Doing What Works

Local school districts initiated a 2-hr delay as a precaution to potentially hazardous road conditions due to Winter Storm Maya. It has apparently already wreaked havoc on the northern western and midwest states. Montana has declared a state of emergency, and they're used to snow and ice. We're warned of freezing rain so I salted my steps, walkway and driveway last night. This morning the ground looked okay. It wasn't even raining. My son got on the school bus at 9:13 instead of 7:13. I went to the gym, thankful that I'd already done my grocery shopping yesterday.

It's raining mostly. My hubs sends me videos of snow in Boston. Today's their ticker-tape parade to celebrate their Super Bowl win. Temps go from a high of 37°F at 1 pm, down to 33 when I get home. That's not good. There's a second storm out in the Atlantic that's suppose to hit tomorrow or Thursday. Hmmmm. Well, at least my son's after-school chess club wasn't cancelled today, and I'm assuming we're on for Boy Scouts tonight. Next term, my son wants to take Archery. He'll have to take the Intro Class even though he's been bow shooting for years, because that's how these courses are set up. But there are several new classes. He's not interested in most of them. Nope, no Lego Robotics or coding for him. However, Animal Dissection caught his interest. It caught mine! Sign up is next week, so in March I'll have to pick him up from school twice a week.

Today the gym isn't as crowded as I thought it should be, but still, all the cross-trainers are busy. I guess my new routine is to pedal the elliptical first, and finish with the cross-trainer later. I like doing the cross-trainer first because the angle of the pedals means the zipper bottom of my hoodie doesn't bang against my thighs, which is what happens on the elliptical. After the core stuff, I take my hoodie off and drape in on the benches like a towel. But switching up the cardio is probably a good thing to keep from getting stale.

Today is a Pull Day, so after pull ups, push ups, crunches, planks, and more push ups, I wander over to  the racks. There's a regular in the Smith so I prepare to use the (hated) MaxRack. But just as I'm about to do a warm up set with the bar, he's done. Yaaaay me! So I have my Smith RDLs, and Smith RG BB Rows. I strip my gloves off when I put the VGs on because the seam burn from last week is still fresh in my mind. I can grip the bar fine without gloves, but I know the callouses will grow twice as fast now. Oh well...

The Mayor shows up for lat pull downs just as I'm setting up to do Seated One-Arm Cable Rows. I've upped the weight a tiny bit, using the 7.5 lb brick instead of the 5 lb. I'm not sure if I can do three sets so I'm mentally prepared to do drop sets if it comes to that. It's hard, but not impossible. Today, I can't actually hear the Mayor at all, but I can see his ginormous faded pink polo shirt in my peripheral vision. (I don't think my glaucoma is as bad as my doc suggests, but I could be just blind to the reality of it. Yes, bad pun intended.) He seems to be getting even fatter as his face recedes into what used to be a chin and neck. The polo shirt protrudes at the belly. He looks pregnant, but I'm sure it's middle-age health issues. And probably poor eating habits. I'm not interested enough to ask.

I get on the cross-trainer to give my arms a break. I like my old Asic Gel trainers and wish they still made them properly, in the correct width instead of getting cheap with materials and making everything narrower. My newer Asics never feel this good at the end of a workout. But by 16:35 (time elapsed) the ball of my right foot is starting to tingle. It progresses down to my toes. And then my left foot starts to tingle. Ugh. By the time 30 minutes has elapsed, both my feet are pins and needles prickly. The Stretch Cage is good for flexing my feet and stretching the hammies. My arms are still tired. I find myself hyperventilating a little before pull ups just to get oxygenated. I'm not sure I actually breathe very much while I'm pulling up. It'd be distracting and I'm sure I'd completely lose count if I had to focus on breathing as well! (Remember, I'm the one who can't change the car radio channel while driving.)

I do most of my Mat Stretch. There's a cute couple on the other mat. He's been coaching and encouraging her. At any minute I think they're going to kiss because he's so into her. I might've seen them before so they've probably got memberships now. Nice.

The gym scale reads 109.4 lbs, which surprises me in a good way. I must be doing something right! Okay, gotta get my son from school...

Tuesday
6.46 miles

30 min elliptical
Program 2
Calories 284
Miles 2.53

HGPU 37
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 80
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side planks 2 x 60s
Push Ups 50

Smith RDLs
Bar x 12
12 x 80, 100, 120, 130

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

Seated OneArm Cable Rows
52.5 lbs x 12 x 3

30 min x-trainer
Calories 144
Miles 3.93
Average Speed 7.84
Average Pace 7:39

HGPU 36