The Moldy Girl

I think I'm getting used to administering pilocarpine drops twice daily in both my eyes. The drops do sting and feel like I'm squirting citrus into my eyes. But I guess you can get used to anything, especially if it's something that might keep you from going blind. The liquid bandage I put on my finger also stings, but it's also an antiseptic so that's expected. The wound is difficult because it's a gash in my cuticle, at the edge of the nail bed. Fingers bleed profusely, and even though this is more a paper cut (fomented by the edge of a metal tray that I was scrubbing), it bleeds like something more serious. The New Skin finally thickens enough and I wrap a plastic bandage around my finger.

Later, I peel an orange and wonder what the red gooey dots are on my paper towel. And on the kitchen table. And what the heck? It takes me a full 5 minutes before I realize it's actually my finger, bleeding out from the bandage. Because the orange juice has dissolved the seal. Well, that's not mentioned on the packaging anywhere! Ugh. Okay, Take Two. I wash and dry my finger, apply more liquid skin, and wrap another plastic bandage around it. Luckily, I have a box of blue nitrile gloves that fit well, and are better than most of the cheap dish washing gloves from the supermarket. Problem solved, as long as I'm in my own kitchen...

At the Smith machine today

It's raining when I get to the gym but it's not crowded. That makes me happy. The power blips while I'm in the locker room, and although all the machines are working, not all the overhead lights have recovered. Patience pays off, and I'm able to mount the favored cross-trainer for 30 minutes. But I'm tired. And my cough seems worse today. I'm not getting the mileage I'm used to so I'm a tad disappointed. My heart rate seems unusually low today. Usually it's on the high end of things. Pull ups are hard today, and I'm actually dreading doing deadlifts. So I don't. Instead, I decide to do a Push Day. I'll be working tomorrow. I can always do deadlifts on Thursday or Friday when I'm feeling less susceptible to injury.

Even push ups feel incredibly difficult once I get to 80 reps. So I stop. Knock out some crunches, and then 25 Hindu (Dand) push ups. They're suppose to be harder than Dive Bombers because you push yourself back up into the Downward Dog position as oppose to gliding back low on your belly. These really aren't that hard. I could probably do 30. Next time I will.

Smith Inclined Presses follow, and then I move on to the DB area for DB laterals super set with Reverse Inclined Flyes. I don't know why I'm so surprised when I do more reps on the latter exercise. The gym is starting to fill up with guys. And one or two "power couples". I hate it when people pull a bench out just to sit on, and it's in everyone's way. Then they leave and never put anything back. Such bad gym etiquette! I'm glad I don't work here.

Some people wear waaay too much cologne, or godawful dime-store "perfume" that reeks of flammables. Some guys need to wash their gym clothes more than once a week. But the worst is the moldy girl. She doesn't realize she's moldy. Maybe it's the towel she used to dry her hair, but once she aims the hair dryer at her head (and at me behind her) in the close confines of the tiny locker room, I start gagging and coughing like I'm going to spit up a lung. All I can smell is sickly-sweet moldiness. Or mildew.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what the difference is, just that this is the smell that happens to clothes that get put away when they're not fully dry. Mildew is the smell of damp towels sitting in a pile too long. Of clothes taken out of the dryer prematurely. And this gal blow-drying her long blonde hair positively reeked of it. My coughing fit causes her to cut her session short and she flees. Should I have said something to her? Like what? "Excuse me, but you're covered in mildew." Uh, maybe not. Maybe it's not her towel, and actually her?!

My clothes are soaked from the rain, and I'm tired enough to consider wearing my peony print pajamas to Boy Scouts this evening. (The hubs is en route to Boston so he's missing all the fun.) Truthfully, my hubs actually thought the pajamas were just a set of women's casual wear, so I could probably get away with it. But the pants don't have any pockets. Again, neither do most women's sets, and half the pants I own have ridiculously tiny, almost purely decorative pockets. As if all women always stuff everything into their purses. Good grief...

Tuesday Workout
6.04 total miles

30 min x-trainer
3.54 miles
138 cal
7.04 av speed
8:31 av pace
124 av heart rate (weirdly low today)

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 50
Hindu Push Ups 25

Smith Inclined press
Bar x 15
12 x 50, 70, 80, 90
25 reps x 50 lbs

DB Lat s/s Rev Inc Flyes
25 lbs x 12/15 x 3

Rip Skulls
30 lb bar x 13
35 x 13
40 x 12

HGPU 31

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Miles: 2.50
Calories: 280

 HGPU 31

Deep Listening

I've had this deep wet cough for several weeks now, and no matter what I do, or don't do, I can't seem to shake it. The past two mornings are the first in a long time that I've woken without the nasty post-nasal drip sore throat that usually accompanies this ailment. But I still have the cough. And every now and then, I lose my voice to an internal conspiracy of bodily fluids. Yuck. Well, at least I don't have pneumonia. My brother's girl didn't attend the Thanksgiving dinner because she was home in bed with a raging fever, and a diagnosis of walking pneumonia. Several courses of antibiotics failed to make any impact, and she's allergic to penicillin. Eventually, she recovered enough to get on a plane back to college, but I know from experience that she's going to be exhausted just walking to class. I had walking pneumonia once. In college. The cough I have now isn't anything as terrifying as drowning in your own snot. It's just exhausting in its own way.

After my husband leaves for Boston, and I put my son on the school bus, and the dog gets his medicated meal of chicken, rice and Metacam, and a nice leisurely walk, I actually go back to bed. And sleep for an hour. When I get up, I realize I have just enough time to get a quick work out in, and still be able to dash off to the grocery. The child is out of milk, and the dog needs more chicken. The dog is fully recovered, as is evidenced by his frantic dancing to tell me that there's food in the kitchen. Yep, he's well enough to bark furiously at the postman, and try to charge him at the door! He's still not quite 100% on the back end, but he's got a sensitive tummy and the slightest things upset his digestive tract. It's good to see him being a pain in the butt again though.

At the gym, I see my favorite cross-trainer is vacant so I get to do 30 minutes on it. Then pull ups, knee-ins, and push ups. But I lose count doing push ups. I think I've done 80, but I'm not sure. Screw it. I move on to crunches, and then, instead of planks, I do a set of Hindu or Dand push ups. Not to be confused with Dive Bombers. These are actually pretty easy, but I'm conscious of the time so I only do 25. No stretching, no extra set of pull ups.

Tomorrow is a Pull Day, and not an abbreviated one. I'd just like to be done with this cough, and I am taking zinc and other vitamins fairly regularly. I do wonder if the pilocarpine drops, which as also used to treat dry mouth, aren't having an effect on my cough.

