The Cardio Cure

I'm stiff and a little sore all over when I get up, but it's not a surprise. I'm just glad that I'm not actually in any sort of pain. My fingers hurt sporadically, and I've developed another hairline cut on my ring finger. But this time on my right hand where I don't actually wear a ring. I put my wedding band back on because I keep forgetting to replace it after I work out. It's a sure way to lose it, and it'd be expensive to replace since it's custom and made of platinum. It was suppose to be entwined dragons but my finger's too small at size 3.25, so we settled on entwined serpents to celebrate the union of Chinese and Nordic heritages.

I stop off at the Halloween pop up store before heading to the gym. Everything is 50% off, and I have an additional 20% off coupon that I received via email. The store will disappear tomorrow and I hate buying online since I won't be able to examine the merchandise. I buy some steampunk items because my husband loves that genre, and I don't have anything to give him for Christmas. He won't have an excuse next Halloween when I want to go out dancing. This year it was " But I don't have a costume." And we spent last Friday night on the couch watching season 2 of Stranger Things. I'd never thought to watch the show until I saw the Hillywood parody of it. It's not as good as their Supernatural one. Or even Dr Who. But it was enough to make me curious. My husband is now a big fan of Stranger Things and claims it's the best show he's seen in years. Hmmmm.

I'm able to do 35 minutes on the cross-trainer that I like, but inexplicably the machine starts to feel difficult with 2 minutes left to go. Then I notice that the rectangle in the lower right corner of the console screen has gone from gray to green. Ugh. There's no way to turn the stupid "hybrid" setting off, and at the end of my workout, the machine proudly proclaims that I've pedaled enough to power the machine for two minutes. Well, duh...

I do a set of pull ups, and then routine push ups and core stuff. While I'm on the Mat, I see the gleaming bald head of Stinky Butt at one of the exercise machines. Ugh. There's no one on the ellipticals though, and I get on the one with the best console and glide motion. It's been a long time since I've done any of these programs and I've missed it. I see the Mayor on the treadmill. Odd. Oh, wait, he's chatting with SquareJaw. Of course. Because otherwise he'd never do cardio. I go down to the Stretch Cage again for my second stretch. I feel good enough to do another set of pull ups so I do. And then, before my Mat Stretch, I do another set of push ups. I'm sure I'll stiffen up as soon as I cool down, but while I'm active I feel pretty good.

Earlier in the locker room, I overheard B and V discussing how much they can't do more than 20 minutes on the cardio machines, because their feet get numb and things start to hurt. V mentions doing the espresso bike challenge earlier this summer, and how being on the bike for 2 hours was torture. (I can't even reach the handlebars so it's never been a consideration.) Well, I'm glad it's not just me whose toes fall asleep while pedaling...

The gym scale is encouraging today: 110.4 lbs. Still not where I want to be, but much better than earlier this week. Tomorrow I'm chaperoning my son's field trip to Bear Mountain. The gym will have to wait until Monday...

Thursday
7.71 miles cardio

35 xtrainer
Calories 169
Miles 4.70
Average Heart Rate 136

HGPU 26
Push Ups 60
Scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Crunches 50
Bird Dog 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s

35 elliptical
Program 1
Miles 3.01
Calories 343
Average Heart Rate 145

HGPU 26
Push Ups 60