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