Monday Workout

30 min x-trainer
3.76 miles
141 cal
7.52 av speed
7:58 av pace

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 50
Hindu Push Ups 25

Post-Feast Workout

We drove a few hours in iffy weather to celebrate Thanksgiving at my cousin's home in southern NJ. Her brothers and their families came, as did my brother and his. We always have a great time there and there is always plenty of food. We left with goody bags of turkey, ham and pumpkin pie. Even my son, who was worried about being bored, found camaraderie among his younger cousins who looked up to him as the big kid. Since he's an only child, he was quite tickled with all the attention. Our dog seems much better, and after several hours away, we came home to a clean kitchen floor and a happy pup. He needed a walk and dinner, but he is greatly recovered.

Today, my hubs and I went to my gym to work out while my son slept in. We both have our own exercise routines, but mine takes longer. My gym was nice enough to waive the $10 walk-in fee so my hubs got to work out for free. And then, because it takes me longer to shower and change, he sat down with a protein shake from their counter (which he claimed was the most delicious one he's ever had), and promptly bought himself a membership for $20 a month. Just going a few times a week and using the shower is worth $20 a month, if only because they have great water pressure and lots of hot water! Afterwards, we had to shop for some gym essentials, like a lock, shower shoes and a travel kit for toiletries. He likes the fact that you can suspend your membership for $5/mos should you be unable to get to the gym. Like if he winds up in Boston for weeks at a time. Or Houston.

I did my 30 minutes on the cross-trainer, pull ups, knee-ins, push ups, crunches and planks. Then a few good sets on the Smith Incline Bench where I upped the weight a tad. Then a few delt sets. My hubs was pretty much done by then so I cut my 2nd round of cardio in half to just 15 minutes of Intervals. And wrangled another set of pull ups before showering and changing. I see some new faces today. My husband's is a new face too but we don't work out in the same space. I see defeat in the eyes of a guy by the Assisted Pull Up machine, and I'm amused because he was totally annoying slamming plates onto the seated chest press machine behind the Smith. As if he was going to garner any positive attention from that display of sloppy-handed weight control? I don't think so.

The gym scale is not kind today: 113 lbs. But it's not ridiculously awful. I'd like to drop those 5 lbs because I really don't need them. I guess I'll start again today! We have a whole pork shoulder in the fridge, waiting for a tender salt and liquid smoke bath before sitting in a low oven for 10 hours. That'll be tomorrow's project, along with putting up the Christmas tree and lights in our bay window. It's the Holidays!

Friday Workout
5.01 miles total cardio

30 min x-trainer
3.73 miles
141 cal
7.44 av speed
8:04 av pace

HGPU 32
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dog 2 x 60s

Smith incline press
Bar x 15 reps
12 x 50, 70, 80, 90 lbs
25 reps x 50 lbs

DB lat s/s Rev Flyes
25 lbs x 12/12 x 3

HGPU 31

15 min elliptical
Intervals
Calories 145
Miles 1.28

HGPU 34

Happy Feast Day

I'm not going to the gym today, but I did manage to whack the machine yesterday. Because I had waaay too many errands on my list, I cut a few rounds out of my routine. My son also had early dismissal, which basically meant he got on the school bus at 7:13 and came home at 10:30. Each of his classes lasted all of 15 minutes, so it was basically a "no learning day" which allows the schools to collect Federal funds, but not actually provide anything except a vaguely social setting for kids. I tell my son I'll still be at the gym by the time he gets home. The truth is, I've barely arrived at the gym at that point, having had to sort laundry, dishes and cook a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bread to handfeed the dog. I'm not sure if it's senility, but sometimes it takes a bit of coaxing to get him to eat. It's a good thing eggs are cheap again! (For lunch, I myself had two eggs over a bed of farro and it was delish!)

The dog is feeling much better now, but until this morning, he'd been getting up every night to pee and poop in the kitchen. Thank goodness we always have newspaper down under his food and water bowls, so it hasn't been horrible, but I'm tired of my kitchen smelling like a kennel. Yuck. Last night I put Tylan powder (that I keep on hand) in his chicken dinner. It's a bacteriostatic antibiotic that has worked to cure his runny poops in the past. Unfortunately, it doesn't taste very good, so afterwards, he wasn't very receptive to taking any pain meds by mouth. He actually spat the Metacam out. Sigh. So much for my dog sitter/vet tech telling me that dogs like the taste of it. Not my picky eater!

I'll need to try a different approach to his medications now that he's feeling more like himself again. But his head is still tilted slightly to the left, and the hip harness seems awfully loose around his rear. I need to feed him more and hope to gradually put some kibble back into his meals. He has a tender mouth, probably from chewing through chain link fencing in his younger days, so the kibble needs to be softened in water or broth. But it's good to see his tail wagging again!

Yesterday, I got slightly warm with 10 minutes on the elliptical. I always do 5 rounds of Beginner Follow Me on the Nexersys as an actual warm up. I find that my raspberry Asics have an internal seam that's chafing my bunion so I go back to plastering a big patch of moleskin on my foot before working out. Moleskin, paper tape, cloth wraps and then my pink Everlast kickboxing gloves are all I need to protect my hands. It seems like a lot of precaution, but at least my knuckles aren't bruised when I'm done. My hands are a bit sore though. I rub dit da jow on them in the evening, but I forget to file down my callouses. Ugh.

The machine is still flaky and penalizes me for striking when it gives a phantom prompt. It's harder to distinguish between valid commands and glitches when the pace picks up for the Intermediate and Advance rounds. I blank the machine a few times. Oh well...  I rarely see anyone on these machines, although the other day, a sweaty old guy stood in front of the machine and tossed a few quick combinations. When he left, the timer still had a minute and a half to go. Rounds are 3 minutes long so he left before the round was up. How old was he? Well, I'm guessing 65 from the head of gray hair and stocky build. But we all age differently, so he could've been older. Or younger. I'm lucky. So is my husband, because other than the expanding beer gut he's developing, he's fairly youthful looking.

I don't have time for the elliptical after whacking the machine, but I manage to muscle through pull ups. Since punching and kicking don't really exhaust the biceps and lats, I'm happy to get a few more reps. Yaaay me! Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday Workout

10 min elliptical
Miles 0.84
Calories 95.3

Nexersys kickboxing
Follow Me
5 r Bgn
3 r Intm
3 r Adv

HGPU 36

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner
Always a great way to warm up!

3 rounds Intermediate
Phantom prompts mess with my Accuracy score!

3 rounds Advance
There are just some combinations that really throw me!

Freaking Myself Out

I confided to my son last night that I was totally freaked out about my age. Not that I'm old or anything. But that in 4 short years I'll be the same age that my grandmother was when I was born. And he'll only be 15. He was quiet for a moment, and then said, "So your grandmother had her first grandchild at the same age that you're going to be but your kid is only going to be a teenager?" Yep, that about sums it up. I just have no intentions of looking like my grandmother. Ever. Eventually I'll look my age. We all do at some point. It just doesn't have to be too soon.

