Bastille Day

My son was not at all thrilled to be going to camp this morning as it was raining, and yesterday's experience totally soured him for today. For some reason, the new camp management hasn't quite figured out how to entertain campers when the sun isn't out, and there's a huge glitch in the activities. As in there was no swim time because some child pooped in the pool. Good grief! My son has been coming to this summer camp for 7 years now, and this is the first time that all activity came to a grinding halt because of fecal contamination. This camp has 4 separate outdoor pools but they are all enclosed in the same area. Shit happens literally and figuratively. (The swim school regularly has problems with children vomiting or pooping, but they seem to have a standard procedure that ensures an efficient clean up and sanitization.)

Today I get an early morning email stating that campers will be bussed (in shifts) to an indoor sporting facility for a few hours. It appears that the girls will enjoy significantly more time there (9:30 to 1 pm) than the boys (1:15 to 3:30 pm). Even accounting for an hours worth of lunch, the girls get more time. I send a quick email back asking why and a few hours later, a call with no caller ID rings my cell. I don't answer anonymous calls so it goes to voicemail. It's the new owner who wants to explain the rainy weather protocol. I don't want to cut into my gym time so I don't return his call. He can't possibly explain why my son spent most of his time yesterday sitting around with nothing to do. If anything, it makes it easier to make this the last year my son attends this camp.

After 10 minutes warming up on the elliptical, I do a few High and Medium Band Pulls and some quick stretches. I saw the one old guy who boxes the machine at it for a few rounds yesterday. Today I'm the only one at the machines. I do 7 rounds Beginner which eventually gets me really warmed up. The machine again isn't registering any jabs or crosses, and occasionally misses a lead sweep. But since I'm not keeping score, it doesn't really matter. After 7 rounds Intermediate, I'm done. And like last week, there is one body blow that I strike that causes the machine to stop and issue the screen warning "You Are Punching Too Hard." Seriously?

I'm drenched as I stalk off to the Mats so I can peel off my gloves, wraps and tape. I knock out my pull ups and then head back to the Mat to finish stretching. Shoulders and back are especially sensitive and a good stretch routine goes a long way to reducing soreness. Tomorrow is my photo show reception and I need to pick up a few items. It's probably my last photo show, and I find that makes me sad enough to forgo photographing interesting things. Yesterday I saw my first monarch butterfly of the season. It was on one of the few milkweeds that survived the town mower. I could've stopped my car, put my flashers on and whipped out my phone to snap a picture. But part of me said, Why bother? Well, I hope a few people show up tomorrow...

Friday

10 min elliptical
Calories 96
Miles 0.85

Mid Band Pulls 15
High Band Pulls 15

Nexersys Follow Me
7r Beginner
7r Intermediate

HGPU 31

Back At It

I got my son into the car this morning wearing his swim clothes and a Disney poncho because it was pouring. Nothing like summer camp in the rain! Not sure if he'll get to go swimming today, but he does have dry clothes in his back pack. I got to the gym and my bag was soaked by the time I crossed the parking lot. Today is whack the broken Nexersys day. My right shoulder has been twingey and stiff, so I add 5 minutes to the cardio warm up on the cross-trainer. Then, instead of doing the DB raises, I use the green silicone band and do Band Pulls.

The slightly less broken machine surprises me when some of my Cross punches register. For a moment I think maybe gym owner has pulled the sensor from the machine with the broken arm and put it into this machine. But since the sensor doesn't always work, I'm thinking probably not. I don't like doing two sets of 5 rounds of Intermediate. Too easy for me to bag the last set, so I do 7 rounds per set today. This way I'm doing at least 14 rounds, instead of 10. The Out of Order sign has disappeared off the machine with the broken arm, but the arm is still busted. Sigh.

I see one of the lady trainers showing a middle-age guy around the machines. I see Gym Owner doing his own workout at the Assisted Pull Up machine. I don't think he can do a regular pull up. The Mayor makes an entrance with a friend, stays until he's red in the face (I assume from exertion and not just jabbering), and then exits with same friend, who I think is an older guy who used to come more regularly until last year. When I'm done, I peel off my boxing gear and do some hammer grip pull ups. Then a quick stretch for hammies, and shoulders.

