Ending the Week on a High Note

I'm quite pleased with my cardio today, breaking 2.9 after weeks of disappointment. Better yet, I have 4 straight days of cardio on the same type of machine (Precor elliptical), for the same amount of time (35 minutes), at roughly the same time (late morning/noonish), with similar programs (1-3). Monday was a holiday so I didn't exercise, but Tuesday through Friday I went to the gym everyday. 

And while what I did afterward varied, the cardio was mostly the same. Starting Tuesday with Program 3 and logged 2.82, and ended today Friday with Program 3 and logged 2.92. Mileage got incrementally better each day. I wish the same could be said for my other endeavors!

I don't have any appointments today so I can do neglected exercises. Skipped the pull-ups and still felt a twinge in my right forearm while I was on the elliptical. The Seated Cable Rows were both occupied so I grabbed the 30 lb BB and did a few brief sets of Rip Skulls. After two sets, I got braver and did a combo set alternating a Skull Crusher with a Rip Skull twelve times. That actually didn't feel bad, but I'm not sure I'd make a habit of it, or that I'd be brave enough to do more than one set. The arms get pretty tired pretty quick with this.

Both Seated Cable machines are still busy so I walk over to the Aerobics Room. I'm shocked to see it layed out with battle ropes and barbells for a Body Pump class. Is there a class starting imminently? I walk back to the front desk to ask, and I'm told that the class is much later. It's just laid out for the staff to learn all the movements. Okay. When I walk back through the gym, I see that one of the Seated Cable Rows is finally available. Which is my cue to drop my gear on the seat and do what I had initially planned.

Eventually, I make it back to the Aerobics Room. There's no one else in it. Fine with me! I do all my core exercises and stretches. Sitting crossed-leg on a mat, I managed to bend forward enough so that my head is maybe a few inches from the floor. Probably my advantage to have a long body and short limbs in this case. I end with Wall Squats (which should be renamed Wall Sits). I wish I could figure out how to have the stopwatch feature show up as a tiny side window when I'm scrolling through my email or the local news instead of having to switch windows to check my time. But that's a first-world problem. 

I have a glaucoma doc appointment on Monday so once again, I'll be skipping the gym, and the post-weekend crowds. Today the gym was relatively empty, and even more so after I exited the Aerobics Room. I guess the HS kids have better things to do on a crisp, sunny Friday.

31 May 2024 12:13-1:56

Busy Friday

Precor elliptical #3
Program 3
Time: 30+5 (5832)
Distance: 2.92
Cal: 328
Avg Hr: 162, 203-84
Fitbit: 52-142

Skip HGPU 14.5

BB Rip Skulls 30 lbs x 12 x 2
BB 30 lbs Rip/Skull Crushed combo 12/12 x 1

Seated Cable Rows
50 lbs x 15
60 x 15
70 x 15, 15, 15

20 Hip Bridges
Piriformis/Hip Stretch
DeadBugs 20 x 5
10 x 2 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg ea
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Fire Hydrants 20 x 2
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Arm rotations 20
Neck stretch / Eye yoga
Wall Squat 150s  (2 min 30 sec)

Spacey Thursday

Averaging 5 1/2 hrs of sleep a night isn't quite enough for me. And yet, I find it hard to fall asleep before 1 AM. Because I have to take the pups to the park and leave by 9 AM (to avoid dog fights with other puppers), my alarm is set for 7:30. I need time to put my various eye drops in, have coffee, yadda yadda... I'm not sure I even know what 8 hrs of sleep feels like. But I have been known to doze off on the sofa with the dogs on a rainy afternoon. I'm happy that milkweeds have emerged in my yard, but something ate half a plant. They're supposed to taste terrible and be mildly toxic, so I don't know why anything would do that. Besides monarch caterpillars. But this wasn't a caterpillar...

This means I'm pretty spacey this morning while packing my gym gear. I noted that my bag seemed unusually easy to zipper close and didn't connect that to the possibility I'd forgotten something. That only became apparent when I got to the locker room and sorted through the gym bag. Everything except a towel for drying off after the shower! But I had a clean hand towel that I use to wrap my shower shoes, and a microfiber hair wrap. 

A hand towel is too miniscule to saunter through the locker room (I've known a few women confident enough to do so but I'm not one of them) considering that many members are so inhibited that they change in the handicap toilet stall. But it's enough to dry off with, so I just need to bring my clean clothes with me to hang in the shower vestibule. That's one of the tiny things I like better at this gym vs a place like Planet Fitness: each shower has a curtain and a tiny changing area with wall hooks and then a shower curtain for the showering part.

The gym is unusually empty for a non-Senior class day. Tuesday was packed with people! I see the one middle aged guy who is always on the elliptical, usually for at least an hour, and always wearing a windbreaker or sweatshirt. He's on #2 and I'm happy to pedal #1. The FitBit app keeps buzzing my wristband: it wants me to keep the app open in the background all the time. I'm reluctant to because I worry that'll just suck the battery life down to nothing. But maybe that's okay? But, I also turn the Bluetooth off on my phone so that my AirPods will work with my ancient iPod Nano. When I finish exercising, I switch the BT back on and reconnect the wearable.

Temps have dropped into what I term comfortable: high 50s to low 60s. Dogs were very happy with the cooler weather this morning. I'm happy pedaling along and eventually working up a drenching sweat. What's odd is that the FB tells me my peak HR is 122 for all that. That's not even close to where my max HR has been, especially pedaling fast and furious. Tech just isn't trustworthy...

