Cardio Days Are Fun Days

Rainy days make for a crowded gym. Still, I got on the elliptical for Intervals. I wasn't great at this, mainly because I got distracted by texts from my hubs about next weekend's plans. Or rather, the disruption to our plans because he might be away. Still, I got my basic cardio done. Followed by pull ups. I got to 28 and stopped. I probably could've gotten 2 more, but they wouldn't've been pretty. Instead, I moved right on to Core basics: push ups, planks, crunches... I'm torn between grabbing the Smith for low-bar shoulder stretch or hopping on the Step Mill. The Step Mill wins. Only 15 minutes here, but I immediately ramp up to Level 6. I used to ease into it, spending a minute at Level 4, then 5 but it was sooooo boring. Level 6 makes you a little breathless no matter what you're doing on the machine, and I tend to change my footwork every 60 seconds anyway.

There's no one on any of the Expresso Bikes today so I grab the new one with the touch screen and more comfortable seat. I've been meaning to try the Dragon Island game, and here's my chance. I only punch in 10 minutes and set the gear to Level 15 and leave it there. Because I really don't want to be bothered with that kind of distraction. No, I just want to pedal and run over floating coins and dragons to score points. It's fun! There were a few times I had to stand up on the pedals because the slope was so steep, and once I lost 1,000 points because I didn't know you can't touch the water's edge. Jeeze! Still, I seem to have managed an impressive score. Or at least that's what the machine tells me. I'll be playing this again next week, maybe for 15 minutes instead.

The Smith is still vacant so I do low-bar shoulder stretches. My right wrist especially bothers me during these movements, and I know I'm not ready to actually Squat. The stretch is enough stress on my upper body joints. I'd rather do Pistol Squats on the Mat. They'd probably be easier to do on the floor as the Mat is a bit squishy and uneven. It's a challenge! I get an even dozen today, so that's 6 each leg, and I didn't stop because I was tired. But I did want to finish the Mat Stretch before I cooled down. My left inner thigh has been a bit sore. It occasionally suffers from all these splits and takes several days to recover.

Towhee image from All About Birds

This Spring, there have been more birds to our feeder than usual. A pair of redwing blackbirds come regularly now and I've learned to recognize their call. I'm not thrilled with the grackles and starlings though, as they tend to bring all their friends and eat through entire blocks of nut-studded suet. The red-bellied woodpecker (who sounds like a small dog barking), downy woodpecker and hairy woodpecker (who looks like a slightly bigger version of the downy) all come by. We have goldfinches, sparrows and a lot of purple finches, although my son & I call them rose finches because they're not purple at all. A family of blue jays also visits, as well as mourning doves. Yesterday, I saw a towhee, but he didn't stay long enough for me to snap a photo. Instead, I grabbed an image off the internet... Not sure where all the chickadees and nuthatches have gone. But there are robins everywhere. And the morning air is filled with noisy, joyous birdsong. However, the deer seem to have relocated from our area since we had daylilies last year and normally the deer eat all the buds and flowers. This year I'm hoping we have those bright orange flowers again!


Cardio Friday

30 elliptical
Intervals
Calories 280
Miles 2.51
Average Heart Rate 132/169 max

HGPU 28
Push Ups 60
Elbow Plank 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20

15 StepMill
Level 6
Steps 811
Floors 50
Calories 119

Expresso Bike
Dragons Island game 42,790 puts
10 min
34 cal
1.62 miles

Low bar shoulder stretch
3 x 15s

Pistol Squats
12 = 6 each leg