Back to the Routine

My dogs are thoroughly confused by the fall back aspect of Daylight Savings Time. Personally, I'm glad for the extra hour of sleep and waking to a rising sun instead of bleak darkness. It's also been ridiculously warm, peaking today at 72F with 80% humidity, so the gym feels sticky and vaguely unpleasant. I do a full 35 minutes of cardio, pausing to replace my earbuds with Airpods because 20 minutes into the routine, I get the stern warning voice: power low. 

That means there's only three minutes of battery life left before silence. Of course, I forget that I need to pause my iPod to do this so another stop to retrieve that out of my gear bag. (I've learned from sorry experience never to clip the iPod to my sweaty body because they're just not sweat-proof!) Which means my stats should be better and probably will be next time.

 As I've said in previous posts, music sounds better through the wired Bluetooth earbuds, and I like being able to control the volume from the buds themselves. The Airpods are cranked as loud as the iPod will go, but still not loud enough to drown out neighboring conversations. Or the horribly tinny wail of Miley Cyrus over the speakers...

The Aerobics Room isn't much cooler but it is quieter. I do my full Core workout and test two alternative planks: anti-rotation plank and knee-tap plank. You can do alternate knees but that requires coordination with longer legs than I have. I do a dozen reps with both knees together. The anti-rotation plank is harder and akin to Mr. Miyagi's Wax On, Wax Off movement while laying a few inches off the ground on three points of contact. 

Feeling guilty about over-indulging this past weekend, I successfully convinced myself to do a second set of pull-ups, and then 10 minutes on the Step Mill. We went to the West Hartford Symphony concert because one of my husband's co-workers is a member, manning the drums and cymbals. The program shows only three pieces, a brief intermission and then a documentary film. What? I was prepared to be bored, but this was extremely interesting and the best part of the evening! Afterward, the subject graciously answered questions posed by the audience.

The film is about Norman Malone, a man who survived childhood tragedy (his syphilitic father tried to kill him and his brothers before killing himself) and his quest to discover and master piano pieces composed for just the left hand. We learn about Maurice Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who was wounded in WWI and lost his right arm. Better yet, the music is dissected and explained and I feel wonderfully educated as well as appreciative and entertained.

Here's a YouTube teaser clip... the actual film can be streamed or purchased for a fee.

7 November 2022
Fall Back Monday

Precor elliptical #1
Program 3
Time: 30 min + 5 min cd (5526)
Distance: 2.82
Cal: 311
Avg Hr: 147, 185-123

HGPU 22

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
Child’s Pose
Anti-rotation plank 12 total
Knee-tap plank 15 (knees together)
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Upper body stretch
Eye yoga x 3

HGPU 20

StepMill (R)
Manual 10 min
Speed 6 (52-55)
Steps 536 / 541
Floors 33
Cal 78 / 70
Hr 138 / na