Extended Hiatus

I'm afraid that I have bigger problems than computer issues now.

This morning my cousin whom I am very close to was caught in the midst of a suicide attempt. My aunt and uncle entered the shed at the back of their property to find him tying ropes to the rafters from which he was going to hang himself.

We've already had two suicides over Christmas of another family member and his partner - and that affected us very much and we weren't particularly close to them.

This cousin know well, though not well enough to see or know how much pain he was in.

I'll be back, when I've recovered from the shock.

Oh I give up

SERIOUS computer issues, folks.

Haven't been able to get onto a working machine at home, and at work blogger is blocked. And don't tell me to use proxies, several of those have been blocked as well, so it's a strong signal to tell us to STOP EET with the non-work activity. (even though I was *actually* reading some software development blogs that have now been blocked, which is kinda a bummer).

I don't know when I'll be up and running again, but I hope it is soon. I miss youz all.

Hiatus

Right, you crazy kids. I'm off for a wee while, I'll be back in two weeks and hopefully, back to regular posting when I get back.

If you haven't read the posts from this lot of filmings, I've published posts for:

• Body Pump 71
• Body Step 77
• Body Balance 46
• Body Jam 50

Don't miss me too much!

Body Jam 50

I was interested in what was going on with the Body Jam 50 filming. For the last three filmings - 47, 48, and 49, the Les Mills schedule has indicated exactly which Jam releases were being filmed. For 47, BJ47+ was filmed on the Thursday, and BJ47 was filmed on the Monday thereafter. For 48, BJ48 and BJ48+ were both filmed in the same hit. For 49, BJ49 and BJ49+ had two separate classes. Les Mills had been clear about this, though this time I wasn't sure what exactly I was going into. The GFX filming timetable just had a time for the Body Jam 50 filming - it didn't specify whether it was base, plus, or base and plus in the same filming.

I had a hunch it would be BJ50, and not BJ50+, based on the rehearsals I had attended. Looking at the timetable, it was a bit of a concern whether or not the team would be able to fit both the BJ50 and BJ50+ filming before the rest of the days events kicked in.

Before the filming began, Annie came up onstage with a bunch of Nike drink bottles to throw out into the crowd - and the first couple were just the bottles on their own, and then the next ones had Nike Platinum Gift vouchers in them(!!!).

She had one bottle left with a $100 voucher in it, and she said, "I need two people to come up onstage and have a danceoff for this last one!"

True to Jam style, however, FIVE people ran up onstage. Two of the five were a couple of my favourite people - Patrick and Fred!

Annie introduced each of them - the first was a girl from Slovenia (sorry hon, I don't remember your name, but I remmeber you being awesome!), Patrick from Melbourne, Jericho from New York (who is an absolute hottie - I saw her team teaching Combat wih Olly before Jam one night and was absolutely smitten by her and her awesome Combat style :-D)... someone else... (oh gawd, I feel horrible that I can't remember who the other person was), and Fred introduced himself as "FRED FROM CHIIIIIIIINA!" Bahahahahaha!

The girl from Slovenia was up first, and she rocked out some incredible breakdancing. My jaw was on the floor and I was like "FARK, how come SHE had to go first?!" Never mind that my boy Patrick had to go right after her, OH to know what on earth was going through his head before he broke out his moves. Of course, HE was just as incredible up there, I don't think I've ever screamed so much in support of someone before :-D

The others did their dance routine (and again, I had to try and stop drooling when Jericho was Doing Her Thang), though Fred kinda barged in while it was someone else's turn and the two of them paired up something awesome which sent the crowd wild.

Then of course, it was Fred's turn - and Annie made sure that everyone on the floor realised that Fred was NOT an instructor, but a participant. Fred turned his back to the audience and worked his hips and butt, OH YEAH! With the way everyone around me was screaming, there was NO doubt in anyone's mind who the favourite was - his impromptu danceoff was a MASSIVE hit.