I'm a bit tired today and I don't make the mileage I'd like. But close enough. Today's a Pull Day, so after my "warm up", I waste no time knocking out Smith SLDLs and RG BB Rows. Because I need to use my Versa Gripp straps, my hands are bare and unprotected, and developing wicked callouses that will eventually discolor and peel off. They're getting a bit ragged, and I occasionally resort to filing them smooth. Chin Ups are also wreaking havoc on my hands and I do wear gloves for those. My hands are really sore between my thumb and pointer fingers. Yes, I have such delicate tiny hands.

Because I'm at the gym much later in the day, there's a whole different set of people here. Most of the seniors are gone. A new creepy face I noticed yesterday belonged to a trim, well-built middle-age guy with a wicked tan, and receding hairline. Mentally, I call him Beavis (and Butthead) even though he actually has a more pronounced widow's peak. But he has the same pointy features and round eyes. Yesterday he was constantly in my way. It's not winning him any brownie points. Thankgod he's not here today. Today there's mostly younger men. And a few women.

I see one outstanding young woman, and at first I'm not sure if she's a he or not. Because she's extremely tall with long well-defined arms and shoulders. And a high pony tail. There's a few guys sporting the man-buns, so I wasn't sure at first. But she's got a sports bra under the big loose tank, so she's a definitely female. I think she's keeping an eye on me just the way I'm keeping an eye on her from across the gym.

While I'm on the elliptical, I notice that most folks are on for considerably less than 30 minutes. Yesterday I saw a tall skinny girl actually resting her forehead on the front console while pedaling. That's a new one. Usually it's the old fat guys leaning their entire upper bods and arms on the panel. Tomorrow I think I'll whack the machine.

Tuesday
5.98 miles

30 min x-trainer
Miles: 3.46
Calories: 148
Average Speed 6.87
Average Pace 8:43

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Smith SLDLs
Bar x 12
12 x 80 lbs, 100, 120, 130

Smith RG BB Rows
20 x 80, 100, 120
25 x 130

HGPU 31

Seated 1-Arm Cable Row
45 lbs x 12 x 3

30 min elliptical
Program 3
Miles: 2.52
Calories: 283

HGPU 31

Down and Dirty

Monday
(5.97 miles total cardio)

30 min x-trainer
3.44 miles 147 cal
6.86 average speed
8:45 average pace

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups  100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

DB Inclined Press
20 lbs x 15 reps
25 x 12, 15, 13

DB Lat Raises s/s Rev Flyers
25 lbs x 12/12, 12/13, 12/15

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Miles:  2.53
Cal:  284.

HGPU 31

The Devil is in the Details

I spent 45 minutes in traffic yesterday because people can't seem to pay attention while they're driving, so there were two accidents (one where three cars rear-ended each other) we had to waffle through. I was late to my swim class but not really a big deal since there's only two students. Even though I took last week off, I pretty much remembered most of my lessons well enough. There's only two more classes after Thanksgiving, and I have to decided whether I'm going to sign up for private lessons and/or Lap Swimming. Lap Swimming is considerably cheaper than taking classes. Private lessons are more difficult to arrange, although my instructor tells me she still wants to teach me the breast stroke. I'm having trouble with that particular kick.

I'm also still vaguely sick, which means that every now and then I have to cough up a hairball. It sounds nastier than it really is and I think this is the tail end of it. My hubs, however, seems to be falling ill with the same fatigue and cough. I load him up with zinc and vitamin C. My son seems immune and I'm happy about that.

I call my glaucoma doc this morning to find out if she had prescribed the 2% or the 4% solution of pilocarpine. The pharmacy was about to give me 4% when I said that's not what I recall the doc telling me she was doing. It takes all day before I get in touch with the tech who admits she's made a mistake and will be sending a new Rx order for the 2% drops. Oh jeeze! Good thing I pay attention! My husband wants to know why it seems as if I'm telling the doctor how to treat my condition, as in why she didn't recommend optic nerve vitamins before? And why she didn't suggest pilocarpine after noting that I'm allergic to most of the other meds out there, and that the latanoprost and Azopt aren't working as well as she'd like? I can't really say, except that her independent office still writes out records by hand and her staff turnover seems high. But she's a glaucoma specialist who is willing to listen to my suggestions, as opposed to other docs I've met who harbor low opinions of their patients' IQs. That's worth something.

The dog is still getting up in the middle of the night and peeing in the kitchen. Good thing he pees on the newspaper already on the floor, and good thing I get the newspaper delivered so there's a steady supply on hand. He ate a slice of Swiss cheese and a slice of white sandwich bread with yogurt on it. I take him out briefly and then go to the gym. Today I'm whacking the machine! Ten minutes to warm up, five minutes to tape and wrap up my hands. Then a little over an hour to go 5 rounds three times and bust a drenching sweat. The machine is still oddly finicky, subtracting accuracy points when I respond to a glitchy flash signifying a faux blow. Ugh.

The Intermediate and Advance settings have some good rounds interspersed with more problematic ones. Ones that are 3 minutes of glitchy lights and commands that might or might not be legit. Oh well. Afterwards, I spend 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm torn between doing Intervals or Program 3. Program 3 wins because kickboxing the machine always messes with my sciatica and the pedal backward sections of the Performance Programs seems to help alleviate that problem. Then I muscle through my pull ups, and I'm done. No stretching. Just done.

Once done with my errands, I weigh myself at home just to see if I'm any closer to being on tract. I'm actually heavier at 110.2 lbs, but my body fat has dropped a tiny bit (15.8%). Okay, I wasn't expecting that. I speak to the vet who came to the house yesterday. Good news: the dog's kidneys and liver seem to be okay, but his pancreas isn't. Hmmm. Chronic problems with his pancreas would explain his inability to process fatty foods and the sporadic issues he has with his bowels. She tells me that pancreatitis is very painful. That might explain his peeing in the middle of the night. But she says the exam showed her that his belly wasn't painful so hopefully he'll recover with the right kind of bland low-fat foods. She believes he needs more protein though and suggested that I make him chicken or scramble eggs. I guess I'll be boiling chicken on a regular basis too.

Tonight, while I'm boiling some chicken thighs with rice, I make a scrambled egg and the dog eats it out of my fingers. He seems more alert today. That's always a good sign. Once he starts eating regularly, I can put him back on pain meds for his back legs. He still seems a bit lopsided, especially since he seems to be tilting his head a lot. My hubs asks me if the dog had a stroke and I tell him I don't think so, but anything's possible. My son looks at me and asks incredulously, "Dogs can have strokes?" Uh, well yes. But it's unlikely.

Friday Workout

10 min elliptical
0.85 miles
96 calories

Nexersys
5 rounds Beginner
5 r Intermediate
5 r Advance

30 min elliptical
Program 3
Miles: 2.80
Calories: 242

HGPU 31

Photos posted for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner
(great warm up rounds!)

