Was Grandma Right?

In general, I don't have any issues with wearing a mask to go shopping or when working out at the gym. The reusable mask is breathable enough and when it gets damp from sweat and exhalation, I swap it out for a fresh one. (I keep several spares in my gear bag as well as in my purse, and even in the car glove box.) No excuses!

Because these are cloth masks, they tend to behave like clothing. Which means I occasionally have to pick off the errant dog hair. Dog hair is everywhere. If I wear a
mask for more than a few hours, my ears start to ache from the pressure. (I'm that princess who can't sid-sleep for more than an hour because the tragus gets painfully sore from the weight of my head leaning on it. Tragus is such a peculiar word I might name my next dog that.) If I have my hair clipped up, the mask extender my husband 3-D printed won't fit because the clip is ginormous. Lesser clips usually fail to secure my hair. Luckily, I don't spend that much time at the gym! But I have been at Scout functions for hours at a time... 

What I hadn't foreseen was that a mask that fits snugly across the face also compresses the skin around the cheeks. My skin is already super dry and fragile. While I'm not suffering from skin ulcers and chafing from extended use the way many frontline healthcare professionals are, I am concerned that the mask, which sits so close under my eyes that it feels as if it impedes my vision, is exacerbating the wrinkles under my eyes. I don't need enhanced eye bags. No one does! 

Today

Suggested remedies include moisturizing the skin at least 30 minutes prior to mask use, keeping the skin clean prior to donning a mask, and taking a break every 2 hours to let the skin renew elasticity. I think my grandma was right: if you make ugly faces, you'll get stuck with an ugly face permanently. 

Yesterday-
the only difference 
between this pix and
the prior one is the
camera angle!

I won't lie: changing my clothes this morning was a tad difficult because of some soreness in my pecs and triceps. It's been a long time since I've been sore like that. My son complained yesterday that he was still sore from doing push-ups and running a mile during our Troop meeting. I'm proud that he was able to knock out 36 push-ups while his mates resorted to knee push-ups. And let's not call those "girl push-ups" as that implies that girls can't do real ones. I knocked out my 50 today and eyed the pull-up station at the Stretch Cage. But then I decided that my woefully inadequate delts needed work so it was a DB shoulder workout. 

I'm quite jealous of people with nice boulder shoulders to cap their arms. I'll have to research further to see how I can improve those lagging rear delts... My arms seem to be all triceps and not much else. Oh well... 

26 February 2021
Sunny Friday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 3
HR n/a
Cal 322
Distance 2.88

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
Mat stretch et al

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

Anti-Valsalva

The last two days have been unusually warm and sunny, almost balmy, especially for February in the northeast. While that means it's very pleasant to sit out at the dog park, the slippery wet ice atop packed snow is treacherous. I side-step a lot to change elevations as the dogs run through everything. Occasionally, I'll see a leg slip out but no one's done an actual icy faceplant yet. When I don't get enough sleep, my workouts are phenomenal but then my body rebels and I fall ill. I don't want to get sick. Not even a tiny bit sick, so I stayed home yesterday and tried to nap without actually going to bed. Needless to say, my sciatica flared up at the inactivity. Today, I go to the gym.

The twinge on the left has disappeared and the sciatica really only bothers me when I wake up. Once I'm up and about, everything feels normal, at least until I need to bend awkwardly or sit on an uneven surface. After cardio and core, I wander back to the free weight area and see that the Smith machine is available. Normally, by the afternoon there are too many teenagers and middle-aged men occupying the space. 

Push-ups felt pretty good today so I'm hopeful that the weeks that have passed without Inclined Presses haven't been too detrimental. (It's a bit soul-crushing to discover how quickly your body can lose its conditioning. Muscle memory is a blessing!) My arms are looking flabby and soft and those extra 10 pandemic pounds aren't helping one bit. 

Of course, the one thing that keeps me from pushing as hard as I used to is the fear of losing more vision to my glaucoma. So, I'm "stuck" maxing out at a weight I used to warm up with. But at least it's not nothing. The problem with weight-lifting is that tendency to hold your breath as you push heavy, aka The Valsalva Maneuver, which increases chest pressure and can also affect blood pressure and eye pressure as well. You'll often hear spotting partners yell "Breathe!" if someone is pushing hard. A good yell also releases the pressure. But I don't do any of that. 

