GymWatch

I know you're dying to know what's been happening at my gym, especially since I haven't really posted about working out since my Bay to Breakers recap and my labyrinth walk at the end of last month. While I haven't been lying on the sofa reading all this time, I haven't done much running...maybe about 8-10 miles a week. It just isn't feeling super good to run right now. I'm hoping that will change soon since I do have a half-marathon on the schedule for 8 weeks from now!

In the meantime, here's what I've been up to over the past 18 days:

• 1 bike ride for 30 minutes
• 1 hike for 90 minutes (Labyrinth hike)
• 1 run up and down Moeser (where I actually ran all but a very short bit) for 32 minutes
• 3 easy runs for a total of 100 minutes
• 7 ET/SM (not extraterrestrial/sado-masochistic but elliptical trainer/stairmaster) workouts for a total of 8 hours and 20 minutes
• 6 climbing sessions totaling just under 8 hours
• 5 days of doing nothing

Grand total of time spent working out equals 22 hours over the past 18 days (13 if you subtract the 5 days off). 

It hasn't all been nose-to-the-grindstone, blinders-on, ultrafocused. Probably only my 40-minute tempo workout would fall into that category. For some reason, that is the workout I struggle with the most ...most likely because it's ...ummm... hard. I hope it is supposed to be hard to hold one's heart-rate at >80% for an extended period of time because, for me, it is.

On to the fun stuff...

Smells in the gym are the worst. Who's with me on this? After being nuked by a fart from someone on a treadmill in front of me on a hot night when the fan was not turned on (why did no one else wilt from it? this, I do not know) and then being trapped next to the super STINKYPIT guy for 40 minutes while in the middle of an ET workout (with no other machines to move to...busy night) and then finding myself choked by cologne steamed up by the increase in body-heat and -moisture of the make-up lady on the adjacent stairmaster, I have concluded that intense physical effort heightens one's sense of smell...and compounds the power of odors exuding from one's body. Sort of a 'lose-lose' kind of thing. Short of wearing a gas mask or breaking into the gym after-hours when no one is there, there is no real way around this if you work out at a gym, so I must suck it up.

Tarzan now goes to my gym. And we are climbing partners...at least for the moment. I went to the gym to meet a new potential climbing buddy, and saw this guy with long flowing hair, somewhat chiseled features and a semi-vacant expression on his pleasantly smiling face. "Tarzan" was what instantly jumped to mind. He was who I was meeting. So we climbed a bit, and during the course of conversation he asks, "Hey! So did you ever see the Disney Tarzan movie?" I had. He then launched into this comparison of the Disney Tarzan and rope climbing with the kind of excitement and exuberance I often see in my 7- and 12-year olds. It was sort of endearing...in a really odd way. Anyway...watching him climb reminded me of Tarzan on crank. Where Tarzan is smooth and looks effortless, my climbing buddy works really hard and looks like he is working really hard. But he is quick and strong, using very little technique to get to the top of a wall and relying solely on speed and brute force in a desperate, panicky, survivalist sort of way. Quite impressive although not so pretty to watch.

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Big Fro Guy was there, too. But I didn't see him climbing. And he didn't have on a shiny purple suit. I have noticed that the really interesting people hanging out in the climbing areas of the gym are usually doing that and that alone...hanging out. Unless they are sneaking in a route when I'm not hawking them. Again, still feeling too awkward to pull out my camera and take my own pictures of these people. It would be rude, wouldn't it? I should heed those feelings of awkwardness...

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And now the best stuff...

New shoes!!! I've been renting climbing shoes for the past 3 months. I've probably spent the equivalent amount of money as I would have on a decent pair of my own shoes. When I walked in to the gym on Tuesday (to meet Tarzan) my climbing instructor was there working the desk. I handed her my money and asked for shoes and a harness. She looked at me sideways and mocked the fact that I didn't have my own shoes yet. Then she said, "OOoooooo...we have shoes on sale! OOoooooo...look at theeeeese.... Bandits!!!!!!!!! Ooooooo...." (She sometimes reads my blog, and I will bet she is laughing at that...because she really, really did say "ooooooooo" a lot in that one-sided conversation). Less than half-price. I would've been a fool not to buy them.