Pull-ups are serviceable with only the last one being a bit half-assed. And then I walk into a wonderfully cool Aerobics Room where there's only one other person. She's gone within moments and I have the room to myself. I do the full routine without any issues. Two guys come in with rollers and spend all of 30 seconds on the floor. Which means I have done a Wall Squat longer than they've rolled whatever sore muscles they possess. 

30 May 2024 11:26-12:44
Spacey Thursday & I forgot my towel

Precor elliptical #1
Program 2
Time: 30+5 (5638)
Distance: 2.85
Cal: 317
Avg Hr: 159, 196-86
Fitbit: 52-122

HGPU 14.5

20 Hip Bridges
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
DeadBugs 20 x 5
10 x 2 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg ea
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Fire Hydrants 20 x 2
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Arm rotations 20
Neck stretch / Eye yoga
Wall Squat 120s !!!
(2 min 30 sec actually)

Semi-Abbreviated Workout

My FitBit suddenly remembered data from yesterday and made adjustments to the record. So weird. I got to the gym earlier than usual but still later than I'd like. I hoped that the Senior class wasn't happening, but alas, it was. I have to take my kid to the orthodontist later so my time is limited. I need to prioritize. Cardio is always of foremost importance. I'm happy that there's barely anyone on the cardio platform so I can pedal elliptical #1. I skip pull-ups since it's too stressful on my shallow elbow joints to do two days in a row. Mindful of delicate elbows, I also skip the Skull Crushers. 

I see the front desk staff carrying chairs into the Aerobics Room. Yep, that class is starting. There's a few folks in the free weight area but the inclined breaker benches are available. So it looks like I'm doing DB Shoulders. Maybe not the full 3 sets with the 20s, because I still need to stretch out the lower back and hip before I shower and change.

I knock out my warm-up set with 10 lb DBs and miraculously, everyone else vacates the DB area. Probably a coincidence. Or I'm a beast. Kidding. I am annoyed that there's chalk powder all over the floor mat under my inclined bench. Which means putting my DBs down and picking them up again gets powder all over my clothes. It'll wash out, but it's still annoying. A lot of chain gym won't let you use chalk because of the mess. And inherent inhalation nastiness. Meanwhile, the staff is sporting brand new logo-fied T-shirts. Because it's not a Gold's Gym anymore.

I have enough time to do four sets total: warm-up; in-ease; 2 actual sets. I could do a third set but I wouldn't have time to grab a mat and do a few basic floor movements in the Functional Gym area near the front door. Sadly, that only amounts to hip-bridges, some stretches, Dead Bugs and a dozen Cat stretches. I even skip Fire Hydrants! 

Tomorrow I have my own doc appt at 1 pm, so it's just going to be cardio and core. And I say core because there won't be a class in the Aerobics Room to keep me from a full routine. I snap a quick pic of my arms in the locker room. Yeah, in spite of not doing much of an arm routine, they still look decent enough... I just need to lose the fat! 

Next week I have a follow-up appt with the glaucoma doc and I get to find out whether the Timolol is working and whether using Pataday is okay or not. Because leaving phone messages is like talking into the wind.

29 May 2024 10:57-12:20

Temperate Wednesday 

Precor elliptical #1

Program 1

Time: 30+5 (5624)

Distance: 2.84

Cal: 316

Avg Hr: 152, 188-83

Fitbit: 53-134

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys

10 lbs x 25/15/25 warm up

15 lbs x 25/15/25

20/15/20 x 25/15/25-27 x 2

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 x 2 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg ea

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

FitBit Malfunction

Weekend pup pillows

I charge my FitBit once every 3-4 days and am not particularly diligent with uploading data from the wearable to the app residing on my phone. So I hadn't thought to check anything this morning even though I'd charged the bracelet yesterday. I didn't realize that not only wouldn't the wearable connect to the phone, it wasn't recording heart rate or steps properly either. 

Which means that when I finally figured out how to reboot the wearable (thank goodness for online community resources), I discovered that the HR and steps were insultingly low because the device hadn't registered anything at all. So my 35 minutes of breathless pedaling showed up as...nothing. With a HR that peaks at 76 bpm. Meanwhile, the elliptical, which goes crazy in the opposite direction, clocks 200 bpm at the height of my cardio activity. Also ridiculous.

I'm happy I can get a dozen good hammer-grip pull-ups before I can barely get my face to the bar. Aging sucks when you can barely do half of what you could do just a year ago. My biggest complaint though has been with how my eyes are reacting to the additional eye drops. I've added an ocular antihistamine (Pataday), hoping that it will blunt my allergic reaction to Timolol. In spite of it being a preservative-free formulation, my lash line burns, my eyelid skin feels dry and scaly, and weals have formed between my nose and eyes. At least I haven't developed itchy white bumps inside my eyelids (that happened years ago with regular Timolol, and brimonidine, and dorzolamide and can cause corneal abrasions).