Instead, I find myself inhaling as I press. An anti-Valsalva manuever. It's not the norm, which is to blow out as you press. I have problems inhaling deep enough so that air reaches my chest. None of this shallow mouth breathing where the air seems to pocket in my throat. I'm not sure what effect this has on my blood or eye pressure though. So, I probably shouldn't do it regularly. Just like I don't incline press on a regular basis. But because the bench was available, I also did a few sets of Rip Skulls. I had stopped weeks ago because the motion was aggravating my sciatica, but today it was okay. I have no explanations. 

25 February 2021
Balmy Thursday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 1
HR n/a
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
Mat stretch et al

Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30 lbs) x 20 reps
+20 lbs x 15
+30 x 13
+40 x 12
+50 x 10(? lost count) 12, 12

Rip Skulls
30 lbs x 12
35 x 12, 10

The Importance of Backups

Nothing worse than opening your tunes and watching the battery life drop from half full to a red sliver. I've worked out without my tunes and that's an exercise in patience as I try to drown out the ambient noise and music and errant snippets of conversation. Nope. Much better to have tunes even if I'm so used to the songs that they barely register as music. Luckily, I always carry a small backup battery and USB-lightning cable in my winter coat (the phone is old and cold-sensitive, so a battery backup has been critical this winter). I plug in the battery and watch the iPod spring back to life. 

Earlier today I had to rely on another type of backup: a hardened steel utility shovel. I keep that and a snow shovel in the back of my Subaru. Although temps are well above freezing, the packed snow at the dog park is deep enough to have an insulating layer of ice several inches thick. It's not a problem anywhere except at the gates where it is critical that they are able to open and close freely. When I arrive this morning, both gates are open, with ice impeding their ability to shut properly. I let the dogs into the park and hold the gate closed while chipping away at the icy ground. After 10 minutes, I'm satisfied that the gates can be secured and won't open on their own or if dogs should leap up on them. 

If I hadn't had that utility shovel to chip away the ice, I wouldn't've been comfortable letting the dogs run loose through the park. The park is also the reason I've put an extra snow shovel in my car. Although the shed atop the Bark Park hill has a snow shovel, you actually have to get the gate open and yourself up the steep path to access it. So, after a big winter storm, you need a shovel to remove the snow blocking the gate just to get to the shovel. Yep.

I'm pleased that after an entire week away from the gym, I still get a decent workout on the elliptical. (There's been a lot of shoveling.) The gym is really cold though and I don't work up much of a sweat. Push-ups were a tad weak but pull-ups felt strong all the way up to the last rep. I'm hoping to work back up a few more reps, maybe even back to where I was two years ago. I can hope... 

23 February 2021
Another Icy Slushy Tuesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 3
HR n/a
Cal 320
Distance 2.87

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
Piriformis stretch et al

Sneaky HGPU 15

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

Winter is Harsh

I don't mind living in New York. I like the change of seasons and as much as I'm sensitive to heat and cold, I'm thankful that low temperatures mean a reprieve from biting insects. Because they love me. I don't skate so ice is not my friend. I don't mind the snow and cold so much though as long as I can layer up and peel down as necessary. It's only the fingers and toes that I worry about since compression issues mean poor circulation in the extremities. Tucking chemical hand-warmers inside my children's sized ski gloves works well for the hands. 

Toes are more problematic. My arctic-weight alpaca wool boot socks aren't as warm as I'd like. (Some people swear by merino wool socks but the seams are so big and rough that even inside out, I can't deal with the skin abrasions.) No, it's actually a tie between cheap fuzzy acrylic blend socks I got at the Job Lot and the much more expensive Heat Holder knee-high synthetics I bought at the local pet feed store. The main issue I have with the latter is, of course, the toe seam. 

I wear most of my socks inside out just to avoid the painful chafing that accompanies toe seams. But I suspect that wearing these socks inside out will defeat the heat-retaining structure of the fuzzy fibers. Other than the seams, the socks themselves are really soft and warm! I'm not yet ready to give in to battery-powered footgear but it might be in my future...there are several brands to choose from: just type "heated socks" in the Amazon search box! 

I'm always looking for alternatives. Bison down anyone? Maybe too expensive. I'm thrifty. Although my Bogs boots are neoprene (what some insulated wetsuits are made of) to provide waterproof insulation, they still aren't warm enough to prevent my toes from going numb when I stand around on packed snow watching the dogs run around like crazy beasts. 

Winter has usually meant shoveling so we have half a dozen snow shovels. And a half-dozen pairs of gloves of varying sizes and materials (warm cloth or insulated waterproof snow mitts). Winter means ice so we buy pet-safe ice melt by the bag when it's nice out because there won't be any at the store when everyone needs it to defrost their front steps and walkways. 

