Time to File

I skipped yesterday to weed wack the yard. Not all of it. Just where the Mugwort (aka Sailor's Tobacco, Felon Herb, Artemisia vulgaris) grows in a thick calf-high carpet. If left unattended, it will grow into an impenetrable forest of sharp, unyielding stems and chrysanthemum-like leaves. I stopped when I spied bunches of three shiny leaves clustered close to the ground. Even though I'm wearing eye protection, the rest of my face is exposed and I find myself wiping pulverized green spatter from my cheeks and mouth. My lips and tongue tingle unpleasantly and that side effect lasts for hours. That's not from the poison ivy. It's the mugwort.

The biting insects get me through my clothes while I carefully hand-clip the tall ground in the center of the yard. I was going to use the wacker but spied a few milkweed shoots. And then I see more. And more. I count 28 and they have thick stems and look relatively healthy so I grab my fluorescent pink marking tape and tie warning strips around them to keep them from being trampled or mowed. I've put a tarp over the original planting sites because after the second year, the plants tend to succumb to a black fungus endemic to damp swampy areas. Letting it lie fallow might help.

This morning, it's cold and rainy and my head is all in a fog. I have trouble motivating myself out of the warm dry car once I get to the gym parking lot. I have trouble getting myself up to speed once I get on the elliptical. But after 20 minutes, I'm warm and sweaty enough to push past 2.8, and I'm always surprised when it happens.

I try doing Side Planks for 60 seconds instead of 30. Not only does the bottom foot go numb, but the top hip and shoulder also feel a peculiar lack of circulation. It's unpleasant enough for me to decide that maybe Side Planks will be every other day, and for only 30 seconds. Everything else feels fine, including push-ups, air squats and pull-ups. 

When I take off my workout gloves, I realize that it's time once again to run a file against my palms because the callouses under the base of my fingers are thick enough to start peeling up. Having your callouses rip off is not a pleasant thing so best to be proactive. (My extremely lined palms and fingers are a hallmark of having ichthyosis vulgaris, a genetic skin disorder.)

Tomorrow I'll see about doing the DB Shoulder routine, if it's not too crowded. It'll be Friday and lately that's meant less folks hogging the equipment. But now that colleges are out, and people are suddenly concerned about their beach bodies, that might change...

19 May 2021
Soggy Thursday Morn

Precor elliptical #3
Program 2
Time: 30 min + 5 min cd (5904)
Distance: 2.94
Cal: 331
Avg Hr 142, 190-83

HGPU 23

Crunches 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12x
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Side Elbow Plank 2 x 60s (too much)
Child’s Pose
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Pull-apart band 25
Gentle upper body stretch
Eye yoga x 3

HGPU 21.5