So I show up to the gym this morning to get in that stride class again (something I think will become part of my regular routine because I love it so much) when the girl behind the counter says "KELLY!!?" I must admit she looked very familiar but it was not until she said "I am Bryanna" that I realized I had just run into an online friend. Bryanna and I grew up in the same city but went to different schools so we never met. Then one day on Facebook she posted on a mutual friends page that she was moving to the town I live in. So I sent her a message asking where and come to find out she is just a few blocks from me. We became FB friends and even talked on the phone trying to set up a time to go for a walk together but our schedules just never matched up. LOL it was a great way to start my morning and she informed me that she was starting the Couch to 5k so I am super excited about having a running buddy.
So on to the class, as I mentioned in the last post the instructor mentioned some hill work. I do not do well with hills, I try to avoid them and when I just happen to come upon them I usually walk. I gave up on hills long ago when my shins were so bad and I felt like the hill running was only making things worse if not the cause of the pain. The gym was not as busy today so I am thinking that I am not the only person who is afraid of hills. Today we spent more time on our set speed. (the speed in which we feel most comfortable with) We started at a 0 incline and then she had us bump it up to a 2. This is when the oh shit thoughts came into my mind. What the hell happen to 1? About 3 min later... "take it up to 4" then we went back down to 0. Okay I got through that, not to bad. We did some short sprints and when those were done I was feeling good until she mentioned it was time to run some steeper hills. I do not know how long we were doing the hills but it seemed like FOREVER. I did have to drop my speed down a little bit from my set speed but I never stopped running and I got that treadmill up to a 7 incline and held it there until we were instructed to drop it back down to 0. It was at that time when the guy next to me looked over and said your doing awesome! We did some more running at our set speed and some sprints before I had to start my cool down. Sadly I get only a very short amount of time to work out in the morning since I work 10 hr days each day so I have to end my workout about 5 min before the rest of the class. Thats ok though because I still get in 40 min of cardio and still save time for a cool down and streatching. Shortly after I arrived in the locker room a woman came in and said to me "nice work out there today you did great and were even brave enough to be in the front row. you did good!!" It made me feel good and reminded me of how it was at the Y, everyone supporting one another ya know. It is hard being the newbie at anything but makes it easier when the people around you are kind and supportive. So to the nice man and nice woman who gave me props today THANK YOU, I appreciated it!!
I ended up with 3.25 total but the .25 was just my cool down. I ran those 3 miles in 39:50. Still a whole lost slower then I was before my broken toe but the fact that most of this run was done with the treadmill with some sort of incline makes that time feel pretty good. Happy with my accomplishments for the day :)
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Whats with the gym being packed at 5:30am?
About 4 months ago I was a 5:30 regular at my local gym. I loved hitting the gym in the morning right when they opened their doors and knowing that no matter what machine I wanted to get on or what lane I wanted to run on for the track I was hooked because there were never very many people there. There were at least 20 treadmills to choose from and the track always had less then 5 people on it, bikes, got my pick there too and always had a lane to myself if I decided to go for a swim.
Just before I broke my toe I canceled my YMCA membership and chose to join a different gym. My new gym membership was not even active yet when I broke the toe. So I have only been using the place to work out the last month. The gym transfer was a financial motivation and nothing else. My husband indicated that between working and going to school and just being a dad he did not feel that he was getting the most of the membership and said that we should drop him off it to save some money. When I talked to the Y they said it would be the same price whether he was on the membership or not so I decided to inquire about the price of this other place. Turns out I could have a membership myself and leave Ryan off it saving me around 20 bucks a month. This place is the bomb! I feel like I have hit the jack pot with this gym. The kids beg me to go workout because the childcare is so good. They have a cafe, Physical therapy place, salon, sauna, two pools... enough to keep even people who do not want to workout coming back. The place is seriously off the hook, and I am saving money! The only downfall I have found thus far is the bike that I LOVED at the Y is not at this gym and my bike workouts since switching have been less then desirable. Something I will just have to figure out on my own I guess.