There's another winter storm warning for tomorrow starting at 4 am and lasting until 7 pm Friday. The park is not in our immediate future unless it skirts us and we just get a dusting. Not likely though since 6-12 inches is the current prediction. That doesn't normally drop to zero. There's going to be a lot more shoveling in my future. Probably at the Bark Park as well. Today, though, there was a park worker in his truck and the dog park gates wide open. I asked him what was up and he said he was warming up from clearing the ice away from the gates. He was a big dude too. My immediate unspoken thoughts were, Well if you were working, you wouldn't be cold. He spent more time in his truck than actually chipping away at the icy ground, and I'm sure he got paid for all his time. (Yeah, I need a town job!)

Meanwhile, I get to the gym a bit past noon and do a standard workout. Pandemic workouts have been necessarily shortened (to allow the gym to remain below capacity) so I really only have time for one weight-pushing exercise if I want to do a decent cardio warm-up with core and stretching afterward. There are a lot of teenage boys and middle-aged men in the gym today. There are a few women but they're mostly on the cardio machines. And me? I just act like I'm oblivious to everyone. Because I am. Even if I know who and where they are. 

Yesterday, I saw one woman squatted down between two stations because she was on her phone. I went into the Aerobics Room, did my core workout, and when I exited back out to the free weight area, she was still in the same position. Well, at least she wasn't draped over the equipment, rendering it unusable like some of the teen boys I've seen over the summer. 

17 February 2021
PreStorm Wednesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 2
HR 146-192, 86
Cal 320
Distance 2.87

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
Piriformis stretch et al

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 7 (57-60 steps per min)
Min 10
HR 147
Cal 85
Steps 587
Floors 36

After The Ice

Although we didn't get much sleet, there was enough last night to make the driveway slick and dangerous. I read about multiple incidents of cars sliding down roads and driveways, of people doing the same. This morning though, it was warm enough to leave a heavy blanket of fog and a lot of slush. As a matter of fact, it seemed downright warm when temps hit 47F. 

The Bark Park was a deep slushfest. But at least the pups got to play with one of their friends before we headed home. I got to the gym much later than I had planned: it was surprisingly empty at 1:30 pm. The later in the day, the harder it is to motivate. But I did get there. And I worked out.

I had a slow start on the elliptical and really thought I wouldn't make it to 2.8. My core routine is getting boring and I'll have to think up something new to do that's not going to aggravate my sciatica. Meanwhile, I have a new twinge where my left leg hinges on the hip. It's sporadic and only when I step at a certain angle. My husband insists I need to see the chiropractor but I've been resistant. I'm always better after a workout, but worse right after I wake up in the morning. I'm sure the 30-year old mattress doesn't help one bit. 

I sneak in some pull-ups before the Seated Cable Rows and surprise myself with 15 reps. The last rep is always a struggle as my forearms started to sting. Luckily, that didn't seem to impede the Cable Rows, although these always get heavier as the set progresses. Or it just seems that way. 

16 February 2021
After the Ice Tuesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 1
HR 135-186, 85
Cal 316
Distance 2.84

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
Piriformis stretch et al

Sneaky HGPU 15

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

Saturday is for Shoveling

Dressed for the cold!

Shoveling snow can be good for you. At least that's what I'd like to believe. There are lots of online articles that will testify to this belief. My son and husband left this morning for an overnight trip to a Scout camp in Alpine NJ where they will have access to the High Exposure adventure and Ninja activities. I took the dogs to the park where they got to run around with the German Shepherd puppy until it was time to leave... because the Big Dog was en route and no one wants a dog fight. 

I shoveled for two and half hours because I needed paths to some of our windows. The snow depth ranged from hip to calf height, but it was all covered in inch-thick icy crust. Which meant every foot, as in 12 inches, took 3 shovels of snow, like dissecting a 3-layer cake. And why did I need to get to the windows? Because of the massive, potentially fatal icicles. Some were thicker than my forearm. Granted, I have small forearms, but still... Of course, none of our homegrown stalactites can match the cage bars hanging over the vending machines at Camp Alpine. 

Since learning that my cholesterol is too high, I've started eating a lot more oatmeal. Even though I own a big container of plain generic oatmeal, I'm partial to the multiple flavors of instant oatmeal, especially "cranberry flaxseed" and "maple, dates and walnut." Unfortunately, one bag is not quite enough and two bags is too much, so I often wind up clipping half a second bag shut with a small binder clip. Office binder clips are a fabulous kitchen staple! Even though food snobs will tell you to skip the instant in favor of plain regular oatmeal, there's actually nothing wrong with instant if you don't mind the added sugar. I would've added maple syrup or honey to the plain anyway! Oatmeal has a lot of benefits. 