5 rounds Intermediat
(the 2nd round I lost points because the machine doesn't realize it's flashing phantom strike commands)

5 rounds Advance
(frustrating but fun)

Thank Goodness for Veterinary House Calls

This morning

I wake to the fact that the dog got up in the middle of the night, peed on the newspapers near his water bowl in the kitchen, and then fell asleep by the hall way. Usually he sleeps in the bedroom, but he was probably too tired to walk back. He's so still when I walk past him that I have to stop and stare to see if he's breathing. Normally I can hear him snoring, but not lately. Lately, his breath is shallow and faint.

After I clean up, get my son off to school and the husband off to work, I pack my gym bag and guiltily glide out past the dog. He's not interested in food, except to lick a bit of yogurt off my fingers. I take him for a walk and he tries to nibble some bright green grass hidden under the fallen red maple leaves. But he only takes a tiny nip before he wobbles off. I have him securely harnessed so he doesn't fall, but he weaves unsteadily. At least I know I can carry him if I really have to. Back in the house, he's not interested in the birds, the potential cats in the driveway or anything else. Well, at least the veterinarian is coming this afternoon to have a look at him.

The gym is oddly crowded only in certain areas. All the cross-trainers on the cardio deck are in use, including my favorite one. But none of the cross-trainers by the door are occupied. So that's where I end up for the first 30 minutes. Pull ups, push ups, crunches and one set of Bird Dog planks done. The Smith is empty so I'm there in a heartbeat, pushing the adjustable inclined bench out of the way, but leaving it close enough so I can sit on it between sets. The SLDLs are routine, but I'm tired of wasting my time with warm up sets on the RG BB Rows, so I move right to 80 lbs for the first set. That saves me two sets and time. Maybe I should cut back? Even my loose tanks are starting to feel tight. Uh oh.

I see a few regulars. I can always hear The Mayor way before I see him. And creepy PJ Pants is way back in machine city. I honestly don't know what these people actually do here at the gym. Agent99 is back and looking really good. She's lost a lot of weight and gained some nicely toned muscles since the first time I saw her maybe two years ago. I watch the clock to make sure I have time for another round of cardio. I only do one more set of pull ups too. I don't even stretch out before I'm off to shower and change.

I get home to find that the dog has peed on the newspapers in the kitchen again, and also vomited up foamy yellow bile and bits of grass in the living room. He looks exhausted and stressed, and he's not interested in food or water. I take him out just in case he needs to pee or poop but he barely makes it down the walkway before he turns around to head back inside.

The vet and her tech show up and the dog manages to sound the alarm. He's actually standing this time, instead of barking from a seated position. After sniffing suspiciously, the dog calms down because he likes it when women come to visit him. Men, not so much. They're able to check his vitals and assess his condition without him freaking out, noting that he's massively muscular in front with an atrophied back end. This is not unexpected in a dog with bilateral ruptured CCL as he's basically walking on his front legs. But he likes all the attention he's getting.

The vet and her tech take blood and make do with a tiny drop of urine. They also administer an IV of saline (subcutaneously) to help him stay hydrated since he seems to be peeing more than he's drinking. And then a shot to quell his queasy stomach. If he doesn't eat, I can't give him his pain medications. Pain meds might help with the tremoring back legs. I'm not sure. They'll call tomorrow with the lab results. And the cost? Not cheap. But probably as much as going to my regular vet, without all the angst and anxiety. Without me having to carry my dog into the back of the car. Without him crying the entire 25 minute drive there and back. And stressing throughout the entire visit. Which ultimately leads to stress poops. Yes, the dog is much happier. I'm hoping for good news tomorrow, not inconclusive lab results. But who can say?

The pharmacy does not have pilocarpine in stock and has had to special order it for later today. Maybe I'll pick it up tonight on the way home from swim if I remember. I'm thinking tomorrow will probably be a good day for either cardio, or kickboxing. I'll probably be too tired but WTH?

Thursday Workout
6.17 miles total

30 min x-trainer
Calories: 146
Miles: 3.61
7.20 average speed
8:20 average pace

HGPU 31

Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 60s x 2

Smith SLDLs
Bar x 15
12 x 80 lbs, 100, 120, 130

Smith RG BB Rows
20 x 80, 100, 120, 130

HGPU 31

30 min elliptical
Program 3
2.56 miles
290 cal

Not Totally Unexpected but Worrisome

I skipped the gym today waiting to hear back from a vet who makes house calls. Unfortunately she is unable to come visit my dog this week. After conferring with my regular vet on the phone, I called a vet two towns over who also makes house calls. She'll be by to see my dog tomorrow afternoon.

My dog is unquestionably old at 13, but until he ruptured his right, and then his left CCL, he'd been in pretty good health, with only a sensitive stomach that he'd cure himself by nibbling on tall green grass shoots. That wouldn't make him vomit, but somehow settled the springs in his tummy. Yesterday he vomited up his breakfast, and then ate it back again. Well, he is a dog. His back legs both failed at the end of his morning walk, and it was difficult to haul him up the ramp. Once in the house, he seemed okay, but tired. Old dogs sleep a lot.

October 2015

Dogs seem to develop a perverse obsession with food as they age. All of my dogs became inveterate food nags. I used to hand feed him when he was a puppy because he was so disinterested in his kibble. Sometimes he still is, so now I add boiled ground turkey in rice to his softened dog chow. This morning I discover he's throw up last night's meal all across the living room and into the kitchen. He peed on the newspapers under his water bowl.

I don't try to take him out, or even get him to stand, although he does wobble over to take a small drink afterwards. Mostly, he's lying on the floor by the storm door. It lets the warm sun in, and gives him a view of the bird feeder, and a chance to bark at the neighborhood cats lurking in the driveway. Today he's not interested at all. Today he faces away from the door, with his tail curled oddly under his skinny back legs.

His ears are unusually cool to the touch, and his eyes seem very sad. I'm worried that if I take him to the vet, I won't be coming home with him. I've had many dogs, and although he's not the smartest or the prettiest, he's special in his own way.

Tomorrow before the vet shows up, I plan to go to the gym in the morning, and maybe pick up those eye drops I asked my glaucoma doc about. Because my eye pressures need to be much lower than the 13/14 they tested at, I ask her about one of the older glaucoma drugs, pilocarpine. There are potentially adverse effects, but I'd rather not go blind. I seem to be allergic to most other medications, and I'd prefer not to have eye surgery. There are always repercussions from surgery. From Wikipedia:

"Use of pilocarpine may result in a range of adverse effects, most of them related to its non-selective action as a muscarinic receptor agonist. Pilocarpine has been known to cause excessive salivation, sweating, bronchial mucus secretion, bronchospasm, bradycardia, vasodilation, and diarrhea. Eye drops can result in brow ache and chronic use in miosis."