Fast forward to today ~until this morning when I have gone to the gym I have tried to plan it for when the kids could come with me because they love it there so much. Great idea in theory but the children have so many extra curricular activities that finding the time was stressing me out this take the kids with me attitude had to change. I started the morning workouts again today! I pulled into the parking lot at 5:25am and the parking lot was full, I am talking like more cars then at 6pm. I was totally thrown off by this (but apparently they open at 5 not 5:30) I went to the locker room to change and by the time I got out I was afraid I was not going to find a treadmill. The music was loud and the energy in the building was awesome. I fortunately found an open treadmill and got on. That's when I heard "okay lets kick it up to a 4.2 to continue the warm up" OH SHIT!! LOL apparently at 5:30am there is a treadmill class. Taking so much time off and only working out here and there I figured there was no way in hell I could keep up with a treadmill class but the open treadmill I found was in the front row. I felt stuck, I did not want to do a walk of shame workout style in front of so many people. 32 to be exact, The wall I was facing was a big ass mirror so I counted all the people on the treadmills. 32 people on just the treadmills at 5:30 in the morning... at the Y there was probably a total of 32 people in the whole building including staff at 5:30 in the morning. I was shocked to see so many people. I tried to take is easy because I did not know what to expect. She laid it out in a way for walkers or runners and when she said "walkers bump it up one and runners bump it up 2" I had a decision to face, I do the whole run/walk thing, does this make me a runner or a walker. I was freaking out a bit but I bumped the treadmill up 2 ~I should not have let this class put doubt or fear into me even if it was just for a split second... I AM a runner! The great part was that there is a pace in which most runners and walkers feel good at each person was told to pick that pace for them and bump up or down from there depending on what she told us to do. So the walkers, the fast ass runners, and then the people who fall between them all could do the same workout. It was awesome! I felt like I kinda held back a little bit today in fear of not knowing what was going to come next. For example at the end she for fun decided to add on sprints, well I did not know how many she planned on us doing (after all I had no idea how long this class would last and we had only been on your treadmills for about 35 min) so I kicked it up a bit but I know I could have run faster. I did not slack off totally though, trust me I got my sweat on.
After class I spoke to the instructor and she said if I wanted to come back that when I walk in to stop at the desk to get a pass to reserve a treadmill, she said as it gets colder the treadmills get completely filled. The class was awesome but I am still shocked that there are so many people there that you have to reserve a treadmill. Just blows my mind! I am looking forward to doing it again on Thur. although I did hear her say something about hills and hills scare me!
Just before I broke my toe I canceled my YMCA membership and chose to join a different gym. My new gym membership was not even active yet when I broke the toe. So I have only been using the place to work out the last month. The gym transfer was a financial motivation and nothing else. My husband indicated that between working and going to school and just being a dad he did not feel that he was getting the most of the membership and said that we should drop him off it to save some money. When I talked to the Y they said it would be the same price whether he was on the membership or not so I decided to inquire about the price of this other place. Turns out I could have a membership myself and leave Ryan off it saving me around 20 bucks a month. This place is the bomb! I feel like I have hit the jack pot with this gym. The kids beg me to go workout because the childcare is so good. They have a cafe, Physical therapy place, salon, sauna, two pools... enough to keep even people who do not want to workout coming back. The place is seriously off the hook, and I am saving money! The only downfall I have found thus far is the bike that I LOVED at the Y is not at this gym and my bike workouts since switching have been less then desirable. Something I will just have to figure out on my own I guess.
Fast forward to today ~until this morning when I have gone to the gym I have tried to plan it for when the kids could come with me because they love it there so much. Great idea in theory but the children have so many extra curricular activities that finding the time was stressing me out this take the kids with me attitude had to change. I started the morning workouts again today! I pulled into the parking lot at 5:25am and the parking lot was full, I am talking like more cars then at 6pm. I was totally thrown off by this (but apparently they open at 5 not 5:30) I went to the locker room to change and by the time I got out I was afraid I was not going to find a treadmill. The music was loud and the energy in the building was awesome. I fortunately found an open treadmill and got on. That's when I heard "okay lets kick it up to a 4.2 to continue the warm up" OH SHIT!! LOL apparently at 5:30am there is a treadmill class. Taking so much time off and only working out here and there I figured there was no way in hell I could keep up with a treadmill class but the open treadmill I found was in the front row. I felt stuck, I did not want to do a walk of shame workout style in front of so many people. 32 to be exact, The wall I was facing was a big ass mirror so I counted all the people on the treadmills. 32 people on just the treadmills at 5:30 in the morning... at the Y there was probably a total of 32 people in the whole building including staff at 5:30 in the morning. I was shocked to see so many people. I tried to take is easy because I did not know what to expect. She laid it out in a way for walkers or runners and when she said "walkers bump it up one and runners bump it up 2" I had a decision to face, I do the whole run/walk thing, does this make me a runner or a walker. I was freaking out a bit but I bumped the treadmill up 2 ~I should not have let this class put doubt or fear into me even if it was just for a split second... I AM a runner! The great part was that there is a pace in which most runners and walkers feel good at each person was told to pick that pace for them and bump up or down from there depending on what she told us to do. So the walkers, the fast ass runners, and then the people who fall between them all could do the same workout. It was awesome! I felt like I kinda held back a little bit today in fear of not knowing what was going to come next. For example at the end she for fun decided to add on sprints, well I did not know how many she planned on us doing (after all I had no idea how long this class would last and we had only been on your treadmills for about 35 min) so I kicked it up a bit but I know I could have run faster. I did not slack off totally though, trust me I got my sweat on.
After class I spoke to the instructor and she said if I wanted to come back that when I walk in to stop at the desk to get a pass to reserve a treadmill, she said as it gets colder the treadmills get completely filled. The class was awesome but I am still shocked that there are so many people there that you have to reserve a treadmill. Just blows my mind! I am looking forward to doing it again on Thur. although I did hear her say something about hills and hills scare me!
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