Week Five Day Five and I'm Glad I Made It Here

Yay for an empty gym!

I had a hectic morning dropping my son off at camp, getting the Check Engine light checked out in my old car (turns out to be a small exhaust leak that needs a "smoke" test to determine where exactly it is), pick up some more Ensure® at the local Kmart (they have the best price and I have a coupon!), go to my eye doc appointment (the generic eye drops seem to be working as well as the name brand so my pressures are 15 and my doc wants them to be 12-13), pick up some kale at the nearby Hannafords (the store is closer to the eye doc than the gym and here I can get organic kale that's more leaf and less stem than at the ShopRite), and then head to the gym. Finally. It's nearly noon by the time I get there, and I'm suddenly hungry. Aarg!

Hill 6 and Intervals 7

I toss the kale into a cooler I keep in the car and hope for the best with the windows cracked a bit. It's definitely a lot warmer today than it was yesterday. I'm hoping that my hunger pangs will abate with exercise. It's worked in the past, and the technique doesn't fail me today. By the time I finish my first leg, I feel warmed up and sweaty. And definitely not hungry although I gulp several mouthfuls of water before punching in the intervals program. I feel so good I'm singing along with my tunes. There's hardly anyone here and that's great! I'm not planning to stay all day though, so after my eight and a half miles or so, I stretch, do some abs, and stretch again. It's after 1 pm and I have things to do before picking up my son from camp! I don't have time to play with the Nexersys today, which is a bummer. Perhaps next week when my husband takes my son to camp all week (they're actually going together as a father-son thing).

Week Five Day Five Cardio
Precor 35 min hill #6 = 4.02 miles + 35 min intervals #7 = 4.51 Grand Total = 8.53 miles Wahoo!
Torso Twist Station: 2 x 25 @ 50 lbs
Cage Stretch with Heel Dips and Side Kicks
Ab Crunch Station: 100
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 150
Mat Stretch: I shorten my session by leaving out the last hamstring/calf stretch

The gym scale reads 108.0 lbs which makes me happy. Always best to end the week with a weight lower than the beginning of the week. I see Mo briefly and we barely chat while I'm on the Precor and she's on her way out the door. I also see R in the free weight area and I'm surprised because he's never usually at the gym on Fridays until late. Of course, I'm usually here a whole lot earlier.

I flex my arm in the locker room mirror and think that it looks a tad scrawny. Hhmm. I've just spent five weeks doing a "once-a-week-per-body-part workout" and I'm not sure if I'm really seeing any gains strengthwise except for back and hamstrings. My biceps have a decent peak, but the concentration curls hurt too much, and if there's pain then there's probably damage that should be avoided. There's a definite difference between fatigue pain and muscle/tendon destruction pain. The same can be said of pull ups, and lat pull downs although I suppose that at lower weights (less than my body weight) my elbows might forgive the movement enough for my lats to benefit. I guess it's another experiment to be considered.

Week Five Day Two: Unexpected Cardio

I'd been planning to do two cardio sessions today on the Precor but I got to the gym late and all the Precors and LifeFitness ellipticals were occupied. Bummer. I'm not one to sit around, especially since the clock's ticking in the Child Care room. I look around and realize that there are Cybex Arc Trainers available. I'm not very familiar with their programming so I use the default settings which is 20 minutes at Level 1. While the glide is extremely smooth on the knees, I feel almost too short to be completely comfortable when using the front handles. The screen resets before I can snap a photo of it because my phone is on the floor as there is no shelf under or over the screen display.

There's no cool down so I move on to a freshly vacated LifeFitness elliptical. The Precors are all still occupied. The default setting is 20 minutes and I leave it in manual mode Level 1. I don't like these machines because there is too much resistance in pushing the peddles forward and eventually my ankles and knees complain. But what's really bothering me is the bunion on my left foot because suddenly my sock is chafing against it. I picture the skin splitting every time I step. There's nothing I can do about it because I'm not about to interrupt my workout just to go find a band-aid. At least I know what my mileage is when I'm done.

Now the Precor's are all free, and I trudge over to machine number two and punch in 30 minutes for Interval 7. At first the glide feels gritty but as I rev up to speed, the track seems to even out. I've already done 45 minutes of cardio on two other machines but this is the only one that counts right now. For the last two minutes of the program, I ramp up my speed to finish strong. Again, I don't drop my pace much during the "cool down" 5 minutes and I'm very happy with my mileage.

I do a limited Cage Stretch for just hamstrings, a few torso twists and then an abbreviated Mat Stretch. My legs are a bit stiff but not as much as I've come to expect from a double cardio session. I've enough time to shower and change before rescuing my son from the Child Care room. Today is $5 Tuesdays at the local cinema. Last week we saw Despicable Me 2 in 3-D ($6 tickets). We missed Monster University so we're going to catch Turbo instead.

Week Five Day Two: Cardio and More Cardio
20 minutes Cybex Arc Trainer Manual setting Level 1: I think it said a mile and a half or so but I'm not 100% certain what information the screen was conveying before going blank.
20 min + 5 min cool down LifeCycle manual setting Level 1 = 2.52 miles
30 min + 5 min cool down Precor Interval 7 = 4.52 miles
Grand Total estimate : 8 miles

The gym scale reads 109.2 lbs and I'm good with that. I'm also in a rush because again, my son is virtually the last one in the Child Care room. I may go back and play with the Cybex Arc Trainer until I figure out what everything means. It's got a remarkably smooth glide even if the peddles are spaced a tad wide and the handles a bit far forward. But by far the most annoying aspect is the lack of a shelf for my phone although I suppose I could put it in the side water bottle holder. Tomorrow is Day Three and I'm making it Back Day. Should be fun!

I just have to remember to bring the monster zucchinis to distribute... ignore garden zukes at your peril. I did for two days and the fingerlings morphed into forearm-thick clubs. At least there are a few snow peas.