The Day After New Year

It was 22F when I woke up this morning. I took the pups to the park and tested the new heated water bowl. It works! I also tested the heated jacket my hubs got me for Christmas. It works too, but needs more pockets. So I put my rain jacket on over it because it's roomy with lots of pockets. I got a lot of great presents. 

Unfortunately, the husband spent the last several days in an increasingly inebriated state until he started gaslighting me about conversations we'd had just hours before. Because you can't argue with a drunk. Drinking kills brain cells. And memory cells. And the ability to reason. His hand looks even worse than when he first broke it months ago. There's no telling what he's been doing with it, to it because being intoxicated means poor reflex skills and perception abilities. As far as I can tell, he was mostly sober when he drove to work this morning. I'm already dreading his return home Friday...

The gym was really crowded today. Granted that I got there at noon, but there were a lot of new faces. It's the day after New Year's which is when the gym is busiest. Eventually the crowd will thin out, probably by April. I haven't been to the gym since last Thursday -- it's been 4 days. And yes, I'm amazed that I managed to not suck at cardio today. Weirdly, the FitBit tells me that my Cardio Fitness is "excellent for women of my age" with a score of 42-44. By comparison, a professional athlete scores a 63. It claims it determines this by looking at my resting pulse and extrapolating my VO2. Seriously? My resting pulse is in the 50s which I guess is really good.

The algorithm tries to be encouraging by telling me there's room for improvement of up to 20%. Uh, wouldn't that put me close to professional athletes, and no, I'm not going to increase my exercise. Like I'm not doing what I can just to be where I am? Like there's really room for improvement? Okay, there's always room for improvement, no matter how minuscule. Changing the routine here and there counts.

I have a morning appointment with my GP tomorrow to discuss my hypertension so no gym. I've been taking BP readings daily and while there are some big variations, there's never been a normal reading. It's a fact: I have high blood pressure. I don't doubt that the doc is going to prescribe some sort of medication that hopefully won't have nasty side effects and won't be contraindicated by my glaucoma. You can't exercise if you risk fainting. Or going blind.

Today I did an inclusive workout: cardio, pull-ups, core with Walking Lunges and Wall Squats, ending with tricep Skull Crushers and Rip Skulls. The free weight area was full of old men and teen boys. Thank goodness I have good earbuds. On the drive home, I listen to the CD set my kid gave me for Christmas: Awesome Mixtape vol 1 and 2 from Guardians of the Galaxy. It's almost like having a working radio! 

2 January 2024 12:00-1:42 pm
Arctic Tuesday & gym is crowded (New Year's resolutionists)

Precor elliptical #1
Program 2
Time: 30+5 (5810)
Distance: 2.90
Cal: 326
Avg Hr: NA 197, 161-80
Fitbit: 58-158 

HGPU 17

20 Hip Bridges
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
Dead Bugs 20 x 5 alt/ss = 100
20 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg bridges
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
Air Squats 25
Upper stretch w side bends & twists
Walking lunges 45 steps total
Neck stretch / Eye yoga
Wall Squat 90s

Skull Crushers / Rip Skulls
30 lbs x 12/12 reps x 3 sets