The Weekend

I spent a good part of yesterday pulling oriental bittersweet vines out of my hedges, hacking back stray branches in my driveway, and weed whacking. All this rain means that my driveway has lost a third of it's length because the encroaching weeds have taken over. I don't really care much except the back up sensors in my car go crazy when they encounter obstacles, like weeds. And it's gonna be hell to shovel the driveway in the winter if there's plant life under the icy white stuff.

Today I sleep in and for the first time in months, the sleep app tells me I've actually gotten 100% of my requirement. About time! After I wipe down the bathroom, I tell my son he can either help me scrub the tub, or come to the gym. He doesn't hesitate a minute to tell me Gym. The tub will have to wait. The gym is always fairly empty on weekends. Especially if it's nice out. But today it's hot and humid, with the threat of thunderstorms later. Still, there's only a handful of people here. I let my son choose what we'll do. I've promised to take him to the Mall afterwards so he can browse GameStop for used games. The Mall closes at 6 on Sundays so we only have a bit more than an hour because I also need to shower, and it's at least a 30 min drive there.

We do a quick course on the Expresso bikes where we pedal along and pick up coins for points. When the terrain changes I have to switch gears or I'm stuck, unable to get up the hills. My son's final score is double mine. Then we spend time on the tread mill. I have my old iPod and wired earbuds today, so I can plug them into the console and watch a little bit of a weird SyFy movie while I walk. My son jogs along while watching videos on his phone. He really wants to use the Step Mill, so that's the next stop. There's a TV console here too, but no obvious place to plug in earbuds so I click on the Close Caption button. Afterwards, we head to the pair of Erg Rowers. I'm apparently a lot more efficient at this than my son because even though he has a two minute head start, I've covered more distance at the end.

Then we go to the Stretch Cage. I want him to hang with bent arms from the top of the cage. He's a big child, and hasn't been able to do a pull up like his smaller, lighter wiry classmates. He hangs there for several seconds but bumps his head on the roof. I tell him he has to arch his back a bit and get his face past the edge. He manages to do several partial pull ups from this point. And then is able to repeat it. But afterwards, he complains that his hands hurt. I'll have to look through my "glove collection" and see if any will fit him. Doing pull ups, even with gloves, is what I suspect is giving me callouses. But my elbow hurts more than my hands so that's what I pay attention to.

I shower and change, and my son is happy to suck down a wild-berry protein shake while waiting for me. I wish my hubs would take my son to the gym to show him some basics like rinsing off his face and armpits afterwards, and then donning a clean shirt. But because I can't walk him through this in the men's locker room, he's content to change his shirt in the car. Then we go to the Mall.

Yesterday I got on my home scale and recorded the ugly truth: 110 lbs and 16.3% BF... My clothes fit sooo much better when I'm a few pounds lighter. And it helps if those pounds are fat. I've got some work to do! 

This thought has been rolling around in my head since last week... Maybe it's because I only have one child and he's everything to me, but when I read about Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington's suicide on Chris Cornell's birthday, I couldn't help but feel a mix of sadness and extreme anger. Yes, artist's seem to feel things more deeply, more painfully. But when I read that he had six children, I immediately thought of how selfish it was of him. He's dead, but it's the survivors who bear the grief and pain. Sure, he was in grief himself, but he had responsibilities. To his family, his children, his friends, his band. When you're a parent, you suck it up and march on.

Sunday

Expresso bike
10 min
Coin Toss program 27798
distance 1.63
45 cal

Treadmill
20 min
75 cal
0.78 miles

Step Mill
20 min + 3cd
Steps 950
floors 59
Calories 143

Erg rowing
10 min
Cal 83
1667 (meter?)

HGPU 26