Distractions Are Easy

I decided to start using the food tracker, My Fitness Pal, again. It's an Under Armour app with a lot of add-on-for-a-price bells and whistles. I'm a bare bones gal myself. I figure, new year, new approach. Or a newer approach than just winging it like I've been doing lately. Failing miserably at the latter. Yesterday I wasn't particularly hungry so my calories only amounted to just under 800, which prompted a severe warning from the app that I was going to develop malnutrition. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I was still surprised that it told me I wasn't eating enough in red letters.

Today, I don't have that problem because I'm ravenous before I leave the house, even drinking the same coffee (and sugar and half & half) and half cup of full-fat buttermilk to wash down my vitamins. I actually mix up a scoop of whey protein in 8 oz of water to drink before I dash off to the gym. I'm experienced enough to stash a bottle of strawberry Hi-Protein Ensure in my car for after the gym when I have to grocery shop for the 5 items I forgot to get yesterday. (I swear, I feel like I grocery shop every day because there's always something I've forgotten or didn't know I ran out of.)

Warning

Only 2/14 blocked

I do my standard warm up but haven't quite decided what mix of Follow Me and Sparring I'm going to do at the Nexersys kickboxing machine. Even though my first foray into the combo-sessions was accidental, I've become somewhat addicted to the rush. I go all out during Sparring, even with the annoying Warnings that stop all the action, and the fact the machine doesn't allow me to "block" any of its own punches. You're suppose to tap the pad of the avatar arm that's throwing a jab or cross, but the machine is a cry-baby and stops the action EVERY time, complaining that I'm hitting too hard, even with barely a tap. Seriously? I ignore most of the stats, but I'm happy to see my point scores increase after each Sparring round. And that the Intermediate Sparring rounds have better scores than the Beginner rounds! At least I feel like I'm progressing! The screen still blacks out intermittently. If it happens during Sparring, I just punch and jab away regardless. But there's little I can do during Follow Me. It's like a forced pause. The date on the screen is wrong as well but I have no way of resetting it.

I snap a few photos with my phone and email them to myself because my desktop is ancient and doesn't talk to my other devices. My desktop is where all my important software lives. Because I hate the idea of relying on cloud-based apps to process your files and getting a new computer will mean just that. But there's one photo on my phone that I can't do anything with. The ability to mail or edit the photo has been disabled and I don't know why. It's almost exactly the same as the other photos except the avatar is mostly green. this is what the avatar looks like when the round first starts. (The machine thinks I want to exit the program. WTH?!) Sigh. I resort to taking a screenshot of the photo. That I can email to myself. Weird.

After 14 rounds, I'm tired enough that the last 6 reps of Hammer Grip Pull Ups are a bit iffy. I get them, but it's a struggle. My knuckles sting a little as well. They look a bit pink but at least there's no torn skin or actual bruising. My stomach is growling in the locker room and I'm glad I've got a RTD in the car outside. The gym scale reads 112.4 lbs. Or was it 113.4 lbs? I'm so spacey I don't actually remember what it said! Ugh.

7 rounds Beginner level

My shoulders are a tad sore as I type this. I'm already planning my next work out but it might not be tomorrow. (I'd like to start doing light RDLs again, but we'll see. Every time I do Rip Skulls, I worry about my right hamstring going into spasms as I brace myself for the pullover portion of the exercise. Yes, I worry about a sciatica recurrence.)

Everyone's talking about the big nor'easter headed our way, but all indications are that states further north and east of us are going to get walloped with the Bomb Cyclone. (Click here for a link to explain what it is and the fact that the storm's name is Grayson. Have we already had six other winter storms? It's only day 3 of 2018!) Apparently all storms are cyclones, and we usually call them hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific. A dramatic drop in air pressure accounts for the Bomb title. My husband is flying in from Houston tonight, hopefully ahead of the storm. It's not the precipitation of 1-3 inches, but the hurricane-force winds that's troubling everyone. I told my son to charge all his back up batteries for the phones. Just in case. And the temps might drop even lower with this weather system. We've spent the past week with below normal temps. It was 4F when we walked to the school bus stop this morning. Saturday, when the Boy Scouts plan to go on a 5-mile day hike, is forecast to be a high of 9F. With a low of -9F. Good thing they're not tent camping on this outing.

7 rounds Intermediate level

Wednesday

10 x-trainer
Calories 47
Miles 1.27
Average Heart Rate 148

T, Y & I Raises
3lbs x 15
5lbs x 15

Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Nexersys
7r Beginner 4FM 3SP
7r Intermediate 4FM 3SP

HGPU 26