One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I'm not sure I can blame the weather although it is tempting. The cartilage in my nose throbbed this morning as if I had a sinus infection. I'm swimming through a fishbowl of apple jelly and my ears keep popping as if I'm suddenly changing altitude. I dawdle a bit in the mornings now in order to avoid the crowded locker room. The cackling, crowing and bad manners just piss me off. Why leave your locker door wide open? Why put your dirty sneakers on the bench that people sit on to change their clothes? Why strew your clothes everywhere? I also haven't been able to get on the Precors for the past several Thursdays. If I get to the gym later, maybe I have a chance.

Timing works today. I get my 2 miles on the elliptical, with 4 minutes of Tabata after the 5 minute walking warm up. My heart rate seems jumpy today. Maybe because I don't feel 100%. I'm barely sweaty by the time I get off but that doesn't concern me. A quick Cage Stretch and then off to box the machine. I do 11 rounds Beginner and then 3 rounds Intermediate, using the machine to the Left because it's less popular, and seems to register all my strikes. In Beginner mode, I stop the machine a few times and lose accuracy points. I'm tired and drenched by the time I tap in the 3 rounds Intermediate but I want to start working on the harder, faster program. I miss a few strikes but in general, I'm fairly satisfied with the workout.

Then I clamber back on to the Precor for 3 miles. And just because I want to see if I can do it, after 5 minutes of walking, I do 4 minutes of Tabata. I'm surprised I can get myself up to 260 Strides Per Minute. For a few seconds at least. I'm panting when those 4 minutes are done, but it's not hard for me to regroup and ease into a loping steady-state pace. I'm not sure if it's the machine or me, but the heart rate jumps from 89 BPM to 145 suddenly and climbs up to 190 before blanking out and reappearing at 135 where it stays for most of the run. When I'm done, I put my hoodie back on because even my hair is dripping, and I want to lay on the mat and not be gross. I knock out 3 sets of crunches, stretch out my lower back and I'm done. Yay!

I don't feel too bad until I bend over to put cream on my legs after my shower. Wow, that was a mistake. My head hurts, as if all the gray matter broke loose from their moorings. I go home for an ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine and debate whether to take them with a protein shake. If I just take the pills with water, I'll be really queasy with an upset stomach. Bleah. Well, nothing like adversity to make you stronger, right? Yep, gym rats are a stubborn bunch.

Thursday Cardio Workout

Exercise Name

1 RM

Lifting Logs

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   168 CAL
Distance: 2 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:21:00

Boxing

N/A

Calorie :   --
Distance : --
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  14 Laps/Reps
Duration : 00:56:00

Elliptical Training

N/A

Calorie :   255 CAL
Distance: 3.01 mile
Speed :    --
Lap/Rep :  --
Duration : 00:32:00

Crunches

50

Set 1 : 50 Laps/Reps
Set 2 : 50 Laps/Reps
Set 3 : 50 Laps/Reps

 photos posted for stats:

Cardio Thursday

This is the 4th day of my new routine and I wasn't sure how well I was going to be able to do HIIT cardio before whacking the Nexersys machine. I did actually finish 21 minutes on the Precor, doing 30 seconds On and 90 seconds Off. I was really surprised I could get myself up to 256 Strides Per Minute more than once for a few seconds. Now the only thing I wonder about is what bad thing is suppose to happen to you if you tend to exceed the recommended Heart Rate? I'm 54 which means my Maximum Heart Rate is suppose to be 175, but when I'm upping my pace, it's closer to 190. Web info suggests that this will increase the likelihood of cardiac mortality. Bleah. The website heart.org is worse, giving me a max heart rate of 170 and telling me I should be somewhere 80-145 beats per minute to be in the proper zone. It's certainly going to take a lot longer to do 5 miles if I have to go that much slower.

Today there's no competition for the Nexersys. I'm not sure if the other machine got fixed or not, but I tap the screen of the system I normally use, just to make sure it works before I go through the arduous process of wrapping my hands and stuffing them into my gloves. And I do mean stuffing. The machine's a little finicky and I'm not quite as focused as I should be. I hate it when people stand behind me or next to me, chatting, because I'm a tad worried about knocking into them accidentally. My scores for the 5 Beginner Rounds are slightly worse than last time, and my 9 Intermediate Rounds are slightly better. Go figure.