I still slather Aquaphor on my eyelids to keep the itching and pinprick sensations at bay. I spent the long holiday weekend inside mostly because of the heat and the rain, and my eyes were so dry that I struggled to keep them open and focused. It felt as if my eye holes had shrunk and were too small to see out of! Every time I blinked, the eyelids would stick just a little on my eyeballs no matter how much lubricating drops I applied. Dry eyes makes your vision foggy in patches and reading becomes difficult. Being outside is easier, except when it's hot and rainy. I hadn't realized how much time my pups spent sleeping until this weekend. Luckily, they don't mind serving as bony pillows, although one of them tends to sleep run and we're all in danger of being kicked in the head. Accidentally of course.

While I'm happy I got to use elliptical #1 today with few people doing cardio, the free weight area was unusually crowded. Maybe because all the college kids are home now. Or maybe because there's no Senior class this afternoon, what with it being Tuesday. I manage to slide into one of the Seated Cable Row stations. Afterward, I look around and briefly contemplate doing Rip Skulls but decided against aggravating my elbows. I was surprised on Saturday to have mildly sore triceps and pecs. Especially the pecs since there was no benching or pressing involved. While Rip Skull pullovers with a bar works all three tricep heads, I can't think it does much for the pectorals. I could be wrong though. 

The Aerobics Room is refreshingly cool. And crowded with three other individuals doing their own thing. I grab a mat and do my thing. Everything is good. Dead Bugs seems especially easy after 3 days of slothing. Wall Squats are also easy. Not sure I'm prepared to do sets of them yet though...

28 May 2024 11:59-1:36
Sunny Tuesday post holiday weekend

Precor elliptical #1
Program 3 (5
Time: 30+5 (5554)
Distance: 2.82
Cal: 313
Avg Hr: 156, 200-112
Fitbit: ugh

HGPU 13+2 halves

Seated Cable Rows
50 lbs x 15
60 x 15
70 x 15, 15, 15

20 Hip Bridges
Piriformis/Hip Stretch
DeadBugs 20 x 5
10 x 2 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg ea
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Fire Hydrants 20 x 2
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Arm rotations 20
Neck stretch / Eye yoga
Wall Squat  2 min 30 sec actually

End of the Week

I had a few errands to do before I got to the gym so I was a bit later than I'd like. Consequently, the first two elliptical machines were already occupied. I decided to do 20+ minutes on the Life Fitness cross-trainer instead. I don't like this machine because eventually my toes go numb. Also, I find it nearly impossible to pedal backward, which is a big negative. Pedaling backward works different muscles and it works them differently. It's a bit like walking backward on a treadmill. Twenty-five minutes is my limit although it is nice using the handles to exercise the arms.

My pull-ups aren't feeling any easier these days. Worse, they actually feel harder, or I'm losing my strength and stamina. I console myself with the fact that I'm still making it past a dozen. There's a lot of kids in the free weight area and both cable stations are very popular today. I kill time with a 30 lb barbel on a flat bench, doing triceps two-ways. I like the breaker bench for this because it has a platform I can rest my feet on. I'm short with short legs and most benches are too tall for me to plant my feet flat on the floor. Halfway through the second set, my left inner elbow develops a painful clicking. Ugh. I angle my arm out as much as possible to relieve the joint, but it's not very effective. Still, I manage to finish my three super-sets okay.

One of the stations has freed up so I can do Seated Cable Rows. Between sets, I scan the cardio platform to see what's available. (There's still a class in the Aerobics room.) Both Step machines are empty so I get 10 minutes on one. This is the first time I've been back since losing an AirPod down the the inside of the stepper. Now that I have tethers on my earbuds, I'm confident I won't be losing them. Thirty-five minutes of cardio seems good for the day. I'm never quite right if I do less, and years ago I used to do more: 45 minutes as fast as I could pedal.

By the time I get to the Aerobics Room, there are a few other people already there. One is a gal who comes on her lunch hour. This is the first time I've ever seen her with a trainer, and he's not someone who works for the gym. Maybe a friend? They do a lot of DB movements, especially a sweeping arc across the body. And one where she's lying down but moving plates from a stack on her right to a stack on her left. In general, she's fairly regular and very efficient, especially in the locker room where her short hair makes her showering and changing routine a scant 10 minutes. She slips into business casual attire and is off. I'm super high maintenance by comparison, what with toweling the long hair, and all the creams and lotions my skin requires. 

I might do multiple sets of Wall Squats... I got engrossed in a news article so when I looked at the timer, it had gone past the 2 minute mark. And it didn't feel bad at all. Now if only my BP and IOPs would cooperate...

24 May 2024 11:48-1:49
Sunny Friday before a holiday weekend

LF X-trainer #3
Program Manual L1
Time: 20+5
Distance: 2.63
Cal: 199
Avg Hr: n/a 119~131
Fitbit: 52-146

HGPU 13+2 halfs

Skull Crushers / Rip Skulls
30 lbs x 12/12 x 3 (left elbow)

Seated Cable Rows
50 lbs x 15
60 x 15
70 x 15, 15, 15

StepMill (L)
Manual 10 min
Speed 6 (52-55)
Steps 541
Floors 33
Cal 79
Hr 106

20 Hip Bridges
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
DeadBugs 20 x 5
10 x 2 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg ea
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Fire Hydrants 20 x 2
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Arm rotations 20
Neck stretch / Eye yoga
Wall Squat 120s -- 2 min 16 sec actually

The Start of a Scorching Week

Saturday's drive down to Point Pleasant NJ took almost 3 hours in the rain. We had a good time seeing relatives in celebration of my brother's wife's 60th birthday. She had her close cousins there who also brought their kids, which meant my son fit right in at the kids' table. Never mind that the oldest, my brother's son, just hit 30. It's a generational thing. My first cousin on my dad's side is probably 15 years younger than I am, but our kids are the same age, so of the same generation. Cousins on my mother's side are a bit older. We didn't get home until past midnight on Saturday. All the driving/sitting is starting to aggravate my sciatica. So it's important that I get to the elliptical this morning. And I do.

