 |
| Today's Selfie |
My husband and I had a great time last Friday at the PTO Auction Fundraiser Dinner Dance. It wasn't actually dinner, and for a while we worried that there wasn't any dancing either. Instead, there were appetizers... chips, cheese, cold cuts, grape leaves, empanadas, and lots of well-seasoned tiny lamb chops. And the bar was included so if you didn't want champagne, which was being offered by the waitstaff, then you could get a beer or wine, or any mixed drink. I ate a lot of lamb chops.
The actual auction itself was being hosted by a DJ so there was hope that after everything was bid for, there'd be dancing. And there was. My husband and I were both hot and sweaty by the end of it all, but we were very happy. I have to say that it was the best $100 I ever spent for "dinner", booze and dancing. Plus the entertainment of watching other parents outbid each other for odd items, like the framed and matted, autographed 5th grade class photo. Nice, but hardly worth $300. Maybe I'm not as sentimental as some folks?
Today it's snowing as I walk my son to the school bus stop. The snow's not sticking because it's 33F, but by the time he gets off the bus, we're being pelted with sleet. I'm assuming the bad weather is the reason the gym is so crowded today. Plus, it's Monday post-Easter, post-Lent. People have indulged and everyone's worried about shedding their winter bodies. I'm a bit heavier than I'd like to be, but overall I can't complain as long as I stick to my routines!
I'm at the gym long enough to witness the ebb and flow of the gym crowd. The morning people leave and it's quite pleasant. Then the early lunch crowd arrives and it's crowded again. I've tossed my old gym gloves because they're so worn and torn that they're making my fingers itch. I have a pair of barely used black workout gloves (Valeo), but the built-in wrist wraps are uncomfortable. I get a pair of scissors from the front desk and snip the wraps off. The gloves fit okay and I like the padded palms, especially during pull ups. But afterwards, I discover that the black leather dye is transferring onto my fingers and hands. Ugh! I hate that! Luckily, I probably have at least two more different pairs of gloves at home (Altus, Harbinger). The gym owner says that the company (FlexSports) that made my old gloves doesn't answer, so they've probably gone out of business. Bummer.
I look on Amazon (because you can usually find just about anything there) and there are a few FlexSports gloves but very little information as to whether this is suitable to replace my old gloves. Gloves are everything to me because of my tiny hands and fingers. And even with padded gloves, I still develop callouses that need to be filed smooth! Oh well. I toss a pair of Contraband Pink Label lifting gloves into my virtual shopping basket. I'm not sure how they'll perform, but it's better than being barehanded, or having black half-fingers.
I concentrate of chest and delts today, without neglecting cardio, or hammer grip pull ups. My only issue during Smith Bench Pressing is that my nylon tank is too slippery. Seriously. Nothing more frustrating that finding yourself sliding across the bench as you press 120 lbs up off your chest. Perhaps I need to situate myself more directly under the bar, and wear a cotton tank next time. I can't really plant my feet on the ground because my legs are too short, so my feet are perched on the bench feet itself. This means that I'm pushing against the bench and sliding. Maybe I should just pull my legs up and put my feet flat on the bench instead? Because I'm a bit frustrated that I can only get 20 reps (instead of 25) at 90 lbs, I drop 10 lbs and immediately do another high-rep set. Okay, that feels better, like I actually did some work.
The DB area is almost totally vacant and that makes me happy. Half-way through my routine, 4 different guys show up, and suddenly everyone's jockeying for space and benches. Ugh. It's not pretty. The Mayor and his cronies spend so much time talking loudly, I wonder how they manage to say they actually work out with a straight face. Skinny J keep hovering in my periphery. It's annoying. I suspect that he, like a lot of the middle-age guys there, wants me to acknowledge his presence. I don't know why. I have nothing to say to any of them. Chatting takes gym time, and being social isn't worth "cooling down". The gym's not a place for that, at least for me. I do say Hi briefly to Mo who hasn't been at the gym for the past two and a half years. She just left a job and will be needing a new one soon, but in the interim, there's no better place to de-stress and get back into shape. She tells me that I look even younger than before because of my grown-out hair. It's been a long time since my hair came to my elbows. Yep, I certainly was younger then, by at least 20 years.
My mother-in-law passed away last Friday. I'd heard that she contracted pneumonia over Easter and wasn't expected to survive it. So I'm surprised to learn that she lasted the week, and I wonder if she'd been waiting for my husband. Even with her severe memory and speech loss, she still recognized my husband (and only him) when we visited last December. And I can't help but wonder if she had been holding on just to say Good Bye to him. Of course, my husband, like many men, are so engulfed in their work responsibilities that he needs a direct order to do otherwise. And, like many men, my husband is not good at dealing with illness or death, or strong emotions. I've already dealt with the passing of both my parents. My husband, who is younger, now has to deal with his. At least he works out at the hotel gym, because he doesn't want to descend into the physical and mental frailties of a sedentary life. Being adopted, he's not genetically related to anyone in his family, but becoming frail and confused is a real worry. As we get older, we seem to age faster!
Monday Workout
(6.52 miles total cardio; 22,466 lbs moved)
Steady State
Calorie : 141 CAL
Distance: 3.97 mile
Speed : 7.93 mph
Duration : 00:30:03
Warm Up
Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep
152
Set 1 : 30x20
Set 2 : 80x12
Set 3 : 100x10
Set 4 : 120x8
Set 5 : 90x20
Set 6 : 80x15
35
Set 1 : 20x12
Set 2 : 20x12
Set 3 : 20x12
Set 4 : 25x8
Set 5 : 25x10
Set 6 : 25x12 SuperSet with
41.67
Set 1 : 20x20
Set 2 : 20x20
Set 3 : 20x20
Set 4 : 25x15
Set 5 : 25x15
Set 6 : 25x20
Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25
60
Set 1 : 40x15
Set 2 : 40x15
Set 3 : 40x15
Prgm#1
Calorie : 288 CAL
Distance: 2.55 mile
Duration : 00:30:00
50
Set 1 : 50 Lap/Rep
Set 2 : 50 Lap/Rep
Set 3 : 50 Lap/Rep
There's two pairs of DBs at the edge of the big Mat. I drop my stuff at the other end, next to the wall. There's a large woman stretching on one of the side mats. I start my stretch routine. I don't want to be sore tomorrow when I whack the Nexersys. The blonde walks over to the DBs, lays down and does a set of DB skull crushers. Then she leaves, and a big muscle head drops onto the mat and picks up the bigger DBs and does a set. That's her boyfriend! He's a whole head taller than her, and twice as wide. I'm not quite sure, though, why she's the one dragging the giant back pack from station to station. It apparently has her and her boyfriend's stuff in it. Some things never change...
