Cooler and Smoggier

Uh oh!

The weather app on my phone tells me that today there are more micro particles in the air than yesterday, so the air quality is much worse. But the haze seems thinner and although the sky is overcast, there is less disturbing orange-gray hue. But we all smell like we've sat too close to a campfire. I've read that breathing this air is the equivalent to smoking 7 cigarettes daily. Still, the dogs need to go to the park, but I cut their time short. They don't understand why no one else is there, and once they romp a bit and empty their bowels and bladders, we're back at the house. Temps have been in the low 60s, cooler than normal, and possibly due to all the smog in the air. While wildfire smoke is destroying the ozone, it is shielding the earth from UV rays...

Air here looks good!

I skipped yesterday to do boring household chores, like changing the bed sheets, and doing countless loads of laundry. My forearms are sore, but not from that. They're so sore that they cause me to drop reps during pull-ups today at the gym. The gym is unusually empty with just a handful of regulars. The parking lot is also oddly empty. With bad air quality, people who would normally go for a run on one of the surrounding bike trails wind up running on the treadmill inside. But not today. Weird. 

We've been advised to wear masks if outdoors. I still have respirator masks that we weren't allowed to use during the pandemic but would be suitable for this week's crisis. But I'm not wearing a mask. Cloth masks won't do anything, and everyone's looking for those N95s. On the radio, it's been announced that the gov is making supplies available for people with health issues. 

I also haven't clipped my hair up, and decided to use elliptical #2 today. Of course, my hair is annoying me but not horribly. I got my wired earbuds to connect to the iPod so I'm much happier. But these sore forearms have me puzzled. I'm sure it's due to the high reps during my DB Shoulder routine, but I don't know how to relieve forearm stressors while keeping everything else. It might be the DB Lateral Raises... I guess I'll drop those back to 15.

Tight sleeves!

What's really annoying though, is when a store's suppliers decided to reign in costs by trimming the size, hoping that the consumer won't notice. Bought a new Land's End blue hoodie as my other two are literally shredding apart. Size XXL boys is plenty big everywhere EXCEPT the arms. The arms are snug! I'm a small person with big arms, but not bigger than any kid who's wearing XXL hoodies. The arms are for noodle arm people! Ugh. 

The LE hoodies used to be great. Now, they're substandard and I'm disappointed. (I don't buy women's hoodies because they're often cut for noodle arms, billowy chests and shallow pockets that don't hold anything. That's why my BSA shirt is an XL boys. It just fits better on someone with big arms and a small chest.) 

Pull-ups are great for back, shoulders, biceps and haven't caused any issues with my sciatica, while rowing and overhead movements like Rip Skulls seem to aggravated that part of my lower back. My left hamstring has finally stopped threatening to spasm when I cross my ankles and set my knees apart during pull-ups. That leg position keeps my body stable for the most part, until fatigue has me fighting to keep my knees from curling up to my chest. I don't want to give up pull-ups. And I'm reluctant to change the DB Shoulder routine yet again now that I've finally gotten to a point where I can feel a proper burn and pump. I gotta cut some reps. (Sigh) Former muscle heads don't go quietly...

8 June 2023

Wildfire Smog Thursday

(XXL hoodie w/ noodle sleeves)

Precor elliptical #2

Program 1

Time: 30 + 5 (5480)

Distance: 2.81

Cal: 310

Avg Hr: 144, 207-83 !?

HGPU 17 forearms sore!

20 Hip Bridges

Crunches 60

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

60 Dead Bugs

20 Hip Bridges

Elbow Plank 60s

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12x

Fire Hydrants 30 x 2

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25

Upper body stretch

Eye yoga

StepMill (L)

Manual 10 min

Speed 6 (52-60)

Steps 533

Floors 33

Cal 78

Hr 133