Annie re-annuonced each of those onstage, and got the crowd to show their appreciation. Of course, Freddy Boy got the loudest cheer of all, and he VERY deservedly got the drink bottle and gift voucher. Even though I'm biased because he's a good mate, I think everyone there will agree with me that he was a very deserving winner.

And man, that was just the lead up to the Jam filming, never mind the actual Jam filming itself!

I don't know how many of you read Glen Stollery's Body Combat Fanatic blog, though take a look at some of his photos from the Body Combat 40 filming.

[photo courtesy of Glen Stollery]

The black backdrop with the lights through it is not standard for the filmings, they only bring it out for certain occasions. They brought it out for the hallmark 10 year anniversary Combat filming that was BC40. So, of course they brought it out again for the big FIVE-OH for Jam.

And when the presenters emerged, OH, how gorgeous their outfits looked against the black backdrop.

Three presenters this time around - Gandalf, Rach and Fetty Fatimah from Indonesia. Some of you will recognise her, she appears on the cover of BJ48 (thanks to both Patrick and Alan for the info on this :-D) The presenters were dressed in monotone - blacks, whites, and greys. The girls were in super tight skinny black pants, layered white and black t-shirts, grey scarves, and black & white sneakers. Fetty had her hair up with white-ish... 'things' put in it (it really did look much hotter than I'm describing it, honest!), and Rach had a black and white hat on.

Gandalf was wearing his signature backwards-facing cap, but it was kinda grey-ish with sparkles throughout it. (Yes I'm being serious). And he was wearing layered tees and grey jeans as well - they all looked so great; they were the sorts of outfits that you could straight away hit the clubs with. NONE of it looked like exercise gear, the three of them looked more like fashion models, I was so freaking awesome. I managed to fall in love with the t-shirt that Rach was wearing... hmmmmm, I can has?

It was a real struggle to get in the front row this time around because of the number of overseas visitors. I can see why in past events they've prevented members from coming, the clamour for spots on the floor was pretty bad. I somehow managed to get a spot in the front row, but when I looked around me, none of my normal front row buddies were there. Hannah, Fred, Spuddy and everyone else were all behind me... it just didn't seem right. I think I must've been the only local in the front row. And it felt uncomfortable.

We began with the super sexy warmup - I don't know how to describe it, the closest warmup I can compare it to is that of BJ46, though even that's a very loose comparison. The isolation, however, is a fantastic contrast of sharp, abrupt moves contrasting with some silky ones. On the whole, the isolations track, I think, is pretty damn cool because of how sharp it is - the last few isolations tracks have been very smooth and fluid. I like it! Rach presents both the warmup and the isolations track, and then it was haned over to Fetty to present the latin block.

Ryan, are you out there? I don't know what you've made of the most recent latin blocks - BJ47's club latin block was right up your alley, so BJ48's reggaeton must've been quite a large comedown. And in a way, in terms of complexity, it definitely was - YET for some reason, BJ48's reggaeton seems to work me so damn hard, and the atmosphere is just phenomenal. But anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. BJ49's latin has two contrasting tracks that don't really string together to form a routine, but are good fun to do - BJ50's latin is not like that. Ryan, I think you'll like this one, I definitely thought of you whenever I did it!

Fetty is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL presenter - not only is she nummeriffic eye candy, but the way this girl moves, omma gawesh. You should've heard the crowd go off when she turned around, back facing everyone, and her saying "Can you see my butt?" The screams, oh man, THE SCREAMS! She just absolutely gelled with that block - she made it hers, and that's really fantastic to see. I haven't seen that since Phil gelled with the Jive block from BJ48, and I know that every time I do that block now, I'll think of her and miss her.

What I must say though, unfortunately, was by this point, I was starting to feel weak, and very faint. My legs weren't cooperating with me as much as I would've liked, and that was the final straw. I didn't belong in the front row this time around anyway. At the end of the Latin block, I turned around and said, "Patrick. Front row.", gladly surrendering my spot to him. The guy has been such an amazing friend to me, he more than deserved it.

I didn't regret it, since in the next block, Gandalf gave Patrick a shout out! I was a bit too spaced and missed it, so when you instructors out there get the DVD, have a listen in the cardio block - G gives a yell to mah boi!

