Cardio Friday

Without ZMA

I really need more sleep. Luckily we have nothing planned for this weekend, and it's the end of Daylight Savings so we get an extra hour on Sunday, not that we'll actually notice. Even my son told me this morning that when he got home after school, he planned to take a nap. My thoughts exactly. Of course, I'm still not getting a full 8 hours, and it shows in my face, especially under harsh lighting. Ugh.

I am sleeping better now that I'm remembering to take a capsule of Optimum Nutrition's ZMA an hour before bedtime. I use a free sleep tracking app called Sleep Cycle which gives me a semblance of proof that it's not just my imagination. Last night's Sleep Cycle app shows nothing but ridiculously deep sleep. That's kind of unnerving because it should be a series of hills and deep valleys. The more deep troughs, the better. Too many peaks means too much light sleep, which isn't very restful. Some people report extremely vivid dreams on ZMA, but I haven't noticed that. I'm lucky if I remember any dreams at all. Of course, if I get a chance to sleep a full 8 hours, I might actually remember.

With ZMA

I'm so impressed with how well ZMA works that I've recommended it to at least two other women at the gym who are also complaining about broken sleep. It seems to be epidemic among the middle age ladies who frequent my gym. (My hubs also had trouble getting to bed, but that's more because of his erratic work schedule than anything else. He's been reliant on antihistamine-based sleep aids which I dislike because they're combined with NSAIDs. Those have been linked to liver toxicity and muscle-repair inhibition. We've also got a bottle of melatonin on the counter, but I've never tried it.)

I think we'll all be sleeping in this weekend, and I don't care what all these idiot sleep scientists say about not being able to catch up on sleep. Their advice is ridiculously unhelpful: just go to bed earlier. Uh, and if that's not possible? Give us helpful advice for the real world, please!

Today is the Cardio Day I promised myself, not that I'm ever truly excited to make myself breathlessly sweaty. Okay, that's not true. The Dragon Island game on the Expresso Bike makes me happy, so I save that for last in my lineup of cardio exercises. The Octane is a good warm up because I'm still stiff and sore from the past few days. Plus, there's no one on it. Accessibility is key! All the treadmills are occupied, which is surprises me considering it's Friday. But it's also dreary, windy, rainy and yet, unseasonably warm at 64 F. Everyone looks like they're suffering from a Halloween hangover. It's probably just the anxiety fatigue we call life in modern times.

Sleep last night

The Step Mill is also empty, so I'm quite pleased. From this high perch, I can see that the Expresso Bikes are all being used. Hopefully, the one I like will be available by the time I'm done with dancing on the steps. Well, not actually dancing, but I like to change my footwork every 60 seconds. It keeps this exercise from feeling like trudging up the stairs for 20 minutes. The tall fellow on the machine next to me is doing just that, although at a slightly quicker pace. But because I'm alternating between side-steps, cross-steps and an angled push-pull step, I'm working up a good sweat. When I climb down, I see that the first Expresso bike, the one I like, is vacant. Yaaaay me!

I do fairly well on the bike, but of course, not as good as registered users. If I don't have to sign in with my name and phone number, then I don't. The only dragon game available to me is Dragon Island. There are others, but they require a login. I'm perfectly happy not having my name on the leader board. Sweat is literally pouring down my face as I exit the bike. I can taste and smell the ocean!

Even though it's not recommended to do pull ups every day, I do a set anyway. But I skip push ups and substitute elbow planks. Core also includes other planks, crunches and bicycles. And then the traditional stretch finish. I didn't braid my hair before clipping it up so I'm not surprised that I look so disheveled when I'm done. This workout has also taken longer than I expected. It was three 20-minute cardio workouts, which should total an hour, more or less. But there's stretching, core, and a few pistol squats just to see how they feel. My right thigh clenches more than the left, which seems odd. I'm a lot stronger on the right side than the left. Oh well... by the time I'm ready to leave the gym, it's been almost three hours and I can't really account for my time. I did chat with a friend in the locker room for a few minutes. Showering. Changing clothes. Ugh.

Cardio Friday

20 min Octane
Manual Level 1
Calories 130
Steps 2540
Miles 1.80
HR 139? Average 116 Max 151

20 min StepMill
Level 3
Total steps 713
Floors 44
Calories 113
HR? 132

20 Expresso Bike
Dragon Island
Points 108,910
Calories 70
Miles 3.31

HGPU 21
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50
Elbow Plank 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Pistol Squats 5 each leg

Stretch