Now I just buy a 50 lb bag of sunflower seed for under $20 to last most of the winter. And a sleeve of "nutty" suet to hang beside it for the wood peckers and larger birds. The suet also comes in orange and berry flavors, but I'm not sure what the point is since there's no actual fruit in the suet. Do birds like artificially flavored fat? Is there any nutritional benefit? I suspect not, so I stick to the ones with peanut crumble in it. Of course, there's other stuff in it, like corn, millet and oats, so maybe I should just buy plain suet next time. Sprinkling it all with cayenne will keep the squirrels away, but as my hubs says, Well even they have to eat since they don't hibernate. At least the raccoons haven't been around this year!
There's ribbons of black ice lying across the road as I drive my son to school. At the school bus stop, a huge swath of crusty white ice makes the road look like someone spilled a giant slushie. A yellow town truck is backing up, probably to pour salt all over it, and plant a warning sign that says Icy Road. This is the first time I've ever seen this part of the road this bad. It's cold and yesterday it rained intermittently. Which meant an odd combination of a clear windshield (and normally mine is the first to frost over) yet car doors nearly frozen shut. I get to the gym a little later than usual.
It's Monday, and a No-Brainer. Today's is HIIT cardio, to begin at least. The gym is freezing and I've still got the sniffles. I hear other people coughing and know they have the same lint-in-the-throat feeling that makes me gulp more water than I'd like. Damn, I'm going to be through this 20 oz water bottle in no time. Ugh. Using the neti pot over the weekend helped briefly. Eating a few cloves of crushed raw garlic every few days atop mashed avocados is probably doing more by boosting my immune system. Or, it's just giving me garlic breath.
I dread HIIT cardio but it's always okay when I finally do it. At the very least, it makes me warm. I've decided that the Raynaud's, which appears to be getting worse with age, is totally messing with the pulse rate monitor. As I'm pedaling my hardest, my fingers and toes go numb, a signal that the capillaries in my extremities are contracting. The pulse monitor is attached to the handles on most cardio machines. I watch my HR drop to 79, which is lower than my initial HR when I first get on the elliptical to do 5 minutes of warm up. Cardiac lag means I can never quite adjust my pedaling to maintain a specific HR. Honestly, the only thing I know for certain is that my lungs don't burn and I'm finally warm enough to take off my hoodie.
Having Raynaud's (a heritable condition) also means I'm never going to put myself in a situation where I'm dependent on my grip, or footing. Having your hands and feet go numb can be life-threatening in the great outdoors! It's also part of the reason I don't bench freehand. With heavier weights, parts of my hands go numb, especially pressing upward. Just got to work around it. For me, that means using the Smith machine. For others, it might mean using other machines.
The Smith is busy but I've got a few things to do before I even think about whether this is a Pull or Push Day. Like pull ups. These are thankfully easier than I remember and I'm so relieved -- I always experience some performance anxiety beforehand! I stick to 20 reps. My shoulder and elbows have been sporadically achy and I'd like to do 4 sets again on Friday. Yes, I'm trying to plan for my entire week right at that moment.
Because I got a late start, class is already full-blast in the room next door. I do my push ups, crunches and planks in the tiny stretch area next to the storage closet. I put my hoodie back on for these because I don't think these black foam mats have ever cleaned, except once I saw the Professor wipe one down after he was done. But he's the only one I've ever seen do this, ever.
The Smith feels like it's been cleaned, or at least the tracks run smoother than they did last week. Over time, dust and grime build up and make the movement sticky. Today I can only blame myself for having a hard time with Inclined Presses. Yep, it's a Push Day. I recognize a few regulars, including some persistent women. Nice. My tunes are too loud and I lose count during the 2nd heavy set. Ugh. I force myself to count aloud for the next set. At least there's no one close by.
I've noticed that the weights feel much heavier in my hands than when I'm actually doing the movement. I don't remember ever thinking this before last week. 20 lb DBs are like great big stones in my hands as I take them off the rack. I can feel my delts during DB laterals. I can feel all the smaller, lesser back and shoulder muscles when I drop onto the Inclined Bench for Reverse Flyes. But after 3 sets, the DBs don't feel heavy anymore. Weird, right?
It's the same feeling with the 40 lb solid BB that I use for Rip Skulls. That it feels heavy adds to my performance anxiety. In this case, I really struggle with the last 3 reps of the last set. But when I return the bar to the rack, it feels super light. During Mat Stretch I toy with the idea of one more set of pull ups to finish, but realize that this isn't actually beneficial if I plan to attempt 4 sets again by the end of the week.
I should probably stop grinding my teeth. I don't actually know that I do it often, but I broke a tooth Friday night, while eating dinner. At first I thought it was a bit of chicken cartilage that sometimes gets left on boneless, skinless chicken thighs. But the piece I spit out looked too thick. It was the size of a chip of fingernail. Well, my fingernail because I have small hands and fingers. Then I realized that I had rough spot inside my upper jaw. Broken tooth?! It did't hurt though.
The dentist (who took over my old dentist's practice), who I called to ask what I should do, brushed it off in a Tony Shaloub manner, as something that just happens and if I want, I can make an appointment next week. He's very experienced but is of that generation that hates being questioned. And I like to ask a lot of questions. We're not a good match.Instead, I called my son's dentist Saturday morning and had a consultation a few hours later. I got to meet the newest dentist in the practice. The tech took an X-ray and then the dentist explained with great patience and detail that the broken tooth was in fact a broken crown. In fact, a crown so ancient that I didn't even remember having it. (It's hard to keep track of all the dental work I've had done over the years!) But the metal cap underneath the ceramic was intact and everything else looked okay. Eventually, the crown may wear or break more, necessitating replacement, but for now, everything is fine. Well, that's a relief although I am still weirded out.
He did question the tooth next to it, which like the tooth I had pulled a few months ago, is showing some signs of unhappiness in the anchoring bone. He gently taps each tooth with the back of a metal probe and asks if it hurts. No, but it feels different than the teeth that have not been capped. The best I can describe it as is an echo. And the broken tooth echoes differently than the suspect tooth at the end of my mouth. Sigh. I have genetically bad teeth. My front teeth aren't even the same color as my other teeth because my mother's diet was inconsistent and deficient when I was in utero. At least that's what my old dentist told me after failing to sell me a tooth whitening process. Maybe I need to invest in a mouth guard? Ugh. Am I going to have to go to the dentist for that too, or can I just use a sports one?
Frigid Monday
Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 280
Miles 2.61
HR 143-171 (79)
Cage Stretch
HGPU 20
Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/30
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 15
50 x 12
70 x 12
90 x 12 x 3
60 x 25
DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets
Rip Skulls
40 lbs x 12 reps x 3!
Mat Stretch
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