Day 4

A little bit more of a mixed bag today. 

I went to bed feeling iffy, and woke the same way.  Many of my distant advisers confirmed that this can be normal especially when exercise has been heavy.  Doc confirmed all of your beliefs, not that I didn't put my absolute faith in you, but I didn't! Ha!  After breakfast and one class on vitamins and minerals, I was feeling clammy and light headed, so I blew off water aerobics (I know you are sad about this, as was I) but I thought I should get checked out.  It is really nice having medical people instantly accessible to you.  Anyhow,  It turns out my BP dropped hard to 108/58.  It sprang back up to 136/64 which is a lot more normal.  Don't let anyone tell you that diet and exercise don't affect this...holy crap! 

So, I was told to take an easier day and not push myself, which was perfect as it turns out because the Low BP apparently saps your energy away and all I felt was tired.  That, however, did not stop me!  I met with my Physiologist for a one on one with some strength training routines that I can perform and put together a plan for me to work on when I'm not doing the cardio stuff.  Basically, the cardio is everyday for an hour minimum, (it is pretty easy to do more once you sign up for classes),  the Strength training will be every other day.

There are many exercises that seem very straight forward and reasonable.  Others, well, quite frankly, there are some that lead your thinking to other "kinds" of exercise.  Today there was pelvic thrusting, arching and something called opening the clam (which was the oblique killing event from yesterday, on your side, knees and ankles together, lifting both ankles off the floor and then opening your knees while holding your ankles up and together....pure masochism) Try it and head for the ibuprophen bottle.  Needless to say, these are visuals that I'd like to wipe from my own mind's eye...yet sadly, I get to do it in front of a gi-nourmous mirror, so they are pretty much etched in my head.  My capable instructor needed to be reminded that I had no pre-ordained definition to a "pelvic scoop".  I rarely consider my pelvis, no less scooping with it.

Then I pushed myself against recommendations and took an aerobics class.  Holy Crap!!  I'm a strong man.  Underneath the flab, I've always had a strong frame and large muscle mass (they tell me it is still there), and in certain situations, I can be quite powerful and strong.  Now, aerobics I have learned, is a word synonymous with "OMFG, I can't believe how much pain you will be in shortly".  Yet, when they say it, it sounds so lyrical and airy, that you lower your guard and agree to participate.  Ok.  I surrender.  Ouch.  Ladies, I've always made a gender faux pas in my head as I have only ever known women to participate in such classes.  I now know that you are, by far, the stronger sex.  Anyone who incorporates this into thier own work out on a regular basis, I am humbled by your strength and I apologize.  This class, although littered with people older than I, challenged my being with voracity.  I'm sore in places that I am convinced I've never felt prior.   Wow.  just saying.  Wow.

The morning vitamin and mineral class was actually revealing.  I am stunned by what they still do not know about what vitamins  do and don't do.  There seems to be a ton of controversy.  What I walked away with is a multivitamin does not always do what you want it to do.  Vitamin C, no matter how much you take, has no proven effect on the common cold and the body will only hold 250mg of it...so don't bother taking 1000mg, you'll literally piss it away...  There were some things I've leaned.  Vitamin D and Calcium are two that we need to take as they are not present in our normal food supply.  Vitamin D, surprisingly, not delivered by the sun in November and December above the latitude of Atlanta, and you'd have to drink 6 glasses of milk a day to get the RDA amounts.  Same with calcium, just not found in our food supply in enough quantity.  Lastly, to you vegans, and you know who you are, you probably know this already, but B-12 is a really big deal for you.  I found it interesting.

Got my labs back, and all LDL, HDL, Triglycerides, glucose among the myriad of other all came back stunningly normal, so that was a good thing. 

Also, had a weird mind/body class....a little bit too "cum bey yah" (sp) for me, but I'll save that topic for a slow day.  Feelings, emotions.... icky stuff... blah.