The Good and the Disappointing

I feel like I'm trying to make up for lost time. Or lost workouts over the holidays. Today is the 5th day in a row that I've managed to make it to the gym. Yaaay me! Being middle-aged means losing those "indiscretionary" extra 5 lbs last month is going to be extra hard. Today is also Cardio Plus Friday and I'm not sure I can do the full routine.

I start with Intervals, which is actually easier than the 3 Fitness programs on the Precor, if only because I get to slow down (and rest) for two-minute intervals. When I have to pick up the pace, I'm not going as fast as I can either. Oddly, the dashboard tells me that I'm doing the equivalent in distance and calories regardless of which program I follow. 35 minutes is almost 3 miles and a bit over 300 calories no matter what. Well, okay then.

I do side planks and my hips, ankles, and feet complain. My right pinky toe is tender from the first cardio session. Even though I'm wearing my soft and squishy Skechers, my foot is sore. I can definitely feel how weight is focused atop the first and last metatarsal instead of being evenly distributed. Massaging and stretching the tendons is making my foot even more sensitive but I figure it'll be worth it in the end.

My right elbow complains when I keep my arms bent too long. I worry this will be problematic during pullups, but everything seems okay. Except for my stamina. I get to 22, which is better than 20, but not as good as 25. Twenty-five is the threshold between being okay and having sore tendons. For my last cardio exercise, I warily glance about to see how crowded each area is. There's a lot of people standing and chatting at the Expresso Bikes. I'm not doing the Octane while my toenail is still growing back. The cross-trainer has always made my foot go numb. I guess it's back to the elliptical, but for 20 plus minutes instead of 30. I'm okay with that, especially since I like the backward pedaling for hamstrings and glutes.

Also, I did Walking Lunges. Ugh. Still, probably the most taxing and painful exercise I do in this particular routine. When my feet are more stable, I'll attempt Pistol Squats again. Maybe this summer? Because that's how long I suspect it will take for my foot to return to some semblance of normal. When I get home, I'm excited to find the new Altra sneakers have been delivered.

Hmmm. They look narrow, even with the "natural wide toe-box" and while my left foot fits snuggly inside the shoe, my right foot is squished. Amazon doesn't sell the wider version of this shoe. I would have to go to a reseller who marks the price up by several hundred dollars! Yes, it's $60 on Amazon if you have normal width feet, and over $250 if you don't. Ugh. Back they go. I have my fingers crossed that the Brooks might fit. But I have no problem shipping them back if they don't.

Meanwhile, I continue to massage my damaged foot several times a day. I'm so excited: I can discern the foot knuckles now when I bend the toes back. Two days ago they weren't visible at all! The toe is still godawful ugly and sensitive. But I don't want to lose flexibility due to scarring from the biopsy. I even show my son how to flex his toes backward to stretch the toe ligaments. Healthy feet are happy feet.

Cardio Plus Friday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program Intervals
Miles 2.82
Calories 312
HR 150-190 (135)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 22

Elbow Plank 60s
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Crunches 60/60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 4
Calories 128
Total steps 843
Floors 52
HR 125 (46?)

HGPU 23

20 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.01
Calories 222
HR 153-210 (135)

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 15
30 x 12
35 x 12
40 x 12

Walking Lunges
31 + 30 = 61

HGPU 22

Mat Stretch

Tunnel Vision is Another Word for Focus

A friend of mine told me that her hairdresser saw me at the gym and said Hello but that I ignored her. Apparently, she goes to my gym. A lot. I told my friend that if I have my earbuds in, then I'm fairly oblivious to people. I look just enough to avoid walking into them, but otherwise, my mind is focused on getting my workout done.

My friend also suggested that out of context I probably didn't recognize the hairdresser anyway. (I've only met this hairdresser person once before while meeting up with my friend for coffee.) Valid point, but honestly, even people I know only from the gym (no context problem there) will have to get right in my face or tap my arm just to say Hello. Because once I'm in workout mode, that's all I focus on.

Unlike a lot of gym members, I don't go to socialize or meet up with friends. I certainly don't hang out drinking coffee and reading the newspaper by the front desk. It's a type of tunnel vision that I'm not going to apologize for even though B would say it's rude not to greet people. To be brutally honest, chatting just eats into my workout time, and it's annoying enough to cool down between sets as it is. You can talk to me in the locker room, or as I'm leaving. I'm perfectly social once I'm done.

You probably can't talk to me outside the gym unless I already know you though, because that's just weird and creepy. I like seeing regulars like Maroon at the gym because there's comfort in seeing familiar faces even if I don't interact with them. People don't understand that it's not necessary to actually engage with people just to appreciate their presence. It's like a nature hike. You don't have to make your mark, or take away anything for a souvenir other than the experience.