I've also drastically cut back on fatty meats, trans fats, cheese, and (sigh) alcoholic beverages. Another page of the lab report shows that blood protein is a skosh lower than the normal range. There could be several reasons for that (it's never been a problem before) such as not eating enough protein (the least worrisome and most easily corrected), or something more serious, such as liver or kidney damage. 

My doctor isn't concerned about that blip. It's the cholesterol that's an issue. So I'm exercising as much as I can within reason, like shoveling whenever necessary. And ignoring the chips and crackers and cheese in the kitchen. 

Frigid Friday

It's Chinese New Year although it certainly doesn't feel very festive. It's just bitterly cold. My dogs and I are the only ones at the Bark Park this morning. Oh well. I get them back to the house and myself off to the gym.

I'm able to use all the equipment and stations that I choose. I see a few regulars but I don't pay much attention. I just want to get done. I'm happy that push-ups, pull-ups, and shoulder DB work all feel pretty good today. Especially considering that I woke up feeling a tad sore in the upper back. Every day that we go to the Bark Park, I wind up shoveling the gates a bit because loose snow packs into the track and makes it difficult to shut or open the gates properly. It's one way to keep warm but today I don't spend too much time at it. 

I'll take the pups to the park tomorrow too. The husband and son are off to Camp Alpine in NJ to enjoy a heated cabin with other Scouts (and parents), and then High Adventure indoor rock climbing and obstacle courses. I worry about the weather as there's a new wintry nor'easter brewing for Saturday night. I guess there's more shoveling in my future as well. 

12 February 2021
Year of the Ox and Abe Lincoln Friday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 3
HR 137-188, 110
Cal 308
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 piriformis stretch

Sneaky HGPU 13

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

 

Rethinking Food

My doctor called with the results of my annual physical, and there were some surprises, and I don't mean balloons and clowns at a party. Even though I've been taking vitamin D on a daily basis, tests show the level slightly below par. I'm to add an additional 400 IUs to the 1000 I already take. My TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels are slightly elevated, suggesting that I have low thyroid hormone levels. That could be due to stress, or more worrisome, an autoimmune reaction (like Grave's disease where the body attacks its own thyroid tissue). 

But even more concerning is a link to heart disease and arterial disorders. Because not only do I have slightly low levels of protein in my blood, but I have high levels of cholesterol. The numbers jumped from 203 (which my doc assured me was fine since I had high levels of HDLs and LDLs and the ratio was good) to 220. While the ratio is still good (<5), the LDLs have increased substantially. My maternal family history shows high blood pressure and several instances of strokes or cerebral hemorrhages. (Personally, I've worried that I've got a knotty tangle of weird veins in my neck and shoulder area ever since a chiropractor took a few MRIs of my neck and told me that this explains some perplexing symptoms.) 

I already know what foods I need to cut out. Foods that have snuck into the meal plan because we're all home with no place to go. We don't eat out because it's just too cold and snowy to sit outside, although indoor dining is allowed with restaurants at 25% capacity. Restaurant food isn't healthy though since it's usually loaded with salt and fat as flavor enhancements. My husband discovered beef tips and loves to serve them at least once a week. Beef tips are highly marbled sirloin strips. We love eating chicken curries as well, experimenting with various jarred sauces found in the International Foods aisle. Of course, they probably contain coconut or palm oils, and lots of salt in the spice mix.  

I'm partial to an over-easy egg sauteed in butter and draped over a cranberry English muffin, then topped with either rooster sauce or freshly crushed garlic. Eating cream-top Brown Cow yogurt is like eating dessert with its luscious mouthfeel. I'm looking at cutting that out, but not the eggs on muffins. Because the jury is still out on whether eggs are good or bad. I'm not happy with not supporting the Brown Cow brand, although it IS owned by Stonyfield. Food restrictions are depressing as hell. 

The doctor's office tells me to exercise more and eat less fatty foods. Uh, duh. Then, instead of a year, I need to come back in 6 months so they can check my blood again. That'd be August. Once, a long time ago, I had the discipline to go vegetarian for almost a year. My cholesterol dropped to its lowest level, 166. I'm not sure I could ever do that again, but there are a lot of things I can start doing. 

