Bracing for the Cold

I woke up knowing that temps would be in the painful single digits. Yep, as in 9F. I'm not in the mood, nevermind the barking at 2:30 am because something slinked across the yard in the light of the full moon. Apparently, a wolf moon. We are approaching coyote mating season, and the bevy of hapless roadkill means everyone's on the move. My son logs onto his online classes and I go to the gym, layered in fleece and a down coat. I'm still cold. It's the Polar Vortex. 

It's a semi-normal Friday so the gym isn't very busy. I do my cardio on the elliptical, feeling tired and unfocused, but mostly cold. There's a Body Pump class at 9:30 in the Aerobic Room and I'm in there at 8:50, but people are already setting up their equipment as I do planks and stretching. I count 5 stations and they're lined up without 6 feet of space between them. Honestly, if they were just a bit staggered... but it's not my class and not my job. 

I step back into the free weight area and it's suddenly crowded with all sorts of bros. Good grief. At least I've managed to secure an inclined bench although the DBs are all out of order in the rack, and I'm lucky to score a pair of 15s. I need 20s for the Reverse Inclined Flys so I snag 2 pairs of magnetic discs. They're 2.5 lbs each which brings my 15s up 5 lbs for every other set. It's a bit of a pain to constantly affix and detach the discs, but better than not using the weight I planned on. There's an air of newbies, which is weird because it's not a holiday... or even a long weekend. 

Discs affixed 
top and bottom

If I wasn't pressed for time, I'd do another few sets with an additional 5 lbs, but I did promise the dogs I'd take them to the park (when it got a tad warmer). I don't like what I hear about the afternoon park people: small dogs and oblivious owners who ignore their canines, and don't pick up after their pups because they spend the entire time gabbing. It's about 18F when I get to the park and the little beagle is just leaving. The Norwegian elkhund and the snippy mixed-breed are still there though and my pups enjoy zooming through the icy snow. I'm warm everywhere except for my toes. Today, under my Bogs I'm wearing fuzzy synthetic socks I bought at Odd Lot. They seem warmer than the alpaca wool socks I wore yesterday, but my toes are still suffering. So glad the shed has working electric heaters! 

A big storm is forecast for Sunday night through Tuesday, courtesy of the Lake Effect (moisture from the Great Lakes) and the Polar Vortex, which is bringing arctic air southward. I'll probably bring the dogs to the park tomorrow. But maybe not Monday. Regardless, I see a lot more shoveling in my future. 

29 January 2021
Polar Vortex Friday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 2
HR 144-182, 121
Cal 311
Distance 2.81

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

DB raises supersets
lateral standing 15 lbs x 15 x 4
reverse inclined flys 15 lbs x 20 w/u
20lbs x 20 x 3 (Use 2.5 discs)

The Other Workout

I didn't make it to the gym yesterday. Although the snowfall had been light with barely 2 inches on most surfaces, it still needed to be cleared. I like to make sure there's some pavement or ground showing to absorb sunlight and enhance snow-melting capabilities. I also sprinkle paw-safe ice melt on the steps, walkway, and driveway just to be certain. The temperatures might rise above freezing but nothing untouched will melt, sunlight will be deflected by the bright white and there will be no heat retention. We actually still had small snowbanks from the last snowstorm back in December. 

Shoveling is a great cardio workout. It's also why middle-aged men drop dead in the middle of winter, from heart attacks. Shoveling is a great weight-lifting workout too. I work up a sweat just clearing the walkway, car, and driveway. And then I take the dogs to the park where the town snowplows are clearing the general use parking lot but not the Bark Park parking area. No matter. 

Once I get my backpack off (because I bring water to fill the frozen bowls since water stored in containers in the shed overnight is now solid ice), I grab the snow shovel (there are many tools along the back of the shed) and proceed to clear part of the "astroturf" and then a path back down to the entrance gate. Other than sitting inside the shed with the electric heaters blasting at full tilt, it's the only way to keep warm. In total, I've spent more than two hours shoveling sticky, slippery snow. Online sources state that an average man will burn roughly 200 calories per 30 minutes. I'm smaller so I'll burn fewer calories. 

Today, I take the dogs to the park where they eventually meet up with a few other dogs to play with. I'm freezing inside my down parka and fleece layers, my boots with alpaca wool socks, my thick gloves with handwarmer packets nestled in the palms of my hands. Once I get home, I have to motivate myself to don exercise clothes and drive to the gym. It's hard, and I feel perpetually hungry. Which sucks. 
 