Pre-Turkey Cardio Friday
30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.92
Calories 328
HR 146-196 (106, 91, 81, 88)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 25

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches 60/60
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 4
Calories 131
Total steps 862
Floors 53
HR 128

HGPU 26

15 Octane + 2cd
Program manual lateral 3
Floors 36
Calories 112
Miles 1.12
HR 129-155 (54, 72, 93)
Numb feet!
2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 15
30 x 12
35 x 12
40 x 12

HGPU 26

Mat Stretch

Salvaging Today's Workout Yesterday

Yesterday I woke up dizzy and nauseous. That happens when I truly haven't gotten enough sleep. I skipped the gym and tried to go back to sleep after driving my son to the school bus stop. When I'm tired I have trouble staying warm. So fully dressed and huddled under a light down comforter, I also had on a fleece hat, cashmere gloves (clearance sale item at Lands End), and alpaca wool socks. Eventually, I did fall asleep and felt boatloads better a few hours later.

If I don't listen to my body and try to make up at least a few hours, I'll get sick in spite of taking two Sambucol capsules daily. The capsules are laced with zinc and vitamin C which I'm not complaining about, but it's odd that if I take only 1 capsule a day, I have a nagging feeling in my throat. Two capsules (the recommended dosage no matter what) and that weird sensation disappears. I prefer the syrup as I think it's actually more effective, but my local CVS didn't have any in stock at a reasonable price. When I have coupons though, I can buy the large bottle for less than it would cost me on Amazon, which is mildly impressive. At least to me.

Today is a Cardio Plus day. It's not nearly as cold although 26F is still chilly. It takes me a long time to get from the parking lot to actually pedaling the elliptical. And because I'm cold, it takes me at least 15 minutes before I can take my hoodie off. Once I do though, everything is good. I knock out all my pull-ups and the rest of my cardio, while not effortless, isn't horribly painful. Having just enough sleep, even if it's far from the optimal 8 hours, is critical to a proper performance.

I skip the Octane in place of the Cross-Trainer. At some point I'll ride the Expresso bike again, but only after the competitions are over. My gym participates in cardio races that a lot of members enjoy. The gym looks odd all gray with a few yellow walls. I can see where a second coat of yellow would really be nice in eliminating splotchy patches. The painters aren't done yet, but I suspect they're focusing on doing the detail work now. Oh well...


Another Frigid Cardio Friday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.90
Calories 325
HR 149-188 (77, 81, 101, 95)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 25

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches 60/60
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 4
Calories 126
Total steps 826
Floors 51
HR 135

HGPU 25

15 X-trainer + 3 cd
Program manual 1
Calories 141
Miles 1.96
HR 138-148
(Both Feet numb/tingly)

HGPU 25

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 15
30 x 12
35 x 12
40 x 12

Mat Stretch

Premature Expiration Notice

I woke up to 26F, a black ice advisory and frost on the windshield. The only nice thing about cooler weather is the ability to have a toasty fire in the woodstove. The maple outside our front door has already begun dropping leaves without transitioning from green to red. Some of the other trees of the same variety are a brilliant flame red, but not ours. I don't know why. It might be the unusually wet, warm October we've just had has inhibited the anthocyanins responsible for the red leaf color. Our microclimate might only affect our tree and not the others up the road.

The gym is still only half-painted. Two fellows with extension ladders show up halfway through my workout to finish painting the stretch area. I'm freezing and don't feel warm until more than 15 minutes into Program 3. Even in the Aerobic Room, I'm cold while pumping through crunches and planks.

I start to sweat again on the Step Mill, but only after I'm three-quarters of the way done. A fellow gets on the adjacent Step Mill but he's on it for less than 5 minutes. I guess that's his version of a warmup. All my pull-ups feel good and I'm happy with my 25 half-reps. Especially since I get three sets. You can call them girl pull-ups. (Yes, I'm making fun of those pushups.)

I walk past the Nexersys machines on the way to the Octane and realize that the screen is lit. It's not dead! Rumors of its demise were premature. Immediately I make plans to whack the machine at my next earliest convenience. Monday is a holiday so the gym will be extra crowded, never mind that it's Universal Bench Press Day and I'll never get on the Smith machine. Seems like a good time to go a few rounds with the old fellow before it's permanently retired.

