That's Hot

     Things have been a bit topsy-turvy as of late. Frank's dad was diagnosed with moderate Alzheimer's and to say that our lives have changed is an understatement. We travel to his house every weeknight to cook and eat dinner with him and get him hunkered down for the night. On the weekends, Frank brings him back here to spend the day with us and then we bring him home at night. Eventually, Frank will hopefully be home every day with him, but it won't be any less hectic. We're not really looking past the next couple of months right now. Hopefully, medication will slow any progression.
   In the meantime, we're all adjusting and doing the best that we can. Quite frankly, I suppose I could work out at 8pm but I truly don't feel like it. Right now, I'm working out when I can and I'm OK with that. 

     I'm still doing the challenge, it's just probably not going to be the prescribed 2 days on, one day off. I'll keep at it until I hit 10,000. Here's tonight's work:

10,000 SWING KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE (35LB)

Each cluster tonight consisted of:

10 swings, 10lb triceps kickbacks x2

15 swings, kickbacks x3

25 swings, kickbacks x5

50 swings

STARTING TIME: 4:10pm

Cluster 1:

Time: 4:04 min
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 2:

Time: 4:05 min.
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 3:

???

I didn't hit start on my timer! 
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 4:

Time: 4:35 min
Rest: 2 min

Cluster 5:

Time: 4:08 min

ENDING TIME: 4:42pm

     Total time tonight was 32 minutes. I'm surprised by that because it definitely felt slower than that. It was 82° in the hallway and 81% humidity. I am a sweaty, stinking mess. I had 2 fans pointed at me and I still felt like I was on fire. It sucked. Don't ask me how I made it in 32 minutes. I screwed up the timer on cluster 3 because I didn't tap correctly on my touch pad. 

     I still haven't lost any significant weight. Sometimes the scale is down 5lbs, sometimes it's back up to my starting weight. What I have noticed is that my rolls are slightly smaller lol. Hey, I'll take any progress that I can get. 

     I've been intentionally staying away from any squat type movements to save wear and tear on my knees. They've been ok except for tightness in my left knee - it feels like someone poured super glue in it. It's also swollen on most days, but not so much that I can walk. Just another thing to be mindful of. 

     Although it was a tough go tonight, I'm glad that I did it. 4000 swings in the books.

Brought To You By The Letters WTF

     Tonight was rough. I didn't work out on my vacation time because of some family issues. I didn't want to let today to pass without doing it so I forced myself down into the dungeon. Not only is it hot out, but the humidity is also disgusting. We've gone well past soupy and into the stewy category of air quality. It was a little cooler downstairs, but not much and it was still muggy as hell. 

     I'm not sure if that was affecting my brain, but I totally lost count on the swings and the accessory reps on the second cluster. My mind wandered somewhere. I also couldn't decide what accessory I wanted to do, but I settled on Zottman curls. To top it all off, I didn't take note of the finishing time, but I can get a rough estimate from my cluster times. Here's tonight's work:

10,000 SWING KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE (35LB)

Each cluster tonight consisted of the following:

10 swings, 15lb Zottman curls x2

15 swings, curls x3

25 swings, curls x5

50 swings

Starting Time: 5:26pm

Cluster 1:

Time: 3:55 min
Rest: 4 min

Cluster 2:

Time: 5:05 min ????
Rest: 4 min

Cluster 3:

Time: 3:53 min
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 4:

Time: 4:01 min
Rest: 4 min

Cluster 5:

Time: 4:03 min

ENDING TIME: approx. 6:02pm

     If my addition is correct, then I came in at around 36 minutes tonight. It felt like I was moving OK, not super powerful or anything, but OK. My back was jacked up from sleeping on a crappy mattress this weekend and I could barely walk this morning. It seems to be doing fine right now, but the real test will be tomorrow morning. There's a funny little pain in my wrist while swinging, but I think that just may be normal wear and tear and muscles working that aren't used to working. Or it could be me just getting old. It could possibly be both. 

     On a quirky side note, my callouses are back and now big enough that they need to be sanded / trimmed to avoid being torn. I realize most women are not proud of calloused hands, but I am. I always have been. Strong hands are important. 

     Well, I guess I'll go throw some meat onto the grill. It's too hot to do any cooking inside. We bought some steaks this weekend to cook over the fire, but never got a chance to, so I might as well get them cooked tonight. Never waste good meat!

