My lower back and hips are still stiff but not nearly as incapacitating. I'm anxious to go to the gym but I have to wait for my husband to slip away from his online work. His car is also blocking mine in the driveway so it's not as if I can just leave without him, although today I am sorely tempted to. Especially since I feel rushed throughout my workout and don't actually get to finish what I want to do because he doesn't want to spend all day at the gym. Ugh. I skip stretching out or actually lifting any weights. Changing and showering also eat into my time, especially with long hair. I'm not at all happy about my workouts lately.
I'm on the other elliptical which doesn't clunk as much as I remember. However, the HR sensor is broken, not that I trusted it anyway. Program 2 feels harder than 1 or 3 even though after 35 minutes I've done the same amount of mileage and calories. The mask doesn't bother me too much even though I'm drenched with sweat. There are too many people in the Aerobic Room though. I recognize a few more regulars in the weightlifting area.
The only time the mask really bothers me is when I lay on my face on the Inclined Bench to do Reverse Flys. It's then that I absolutely can't breathe. Nevermind that my face is pressed up against the hoodie draped over the bench. It's the wet mask sucking up against my nose and mouth that feels suffocating. Is this what water-boarding is like? I try to slow my breaths but only wind up gasping between reps. This really sucks. I don't have this problem with Bent Over Raises but I'm trying to baby my lower back and those do not.
The only other time I really annoyed with my mask is when I'm trying to strip off my sweaty gym clothes before I shower. It's impossible to keep your mask on and with no one in the locker room, I take the soggy thing off and drape it over my shower caddy. I do wear it to the shower though, just in case I run into someone coming in to use the bathroom. The gym folk have moved their scale to a different corner near the showers. I'm not sure if that alone makes an impact on the scale's accuracy since now there's a 4 lb discrepancy between my home scale and theirs. My scale says I'm 116 lbs in underwear. Theirs says 120 fully attired. Regardless, it's still too much and my clothes are still too tight.
When I get home, I take out the mask I've worn throughout my workout, and the mask I put on to go to the store, spray each one front and back until they're saturated with 70% isopropyl alcohol and loop them over a hanger in the hall to dry. Unfortunately, I'm now reading that dipping a mask in alcohol reduces its effectiveness because that alters the hydrostatic charge that traps viral particles. Apparently, the best way to disinfect and reuse a mask is to...do nothing. Let it dry out thoroughly and then reuse. Of course, there are limits to how often you can reuse your mask. Another method is to use dry heat, like a blow dryer or oven. But, let's face it: doing nothing is easier.
Once the mask starts to disintegrate and I get fuzz in my mouth, it gets tossed into the trash. (Except now I have to cut the ear loops too because I don't want to be the one responsible for some poor entangled creature.)
Still, one of the best investment my husband made (besides the several bottles of isopropyl) was the package of spray nozzle tops that fit the alcohol bottles. It makes deodorizing the masks really easy. He uses it when he travels and has to stay over in a hotel room because he doesn't quite trust hotel "sanitization" methods. From what I've read, they can't even be trusted to launder the sheets between guests!
No comments:
Post a Comment