Miosis means pinpoint pupils due to the constricting effect. Good thing I have dark brown eyes. No one will notice. The headaches will be another story. But maybe that won't be so bad. The doc tells me that she used those drops on my eye to perform the SLT. Ah... okay, I can deal with that. But I'll have to administer drops twice daily. I'll probably just get used to having a chronic mild headache. It could be worse...

Packing On Unwanted Mass

Again, it takes me a long time to get out to the gym. I was completely non-productive this weekend although I had planned to get quite a few things done. I blame the chest cold, but in reality, I'm feeling rather melancholy about losing all the musicians of my formative years. Well, I guess Simon and Garfunkel, and the Rolling Stones are still kicking. I don't feel old, but somehow it seems like I've lived a long time because there are so many things I have yet to explain to my son.

I knock out my cardio and basic warm up moves: pull ups, push ups, crunches, planks. But the side planks bother my shoulders and I'm not in the mood to wrestle with flat benching, even on the Smith machine. I very nearly sprained my thumb again wrestling with trying to remove the filter portion of our coffee press. Eventually my husband succeeded, but not without me wasting 15 minutes prior. The adjustable inclined bench is always by the Smith, so today I'm just doing Inclined Benching. And maybe some DB Lat Raises.

Because I'm not pre-exhausted on flat benching, I can up the weight! Yaaaaay! I've been stronger, but there's no point in dwelling in the past. After muscling through three sets, I finish with high-reps just for the pump. The gym is moderately empty, and I take this opportunity to up my weights on the DB Lateral Raises. I'll stick to 20s on the Reverse Inclined Flye in Two Positions (angles), because my joints and forearms complain a lot when I go heavier. Yes, 5 reps Reverse Flyes where arms come out perpendicular to the body, followed immediately by 5 reps Reverse where arms are doing that Superman thing. Followed by 5 reps perpendicular, then 5 reps Superman. That's one set of 20 reps.

I get to the gym late enough that most of the creepy guys are gone. On Friday, having my son with me activated a "creepy guy force field" that kept them on the other side of the gym. Nice! I don't mind most people, just the ones I can hear through my headphones and the ones that stare. Seriously, WTF? Younger guys don't stare. (Probably because I'm old enough to be their mom.) It's only the creepy middle-age guys who are totally ill-behaved.

For some reason I'm not busting much of a sweat today although my clothes reek after the workout. The scale confirms the nasty truth about my weekend eating and drinking habits: they are not good ones. 113.4 lbs is way more than I ever want to be! I feel as if I'm busting out of my tank and sports bra these days. That's okay for the tank because I can always go up a size if I really have to since they're Small or XS. But the sports bra is a whole 'nother animal because I'm maxed out at XL. There's no bigger size for a small-busted woman. The only solution is to drop some body fat! As if I didn't already know that...

Monday
6.28 miles

30 min x-trainer
3.73 miles
137 calories
7.43 average speed
8:04 average pace

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Smith Inclined Bench
Bar x 15
70 x 15
80 x 12
90 x 12 x 3
50 x 25 reps

DB Lat s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20 lbs x 12/20
25 lbs x 8 / 20 lbs x 5/5/5/5
25 x 12 / 20 x 20 reps
25 x 10 / 20 x 20

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories: 288
Miles: 2.55

HGPU 31

Rest in Peace Mr Cohen

This morning I read Leonard Cohen's obituary, and mourned the passing of another influential artist, just as beloved but not as well known as David Bowie. In the garage, I still have the vinyl albums I first listened to in high school, although I don't think I have anything to hook my turntable up to anymore. The song Suzanne and later, Bird on a Wire, always touched me in a weird sad way. I'm glad he seemed happy in his last days. Surprisingly, I've never heard his most covered song Hallelujah, until today. It's beautiful.


I let my son sleep in a bit before dragging him off to the gym. We get on the cross-trainer for 30 minutes. He's plugged into his phone and watches YouTube videos while pedaling. Well, at least he's moving. I don't expect him to do pull ups, but he at least tries. He manages to get two each time, but he only counts five. His arms hurt from the effort, and as much as I try to guide him into straightening his body and holding it straight, he curls his knees in front to keep from swaying. It's something I've done myself early on, but now I know better. Crossing your ankles and bending your legs back at the knees keeps the swinging to a minimum, but it's hard for an inexperienced person to know just where their body is in the plane of things. He's also in danger of bumping his head on the roof of the Stretch Cage because he's not comfortable enough to arch backwards and up. It'll happen in time, if I can get him to persist. I'm not a helicopter parent or a tiger mom, but I am stubborn. 

At least crunches are easy

I know the frustration my father must've felt after he achieved his 3rd degree black belt, and tried to teach my siblings and myself some basic martial arts. We were typical Asian bookworms, whole-heartedly discouraged from doing anything vaguely exciting, dangerous, strenuous other than reading and studying. At 12 or 13 years old, I couldn't do ten push ups, or sit ups to save my life. Neither could my siblings.

The big blue mats are all occupied so my son and I use the vacant class room with it's slippery wood floor, and a pile of individual neoprene mats. The mats slide out from under our hands too easily and make doing push ups a challenge. I'm not sure why my son's form has deteriorated, but his whole body lays on the floor after each push up. I tell him that I don't think that's how these are suppose to work. Fitness enthusiasts will touch their chests to the floor, but I'm too worried about smacking my face. I'm not going for perfect form. I'm going for numbers to build muscular endurance. I think it's working.

He tells me that he's tired because of the cardio. Hmmmm. He barely busted a sweat pedaling, but it was for a continuous 30 minutes. Still, I'm dismayed that he can only do 5 real push ups at this moment. I knock out my 100. Then we do crunches. Those are easy for him. Whew, at least that's something. Then I show him the Bird Dog plank. He's never done this one, and he shows me his variation of Side Plank vs my version. Both cause us shoulder discomfort, especially since the hard wood floor makes our shoulders and wrists ache.

The blue mats are finally empty so I ask him to do T push ups. He can do 3 or 4. What about Hindu push ups? Are those like Dive Bombers? I show him how to do them, and he manages 2 or 3 before falling on his face. I do 25 and tell him we're going to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. Ugh... He plods along while plugged in again. I race through Program 3. "Are we leaving yet?" "Uh, no, let's try doing a few pull ups again." "What? We did pull ups before!" "Try just a few more." He manages two. I tell him I'm proud of him since this is the most pull ups he's ever done. Seriously. I do my set and we're done. He's planted himself on a stool by the locker room while I shower and change.

My husband laughed at me when I told him I was taking our son to the gym today. "That means you're not actually going to work out." I know that's usually the case when I take him on weekends, but today I had a different game plan. And for the most part, it was successful.