I haven't done the Octane in several weeks but today I remember to change the lateral width setting from the default 5 to a narrower stance at 3. I'm a small person with short legs! Still, the Octane leaves both my feet tingly and numb. Ugh. Because I want to give my arms as much recovery time as possible, I drop myself into the Seated Leg Curl before my last set of pull-ups. This time I'm able to complete all my sets even at 40 lbs. Oddly, my right leg, the stronger leg, nearly wimps out during the last set. It's that wonky hamstring, the one affected by sciatica so much it clenched into a charleyhorse while I was lying on a bench doing Rip Skulls some years ago. It's always been sensitive after that incident.

The painters make using the stretch area impossible and there's a class in the Aerobic Room. I grab a mat and plop down in the CF area. There's another woman also stretching there. Luckily no's one actually doing CF. I still have errands to run after the gym. At the CVS, while waiting for my Rx to be filled, I notice several large boxes by the counter.

For a mere $95 and change (not including local taxes), you can own an automatic nasal irrigation system that uses suction to flush dirt, dust, and grime from your sinuses with saline. Separately, you can buy sea salt pods. It does not, however, sterilize the water you use. Potential death via brain-eating amoeba introduced into your sinuses via tap water (which is far from sterile), is still a danger. It's not any safer than a cheap Neti pot, but it's a lot more expensive and takes up more counter space. You can sell people anything!


Frigid Cardio Friday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.90
Calories 325
HR 156-197 (81, 85)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 25

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches 60/60
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 4
Calories 129
Total steps 851
Floors 53
HR 112

HGPU 25

15 Octane + 2 cd
Program manual
Calories 110
Miles 1.10
Floors 36
HR 118-172 (68, 71)
(Both Feet numb/tingly)

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 15
30 x 12
35 x 12
40 x 12 (Rt leg weaker)

HGPU 25

Quick Mat Stretch

The Shape-Shifting Head Cold

I'm exhausted when I get up but still make it to the gym. I've stuffed wads of tissues into my pockets but I know it won't be enough. Because this head cold is progressing, as it usually does, using post-nasal drip to infiltrate the lower respiratory tract. I imagine I've coughed up a seed grain. If things get worse, I'll be coughing up loogies. (That might be something only New Yorkers say.) I really don't want to be sick, but I've had this annoying runny nose for weeks. It's just never been quite so productive until now, so I know the status of my health has changed.

Today is Cardio Plus Friday and I start off slow and easy on the elliptical. I'm kind of shocked when the HR monitor displays 67 as I'm pedaling along. That is the lowest I've ever seen during a workout. Of course, it zooms up 100 points and back down again, regardless of my pedaling pace, but never quite as low as that again. I really must be sick. My eyes have been achy and feel swollen even though they're not. Signs of the flu? Naw. But just in case, I bought some elderberry syrup and started dosing myself this morning.

The only brand that seems reliable is Sambucol, manufactured in Switzerland. The syrup has a faintly pruney fragrance and a pleasant berry flavor. It claims to be an immune system booster, and an anti-viral, which regardless of whether I have a cold or the flu, works for me. Two teaspoons four times a day. Okay, I can do that but I should probably buy a bigger bottle.

Halfway through the first cardio session, I start to sweat. Immediately, I feel better, more awake, more energetic. I'm able to get two more pullups than I anticipated. Apparently being sick, like being sleep-deprived, doesn't really affect your strength. Endurance maybe. But not strength. I expect my forearms to complain and my pullups to wane later in my routine so I'm surprised when I'm still able to get 22 for each set. That hasn't happened in a long time.

The StepMill is one of my favorite cardio machines because it starts off really easy, but eventually catches up with you, usually after 10 minutes. I had planned to do some leisurely pedaling on the recumbent bike but found myself on the Cross-Trainer instead. Again, I started slow enough to wonder if I wasn't doing LISS cardio, but as I warmed up (yet again) my pace increased with the driving beat of my tunes. I'm a slave to the music!

Then, I planned to give my arms a rest by doing sets at the Seated Leg Curl before my last round of pullups. It was occupied so I had no choice but to do that third set sooner than I wanted. I was worried but needlessly so. When I got to the Leg Curl machine, I discovered my hamstrings were more tired than I thought and I struggled with the heavier sets. Of course, I didn't use the 5 lb increments like last time. Instead, I placed the 7.5 lb brick on the weight stack and cut out a set. Maybe I shouldn't've?

When I'm done, I find that I've emptied my water bottle. I haven't done that in months! But when you're sick and constantly blowing your nose, you lose a lot of fluids. What's odder is that I have no appetite afterward so the RTD protein shake in my car goes back into the fridge. I eat a few crackers and orange juice to wash down my vitamins. Normally, I'm so hungry I want to eat my hand after a long workout. Yep, I'm definitely sick. Online sources credit the body's release of cytokines during an inflammatory response to illness, and a side effect is appetite suppression. It is suggested that food digestion takes important energy that is needed by the body to mount a proper defense. Sorry, but that's ridiculous. Maybe the invader is just better able to utilize your food, like cancer and sugars?

