Unseasonable

It's 84F right now, which is ridiculously warm for October in New York. The stink bugs are swarming, desperate to find a cozy home to overwinter. When we find them, my son and I will coax them into a ziplock baggy and toss them in the freezer. Once they're dead, I toss the little frozen bodies outside where they can't do any damage. I've heard that spiders like to eat them too but I haven't seen anything other than hapless moths caught in the messy webs both inside and outdoors.

I overheard a riotous conversation in the locker room today about stink bugs because the woman who teaches Body Pump discovered several dozen of them nestled inside the folds of her heavy window drapes. Wow, that's an unpleasant surprise! Temps may drop low enough to warrant frost. That'll kill them all if they haven't found shelter.

It's a Pull Day but I'm cold when I first enter the gym. I'm always cold in the morning, especially having drunk only half a cup of coffee. It takes me at least 15 minutes on the elliptical before I can unzip my hoodie. I skip the Cage Stretch because SnowBird seems to be arranging himself in it and I don't have time to wait around. Go directly to the aerobic room to do my core exercises.

Afterward, I realize that I need to skip HGPU anyway because I'll be doing 3 sets of them tomorrow. The Smith is free but the cable stations are lousy with those gabby regulars, M, Lazy Pedals, and a few others. I opt to do light sets of Smith RDLs. It's been several months and my lower back feels stiff. But I'm more concerned about the weird feeling I wake up with that's in my right leg. There's a nerve soreness that runs from my glute down to the sole of my foot. Yeah, that'd be the sciatic nerve, as it's certainly not one singular sore muscle.

I figure a change of routine will help, especially if I'm careful not to go heavy. I only load 100 lbs, less than my body weight, so I figure this is fine. Since I'm at the Smith, I might as well do a few sets of RG BB Rows too. Those are actually easier than I remember, as long as I'm not positioned too horizontally. Too much stress on the lower back otherwise. I can feel my lower lats work when I do this so I figure I'm getting something out of it. The chatterboxes have moved off and I could do some seated cable rows, but I decide I've put my lower back through enough today. After three sets of reverse curls, I'm back on the elliptical.

I've determined the reason I don't like the cross-trainer: it's impossible for me to keep my feet flat on the pedals as I move. I can do it on the Precor elliptical, but not the Life Fitness cross-trainer. My heels lift up and all the pressure goes to the balls of my feet, which is why my toes become numb. If I try to keep my feet flat with the pedals, I'm unable to move forward or backward!

I've also determined that my newish NB 7w clown shoes just aren't as comfortable as some of my other trainers. The soles feel hard, and there's a great deal of pressure on the pinky toe of my right foot. No doubt the right foot bunion is a lot of the problem, but there seems to be plenty of room inside the shoe. There's something about the supporting structure that's amiss.

Oh well... I might just reserve this sneaker for mundane walking about tasks instead of going to the gym. Still, nothing beats the comfort of my memory foam Go Walk Skechers. I'll be wearing those tomorrow.

Same But Different Wednesday Pull

30 elliptical + 5cd
Program 2
Miles 2.87
Calories 320
HR 151-186 (81, 85, 91)

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches Legs Up 60
Horizontal Scissors 60
Crunches knees bent 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Skip HGPU / tomorrow 3x

Smith RDLs
Bar (30) x 15
80 x 12
100 x 12, 12, 12

Smith RG BB Rows
50 x 25
80 x 25, 25, 25

RG BB Curls
40 lbs x 25 reps x 3 sets

20 elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Calories 230
Miles 2.06
HR 152-190 (136)

Cage Stretch
Mat Stretch