Do These Make My Feet Look Fat?

I have problem feet through no fault of my own. It's not as if I've spent my waking hours tottering on stiletto heels. I blame genetics, and for that, I blame my mother who had notoriously bad bunions and flat feet. I only have a bunion and hammertoes on one foot, but it's also the side that suffers from sciatic pain. Just that one side is screwed up but since everything's connected, imbalances on one side tend to affect the entire body. Because I don't envision spending my golden years (!?) hobbling around with a walker, I spend time every day trying to stretch out tight ligaments in my foot, leg, and hip. It doesn't always feel successful. 

Shoes are problematic, especially sneakers because I have such wide feet but small heels. Most 2E shoes are made for fat diabetic feet. Mine are small and bony; they just tend to splay out, probably a loose ligament disfunction. I searched online for another pair of one of the more comfortable sneakers I own: 2E WW1165CY. The New Balance website doesn't carry this shoe in my size but I can find it on Amazon. But only in limited colors if I want my size. I'm not picky and the cost is reasonable for a sneaker. I own a gray pair but that color's not available; only white with pink trim. At least it's not lime green with fuschia trim. 

I'm excited when the sneakers arrive but feel some disappointment and suspicion. The sneakers shipped in a packing box without the original NB box, with stenciling stating that the original box was damaged in shipping. Uh, okay. The sneakers look genuine, but they feel a little hard inside. Maybe my gray ones are more broken in? The white ones definitely don't have that Fresh Foam feel to them, but they also don't hurt my feet after a full workout. A different pair of NBs that I own felt fine to walk around in but not work out in. My feet complained: the balls of my feet got sore and achy even when I changed the insoles. Those shoes are virtually new and currently in the donation bag because I can't return them and I can't wear them. Nope, I don't wear sneakers anywhere except at the gym. 

I get to the gym late. One of the pups was sick this morning and I had to toss two dog beds and clean up slimy bile vomit and diarrhea. The dog beds weren't all that old but said dog liked to chew big holes in them and pull all the stuffing out, so washing them would've been a complete washing machine disaster. The other pup, who ate the exact same food, had no digestive woes. I did take them to the park later where they ran into a few dog pals and spent an hour running and boxing and barking and digging and doing whatever dogs do... They both seem fine now.

At the gym, I get on the elliptical with the non-working HR monitor and pedal sluggishly for the first 10 minutes. I purchased Ryan Star's CD album 11:59 on Amazon (it's only available used now, but much cheaper than the original release 10 years ago) to play in my car, but some of the songs are stuck in my head like earworms. And the only cure to an earworm is to play it repeatedly until it loses its magical hold on your sensory system. I used my ancient copy of iTunes (Apple no longer supports it) to rip the CD and upload the MP3s to my iPod (another Apple relic) where I can play it in a loop while I work out. It's amazing how much more I can hear with earbuds vs the car CD player: background instrumentation I was totally unaware of suddenly comes alive. I'm a little bummed I missed out on the 3 bonus tracks available only on the iTunes version when it first released but all is not lost. There are always ways to track things down...

After cardio, I retreat to the Aerobics Room and do my core routine. Today I drop the glute kickbacks and replace them with a few Dead Bugs. I'm not entirely sure I'm doing the Cobra stretch correctly but my right glute gets sore from pressing my hips into the mat as I arch up and pull forward with my hands. The Dead Bugs are actually sort of relaxing, alternating arm and leg extending overhead and down, then back up. But all this laying about makes me cold so I do push-ups but only 40 today. 

Monday afternoons are crowded with HS kids and I pick my way through them to get to the Stretch Cage just to do pull-ups. I'm hoping that one of the Seated Cable Rows will become available soon, otherwise, I'll have to resort to BB or DB rows. I haven't done either of those in a long time, and I don't find them particularly effective for someone with tiny hands and a bad lower back. Luckily, the kid on the station closest to me has wandered off with his friends to another piece of equipment. Lucky me. 

8 March 2021
Sunny Brisk Monday

Precor elliptical
35 min
Program 1
HR n/a
Cal 318
Distance 2.85

Crunches x 60 x 2
Piriformis Stretch
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
5 x 2 Cobra 5 sec count
Plank 60s
8 Dead Bugs x 3
Pushups 40
Mat stretch et al

Sneaky HGPU 17

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