Is this a canine wart?

The back of the left shoulder twinged sporadically while I tossed some jabs mid-way through my workout. Ugh. I don't need problems in both shoulders! My legs are a tad stiff from yesterday, but nothing serious. I put my last photo show up on Monday, right after I drop my son at camp so no gym on Monday. Tuesday is movie day so maybe I'll drag my son to the gym beforehand. Or I'll just let him sleep.

Wednesday, I might have to take our dog to the vet to get a lump on his back looked at. I suspect it's a wart, but I'd rather know for certain. (I search the web and discover the most horrific cases of canine warts, with the afflicted pooches looking as if their mouths have been smeared with cauliflower puree.) Of course, our vet will charge us a ridiculous fortune just to look at it, and probably take a sample. Because the economy still sucks and everyone's gotta make money somehow...

I'm exploring some new music for my iPod and of course, now I want to listen to all the Billy Idol songs that I don't have. Luckily, billyidol.net has a section (Idol Tube) which is akin to musical footnotes, letting me hear the actual music that he's referencing in his book. Cool! Life is so much better with the internet! My son can't imagine having to go to the library to look up books that might or might not exist, for information that might or might not exist. Truthfully, I can't either.

Friday

15 min x-trainer
Calories 70
Miles 1.82

Mid Band Pulls 15
High V Pulls 15

Nexersys Follow Me
7r Beginner
7r Intermediate

HGPU 31

I Already Know I'm A Bull Dog

I'm like a dog worrying a bone when I've fixated on something. And I've been called bull headed, and bull dogged. Even been told I have bull dog legs once. After the Gym Owner told me that he thought the email for the Nexersys company was an automated system that he didn't want to deal with, I went home and contacted the company via FB. Because they've been fairly responsive when I message them that way. I get told to use the email system. Twice. So I compose a brief summary of all the problems with the two broken machines and hit Send.

A few hours later I get an email back from a different person at the company wanting to know more pertinent info, like the serial numbers and date of purchase of the machines. Sounds reasonable to me, except of course, these aren't my machines and I'm not responsible for the cost of replacement parts. So I print out the email and bring it to the gym with me. Gym Owner is training the new Client, so his staff puts the printout in his office. He can ignore it, or follow through. I've done as much as I can to get these machines fixed.

Today I use the cross-trainer for 10 minutes to warm up, instead of the elliptical. I get warmer on the latter machine, but I wanted to get the arms moving. I still used the 3 and 5 lb baby bells to do basic shoulder exercises before a quick hamstring stretch. The machines are still broken. I'm not at the gym in the evenings when it's really busy so I don't know if anyone other than me is whacking the disabled left machine. The right machine still has the Out of Service sign hanging off it.

I took a baby dose of creatine this morning, with my high protein yogurt and vitamins. My hubs and I were discussing supplements. The melatonin worked well for him last night. He keeps meaning to get up early and work out before heading to the office, but I suspect he's still catching up on his sleep. I'm perfectly fine with a strong cup of coffee for my morning stim. He's tried C4 and it makes him jittery and crazy. So that went in the trash. I'm too sensitive to even think about stims like that. Coffee is just fine with me, and it can't be black either. Because massive heart burn and stomach pain.

We have two containers of creatine. One is flavorless, and contains additional "vitamins". He says the orange-flavored creatine is gross. I tell him I'll try that one since it doesn't have any additional "vitamins" in it. I'm curious about it after reading an article in T-Nation that says you don't have to pre-load anymore. As little as 1-2 mg per day is enough to see a 10-15% increase in muscle size and strength. I'm willing to test this out. This morning I mix 1/4 tsp in a cup of plain water, which amounts to 1.25 mg of creatine. It is gross-tasting, but at least it's only two gulps. I chase it down with my 22 gm protein yogurt laced with maple syrup and tart dried cherries.

