Cold Hands

It's a perfectly beautiful spring day. The thermometer registers 56F, which isn't that much cooler than inside our house. It's really nice standing in the yard, watching goldfinches, cardinals, juncos and tufted titmouse birds flit from our hedges to the sunflower seed-filled feeder. The garage, though, seems much colder than 56F. So much colder that I have trouble holding the metal handles of the elliptical for the first several minutes.

I wear fleece gloves but my boney fingers are still painfully icy. (We have a "point and shoot thermometer" and as a lark, my husband aimed it at me. I was in the kitchen at the time, washing dishes. My forehead registered 93, and my hands were 87F. Not even reasonably normal.) Once I warm up, my fingers throb as if I've just come in from below-frigid temps. I'm sure it's the Raynaud's Syndrome, but at least my feet don't go numb while I pedal.

My phone's battery is at 94%. Today I switch it to Airplane Mode in order to conserve power. Although my husband thinks the cold is draining the battery, I suspect it's the fact that the garage is far from the house, so the phone is in constant search mode for signals. Our road is a dead zone and we use boosters to have adequate cell service inside our house. Besides, the ancient iPod and my earbuds seem decently powered. I'm able to get three days out of them before needing to recharge, but of course, my workouts are a lot shorter these days. Today it is only 1 hr 15 minutes. When I leave the garage, the battery is still at a decent 85%.

I've been adding exercises as I remember them. Today, after cardio and crunches, I add bench knee-ins for lower abs. I only do 30 because the bench isn't terribly well-padded and I have issues with seams chafing the tailbone. For pushups, I tuck my elbows in even further today until they are nearly under my waist. The left elbow still clicks unhappily, and now the right anterior delt (front shoulder) is upset as well. And the wrists feel very stressed. I do my 25 reps fairly slowly, but next time I'm going back to the spread winglike position. I'll probably add some mat stretches too.

After today's pullups (which I did manage to video), I see the Olympic bar on the ground and decide to see what doing a few RG BB Rows feels like. I don't have a rack for the bar so there's little chance I'll be popping any weights on it. The EZ curl is another story. Next time I might dig out the tiny baby plates and toss one on each end. I'm much warmer now, but not enough to actually drip sweat.

The one thing I've noticed almost immediately is that when I work out, my appetite is greatly diminished. I went to the gym only once last week and I was ravenous the rest of the week. This week, I've worked out three times, and my appetite is more reasonable. I won't lie: stress and being home all day has contributed to constant snacking.

Our county's COVID-19 numbers jump up every day. I called my doctor yesterday to see if I should still go to my scheduled Bone Density test on Friday and they said yes. Today, they called to reschedule me for next week. What changed? Well, there's no tech available tomorrow. Uh, okay.

This viral scare isn't just in the distant news. I have relatives in the tri-state area who either have symptoms (are in healthcare, are on medications, and have been tested but don't have definitive results yet) or know people with relatives who have tested positive. My husband's niece's father has lupus and I wonder if he is able to get the medications he needs. I have many friends who are older than 60, some in their 70s and 80s. And we also know people and a lot of young adults who still don't take this seriously and want to congregate with all their friends. That's worrisome.

Thursday Home Workout

Vision elliptical

Program: manual

35 min

Miles: 3.01

Calories: 279

HR 64-142

Crunches 60/60

Elbow Plank 60s

Bench Knee-Ins 30

Bicycles 60

Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Pushups 25 elbows tucked

HGPU 16

Bodyweight squats 25

Oly Bar (45) RG BB Row x 25

Lunges 25

EZ Bar w collars (20) Rip Skulls 25

EZ Bar RG BB Curl 25