Feeling Yesterday

The automated call came at 4:45 am announcing that school had been cancelled due to icy roads. My hubs still had to go to La Guardia for work, and later to Boston. My son actually got up before I did and went out to our unheated garage to pedal on the elliptical for 30 minutes. He says his arms still ache from Sunday's workout with my hubs, but that hasn't stopped him from video gaming. I, on the other hand, definitely feel my Pull Day with some stiffness in my lower back. Weirdly, I also feel my lower abdominal sides, which is probably from those few sets of One-Arm Seated Cable Rows. Glad to know that the exercise actually worked those muscles! 

Of course, what concerned me the most this morning was the deep yellow hue to my pee. At first I got paranoid, wondering if the lower back stiffness was in any ways kidney-related. But after the morning cup of coffee and subsequent bathroom time, I finally remembered that I'd made roasted beets for supper last night. I knew beets can make your poop purple. I'd just forgotten they also discolor your pee as well. My hubs swears by the instant powdered Superbeets® that he mixes with water and drinks every morning. I've tried that once or twice. It's mild tasting, but I can't say I feel any better because of it. My hubs says you have to let it build up in your system before you feel any effects. It's suppose to improve energy levels and your heart health. I'm not quite sure I believe it although the internet positively overflows with websites calling beets a super food. Hmmm...

I had added the beets to the salad along with avocado chunks, carrots and baby spinach leaves. I've never cooked beets before and relied on a Bobby Flay technique: wash and trim beets, coat in olive oil, wrap in tin foil and place on baking sheet, bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Peel and slice when cooled. Next time I'm going to try a different technique that calls for peeling the raw veggies first, then coating with olive oil, salt & pepper and thyme, and roasting in a pan. My hubs and I both like beets, but my son left his behind on the plate. Oh well...

We got a few inches of really wet snow, so I mostly swept the walkway and shoveled around my car. Then salted everything because it's dropping to 9F tonight. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of icy spots. I still plan to hit the gym though. I'd like to whack the machine and get myself loosened up. Today, I read that the Mayo Clinic recommends a workout include 5 elements. Click here to access the Run Hundred website which lets you sample music by BPM (beats per min) tempo. It's run by Chris Lawson, a music DJ who is also into fitness and puts together cardio playlists.

I'm just pleased that my routines seem to incorporate all 5 elements. Not quite sure about the balance part. Maybe I should toss Pistol Squats back into the mix?

Taking a Rest Day

I suppose I could've gone to the gym today. I'm not that tired or sore although I'd be lying if I said I'd gotten enough sleep or that my glutes, back and shoulders weren't the tiniest bit achy. Because they are. But I find that I spend enough time at the gym to seriously eat into my day. It's not just working out, which I enjoy immensely (and could probably do every day), but the drive there and back, and the changing and showering that adds no less than another hour to the time.

It's colder than I expect at 14F when I take the dog for his morning walk. His wart has changed in appearance yet again, and seems to be melting. Is that even possible? I'm debating whether to apply another smear of Bag Balm to the wart. Just a month shy of turning 15 (105 in dog years), the old guy's entitled to sleep most of the time, lying on his new dog bed in the chilly sunlight of the full-length storm door. He's also, as old dogs tend to be, lumpy with new bumps under his thick fur. When I leave the house, I have to close the front door and he grudgingly goes to sleep in his crate. While I'm home, I leave the front door open so he can sleep with his nose facing the driveway, ostensibly keeping half an eye open for cats and delivery people. I'll go to the gym tomorrow to whack the kickboxing machine.

Today, after my morning coffee and bathroom time, I get on the home scale just to see how much damage my inability (lately) to (strictly) adhere to the MyFitnessPal caloric guidelines has caused me. (Last night we polished off the pecan toffee for dessert and I had to guess at the calories. MFP has a large database, but "homemade" items have to be guesstimated.) Perhaps the fact that I don't add any exercise to the MFP calorie tracker helps? I'm happy to see that the scale is slowly inching downward: 109.4 lbs and 15.9% BF.

