Making This Week Count

HR reads 132, over the target 129

There's a severe heat advisory as well as flood watch warnings. Thunderstorms slated to roll into the area to deluge us with torrential rain and wind. Just great. However, it's bright and sunny when I leave the house, with nary a cloud in sight. Still, there's not enough a/c at the gym to keep me from feeling damp all the time that I'm there. I decide to try a new program on the elliptical and select the Heart Rate program. It asks me how old I am and what I'd like my target HR to be. When I punch in 58 and 135 bpm, it warns me that this target is too high for my age at 85%. Ugh. I drop my target down to 129 and that is acceptable. Grrrrr...

HR is blank because two hands needed
Machine is telling me SLOW DOWN

The program shows a flat incline of 10, which I drop to 6. What I can't control is the resistance which moves from 1 all the way to 9. Ugh. I take it upon myself to pedal in reverse at minute 7.5, then forward at minute 15, reverse at 22.5, and finish going forward. The machine sends a warning to SLOW DOWN when my heart rate exceeds 134 bpm. I do get sweaty, and I am warmed up, so I'm not going to complain. What I am complaining about is the gross person who leaves chewed gum inside the phone holder. Yuck. It's probably the same person who sticks gum under the water holder on the ellipticals. I hope I never catch this person because I'd publicly call them out for being a disgusting pig in my biggest, loudest mom voice. Seriously.

While standing at the Stretch Cage, I wonder how hard pull ups are going to be today. In my head, I need to match or better this past Monday's total rep count of 68. I know the first two sets are always the hardest because those are the highest reps. Subsequent sets have shorter counts, so that's naturally easier even though I'm more tired by then. Oddly, that's not a great equalizer. I'm resting at least 2-3 minutes between sets because I'm texting with my hubs. He's sending photos of the Scouts. I'm still panting hard between sets, but the last set is the only one where I do less than what I think I'm capable of. Because I still have Friday.... On the other hand, I am really thrilled by this small accomplishment because it's the only place I'm making any gains whatsoever.

I'm too tired to do push ups and core. Instead I go straight to the Smith machine for RDLs. I know I used to pull heavier than 120 lbs, but 120 feels plenty heavy to me, especially for reps. (I should probably drop my reps in order to up my weights, but maybe I'll wait until there's less humidity. It's making it hard to breathe, even indoors.) I follow those with the standard RG BB Rows. I can see other people in the mirror, several I don't recognize. The father with the tall noodle-arm son has been coming fairly consistently. His son is on the assisted pull up machine, trying to get a feel for the movement. He's not successful. Not my place to say anything, especially since I've never seen the father (a reasonably fit middle-age man) do a pull up either. Yes, it's hard to coach someone to do something if you yourself aren't actually capable of doing it. I'm sure there's a technique for teaching these things, but I don't know what it is.

I finish with Seated One-Arm Cable Rows. Later, I ask Gym Owner about incremental plates for that cable station. He tells me that the company is working on something for that. I find it suspicious that the company doesn't already have items like that in production. Meanwhile, Gym Owner says the old plates can be slipped sideways on top of the stack. Okay, I'll have to try that next time.

Feeling a bit guilty for having done no core work, I pull out one of the foam mats in the classroom. Unfortunately, I've forgotten to bring a hand towel with me and I'm not going to risk skin infections by laying on these "who knows if they've ever been sanitized" mats. So I do push ups, bird dogs and side planks, but no crunches or bicycles where I'd have to lay flat on my back on the mat. I suppose I could've grabbed a handful of paper towels out of the wall dispenser at the other end of the room, and laid them out like a cover, but I didn't. 

The sky grows dark as I'm driving home, and it's raining by the time I walk my dog. He's not happy about the hot pavement, or the fact that he's getting wet. I seem to be stressing my physical self too much. I'm always disappointed when I feel signs of lowered immunity. Like cold sores, or better, gum irritation that signals something akin to cold sores but inside my mouth. I'll have to start taking lysine and using abreva on the corners of my mouth before the tingling starts.

I also accidentally gave myself vertigo last weekend, by rolling onto my right side to stretch while I was in bed. Then I rolled onto my stomach. I didn't think anything off it until I almost puked from nausea while trying to brush my teeth. Thankfully, I sort of remembered the Epley maneuver for BPPV and did a version of it by laying down and turning my head at a 45 degree angle to the left. The vertigo cleared up eventually. That's the last time I roll over onto my right side in bed. My sinuses haven't been too happy either. All this dampness means mold. Yuck!

My girlfriend texts me to say she regrets not going to the movies with me because she got little done yesterday. I could've told her that, but I'm not the type to try and convince anyone of anything. If you want to come, okay. If not, okay. (Yep, that's the type of personal trainer I'd be too. Kidding.) We're not going to Mohonk Mountain House tomorrow either, because it'll still be too hot. I'm not good with heat between having IV (icthylosis vulgaris) and knowing that heat stroke runs in my family (probably due to the IV that also runs in my family). Now I can either come to the gym or stay home and try to get some work done! It's so hard for a gym rat to say No to the gym.... Next week I might have jury duty. I hope I don't get a long, involved case. I also hope there's a/c in the courthouse.

Wednesday Pull

30 elliptical
Program HR
Calories 272
Miles 2.48
Average HR 89-136
(20:08 in zone) 129/168

HGPU 25, 20, 15, 10 (70!)

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
120lbs x 12reps x 3 sets

Smith RG BB Rows
80 x 25 x 3

One-Arm Seated Cable Rows
30lbs x 12reps ea x 3 sets

Push Ups 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s