More promising is the belief that the body utilizes different food sources (ketones vs glucose) to repair and defend itself against different invaders. Glucose helps the body to repel and recover from viral infections, and ketones are more useful against bacteria, at least in mice. Hence that adage, "Starve a cold, feed a fever." But that's assuming colds are bacterial! And we all know the common cold is caused at least one of 200 different types of viruses.

So, you'd think I'd be ravenous and want to build up my glucose stores. While colds and the flu are viral, secondary infections like sinusitis are usually bacterial and might require antibiotics to vanquish. As miserable as I feel, I can't take antihistamines or decongestants because both are associated with higher IOPs in glaucoma patients. At least I can sleep in tomorrow. And there's no school on Monday, but I'll still go to the gym.

Cold Cardio Friday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.81
Calories 310
HR 141-194 (67, 87, 90, 83)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 22

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches 60/60
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 3
Calories 114
Total steps 719
Floors 44
HR 126

HGPU 22

15 x-trainer
Level 1 Manual
Calories 117
Miles 1.60
HR 126-137

HGPU 22

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 12
30 x 12
37.5 x 12
45 x 10

Mat Stretch

Is It The Barometer or Fatigue

If you are awakened in the middle of a dream or worse, a deep dreamless sleep, you might feel disoriented or even drunk as you stagger to the bathroom. If the feeling persists even after a cup of hot coffee, you might believe that the weeklong sleep deficit has finally caught up with you. I've had a case of mild vertigo for the past two days. Nothing spectacular, just a sense of unease and imbalance, like my head is too heavy on one side. This morning I drive all the way to the gym only to discover I've left my purse at home. My purse with money, credit cards, hairbrush, lip balm, and countless other tiny mom things.

Wow, I must be really tired to forget that. I debate doing my workout anyway but realize that I had planned to pick up a few items at the store afterward and I wouldn't be able to do that. So I go home. At home, I talk myself into taking a nap to rid myself of this vaguely dizzy feeling. But even back in my jammies, I can't sleep. I put the Relax Melodies app on for 20 minutes and find it grating. So I put my gym clothes back on and go to the gym again, but this time with my purse. It's raining and cold. The temperature actually drops 3 degrees as I drive, from 52 to 49F and it's mid-morning. That's not supposed to happen.

I've missed the morning crowd which makes me happy. Today is a Cardio Plus workout day because tomorrow I'm expecting my adopted pup to show up and I'll just have enough time to get a quick workout in. Cardio Plus days take much more time to finish. I see that one of the Nexersys machines is running again. The Gym Owner says he pulled it apart and put it back together again, but that it's delicate. You can't hit it hard. Just tap it. Uh, okay. That's half the fun, but of course, getting the combinations right is also fun. I'm not sure I'll have time for it tomorrow though.

I knock out my 3 sets of hammer grip pull-ups and do all my cardio. I also end the cross-trainer session before the 3-minute cooldown begins. And I increased my Seated Leg Curl slightly but skipped the Walking Lunges. It's getting late and I still need to shower and pick up milk before my son gets home. So maybe it's not fatigue. Maybe it's the dropping air pressure that's making my head feel wonky? There are lots of online articles correlating barometric pressure to migraines, headaches and joint pain. Lesser known is the fact that a drop in pressure can also thicken blood, making BP rise as the heart works harder to pump it, as well as causing blood sugar to drop. I never knew that!

Of course, my mom suffered from horrible sinus and ear problems, as well as vertigo and a heart murmur from rheumatic fever (untreated childhood strep infection). Heart murmurs can cause people to suffer dizziness. I don't think that's my problem. It feels like the weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be drier although still in the 50s. I'll take it!

Rainy Cold Cardio Thursday

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Miles 2.85
Calories 317
HR 157-195 (97)

Cage Stretch
HGPU 20

Elbow Plank 60s
Crunches 60/60
Leg horizontal scissors 60
Bicycles 60
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s

20 Step Mill
Level 3
Calories 112
Total steps 708
Floors 44
HR 133

HGPU 20

15 X-trainer
Level 1 Manual
Calories 113
Miles 1.38
HR 231-146

2:1 Seated Leg Curls
15lbs x 15
30 x 12
35 x 12
40 x 12
45 x 8

HGPU 20

Mat Stretch