Slight Variations

Even though I know Mondays tend to be busy, I was still a bit surprised at how crowded the gym was. I overhear people talking about going away for Spring break or Easter vacation. We're not going anywhere. My son only has a long weekend to look forward to. He says he would've much preferred to go to school during the winter and have an actual week-long vacation the first week of April. I do have an Easter basket ready though. I'll just have to sneak it into his room when he's sleeping.

All the cross-trainers are busy so I get on one of the ellipticals and hit Program 1. The gal two machines over is pedaling but hasn't activated any programs so I'm not sure how much that pedaling is worth. Later she gets on the erg, but only for a few minutes. Perhaps she's just trying things out? I'm wearing another new cheap tank from Old Navy®. It's billowy like a pillowcase, but that doesn't bother me. It's my old iPod Nano, clipped to the non-existent waistband of my most-comfy yoga pants that I keep fiddling with. The pants, long discontinued by Title Nine® (probably because the fabric tended to really hold on to sweaty stinky smells even after being laundered) is made from a wonderfully soft, non-clingy material, but lacks waistband structure. So anything clipped to it tends to flop over and eventually slide off. Ugh. But the pants don't smell anymore. So there's that...

There's a fellow at the Smith so I take my time with my Core warm up. I'm happy that I'm able to take advantage of having "rested my elbows" over the weekend, and get a few more pull ups. Yaaay me! I do feel a bit bloated though and I'm wondering if I'm merely perceiving yesterday's meal of smoked pork butt as being a tad too salty, or if it really is too salty. My hubs used his smoker this weekend, but substituted charcoal briquettes for lump hardwood. The lump is harder to control. But after half a day and the briquettes themselves being finicky, my hubs opted to finish the butt in the oven for a few hours. He absolutely loves the marinade injector and wonders why he never tried it before. He also adjusted the dry rub seasoning. The pork was still delicious, and so exciting that he once again forgot to take any photos of it. My son inhaled a good pound and a half of it fresh off the bone, and went to bed happy. Later today, the gym scale tells me 111.6 lbs. It could've been worse!

The Smith is free by the time I'm actually ready. I'm toying with changing my reps, but I'm not quite there yet. Many strength programs suggest 5 reps per set. But, instead of going for 3 sets of 5 reps, I still hit 12. And 25. But I'm braver with the DB shoulder super set and only grab a pair of 25s. I figure my elbows should be able to handle 25 lbs if I cut my reps down. But how far down? I stop at 8 reps because that seems reasonable. But by the 3rd set, I want to see if I can handle a few more and stop at 10. And then I decide to do a 4th set. Well, that's a change, too. I wonder if I'll be sore tomorrow? Probably not... But 25 lbs doesn't give me the best form. Does it matter? Will it eventually ruin my elbows and forearms, my weak links? Don't know yet.

I also opt to do V-bar cable press downs for triceps instead of Rip Skulls. The gym has emptied out a bit, but I'm not in the mood to unclip my hair, and worry about my earphone wires sticking to my throat. I still haven't ordered replacement bluetooth earbuds yet. They're in my Amazon shopping cart along with the sewing machine, and bottles of Amlactin® skin cream. My hubs doesn't thinks I should get the sewing machine: just take my pants to the tailor. We're trying to de-clutter the house, but you wouldn't know it from all the things my hubs orders and accumulates. We're actually contemplating getting a shed just to keep all the camping gear in an organized fashion because our house is eternally too small, and until he sorts out the garage, there's barely any room for 3 people with interests, and an old dog.

Today I took a practically brand-new tea set to the local humane society thrift shop as a donation. Because my hubs, who got into this Asian tea thing a few years ago, suddenly decided he wasn't into it anymore after buying a Yixing ceremonial tea set. Ugh. The box has been sitting in the living room forever, and finally he put it into a big black trash bag to toss away. Instead, I put it in the back of my car, along with a good 3 dozen white hand towels I cleaned out of my bathroom linen closet. Those are going to the humane society itself because they can always use towels. And where did all these towels come from? From all the hotels my hubs stays at. A hand towel or two always finds itself in his laundry bag. Ugh.

My hubs is okay with donations to the humane society. I used to take bags and bags of clothes to Good Will, but he's not happy with "undeserving undesirables" getting his cast-offs. (Never mind that the chairman of Good Will Industries is one of the highest paid CEOs of all non-profit corporations.) But when I went there a few weeks ago, there were very few bags of donated clothes in the receiving area. Probably a consequence of the new tax laws that do away with charitable donations as a deductible. When I donated my old car, the one with the broken rear axle, my hubs insisted that it was going to wind up in the Middle East being driven by anti-American terrorists. Like that plumber who saw his old van on news footage (click here for the story). But I really wanted to get the $500 tax deduction for the car instead of having to pay $500 to have someone take it away...

My husband is always angry about other people profitting off his discards. So he's not very compliant with recycling either. I'm not militant, but I at least try. It's not that he's a bad person. He's just tired of everyone trying to make him feel guilty for everything. I admit that I'm a bit weary of it too, and have to selectively tune-out the world. Everyone's shilling for something. Listen to every heart-breaking story pleading for monthly donations and you'll be poor, and mad, in no time.

I did make good use of a Gerber® folding hand saw my hubs showed me. There's a narrow pot-hole strewn road that connects the back parking area of a Catholic school with the driveway of the kung fu school. The kung fu school is on a road perpendicular to the main road. There's a traffic light at the intersection. But no Left Turn signal. Oncoming traffic is relentless with cars coming directly off the highway. I used to get very stressed sitting at that light, waiting for an opportune moment to turn left and not get T-boned. The lady who runs the kung fu school told me to use the little back road behind the Catholic school, and I have been. Until last Tuesday when a small tree fell across it. Small as in a sapling about as thick as my upper arm, which is 13" around. So that's about a 4" diameter and high enough off the ground to smash your windshield if you tried to drive through it.

Last week, I had to back out of the road and sit in traffic to make the horrible left turn. The next time, I actually remembered to bring the folding saw, and while my son scampered through the woods to get to class on time, I put on my sunglasses and fleece winter gloves and proceeded to saw. It took about 15 minutes to hit both ends. I was hoping that once I cut the far end, the tree would spring up and out of the way, but it'd been down too long. That's a saw I'm keeping in my Go Bag.

Push Monday

30 elliptical
Program 1
Calories 292
Miles 2.57
Average Heart Rate 146 / max 198

HGPU 30
Push-ups 60
Elbow Plank 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Elbow Plank 60s

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
80 x 12
90 x 12
70 x 25
60 x 25

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
25lbs x 8/15reps x 2
25 x 10/15 x 2

V-bar Cable Press Down
30lbs x 12 reps
40 x 12
45 x 12