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I was walking home from the subway this evening at twilight, and saw a firefly. I was startled and thought it might be a random reflection from the stone wall (which contains mica), so I watched until it blinked again. Then I called ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cattitude, who was walking through the park to meet me, and told him to keep an eye out. I saw another firefly on the other side of the wall, half a block north (less surprising, since there's grass on that side), and then nothing until we rendezvous'd. Cattitude said he had seen a firefly, after getting my call and crossing the street; we saw another, or the same one again, when we got back to that bit of the park.
It's May. The very end of May, but still May. I've gotten almost used to how many things are flowering early, but the fireflies are still a surprise. (I suspect that, as with most of the flowers that bloomed early, the firefly season will end earlier than usual this year.)
I was on my way home from the gym, so here's the usual gym stuff:
Cardio, 30 minutes, top heart rate 149
Rolled out IT band etc.
Hamstring bridge, 4 sets of 9
Ab work on small ball, 3 sets of 10. I accidentally put that supporting ball lower down my back (closer to my feet) than I had been; I noticed this after the first set and asked Emilie if it was okay. She said it was fine, though more difficult, and hadn't said anything because she didn't want to discourage me. Since it was working, I left it there; I'd had no tension in the skin over my skull until then (something which happens annoyingly often when I do my ab work with my back and head up and feet on the floor), and had only a little in the second set.
Squats leaning on ball, 3 sets of 15
Calf raises leaning on ball, 3 sets of 15
Opposite arm/leg, 8 pairs (with a bit of wobbling partway through, which Emilie diagnosed as being because my hip was too high, so I had to keep an eye on that for the rest of the set)
Catch standing on the foam roller
Lunges, 10 with each foot forward (with a pause to stretch in the second half of that), then 6 each
Standing on balance platform:
Lat pulldown, 57.5 pounds, 2 sets of 12; 50 pounds, on one foot, 12 each
Hug a tree, 25 pounds, 3 sets of 12
Back exercise, 27.5? pounds (I'm doing this from memory, it might have been 35), 2 sets of 12, then one foot, 8 each
Triceps pulldown, 27.5? pounds (same weight as previous), I think this was 3 sets of 12, but there may have been some one-footing here
This week's new thing was getting onto the bosu (squishy balance thing) from the floor; we tried this two weeks ago and it didn't work, but I wore my new shoes, with better treads. I don't know if it's the shoes, but this time it went smoothly. For the moment, Emilie is holding her hands out, and I'm using them for support, but she says soon I'll be getting on there without help, while holding dumbbells. This time, I got on, she handed me the weights, and I did a bunch of biceps curls (10 pounds each hand, 2 sets of 15), then got off, and practiced the on-and-off a bit. And then I did one more set (same weights) as long as I was up there.
Finally, standing row (there was no suitable-sized ball handy to sit on), 30 pounds, 3 sets of 12. (Emilie first set it at my usual 40, but that was clearly too much; I guessed that the difference might be that I was supporting my whole body weight on my legs, rather than sitting and having it more spread out.
cattitude, who was walking through the park to meet me, and told him to keep an eye out. I saw another firefly on the other side of the wall, half a block north (less surprising, since there's grass on that side), and then nothing until we rendezvous'd. Cattitude said he had seen a firefly, after getting my call and crossing the street; we saw another, or the same one again, when we got back to that bit of the park.It's May. The very end of May, but still May. I've gotten almost used to how many things are flowering early, but the fireflies are still a surprise. (I suspect that, as with most of the flowers that bloomed early, the firefly season will end earlier than usual this year.)
I was on my way home from the gym, so here's the usual gym stuff:
Cardio, 30 minutes, top heart rate 149
Rolled out IT band etc.
Hamstring bridge, 4 sets of 9
Ab work on small ball, 3 sets of 10. I accidentally put that supporting ball lower down my back (closer to my feet) than I had been; I noticed this after the first set and asked Emilie if it was okay. She said it was fine, though more difficult, and hadn't said anything because she didn't want to discourage me. Since it was working, I left it there; I'd had no tension in the skin over my skull until then (something which happens annoyingly often when I do my ab work with my back and head up and feet on the floor), and had only a little in the second set.
Squats leaning on ball, 3 sets of 15
Calf raises leaning on ball, 3 sets of 15
Opposite arm/leg, 8 pairs (with a bit of wobbling partway through, which Emilie diagnosed as being because my hip was too high, so I had to keep an eye on that for the rest of the set)
Catch standing on the foam roller
Lunges, 10 with each foot forward (with a pause to stretch in the second half of that), then 6 each
Standing on balance platform:
Lat pulldown, 57.5 pounds, 2 sets of 12; 50 pounds, on one foot, 12 each
Hug a tree, 25 pounds, 3 sets of 12
Back exercise, 27.5? pounds (I'm doing this from memory, it might have been 35), 2 sets of 12, then one foot, 8 each
Triceps pulldown, 27.5? pounds (same weight as previous), I think this was 3 sets of 12, but there may have been some one-footing here
This week's new thing was getting onto the bosu (squishy balance thing) from the floor; we tried this two weeks ago and it didn't work, but I wore my new shoes, with better treads. I don't know if it's the shoes, but this time it went smoothly. For the moment, Emilie is holding her hands out, and I'm using them for support, but she says soon I'll be getting on there without help, while holding dumbbells. This time, I got on, she handed me the weights, and I did a bunch of biceps curls (10 pounds each hand, 2 sets of 15), then got off, and practiced the on-and-off a bit. And then I did one more set (same weights) as long as I was up there.
Finally, standing row (there was no suitable-sized ball handy to sit on), 30 pounds, 3 sets of 12. (Emilie first set it at my usual 40, but that was clearly too much; I guessed that the difference might be that I was supporting my whole body weight on my legs, rather than sitting and having it more spread out.
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