New climbing buddy :)  When I tried to schedule a climbing lesson, this conversation took place:

Instructor:  So...do you want to just climb?

Me:  Well...I really like what you teach me. I always learn so much.

Instructor:  Well...do you want to just climb as friends? I can still teach you stuff.

So I now have another new climbing buddy. This is a win/win. She gets to climb and I get to learn without paying any money. Watching her climb is like watching the real Tarzan...smooth, effortless, inspiring.

Not gym-related but pretty awesome nonetheless...

in the Parenting category

for my post entitled

The Mistaken Generosity of the Tooth-Fairy

The best, best stuff I've saved for last...

I plan on having a kick-ass weekend. Not really sure why it will be super kick-ass since there really isn't anything kick-ass on the calendar, but making it kick-ass...or allowing it to be kick-ass...is my mission.

Wishing a fantastic weekend for all of you :)

Making Changes that Work

The kids and I survived our wild New Year's Eve slumber party, and my husband's rendition of "If I Were A Rich Man" was a huge hit at the party he attended. We all brought in 2012 exactly how we wished. I think he might have liked less of a hangover, but he did get to spend New Year's Day laying very low for the most part...unlike me.

A few days ago I mentioned that I am re-learning how to run...again. After two mellow 3-mile runs in my new shoes with my new gait, I hit the trail yesterday for 8 brutal, hilly miles. I ran unbelievably slow but maintained my form the whole way. My schedule had 12-13 miles on it...which I set out to do...but I figured 8 miles holding my form with incredibly tight, sore calves while simultaneously working my quads, glutes, and hamstrings differently AND asking my feet to take the load in a new way was more than adequate. Plus it was getting dark and I was kind of nervous about being on the trail at night... alone ...except for maybe the coyotes, mountain lions, and serial killers.

It was the first 8 miles of this...

I knew I was going to want some crowd support on this run, so I asked my husband to drag the kids out to meet me at Mile 5...right before the biggest hill and the beginning of the 'turnaround' loop (the halfway mark is somewhere on this middle-of-nowhere loop). As I was running slower than usual and the sky was getting darker and darker and I was feeling more and more sore, I knew before I even saw them that 13 miles was not going to happen. It was so sweet to see them when I did :) They asked "Are you in a race, mom?" I said, "No, just practicing." Then I asked them to hang out for another half-hour while I did the loop so they could give me a lift back to the truck...I knew I was going to be toast by the time I finished that piece. They kindly obliged...so, yeah, a pussy pick-up. I am totally fine with that...I do believe an additional 5 miles would have had "INJURY" written all over it.

Now 14 miles into this shoe/gait change, my legs are really sore. All over. It is, however, that good kind of sore of muscles having worked hard and not the pain of injury. My hip is no more tender or sore after my run than before my run, which is very different from how things were using my old shoes and my old way of running. I do believe this indicates that these changes are working for my body :)

I've been rollling, Sticking, stretching, massaging, and icing my legs like there is no tomorrow. The soreness in my calves is starting to decrease some today...I think...a little.

Also on the topic of making changes, I made a New Year's Resolution... I now have a bedtime.

Do you do the resolution thing? 

In the beginning...

There were shoes. 

They were new.

They were good.

 So after making through a month in my ancient Asics, I splurged... new shoes.  I had forgotten how pricey these puppies are!  Ouch!  But after all that retail running store training I had a million years ago I know I needed to get them.  A sweet pair of Saucony ProGrid Ride 3.  I love 'em!  

So nice!

I am up to two miles without stopping now.  Woo hoo!  And I need to keep reminding myself, "baby steps, baby steps."  I have decided to do a timed mile run at the beginning of every month.  So funny... and not ha ha (though it actually may be to those who watch it)... literally trudging along for time!  The first one was on Saturday 10/2 and I sped over the distance in 8:45.  Heh heh... wonder how long it'll take to knock 3 minutes off that?  lol  And I am shooting for doing a 5K over Thanksgiving weekend.  Keeping my fingers crossed that the hip stays healthy!