After taking two days off I’m back in the swing of things! I met up with Rich and Dominique on the boardwalk Friday night for a run. They’re both way better runners than I am and I kept up their pace as long as I could before I asked them to slow down a bit. I start my run from my front door at the end/beginning of the boardwalk and they come from mid-boardwalk so by the time I ran into them (I’m not sure if a pun is intended) I was roughly halfway through my 30 minutes.
I met up with Rich specifically because he believes my shoulder problem is coming from my mechanics. He’s probably right and just before I turned to head home we stopped and he showed me how my arms should be coming through the water. At least I’m learning technique early in the training process. It gives me time to work on it and improve. He says I should be using my hips to glide through the water instead of pulling with my arms. I’m still not sure how that makes me move forward.
According to my training schedule, I’m supposed to swim today but I don’t want to swim until Tuesday. Barbara is our swim coach that night and I hear she’s excellent. I’d like her to watch me in the water and let me know what I can do better. I’m in no rush to have a repeat of the pain I went through last week. I never realized how important it is to have full range of motion in my shoulders. So off today and tomorrow and then swim and run on Tuesday.
Yesterday was our first spin class together. I rolled out of bed at 5:30am to make it to the class by 6:40am. Brutal! Jose is our spin instructor and it was a full class. I saw some teammates and met a new one as well, Shari. I figured the bikes would already be in place and all we had to do was pick one and adjust it. Nope. They’re piled in a corner of the room and we have to wheel it into place and then set it all up. I grabbed one and got on with it. I was wearing my padded bike shorts for extra comfort but on this day not even they would help. The seats on spin bikes are torture devices designed buy a sadist. It’s beyond me that they don’t have any padding at all. We have the technology. If we can send people into outer space why can’t we build a better bike seat? Everyone says I’ll get used to it but I’m already shopping for new things to make my butt happier.
My first spin class ever was underwhelming. We pedal. We stand up and pedal. We sit down and pedal. We go fast. We go faster. Even faster. We slow down. Adjust the resistance here and there and voila. At the end of an hour I’ve gone nowhere and my ass and quadriceps hurt like hell. I would much rather ride outside but I’m sure there is a benefit to these classes. Build up endurance and all that. Of course there was “that guy” in the class and as is normal he was next to me. He kept screaming like he was at a Rolling Stones concert or something. “Yeah, boys! Keep it going!!! We can get up this hill!!” I’ll have to make sure not to be near him next time.
After spin class I decided I would do yoga. Hot yoga, of course. This is done in a 105-degree room with 40% humidity for 90 minutes. It really helps with flexibility, breathing and balance and I love how sweating moisturizes my skin and helps with the winter dryness that I hate so much. I got through most of the class but after not doing it for so long it was like my first class all over again. Lots of Savasana. I plan on going weekly and hopefully can sneak in a class during the week after work.
Today, Sunday, we’re having Thanksgiving dinner at my brother’s house. There was concern that Aubri wouldn’t be able to celebrate with the family on Thursday and so we’re all gathering today instead. It works out well for me since I decided to go away for the holiday this year. My family got a bit too big to fit us all in one house and we don’t really get together much anymore. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the kids and wish my younger sister, Deena, could bring up her brood from down south.
Overall it was a really good weekend as far as working out. Bree sent me a great spreadsheet to track my training and it’s really helpful. I know my pace, calories burned, etc. Since I don’t have my computer on my bike yet I have no way of tracking distance but I plan on getting that all fixed after I start the new job. My next spin class isn’t for two weeks and my butt is extremely grateful but I have a feeling it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
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