Meet two more of my exercise supervisors. These cuties are Nathan and Daniel a.k.a. Motivation and Inspiration. We all need them!
I went in for my 3rd work out today and greeted Nathan with a big "There's My Motivation"! He held his arms wide and said, "Yep that's me!".
He told me that he had to do a BP check on me before we started my work out today. It wasn't too bad. 132 over high 70's something. It is a little unusual for me to have the top number in the 130's though. For years it's been in the 120's, then I volunteered at Pennington and it stays in the 130's. One of the program coordinators mentioned that I might have "white coat" syndrome which will cause it to rise a little. I told Nathan that it was cause I got to see his cute face today. He ducked his head and blushed saying, "Awwww". (I later learned he's only 20 and shamefully felt a bit creepy for being flirty with him! I'm way too old for that!!! Bad old lady! BAD old lady!!)
After the BP check, I hopped on the treadmill and got started. I was the only participant in the gym at that time and Nathan was chatty which I was glad for because it really kept my mind off all the numbers on the treadmill. You know, the Distance, Incline, Speed, Calories burned, etc. numbers.
On the wall in front of my treadmill is an RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) chart. It has smiley faces on it with a scale from 6 - 20 with 6 being "no exercise, couch potato" and 20 being "Somebody better catch me, I'm about to pass out." When I'm working out, Nathan or Daniel will periodically ask me how hard I'm working. I'm supposed to point at the chart or grunt or something to indicate where I think I am. I'm usually at 12 - 13 which is more like a "moderately working" but not quite "labored". I try to stay in that zone for the duration of the workout. Daniel (Inspiration) explained the chart thing to me last time saying that generally, my heart rate will be equivalent to the chart. For example, resting heart rate is about 70 - 80ish but during my workout it'll get up to 127 - 130 which is around the 12 or 13 mark. If I'm at 14, then my heart rate might be 140 and so on and so forth.
This morning, I started out feeling soreness in my hamstrings and calves due to my Father's Day craft this weekend. I spent a lot of time bent over upside down and stretching to each project station while working with the kids. About halfway into the workout, my calves started burning bad. The incline hadn't changed so I couldn't figure out why I was having this discomfort. Then it dawned on me that I hadn't worked out in 2 days. So, I'm thinking that's why I was burning like that. It was so nice to have Nathan there to chat so he could take my mind off of it and I could finish without any issues. The soreness is still there but I predict it will dissipate next week or so. At least I hope it does. I can't imagine staying sore all the time for the rest of my exercising life!
After the workout, Nathan told me he had to take my BP again. This time it was 142/82. He didn't seem concerned and said it had risen a little just from the workout.
I plan to go back on Wednesday donning a party hat in celebration of my birthday. I'm also making a motivation poster to just stick on the mirror in front of my treadmill. It'll have sayings on it like, "You gotta sweat like a pig to look like a fox!" and "Just keep walking, Just keep walking" and "Put one foot in front of the other ..." and "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!"
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