Back At It

You know there's a problem when you find yourself wondering if you should drag the fans out of the garage because the house is too damn hot, but it's only 66F outside. The indoor thermometer read 72F. It's never that hot inside. I have all the windows (that the dogs can't reach) open. I touch the baseboards and they're hot even though I've knocked the 3-zone thermostats down to 45, which effectively shuts off the heat. Ugh. Something's broken that I don't know how to fix. I call the boiler service fellow and he confirms that one of the controllers is busted.

He notes that the boiler itself could use some servicing, but perhaps at another time when we're all less stressed. He and his assistant both wear paper masks you use for house painting. One of my dogs barks non-stop for the entire hour that the service van is in the driveway. It's fixed and I write him a check. He tells me that in Guatemala, where he's from, there is a chain of movie houses that shares the same name as me. Yes, they're Chinese too. Well, that's something I didn't know before.

It's been over a week since I last worked out. I'm done with wrangling oriental bittersweet vines for now, having severed and wrestled as many as I could identify out of my privet hedges. My forearms and hands are sore from wielding the clippers. Sunny warm days bring out bugs. Lots of tiny kamikaze insects hurling themselves into every uncovered facial orifice. Best to have your eyes, nose and ears protected. Today, an Alberta clipper threatens to bring rain, sleet, snow, and high winds into the area. Oh boy!

It's raining and dreary and I'm totally unmotivated. I'd rather crawl back under my blankets and nap, but guilt makes me grab my sneakers, earbuds, and tunes to head out to the garage. It's 47F but feels much colder. My hands are numb holding the HR monitor handles on the elliptical and I'm totally convinced that I'll barely survive 2 miles. After 10 minutes, my fingertips throb painfully, courtesy of the Raynaud's syndrome. At least my toes haven't gone tingly. My lungs hurt at the bottom of each breath, as if I'd never run before in my whole life. This is probably because I haven't kept up with the concentrated beet powder I used to drink after each workout. I'm so regretting this today.

My mind wanders and when I glance back at the dashboard, I'm shocked to see my HR topping 194 bpm. It's never done that on this machine before. It drops back down to more normal ranges and stays there until the last 10 minutes when I'm breathlessly trying to make 3 miles. Then my HR seems to drop further, down to 67-75 range. Weird. But I'm not that concerned. I just need to do more cardio with a bit more regularity!

I knock out my core exercises and even pushups without much issue, to my surprise. No clicking in my elbows! I have more trouble with hammer grip pull-ups. By rep 14, I'm feeling a bit weak and tired and have to drop into a full extension. I don't normally because that position puts a lot of stress on my tiny forearm muscles and I'm prone to tendonitis there. However, keeping arms even slightly flexed is also tiring. Which means resting one part of the body might stress a different part. Trade-offs! I muscle through the last two reps.

The same can be said for Inverted Rows performed on Power Straps. Keeping the body straight and flexed throughout the entire movement is exhausting. Halfway through the set, I relax my back and shoulders at the bottom position for a good stretch. It's not pretty but it helps me to complete the rest of the set.

I toss my fleece vest onto the bench for added cushioning during Rip Skulls. It really helps! Next time I'll consider increasing the weight by a few pounds. I mindlessly do a set of BB Curls afterward before remembering they were supposed to be RG BB Curls. So I do those too. It's stopped raining but the wind has picked up and there's a weather advisory for tonight.

It's not as if I've spent the past week glued to my sofa. At least twice daily, I get dragged up and down my road by the bony pup we adopted. My son or husband handles the other pup who is slightly taller and heavier. That one will eat anything, and like a toddler, often has things in his mouth that shouldn't be. The skinny pup is more finicky, and skittish, scaring easily. He needs extra attention and my husband swears this is a cat in disguise. He's barely 40 lbs, but he can sure pull like a sled dog when he wants to go somewhere. Or he sees a squirrel. I guess that means at least one arm is getting a workout.

Thursday Home Workout

Vision elliptical

Program: manual

35 min

Miles: 3.08

Calories: 286

HR 65-194 (75-125 average)

Crunches 60/60

Elbow Plank 60s

Bench Knee-Ins 30

Bicycles 60

Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

Pushups 25 elbows flared - No click no pain!

HGPU 16

Bodyweight squats 25

Strap Inverted Row 12, 12

Lunges 25

EZ Bar +10 (25) Rip Skulls 12, 12

EZ Bar (25) BB Curl 25

EZ Bar (25) RG Curl 25

Quick stretch