Ooops!

I'm not quite sure what's going on with my 12-yr old dog but he spent all night pacing from the bedroom to the kitchen where he peed on the newspaper under his water bowl. I got up and put down new newspaper. And he peed again. And again. Then there was a bit of blood. Then more blood in the pee. I'm not one to panic. Instead, I research It's rare for a male neutered dog to have a urinary tract infection, but dogs can develop kidney and/or bladder stones. I call my vet as soon as I get my son on the school bus.

They can see me and my dog first thing this morning. After taking urine and blood, all the while poking and prodding, the doc tells me that they'll have partial test results tomorrow and sends us home with half a course of antibiotics on the off-chance that this is indeed some sort of infection. If nothing changes, we'll have to come back for X-rays, which will involve sedation, always a danger for an older dog. This is my morning. I still make it to the gym although I"m not used to walking in wearing street cloths. I don't wear my gym clothes out to do errands. Ever. I often see women blow-drying their hair after working out, but not showering. Reminds me of the Jeff Foxworthy quip about redneck men using the dryer to refresh their clothes, because dry and hot equals clean. Not!

The gym is moderately busy because it's late morning. I do my 10 min cardio warm up on the elliptical and spy Shaggy at the cable station in the CF area near the mountain bike simulators. His eyes look squinty today. I haven't seen Mouse in quite a long time. I wrap my hands and start my routine, beginning with 3 rounds Beginner. I must be punching too hard. By round 3 of the Intermediate session, my right Cross knocks the Padded Arm off-kilter and it falls forward an inch, slightly limp. I can't get it to retract or reposition. Ooops! I pause the machine and ask one of the trainers if he can fix the machine.

He can't. But he tells me that a technician is coming in a few days to fix and adjust both machines. The other machine doesn't register any blows at all on the Right Cross Pad. I take this opportunity to tell him about the software glitches in the Intermediate program. Maybe it'll all get fixed? I can only hope! Meanwhile, I have no choice but to restart the program and continue with the wonky Right Cross Pad. It's better than quitting! But it's hard to see the screen and I have to stand a bit closer to peer between the two red pads. I also try not to hit so hard.


I see R, and his tiny little wife at the cable machines near the CF area. I know he's extremely happy with two adorable tykes now, and happy is making him fat. He seems to have put on 20 lbs, his face is full and I barely recognize him from the back! I wave a quick greeting at him as he passes and he smiles. I reset the Nexersys and do 6 more rounds at the Intermediate Level. I've lost the data for the two rounds I did before I paused the machine, but it doesn't really matter. I'm determined to do 5 rounds at Advanced Level, just so I can get a feel for all the different combinations.

There are still a lot of combos that totally flummox me, and my accuracy scores reflect my inability to process and react to the new series of blows and kicks. Plus the stupid Right Cross Pad is in the way half the time, making it hard to see the screen. So, I'm totally bemused by the machine's recommendation that I am "outpacing and over power for my level" and I should add rounds. My accuracy is abysmal since I completely blew a whole series of combinations. But that didn't seem to affect my Strike number, or my Average Power. Well, yippee for me!

I do 10 minutes on the Step Mill and then head into the locker room. The gym is mostly empty now. The gym scale continues to puzzle me. It tells me I'm 109.8 lbs soaking wet. When I get home, I pull out my own scale. I'm thoroughly convinced that if I'm losing weight, it's because I'm losing muscle mass. I don't look any leaner. If anything, I think I look soft and round. My scale reads 107.6 lbs and 14.9% BF. Whoa! What? I guess dropping half a percent body fat isn't really noticeable. I take my measurements. My waist and hips aren't any smaller. But my back is bigger. How am I lighter?!

I'm so scary! LOL!

My abs do look flatter though since I stopped doing crunches and sit ups. Is it really the Apple Cider Vinegar? I've been taking 1 tablespoon each morning, chased with a cup of water. And again before bed. I've been sipping mashed limes in water with a spoon of honey as well. Today I bought more limes, and two bags of lemons. Lemons are suppose to work better so I buy regular lemons, and a bag of Meyers Lemons. I'd buy key limes too if I saw them, but I just have regular little green limes. Maybe it's because I'm not drinking any hard cider these days. I miss that, but I don't miss the heartburn that might accompany it. I'm even eating bananas and Greek yogurt on a regular basis. I've got this awful craving for liverwurst, but I'm worried it might be too spicy. Plus, deli meats are truly bad for your health, so it'd be quite a wicked indulgence. Oh well...

Tuesday Workout

Elliptical Training

Warm Up

Calorie :   96 CAL
Distance: 0.85 mile
Duration : 00:10:00

KickBoxing

3 r Bgnr

2+6 r Intm
5 r Adv
Lap/Rep :  16 Lap/Rep
Duration : 01:04:00

Step Machine

Calorie :   75 CAL
Lap/Rep :  31 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:10:00

Photos for actual stats:

3 rounds Beginner

6 rounds Intermediate

5 rounds Advance

3rd round of Advance Level

final (5th) round of Advance Level

The Hair Thing...