The quick rise in temperature means I start sweating before my 5 rounds of Beginner is over. By the end of the 2nd session of Intermediate is done, I'm drenched. I feel pretty good though. Except that I'm starving! Aaargh! I had switched back from the fruity Chobani greek yogurt to the Cabot greek style yogurt because the latter has nearly twice as much protein, which I reckon would keep me full longer. It's worked, until now. (I do love the lemon meringue flavored Oikos though... it's like eating dessert.) I knock out the pull ups and then I'm done. Yaaay me!

The gym scale reads 110.6 lbs. Hmmm. Meanwhile a girl is venting on her cell in the locker room about an old man who positioned himself behind her in the mat area, and then yelled at her for cracking her gum. She yelled back at him that she paid just as much as he did to use this facility, and who told him to position himself right behind her anyway? This is what headphones are for: blocking out gum-cracking girls, and nasty old men.

I get home and the driveway is luscious with the scent of honeysuckles. There are really big bees now, more than twice the size of the little guys humming in the hedges. Everything is good.

Thursday

10 min x-trainer
Calories 47
Miles 1.21

T, Y & I Raises
3lbs x 15
5lbs x 15

Nexersys
5r Beginner
5r Intermediate
5r Intermediate

HGPU 31

Taken With a Grain of Salt

I miss whacking the machine so I cut up some knuckle-size moleskin and packed my kickboxing gloves into my gym bag. I know the machines are still broken. Doesn't matter. I can still whack them, and that's better than punching a heavy bag, but just as "dumb". I am amused, however, by the machine's insistence that I'm out of shape and should cut my rounds to work on my stamina and pacing. But that's only because it doesn't register more than half my strikes, and some of my sweeps as well. Not going to let it bother me... My right shoulder felt odd the first few rounds, and I was a bit worried that I was going to really wreck it by persisting. But by the 3rd Beginner round, I felt okay. Just working the kinks out, I guess... 


Friday

10 min elliptical
Calories 98.1
Miles 0.86

T, Y & I Raises
3lbs x 15
5lbs x 15

Nexersys Follow Me (left)
No upper sensors
5r Beginner
5r Intermediate
5r Intermediate

WHGPU 20 left elbow sore

Even More Broken

It's cool enough this morning that I pack a flannel shirt in my gym bag for later. But as the sun emerges from the clouds, the day heats up. The gym is moderately empty. I've been coming late enough to miss the morning gaggle of women participating in various classes. I like it better this way. I do my standard warm up: 10 min on the elliptical, and then those baby bell raises in the T, Y and I formation. I see a few regulars. They're finally realizing that I have absolutely no interest in interacting with them: a bunch of fat, broken horny old men. Yuck.

The Nexersys machines don't look any better this week. The dry sauna has been fixed, but I have no hope of getting my favorite machines repaired. They've been broken for far too long. I start off with the machine on the right because all the sensors work and I can log in with my profile. Unfortunately, the upper right pad hangs even lower now. Being short, I can't quite see the screen properly and miss a few combinations. Ugh.

I do the next 5 rounds at the machine to the left, the one with broken sensors in both upper pads. So it doesn't register jabs, cross, hooks or elbows. After 5 rounds, it tells me that I ought to cut back my rounds and concentrate on stamina and pacing because it thinks I actually missed all those strikes. I didn't, but it doesn't know that. I'm both annoyed and amused. I try to do 5 rounds Advanced Level, but am reminded that the machine defaults to SouthPaw for no good reason. It only does this at the Advance Level. It won't let me punch in a profile either. So I can use the other machine, where I'll miss half the combinations because I can't see the screen, or I can just do another 5 rounds at Intermediate. And that's what I do.

Afterwards, I just do some wide hammer grip pull ups. My left elbow complains as I approach 20, so that's as far as I get. I don't even think I can do regular pull ups because of how my elbows and forearms react. Well, at least this movement works biceps as well as back. For someone who doesn't actually do any curls (not lately anyway), the biceps are still decent enough.

Wednesday

10 min warm up elliptical
Calories 97.7
Miles 0.86

T, Y & I Raises
3lbs x 15
5lbs x 15

Nexersys
5r Beginner (right machine broken left arm)
5r Intermediate (no upper sensors)
5r Intermediate again because Advance defaults to Southpaw

WHGPU 20