Progress On The Clock

     Another 500 is in the bag baby! I'm feeling a little discouraged tonight. I'm not sure why because I'm faster tonight than all previous nights and I felt much stronger in the swings. I guess I'm just not seeing any physical progress. The weight loss is minimal, my clothes are still fitting the same and I still look like holy hell. I guess we can use the old crutch of age - I'm not as young as I used to be, but that just makes me more depressed. Anyhow, here's what got done tonight:

10,000 KETTLEBELL SWING CHALLENGE (35LB)
Each cluster tonight consisted of the following:

10 swings, 10lb db lat raises x2

15 swings, lat raise x3

25 swings, lat raise x5

50 swings

STARTING TIME: 5:27pm

Cluster 1:

Time: 3:39 min
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 2:

Time: 3:35 min
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 3:

Time: 3:43 min
Rest: 4 min

Cluster 4:

Time: 3:29 min

Rest: 4 min

Cluster %;

Time: 3:29 min

ENDING TIME: 5:57pm

     The total time tonight came in at 30 minutes. I've cut 8 minutes from my starting time. That's a good thing! But I still feel like a hot turd. I don't know how I managed to do it so quickly (for me) tonight. I just pushed myself. I figured I would go hard for the first cluster and then back off, but I didn't, I just kept going. 

     I'm going away for the holiday weekend, but I'm bringing the bell with me. Tomorrow is my rest day, which actually works out because it's a long drive and then we have to unpack and such. Friday and Saturday I'll be back at it and then home on my next rest day. It worked out pretty well, I'd say. I was going to say, "screw it" and just skip it all until Monday, but I didn't want to cheat myself. I've been doing too much of that lately; too much letting myself slide and not holding my own feet to the fire. I see too many people talking a good game, but their actions show them to be lazy, undisciplined slackers. I don't want to be "one of those people". 

I'll be swinging on my vacation!

     Food today was OK:

regular coffee, pumpkin protein shake, sweet potato hash, banana, ice water, salad w/quinoa and ham, grapes, orange. I'm honestly not sure what dinner will be. I'm trying to make something that won't dirty a lot of dishes or take a lot of time. I think I'll be sautéing some shrimp with veggies. 

It Was Lyrical

     Tonight was a tough one. I'm not sure if I'm just hitting a speed bump or what, but my body was tired tonight. Sunday I talked a little about the mental games I play to get through each session. Tonight, I was most definitely pulled through by my playlist. I'm fairly certain each song on each of my 2 training playlists has some sort of deeper meaning for me other than I just like the way it sounds. It makes it easier to hook into that song and let it drive you through the tough spots. 

     Tonight was also a comedy of mishaps to begin with. The past 2 sessions, I've worked out upstairs in the hallway. It's not quite as dungeony as the basement! The problem is the dog. Sunday he stayed out of the way and just slept in the bedroom. I made sure to face the doorway so I coud see if he came out. He didn't - he had a good sleep. Tonight was a different story. He wanted to be inthe hallway with me. Mr. Clingy just stood there, looking at me, wondering if we were going to do something fun. I gave him some duck jerky (at least that's what the package said), and put him on the couch. As was going well during the first cluster until the bright boy decided he would walk straight at the big black thing that mommmy was swinging in the air. I stopped well before there was any issue of him getting hurt, but that was my sign that he needed to be outside. After that, all was smooth. Smooth until I forget to set my stop watch during one of the clusters. Oh well. Adversity builds character.

10,000 SWING KETTLEBELL CHALLENGE (35lb):
The first two clusters tonight consisted of the following:

10 swings, 10lb triceps extension x2

15swings, tri. ext. x3

25 swings, tri. ext. x5

50 swings

The last three clusters consisted of:

10 swings, 10lb kickbacks x2

15 swings, kickbacks x3

25 swings, kickbacks x5

50 swings

START TIME: 5:29pm

Cluster 1: 

Time: 4:24 min
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 2: 

Time: 4:21 min
Rest: 3 min

Cluster 3:

Time: ?
Rest: 4 min

Cluster 4:

Time: 4:02 min
Rest: 4 min

Cluster 5:

Time: 4:48 min

ENDING TIME: 6:02 pm

     Even with not knowing the time on that 3rd cluster, I still finished 2 minutes quicker than Sunday. I suppose that's a positive. I did make use of a sugar free Rockstar Energy drink. Who knows if it actually gave me energy. It was nasty. It tasted like cough medicine, and I have no idea how people drink those things on a regular basis.

    Now what about that music? Welp, here's the links to a few of the songs that got me through tonight:

Could Have Been Me - The Struts

Stronger - The Score

A Warrior's Call - Volbeat

     If you're on Spotify and want to see my playlists, here are the links:

                                            Training - Heavy

                                            Training - Light

     As the names suggest, one has some heavier rock vibes that I use for heavier weights and the other has lighter, more upbeat music that I use on lighter weights. Don't judge how my brain works lol. 

     As far as food today, here's what I had:

regular coffee, sweet potato/sausage hash, ice water, hot tea, chicken/veggie patty with cheese, graham crackers w/ricotta & honey. 

     I haven't had dinner yet, but it's probably going to be a grilled sandwich of some sort with veggies. Or maybe I'll just do a salad with meat. Fruit salad for "dessert".