Body Weight Workout Good!

You know you're a short-hair kind of gal when people repeatedly say to you "You look great! Got a new haircut?" when all you've done is tie your hair back and cut your bangs because they were in your eyes. I'm having a love-hate relationship with my hair these days. It's mostly hate. I find it everywhere, long strands in my purse, on the floor, curled up with dust bunnies. It's the type of hair that comes between you and your stud earrings in a painful manner. Loose strands settle on your clothes and skin, making you jump to imaginary spiders on your arm. Ponytails pull on my scalp too much and I worry about losing my hair from the tension it creates. Now I mostly braid my hair, which is messy. There's always stray hair floating about my face, which I use barrettes to clip back, but baby-fine, straight hair never stays clipped for long. I'm not a "product" person so you won't catch me using gel, mousse or hairspray. I do love the fact that my hair is only ever so slowly starting to grey. But I'm seriously considering cutting it all off. Except that it's getting cold now.

I take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before eating a cup of plain Greek yogurt and maple syrup. So far so good. I get my son on the bus. Yesterday was horrible without any caffeine, so I decide to have one cup of instant espresso. I can't drink coffee black because that bothers my stomach. There's always at least two teaspoons of sugar and a good amount of half and half to make it palatable. My husband has forsworn all additives to his coffee because he doesn't want the calories. Black coffee doesn't bother his stomach. There's less caffeine in instant than fresh brewed, but it's more than a can cola will provide. Yes, I know, caffeine is a GI tract irritant, but it's not worth feeling as if you're going to pass out behind the wheel while driving home because your eyes feel like boulders about to roll out of their sockets. At least I'm not going through alcohol withdrawal!

The coffee stays put, and I don't have heartburn. Yaaaay! The gym is a tad busier than usual for a Friday, maybe because it's cold and rainy outside. The LifeFitness cross-trainer that I favor has been repaired so I do my 10 minute warm-up there and I'm happy. The cross-trainer registers more mileage than the elliptical does in the same amount of time. I'm not sure why.

Round 1 Adv

Round 2 Adv

I'm very careful to wrap my hands because the right is still a bit sore from Tuesday. I pull my punches a little so as not to re-injure myself. I'm very happy with my current routine of 3 rounds Beginner, 8 rounds Intermediate and 3 rounds Advance. At some point I'll drop some Intermediate rounds and add them to the Advance. The machine seems to favor 5-round sessions. I do hit hard enough to stop and blank the screen twice during the Intermediate session. The non-stop action has me panting at the end, but it feels surprisingly good. Endorphins kicking in! There are combinations I've never seen before in the Advanced session so I pull my power in order to increase my Accuracy and land better strikes. There are some combinations that I'm not sure how to score better. I'm moving as fast as I can, the machine registers the blows, but I'm getting zilch for the score. Oh well...

Round 3 Adv

Because the Advance Level requires such a rapid succession of blows, I'm forced to move from one stance to the next without re-setting. It requires more flexibility and balance because you might be moving from a Power Sweep immediately into a Power Kick. You don't have time to step back and reset for the Power Kick. You just pivot from the Sweep to the Kick. I'm a bit frustrated with one combination in particular, again, because it's asking for Jab / Cross / Lead Kick / Lead Kick, and my brain-body interprets the directive as Jab / Cross / Power Kick / Power Kick. At some point I'll get my brain and body to coordinate properly. Just takes practice. A whole lot of practice!

Round 3 Prep Screen

I'm aware of people passing directly around me to get to the mountain bike simulators, or the CF equipment. The Mayor and another fellow in a red tee wander past to use the cable machine. Scruffy sees all the stations are busy and returns later. Tattoo Tank is just leaving. A lot of middle-aged men and women think they'll be able to do pull ups if they use the Assisted Pull Up machine enough. Never gonna happen. My lats are sore. They're never sore when I do weights, but doing weights is probably what made me strong enough to do pull ups. I think they might actually be growing as well. I'd like to see if my back looks any different, but who has time to set up a tripod to take back selfies? It's a whole production to get that picture.

After whacking the Nexersys machine, I climb the Step Mill for 15 minutes while singing to myself. Then a quick lower back stretch on the Mat with Camels and Cats, Bridges and Knee-Ins. Done! The scale reads 109.4 lbs. I guess cutting out all that hard cider is like going on a diet. Oh well. It's not like it's going to go bad any time soon.

Friday Workout

Cross Trainer

Steady State

Calorie :   47 CAL
Distance: 1.29 mile
Speed :    7.67 mph
Duration : 00:10:08

Kick Boxing

Follow Me

3 r Bgnr
8 r Intmd
3 r Adv
Lap/Rep :  14 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:56:00

Step Machine

Calorie :   111 CAL
Lap/Rep :  46 Lap/Rep
Duration : 00:15:00

Photos posted for actual stats:

3 rounds Beginner

8 rounds Intermediate

3 rounds Advanced