It's early afternoon and the gym isn't all that crowded, probably because it's Thursday. I do my cardio on the elliptical, stress my abs and glutes, stretch my piriformis muscles and hip ligaments, do push-ups and planks. I'm not inclined to wait for the Smith machine so I hop on the ClimbMill. Ten minutes at Speed 7 feels like an eternity even though the machine itself only averages 60 steps per minute. Or actually, less. Because 10 minutes gets me 589 steps which is only 58.9 steps per minute. I do manage to sneak in a few hammer-grip pull-ups after what seems like months... a decent dozen. I'll take it. 

28 January 2021
Frigid Thursday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 1
HR 132-186, 122
Cal 307
Distance 2.79

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

Matrix Step
Speed 7 (57-62 spm)
Min 10
HR 123
Cal 85
Steps 589
Floors 36

Sneaky HGPU 12

Bracing for Weather and Other Disasters

I drove my son to the school bus stop knowing that he'd be home in about 3 hours because the district has decided, out of an abundance of caution, to schedule "early dismissal." This way students are home before the snow hits. A fellow at the dog park (who is a school bus driver) told me yesterday that school buses are horrible to drive in slippery snowy weather. Just lovely. He's not at the park today because early dismissal and staggered runs for the HS, MHS, and elementary schools means as soon as he's done dropping off the little kids, he has to start picking up the big kids to go home. The district's Transportation Department is so understaffed due to drivers calling out sick or quarantined that even the head of the department has to drive a run.

I get to the gym earlier than yesterday which means I have more time. I get all my basics done: cardio, core and stretching, pull a few weights. I'm surprised that at this late stage in the pandemic, people still do cardio with their masks under their noses. That's as good as not wearing a mask at all. Now, with the new more virulent strains spreading within the general population, just a plain cloth mask may not offer any protection. France has already banned homemade cloth masks. 

Nylon neck gaiters and folded-over cotton bandanas certainly fail. My two-ply commercially-made washable masks also don't qualify so even though we don't live in France, stringent new safety regulations seem likely in the future. I need to research the availability of washable, reusable masks that qualify as FFP2. They may not even exist locally (every website I've visited that offers washable FFP2 masks are based in Europe or the UK) although I feel my reusable cloth masks offer more protection than bandanas and gaiters. The Jaanuu website explicitly states that their masks do not provide anti-viral protection. 

At the gym, I cruise along on the elliptical, feeling comfortable with the breathlessness that comes from exertion. If the session ends and I'm not drenched with sweat, I feel sort of cheated. There are two or three other women in the Aerobic Room, doing their own routines. The first morning class doesn't start until 9:30 and I plan to be on the road home by then. Some members have complained about there not being an earlier class but there are always online classes you can do at home through Gold's AMP program. Of course, you'd need to own your own equipment and have adequate space. 

I have enough time to actually do a few sets of weights and I settle on Seated Cable Rows. It would take me longer to set up on the Smith machine for Inclined Presses. I'm also anticipating doing a bit of shoveling later and I think rows will do less damage to those sensitive sciatic nerves. I've already done a set of push-ups but no pull-ups. At some point, I'll have to rectify that. I hate being pressed for time but I do want the dogs to get their crazies out. An hour at the park and hopefully there's another dog to play with. Today it's the shepherd puppy who loves chasing and wrestling. Tomorrow I'll have to remember to bring my snow shovel in case I have to dig the park gate open. 

26 January 2021
PreStorm Tuesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 3
HR 84, 140-199
Cal 317
Distance 2.85

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

Seated Cable Row
70 lbs x 15 reps
85 x 12
92.5 x 10, 10, 10

Weekend Exertions

Saturday, I spent over 7 hours with my son and his Scout troop at the annual district Klondike event which is a competition with 10 events, some fun (like coconut cracking) and some for skills like fire-building and ice rescue. It amounted to, according to my phone's health tracker, 4.6 miles of brisk walking and hiking in the bitter cold. So cold that my phone's battery dropped to red zone 1% twice. I had the foresight to pack 2 mini batteries and a cord. (A woman at the dog park swears by keeping her phone in an unused dog poop bag in her pocket to minimize battery power loss. It probably retains phone heat better than just a coat pocket.) This year's derby didn't have snow or sleds to push, but it was still challenging. 

The wind was painful. Alpaca wool socks (arctic thickness) helped a lot but eventually my toes would go numb if we weren't marching from site to site. I had 2 packets of hand warmers inside each glove. Most events had a campfire which provided some heat and a lot of blinding smoke. My husband was manning the Spam cook-off station which required building several Swedish logs and keeping track of competing troops. He said the most innovative and surprisingly tasty dish was Spam sushi. Spam because it was a Hawaiian-themed Klondike.