I'm happy with a good cardio warm-up and decent pull-ups. But not great. After the 13th rep, I can barely get my nose to the bar. The Senior class is still in the Aerobics Room when I'm done, so I sit down at the Cable Rows. It was either that or doing Skull Crushers on a flat bench. It is moderately busy in the free weight area and I'm thinking I can so triceps tomorrow if I decide to go to the gym. Class is over and I haven't signed up for anything during the summer. My main concern is getting my kid to his appointments, signing him up for driving lessons so he can get his license, and his getting a summer job.

The Aerobics Room is refreshingly cool when I finally get there. I'm still shocked that deleting Walking Lunges from my routine has increased my ability to tolerate Wall Squats. I'm perusing some interesting stories and when I look at the timer it's past 2 minutes! And it didn't feel bad at all. Probably will feel worse on Wednesday... The weather will be ridiculously hot, hovering in the 80s. Dogs and I will be thoroughly miserable, because we're not heat tolerant. Nope. I'm happy with high 50s and low 60s. Already gotten bitten and now I wear a spritz of picaridin before taking pups to the park.

20 May 2024 11:37-1:15 pm

Sunny Monday & avoiding that Sr Class

Precor elliptical #2

Program 2

Time: 30+5 (5620)

Distance: 2.85

Cal: 317

Avg Hr: 161, 198 max

Fitbit: 52-130

HGPU 13+2 halves

Seated Cable Rows

50 lbs x 15

60 x 15

70 x 15, 15, 15

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25

Arm rotations 20

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!! (126 actually)

Combo Day

The dogs were still at the boarding kennel with baths and nail trimming scheduled so I didn't need to get up too early today. In fact, I made it to the gym before the Senior class started. Since I missed the last three days, and spent the past two days in a car for more hours than I'd like, I felt the need to compensate for prolonged sitting. My hubs and I did, however, manage to squeeze our kid and his myriad of belongings into one car and drive home from college. So yaaay for that chore done.

I was surprised that there were so few people on any of the cardio machines and I was happy to grab elliptical #1 for the cardio warmup. Pull-ups were slightly better. There were teens in the DB area where I'd be doing my DB shoulder workout so I put that on pause and instead did Seated Cable Rows. The Senior class started and I took my time between sets, but I still had a lot of time to kill before I could use the Aerobics Room. The teens moved to a different part of the gym so DB Shoulder routine was next. I had toyed with the idea of doing Skull Crushers / Rip Skulls because it's literally been months since I last did those, but it'd be difficult to stretch the time out. Besides, the Inclined DB Press covers anterior delts and triceps so it's not like I'm really missing anything. 

I got the DB Shoulder routine done with healthy rests between the last three sets, and I didn't actually feel too tired. However, even though it was well past 12:30, there were still seniors inside the Aerobics Room. Ugh. I can't stand around waiting so I grab a mat and proceed to do part of my core workout at the front of the gym, where the functional fitness equipment sits. By the time I get to fire hydrants, I can see old people exiting the gym. That's my cue to enter the Aerobics Room. The a/c is actually on! I wanted to end my routine in there anyway because there's a big wall I can use for Wall Squats. That's harder to find in the rest of the gym between mirrors and equipment. I'm getting used to 120-second Wall Squats, though I have to admit it's much easier now that I've quit the Walking Lunges.

17 May 2024 10:47-1:09

Sunny Friday and avoiding that Sr Class

(My kid is back from college)

Precor elliptical #1

Program 1

Time: 30+5 (5678)

Distance: 2.86

Cal: 319

Avg Hr: 160, 194-84

Fitbit: 51-144

HGPU 15

Seated Cable Rows

50 lbs x 15

60 x 15

70 x 15, 15, 15

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys

10 lbs x 25/15/25 warm up

15 lbs x 25/15/25

20/15/20 x 25/15/25-27 x 3

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!!

Monday the 13th

I got a text this morning from a dog park compadre, warning me that the parks department had suddenly decided to do some spring maintenance starting at 8:30 this morning and lasting until noon. That's rather sudden! I scramble to get my dogs to the park at 7:30 so they'll have plenty of time to do their running, barking, digging, sniffing, peeing and of course, pooping. We're out of the park by 8:15. But I still get to the gym later than I'd like.

There's two people already pedaling on the ellipticals. And unfortunately, after I climb on and wipe the machine with a disinfectant cloth, I find that both elliptical #3 and #4 are non-functional. You can pedal them, but they're unable to activate any programs: the dashboard is useless and there's no way to adjust for elevation or resistance. Ugh. I do what no one else does at this gym: go to the front desk and tell the staff that these machines need to be fixed. Or at least given a hard reboot.

