It's Not You, It's Me. No, Maybe It IS You.

Yesterday was a relatively productive day so I'm happy that my non-gym day didn't go to waste. The weather's been temperamental, bright and sunny one moment and pouring rain the next. Temps are hovering in the 50s now, a marked chill from a peak of 72F earlier this week. Today is Friday and my Cardio Plus workout. I'm finally able to get on my preferred elliptical (the one that doesn't clunk) and do the standard 33 minutes of HIIT cardio. It's not horrible.

My elbows feel okay and I'm able to do my sets of hammer grip pull-ups without any issues. The same goes for pushups as well. I'm a bit rushed doing the rest of my core routine because the 9:30 class is setting up (mats and dumbbells) and I don't want to be in the way once people start filing in. The air is extremely humid. Great for my skin, but I feel like I'm drowning a little. I knock out pull-ups after the StepMill and the Octane. I'm getting better at Walking Lunges and the 2:1 Lying Leg Curls. I do my last set of pushups and then an abbreviated Mat Stretch.

Lately, I've had to wrestle with muscles on the verge of spasms in my toes, bottom of my feet, back of the thighs. I might be pushing myself too hard. As much as I want to workout 5 days a week, I know that when I do my immune system rebels and I get sick with a head cold, or sinusitis, or vertigo, or hell, shingles. My body's not as robust as I'd like it to be and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. I should probably just be happy that it works as well as it does. It is, after all, an older model, so there's that...

When I get to the locker room, one of the trainers is fixing her hair. I can smell the spray even from a few feet away. I go to pee and when I return, I have to pass closer to her. All her items are packed but I still get a big face full of bleck. It makes my eyes water and burns the inside of my nose. Suddenly I have a headache right over my eye. I ask her if it was hairspray and she says, "But that was a while ago." Yes, I know. It's me. I'm just that sensitive. She leaves.

I undress to go shower and walk past the counter with the hair dryers and mirrors. And another big nasty face full of what is that? Alcohol? I have a headache that makes my eyes hurt. I'm the proverbial canary in the coal mine. I can't be in the same room as someone who's a heavy smoker, because I'll have the same reaction as someone who was maced. (I'd almost forgotten the agony of riding the elevator with coworkers leaving for a smoke break!)

Laying on your back
makes for much more
youthful selfies! Lol! 

All I can think is why would you douse yourself in toxins when you've survived breast cancer? Okay, Poison Control considers hairspray "minimally toxic" and they recount stories about children spraying each other in the face or ingesting sample bottles of the substance. Then again, I know someone else, another breast cancer survivor who routinely microwaves popcorn for her and her son to eat before kung fu class. Uh, I don't eat microwave popcorn and I haven't had cancer! And if I had survived something so potentially fatal, I don't think I'd be ingesting foods widely known to contain carcinogens. But maybe that's just me?

Another Dreary Cardio Friday

Norwegian 4x4
5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4
5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33
Calories 295
Miles 2.69
HR 143-198 (116, 87, 107)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 24

Push Ups 50
Crunches 30/40
Leg horizontal scissors 50
Bicycles 50
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 3
Calories 112
Total steps 702
Floors 43
HR 142

HGPU 22

15 Octane + 2cd
Default setting
Calories 11
Miles 1.59
Steps 2190
Floors 36
HR 134-147
(Numb right toes)

HGPU 22

Walking Lunges
30+30 = 60

2:1 Lying Leg Curls
30lbs x 10, 10, 10

Push-ups 50
Mat Stretch