Dogs did not go to the park on Saturday so I let them have two hours on Sunday. Today, I managed to squeeze out a bare minimum workout at the gym. Because I wanted to get the pups to the park before the big dog arrived and we would have to leave. Pups got an hour today. My legs aren't actually sore from Saturday although I did sleep a lot when we got finally got home. However, my legs do react to excessive walking/hiking in an extremely unpleasant way: they become painful on the outside lower legs just below the knees, as if everything has suddenly bound up and compressed the nerves there. I'd rather have quad and hamstring soreness!

I'll a quick workout again tomorrow. And then later there will be snow to shovel. We're under a Winter Weather Advisory with an 86% chance of snow. It is January in NYS after all. 

25 January 2021
Bare Minimum Monday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 2
HR 147-189, 85
Cal 317
Distance 2.85

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50 Quick Mat Stretch 

Rethinking the Routine

Since I knew that the big dog was coming to the park at 11 am, I needed to bring my pups much earlier so they could run around like crazy beasts without the threat of hostilities. Which meant going to the park at 9. Which means not going to the gym at 7:30 but instead, going after the park, which is literally half past noon by the time the pups are home and I get them fed. Because one of the dogs is literally a diva and must be hand-fed otherwise he just sits on the sofa staring into space. He's already a skinny pup so no, I'm not about to let his brother eat all his food. 

I'm ridiculously tired from staying up too late and getting up too early. So by the time noon rolls around, I have serious motivation issues. But my gym bag is already packed. Now I just need to change out of my "millions of layers of standing around the freezing cold dog park gear" and into skimpier gym clothes. At least the car is still warm. 

Once at the gym, it's a no-brainer to get on the elliptical and select Intervals. It's harder to keep up the breathless pace when my husband starts texting me about tomorrow's Scouting event and what do I want for lunch tomorrow? He has grand plans about making beef tips or chicken curry and doing the whole sous vide thing but we don't really have the time for that. Because that requires a big pot of boiling water for the meat and sauce and a separate one for the pre-cooked rice in its own sealed bag. We are not car camping. We are competing against other Scout troops at a district Klondike event. Plus, he's manning the Spam Cookoff event (worth 30 points) while I'll be trekking along with our Troop from station to station. Come lunchtime and I don't know what station we'll be at. We'll be fine with sandwiches and hot cocoa. 

I'm not disappointed with the mileage on the elliptical, all things considered. Trying not to rest too long in the Aerobic Room while lying on my back doing hip and piriformis stretches. The pace is better once I'm up doing planks and other core movements. Honestly, getting out of bed is the most painful time for those sciatic buggers. Once I'm upright and moving about, I barely even notice the discomfort. I haven't given any serious thought to going back to the chiropractor either. He's a chatty fellow and that's fine, but his physical therapist insists on wearing his mask under his nose while dealing with both HS athletes and frail seniors in the same room at the same time. That makes me supremely uncomfortable. 

I don't want to spend all afternoon at the gym so a quick 10 minutes on the ClimbMill to finish. At Speed 7, the machine trods along at 57 steps per minute. It occasionally accelerates to 62 but not for more than a few seconds. Still, I'm sweaty and breathless sooner than I'd like to admit. 

Monday I'll be at the gym in the morning because the school bus shows up at 7:00. It's scheduled to arrive at 6:54 and used to come at 6:49, but it's a new driver. A fellow at the dog park tells me that 20 school bus drivers called out sick today. Tuesday there's supposed to be snow. Maybe I can squeeze in some weightlifting Monday morning if I don't dawdle. 

22 January 2021
Sunny Friday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program Intervals
HR 78, 135-168 (198?!)
Cal 317
Distance 2.85

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

Matrix Step
Speed 7 (57-62 spm)
Min 10
HR 138
Cal 84
Steps 583 Floors 36 

Abbreviated Basics

I had a lot to do today and I still wanted to get a workout in, so bare minimum I what I got: cardio, core, stretching. The bent-knee glute kickbacks didn't hurt so I was able to do them through the full range of motion. I'm rushing because I need to do some basic grocery shopping, and I need to hit the CVS to pick up a small gift for a woman whose dog my dog got into a fight with. I get a scented spray that I really like: it contains myrrh, frankincense, and palo santo (a medicinal tree from South America).  