I could get on the Life Fitness Cross-Trainer, which tends to make my feet go numb. I decide to pedal the Octane instead because it's been a few. Months. Maybe years. After 23 minutes, I'm barely warmed up though. I doubt if an additional 12 minutes (to equal my standard 35-minute session) would've made much difference. I'm lucky I managed to squeeze out a dozen reps at pull-ups. Not only am I not warmed up, I feel tired and heavy. Still, I'm able to knock out all my reps for Seated Cable Rows. But I don't feel at all excited or energized. I just feel crushed.

Actually, what I feel is depressed. Lethargic, heavy, weighted. No doubt it's me trying to adjust to having to "police" the husband's drinking (emptied and discarded multiple half bottles of Tito's vodka squirreled away in his desk drawer) and preparing to spend the summer months with my kid back from college. He'll have to be coerced into learning to drive, which means I'll be taxiing him to appointments and maybe even a summer job. That's one of the reasons I haven't looked into any summer classes... 

Since we'll be driving to Buffalo and back mid-week, I probably won't get to the gym again until maybe Friday. And that depends on when I can pick my dogs up from the pet boarding/grooming facility. I've scheduled baths for both of them; I'm sure they'll be thrilled. Not. 

The Aerobics Room is warm and clammy. Seniors don't like the chill, I guess. I do my routine and get my 120 seconds in for Wall Squats. It's been a few days since I took a BP reading so I'll have to remember to do that today. I toy with the idea of doing the Step machine for 10 minutes, but the gym is surprisingly crowded when I exit the Aerobics room. School is out and HS kids are everywhere. I'm sure it'll be worse this summer. Maybe I should rethink my timing and start coming earlier in the morning?

(Oddly, I can no longer import images, but I can drag them from my desktop into this blog before it's published... I'm sure that'll change. My hubs calls these obstacles NPCs Non-Player Characters from gaming scenarios.)

13 May 2024 11:59-1:32

Blah Sunny Monday

Octane LX8000

Program Manual 1 / 3 width

Strides: 2840

Time: 20+3,

Distance: 1.43

Floors; 44

Cal: 150

Avg Hr: n/a

Fitbit: 50-126

(Barely warmed up)

HGPU 12 (feeling fat & weak)

Seated Cable Rows

50 lbs x 15

60 x 15

70 x 15, 15, 15

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!!

All Good Things Come to an End

My husband came home a day early and not only was it unexpected, but I could smell the alcohol exuding from his pores. He lies to me and tells me he's not drinking. After almost five months of sobriety, he's drinking again, and lying to me and himself. As the oldest child of combative parents, I tend to be non-confrontational in my relationships. Psych articles will tell you that eldest daughters grow up to be peace-makers and care-takers. But I can't sleep when he goes to bed, and I wind up emptying all the small bottles of Tito's vodka I find under my husband's desk. I know I fell asleep eventually because I woke up in the middle of a dream, trying to identify the old man I'm interacting with. He's actually a figment so nothing to worry about.

It's cold and rainy when the alarm sounds. My husband gets up much earlier and is at work at his desk. He has a deadline, but I'm suspicious of the weird giggling emanating from upstairs. When I get back from the gym and he's out, I find another mostly empty small bottle of vodka stashed in a drawer upstairs. I empty and toss that too. He's not going to complain or confront me about it since he can't even admit that he's drinking again. He just says he's off his diet because the work schedule was too hectic for regular healthy meals. While the problem with the schedule is real, that's not the reason he's put on weight. No, it's the drinking which leads to binge eating. 

This morning I tell him I know he's lying and that things always get worse when he's drinking, that I'd like us to repair our relationship. His response (after I get back from the gym) is to ask whether I'd like to have Mother's Day meal on Sunday or postpone it until our son can join us. He never actually addresses any issues. He's never apologized. He just buys things that he thinks I'll like. I feel sad and depressed. I'm not sure I can go through another decade of progressively bad behavior.

I'm at the gym later than I'd like but I've avoided the Seniors. And oddly, elliptical #1 is available although #2 and 3 are occupied. I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, so I happily pedal away until I'm drenched with sweat. Then I get my piddly pull-ups done. Off to the Aerobics Room which seems warm but gradually chills until it's the frosty temp I'm used to. Everything is good, except, as predicted, Wall Squats have me screaming a little inside my head. No way I'd ever scream out loud...

I'm still researching why Blogger stopped allowing me to import my own pix into my own blog. It's not even limited to the Duck Duck Go browser (which prevents cookies and trackers) because I've also tried importing images while in Google's own Chrome browser. And no go. As a last resort, I actually drag the image off my desktop onto the blog page, and shockingly, that works! WTF?

10 May 2024 12:16-1:33

Rainy Friday 

 

Precor elliptical #1

Program 3

Time: 30+5 (5810)

Distance: 2.87

Cal: 321

Avg Hr: 161, 192-79

Fitbit: 52-140

HGPU 15

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!!

The Weather App is Always Wrong

The weather app promised a week of rain. It said temps would rise into the mid-70s today. Nope and nope. It's actually on the cooler side, which I like better. But the bugs have emerged and while I'm gratified to hear the buzzing of bees, I'm less happy with the tiny kamikaze bugs darting into my eyes and up my nose. Lilacs have bloomed and I catch their fragrance in my driveway even though there aren't any blooms in sight.

The gym isn't too crowded and I'm finally early enough to grab elliptical #2. The first one is occupied. Later, one of the obese older women who's taken to pedaling on the elliptical shows up and is relegated to a Cybex glider until she can use #1 or #2. Not sure why she doesn't trust #4 except that the dashboard doesn't display the notoriously inaccurate HR. A guy gets on #3 and isn't bothered by the machine's inability to access programs. He pedals while staring at his phone.

