Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Maybe Less Cardio Is Better

It was the long Labor Day weekend and I finally got to see the Dead Pool & Wolverine movie. That R-rating was raucously well-deserved. (I embedded a spoiler below. It's okay if you haven't seen the movie since there's so much to see and process, it'll take several viewings!) I went with a friend from the dog park who also wanted to see the flick. Her husband is one of those season ticket holders at Yankee Stadium so that's where he spends his Sunday afternoons. 

No thanks! I've only been to two baseball games in my life and they were both super boring. The first one was at Shea Stadium and we sat behind home. The most memorable thing about the game were all the drunk bros spilling their beer all over everyone in the stands. The second game was local and our Cub Scout troop attended. In the blazing sun with no shade. No hits. No score. I have photos of my kid and his friends looking longingly into the distance at a massive amusement park. That would've been more fun.

My husband has never been one to resist near instant gratification. He saw how enamored my kid and I were with the fancy coffee machine at the Montreal hotel. So he bought one for the house. Sigh. Not that I don't love being able to make an espresso, or a latte. It has a milk nozzle for steaming dairy (non-dairy milk works just as well), and it has a self-disinfecting program that kicks in automatically. It makes very strong, very tasty coffee. Only I'm one of those people who lately have their cholesterol creeping up, and filtering diterpenes (via coffee filter) is one way of keeping my cholesterol reasonable. The fancy machine, like all espresso makers, doesn't use a paper filter. Today, while the husband is out of town working, I brewed a normal French press carafe and filtered a cup of coffee just for this morning. I just don't want to be prescribed yet another medication!

Eventually I make it to the gym and am pleasantly surprised that there are few cars in the lot and fewer people inside. All the elliptical machines are vacant, and I wonder if Wind Breaker has gone on vacation. I noticed last week that his voluminous silver hair had become a glossy light brown. I had been pedaling for 10 minutes when he arrives and hops on machine #2. More kids show up as well even though it's the first day of school. 

I'm tired even before I get started so mileage is pitiful. Temps dropped into the 40s last night, which was excellent sleeping weather, but I wasn't prepared to hear my heat kick on. The thermostat is set for 59F. No, I didn't want to get out of the warm bed, except that laying in it is more painful that sitting at my computer, or trudging through the dog park. My sciatica has been active for over a month now, and I'm getting tired of it. Eventually, it'll resolve and quiet down, lying in wait for me to do something else stupid. Like bend over.

I actually ordered a new mattress over the weekend, taking advantage of the Labor Day sales. My mattress is 30 years old and I lugged it up from Brooklyn. It's time for a new mattress. Actually it's time for a new bed frame as well, since my husband complains all the time about the foot rail cross-piece, which juts out and has stabbed everyone in the thigh in the dark in the middle of the night. I'll have to figure out logistics once I get a delivery date because the dogs aren't going to be very helpful. The mattress company says 30 days. The bed frame can ship in 2 days (different company). 

I'm tired and sweaty after the elliptical, but my pull-ups feel stronger. Weird. I get on the step machine and set it up for 8 minutes plus 2 for cool down. The console gives me readings virtually identical to the last time I did this machine. Except last time it was the left machine and today I'm on the right. I expected some variation in the speed because setting it to "5" means that the machine speed fluctuates between 45-50 steps per minute, and it always seemed very arbitrary. But I guess not. Cardio's not so great today, but pull-ups are so much better. I feel less discouraged!

I'm too tired to do the full 20+5 minutes on the cross-trainer, and I set it for 15. The machine hits a 3-minute cool down but I'm not in the mood for it, so I record my data and ditch the rest of the program. I get a decent dozen pull-ups -- that makes me happy. The Aerobics Room has a few people already in it but there's plenty of room and mats. I dread the vibrating tingling that creeps up from my toes and clenches my calf, or spirals down from my hip. I manage to do Bird Dogs by starting with the right leg extended. It's not so much the extension as it is flattening the top of the foot of the bent leg against the mat that really aggravates my sciatica. All sorts of odd unpleasantness. But I'm done. Tomorrow I'll wander around and see if there's a bench that I can actually use. 

Sitting in my car outside, I look around and see a festively decorated vehicle. I'm assuming it belongs to a local HS senior who's happy happy happy... It IS a really nice day.

3 Sept 11:47-1:46
Tuesday — All Cardio
Post Labor Day weekend
Timolol / sciatica (right hip-foot numb tingly)

Precor elliptical #1
Program 3
Time: 30 + 5 (5330)
Distance: 2.76
Cal: 302
Avg Hr: 142, 175-84
New FB: 50-136

HGPU 15

Matrix StairMaster (R) 12:35
Manual timer 8+2 cool down
Speed 5 (45-50) / 33-35 (2)
Steps 428
Floors 26
Cal 65
Hr 132

HGPU 14

Life Fitness X-Trainer #1 (12:56)
Program Manual L1
Time: 15 (ditch 3min cool down)
Distance: 1.28
Cal: 113
Avg Hr: 125

HGPU 12

20 Hip Bridges (1:22) pain right leg
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
DeadBugs 20 x 5 (or 7?)
   Replace 10 One-Leg Hip Bridges  w/ piriformis stretches
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Fire Hydrants 20 x 2
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2 (toes tingling-flatten right foot issue)
Arm rotations 20
Push-Ups 25 (creeping tingle)
Air Squats 25
Neck stretch / Eye yoga 
 

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