Not to be completely biased, but it wasn't totally my dog's fault. It was mine for not reading his discomfort, and it was the other dog's owner for not reading the potential for aggression. Her dog outweighs my dog by 40 lbs, but he is also 10 years old. My dogs aren't quite 2 yet. Her dog is a dominant male (neutered) who is used to playing rough with my dogs. My dogs were riled up by having workmen at the house for 3 hours before we finally got to the park. And what do dogs do once they get to the park? Mine have to run like loonies, and then they have to poop. And the big dog leaned over my dog, placed his head over my dog's head, and my dog had to poop. He couldn't escape because the big dog kept pushing him sideways. I should've had his owner pull her dog away until my dogs had settled a bit. 

Her dog also has one of the banes of purebred Doberman Pinschers: Von Willebrand's disease, a serious bleeding disorder. And my dog has bitten his face so there is blood. It's hard to see on a jet black dog, but his owner is frantic and pulls her dog into the shed to blot him with paper towels. Later, we text. He has a cut under his eye and one on his ear. He's on antibiotics and the bleeding has stopped. We agree that the dogs should stay away from each other so she'll come later, from 11 to noon. Which means I have to bring my boys, now known as The Gremlin Twins because of the way they snarl at each other while "playing," much earlier if I want them to run off their crazy energy. 

Being at the gym before 7 isn't realistic. Getting there by 7:30 gives me enough time for a basic workout and shower with nothing else. Or I could go to the gym after the dog park at noon. 

21 January 2021
Bare Minimum Thursday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 1
HR 155-195
Cal 318
Distance 2.86

Crunches x 30 x 4
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

Just the Basics

I like to tick all the boxes when I work out. That's why I start with cardio, which I still hate doing. However, the benefits are too great to ignore: it warms me up and makes me more limber (and awake), and I definitely feel stronger afterward. If I left it to the end of my gym session, I might not get to it. And it's one of, if not the most important part of my routine. Nevermind that cardio exercise is being looked at as a preventative for a complication from Covid-19, ARDS aka acute respiratory distress syndrome. 

I'll ignore the folks who say not to work abs every day. "Old School" routines say every day is fine. It's also my only chance to ease hip tightness with a few "floor stretches" and relieve the sciatic discomfort that I wake up with. I've swapped out one set of fire hydrants for a modified bent knee glute kickback, limiting the upward motion until I'm sure this isn't going to exacerbate those pesky hamstring nerves. After push-ups, which admittedly leaves me a bit breathless, I calm everything down with some basic stretches. Stretching is good for the body! It might even lower blood pressure better than walking. 

I have time to do Seated Cable Rows, and I'm very happy to see the lightweight aluminum handles. I wish 92.5 lbs wasn't so heavy though, but it is. I can feel the weight lift me slightly out of my seat as I pull back on the close-grip handles. Which means doing 100 lbs is totally out of the question, even for just a few reps. It's probably bad enough that I do weightlifting at all. Even push-ups are looked at with suspicion for people with glaucoma. However, I'm not giving it up. I just have to modify my expectations and my routines. I did score 20/20 on my last eye chart exam, up from 20/25. Celebrate the little things! 

I'm never going to be some weedy, noodle-armed old lady. Frail is not in my vocabulary. Short but not frail. Aging well requires stamina, strength, balance, flexibility, and mental agility. And I'm still not comfortable with being labeled a "senior." Good grief! Isn't that for someone in their 80s?  

19 January 2021
Just the Basics Tuesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 3
HR 144-187, 122
Cal 309
Distance 2.80

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Bent Knee Glute Kickbacks 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

Seated Cable Row
70 lbs x 15 reps
85 x 12
92.5 x 10, 10, 10

It's Not You, It's Me. Maybe.

I haven't done Intervals in such a long time that I didn't know what to expect although I'm always braced for disappointment. This is the first week I've managed 5 straight days in a row although not every workout was completed in totality. However imperfectly though, I'm satisfied that the important bits got done: cardio, core, stretching, weightlifting. 

The only modification I make to the Intervals program is to lower the resistance on the peak from 8 to 4, but hills are at elevation 10 and valleys at 4 with resistance at 1. Every 10 minutes I change direction so I'm pedaling backward from minute 11 to 20 and forward again from 21 to 30, then backward for the 5-minute "cool down" which I never use to cool down. Because "cooldowns" seem like such a waste of time that I can use to go full throttle. People do it to prevent cramping after strenuous exercise, but I'm not at the end of my workout after cardio. This is just a warm up for other movements. I could consider the Core routine a type of cooldown, although those push-ups at the end do get the heart racing. 

I spend 10 minutes on the ClimbMill and put it to Speed 7 as soon as I start. The machine registers 52 steps per minute most of the time, occasionally rising to 60 steps per minute. Once, it even hit 62 for two or three seconds. I won't lie: I'm sweating and breathing hard when I step off the machine. There's heavy fog as well as a black ice warning but temps have risen to the high 30s. No ice but lots of fog. Dogs don't care. We go to the park and see that the heavily damaged Small Dog Park fence has been repaired but the outer fence in the Obstacle Course Playground has been ignored. It was less heavily damaged and dogs probably won't escape but I think it'd be a liability issue for the town since the fence is still compromised. 