It's Thursday, which means no Senior class and the gym is less crowded. I do all my DB Shoulder sets without worry. The Aerobics Room is refreshingly cold and I'm instantly dry. I've taken Walking Lunges out of the routine and added another 30 seconds to Wall Squats, for a total of 2 minutes (120 seconds), which is fine. It hurts more than yesterday. I suspect it will be even worse tomorrow.

Last night I found old photos of myself from 2015 when I was at my leanest. I had great round biceps, a flat defined stomach, and a low body fat reading of 14.5% at 103 lbs. I weigh over 10 lbs more than that right now and weighed even more last winter. There's a huge difference in body fat readings from my Tanita home scale, depending on whether I use the "athlete" or "normal" female setting, adjusting for height and age. Tanita's website says to use the "athlete" profile if resting HR is below 60 and you're exercising intensively for 12 hrs or more a week. Which meant I used that profile way back when, but can't use it now. 

The difference in body fat readings is a whopping 5%. Online reviews of body fat scales claim that these products tend to overestimate the amount of body fat in regular people, while also underestimating percentages for athletes. So, while there's no way I'm 17.5% BF, I also don't think I'm 22.5% either... Does it really matter? Well, any little bit of encouragement helps and keeps me from backsliding. Am I ever going to drop down to 103 again? Probably not. Unless I get sick. But even just getting back to 109 would be awesome. And my clothes would fit so much better. 

Still can't import any pix or vids unless I pull them from YouTube... Been seeing a lot of PetSmart commercials that use that sweet song from the musical Oliver. I'll post that here 'cuz watching Jack Wild, Shani Wallis, Mark Lester and the incomparable Ron Moody is always a treat.

9 May 2024 11:29-1:21

Crisp Thursday

(Athlete mode vs normal female body fat 17.5 vs 22.5%)

Precor elliptical #2

Program 2

Time: 30+5 (5648)

Distance: 2.86

Cal: 319

Avg Hr: 155, 188-81

Fitbit: 50-128

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys

10 lbs x 25/15/25 warm up

15 lbs x 25/15/25

20/15/20 x 25/15/25 x 3

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!!

Progress and Regression

There was a hail warning this morning and then it rained hard. But it was all over by the time I got the dogs to the park. Although showers threatened the rest of the day, it was mostly an empty threat with temps rising into the 80s and a blazing hot sun peeking through the clouds. It should cool down the rest of the week with rain forecast everyday. 

Because I don't want to be at the gym while it's full of seniors, I try to get chores done. Yesterday I spent a lot of time in traffic due to all the roadwork while I was trying to get to the Home Depot to buy a replacement smoke detector, and a new fluorescent tube for the fixture over the kitchen sink. Gotta have light there! Today I try to install both items. The smoke detector doesn't show you installation instructions until you rip open the packaging. 

The detector requires a drill to install the holder and it isn't activated until it's screwed into the holder properly. I'm not sure where the battery-powered drills are anymore since my husband has a tendency to squirrel tools away like a hoarder prepping for the end of the world. I think we have 3 different drills (Ryobi, Milwaukee, DeWalt) but I can't find any of them. Ugh. That'll have to wait until the husband returns from Boston. 

The fluorescent fixture over the kitchen sink is another matter. While I'm tall enough to reach the tube standing on the step stool, I'm not tall enough to actually grab and manipulate the tube so that it releases out of the holder. Ugh. Sometimes being short really sucks trying to get house chores done. 

I get to the gym late. Much later than usual. And of course, there's those other folks on the first two ellipticals. So I'm on #4. Which is fine. But I'm tired. Probably because again, I had trouble falling asleep in spite of drinking chamomile tea. I think it's because I've stopped eating cheese and crackers before bedtime. Because my LDL level is much too high. My BP has been borderline lately. 

The only good news I have is that my home scale shows that I'm finally losing weight. If I believe my scale, I've lost 5 lbs in the past 2 months. (Only 4 more to go!) I'll take any progress while being careful not to self-sabotage. I haven't really made any dramatic changes,  except to push my gym time to later. Which means I'm getting home later in the day, which means there's less time to be hungry and snack. I don't like to eat before I exercise, so I'm really hungry by the time I get to the gym. And because exercising kills the appetite (as well as sipping water), I'm not hungry again until I leave.

I've lost strength to do pull-ups and can only get 14 today. I tell myself that anything over a dozen is good to keep me from feeling too sorry for myself. The Aerobics Room feels warm and humid so it's quite an effort to get through my routine. Even push-ups are stressful to the shoulder joints and lower back. WTF? Air Squats are okay but I skip Walking Lunges. I'd rather spend the effort to get a full 2 minutes for Wall Squats. I add a forward back stretch to the neck rolls: sit cross-legged and roll yourself forward until your face is inches from the crossed ankles and you can rest your forearms on the mat next to your knees. Then slowly straighten the spine one vertebrae at a time until you are sitting up. Not recommended if you're having a sciatic flare-up.

I can't import any pictures or diagrams or videos, unless I've copied them from YouTube. And then it's not import but embedding the code. I didn't learn HTML coding but that's what it would take for me to post pix. Unless I want to created a video and upload it to my own YT channel and then copy the code that arises... but that's getting too complicated already. So I've embedded a video from Ze Frank here about The Mantis. Enjoy!