In between rounds (it's only 60 seconds) an old man gingerly steps between the machines and starts to question me on whether I'm kicking the pad with my toes or the side of my foot. It's actually the ball of my foot for the front kicks, but I'm so annoyed that after I say "Foot" I wave at my screen to signal that the next round is starting. Sweeps are with the side of your foot. And I'm wearing cross-trainers anyway, not bare feet. I'm so annoyed that my Power Hooks are causing me to get that Punching Too Hard error message.

When I'm done, I pull off my gloves and wraps and climb back onto an elliptical for a nice two-mile jaunt. I find myself pulling back when the built-in heart rate monitor in the handles register 180 BPM. Two miles takes me 21 minutes. As I step down from the Cardio Platform, I see the young Mountain-wide dude talking with an equally wide friend. I don't make eye contact but I know they're staring. I don't really know why unless it's because I made him move his DBs last week when I wanted to use the Smith machine. Okay, I have a thing about personal space, and I hate being crowded, especially if there's no good reason for it.

I pull my hoodie back on so I can do those dreaded crunches. Actually, crunches are easy. It's that ridiculous hip movement called Knee-to-Elbow crunch that kills me. But I do two sets of each. Time for a long hot shower. The gym scale reads 112.8 lbs. Good. We've been eating leftover smoked ham (hock) and beans all week. Yesterday I added another can of pinto beans to the crock pot and some fresh kale. When I walk in the house, it smells like a baked bean factory. I like it over brown rice. Tonight I might add some sweet potatoes to it.

Cardio Thursday

21 min HIIT cardio 30 sec On / 90 sec Off = 2.02 miles

Cage Stretch

Nexersys 5 rounds Beginner Follow Me Avatar program
  Accuracy 91% / Strikes 99% / Average Power 141%

Nexersys 9 rounds Intermediate Follow Me Avatar program
  Accuracy 84% / Strikes 102% / Average Power 117%

21 min Steady-State elliptical = 2.02 miles\

2x50 Crunches
2x50 Knee-to-Elbow Crunches

photos posted for actual stats:

Day Two

I didn't exactly have a plan set in stone when I got to the gym this morning, as in I wasn't sure whether I was going to attempt to do another 15 minute HIIT session. Instead, when I mounted the Precor, I felt an urge to see whether I'd lost my endurance so I punched in 30 minutes (with an automatic 5 min cool down) and Interval 7. I have to admit that at first I was sorely disappointed in myself. The first 10 minutes were painfully hard. Troughs allowed me to barely reach 190 Strides Per Minute and the peaks, slid from 175 SPMs to barely 150 by the time the program ended. However, once the cool down initiated, I found myself able to maintain my pace at 220-235 SPMs for several minutes. THAT felt good! I've always known that it takes me a long time to warm up and here's my proof.

It's the 2nd day of not lifting weights so after stretching at the Cage, I knock out a quick 25 push ups. Then wander off to the sit up bench and knock out a 100 there, and another 100 doing knee-ins. I feel like playing with the push ups to see how hard they are with feet elevated but there's a couple of guys by that bench now. Instead I decide to get the Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) cardio out of the way but all the Precors are taken. The only thing that's empty is one of the LifeFitness cross-trainers. And if you don't pedal fast enough, it shuts itself off which forces one to move a lot quicker than one normally would for LISS. So today's LISS is more like a jog than a walk but I don't really care. Afterwards I claim a section of the Mat and do a set of push ups with my feet on the first step of the stairs that lead out back. Stair risers average 7 inches so the 2nd time I try this, I put my feet on the 2nd step. I'm too short to attempt using the 3rd step. After 3 sets of push ups (4 in total counting the earlier set), I'm game for an abbreviated Mat Stretch. The gym is getting crowded and I don't really want to be here any more.

What I do want is to sit in the sauna for a bit and try to scrub all the nasty winter skin off my shins. The gym scale reads 111.8 lb which really surprises me, but then I realize I've only drunk 1/3 of my water bottle today. I'm feeling a tad guilty about eating the 5 pieces of candy my son put on my plate last night as his version of selecting dessert. Tomorrow's going to be a HIIT cardio day, and another go at the Nexersys. My shoulders are actually a little sore from yesterday but they should be fine by tomorrow. Yay!

Cardio Week Day Two:
35 min Precor Interval 7 = 4.29 miles Yay! 
Cage Stretch with BW heel dips, calf raises and side kicks
25 push ups
100 flat bench twisting sit ups
100 lower ab knee-in kick outs
20 min LifeFitness cross-trainer LISS = 1.19 miles
25 push ups
25 push ups feet elevated 7"
25 push ups feet elevated 14"
Mat Stretch with splits, hamstring, lower & upper back stretches