Who Knew Counting Could Be So Hard?

After a week of cool Autumn weather, higher temps have returned with a vengeance. It's in mid 80s today. Last week, I walked my dog and needed two hoodies because it was 48F. I got to bed on time, sorta. And fell asleep on time. Mostly. I do tend to wake up every few hours. Of course, I was having the most vivid and exciting dream when the alarm sounded. Of course. A mug of warm milk did the trick for my son. He was finally asleep within a few minutes after downing it.

It takes me a long time to get out of the house. I'm sorting through laundry and Boy Scout stuff. If I don't leave soon, I won't have enough time to do my routine and get back before the school bus. I'm cold even after the 10 minute warm up on the elliptical because I'm not wearing my hoodie. But 5 rounds at Beginner Level remedies that. The machine seems to be behaving itself and I move through 5 rounds of Intermediate without any problems. My luck doesn't hold though, and the machine resets itself during round 3 of Advance. Ugh! All data lost for that session. I start over but only do two more rounds. That's still 15 rounds total, more or less.

As I'm waiting to snap a quick phone pix of the screen, a solidly built, gray-headed man asks me if I like the apparatus. I tell him,"When it works. It rebooted itself in the middle of the third round, so I'm not happy about that." He wants to know if learned this elsewhere, and I say, "No, the machine gives you directions." He says he'd noticed that I was punching and kicking the crap out of it. And I tell him that I like it because it doesn't hit back. Which is true.

Before I get too tired from pull ups and a jaunt on the elliptical, I decide to knock out my 22 push ups. I think the more tired you are, the harder it is to count, even if you're counting out loud! I thought I'd done 21 and so added one last one to make 22. I'm not quite sure where I lost count. When I replay the video, I count 26. What the hell? Oh jeeze... not like I'm going to do it over again.

I do 15 minutes on the elliptical to loosen up my hamstrings. I've got a strain on an inner thigh ligament that's making some stretches iffy, so I don't do them. But I knock out my pull ups and head off to shower. Because, damn, I'm tired.

Wednesday Workout

10 min warm up
Elliptical
0.83 miles
93.5 cal

5 rounds Beginner
5 r Intermediate
3 r Adv data lost
2r Adv

22 push ups ??23-4?

15 min elliptical
Program 3
132 cal
1.20 miles

HGPU 32

Photos posted for actual stats

5 rounds Beginner

5 rounds Intermediate

2 out of 5 rounds Advance

Sleep Deprivation as the Norm

It's suppose to take 21 days to make a new habit stick. I don't think I'll live that long if I can't get to sleep earlier than midnight. While I'm getting up around 6:30 to tend to the dog before rousing my son for the school bus, that's barely 6 hours of sleep each night. And it's not enough. The problem is that I'm a night owl by nature and always have been. Apparently my son is too, so I suppose this predisposition is genetic. At some point maybe it'll become easier to fall into bed at 10 pm, but so far this has been an exercise in torture where I lie awake for hours at a time. So does my son. I'm hoping that we'll both become so tired that falling asleep at 10 pm will become "natural" but I'm not holding my breath.

I plan to whack the machine for 15 rounds today. But there are suddenly two more "Espresso Bikes" sitting behind the row of 3 aligned with the 2 Nexersys kickboxing machines. It's really crowded in here now as Hannibal BaggyKnees dismounts his bike from the left side and nearly bumps into me. Old men can't navigate very well. The front desk tells me that those two bikes will be gone by October 6. Ugh, that's nearly an entire month away! Luckily I only whack the machine once weekly, so that means I only have to deal with this nonsense for a few sessions.

What's infinitely more aggravating is that the Nexersys freezes in mid-blow during Round 1 of the Intermediate session. There's nothing I can do but reboot the system. All data from that session is lost. Well, that was only half a round. And then the machine blanks totally and finally reboots itself at the end of Round 3 of the Intermediate session. Ugh! All data lost! I try the machine to the left but it won't let me change the parameters that tell it I'm female, and that I don't want to practice in my opposite stance. As in, No, do not pretend I'm a South Paw. It won't let me disable the Tilt Buzzer either. I'm vexed and go back to the original machine. It behaves itself for 5 rounds of Advanced, but I snap pics of each round just in case the machine gets wonky. I've cooled down quite a bit between the Intermediate and Advance rounds, but it was still a decent workout.

I skip the elliptical today because I have my first Intermediate Adult Swim class this evening, and I'm still sore from pushing weights. However, I do remember that I've been tagged by my college best friend for a Face Book challenge:

"Every day, 22 of our veterans take their own lives due to PTSD. This is simply unacceptable. So to raise awareness, I will do 22 push-ups every day for 22 days".
Today is Day 6. I nominate Linde W Liu, my lifting partner and bestie from the old days.
ptsdusa.org 22kill.com operationwearehere.com/MilitaryServiceDogs.html
Challenge Rules:
- Once you are nominated, your 22 days start the following day.
- Every day you record yourself doing 22 push-ups.
- Every day you nominate a different person.
This is a simple way to get the word out about a matter that more people need to be aware about. These brave men and women put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and it's sad that so many veterans feel that suicide is the only way out.
#FreedomIsNotFree
#awarenessiskey

Which means I have to film myself doing 22 push ups for 22 days, and tag an additional person each day as well. The push ups are the easy part. The gym is dark and noisy, but the class room is brightly lit and mirrored on two sides. Luckily there's no class in it when I peek in and I can set my phone up against the wall. I've never posted my own video to Blogger before... here goes nothing.

Tomorrow I'll have to speak a bit louder though. And I'll have to film somewhere in my house over the weekend... My biggest concern is that I don't actually know 22 people who I think can do actual push ups. I know, that's sad, right? My friend tells me that it doesn't matter what kind they do (kneeling, wall, it's all good) and that they can take breathers in between. It's the message that's important. I'm not quite sure what this will actually do... maybe spread awareness a bit farther. My husband is supremely skeptical so I probably won't tag him. Besides, he's in transit at the moment, and won't be back until next week.

When I'm done, I brace myself for the hard part: pull ups. I manage to get my 31 reps and that makes me happy. Time to go shower!

Thursday Workout
10 min warm up
Elliptical
0.84 miles
95 cal

15 rounds Nexersys

22 push ups Vet Challenge

HGPU 31

Photos for actual stats

5 rounds Beginner (great warm up rounds)

5 rounds Intermediate (but the machine lost the 1st round, and then crashed during the 3 rounds, so I only managed to capture data for the last two rounds... yes, I had to start again)

5 rounds Advance (machine seemed normal again)