Little Things

Yesterday, my son and I went to a beach in Connecticut with friends. We saw a lot of nature, from oversized seagull chicks bullying their parents for meals, to horseshoe crabs and snails in the surf. No lifeguards on duty, but the Nature Center happened to be open and we visited that as well. It was a beautiful day and we got there at low tide so we could walk several yards out onto the sandbars. I don't remember getting sunburned as a child, but everyone says the sun seems stronger these days. I slather on SPF 30 because it's the lightest sunscreen we have. My son's lotions are more along the lines of SPF 50 and 75 even though he tans nicely. But neither of us want to get burned.

I'm not really in the mood to work out today. Laziness. I missed yesterday and the inertia drags on. The gym parking lot is peculiarly empty. Everyone must be on vacation. Camps usually only run for 8 weeks, and there's two more weeks of summer before school starts. Still, the cross-trainer I favor is occupied so I get on one near the front door. I know I'm not going to make my best mileage. I also know that today is a cardio day.

After a set of pull ups, I do some ab core work, and push ups. I got a little dizzy this morning but that seems to have passed. Neither the pull ups or push ups bother me too much. Yaaaay! I see a few regulars, like The Mayor in his bright melon T-shirt. He doesn't have anyone to chat with today so he's unusually quiet. I head up to the ellipticals where I have my choice of machines, and I choose Program 3. Coincidentally, I've loaded an MP3 version of the Hillywood Supernatural Parody song onto my iPod. It's so happy and upbeat that it makes a perfect addition to the workout mix. I truly like it a million times better than the original Taylor Swift song. So much so that I start mouthing the lyrics as I'm pedaling as fast as I can go. It's exhilarating. I feel really happy.


I do another set of pull ups, and then a quick stretch. I have to pick up my husband's dry cleaning clear on the other side of town before rushing home to unload my car, and then drive my son to an afternoon play date. Ugh. The other mom is cleaning her kitchen as we chat so she's not offended as I start browsing my phone. On a muscle-head site I frequent, I see a video post of a body builder who is about my size. She's always very chirpy and happy. Today she's happy about doing pull ups, and her video shows her doing 5. I notice that she also keeps her elbows bent. And suddenly I'm really happy again. I feel vindicated, and legitimized. Weird, right? Especially when comments to her post say things like, "Kudos to you. Not many women can do pull ups so effortlessly." Ha! She got 5. I know it's stupid and petty of me, but damn, that feels good.

Tomorrow is Whack the Machine Day. Both machines appear to be plugged in, but one still has a broken Cross arm. Hmmmm...

Thursday Cardio Day
6.9 miles

30 min x-trainer + 5cd
Calories 171
Miles 3.92
Average Heart Rate 141

HGPU 26
Push Ups 50
Lateral Scissors 50
Cross Body Bicycle 50
Crunches 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Push Ups 50

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.98
Calories 338
Average Heart Rate 150

HGPU 26

Happy Summer Solstice

Today is the longest day of the year and I'm tired enough to believe it. Maybe it's the insect bite atop my head, but I've been feeling unusually tired lately. Of course, it could also be just a general lack of sleep, and a lot of anxiety. My hubs has been flopping between days and nights due to his work schedule, and it's wreaking havoc with his sleep cycle. Yesterday he finally drank a bottle of Dream Water to help him stay asleep. It contains melatonin, GABA and 5-HTP (something that looks and perhaps acts like tryptophan and/or serotonin) but no indication as to how much of each ingredient. Click here for a review of this product.

I'm generally skeptical of sleep aids because they're mostly antihistamines, or worse. We've all heard the stories of people sleep-driving, or sleep-eating on Ambien or Lunesta. But Dream Water worked like a charm for my hubs who's been wrestling with interrupted sleep for some weeks now. Today I bought a 5mg bottle of melatonin from the grocery. It's cheap enough, but I'm uncertain about the dosing because the range is anywhere from 0.3 to 5mg. Or more, depending on the symptoms. And there can be side effects, but everything has side effects... and sleep deprivation is dangerous, and leads to unsound decisions. Soooo...

I only need to stop by the pediatrician's office this morning to pick up a note that allows me to sign my son up for a gym membership. I want to bring him with me on the days he doesn't have camp instead of him home playing video games. I had a note but disagreed with the prohibition on any weight training whatsoever until he's 13. That's 6 months away but I sporadically have him weight train with me at the gym anyway. I would never push him to lift heavy because that can damage the growth plates capping the long bones in a child's body. But he should be comfortable with a basic bench press. We got up to a 40 lb bar last time we did this. That was some months ago. Mostly we do body weigth exercises, but he hasn't figured out how to achieve pull ups or chin ups yet. I can bring my son with me on weekends, and I don't need a note for that, but during the week, during what might be prime hours, I need to buy him a membership. Otherwise he's home, or sitting in the child care room with a bunch of toddlers.

