My first spin class (and no, I'm not talking yarn here)

Since I last posted, I biked with Andrea over in rolling hills - and she found new barf hills/mountains for us.  I pretty much forgot all about my rhythm breathing and just focused on gasping my way OUT of there!

I've kept up the running - looks like I'm developing the onset of another plantar fasciitis - doing everything on the earth to keep from that.  Lots more stretching, wearing corrective insoles and proper shoes, blah blah blah.  Stupid flat arch!

Did a good round of upper body - P90X chest and back - lots of push ups and pull ups.

And then, there was Saturday.  Andrea and I decided to do a spin class, a swimming lesson, and a leg workout.  No wonder I felt like lying in a prone position all day long Sunday.

Wow, this was a big spin crowd!  The thing that surprised me about this class was all the older people.  And by older, I mean older than me.  Like 50-60's age!  This gave me hope in two ways.  One - I figured I could hang with these people and not be embarrassed.  And two - I wanna be just like them when I grow up!!!  Fit, healthy, having a zest for life!

I was beside the heating/air system.  Which meant I was in charge of running it.  One old guy told me to crank the air.  It wouldn't work.  I thought maybe he was gonna smack me with his towel there for a second!  I kept after it for the first 30 minutes of the class.  By then, everyone was yelling at me.  I had a theory that if I kept running the cool fan setting, eventually the air would start working.  On my tenth try flipping the switch to cool air, it WORKED!  Everyone noticed almost immediately.  "Hey, there ya go!!" hollered the old guy.  A few more echoed his sentiments, and vigor was renewed.

Now about the actual ride.  I was all about riding 12 miles as fast as I could to see how long it would take me.  You may recall that I rode a stationary bike in the gym, but it wasn't a spin bike, which is much faster and more comfy.  For this reason, I didn't submit to the teacher's commands until I had my 12 miles in!  It took me about 24 minutes.  That's less than half what it took me on that stupid bike in the gym!  What a relief!!!  The rest of the ride was very enjoyable, I really liked spin class!  I guess this winter when the snow is piled high again, I'll go for more of those.

Next, the swimming lesson.  I was pouring the sweat trying to get into my swim suit.  That was a sticky hot mess, but even more ridiculous was me trying to get my rubber cap on.  That thing always gives me fits, I've seriously gotta get a nylon cap. After mashing it on my head for the third time, I came around the corner with my hair sticking out both sides looking like Bozo the clown!!!  We had a good laugh over that.  Don't worry, I fixed it in the mirror.

Our friend Wendy gave us some drills.  She said the upper body should be doing way more of the pulling, the legs - not so much. This is the one upper body exercise in the triathlon and we want to take full advantage of that, saving the legs for the biking/running. For this reason, she gave me some yellow triangle claw thingies to put on my hands. These babies push back large amounts of water, which makes you go so much faster! It made my arm have a better arch because I couldn't push it through the water, I had to raise the arm up and plunge it into the water. Apparently the goal is to get the elbow way up and reach down through the lats. I was dying by my third lap, but my legs were happy!  They were tired anyway.

Then she gave me a buoy, and I had way more success with this one than last time.  But first I had to remove the yellow triangles.  Which meant my arms had to do more work (my legs were not to move).  At first I thought I might drown because I was afraid to roll on my side to breathe.  Once Wendy explained to me that it was ok to roll and breathe, I finally settled down and got 'er done.

This guy named Tom was there watching us.  He is the iron man legend of the gym (which made me nervous).  He gave me some great pointers and actually complimented my form!  Wow.  You've come a LONNNNGGG way since January, baby!

Well after that the leg workout was next - leg press, leg extension, hamstring curls, hip abb/abd, etc.  You get the picture.  I was dripping wet again (from sweat) and I'd already dried off once from the pool!

I went home very satisfied with my work for the day.  Also very happy to take the next day off! I took a MAJOR nap on Sunday!