One of them is filtering my coffee. We've been using a French Press for years now because we got fed up with the drip coffeemaker which would clog and overflow. We also love how good the coffee tastes from a French Press. Unfortunately, non-filtered coffee appears to raise cholesterol levels. I only drink one 12-14 oz cup a day (as opposed to some who imbibe 4-5 coffee cups worth), but my body tends to be really sensitive to medications and additives. And if pouring my coffee through a filter will drop my LDLs a few points without making the beverage taste disgusting, well, I'm okay with that. (I'm seriously toying with the idea of taking my French Pressed coffee and just pouring it through a paper filter [and single-cup filter holder] before adding the cream and sugar.)

I get to the gym a bit past noon again. I took the dogs to the park, shoveled some of the gates and paths, hand-fed the diva dog, loaded two more boxes of used books into my car, and headed to the gym. I got on the "other" elliptical, the one that doesn't register a heartrate. But it has a smoother glide so I don't mind. The core routine is just that, routine, except push-ups are better today. I'm torn between doing a quick dozen pull-ups or seated cable rows. The station is empty so I pull out my neoprene grips and do rows. The grips are more padded than regular lifting gloves. More importantly, they don't have seams inside the fingers that cut into my skin as I'm pulling. However, the right grip is shredding on the bottom. The left grip looks okay though. Am I pulling harder with the right? Apparently so. 

10 February 2021
Bare Minimum Wednesday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 2
HR n/a
Cal 316
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 piriformis stretch

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

Magical Tea Tree Oil

I finally made it to the gym again, although this week may become problematic with snow forecast for tomorrow, Thursday, and over the weekend. The Farmer's Almanac wasn't kidding when they said early winter would be mild, to be followed by a beast in late winter. It's February so I'd call this late winter. Every time it snows, we have to shovel. Then salt. Otherwise, it'd be impossible to get out of the driveway, not to mention walking the pups twice a day. The snow is so deep in unshoveled areas (the rest of the yard) that every step is a plunge into unknown depths. My Bogs only go to mid-calf so there's a real possibility of wet ankles and feet if I don't tread carefully. Mostly, I try to step into existing footprints.

Last week I realized, to my embarrassment, that I have no idea when the small wart on my face disappeared. I remember when it first made its appearance in 6th grade. All my school photos have this blemish on my cheek. I've had it for most of my adult life. It's probably in my wedding photos. And then, maybe a year ago or longer, I applied tea tree oil to it because I was using the pungent liquid to treat a worrisome thickening of one of my nostrils. I suspected a viral infection of some sort and applied tea tree oil with a cotton swab several times over a few weeks. I think I also dabbed anything and everything else worrisome on my face. The wart is gone. My nostril peeled and scabbed a tiny bit and then returned to its normal shape. I've read that tea tree oil applied to skin tags will dissolve them, but I have no actual experience with that. My husband uses it for athlete's foot. 

One major caveat though: don't use it in a diffuser if you have pets. The fumes are toxic to some dogs. It may also be poisonous if applied topically. Personally, I wouldn't use it in a diffuser. It's not pleasant like jasmine or myrrh but rather medicinal, akin to mentholated chest rubs. However, it is the only "common" solvent I know that works on removing Sharpie markers from plastic. That is a fact I know from experience!

I got to the gym well past noon and the only cardio machine available was the ClimbMill. I did 10 minutes on it and became breathless but not sweaty: it's decidedly not a good warmup for me. Core exercises were rote but the pushups felt weak. To cheer myself up, I wandered over to the Stretch Cage and did a few pull-ups. Then, I got on the elliptical (finally available) and did Program 1. When I was done, I felt instantly better. Awake. Alive. Also sweaty. 

I had a lot of errands to do afterward. Before the next bout of inclement weather. Especially, braving the line at the post office to ship boxes of books to veterans and active-duty soldiers. Operation Paperback, a division of United for the Troops, provides the lists of preferred subjects/genres, addresses, and useful tips. I send out 4 boxes today and have 2 more to ship later in the week. Using the Media Mail designation means that it's not prohibitively expensive. Since the local library is no longer accepting book donations, it's been difficult to find a place to recycle books in good condition. My husband has dozens of military history books spanning centuries, from the Hundred Years War through WW2. I tossed in a half dozen Carl Hiaasen novels because they're entertaining and also considered Young Adult. Some centers have book requests for the children of service members. 

8 February 2021
Bare Minimums

Matrix Step
Speed 7 (57-62 spm)
Min 10
HR 137
Cal 85
Steps 590
Floors 36
(Not warm enough)

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

Sneaky HGPU 12

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 1
HR 91, 149-189
Cal 318
Distance 2.85