Thank Goodness for Antihistamines

Playing around

I was miserable yesterday but remembered to take the 10 mg loratadine pill around 9 pm. Even though my head was a tad groggy from a lack of sleep, I feel a lot better. It was even raining outside and my head still feels heavy, but at least I don't want to hurl when I bend over to brush my teeth. Sadly, I can't wait until the Olympics are over. While staying up until midnight just to see one brilliant Russian youngster beat another for the Gold medal was totally worth it, my body and especially my brain needs more sleep.

My son and hubs are away for the weekend for a Boy Scout camping event that features heated cabins and indoor rock climbing walls. It's going to rain all weekend, so the boys will either run around in the rainy cold or hang inside. There's a fort and a pirate ship for clambering over outside. My son might bring his Exploding Kittens card game to relieve boredom. We played it once and it was hilarious. Not as wicked as Cards Against Humanity, but in the same vein.

I do my warm ups surrounded by newbies. Well, I can't complain because I was once a newbie. Granted, that was over 30 years ago back in a college weight room, but you gotta start somewhere. Luckily, there's no one at the Nexersys machines, but then again, there never is. I only ever see me there although I know the Gym Owner likes to whack the machine at least once weekly. I'm happy with 7 rounds Beginner and 5 rounds Intermediate. I'm happy with 4 rounds Follow Me and 3 rounds of Sparring. In time I'll probably return to 7 rounds Intermediate.

Because I'm a little slow, I have just realized today that the round numbers on the final score screen at the end of a session actually refer to specific programs. For example, in the Beginner session rounds 1, 3, 5 and 7 were all Follow Me. But rounds 1 and 3 had all the same combination call outs. The machine glitched and repeated the same program, FM2 with a Spar(ring) round in between. None of the other rounds have a repeated reference number. With the 5 Intermediate rounds, the machine again adds data from someone else's Sparring (no Accuracy but there are strike Points) and Follow Me rounds. Of course, the machine insists it's giving me data for 5 rounds (circled in the right upper corner). Regardless, I have a good time and a great workout. My knuckles sting a little and my quads and glutes are still sore from two days ago. Ugh. I barely get my 26 pull ups, so I'm greatly relieved to get them done! I do a full Mat Stretch just to get the kinks out of my shoulders and back.

Today my hubs lied to me about his drinking. I found a liquor store receipt dated two days ago. He claimed the empty bottle holders in the trash were old and he was just cleaning out his car. He doesn't know that I know he's lying. I don't confront him because he'll just go to greater pains to conceal his alcoholism. I keep making deals with myself that he'll work his way through this, but now I'm not so sure. I know there are a lot of functional alcoholics in the world. I know that he doesn't drink if he's driving. I'd like to believe that he'll always be safe and do the right thing and only drink when he has no other responsibilities, and that he'd never endanger our son. But I don't know that for certain. I don't know what the future holds.

Friday

10 elliptical
Calories 96
Miles 0.85

T, Y & I Raises
3lbs x 15
5lbs x 15
Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Nexersys
7r Beginner 3Sp 4FM
5r Intermediate FM

HGPU 26

If It's Got a Muscle, It Can Cramp!

I got to the gym at noon today. Not what I had intended, but I had a lot of stuff to sort through this morning. And somethings take forever. Literally forever. Like finding out whether our health insurance covers the cataract and glaucoma surgery. And whether the hospital my doctor plans to use is actually in our network. One customer service person claimed that not only did we not have insurance with said company, but we must be on Medicaid or Medicare! WTF? If she were standing in front of me, I might've been tempted to punch her. Seriously.

Never mind the fact that I'd just spoken to a nurse who could bring up our info just fine. Ugh. After 20 aggravating minutes, where I politely asked to be transferred to another service person and she was unable to do even that, I hung up and redialed the toll-free number on the back of our insurance card. The nurse stayed on the line to make sure the next benefits service person could access our plan, and then she told me that the number on the back of my card was wrong. Well, it was good two months ago! And they haven't issued new cards either. Ugh.

As far as I can tell, there's not been any massive influx of newbies at my gym, desperate to make good on New Year resolutions. I warm up but still haven't decided exactly what programs I'm going to run. I've been getting to bed later than is good for me, and even though I tell myself I'm going to take a short nap after I get my son on the school bus, I never do. Because once I'm up I feel compelled to do all the morning things I normally do... The Nexersys seems a little different today. It's still too sensitive taking a right Cross during Sparring rounds, but it only blanks once during the entire 14 rounds of my kickboxing workout! Cool! I only do 3 rounds of Sparring during the Beginner session and I'm plenty warm by round 4.

Truthfully, I'm too tired to do combo Follow Me and Sparring for the Intermediate session, so I just do Follow Me. The machine is still erratic enough during Intermediate to make this challenging, with phantom ghost prompts and intermittently not registering Power Body jabs and kicks. But who's keeping score, right?

I get my pull ups afterwards, and because I skipped yesterday's workout, I get all my reps and they don't feel too bad. But I've sucked down all my water! The gym scale is not kind: 112.8 lbs. Worse, when I get in the shower, two toes on my right foot inexplicably start to cramp. Ugh! There are HS girls chatting loudly in the locker room so I'm not about to risk embarrassing myself by hobbling out of the shower, clutching my foot. What I'm really worried about is slipping, even though I have my flip-flop shower shoes on. I press my foot as flat as I can to keep the toes from cramping more, but I'm not sure if that's helping or making it worse.

I can't pick my foot up without the toes going crazy. I'm covered in hot water and soap as well. Eventually, I get my hair rinsed of shampoo and all the soap off. Lifting my foot over the edge of the shower basin is difficult. I feel like I'm limping slightly trying to keep my flip flops on. Once I sit down on the bench in front of my locker, the toes calm down. Ugh. I have to pick up a few items at the grocery before heading home and the foot behaves itself like a normal foot. WTH? I'm relieved but once home, I search the internet and get absolutely nothing helpful or relevant. Seriously? One article in Prevention magazine online suggests tight footwear, over exertion and mineral imbalances as possible causes. My only issue with the article is where the author states that "nerves provide nutrition and messages to your muscles." WTH? Nerves provide nutrition? Since when? Click here for the article.

There are some helpful suggestions about foot stretches. I stretch my feet and toes at the end of all my Mat Stretch routines. I don't wear tight shoes. I don't think my exercise routine is excessive. But maybe I should consider replenishing my electrolytes? I think this is more a problem with the nerves since I'm linking a old ankle surgery to remove a schwannoma (a non-cancerous nerve sheath tumor) on (I'm guessing) the medial plantar, which wraps under the foot and branches into the toes, to my bunion as well as the occasional problems I have with the third and fourth metatarsals. Like cramping. But they've crossed painfully before. And issues appear to be occurring with greater frequency. So age is probably a factor too. Sigh.

I keep missing my protein goals. It's hard to eat enough without blowing the calories. Today, not only did I drink skim-milk with whey powder for breakfast, I drank an Ensure before I went shopping, and I was still so hungry I had to chow down a Quest bar while waiting for my son's kung fu class to start. Lately, I feel hungry ALL THE TIME. It's crazy! Ugh. Got chicken thighs roasting in the oven, and a nice side salad of arugula. At least there's no e. coli warning for that. Yet. 

Thursday

10min x-trainer
Calories 47
Miles 1.23
Average Heart Rate 149

T, Y & I @15
3lbs
5lbs

Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Nexersys
7r Beginner: 4FM 3SP
7r Intermediate Follow Me (cuz I’m tired)
HGPU 26