Monday Musings

Heard from my friend Tracy today. She's getting ready to move into a house with her fiance and they've tentively set a wedding date in December. Go Tracy!!!) Sounds like she's in for a busy few months. I'd love to see her get married, although I don't think there'd be any way to get out to Las Vegas then. She does, however, promise there won't be any Elvi. Tracy, if you're reading, I hope the move goes well (friends who move you for pizza and beer are usually much better than actual movers in the opinion of this military brat--so long as you don't give them beer until AFTER everything's moved.

*yawn*

I am tired, mainly because of the giant gym workout I did. Yes, I know, I haven't been properly blogging about that--you're probably wondering if I'm even go. Suffice to say that I have been going to the gym about three times a week. I'm still somewhat elliptical-challenged, but I've increased the treadmill to 3 mph and a 1.0 incline for 15 minutes and the bike to level 4 for 15 minutes. I've already exceeded some expectations--there was some talk of me going two or three times and then giving up. On Saturday I went to the Richmond Road gym. (See my comments here, on my main blog). Although I like the atmosphere at the Executive club better, I felt pretty comfortable on Saturday afternoon, and I went back tonight. See, they have classes that run later and work better with my schedule there.

It was noisier/more people, but it was interesting to people watch whilst up on the treadmill stage. There was one guy in a wheelchair working his arms on weights. The size of people really ran the gamut--tiny wisps of things and bulky guys, of course, but I was not the fattest person there, and several guys had paunches.

I did the treadmill and then went to my first class--Power Yoga. Now, I've been doing some yoga for a few years--at home to Yoga Journal tapes. It's mostly a more meditative style (and when possible, I do yoga to Rodney Yee--he's dreamy, and has a very soothing voice). I have an AM and PM tape, yoga for meditation, and yoga for beginners. I do pretty well with these, although the PM tape has a lot of lunges and that's difficult with my knees.

This is an hour-long class where you're constantly changing positions, and it was more difficult than any yoga I've done before. A lot of poses involved 'plank' poses which are glorified pushups. But, that said, I did pretty well (and I even got a purple smiley sticker for going). Apparently most are regulars and I was the first newbie, and the teacher congratulated me at the end. I did not attempt crow position (where you lever your body onto your arms) and I simplified some of the lunges, but otherwise did okay. Yoga stresses stretching and opening up the breath, not working through pain or doing too much. That said, I suspect I'll be sore tomorrow. It's funny how various people can do certain things. Even with my weight, I can bend at the back and stretch my hamstrings to a point of laying my hands on the floor, and I know skinny people who can't do that because of their tight hamstrings. I have trouble doing anything that involves knee strength or putting my head on my legs (but at least I can blame a shelf-like bosom). We did some balancing poses on one leg that really worked the knees, but that I think will help strengthen my muscles and tendons. I can already tell from walking and cycling that my knees are feeling better. It was, however, harder to relax into the poses on this workout. I know the tapes well enough to go through with my glasses off and just run through the poses. For some of these, I had to look at either the instructor or my fellow students for guidance, and I forgot that glasses and child's pose don't work too well. :)

After class, I cycled for 15 minutes. So in actuality I worked out for an hour and a half, both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Gee. I think that's the most sustained exercise I've had in years. Hope I don't pay for it tomorrow. Maybe this was a night to bring the bathing suit and hit the whirlpool.

Oh...one more thing. Since I've started working out, I've lost 7 lbs (that's in two weeks) I'm at a shade under 265, and I started at 272. The employee health nurse at work said that it's unlikely ALL of that could be water weight. Yay!

The endorphins are nice. I could see how someone could get addicted to this. Of all the things to get addicted to, however, I guess this is one of the better ones. I'm also finding that if I'm feeling stressed or angry, etc., I think about going to the gym and walking it away. Still, mustn't overdo it. I'm going to go collapse now, all the same. :) I suspect that the muscles I apparently have under all that fat will feel like it tomorrow.