When You Start the Week With Intervals, Everything Else is Cake

It's not suppose to be 55F in mid-January. At least, not in New York. And pouring. It could've been worse. Could've been snow. But we're not out of the proverbial woods yet. Long-term forecasts suggest a brutally cold end to winter that runs into May. May? I thought it was bad in 1996, when we had 3 wet snow storms in April alone. Wet snow that took down power lines, caused my sump to fail and my basement to flood. It was that April that I decided to invest in a generator with an automatic start. So while I'm not unhappy about the ridiculously warm weather, I'm not about to assume Spring is just a few quick weeks away.

I get to the gym really late. It's nearly noon. I'd spent most of the morning trying to piggy back an appointment for myself onto my son's dermatology visit later this week. Because I've just about run out of the only thing that keeps me from scratching the skin off my neck: fluocinonide, a topical steroid used to reduce itching, swelling and inflammation. Over-the-counter hydrocortisone creams do nothing for me. Every few weeks I feel as if my neck has become allergic to my hair and the baby-fine strands that escape my braid irritate my skin. Neck skin is particularly thin. I developed this condition a few years ago and asked my GP about it. She suggested taking a mild oral antihistamine like Chlor-Trimeton® but that didn't do anything for me. This acute itching also occurs on my right big toe, but just on the first middle phalanges. Weird. It's probably some sort of eczema. There's psoriasis in my family but I don't have those scaly patches. My appointment with the skin doc is for next Monday. Sigh.

Lots of morning folk are leaving the gym just as I'm entering. That's good for me! I do 30 minutes on the cross-trainer and then some pull ups. As guilty as I feel about not doing core, I skip right over to the Smith because today is a Pull Day. I only did sets of 80 lbs last week. This week I'm able to go higher. My back is fine, except right after the 100 lb set, when I'm sitting on the bench tapping into my phone. Then there's a little discomfort. The 120 lbs feels okay. But just okay, at least for my back. It's my knees that are complaining a little. Not great. I decide not to push my luck, and drop down to 90 lbs for the last set. Then I stick with the low weight of 80 lbs for the RG BB Rows. I feel as if I'm doing better than I did last week.

I can't find the handle I like for the Seated Cable Row. There are several single handles of varying thickness and weight. Of course, with my tiny hands, I want the thinnest, lightest one. I use gripper pads because only they offer enough padding between my bony little fingers and the metal handle. (Gloves just don't have enough material in the fingers!) I surprise myself by going heavier, but of course, I'm also allowing myself to only get 6 reps. That's one thing I have to train myself out of! The 12-rep set has been so ingrained that it's automatic and I have to make a conscious effort to accept doing less.

I only have time for a quick Mat Stretch. I've been trying to upload photos from this weekend's Boy Scout Klondike event but I'm not sure if it's FaceBook, my iPhone, the internet, or Apple iCloud that's giving me problems. I upload the first 30 photos just fine. Everything after that is painful. Because the tablet has lost it's internet connection? WTH? Or FB can't handle the videos. I try emailing them to my desktop, asking the email system to use a cloud service. It appears to acquiesce, but nothing shows up at the other end. Ugh. Things just disappear into the ether... Grrrr...

I keep hearing that the flu has hit NY and that it's brutal this year. I always get my son vaccinated because he's in school and on the school bus. But I haven't had a flu shot since I stopped commuting on public transportation. Still, I take precautions and wash my hands often. And every day (that I remember), I mash up some fresh raw garlic with a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and slather it on bread to eat. The garlic hurts my stomach if I don't put it on bread or crackers. And I have garlic breath for a few hours afterwards. But the odor seems to dissipate overnight, which means my body is getting used to processing it. I've given up on taking apple cider vinegar: it gives me horrible heartburn! So no more "cold & flu tonic" either, because I can't handle the vinegar base. But I can handle garlic on a bread base! 

Well, at least my workout was good. Debating as to whether I want to whack the machine or just do cardio and core tomorrow. I guess I'll know when I get there...

Tuesday

30 x-trainer
Miles 3.80
Calories 142
Average Heart Rate 133

HGPU 26

Smith RDLs (super light)
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 12
120 x 12
90 x 12

Smith RG BB Rows
80lbs x 25reps x 3 sets

Seated 1-Arm Cable Rows
30lbs x 12
45 x 12
52.5 x 10
60 x 6 Yaaay me!