 120 lbs to 130 lbs, but find those pesky 2.5 lb plates and do a few sets at 125 lbs. Yes, I have a plan! Just got to remember to do it next time.

I'm not wearing the right shoes for SLDLs. I have on my old Asics and they don't give my feet enough support for that movement. I wasn't really planning on doing SLDLs today anyway. Instead, I do RG BB Rows on the Smith, trying to keep my form proper. I used to lift heavier, but the movement morphed into a type of shrug. It made my back fairly thick, but not wide. Pull ups are giving me width. I do a few DB laterals because I feel that my shoulders need all the help they can get. Because I don't want to stress my forearms and elbows too much, I skip the heavier DBs. Drag Curls, even a light 40 lbs, start to aggravate the inside of my elbows... I don't want tendonitis. Three sets and I'm done. I skip the last set of pull ups until after Intervals on the elliptical to give my arms a chance to recover. Doing Intervals is an intense love-hate thing and I always like to end the week with them.

Because I'm wearing running shorts (albeit with a liner), I'm not comfortable doing any extensive stretching. There are waaay too many college guys here now. I see a few regulars and one pompous middle-age guy who looks like he used to be a HS jock. What I notice most about him, besides the gut and double chin, is the fact that he's chewing gum. While on the assisted pull up machine. Yikes. No one chews gum at the gym. Except the one time I found gum stuck to the side of the water bottle holder on the elliptical. Double yuck.

It dawns on me later, as I'm putting away several new pairs of LLBean flannel cargo pants for my son, that he and I are roughly the same size now. So I try on a pair of his new size 14 pants. And they fit. I've always wanted a pair of those plaid flannel cargo pants! These fit better than most of the women's pants because I'm shorter and smaller than most women who shop that catalog. My son has already outgrown his Keene® water sandals from last year. They fit me perfectly.

Great! Now I'm getting hand-me-downs from my 11 year old! The hoodie he virtually lives in, I bought several years ago and wore a few times, before he got big enough to fit into it. And then I wonder if I can't just wear boy's sports shorts to the gym? (The liner to my running shorts constantly ride up because I have such big thighs, and it's annoying.) They might fit as loose and comfy as my Danskin shorts. Old Navy is having a sale and I can get a pair for $6 so I order some XL gray ones. I'm never certain what size will fit, especially since Sizing Charts seem to have no basis in reality. Oh well... if they're too big, I'm sure my son will just grow into them!

Friday Workout
(6.6 miles total cardio)

30 min X trainer
138 cal
3.89 miles
7.77 av spd

Hammer Grip Pull Ups
31

Push Ups
100

Crunches 3 X 50



Bird Dog Planks
2 x 60 sec

Smith flat bench
30 X 20
80 X 12
100 X 12
120 X  12
90 X 25

RG BB Row
30 lbs X 15
12 reps X 50, 70, 90, 100

Split Squats
30 X 12 reps
50 X 12
70 X 12

DB Lat s/s w Rev Incl Fly
3 X 20 lbs X 12/15, 12/20, 12/20

Drag curls
3 X 40 lbs X 12

Elliptical
Intervals
30 min
311 cal
2.71 miles

Hammer Grip Pull Ups
31