No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

We had a great time Saturday at the NY Renaissance Faire, seeing perennial favorite entertainers like Dextre Tripp, Wolgemut, and Jayna Lee. Although prices have increased substantially ($7.50 for a mere 4 oz of Carroll's mead vs $5 last year) there was a better selection of beverages including an 8 oz cup of hard cider and mead mixed together ($8.50) and the standard pulled pork, ribs, turkey legs, chicken nuggest, deep fried mac n' cheese (actually quite good!), pickles, beef jerky, and assorted ice creams and cakes. But our knights have gotten paunchier over the winter, and it's not a good look. Of course, there's lots of flesh on display here, most of it not at all appetizing or attractive. I'm wearing my ears and horns, and a shimmery sleeveless shirt over the leather bra I bought here last year. Black boots and black yoga pants complete my outfit although I buy a sword holder for my belt so I can wear my wooden blade next time. My husband tells me that I've got a nearly complete outfit and now he's on a quest to similarly attire himself. LOL!

By the time we got back to our neck of the woods, we were clamoring for dinner. Char, a new restaurant situated at the edge of the Taconic Parkway seemed promising even though it was a temperate Saturday night. We didn't have reservations and immediately wondered if we'd made a mistake because the bar was dim and the crowd seemed a tad older. However, once we were seated, the food turned out to be wonderful (oysters on the half shell, and lightly fried calamari with a wasabi mayonnaise to start, followed by steak and truffle-oil macaroni & cheese, slivers of a fluffy cheesecake and a lump of lava cake for dessert). The addition of live music (well, the music was canned but the singer Sonny Mongo was live) made the evening quite memorable, and we all had a great time.

Needless to say, yesterday I barely left the house because I had that lovely big orange urine container to fill, and by this morning, it was indeed quite full! I dropped it off at the doctor's office and then toted my son to his tae kwon do summer camp. Finally I'm at the gym, feeling stiff and creaky. Mondays are my worst days because I've been rather inactive for 48 hours so not making a 4 mile quota is par for the course.

Monday's Push Day Workout:
35 min cardio Hill #5 = 3.96 miles Sigh...
Smith Bench Press: 12 @ bar / 12 @ 95 / 10 @ 115 / 8 @ 135 / 3 x 6 @ 155 / 12 @ 135 / 15 @ 115 / 25 @ 95 lbs  My hands and wrists start to bother me as I increase the weight so failure to get more than 6 reps at 155 isn't chest and triceps. There's not a lot I can do about it though.
Cage Stretch and Side Kicks
Inclined Rear DB Raises: 6 x 15 @ 25 lbs All of the 25 lb DB are missing so I grab a pair of 20s and get 4 magnetic disc weights (2.5 lbs each) to affix. Mo comes by to chat and is amazed by the sight. She's not having a good day and thought about just going back to bed. I tell her "You're here now so better go work out!" Apparently she's befriended Ranger Rick and introduces us. Sigh. I really don't want to spend my workout time chatting. She's manic and I wonder if it's menopause.
Standing Lateral DB Raises: 6 x 12 @ 25 lbs
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 150
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Torso Twist: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
BB Upright Rows: 3 x 12 @ 40 lbs I stop because it's starting to bother my wrists.
Mat Stretch: I do all my stretches including rolling forward in a horizontal split, but my right lower back feels oddly stiff again. I'll have to remember to do reps instead of heavy weights tomorrow on Back Day.

Mo is really screwing up my workout. She keeps coming over to talk to me about the various people in the gym. I realize that she's overcompensating for feeling crappy about losing her elderly dog so I don't say anything. I don't even say anything when she tells me all about her interactions (or lack thereof) with R. Good grief. Bad enough she's telling Ranger Rick to take yoga classes because he's complaining about losing flexibility as he's put on size and strength. Then she introduces me to a young woman at the Squat rack. I tell her I'm not going to spot her because I'm too short to do it right (which is true) but that most of the guys'd be happy to do it, once they stop talking.

Mo is definitely getting manic. I want to tell her to chill but instead I walk away because I still haven't finished my workout. I'm beginning to regret being nice. I don't want to spend all my time chatting with her or anyone else. Even when I chat with R, I start to get antsy after a while.

Mo makes a point of saying that R's at the gym. She marvels that he doesn't talk to her or anyone no mater how much she waves at him. I want her to leave him alone even though I know she doesn't mean anything harmful. I find myself telling her that he's shy but nice, and not to be mean or scare him. As if a 6'4" former tight end could be scared of anything. What AM I thinking?!

Later, I say Hi to R and ask him how he is. He seems guarded, but tells me that he's busy which is good, but... He hesitates. I tell him he needs a vacation and he agrees but he took a week in May and it's too soon to take another one... I watch him press a pair of 110 lb DB, and then I walk away, although before I leave the gym, I do wave Bye at him as he's standing by a Cybex station. It startles him to have this small hand pop up from below. I'm so disoriented that I completely forget to weigh myself before I shower. But I'm probably at least 111-112 lbs. When I get to my car, I see R's silver sedan parked right alongside, and I smile to myself.