Friday with my son
5.91 miles

30 min x-trainer
3.35 miles
144 calories
6.64 av speed
9:02 av pace

HGPU 31
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 30s
T push ups 10
Hindu push ups 20

30 min elliptical
Program 3
Miles 2.56
Calories 289

HGPU 31

When the Bug Catches You

I took my time at the gym today because my son had extra orchestra practice and was taking the late bus today. Which meant he wouldn't actually be home until nearly 3:30 pm. Because I'm planning to take him to the gym tomorrow and have him work out with me (I secured permission from the owner today since my son is younger than the 13 years required for a "student membership"), I debate whether I should spend today doing weights or kickboxing. Weights wins. If my son decides not to sleep in, we'll do mostly cardio and body weight exercises.

I know there's certain precautions to be made where children are involved since their long bones aren't fused yet and can be damaged by heavy lifting. No worries here. Even though my son is now bigger than I am, he's not as strong. It's taking me a surprisingly long time to adjust to the fact that he's bigger than I am. Yes, I've just discovered that I fit into his favorite outgrown hoodie. LLBean no longer carries this item, which is orange and striped like Tigger! And lined with really soft fluffy fleece! Mine! (He's actually fine with the idea that I'll be taking a few of his "hand-me-downs".)

The favorite cross-trainer is busy so I hop onto one closer to the door. It's harder to pedal and I don't get great mileage. But everything seems fairly routine, except my hands are still sore. And after pushing weights on the bench, my left hip feels out. That's really weird. I've purposely restricted a lot of extreme stretching because I thought they were causing my hip issues. Now I have to rethink this. I've also developed an annoying cough that starts with a dry irritating throat tickle. Not quite fur balls yet, but getting there. I don't actually feel sick, but I must have a cold or something. I'm taking vitamins and zinc so maybe this could be worse?

I see Venus working out. She's has a nice long line and an extremely feminine shape because of her large bust and glutes. Her arms are shapely but not big. You'll only see muscles once she's pumped. As she walks past, I notice tiny red dots all over her face. I've seen that on my son, who is struggling with changes to his body, hair and skin. He's 11 and pubescent changes have already started. She's kind of old to have acne.

Still have biceps without curls

I start benching on the Breaker bench because two Latinas are using the Smith for Squats. But they walk away and leave plates on the bar. Finally, I ask the one who's sitting by the DBs if they're finished with the Smith. She says Yes, and I tell her that no one can tell because when you leave plates on the bar, it means you're still using it. Her blank expression and the insistence that I can use the Smith shows me she doesn't understand basic gym etiquette. WTF?

The right shoulder feels a tad sore today and I don't go to my max bench. Saving myself for swim tonight is what I tell myself. I manage to do everything else in my routine including pull ups and 30 minutes of Intervals. But I can't muster the speed or mileage I'm used to. Ugh. I pick up a few items I need to make turkey chili tonight for dinner. My plan is to put it in the slow cooker and go to swim. But it takes so long to get everything prepped and ready that I reconsider. My hip is feeling worse. And the cough is definitely worse. I picture having to spit while I'm in the pool and that's enough to dissuade me from attending class. But I do call and let the instructor know that I'll be absent.

Thursday
5.99 miles total

30 min x-trainer
3.40 miles
144 calories
6.74 average speed

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 60
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

Breaker flat bench
Bar x 15
65 x 13

Smith flat bench
Bar x 15
12 x 80, 100, 120
25 x 90

Smith inclined bench
Bar x 15
12 x 70,
80 x 12 x 3

DB Lat s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20 lbs x 12/20 reps x 3

Rip Skulls
12 x 30 lbs, 35, 40

30 min elliptical
Intervals
Calories: 294
Miles: 2.59

HGPU 31

Post Election Workout

My son didn't have school yesterday, unlike many of his friends in neighboring school districts. He's getting too big to sit in the Child Care room for 2 hours so we skipped the gym. Instead, I dragged him along while I voted, went to the bank and then took him to see Dr. Strange, a movie my hubs saw last week in Boston. He said it was great, especially in 3D. So we opted to pay a buck more for the 3D experience.

Our local movie house is manned by apathetic teenagers, so after paying for two tickets, and a small popcorn and water, the tickets sit in the machine while the clerk wanders off. I grab the tickets out of the register, and then ask where the 3D glasses are. "Oh yeah," comes a stuporous reply. Once seated, we note just a few other families also complaining about the out of focus previews. A man volunteers to get some help. He returns and tells everyone that he's been told the fuzziness is because the film is 3D. Uh, no that's not it. Two minutes into the actual film and the same man marches back to the concession stand. Uh, someone will fix it. Eventually. Ten minutes into the film. My son and I agree that we would've fared better watching the regular 2D flick. The 3D glasses make the movie seem dark. My son says the film is too bright without the glasses. Hmmm. It was a good film, and I'd see it again. But probably not at this theater. Even at $5 Tuesday prices.



Afterwards, I make my son get a haircut. Then we shop for groceries. Eventually we drive to the next town to put in our order for the best blueberry pies ever made at Salinger's Orchard and Bakery. Okay, time to go home as it's getting dark, and too late to get the car washed. Today my son has school so I can spend a few hours at the gym. I'm back to logging in over 6 miles of total cardio to bookend my core and weight workout. My hands are still tender and I have to be careful not to stress them too much. If your hands hurt, it's difficult to get anything done!

Push ups, pull ups, core work. Okay, the Smith is busy but the MaxRack is not. I don't like the MaxRack because the bar is much heavier and I don't feel as safe in it if I lose my grip. But since today is a Pull Day, that's okay. I have to work much harder to keep my form while doing SLDLs. A young fellow in the adjacent Squat rack is doing DLs too, but he takes much longer breaks between sets. Another fellow who I've seen around asks me if he can work in between my sets because the overhead pull up bar on the front of the MaxRack is the only one he can use. I tell him "No Problem" because I have tiny hands and so that's why I can only use the Stretch Cage for pull ups. I yank off a glove and wave my fingers at him. He tells me his mom is 4'8" and has tiny hands too, but not as small as mine. Yup, even for a small person, I have unusually small hands.

It's the day after Election Day and people are either stunned or ecstatic. Count my husband in the latter group. Of course, we live in one of the few Republican counties in New York State, so that shouldn't come as a big surprise. I'm glad there's no rioting or turmoil in the streets. I like to think we're still civilized in this country. There's no weeping or celebrating at the gym though. The Mayor spends an inordinate amount of time chatting with Shaggy who is sporting an unusually trimmed beard and haircut. I guess the muttonchops didn't work out.

RG BB Rows on the MaxRack are much harder than using the Smith (even though I'm constantly worried about catching the stays on the Smith's upright). With the MaxRack, I feel the bar pulling away from me, pulling forward as I row upward. It's a struggle! And exhausting. As it should be. Today, I add RG BB Curls back into the routine because I have pathetically skinny forearms to match my bony little hands. After pull ups, I manage to do a full Mat Stretch. At least I won't be quite so sore tomorrow.

