my journey to becoming a runner

Thursday, July 24, 2008

I have no PowerHouse

So last night Jennifer and I tried a Pilates DVD that I checked out of the library. Turns out: Pilates is another thing I am no good at. I know I have no core muscles. That was made evident several years ago when I took the 30-minute Abs class at the gym and felt like a Mac Truck had run me over. I am often reminded of the same fact when we do abs in BodyPump and I can't hover the entire time, or I am in a slight pain after doing rapid crunches or bicycles for just 4 minutes. But never was I made so aware of the fact that my abs suck, then when I watched this perfect-bodied-probably-ballet-dancing-since-she-was-two-years-old lady lift her legs (without bending them an inch) off the floor and hurl them behind her head without flinching a muscle. Yeah, that didn't work for me! We continued attempting these exercises for 45 minutes until I decided it was late enough and I had to call Jen to wish her a Happy Birthday. We never went back to it.

I made it to the gym yesterday after work (at 4:00) but was surprised to find I had a new injury. After about 15 minutes of walking steep hills my calf muscle hurt a lot. I finished out the last five minutes but on a much flatter surface than I had planned. I had wanted to do the steps and the elliptical for 20 minutes each as well, but I knew stair stepping would be out if I could hardly walk. I went to the locker room for ten minutes and tried to stretch it out, but nothing made it feel better. Then I attempted the elliptical machine but after 5 minutes I could tell that my calf was in just too much pain. I was able to bike for about 20 minutes, but that's never as great of a workout as you hope it will be. Still, I manged to get 45 minutes of cardio in, plus another 45 of Pilates in the evening so it wasn't all awash.

For dinner last night, I had to go to LaPaz with my aunt who was visiting. I made myself drink water, and eat only a serving of chips and salsa (still 200 calories) and I took half of my burrito supreme home. I still felt like I was going to burst and it was obvious that I had eaten too much. But do you think that stopped me from having two bites of brownie at Jennifer's house just 3 hours (and a lot of Pilates) later? No.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That stuff was impossible! I mean, I can't even lay on the floor with my legs straight up because I'm not flexible enough and the closest I get is like a 45 degree angle from straight up. So the fact that pretty much everything that woman wanted us to do started in that position meant I was pretty much unable to do anything well. I guess that's the point - you're supposed to do it a lot until you can do it well - but I guess I don't care enough about keeping my legs straight up in the air to make it all worth it.