The only reason I need a letter is because the gym's policy only allows a child younger than 13 to have a membership if he/she has a doctor's note. Mostly this is for kids with weight issues. My son is very dense. He doesn't look like he outweighs me by 20 lbs, but he's always been this way. He's dangerously close to being labeled overweight on the BMI scale just based on numbers, but there's no double chin, no muffin top, no pudginess. Even as a toddler, he was very hard to lift up. Because he was always in the top percentile for weight.

I'm tired so I've resigned myself to doing a body weight and cardio workout. My favorite cross-trainer is unavailable so I'm pedaling a more difficult version. It shows in the mileage, and lack thereof. I don't like the slightly higher resistance as it makes my joints achy. My right foot starts to go numb with only 3 minutes remaining. Pull ups feel okay though. Push ups feel okay. Crunches are mostly okay. They're much easier with my knees bent and feet flat on the floor than with my legs sticking straight up in the air, with calves crossed. I do both.

I do another set of push ups after planks. They're not hard, and I've done more. I can't get on my favorite elliptical either. The one next to it used to be good but something is out of alignment and it clunks with each cycle. I use the one closest to the Step Mill. My legs are stiff from yesterday's RDLs. I can't raise my SPMs past 220, and mostly I coast at 210 during the peaks. By minute 18, I've decided to go in reverse and pedal backwards. This will help loosen my hamstrings. I've never done Intervals while pedaling backwards before. It keeps me interested. A last set of wide grip pull ups and then a quick Mat stretch. I sense a lot of staring from the HS boys. Whatever... at least the scale looks better today. 110.0 lbs even.

Wednesday
6.17 miles
Cardio & Body Weight Day

30 + 2 min x-trainer
(Crappy machine)
Calories 135
Miles 3.5

HGPU 31
Knee-Ins 50
Push Ups 50
Crunches 3 x 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Push Ups 50

30 min elliptical
Intervals
Min 18 pedal backwards
Calories 306
Miles 2.67

WHGPU 21

Medication Hangovers

This morning I was unable to clear my head to any satisfaction. I felt a bit hungover, perhaps sleep-deprived as well. Today it dawns on me that on mornings like this, I might be having issues with the gabapentin I've taken the night before. It's one 300-mg pill that I take with 400 mg of ibuprofen. But I'm not consistent with my timing. Some days I take it at 9 pm, and other days I take it closer to 11. And some mornings I'm good, and others make me feel as if I'd tied one on even though all I ever drink is a single apple ale or glass of fruity sangria.

Although my doctor told me there's no real side effects and it clears the system within a day, online literature on Google says otherwise. The stated elimination half-life of gabapentin is 5 to 7 hours. I'm surprised to learn that it leaves the body much the way it came in. That is, the body doesn't actually break it down. Well, that's news to me. I guess I should've researched this sooner. Side effects can include:

• dizziness, drowsiness, weakness, tired feeling;
• nausea, diarrhea, constipation;
• blurred vision;
• headache;
• breast swelling;
• dry mouth; or.
• loss of balance or coordination.

More jarring is the statement that one should not take antacids that contain aluminum or magnesium. My brain must've stopped reading at the word antacids because I don't take them. However, I do take a magnesium supplement during the day. And a capsule of ZMA at night. One capsule of ZMA contains a minute amount of magnesium, but perhaps enough to cause the insomnia I had last night. Eventually I fell asleep. Normally I take ZMA an hour before I take the gabapentin and ibuprofen mix. I'll have to be more conscientious about this now. 

 

My left leg hamstring and glute seems a tad sore. I don't normally feel the effects of RDLs two days later, and not normally only in one leg. It must be the shingles because the nerve trunk is still inflamed. I'm sure doing RDLs didn't help, but having shingles doesn't mean becoming a spud.

In spite of brain fog, and real fog outside, I make it to the gym and get my cardio and body weight work done. I'm a tad disappointed in myself with the push ups, trying to get to 30 for the last set, and only making it to 25 reps. Still, better than most people at my gym. Yeah, I'm a badass! I do get two sets of 25 reps for HGPUs, but I'm not brave enough to try and get my hands wider than 12" apart yet. I have a physical therapy appointment right afterwards, and that stops me from doing anything even vaguely shoulder-related. I'll be doing enough of that once I get to my appointment... 

Monday
6.43 miles

30 min elliptical
Program 1
Calories 296
Miles 2.60

HGPU 25
Push Ups 70, 50, 25
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Knee-Ins 50

30 min x-trainer
Calories 142
Miles 3.83
Average Heart Rate 155

HGPU 25