Wednesday Workout
(6.33 total cardio miles)

30:14 min x-trainer
3.79 miles
7.53  av speed
7:58 av pace
138 calories

Knee-Ins: 50
HGPU  31
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 60
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

MaxRack SLDLs
Bar (55 lbs) x 15
75 x 13
95 x 13
115, 125, 135  x 12

MaxRack RG BB Rows
Bar (55 lbs) x 20
75, 95, 115, 125, 135 x 20

HGPU 31

Seated Cable 1-Arm Row
45 lbs x 12 x 3

RG BB Row
30 lbs x 21 reps x 3 sets

30 min elliptical
Program 1
2.54 miles
286 calories

HGPU 36 Yaaay!

Torso Twist (because I really need a smaller waist!)
30 lbs x 15 reps x 2

Breaking the Routine

I knew I wasn't going to like the gym scale when I woke up this morning, because my puffy face is a sure indication that I've eaten too much salt this weekend. Making thick-sliced bacon and eggs for lunch, and then my favorite, beef and broccoli (and/or tomatoes) with oyster sauce over rice for dinner means an overload of salt. Yes, it was definitely tasty. And something I'm not likely to repeat for a few more months.

I get to the gym late to find the locker room empty, and my favorite cross-trainer empty. Yaaaay! Warm ups still include pull ups, push ups, crunches and planks. The Smith is occupied so I do a few sets of plain ol' benching on the flat Breaker Bench. I don't like it because my feet don't sit totally flat on the floor, and I'm a little nervous with my thumbless deadman's grip. But my right hand has been intermittently sore and the weight of the bar presses uncomfortably on the meaty part of my thumb. I might've re-sprained it trying to open something in the kitchen...

I toy with the idea of doing variations on DB presses, but again, I have issues holding the weights because of my tiny hands, and propensity to sprain or strain all their tiny tendons. There was a time, not so long ago that I could warm up with 25 lbs plates on an Olympic bar. That's 95 lbs right off the bat. Now I'm more skittish. I can probably still do it, but I'm not as cavalier as I used to be when I was younger, and didn't worry so much about joint injuries.

The Smith frees up and I do several sets of Inclined Presses before moving over to the DB area for lateral raises superset with reverse flyes. I use the tiny magnetic plates to increase the weight up to 22.5 lbs. It's just a tad heavier. I'll eventually move up to the 25s and maybe cut the reps a bit. There are a lot of newbies, and a few familiar faces who I haven't seen in a very long time. I keep the discs to affix to the 30 lbs solid barbell for Rip Skulls. That's 35 lbs. Then 40 lbs. At first my left forearm aches but once my elbow settles down, everything feels good.

Back to cardio. I'm running out of time though. Instead of 30 minutes of one of the Performance Programs, I opt to do just 11 minutes of HIIT cardio, easing myself into it with a 30 second On / 2 minutes Off structure. Because I'm not going to start the session going all out, I add another 60 seconds just so I can "warm up" for a minute. That makes 11 minutes of "cardio", where On means I'm trying to achieve over 270 Strides Per Minute, and Off means anywhere from 90 to 110 SPMs. It's pretty intense! I'm going to try and work up to 15 minutes, and then 20 minutes.

When I'm done, I stretch a little and then try to do as many Hammer Grip Pull Ups as possible. I get to 34 before giving up. Well, not as good as 36, but I did just start doing tabata-style cardio, so it's okay. What's not okay is the gym scale. It sighs at 112 lbs. Maybe I shouldn't have had those two glasses of red wine at dinner on Saturday. But better than drinking beer or hard cider. Still...

Monday Workout

30 minx-trainer
3.79 miles
138 cal
7.54 av spd
7:57 avpace

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 60
Bird dogs 2 x 60 sec
Side Planks 2 x 60 sec

Breaker flat bench
Bar (45 lbs) x 12
12 x 65, 85, 105
25 x 75

Smith inclined
Bar (30 lbs) x 12
12 x 70
80 x 12 x 3

DB Lat s/s Rev Flyes
20 lbs x 12/20
22.5 lbs x 12/20 x 2

Rip Skulls
30 lbs, 35, 40 x 12

11 min elliptical
30 sec On / 2 min Walk
Incline 6 / Resistance 0
Miles:  0.83
Calories:  84.4

HGPU 34

End of the Week Workout

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time in the pool just learning to trust my body to float. I also worked on my freestyle stroke by ignoring the breathing part. First things first. My belief is that the body needs to incorporate "body memory" of the correct way to do things before moving on to more complex movements. Hence my spending a lot of time just practicing the stroke while kicking, but not worrying about the correct position to turn my head and take a breath. I tend to raise my head too high, and the lead arm drops in front of me. Which has the unfortunate consequence of sinking my body. I don't stay at the surface like I'm suppose to. By the end of class though, I managed to get halfway decent strokes, and an almost decent breath turn.

Today I'd planned to get to the gym earlier so I'd have time to grocery shop before my son got home. Instead, my hubs got home from Boston sooner than I expected, so I didn't feel any urgency. This week my legs have been a bit stiff, and I can only guess that it's because I've started using the cross-trainer again. It not only moves at a different trajectory from the elliptical but also in the way it registers calories and mileage. My back has been a tad sore too, but maybe all this is because I only do these major weight lifting movements but once weekly.

I know I'm going to do an hour of cardio, but figure a mix of push and pull exercises will probably be a good thing. Yes, I'm too lazy to drag the flat bench across the gym to the Smith machine, so I just use the inclined bench that's already there. Inclined Benching with a last set of high reps sounds good to me. Followed by 20-rep sets of RG BB Rows. Then some delt work with DB laterals superset, of course, with reverse inclined flyes. I see Hannibal Baggy Knees doing waist twists with a 15 lb bar. He's dressed like a ref with a button down short sleeve striped shirt and shorts. Old men dress oddly at the gym. Some show up in jeans and loafers as if they're going for a walk in the park.

I'm actually too tired to up the weights on the DB laterals so I don't. I worry that these aren't doing anything for me, but I do have shoulders. I just wish I had better shoulders and I can't decide whether it's just genetics or that I need to cut my reps and up my weight. Always leery of shoulder injuries, there are a lot of exercises I won't do: T-bar raises, cable pull downs, pull ups and chin ups. I probably have too much body fat to see any finger marks that denote the three delt heads so that's incentive right there to stick to "clean" eating. At least until the Holidays are over.

Friday Workout
(5.99 total cardio miles)

30 min x-trainer
144 cal
3.40 miles
6.77 av spd
8.51 av pace

HGPU 31

Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 60
Bird Dogs 2 x 60 secs
Side Planks 2 x 60 secs

Smith Incline bench
bar x 15
50, 70 x 12
80 lbs x 12 x 3
50 x 25

Smith RG BB Rows
Bar x 15
20 x 80, 100, 120, 130

DB Lat s/s Rev Flyes
12/20 x 20 lbs x 3

30 min elliptical
Intervals
2.59 miles
293 cal

HGPU 36 Yaaaay!

