I am blogging this blog from that fantastic hazy post bike ride mental place. How is that possible, you might ask? It's just too chilly to ride outside. No one has built her a personal indoor cycling park. Perhaps Rice has been hitting the tiger blood?
No tiger blood, let me assure you.
This morning was the Riverfront YMCA Cycle-a-Thon. Cycle-a-thons have been going around the metro YMCAs like a bad case of giardia. Most are fundraisers, but not Riverfront. Their cycle-a-thon was a "fun raiser." And it was.
Tomoko, super spin instructor, brought fruit and quiche and bottled water and played waitress to all the intrepid cyclists who started spinning their wheels at 8am and didn't stop until 11am. She handed out fresh towels while 5, count e'm, 5 instructors including "Dina the Destroyer" handed out @sses.
Cycle-a-thon was just what the doctor ordered.
Yesterday, I met Gwyn at Riverfront for a workout. She was there training the trainers (that's how bad ass she is). She put me through the usual paces, but Friday's workout was the first time in a long time that a Gwyn workout felt not just hard, but nearly impossible. Worse, we did some stretching and crunching in the "hall o' mirrors"--a tiny room off the Post-Soviet weight room.
Gwyn was trying to teach me some "body awareness." There some sort of thoracic muscle thing that runs along the pelvic. All that muscle does is help you breath, but it also needs to be worked out when working on abdominal. Pushing abs out, rather than down, says Gwyn, is the key to a strong core.
I was struggling. I was having a really hard time finding this little guy and keeping it taut. Gwyn was patient but firm as she made me do this weird little pelvic thrusts without using my legs. I just kept doing it wrong.
Meanwhile, this 20-something fella with a six pack who's shirt kept flying off was working out next to us. When I looked around, all I saw were hundreds of reflections of my gut. I am not going to lie, I was near tears. Tears of frustration and disappointment. Tears of letting myself get so far off track. Gut and pelvic and thoracic tears.
I didn't cry, but I did get homework.
3*45 minutes of cardio
continue my Activ-trax
10min/day Body Awareness: 5 min crunch and 5 min reverse crunch
write it down--record
Last year at this time, I would have been ashamed to have only completed 3*45 minutes of cardio in a week. Then I saw the poster for the Cycle-a-thon. Last year, at this time, I only did 2-hours of the cycle-a-thon, so there.
My goals for last week were not achieved. My vitamin-nausea lead to actual nausea. I think I contracted some sort of flu-thing. Apparently my flushness was not my lack of fitness but some sort of 48 hour bug. Take that old lady! I got horizontal as much as possible Monday and Tuesday and recovered, but I didn't get as far on my goals as I would have liked.
Drink a gallon of water--5 days--my best was 3/4 of a gallon 3 days a week.
5 "real workouts"--I got three.
5 "extreme dog walks"--neither extreme nor 5, but we went out three times so far.
5 days of calorie tracking--nope.
5 blogs--as you see.
What are goals if not for breaking? All of this is about being healthy, but also having a healthier lifestyle. In keeping with the life and the style, maybe I need to just have more fun, follow my bliss, as the new-agers say. Maybe I need to ride my bike if that makes me happy.
So, I am working on a super-secret-just-an-idea goal.
So, I want a new bike. I want a new bike so bad that I almost got carried away with Bike World sale fever and bought a Trek Madone 5.2 that I can't really afford. But, I called in the advice of the Bike Committee and they talked me out of it.
It wouldn't have been right to buy that bike. For one, I need to work on the motor. For two, I want the buying of a new bike to be special, a reward for a job well done. Here's what I am thinking. I've been wanting a one at the beginning of my weight for a long time. I've gotten close, but no cigar. Here's my deal to myself. When I get a one as the first digit of my weight, I get a new bike.
I've got my eye not on a super-fancy road bike, but another little treasure. If I wait and work, well then it will be special and I can keep it in my pants, fiscally speaking.
The more I think about this plan, the more I like it. I don't want to jinx it, but that foggy post-bike ride bliss feels a little bit like the end of my fitness ennui. We'll see.
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