Caution (Keep Clear of Moving Parts)

Tuesday marked the first workout* in probably two months in which I felt normal - alert, strong, full of energy, like my cogs were finally teeth-aligned again. I blasted through no problem, felt like I could easily have kept going when I finished. Awesome! And crazy, because I had just played Ultimate the night before, rather hard Ultimate with about 18-20 guys total at practice, some of whom were injured - I mean, even more than I - so I didn't get to take it as easy there as I would have liked. Whatever, we'll take it! Combine all of that with yet another "well, all of your tests are normal" call from the doc, and I had the crazy notion that a corner was being turned...

* - Here's a typical workout - remember that I tried to move everything into one day so I can just go the gym a couple of times per week. I do a lighter weights workout on the weekend and fill in other days with running / Ulty / what have you, but this way I don't feel compelled to get up and run to the gym before work at 6 AM every single stupid morning.

10 minute elliptical warm-up

25+15+12+10 = 62 bicep curls

25+15+12+10 = 62 wrist curls
40+35+30+30 = 135 tricep pushups
25+15+12+10 = 62 reverse wrist curls
120+80+60 = 260 bicycle abs
15+10+10 = 35 reverse sit-up w/ extensions
25+25+20 = 70 reverse sit-ups
15+12+10+8+4 = 49 bench presses
12+10+8 = 30 upright rows
50+50+50 = 150 leg presses
20+20+20 = 60 c-chair straight leg raises
20+20+20 = 60 c-chair bent raises
20+20+20 = 60 calf raises
15+15+12+12+10+10 = 74 ab twists
15+15+12 = 42 seated resistance ab curls
30+30+30 = 90 triple threats
35+35+35+35+35+35 = 210 single leg presses
25+24+22 = 71 calf raises
20+20+20 = 60 ab-ball sit-ups
12+10+8 = 30 bicep curls
12+10+8 = 30 tricep extensions

30 to 60 minutes elliptical, depending how I'm feeling / time I have.

Stretch

Por supuesto no - I got to the gym early Thursday morning before work - after having taken it relatively easy Wednesday with no real exercising to speak of, just a sushi* date with my lovely wife and some dog-walking - and stepped on the treadmill for my warm-up, only to recognize within two seconds that it was no-go day. Actually, not a "no-go day," just a back to slightly off day, with enough energy in the tank to get the workout done, but not enough to do it with a joie de vivre.

* - Yes, the rumors are true - I let Beck take me sushiing. We had miso soup, gyoza/pot stickers (that inspired the aforelinked meal Thursday night), edamame, and tuna/yellowfish/salmon nigiri. I enjoyed the gyoza and edamame quite a bit, and I'd say I *liked* the sushi, and by far *liked* the salmon the best. I emphasize "like" because it was fine, even good when dipped in either soy sauce or the teriyaki-ish sauce they provided for the gyoza - but I just can't get over the price for such a slight amount of food. I know I wouldn't like anything roll-ish, either. Anyways... I suppose I now have another thing I can enjoy with the Beck, which is great, but I can't say I'd ever actively pursue it of my own accord, unlike many of the other things I have also tried** and enjoyed lately.

** - It occurs to me that I've basically had a wacky "try new foods" personality change that has accompanied vague malaise symptoms. Hmmm, adding that to the symptom stack should make for some interesting WebMD-ing. But wait, cuckoo bananas wasn't even originally in the differential!

I was pretty dejected by the return to lack-of-form, though, and really tempted just to go back to the locker room and head back to the office. But if twenty seven years of athletic endeavors have given me one (questionably stupid) habit, it's the powering through. Beck has (smartly) recommended that I ease back into things, so rather than jump in headstrong, I modified my workout and decided to at least get my cardio in (lest my Ultimate legs fall off in the month before Sprawl's first big tourney). Normally I do a seriously high resistance workout on the elliptical involving intervals - on a one to twenty scale on the machine, a sixty minute session looks like this in two minute spurts:

10,14,11,15,12,16,13,17,14,18,15,19,16,20,16,20,16,20,16,20,16,20,16,20,16,20,16,20,16,20

followed by a two to three minute cooldown. The last bit of alternating between 16 and 20 requires all kinds of little tricks to push through - I take my pulse, I count strides, I calculate my calorie-burning pace in my head, etc., basically anything to keep myself from sitting there and solely counting seconds. The ellipticals have TVs attached, which sometimes helps a little (I can watch Sportscenter, or at least have it running in the background) and lately has been great with the morning World Cup matches. And MUSIC - I need some particular albums* to get me through a tough run, and it's not obvious what the shared trend is other than that they're familiar and I've run to them in the past. Whatever's going on, they get the job done, and if I need extra oomph with, say twenty minutes to go, I throw one of these on:

Outkast - Speakerboxxx

Green Day - American Idiot

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

Weezer - Weezer (The Blue Album)

* - The best weight-lifting album, it turns out, is Tuftsmen buddy Mike Bright's band Crisis Bureau's original demo plus Watchword. I've had it pop up on shuffle in the middle of a hard set and suddenly it's guaranteed super-strength. Unbelievable. I hear "IF ... YOU ..." and go all Hulk. Nay, I go all Sparkle - even scarier.

Those are just the ones in the rotation lately. I have to be careful with those, though, as overlistening to an album can easily strip it of its power-through power, and the last thing I want is to need a push and suddenly get nothing from my iPod. So on Thursday, knowing I wasn't going to be doing as hard of a cardiofest - in fact, here's what I did in three minute intervals instead:

8,10,12,14,16,14,16,18,16,18,20,18,16,18,16,14,16,18,16,14*

* - The earlier has 498 points of resistance x 2 minute intervals = 996 "resistance-minutes;" this has 308 x 3 minutes = 924 resistance minutes. Okay, that doesn't seem like much, but mainly this one just didn't involve grinding away at max resistance alternating with the still high 16 resistance for the last half an hour, so it felt a lot easier. Math seems to have failed me here, which maybe tells me that "resistance-minute" is a useless unit.

I put on a familiar but not go-to album, the Grateful Dead's Europe '72. But for whatever reason, I could stop counting the minutes - the music wasn't working. Nothing was working, actually, none of my go-to tricks could keep my eyes off the timer - I just wanted to call it a day, so aggravated at my renewed lack of energy. So I said screw the album and just put my Dead collection on shuffle. After adjusting the iPod without breaking stride - a neat trick - I stared down at my feet, away from the screen, determined to come up with something that would get me through. And I saw a small label:

Caution! Keep Clear of Moving Parts

complete with small man being dismembered in a disastrous elliptical accident. This sticker was on the base of the machine in a spot nearly impossible to see unless you were doing exactly what I was doing - ellipticking and starting at your feet to make the time pass. The situation depicted was ludicrous; someone would have to crawl in between your legs to look at the machine while you were ellipticking, not to mention he/she would not be able to see that sticker until it was too late. So I was contemplating what would inspire someone to make this sticker and place it right there when I realized what was playing on the iPod ... and if you're a Dead fan, you see this coming:

"Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)"

And so, that day's power-through power came via the absurdity of Dead/safety-sticker synergy. I started laughing, which gave me the boost I needed - not only got through the cardio, but did a weight workout afterwards, too. Inspiration, strange places, etc. Yet another small victory for the Nyet over... I don't know over what, exactly.