Staring the Scale in the Face

I skipped the gym today because I can't seem to do that AND get my errands done without running out of time before the school bus arrives. I told my son I'd meet him with an umbrella this afternoon because he'll be bringing his viola home, and all his books. The forecast calls for afternoon thunderstorms. Before I run out of the house, but after I've had my morning coffee, I step on my home body fat scale and hold my breath. At least my hair is dry.

The scale gives me the bad news: 109.6 lbs and a whopping 16% body fat. Ugh! When I was trying, I'd managed to get it as low as 14.9%, but mostly it hovered in the mid-15s. Now I have a full percentage point to wrestle with, and it's hard battle. 109.6 lbs isn't horrible but it's more than I want to be. It's enough to make my pants uncomfortably tight, and these are clothes that I don't want to replace because 1) I like them; 2) clothes are expensive and 3) I don't want to toss out or donate perfectly good clothes just because I've gotten a tad chubby. They'll fit so much better when I get back to 107 on this scale. This scale reads differently than the gym scale and I'm good with that. At the gym, I'm usually drenched inside and out (having sucked down a liter and a half of water, and now sporting waist-length hair). Which means it's only good for spotting trends, not actual weight.

The bad thing about skipping the gym is that I have a much bigger appetite. I wash down half my vitamins with a cup of greek-style yogurt and maple syrup. Not three hours later, and I'm hungry again! WTF? I rummage around looking for something not too sinister and settle on a can of tuna which I mix with some pickle relish and toss onto romaine leaves. That and a cup of Scottish black tea with a half spoon of honey and a spot of half 'n half will do. I have swim class tonight, and I'm thinking of making oatmeal with poached eggs for supper. My son likes eggs so he might actually eat this type of meal. Kids can be so finicky.

I think about finding a full time job and realize that not only would I have to give up working out, I'd probably have to give up eating as well... Ugh.

Persistence

The iPhone 6+ that my husband handed down to me has a problem with the motherboard and can't be repaired. Instead, it needs to be traded-in, and then we can purchase a "new" iPhone 6+ for a discounted price. I'm not happy about that because it's still several hundred dollars more than just using my old iPhone 5. The 5 still works fine. It's just small, which fits into my tiny hands fine, but the camera is better on the 6+. And I shoot a lot of photos with my phone.

I turn in a few dozen beer and water bottles and get two bucks back in return. Well, better than tossing them into the recycling bucket because they won't be redeemed, and the state gets to keep all the bottle deposit money. It's a pain but it makes me feel slightly virtuous. Just like putting all my plastic bags and wrap into the recycling bucket, even though the town doesn't want that type of plastic. But I feel bad tossing that stuff into the trash. I don't want sea turtles mistaking them for jellyfish, and dying slow tortuous deaths because they can't tell the difference between sea life and plastic refuse.

Too bulky!

I spend 10 minutes warming up and cooling down on the elliptical today. In the interim I knock out 15 rounds of whack the kickboxing machine. All is good for the Beginner rounds. But then the machine starts to get a bit finicky, and won't register a series of Power Kicks. It also starts to blank the screen as the pad reels from a succession of Right Crosses. By the Advance rounds, the machine is sporadically blipping commands and deducting points when I don't hit them because it's just a brief flash on the screen. I'm not even sure what blow it was asking for. Oh well... I lose points for getting distracted. I almost fell into a panic attack right in the middle of a round, where suddenly I'm worrying about finances, bills and money. Those are definitely not things to be thinking about when you're kickboxing, machine or otherwise. It's the first time this has happened to me. Normally I can empty myself of all thought and just react to the machine commands. You could call it zen.

The ZMA bottle is empty so it's going to be warm milk and maybe chamomile tea tonight. The Optic Nerve vitamins recommend taking 4 capsules daily. Ugh. I used to take two with lunch and the remaining two at bedtime, but now I find they give me heartburn. Ugh. I have to spread them out throughout the day so I've found a good use for those bottles of nasty Ensure Enlive. It does have 20 gms of protein, but waaay too much sugar and fat. Still, I can use it to wash down a few vitamins before my workout. I'm bummed that the gym scale still reads 112.0 lbs.

Of course, my hair is soaking wet and I've sucked down virtually all my water. Yes, anything to justify this stagnation. I'd like the scale to move just a skosh in the right direction consistently. But in reality, what will happen is total stagnation, and then a sudden drop. If I can persist. Hell, I have clothes I like that are going to be uncomfortable until I drop these 5 lbs. Yep, persistence is key.

Wednesday Workout

10 min elliptical
0.83 miles
96 calories

15 rounds Nexersys
Follow Me program

10 min elliptical
LISS
Miles 0.57
Calories 42

HGPU 31

Photos for actual stats:

5 rounds Beginner (felt great as a warm up)

5 rounds Intermediate (trouble in round 3!)

5 rounds Advance (rounds 2 and 4 had my head messed up, and I never quite recovered) 

Getting Serious

Post Halloween and the gym is remarkably quiet. I get on the cross-trainer, beating a guy to it by a few seconds. Good for me! I start off a bit slow, and remarkably my right foot doesn't go all numb in the toes. Yaaay! I am feeling a wee bit stiff and sore. Not enough to impede anything, but just enough to know it. I wish I could say that push ups and pull ups feel easier, but they don't. The Smith is in use, but like yesterday, after I set up on the MaxRack, the dude is done. Yaaay me again!

SLDLs feel routine, but I decide to up my reps to 20 for RG BB Rows. It feels right. Pull Ups are still hard. The Mayor is long gone. Thank goodness. I get three really good sets on the Seated One-Ar, Cable Rows. My elbows and forearms start to complain a tad. Ugh. Time to burn a few more calories on the elliptical. Then more pull ups. And a good stretch.

No more slacking on the cardio. And back to eating more salads. And no more beer or hard ciders until I lose those nasty 5 lbs. Down one pound today. Four more to go! Or maybe five...

Good workout

Tuesday Pull Day
(6.2 total cardio miles)

30 min x-trainer
3.72 miles
239 cal
8:07 av pace
7:39 mph

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 100
Crunches 3 x 60
Bird Dogs 2 x 60 sec
Side Planks 2 x 60 sec
Elbow Plank 60 sec

Smith SLDL
Bar x 15
12 x 80, 100, 120, 130

Smith RG BB Rows
20 x 80, 100, 120, 130

HGPU 31
Seated Cable 1-arm Row
45 lbs x 12 x 3

30 min elliptical
Program 3
Calories 278
Miles 2.48

HGPU 31