Cardio Plus, And I'm Gonna Feel It Tomorrow

The girl was not at the school bus stop this morning as we drove by. Whew! Temps in the 20s but at least it's dry and sunny. I haven't been sleeping well in spite of exercise, ZMA and some light reading before bedtime. Because our Scout meeting was held at the library instead of the elementary school last night, I got to browse and borrow a few books (instead of buying them on Amazon). I dig out my library card, which admittedly, I haven't used in a really long time, and am told that it's not in the system. It's too old! I have to apply for a brand new card! Which is funny, because once I thought I'd lost my card and wanted to get a new one, but the lady behind the desk frowned at me and had refused. The girl giving me a new card last night thought that was very peculiar. Sometimes I get paranoid and think people are rude to me just because I'm not Caucasian. Especially older women, especially here where there are not a lot of Asians.

I love Carl Hiaasen books and I'm happy to see that the library has several of his humorous stories. I choose Basket Case. I appreciate Hiaasen's easy style and quick wit. And I found a few Christopher Buckley books I'd like to read as well. So I rented one of those, even though I'm barely a third of the way through The Relic Master. I must be old, because I prefer to read an actual page-turning book before sleep, rather than stare at my blue-screen iPad or cell. My hubs listens to audio books, but I've never gotten into them.

The gym is cold, no surprise. I do my standard Norwegian 4x4 HIIT cardio routine, then a cage stretch ending with hammer grip pull ups. I'm fine until I pass the 20th rep, when my wonky left elbow starts to complain. Reps 21 through 23 builds in discomfort, so I don't go for more reps. Luckily the pain doesn't last. I hurry through my push ups and core because Body Pump is setting up in the class room. The Octane is free so that's what's next, and it's damn hard to do after HIIT cardio. I keep forgetting that the Octane doesn't give you time to record your numbers once it's done with you. I don't know how many miles all those steps translate into. During my second set of pull ups I stop at 20 because I don't want to aggravate any budding tendonitis. This is the same elbow that twinged yesterday during the Inclined Press, and later with the Rip Skulls. Ugh. Gonna keep an eye on that because I've suffered from excruciating golfer's elbow in the past.

I'm probably tired, but I can't really tell. Weird, right? I decide to do Walking Lunges before I wrestle myself into the Lying Leg Curl machine. I'm determined to work glutes and hamstrings beyond just the various cardio I do during the week, and the article about hamstrings in T Nation's Weekly Dose suggests a movement called 2:1 Accentuated Eccentric Lying Leg Curl. You use both legs when you contract and move the weight up, but only one leg on the downward, very slowly. Because I haven't done this machine in years, I start with the lightest weight, 10 lbs. There are 5 lb increment discs that I use as I creep up to 20 lbs. Twenty is the most I can handle with one leg by this point. I'm relieved that the right leg hamstring doesn't threaten to spasm at all. Whew!

The mat stretch area is crowded today so I take a foam mat to the CF area and do a quick stretch. I'm planning to whack the Nexersys tomorrow. There's snow in the forecast for the afternoon and I wonder if school will dismiss early...

Wednesday Xtra Cardio

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Add 5 min machine cool down (38)
Calories 294
Miles 2.85
HR 134-183 (113)

Cage Stretch (bottom right elbow)
HGPU 23

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

30 Octane
Default Manual 1
Floors 49
Total steps 2979
Miles ???
Calories 160
HR 109-139

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20
Walking Lunges 22 steps each leg

Lying Leg Curls (2:1)
10 lbs x 8
15 x 8
20 x 8 x 3

Light Stretch