An Open Letter To Running

Dear Running,

I have tried to love you, you know I’ve tried. I just can’t seem to make this work between us.

I’ve tried so much to love you that 5 years ago, I signed up to do you for 13.1 miles! For charity!

I remember someone telling me how amazing their experience with you through Team In Training was. They told me they were just a beginner and that they fell in love with you, Running. LOVE! They also said they were in the best shape of their life and that after Team in Training, they would continue to see you. Plus, an added bonus of weight loss and muscle toning. So I joined and I ran. And I got new shoes and all the belts and protein bars needed for long distance running. Everyone was so encouraging, even though I was slow. I had a coach who was amazing and would meet me at unGodly hours of the morning to go for runs in the park. I should have fallen in love. But I never felt the runners high, never. I never had that out of body experience that so many runners talk about. I hated you. I loathed you. And once that half marathon was over, I swore I would NEVER see you again.

Through most of the different workouts I have tried, I have managed to avoid you. Then I started Class Pass and met The Sweat Garage. And I love that place. I’ve been there twice already. Everyone remembers your name and is encouraging and they play Britney Spears songs! But you’re there. For intervals of 6 to 9 minutes. And I’m trying, again, to love you. To embrace speed. But my knees hurt and I can’t breathe and I hate you even more.  And I know that it is for short bursts of time, but you make me feel terrible. Inside and out. Because despite the training I did, despite any weight fluctuations, I cannot beat you. I cannot be good at you and I cannot win with you. And that makes me want to quit everything. To walk out of class and grab a chicken biscuit from the food truck that is parked outside (WHY?! God, WHY?!) and sit in my car and cry.

But you are a neccessary evil in some ways. Sprinting is one of the quickest ways to accelerate one’s heart rate and in interval training, that is key.  And interval training is one of the best and fastest ways to burn calories.

I wanted to write a breakup letter to you and swear you off forever, but like a famous gay cowboy once said “I wish I knew how to quit you”.  You keep popping into my life. I have to think it’s for a reason. So I’m going to let you stay, but I don’t have to like you. And maybe that is what this letter is for, Running. I will admit you are good in small doses, but you are not my workout soulmate, you are not the exercise that was meant for me. And that is finally okay.

Love Tolerantly Yours,

Becky

 

Spin’s a Game

So Tuesday this week, I went to Flyweel for the third of my spin classes through Class Pass.

I can’t tell you how much I loved it.

It has the dark, in your own space, club fun feel of Soul Cycle, the positive vibes of YAS, and the tough instructor like Cycle House. She talked exactly the right amount, her music was ON POINT (at one point she played the theme to “Greatest American Hero” and then a mashup of “Happy”, “Talk Dirty” and “Turn Down for What”).

A new thing for me was the electronic bike. She would shout out numbers and when you turned up the resistance it had a number value. It also showed you the RPM’s as well. So she would say “I want you between 30 to 33 resistance at a speed of 55-60”. And I knew exactly want to do. It was great. I had goals and numbers and it was like playing a video game in a way. So much so that at the end of class they post power rankings. You have to be a member of their website to have them posted and you can opt out (which I think I would) but it was nice to see that judging by what my bike said versus others on the board, I did okay. I mean, there is DEFINITELY room for improvement. But I really walked out of there feeling good. The bonus of being registered online is going back and looking at all your past performances so you can see how you did.

Oh, and the shoe rental is free.

We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Towel

Still trying to catch you guys up on what classes I’ve done so far.

Monday was hot fusion yoga at Earth’s Power Yoga.

It’s a pretty self explanatory workout. Yoga, in a hot room. Okay, I’ll give you a little more there.

It was a dark room with projections of nature all over the wall, so it was like you entered this immersive experience. And that was very cool. No distractions, just you and yoga and the ten gallons of sweat you release.

I’ve done yoga before. I used to go to Yoga To The People in New York when I lived there. And while it wasn’t billed as hot yoga, due to the massive amount of people that came to this donation based studio, it got pretty hot. And since it was cheap and close to grad school, I went a lot. So I got pretty decent at yoga.

I’ve always been flexible, even in my worst shape I can still do the splits and crazy heel stretches.  But strength and balance are another story. And the beginning of this hot yoga class was all about balance. And that was frustrating, but I kept getting back into the poses when I fell out of them, balling up my hands in frustration. Normally when that happens, a teacher would say something about how that is why it’s called a yoga practice and not a yoga performance. But this teacher ignored my noviceness which was all at once nice and annoying. One thing that happens in every class I’m in, yoga and otherwise, is that at some point you have to do the quad stretch.  You know, the grabbing the back of your foot and pulling it back stretch. And I can’t do it. I’ve never really been able to do it. I think it’s the combination of my fat thighs, tight quads and short arms that makes it nearly impossible to do that with any kind of ease. There was a whole section of that in the yoga class. It always makes me feel shitty. But it’s something small to work towards on this fitness experiment.

We then got to some more familiar poses for me and that is when my mat turned into a slip n’ slide. I WAY underestimated the amount that I was going to sweat and I brought only a hand towel.  I spent a lot of time going in and out of poses to wipe my mat off.  I feel like once the balance stuff was over, that my main battle was just against my slippery, wet mat and not against my inability to do the poses.