8 May 2024 12:39-1:59

Dreary Wednesday (113.6! Yaaay!)

Not sleeping well

Precor elliptical #4

Wobbles at higher spms

Program 1

Time: 30+5 (5540)

Distance: 2.81

Cal: 311

Avg Hr: n/a

Fitbit: 50-140

HGPU 14 (losing my reps!)

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

10 Hip Bridges & 20 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

    Skip Walking lunges 36 steps total

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!!

Mondays Are Crowded

Not only is today the Monday after a soggy, cold Cinco de Mayo, but it's also just Monday in general. Which means the gym is crowded. There are middle-aged people on the elliptical machines that I've never seen do cardio before. Which means I'm initially relegated to machine #3 but discover that it needs a hard reboot since it won't allow any programs to initialize. That's fine if you're just going to pedal aimlessly and not change resistance or elevations. Well, at least there's #4. It works but is the slightest bit wobbly at higher speeds and as it wobbles, it makes an odd noise. 

That's my excuse or at least one of them for my less than stellar showing. The other reason is that I hard a really hard time going to sleep last night. I went to bed at midnight but my skin was super sensitive, so every little itch and tickle bothered me. I couldn't get comfortable. My clothes kept putting stress on various joints, my feet were either too hot or too cold, my fingers ached, my armpits were chafed by the seams in my nightgown, my hair kept tickling my nose, or lips, or poking me in the eyelid. I finally fell asleep at 1:30 and didn't really want to get up when the alarm sounded at 7:30, but dogs need their park time. It was damp and chilly but the rest of the week promises temps back in the mid-70s.

The only things I like so far is the wafting fragrance of lilacs, and the trill of peepers in the wetlands at night. There are dandelions everywhere, but very few bees. Although I've heard that the hummers (hummingbirds) are back. I have a variety of sparrows (love those song sparrows), chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, pine warblers (which I may have mistaken for female goldfinches), catbirds, an assortment of woodpeckers, starlings, grackles, and some redwing blackbirds (with their distinctive call). [Blogger is glitching and won't allow me to import images anymore, but I can still link to YouTube videos.]

Pull-ups aren't great but at least I can still get more than a dozen. And I'm able to claim one of the two Seated Cable Rows. Over the weekend, I realized that my lower lats were actually sore. Probably not from the cable rows, but maybe the Reverse Inclined Flys are hitting lats instead of the posterior delts and supporting muscles? 

The HS kids start to filter in. It's getting late. The Aerobics Room is warm and humid. I do everything except Walking Lunges because I feel as if I'll fall over if I do that one. So I don't. But I'm oddly refreshed by the time I get myself situated against the wall for Wall Squats, and I actually do 120 seconds, 2 minutes, and it isn't a problem. Weird, right?

Meanwhile, I've discovered Ze Frank on YouTube, and I can't believe he's been on for over a decade. Short, informative and hilariously honest nature videos. I think I've viewed almost the entire catalog so prior to 10 years, he has other short videos that are also entertaining but pertain more to society and humanity. Definitely worth a look. Not sure if Blogger will allow me to embed videos since they keep losing the ability to import images...

6 May 2024 12:02-1:40

Dreary Monday 

Precor elliptical #4

(Wobbles at higher SPM)

Program 3

Time: 30+5 (5548)

Distance: 2.82

Cal: 312

Avg Hr: n/a

Fitbit: 48-130 bpm

HGPU 14.5

Seated Cable Rows

50 lbs x 15

60 x 15

70 x 15, 15, 15

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

20 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

    Skip Walking lunges 36 steps total

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 120s !!!

Friday Carb Crash

(Still can't import photos.)

I get to the gym slightly earlier than usual, but I still leave kind of late in the day. Exercising and showering afterward seems to take a lot of time, probably because I'm so high-maintenance, needing all those special creams and lotions to keep my skin from drying out and cracking. It won't stop the endless flaking though. I get on elliptical #1 and start pedaling. I feel sluggish though, and I blame the two slices of plain cheese pizza I ate yesterday after I left the doctor's office. I've had a craving for NY-style pizza for the past week, and unfortunately, the pizzeria I visited, although highly recommended by some, just didn't fix it. Mostly because the slices, although generous, were extremely thick and bready, with spots of cheese and sauce. No, I'm craving a real NY style slice and might have to go two towns over to find it.

I should've given the bready slices to the pups, but it was literally all I ate yesterday. No doubt too carby. Maybe even carbier than store-bought Boboli or DiGiorno pies. I managed to get past 2.8 but just barely. I also get my reps in for pull-ups but I'm admittedly tired. And then I head to the free weight area. There are regulars and strangers there. For some reason, every single breaker bench has a pair of 45 plates loaded on the Olympic bars. Some bars have spring clips holding the plates in place. But no one, literally no one is actually benching or pressing these loaded bars. Ugh.

I get my shoulder routine done and reluctantly head to the Aerobics Room. It's hot in there. I do all my movements, except I skip the Walking Lunges, not wishing to test whether I'd actually fall over while traversing the room. When I get home, I get a notification that my lab tests results are ready to view online. Unfortunately, although I'm in relatively good health, my LDL cholesterol is much higher than it should be. I blame my latest habit of snacking on hard cheese and crackers before bedtime. I've made substantial cuts to my meat intake but still eat eggs, cheese, and yogurt. And I've been negligent in eating enough oatmeal or other soluble fibers. Yeah, I feel very high-maintenance.