Wild Card Friday

Last night my lower back started to spasm a little, probably because it was unhappy sitting under the damp cold canopy of the Boy Scout arts and craft center at Durland Scout Reservation. Maybe it was the hard wooden benches. This morning, my upper back felt stiff as well. It's the last day of Boy Scout camp for both my son and husband, and thankgoodness the sun is already blistering. Steam seems to be rising from the wet grass and shrubs. I have a few things to do before I head to the gym, like finding out why I have an appt with a doctor I don't know. An message left on the answering machine tells me I have an appt this coming Monday so I call to find out why.

Ah, someone's made a mistake and put me in for an appointment with an internist, not my gynecologist. I ask if this is suppose to be a regular checkup because I don't quite remember, and she tells me it's a 6-mos breast exam. This is getting ridiculous. I'm a miniscule 36AAA and every mammogram I've ever had has been negative. I've been forced to undergo a biopsy because I have "dense" breast tissue and that was of course, negative. Now my annual mammograms are accompanied by ultrasound images. Even the nurses in the radiology department agree that I have an extremely low to non-existent risk. I promptly cancel the appointment.

I blame this on the Corporate Conglomerate that's inhaled most of the independent practices in my area. Because they're so large, mistakes in billing, appointments and who knows what else, seem to happen regularly. I'm unhappy that my Ob/Gyn and eye doc are part of this cabal. Luckily, my son's pediatrician and my internist aren't. 

I toy with the idea of doing another double cardio day. It would be the 3rd consecutive one this week. My lower back feels ok and my pinky toe is only slightly tingly so I punch in Interval 7 and peddle away. I've created an abbreviated playlist of only five songs (Angel with a Shotgun [The Cab], Knockout [Project Dirty], Hall of Fame [The Script], The Fighter [Gym Class Heroes], Set A Fire (Ryan Star], Now or Never [Outasight]) and I'm happy listening to this for my entire workout.

Doing well for my first session inspires me to punch in a second session. Most of the time I'm cruising at 190 Strides Per Minute (SPM) but I'm able to rev up to 300 SPMs for several seconds, then drop down to 188-195 for a few minutes, then kick up again. ZZ is peddling on a stationery bike in front of me. I see him glance back at me when I kick up the speed, my legs all but a blur. I don't like stationery bikes because I can't imagine sitting on my butt for 35 minutes at a clip (ouch!), and I don't feel as if it's honest cardio work because you're not actually moving or supporting your own body weight. I'm really happy with my mileage today so now I'm wondering what else to do. Abs is my filler exercise so I knock out a 100 sit ups on the flat bench, and another 100 crunches on the Ab Station before deciding what to do next.

I see Mo and chat with her for a few minutes. She's taking her old dog's passing very hard and I tell her that I understand completely. I had a special dog like that who was a part of my life for all the major events. And when she died, it was as if a hole opened up in the universe and sucked out all the light because the house was suddenly, unbearably quiet. The subsequent failure of the next two dogs in our house to replace my Best Dog was probably what lead me to have my son. Because I'd never thought about having a child before. And then he was born. Funny how things work out.

The Cage Stretch and kicks feel normal. I take the Mat Stretch slowly but everything feels normal so I do my entire routine. The gym is full of regulars like The Mayor, Nixon, ZZ, Skinny J, even the large couple who were here yesterday, she still on crutches. I'm surprised to see R because he's not usually here on Fridays until late. My clothes are drenched so I toss most of my gear back into the locker, fish out some band-aids and tape up my right hand. Today I leave my iPod and headphones on because I can't really hear the Nexersys anyway.

I start out with the Avatar Follow Me, Beginner Female and do 3 rounds. I'm getting better at this because my power is 110%, I've landed most of my combinations, managed to follow directions better and I'm not tired when it's over. Then I do 3 rounds of Avatar Sparring, Beginner Female. I don't actually remember to snap any photos until this ends. I'm also getting a bit better at this, noting that as I tire, my punching becomes more erratic and I sound the warning buzzer (You are Punching Too Hard) with more frequency. Still, I'm pleased with my 6 total rounds and head off to a nice hot shower afterwards.

The band-aids worked because my knuckles seem intact. The gym scale reads 107.6 and I'm a bit puzzled by that low reading. At home, my scale reads 106.0 lbs and gives me the surprise BF reading of 18.9%. I've never been able to dip below 19% until now, and this might just be a fluke reading. On the other hand, perhaps doing extra cardio is finally having the desired effect. I tally up my miles this week and it's a tad over 33. I'm happy.

Wild Card Workout:
35 min Interval 7 = 4.67 miles + 35 min Hill 6 = 3.97 miles  Grand Total = 8.64 miles Wahoo!
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 100
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Cage Stretch with BW Heel Dips and Side Kicks
Mat Stretch: I'm still babying my sciatica and lower back so again I don't roll forward on the horizontal split but all my other stretches feel normal.

Now all I have to worry about is filling the ghastly orange urine container this weekend with 24 hours worth, and bringing it back to the doc on Monday. It's way to big to be carting all over the place so I'm not doing this tomorrow.

We have plans for opening day at the NY Renaissance Faire, rain or shine. A few glasses of mead and maybe a pulled pork sandwich and I'll be happy, although I don't think anything compares to the sandwiches I've been packing for Cub Scout camp: ciabatta roll stuffed with smoked pulled pork, cheddar cheese, jalapeno jelly, bread & butter pickles, hot pressed in my old Toastmaster Sandwich Press. My husband calls it a faux Cubano. I don't care. It's Yum!