I left soaking wet. But also refreshed. And calmer. I used to look at yoga as the way that Madonna got her arms that are all at once sexy and scary looking. But I think it is much more than that and I think I will continue to keep a yoga class in my rotation for sure.

I’ll just bring a beach towel next time.

 

 

You Spin Me Right Round

So I’m going to condense two workout days into one post, which I normally won’t do, but I’m behind on the blog so…

My first spin class was at Cycle House in West Hollywood. I’d heard of this place because E! is making a reality show about them. Now, I’m not new to spin, I’ve been to Soul Cycle and a few other classes, so I know the drill. It’s dark and a perfectly sculpted scary person yells at you over club music to give it all you have as you pedal your butt off literally. Since I’ve done it before I was eager to see where I was at with spin versus where I used to be as far as my stamina. And I wasn’t bad, I couldn’t turn the resistance as high as I could before, and I was slower, but I hung. Okay, it was hard as hell and I’m just surprised/proud that I didn’t just quit halfway through and go get a breakfast burrito at Del Taco. I have a pet peeve in any fitness class, but spin especially. Talking. The teacher talking, well, anyone talking, but I’ll address that when I talk about my second spin class. Spin instructors that talk and yell at the entire class drive me nuts. Please, dear God, I know you want to inspire me to push harder and reach for my goals, but one of those goals is to spin to my favorite part of this Beyonce song….so be quiet. All in all, I was tired and hungry afterwards, so I went to Erewhon, which is a more expensive Whole Foods and paid too much money for kale juice.

My second spin class of the week was at YAS. I’ve been to this location before. I like that you don’t have to rent shoes, but you do have to bring your own towel. I found a bike in the third row and adjusted it. My right knee has been bothering me, so before class I took an Advil. But I made sure that the knee was safe. What I didn’t realize about my bike was that it went from no resistance to ALL the resistance in like, one turn. So that made gauging where it should be difficult. It also could be that I was tired and it was just a hard day. So this teacher was the exact opposite of the Cycle House teacher and rarely spoke. I know I will sound like a bitch but, I didn’t love that either. I needed just a little more guidance, especially as in this class I was having a tough time. It was more of an endurance ride and I was quickly getting the feeling that I had NO stamina for this ride. The worst part was while I struggled just to do a one minute sprint these 3 twenty-something skinny girls with perfect bodies were pedaling like they were joy riding in the park and talking to each other. And suddenly the injustice of the world just weighed on me. I knew they would put in half the work I did, go eat pancakes and mimosas for brunch and probably lose 3 pounds. Meanwhile, I’m trying not to die and I’m going home to a non-fat Greek yogurt and I most assuredly will gain 5 pounds.

File that under “life isn’t fair”.

This isn’t about weight loss…

I got married last year and really agonized over the need for brides to lose weight. I worked out all the time and got into pretty decent shape. Then the wedding happened, then the honeymoon, then the holidays, then I had an injury and before you know it, it’s been 3 months since I’ve been to the gym. And going back to the gym after a long time is hard. It is intimidating and  I was comparing how I am now (in bad shape) to how I was back in November (okay shape). So I went back to the gym and fiddled on the treadmill, the stair master, the elliptical. And I was bored and frustrated and kept talking myself out of taking the time out of my day to go. So then I stopped again.

Enter ClassPass, a site where you pay a monthly fee and have access to unlimited fitness classes around your city. You can only go to the same studio 3 times a month, so it is a chance to go and explore all kinds of workout routines. It is great for those of us with gym ADD.

And the way I work, if I have a place to be at a certain time, I will be there. And because every workout is a different and new place, it is never boring. And it’s challenging.

My whole life I have tried to be skinny because I thought that meant I would be prettier somehow.  And then that would translate into me being happier. When I think back to my skinniest times or “salad days”, I don’t think that I was SOO much happier than in my fatter times or “cupcake days”.  But what does make me happier is accomplishing something, doing something I didn’t think I could do.

So I started this blog….

about getting into shape and being strong.

It’s not really going to be something that a before and after photo will be able to encapsulate, so I’m not posting one.  It’s about seeing what my body is capable of.  So I’ll start with my first workout.

My first class was a cross training class at the Sweat Garage. As soon as I walked in, I got a warm welcome. Everyone was so nice! There were about ten treadmills against a wall in what was actually a fancy garage and weights and mats and stuff at the end of the room. On a white board the instructor had written out the routine for the day. It was 6 rounds of 6 minute intervals after a 6 minute warmup. There was strength training, jumping rope….and running. I HATE running. I hate it with a passion. I am short and stocky and I was not made to run. But that is what this class required and I am scared of most fitness instructors, so I did it. I jumped rope too, which I also hate. The running part was the hardest and there were more than a few times that I slowed down to a walk because I couldn’t hack it. But the instructor was encouraging, telling me I was really impressive for my first class. He even hugged me after, it was so nice. The most challenging part about the class was at the end when I walked outside and the Free Range chicken and biscuit truck was outside. Even though this process has nothing to do with dieting, I am proud to report I did not have one. I wanted to wait at least an hour before ruining all the hard work I did with food.

Besides, I felt like puking after all that running.