I Hate Head Colds

My head is swimming when I get up. My sinuses are a bit gloppy, and that's not making the vertigo any better. Ugh. I'm probably developing a head cold. Well, it is the season for it. But it makes me truly miserable. The sciatica is much better although not totally gone. Having heated seats in my car really helps! I get to the gym early today because it's a short holiday week and I have a lot of errands. I know I've eaten too much, and not always wisely so I'm not surprised that I feel a bit bloated and puffy. Later, the gym scale delivers the bad news: 113 lbs. Well, it's not totally unexpected. There was an Eagle Scout Court of Honor reception on Saturday, then we ate a lot of pizza that night, and my son and hubs had some service work to do for a different Eagle Scout on Sunday.

Afterwards, we decided to check out the Sierra Trading Post in Connecticut. I'd seen their catalogs, but didn't realize they had an actual brick and mortar store! It's like a cheaper version of LLBean, or Dick's Sporting Goods. Just for fun, I tried on a pair of hiking boots that actually fit me in a normal 6.5 women's size (where my toes didn't get smushed or rammed into the front of the shoe while standing on a downward incline) and found hiking socks on clearance. My hubs was checking out all sorts of camping gear for the next overnight Boy Scout hike. Shopping is hard work! My son spent time in a portable camp rocking chair. We hadn't eaten breakfast, so we decided to try the newly opened Texas Roadhouse steakhouse across the street. My husband loves steak and BBQ places.

At 2:30 on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the restaurant was only partially full. It has a fairly extensive menu and makes a show of presenting raw steak cuts behind glass as you walk past the reservation desk. The bread on the table was glossy, and weirdly sweet, as if it'd been glazed with sugar and cinnamon. The butter also had sugar and cinnamon in it. Weird. It was tasty, but seemed more appropriate for a dessert item. Seriously. We ordered the Rattlesnake Bites appetizer, which were battered, deep-fried cream cheese balls with bits of jalapenos. Kind of gross. I like poppers better.

Both my hubs and I ordered the rib eye steak and ribs combo. The steak was cooked medium-rare and seasoned perfectly, smothered with sauteed mushrooms and onions. The ribs were lightly sauced and very tender. I ordered a baked sweet potato and the server asked if I wanted marshmallows and caramel with it. Seriously? It's already sweet! But my side order of veggies lacked seasoning and butter. The ones my hubs got were glossy. Weird. My son loved his BBQ chicken sandwich, but the steak fries were painfully salty. He didn't touch them. In spite of having half our meal in a To Go bag, we still looked at the the desserts. The calorie count next to each item convinced us to skip the items. When the lowest calorie item is the cheesecake at over 700, well, it's time to reconsider the need for sweets...

I get to the gym feeling the need to burn some calories. I do my cardio on the cross-trainer. The stupid green light comes on during the last 5 minutes. I only get it to turn off when I hit the Pause button for a few seconds. Then I hit resume. Meanwhile, I'm still pedaling. This happens at least 3 times in a 5 minutes "cool down" and it's annoying. Ugh. Again, I can't get on the Stretch Cage because the woman who's probably had a stroke (because one hand is curled up against her arm) is using it. I do a bunch of push ups and then claim the Smith machine for Inclined Benching. After warming up with the back nearly vertical, I drop the angle slightly for the remaining sets. I see some regulars. I can hear The Mayor. I turn up my tunes. Damn, I look pretty solid, but I'm partial... 

My routine is fairly simple. I don't rest a lot, but I do rest between sets. When I finish with Rip Skulls, I realize that I still haven't done any pull ups. My arms are tired though. I do a Mat Stretch, testing my hamstrings to see if doing splits is painful. Everything seems fine. Hammer grip pull ups are the last thing I do. The Mayor is on the treadmill with Square Jaw, and he's so loud I have to turn my iPod up even louder. Done! Tomorrow I'm probably going to whack the machine, if only because I use different footwear for that. The Rykas I have on today are the ones I use for Cardio Day, and I don't like to wear the shoes two days in a row. Shoes need time to air out and dry completely to maintain their internal cushioning. Or so I've read... I'm not planning to do an actual Pull Day until maybe next week. Maybe.

Monday

35 x-trainer
Miles 4.75
Calories 170
Average Heart Rate 152

Push Ups 60

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30lbs) x 15
50 x 13 adjust incline down
70 x 12
80 x 12
90 x 8 x 3
60 x 25
50 x 25

BB Front Raises s/s Upright Rows
20lbs x 15/15 reps
25lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25lbs x 12/15reps x 3 sets

Rip Skulls
40lbs x 12 reps
45lbs x 12, 8 reps

HGPU 26