That Might Hurt. Tomorrow.

I've often wondered how birds and insects fly through the rain, and if their brains calculate adjustments for dodging or enduring the falling water. My dogs and I are at the park for 20 minutes and my exposed hand gets bitten. I have such a bad reaction to the bite on my knuckle that I have to remove my wedding band once I get home because the swelling is becoming painful. I rub cream on the afflicted area several times and that relieves the itching but does little for the swelling.

After some necessary errands, I'm off to the gym even though the rainy dreary weather makes me want to crawl back under my bed covers. Although I'd normally do a set or two of pull-ups, I'm worried about how my finger is going to react to my gloves, and the pressure of supporting my body weight when I'm hanging from the Stretch Cage. Just pedaling the elliptical makes my finger ache a bit and all I'm doing at that point is holding the handle to keep from falling off the machine.

The gym is crowded because rain makes everyone exercise indoors. At least the Aerobics Room is cool and I gingerly put my gloves on when I lay down on the mat. Gloves keeps my hands from sliding because having icthyosis vulgaris means my palms and soles of my feet are incongruously highly-wrinkled yet smooth and slippery with what might be misplaced keratin. (It's damn near impossible for me to open a brand new plastic bag without wetting my fingers or wearing leather gloves.) 

My body isn't happy doing planks and I cut it back to 60 seconds. Everything else seems okay, so when I do push-ups, I consider the set I didn't do on Friday: 25, 20, 15, 10, 5. That equals 75 reps. Push-ups don't bother my hands or fingers. Then I find myself doing 25 for the second set. I attempt a third set but only get to 20. The fourth set also only gets as far as 20. Curiosity gets me to the last set and I finish with 15 reps and roughly 30 seconds between sets. That's 105, and while I feel okay today, I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow. Probably. Most likely. 

In hindsight, I could probably have netted another 10 reps, then 5 but I was getting a little bored and more people were coming in to use the room. Instead, I gather all my stuff and manage a decent Wall Squat. Maybe I should add the additional push-ups to the routine on a weekly basis?

I skipped Friday last week to spend a few more hours wrestling with invasive vines in my hedges. I finally found a pair of safety glasses that don't fog up when steam emanates from your head. I always wear a hood, long pants, gloves and boots although I don't spray myself with tick repellent and I probably should. Because I'm a damn insect magnet.

Saturday, my husband and I spent more time in our car than we did at the NY Renaissance Faire. It's the first time we've gone without our son, and probably the most time we've ever spent idling in traffic getting there, and in the parking lot trying to exit. We literally sat in our car with the engine off for over an hour after the Faire ended because of the vast amount of cars trying to leave simultaneously. 

My husband took a nap because he had also driven back from Boston that morning. Neither of us had eaten at the Faire, although I had the foresight to munch a Quest protein bar I found in my bag. Once we managed to leave, we headed for the chain restaurant Kpot in Wappingers Falls. They're a Korean BBQ/Hot Pot joint and quite popular on a Saturday night. We texted a few pix to our son, and later that night he answered that he'd like to check it out when he's in town next. Cool!

18 Sept 2023 11:30-12:55
Rain All Day Monday

Precor elliptical #1
Program 2
Time: 30 + 5 (5454)
Distance: 2.80
Cal: 309
Avg Hr: 144, 175-115


20 Hip Bridges
Crunches 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
20 Hip Bridges
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25, 25, 20, 20, 15 = 105!
Air Squats 25
Upper body stretch
Eye yoga
Wall Squats 90s