February is Cold

We did not get the promised 11 inches of snow and sleet Saturday night into Sunday. We did get about 5 inches that was heavy to shovel. Eventually I got my walkway and driveway cleared, and the husband woke up in time to help me with my car. Then off to the dog park with my two pups where we ran into two dog friends who also spent the morning shoveling out. And yes, my triceps were definitely sore from the arm workout on Friday.

Yesterday, I had a lot of errands to run, including hounding the drugstore for a prescription refill for one of my eye drops. Prices keep rising on medications and the health insurance company offers no reasonable answers except to blame the middleman, the prescription benefits manager, which is just another cost levy that we, the consumer patients, are stuck shelling out money to. No help now that price caps have been rescinded on a lot of prescription meds including insulin. Thank goodness I'm not diabetic, although my brother texted me today that he went to the ER because he thought he was suffering from appendicitis. Instead, it turned out to be high lipase, which is a symptom of pancreatitis and/or kidney disease. Cuz he doesn't drink or smoke, isn't overweight and exercises regularly.

I got to the gym late and it wasn't crowded. Maybe because it was $5 Tuesday next door? Or maybe because there's another storm threat for tonight into tomorrow morning. While cardio didn't quite match up to last week, pull-ups remained steady and same. I did have to wait for the second set since I was late and there's only one Stretch Cage, and I'm totally non-confrontational. 

If someone beats me to a piece of equipment, I'll go do something else. This time I didn't want to do more cardio and miss a set of pull-ups, so I sat down on a sit-up bench, blew my nose, and scrolled through my phone. There's a very active elderly lady who exercises frequently. She might be in her 80s and she pauses her stretch routine to chat with another elderly lady. I'll wait cuz I'm getting there eventually. 

Everything else is routine. Even in the Aerobics Room. But I wonder if something is going on, like is the gym owner looking at investors or to sell the place? Because suddenly all the lights are bright and new (no more mood lighting in the locker room), a staff guy has been mopping the floors while people are exercising, the same guy is spraying and wiping smudges off the big glass mirrors in the Aerobics Room, and there's a workman on a step ladder tapping the walls. Hhmmm... 

Total non sequitur: I've discovered another brand of dog food at the Ocean State Job Lot that I've never seen before: Canine Caviar. The internet says it's an American brand of high quality feed. The cans I buy are labeled as "toppers," meaning that they do not contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals to qualify as a complete pet food. But the dogs love eating the flavors they've sampled so far: turkey, chicken. (Knowing that the toppers are nutritionally incomplete doesn't worry me since I also feed them kibble with yogurt and boiled chicken, and alternate different brands of canned dog foods.) There's also duck. And something I've never ever seen before: beaver. 

The US does not farm beavers, so I look it up and discover that these are sourced from a US Wildlife program where beavers are culled. I haven't opened the can yet--I only bought one to see if they like it. Because they are super picky, and refuse to have anything to do with fish. No salmon, tuna or haddock. They don't like peanut butter either. And turn their noses up at various dog treats. Soooo picky. Oh well...

11 February 2025 12:29-2:28

Tuesday — All Cardio

Late Pre-Storm Cardio

Precor elliptical #1

Program 1

Time: 30 + 5 (5458)

Distance: 2.79

Cal: 307

Avg Hr: 155, 186-90?

New FB: 43-129

HGPU 18

Matrix StairMaster (R) 

Manual timer 8+2 cool down

Minimum 5 minutes

Speed 5 (48) / 2 (36-38) / 1 (33-29)

Steps 442

Floors 27

Cal 66

Hr 117

(Grand Dame beat me to the Stretch Cage so I have to wait)

HGPU 17

Life Fitness X-Trainer #3

Program Manual L1

Time: 10 (+3 min cool down) = 13

Distance: 1.19

Cal: 100

Avg Hr: 122-134

HGPU 15

20 Hip Bridges

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

Piriformis stretches

Child’s Pose

Cat/Cow stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 30 x 2

Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25

Arm rotations 20

Air Squats 25

Neck stretch / Eye yoga

Wall Squat 90 sec