Tracking my weight and body fat every few days helps motivate me because I'm so easily distracted! It's the age of distraction between all our streaming devices, phones and other mobile devices! I don't even remember why or when I stopped using this app the last time around... I am getting annoyed though, by all the emails from Under Armour. Less than half are useful articles with one-pot recipes or "new" ways to prepare foods. The rest purport to cheer you on your fitness quest and try to encourage more activity. I don't need more activity, but I'm not about to track my workouts and everything else with them. They don't need to know so I'm not going to tell them. (That's the problem with most of these fitness sites: they're ultimately trying to sell you something. BB.com just changed their policy to now charge for access to training and diet programs, none of which I use anyway. I guess they're not making enough money by selling supplements online.)

Today, I also take my measurements with a tape. Hips and waist are easy enough, but I always have trouble with the bust, and not just because I've got a tiny one. No, the problem is that you need to hold the tape with one hand, which you can only do by bending your elbow and pulling your arm slightly forward. The measurement changes if you're standing straight with your arms to your sides! Well, at least mine does, because my back flares out slightly and the tape pulls out a good half inch. I finally put the tape end closer to my armpit so I could hold it without compression. For a small person, a half inch makes a lot of difference!

I finally ate the leftover sirloin steak and half a baked sweet potato for breakfast this morning. With coffee, and plain kefir to wash my vitamins down, I've used up 470 of my allotted 1380 calories. And no matter how hard I try, I never seem to make my protein goals. Oh well...

Playing It Safe

Today is Monday and although I've had time to go to the gym, I didn't. Mostly because I've had so little sleep that I thought I'd really hurt myself either there, or later when I have to take my son to his kung fu class. My husband and I are guilty of binge-watching SuperNatural. My hubs has only just discovered it, so we're in the middle of streaming Season 2. We used to watch The Night Stalker (own it all on DVDs), and the X-Files, so this is a great show to discover there's 12 seasons to, and still ongoing as far as we know. We also went to see WarCraft on the big screen, and enjoyed every moment of it. My son is a fan as well. Now if only my hubs can get his laptop to work so he can game online with my son.

My hip is still twingy when I'm not paying attention. The dog is more active on cooler days so the advent of summer does not bode well. Higher temps means he'll be more inclined to sleep in, which is good for resting his unstable legs, but bad for the rest of him. I've cut him down to one major meal a day (breakfast) when I give him the bulk of his meds. Then he gets small peanut butter sandwiches throughout the day with other pain meds hidden inside. I don't want him to get fat and put even more stress on his already fragile limbs.

I've formulated an off-the-wall theory about my progressing glaucoma that probably has no basis in actual science, but we all have our secret personal mythologies. I think my entire nervous system is just more sensitive in general. I can't wear belts or anything tight: not only does it leave a persistent mark, but the compression causes numbness. I can't seem to breathe if I'm slumped in a chair, or wearing an ill-fitting bra. Even one that fits has a time limit before I need to inhale more deeply. And fabrics had better be soft! My mother was quite disappointed in my refusal to wear scratchy, lacy gauze skirts or roughly sewn seams.

I'm horribly sensitive to cigarette smoke to the point of being ill (weeping eyes, burning sinuses, nausea, coughing), can detect the faintest scents especially when I'm congested and most people say they can't smell a thing, have pretty decent hearing, and apparently near 20/20 vision. But lately, I'm suffering from sporadic tingling in my right hand, and the occasional carpal tunnel twinge inside my wrist. I've always suffered from unexplained intense pinpoint pain that lasts for a second or two and then vanishes, never to recur in that exact spot. I don't tell anyone because I don't want them to think I'm crazy. I'm sure it's just a section of nerve acting up.

My right side is a mess. The foot has a bunion and three hammer toes that seem to have developed (slowly) after I had a schwannoma (benign nerve sheath tumor) removed from inside that ankle. Apparently hammer toes can be caused by the bunion. And the bunion, I believe, was caused by the schwannoma on the posterior tibial nerve. Yep, a domino effect. More interesting are the symptoms of TTS (tarsal tunnel syndrome) which seems to relate to the numbing tingling I get from pedaling too long on the cross-trainer. Luckily for me, a few easy stretching movements seems to restore my feet to normal until the next time.

So what does this "personal mythology" do for me? It gives me a way to make sense of things that are otherwise overwhelming. An illusion of control, and the guise of being actively responsible for my own fate. Maybe I should be reading up on eye vitamins, or supplements to support nerve functions? It's something to do.