Happy Winter Solstice

I was very excited to get to the gym today since it's been quite a while since I've had an entire week free. Still, I got to the gym late because mornings are the best time for me to do things like re-order the Holiday Cards, browse through emails and sort through bills. Plus, I hate the morning rush. When I arrive late, there's no one in the locker room. Just the way I like it!

I'm actually a bit stiff from yesterday's RDLs, but that's never stopped me from doing something I love. I just need to warm up properly, so it's 10 minutes on the elliptical to get the blood moving. Today is the Winter Solstice, although the actual arrival time was 5:44 am, over an hour before sunrise. It's a bit warmer today too, but not enough to melt the ice crust that blankets last week's snow. There's no one at the machines. There never is. That's fine with me.

I start off slow since it's been a few weeks. After 5 rounds of Beginner Follow Me, I feel properly warmed up, and I need to change my tunes to something more reliable. The problem with my cardio mix is that newer songs seem much louder and I'm constantly having to adjust the volume. It's a distraction that I can easily avoid if I just select one artist, one album. I choose Billy Idol. He's great to dance to, and by default, to box to... seriously.

The machine gets a bit crazy during the Intermediate rounds. It always does so I shouldn't be that surprised. I also manage to blank the screen a few times. That doesn't bother me anymore. Of course, the upper Cross pad (facing my left) seems a bit loose now. As long as it doesn't break off, I'm good. I dislike the Intermediate rounds when they contain a lot of Sweeps because I find it hard on my joints. Plus, I'm not really sure if I'd ever actually use this move in real life, whereas I could see punching someone really hard. It's during the Advance rounds that the machine really goes crazy, and it shows in the scoring. I knew I was in trouble when Round 2 of Advanced opened with the avatar flashing as if it'd already been hit. To me, that means the machine opened the round in mid-program. It gets progressively worse, with the machine flashing arbitrary and mixed combinations that don't match the avatar's blinking body part. Oh well... at least it finished with a reasonable round.

My friend sends a holiday card and tells me that her cat has been diagnosed with lymphoma. Oh no... She's a childless widow with two cats, living in a big house the next town over. I view treatment options online because she tells me that the cat is having 26 weeks of chemo. Uh, that might be longer than the cat will live, although I've read that chemo will make the cat feel better. He won't be cured. In fact, the average survival rate is 6-9 months after diagnosis with chemo, and a mere 4 weeks without it. My hubs informs me that no way are we ever spending money on chemo for our pets. Sadly, I'm inclined to agree since our priority is our son.

Wednesday Workout

10 min elliptical
Calories 97.6
Miles 0.86

Nexersys Follow Me
5 r Beginner
5 r Intermediate
5 r Advance

HGPU 31

Photos for actual stats: