I'm developing the sniffles, which is not unusual with the weather changes. Today there was frost on the windshield although the temps will rise into the 50s later. Perhaps my body is rebelling against this routine, especially with the lack of enough sleep. I'm a little sore all the time, but not enough to prevent me from doing anything.
That doesn't mean that my immune system hasn't been challenged by all the cold and flu viruses in the air. I'm convinced it's the less than 7 hours of nightly slumber during the week that's causing this lapse in health. However, I don't feel sick (yet) so I'm able to work out the way I want, which is with high intensity. But I should probably start dosing myself with zinc before bed for a little while. (High doses of zinc (50 mg or more) can cause copper deficiency and weaken the immune system as per Consumerlab.com.)
My routine is the same as last week: Octane, Step Mill and Expresso Bike. I finally figured out that the bonus treasure (worth 5000 points) boxes in the Dragons Island game actually regenerate not far from their origin point, which is marked by a beacon. Today, I use the magic portal to land on the island that contains the portal, then spend my time collecting coins that allow me to bag dragons. The blue and green dragons (500 & 750 points) aren't worth as much as the red coins (250) and dragons (1000), and the white coins and blue-silver dragons (1500). I used to wander around the island looking for more treasure box spots, but today I stay put, circling the beacon until I can pick up a total of 6 treasure boxes. Yaaay me.
Everything is good today, but my left knee (kneecap specifically) twinges occasionally. The only exercise it affects are the Pistol Squats. Ugh. This is the first time that I can remember having one leg, the left one, fail at doing these. I can squat down and get up twice, but after that it's total failure. The right leg is actually not having any issues, but I don't want to work out just one leg, the stronger leg. Ugh. I do a few lunges to warm up my knees. I get just one more squat out of the left leg, but then it fails again. Today's not the day for this. Oh well...
Cardio Friday
20 min Octane Manual Level 1 Calories 127 Steps 2402 Miles 1.75 HR 113 max 150 (Toes are numb)
20 min StepMill Level 3 Total steps 706 Floors 44 Calories 112 HR? 122
20 Expresso Bike Dragon Island Points 173,180 Calories 75 Miles 3.54
HGPU 23 Crunches 30/30 Bicycles 50 Elbow Plank 60s Side Planks 2 x 60s Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
I guess I exude that badass don't mess with me attitude when I work out. I'm not really aware of it except when other people tell me. I do realize that I have to force myself to smile when I take selfies, otherwise I've got that stern disapproving look that reminds me of my father. He was a definite badass, with his 5th degree black belt and horrible temper. But I don't really want to look like my father, so I force myself to soften that resting bitch face and impose a vague happy look. I feel like an idiot when I do it, but that's probably not a big surprise.
Today is a routine kickbox the machine day, starting with a quick cardio warm up and the requisite T, Y and I dumbbell raises. I see B chatting with a really big bald guy with a tribal arm band tattoo. She talks to everyone, mostly because she's got to be the center of attention. I still say Hi, but I've stopped having actual conversations with her. She has a way of making you feel bad by recommending something, but at the last minute she'll say, "Oh no I'd never wear/do that." So, it's good enough for you, but not good enough for her? After a few times, you get wary and decide there's no need to subject yourself to that. I finally decided that she was too toxic for me when in the middle of a conversation, which was mostly her recounting a tale of woe, she stopped in mid-sentence to tell this tale again to someone who had just entered. I left without her even acknowledging how rude that was. Uh, yeah... I don't need that.
At the Nexersys, I decide to up my game: 7 rounds of Beginner and a mere 3 rounds of Intermediate. That's 2 rounds more than last week. The good news is that I don't actually start sweating until round 3 Beginner, and my lungs feel fine until I hit the Intermediate rounds. I'm so glad I only set myself up for 3 rounds Intermediate. The machine is back to its usual tricks. The screen goes completely blank for a moment with a Power Dig. The dead chip in the Lead Dig ruins my score for combos like Jab/Lead Dig even though I make both blows correctly. It only registers the Jab and gives me a big fat zero for the combination. The Cross chip is getting wonky as well. It's too sensitive and I get the Warning: Punching Too Hard screen more than a dozen times today. It thinks I'm punching over 200% of whatever normal is suppose to be. Yet, the Jab only registers a measly 98%. Ugh. At some point I'll return to 7 rounds each Beginner and Intermediate. Maybe I'll even get to test myself on a few rounds of Advance before the kickboxing machine totally breaks down...
I'm trying to correct the finger positions of my right hand to minimize the bruising between the ring finger and pinky knuckles. For some reason my thumb gets in the way when I close my fist, but this isn't an issue with my left hand, and I'm not sure why. The moleskin works well to prevent serious bruising and my hands look fine when I unwrap. I'm happy that I can knock out push ups afterwards and I've even upped the reps.
In the locker room I greet V, an extremely personable realtor. Another woman, tall, thin and blonde pops in, says Hi and then runs out. V confides to me that this other woman has been harassing her to become a client. Ugh. My gym doesn't allow members to solicit clients since it can provide trainers who are trained and certified. V tells me that she saw me doing pull ups today, and she's so impressed. So few people, so few women are able to do them. I tell her it's all in the back because people mistakenly believe they need arm strength. V says that she finally told the pushy trainer-wanna-be that her sister is training her. I don't know who her sister is, and V promises to point her out to me next time. No one has ever tried to recruit me as a client, but I think that's mostly because I'm a badass and everyone knows it.
Whacking Thursday
10 min elliptical Calories 90 Miles 0.81 HR 147-190 (79)
I had almost forgotten that I was meeting a friend for lunch at the British tea shop, Florrie Kaye's, at noon. That gives me just enough time to get a full workout, shower and change. I decide to forgo my usual flannel shirt and wear something more adult to the shop since it's a bit more high end. Is my age showing? My girlfriend is in her mid 70s, and I'm guessing her visiting friend might actually be older. They're pals from their working days at IBM, way back when... and while a tea shop might be the perfect place to wear grunge or punk apparel, not with these ladies.
The kids have gone back to school, and I'm back to my routine of cardio, weights, stretching. I try to get at least two HIIT cardio sessions in a week so today is another Norwegian 4 x 4, followed by a quick cage stretch, hammer grip pull ups and then T-bar rows. Next to me, on the Shrug machine, is Phone Addiction, a middle-age man who spends more time standing in the Stretch Cage staring at his phone than anyone else in entire gym. I'm actually surprised to see him load two 45 lb plates on the Shrug, and then shrug a few times. Up until today, I have actually never seen him move any weight whatsoever. Not sure why he's doing shrugs either.
Loud screaming from the Body Pump class warns me not to approach the classroom. I'll do core later. Today I actually remember to grab the close neutral grip handles and affix them to the Lat Pull Down station. These feel so much better than the wider grip bars in that I'm able to engage my lats and back. The wider grip makes me reliant on arm strength, and that's not my purpose with this exercise. I can touch the close grip handle to my chest at the bottom of every rep as I retract my elbows and arch my back, almost squeezing my shoulder blades together. It feels much better, more powerful.
I see Hollywood across from me, doing seated cable rows. And while I recognize people while I'm working out, I'm rarely inclined to break my routine just to talk to them. So I don't. Does that make me anti-social? Or just a gym rat? I get on the other Seated Cable station to do One-Arm Rows with just 30 lbs. But since it's the 4th movement in my routine, my arms are fairly stressed already. The Wraith King and Taz(manian Devil, cuz he looks just like the Bugs Bunny character) are also using this cable station. Taz has dropped a lot of body fat so his arms and shoulders seem extremely well-defined. He doesn't have any glutes or quads though. Just like the Looney Tunes character...
For my last exercise, I take the 30 lb solid BB and stand right in front of the mirrored wall. I try to find a spot between unused machines so that I'm not in anyone's line of sight. Guys at the cable station often check their form while doing tricep press downs or shoulder pulls. They're big enough to see over the equipment between them and the mirrors which are more than 20 feet away. I also don't need anyone except me seeing the grimace on my face as I squeeze out the last reps of a set. Seriously.
Lunch at Florrie Kayes was an adventure. Since it's Restaurant Week, the menu was at a special price. We opted for the three course selection: butternut squash soup with cheddar scone, a main entree and a dessert. I had the Guinness Beef Stew on Mashed Potatoes. My friend had the short rib sliders, and her friend had the acorn squash stuffed with quinoa and herbs. I've had better cheddar scones at Salinger's Farm Bakery. The soup was tasty, but the stew had no gravy. It was just seasoned meat, mostly tender but somewhat dry in spots, atop mashed spuds.
My friend was disappointed that her sliders were also dry. The aioli helped. As far as I can tell, the squash was good. For dessert, I wanted the rum raisin croissant bread pudding, but that was sold out. Instead I got an upside down plum cake with ice cream. It was moist and redolent of sweet ripe plums. My friend was perfectly happy with her tiny pot of chocolate, and her friend got a crustless pumpkin pie, which just looked to me like pumpkin pudding and a gingerbread leaf cookie. There are upwards of 75 types of teas to choose from to go with the meal. I could barely finish my second little teacup of Holiday blend because I was sooooo full. No supper for me tonight. I'll just whip something up for the child after he finishes his homework.
I just finished watching the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I have to say that I'd watch the entire series again, but not because of Buffy or the rest of the Scooby gang. It's Spike that makes the show. He has the best lines, with the greatest range of emotions and character development. The series really seems to be about him. I'm still not sure why Angel got his own show, and I'm schoolgirl happy to discover that Spike reappears in season 5 of Angel, which unfortunately was its last season, due to the idiocy of execs at the WB. Angel is kind of boring as a guy, or even as a vampire, unless he's evil Angelus. I've read that at his audition for his role in Buffy, women watching him were left "in puddles" but I just don't see it. Spike, on the other hand, is mesmerizing. And in the end, he's also the hero. Can't say that I saw that coming, but his unrequited love hooks us and we follow.
I can't say that platinum blonde punks have ever been my on my radar as sex symbols. (On the other hand, Billy Idol remains one of my all time favorite singers. Go figure.) Spike, as lovelorn William, is mousy and pathetic. He's not at all attractive. But cut that curly mop and bleach it white, give him a sneering "I don't give a flying f*ck attitude," and I'm not sure why, but suddenly he's hot. What the hell? I catch a glimpse of the James Dean mystique there...
Post-Election Wednesday
Norwegian 4x4 5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4 5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33 Calories 265 Miles 2.54 HR 138-190 (105 - 116)
HGPU 23 Push Ups 50
T-bar Rows Bar x 15 25lbs x 15 45 x 12, 15, 20
Lat Pull Downs (close grip) 70lbs x 12 85 x 12 x 3
Seated 1-Arm Cable Rows 30lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets
RG BB Curls 30lbs x 25, 25, 30
Crunches 30/30 Bicycles 50 Side Planks 2 x 60s Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
I let myself have the luxury of sleeping in a bit today. No school in our district due to elections. To the south of us, though, school is in session because voting takes place at the firehouse instead of the elementary schools. The parking lot is the most crowded I've ever seen for an election day morning. I wait in line to cast my vote for local officials. The machine doesn't accept my ballot. Instead it spits out the previous voter's ballot, but he's already left the building.
I raise my hand and flag a volunteer to help me. He takes a quick scan of the errant ballot and says that that voter had made two entries for one position so the machine kicked it out. Voters are suppose to wait until the machine verifies that their vote has been accurately tallied before leaving, but people, especially the seniors, get confused by the not-so-new technology. The volunteer presses a button and the ballot is accepted. Now I can vote. My ballot goes through the machine without any problems, and I get a sticker on my hoodie. Yaaay me.
I get to the gym a bit later than usual because I am driving extra carefully. There's heavy fog and not every driver has the sense to put their headlamps on in the drizzle. I hate these people. The only people I hate more are the ones who are so distracted that they straddle the double yellow line on the road as they drive. One almost hit me on the way home today. Ugh.
Because it's a school holiday for most of the local districts, there are a lot more high school kids in the gym today. They're not interested in the cardio equipment. Nope. They're all trying to put on some muscle. I'm planning to take my son to see Bohemian Rhapsody today since it's $5 Tuesday, and there's no school. But there is kung fu at 5 pm so we can only go to the first showing, at 2 pm. This means I'm in a bit of a hurry. I cut my cardio warm up to 20 minutes. I skip the Cage Stretch and Pull Ups. It's a Push Day anyway, but the Smith is occupied. I don't really understand the old skinny guy who stacks the end of the flat bench up on the plastic aerobic steps to do Smith Inclined Presses. I don't understand it because there are at least two adjustable Inclined Benches.
Reluctantly, I do a few sets of DB Shoulder Presses. My right shoulder twinges a little. It's not a great exercise for me, but I'm in no mood to do the T, Y & I Raises either. As soon as the Smith is vacant, I rush over and drape my blue hoodie on it. Mine! Then I knock out my Inclined Press sets, finishing with high reps. There are a lot of regulars here today, mixed in with all the kids. The Mayor is not wearing an over-sized polo shirt for once. Instead he's wearing a Fila T-shirt that mostly fits. He's also got neoprene pad on his elbows and forearms as well as full-fingered gloves that look more appropriate handling a fire pit. So weird.
Little R and The Mayor are chatting. I've seen Little R with a young brunette here a few times. It looked as if he was training her. Not sure if he was also dating her, since I saw them doing planks with their faces but an inch apart from each other. Gym romance? I wonder. Little R has got nice shoulders and arms, and a V-taper to his back, but I've never seen him do cardio, or squats or anything remotely related to legs. He also doesn't wear shorts so my guess is that he doesn't have any quads or glutes, or even calves. Oh well...
I have no hope of getting on an adjustable bench for Reverse Inclined Flyes, so I grab the 20 lb DBs and set myself up in the seated shoulder press rack. It has a very low seat, which is comfortable for someone with short legs, like me. My super set today consists of DB Lateral Raises and Bent Over Flyes. I have to be mindful of keeping my back straight because it's so easy to lay on my lap which leads to a curved lower back, a dangerous position.
Last are the Rip Skulls. The breaker benches are mostly occupied so I set up on a plain flat bench. I am too short to keep my feet flat on the floor so my knees are bent and my feet are on the bench instead. It's not the most stable position, but I'm not moving such heavy weight. I could probably get sets of 8 reps at the next heaviest weight: 40 lbs. My three sets are fine. I feel pretty good. Time for a quick stretch and then I'm outta here!
Election Tuesday Damn there’s a lot of kids here 20 min elliptical Program 1 Calories 185 Miles 1.66 HR 156-190 (87)
Push Ups 50 Crunches 30/39 Bicycles 50
DB Shoulder Press (rt twinge) 15lbs x 12 reps x 3 sets
Smith Inclined Press Bar (30) x 15 50 x 12 70 x 12 80 x 12 60 x 25
DB Laterals s/s Bent Over Flyes 20lbs x 12/15 reps x 3 sets (Beware of rounded back)
Sunday was the only day that was clear and bright. It was also a perfect day for stacking firewood. I had logs split over two years ago and the pile had been sitting within a giant tarp ever since. Some of the wood isn't any good anymore, spongy and soggy. One of the wood racks had deteriorated to the point of uselessness. I drag two ancient pallets to the middle of the yard and start stacking some of the iffy wood on the bottom, and the better wood on top.
Eventually my son joins me to help stack. We're not great at it so the pile eventually becomes a pyramid of sorts. I'm not sure how those lovely rectangles of firewood are created, but the composite sticks all seem evenly split. My pieces are of haphazard sizes. Oh well. Today, I manage to drape a tarp over it, secured with cinder blocks and over-sized soggy logs. It's been drizzly all day, but tomorrow it's suppose to really rain. Ugh.
My hands are sore from clutching logs. Is this going to impede my workout? I guess I'll find out. My workout is fairly routine starting with cardio. No stress on the hands here. I'm always amused by the drop in my HR down to 105 after the second peak. This is the lowest it will go. Mostly it bounces between too high and too low, and never settles inside the "zone" which is approximately 85-95% of maximum (167.4) heart rate.
Even though my hands are sore, they still work fine when gripping the overhead bars in the Stretch Cage to do pull ups. I squeeze out 21 and feel pretty bad ass. Push ups and core are next. Happily, there's rarely anyone on the T-bar row machine. I've seen maybe one other person on it over the period of several weeks. I remember how hard it was to pull 45 lbs. The last time I went super easy because my lower back was still recovering. (It seems better now, but I won't be doing seated cable rows at 100 lbs with less than strict form.) Today the 45s don't seem that hard, so much so that I'm able to increase my reps for each set. That's surprising.
Next on my list are Lat Pull Downs, but the two stations are occupied. Instead, I reluctantly do Seated Cable Rows with the close grip neutral handle. It's the handle I had planned to use for Pull Downs. I do 3 sets slow and easy, with strict form. These feel a tad hard, but I still get my sets. Of course, it's just 3 sets. I leave the handles on the Seated Row when I switch to Pull Downs, and grab the mid-width neutral grip handle. These don't have the sticky decomposing neoprene handles. But the handles aren't attached at the end of a straight bar. Instead, they hook down a few inches. It's to allow bigger people to pull their arms back more as they bring the bar to their chest. My arms aren't long enough so I'm not able to touch my chest with the bar. Close though. Next time I'm definitely using the close grip handles.
I see a lot of familiar faces, mostly guys. I haven't seen Hollywood since last week when she was testing out Rip Skulls with the same 35 lbs I normally use. She did finish one whole set but it took her a really long time to do each rep. I wonder if she's just too busy now, or sore.
To finish I grab the 30 lbs BB and knock out 3 sets of high rep Reverse Grip BB Curls. Then some stretching. I know I spend too much time at the gym. It's been nearly 3 hours, but that seems to be the time required to do cardio, weights and stretching. Most people spend much less time here. Unless they're weight lifters. Then most of them spend a good 2 to 3 hours just pumping iron. But I'm not looking to bulk. I would like to be leaner though. My gym pants feel tight in the thighs today, and I'm not sure if that's because I'm packing on weight (ugh) or if it's just a reaction to the Pistol Squats from Friday. Maybe it's all the bacon over the weekend? Even low-sodium bacon has a lot of salt, and I'm salt-sensitive. Tomorrow's another day... hopefully a Push Day.
Dreary Monday
Norwegian 4x4 5 min w/u (4 min on / 3 min off) x 4 5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33 Calories 268 Miles 2.54 HR 134 (105-183)
HGPU 21 Push-ups 50 Crunches 30/30 Bicycles 50 Side Planks 2 x 60s Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
T-bar Row Bar x 20 reps 25lbs x 15 35 x 15 45 x 12, 15, 20
Seated Cable Rows (light) (Neutral Close Grip) 70 lbs x 12 reps 85 x 12 x 3 sets
Lat Pull Downs (~med neutral grip) 70lbs x 12 reps 85 x 12 x 3
I really need more sleep. Luckily we have nothing planned for this weekend, and it's the end of Daylight Savings so we get an extra hour on Sunday, not that we'll actually notice. Even my son told me this morning that when he got home after school, he planned to take a nap. My thoughts exactly. Of course, I'm still not getting a full 8 hours, and it shows in my face, especially under harsh lighting. Ugh.
I am sleeping better now that I'm remembering to take a capsule of Optimum Nutrition's ZMA an hour before bedtime. I use a free sleep tracking app called Sleep Cycle which gives me a semblance of proof that it's not just my imagination. Last night's Sleep Cycle app shows nothing but ridiculously deep sleep. That's kind of unnerving because it should be a series of hills and deep valleys. The more deep troughs, the better. Too many peaks means too much light sleep, which isn't very restful. Some people report extremely vivid dreams on ZMA, but I haven't noticed that. I'm lucky if I remember any dreams at all. Of course, if I get a chance to sleep a full 8 hours, I might actually remember.
With ZMA
I'm so impressed with how well ZMA works that I've recommended it to at least two other women at the gym who are also complaining about broken sleep. It seems to be epidemic among the middle age ladies who frequent my gym. (My hubs also had trouble getting to bed, but that's more because of his erratic work schedule than anything else. He's been reliant on antihistamine-based sleep aids which I dislike because they're combined with NSAIDs. Those have been linked to liver toxicity and muscle-repair inhibition. We've also got a bottle of melatonin on the counter, but I've never tried it.)
I think we'll all be sleeping in this weekend, and I don't care what all these idiot sleep scientists say about not being able to catch up on sleep. Their advice is ridiculously unhelpful: just go to bed earlier. Uh, and if that's not possible? Give us helpful advice for the real world, please!
Today is the Cardio Day I promised myself, not that I'm ever truly excited to make myself breathlessly sweaty. Okay, that's not true. The Dragon Island game on the Expresso Bike makes me happy, so I save that for last in my lineup of cardio exercises. The Octane is a good warm up because I'm still stiff and sore from the past few days. Plus, there's no one on it. Accessibility is key! All the treadmills are occupied, which is surprises me considering it's Friday. But it's also dreary, windy, rainy and yet, unseasonably warm at 64 F. Everyone looks like they're suffering from a Halloween hangover. It's probably just the anxiety fatigue we call life in modern times.
Sleep last night
The Step Mill is also empty, so I'm quite pleased. From this high perch, I can see that the Expresso Bikes are all being used. Hopefully, the one I like will be available by the time I'm done with dancing on the steps. Well, not actually dancing, but I like to change my footwork every 60 seconds. It keeps this exercise from feeling like trudging up the stairs for 20 minutes. The tall fellow on the machine next to me is doing just that, although at a slightly quicker pace. But because I'm alternating between side-steps, cross-steps and an angled push-pull step, I'm working up a good sweat. When I climb down, I see that the first Expresso bike, the one I like, is vacant. Yaaaay me!
I do fairly well on the bike, but of course, not as good as registered users. If I don't have to sign in with my name and phone number, then I don't. The only dragon game available to me is Dragon Island. There are others, but they require a login. I'm perfectly happy not having my name on the leader board. Sweat is literally pouring down my face as I exit the bike. I can taste and smell the ocean!
Even though it's not recommended to do pull ups every day, I do a set anyway. But I skip push ups and substitute elbow planks. Core also includes other planks, crunches and bicycles. And then the traditional stretch finish. I didn't braid my hair before clipping it up so I'm not surprised that I look so disheveled when I'm done. This workout has also taken longer than I expected. It was three 20-minute cardio workouts, which should total an hour, more or less. But there's stretching, core, and a few pistol squats just to see how they feel. My right thigh clenches more than the left, which seems odd. I'm a lot stronger on the right side than the left. Oh well... by the time I'm ready to leave the gym, it's been almost three hours and I can't really account for my time. I did chat with a friend in the locker room for a few minutes. Showering. Changing clothes. Ugh. Cardio Friday
20 min Octane Manual Level 1 Calories 130 Steps 2540 Miles 1.80 HR 139? Average 116 Max 151
20 min StepMill Level 3 Total steps 713 Floors 44 Calories 113 HR? 132
20 Expresso Bike Dragon Island Points 108,910 Calories 70 Miles 3.31
HGPU 21 Crunches 30/30 Bicycles 50 Elbow Plank 60s Side Planks 2 x 60s Bird Dogs 2 x 60s Pistol Squats 5 each leg
I decided to stop babying myself on the Nexersys and added a few rounds of Intermediate today. Of course, I had to subtract a few rounds of Beginner just so I wouldn't totally wipe myself out. It's no fun to completely deplete yourself in the name of health and fun.
Today's warm up is just 10 minutes on the elliptical, which is the bare minimum cardio-wise, but the baby bells and band pulls help to raise my heart rate. I'm so out of shape that last week's 7 rounds Beginner was quite exhilarating. Regaining my former cardio endurance is high on my priority list. Maintaining strength while I do it is also up there.
After three rounds of Beginner I'm really warm. My lungs burn a little. But I don't feel tired. Actually, throughout all 8 rounds, it's only my lungs that hurt occasionally. Between rounds, I'm breathing hard and blot my face with a towel. I manage not to drink the entire 20 oz of water I brought, but close. The Nexersys, true to form, refuses to register the Power Dig (because the sensor is broken) and sometimes Power Kicks and Sweeps. But the latter more sporadically. I have to aim low, below the X mark on the pad. Today I sound the Hitting Too Hard alarm only once. Sigh.
After I unwrap my hands, I steel myself for a few pull ups. It's always a test after doing a few rounds. To my relief, my biceps and back aren't really affected by all the punching and kicking. Those are more dynamic Push movements, not Pull moves. I actually consider Kickboxing Day to be on par with Push Day exercises, but with harder cardio moves. Stretching always feels good, even my lower back is okay. But I'm actually too tired to do core today. Tomorrow's another day, and probably a good time to do all those other cardio machines I hate, like the Octane, the StepMill and the Expresso Bike. Oh wait. I actually like the Dragon Island game on the bike!
Wacky Thursday
10 min elliptical Calories 88 Miles 0.80 HR 146 (max HR 188)
My routine is the same as last week: Octane, Step Mill and Expresso Bike. I finally figured out that the bonus treasure (worth 5000 points) boxes in the Dragons Island game actually regenerate not far from their origin point, which is marked by a beacon. Today, I use the magic portal to land on the island that contains the portal, then spend my time collecting coins that allow me to bag dragons. The blue and green dragons (500 & 750 points) aren't worth as much as the red coins (250) and dragons (1000), and the white coins and blue-silver dragons (1500). I used to wander around the island looking for more treasure box spots, but today I stay put, circling the beacon until I can pick up a total of 6 treasure boxes. Yaaay me.