Because the air is wet and cold, most of the dog owners are huddled inside the equipment shed where there are two portable heaters and benches. Their dogs run in and out. My dogs prefer the wide-open spaces of the park and are happy to roam the 1/2 acre of bare trees and leaf litter. I don't wear a mask at the Bark Park because it's outside and we're all spaced apart. 

Inside the shed is another matter. It's a 10 x 10 enclosed space and no one is wearing a mask. Everyone is talking and laughing and most people are older than I am. With the advent of a new, more contagious virus in the US (and in the NY area), I'm especially wary of being in close quarters with people I don't know all that well. I won't go inside there with a mask on (I keep one in my coat pocket) because the space is too tight. I don't like crowds to begin with and a viral threat worse than the flu is enough to keep me bundled up outside, keeping an eye on the dogs as they run, chase, dig, and bark. Dogs, cats, and other animals can catch the virus, and who wants to chance that?

One lady assures me that none of them go anywhere so they're all safe. Uh, so not true. They have family members who work. Or they work. They're not as isolated as they think. I go to the store and the gym. (Today I saw a middle-aged man with his mask under his nose on the treadmill. Like he doesn't breathe through those two holes in his face.) My kid goes to school half the week, as well as in-person kung fu and Boy Scouts. I've had repair people come to my house. Yes, we wear masks but that's not a guarantee. We could be asymptomatic carriers and never know it unless we got tested. But no one gets tested unless they have symptoms. I don't trust other people, but we have to assume everyone is okay but being cautious. Except for the ones who aren't. Maybe it's just me. But a little paranoia isn't such a bad thing. 

15 January 2021
Foggy Friday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program Intervals
HR 146-188
Cal 330
Distance 2.93

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

Matrix Step
Speed 7
Min 10
HR 146
Cal 83
Steps 576
Floors 36

 

Briefly

I didn't pack my gym gear the night before so I was tripping over myself and the dogs trying to get out the door this morning. I hate coming at peak time because there are too many people on the equipment. I settle for 25 minutes on the Life Fitness cross-trainer. I don't mind it so much as long as I keep it under 30 minutes: any more than that and my toes go numb. The HR monitor seems more reliable though on these machines than on the Precor ellipticals. No crazy high readings of 190 or more! But also no crazy low readings of 85 either. 

In the Aerobic Room, people who plan to take the Zumba class at 9:30 have already come into the room at 8:50 to mark their spot with a water bottle or hand weights. Ugh. I can't wait to finish up my core routine and exit.

Not having done DB shoulder exercises for weeks makes the initial set seem heavy. I stick to the script and find it easier as I warm up. Of course. The ClimbMill is available so 10 minutes there. I start at Speed 6 but the machine never gets past 52 steps per minute, forcing me to increase to Speed 7. I fear for the worst: this machine is dying too. It barely reaches 57 steps per minute and briefly achieves 62 but only for a few seconds. It's enough though.

I want to get home and take the dogs to the park. They'll get an hour with their friends which should be enough time to run off zoomies. Instead, after a scant 10 minutes of romping (and the requisite peeing and pooping), a park department worker drives up and affixes a piece of paper to the front gate. Then she calls out that the park will be closing in 10 minutes so they can fix the fences. Wow, we weren't expecting any action for months. On the other hand, pups have to cut playtime short. Hopefully, we'll be able to enjoy the park tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, the dry winter air is taking a toll on my fingers with several fissures forming. It's hard to stay moisturized between frequent hand washing and need to use my cell, tablet, and laptop. Greasy fingers are gross. I've bandaged the split tissue at the first finger joint, but the cut forming at the fingertip itself is more problematic. I don't have any ready solutions, except maybe moving to a tropical island, preferably not one mired in poverty and unrest. Hawaii sounds good. 

14 January 2021
Cloudy Thursday

LF cross-trainer
20 min + 5
Manual Level 1
Cal 198
Dist 2.70
HR 122-141, 134

Crunches x 30 x 4
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Plank 60s
Pushups 50
Quick Mat Stretch

DB raises supersets
lateral standing 15 lbs x 15 x 4
reverse inclined flys 15 lbs x 20 w/u
20lbs x 20 x 3

Matrix Step
Speed 1min@6, 9min@7
Min 10
HR 145
Cal 84
Steps 580
Floors 36