I also need to take my BP machine to my next check-up because now there's a big discrepancy between my machine's latest readings (112/78) and the reading at the doc's office (134/92). Maybe my home machine needs new batteries? I have a backup cord so maybe I'll take a reading while powered that way. But at least I'm starting to lose my post pandemic weight gain, if only in minuscule amounts.

3 May 2024 11:52-1:47

Temperate Friday

Precor elliptical #1

Program 2

Time: 30+5 (5556)

Distance: 2.83

Cal: 314

Avg Hr: 157, 188-79

Fitbit: 47-154?

HGPU 14.5

Incl DB Press s/s Lateral Raises s/s Rev Incline Flys

10 lbs x 25/15/25 warm up

15 lbs x 25/15/25

20/15/20 x 25/15/25 x 3 sets

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

20 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

    Skip Walking lunges 36 steps total

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 90s (!!!)

My Gym Changed Its Name

Looks like Google Blogger site is screwed up AGAIN and won't let me import photos. Sorry.

On Monday, as I left the gym after my workout, I saw a cherry picker truck for a sign company removing the giant neon Gold's Gym sign from the front of the building. Weird. And I didn't think about it again until today when I realized that the Gold's Gym decals (on the Aerobics Room floor) had been replaced with 52 Fitness logos. Uh, what? Apparently the gym is no longer beholden to the Gold's Gym franchise system and is now an independent, marketing itself as a fitness center with a lot of classes. Muscle head gyms aren't quite so popular these days and the ones that remain in my town are outrageously expensive. There's no way I'm paying over $75/month to exercise. (Yeah, Equinox and Orange Theory are way out of my budget and don't exist in my town.)

I get to the gym later than I'd like. At some point I'll figure out how to get out of the house at the right time. Maybe Friday? Tomorrow I have my annual with my GP, and that requires a fasted blood test. So, no coffee in the morning. Grrrr... Also, no time for the gym. And Thursdays are the best days because it's less crowded than other days. I guess I'll also mention the faint dark line that I just noticed on my left pointer finger, but I'm not having a nail biopsy done. Did that with the right toenail, and it took almost a year to recover. It still doesn't look quite right, and that dark line wasn't subungual melanoma. It was just my skin being weird.

There's someone on elliptical #1 so I'm on #2, singing to myself and pedaling as fast as I can. I'm worried that I can't make it past 2.8 but as I warm up, I feel myself surge forward. It's a good feeling. I also manage a few reps over the first dozen pull-ups. Still, nowhere near the 23 I got once upon a time, almost two dozen reps! Oh well...

My BP has actually measured at "normal" levels (yipee!) for the past two days. I'm very pleased, but wonder if that's because these past two readings were taken a few minutes before 9 pm. I usually take the BP med at 9 pm and have an alarm on my phone just for that. Tonight I'm going to take readings before AND after taking the Losartan. It shouldn't make any difference, but my body doesn't always behave predictably. I'm really curious as to whether this is making that ridiculous difference!

I've also spread out my eye drops and don't know if that might also be having an effect. The preservative-free drops come in ampules that are designed for a single dose. But each ampule is 0.3 mL, which means that I can dose each eye once in the morning, and once at night and still have a dose left for each eye. I've calculated that each drop is about 0.05 mL.

In the past I would just squeeze it all out and it would run all over my face. What a waste. Lately, I've been giving myself three doses a day in both eyes, and that uses up one ampule completely. Because I keep the opened ampule in a capped upright container (that my husband 3-d printed just for this), I'm not worried about the drops becoming contaminated. I told my doctor's pharmacy assistant about this. (He told me to mention it to the GS at my follow-up appointment.) I asked him if there's really going to be a difference in whether I use the one ampule twice or three times in a day? Is spreading out the single dose over the entire day is the same thing, or not? He couldn't answer. But I assume the eyes are getting more meds since the eye surface can only absorb so much at one sitting.

What's annoying is that another drop that I'm on (and that the health insurance company doesn't want me to be on and keeps raising the co-pay for), only comes in 2.5 mL bottles, which translates into 50 drops (0.05 mL size drop per dose) per bottle, which is 25 days since it's both eyes. And the insurance company says, No, that's for a month. Uh, months aren't 25 days.

I stepped into the Aerobics Room and it's clammy and warm. Ugh. There's also three other people in there. Surprise! Halfway through my routine, the gym owner came in and adjusted the thermostat and I felt the a/c kick on. I guess the Seniors in the hour before were just fine with the sultry temps. I do all my movements without any issues but can't wait to shower and change. I'm on the hunt for Nivea vanilla flavored lip balm. For some reason, it's been very scarce and my lips, like the rest of me, is prone to getting dry and flaky...

1 May 2024 12:26-1:44

Wednesday Late

No More Gold’s Gym / 52 Fitness

Precor elliptical #2

Program 1

Time: 30+5 (5668)

Distance: 2.86

Cal: 319

Avg Hr: 161, 191

Fitbit: 49-138

HGPU 15

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

20 Hip Bridges & 10 one-leg

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25 (knees)

Arm rotations 20

Walking lunges 36 steps total

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 90s (!!!)