The cardio block is a fresh style that hasn't been seen in Body Jam before, as far as I know. I love love love LOVE it. I know that there'll be a lot of people out there who won't like this one, though I take my hat off to G for choreographing to this particular style and putting it in there. It is a risk, though it also has some sentimental meaning.

Recovery is a very smooth, sexy track - the music is kinda depressing; though it's depressing in a good way.

...

Uh... yeah that probably didn't make sense, since when is anything 'depressing in a good way'. It's a real smooth song, okay, take my word for it!

Fred got to see BJ50 much earlier than I did, and when he told me about it he said, "It's a release that just grabs your soul." After doing it, I'd say I agree with him.

I couldn't really appreciate it at the filming, since it was during this block that the exhaustion, the weakness, the shivering and the aching began. Fred was right near me, and even he was much quieter than normal. It felt a bit wrong that we were effectively having our BJ50 filming experience robbed from us because we were both sick, though we managed to stick it out out to the end.

I hope that my personal experience at the BJ50 filming doesn't dampen down on the impact of the release, because it is an amazing release - I'm furious that I had to get the flu on that day and have it suck out any energy I had to give. It was so bad that as soon as the filming was over, some drummers came out from the side of the stage and marched into the centre of the studio - I quietly said to Fred, "I can't take it anymore, I have to go home, I'm going to pass out." And that was all I could say to anyone before taking off as quickly as I could to get home. I showered very quickly, got into bed, and slept for almost 20 hours. I spent whole week in bed, and I was pissed as hell that I missed out on Vive 12, Attack 66, and Combat 41's respective filmings. I was even gutted to miss out on all of the workshops too, argh!

I later heard that BJ50+ was filmed separately, though I don't know when, where, or how it all came together, so I can't really comment much about that. I know that it would've been bloody brilliant all the same :-D

It's an incredible, mindblowing, soulgrabbing release and I know that people will be struck by the contrasting styles and the gripping music. Again, I take my hat off to G and everyone who worked on the release.

Awesome.

Body Balance 46

I have to make a confession in that I fell asleep for the majority of this filming.

Before all of you passionate Balance participants come down in an angry mob to my house with your pitchforks, let me explain.

When I woke up in the morning, I had a bad cough. I thought "Oh gawd, not today, NOT today!" I put up with it in the morning when I was having breakfast with Patrick and Fred. I figured I just needed to get warm and that Pump would be quite good in warming the body and getting a sweat on. I got through Pump fine, but was still a bit snivelly while watching step. However, things started to get really bad during Balance.

The cough spread from my throat down to my chest, and I started to feel week, dizzy, and a bit tired.

Louise and I were waiting for Jam so that we could get in the front row (best way to do that is to watch the filming of the class beforehand :-D) and before Balance had gotten, we agreed to quickly head off downstairs into the changing rooms to get changed into our Jam gear.

When we got back, we were amazed to find that Balance STILL hadn't started. We'd had a full blown conversation in the changing rooms with some of the other GFX attendees - one of them was kind enough to even give me a throat lozenge when I continued to splutter and cough my lungs up. (If you're out there, thank you so much, it was really kind of you to do so.)

Four presenters this time around - Corey, Dr Dave, Jackie (who was wearing these freaking awesome white poofy pants), and Yusuf/Yousuf(?), the international presenter for the release. I'm not sure how exactly you spell his name or where he comes from, though he was given the responsibility of introducing the release, and for some reason, it took quite a few takes before the filming crew were happy with what he said. I can't tell you the number of times the poor guy had to repeat that the release was 'strong and athletic'.

And from what I saw, it definitely looks like a strong and athletic release. It's a real shame that I didn't have the energy to stay awake and watch the release, I was so exhausted - and it turned out to be the tip of the iceberg when it came to how exhausted I would become over the next week.

What was funny was that in past weeks, Les Mills filmed snippets of both Body Balance and Body Vive to accompany boxes of cereal(? I think it was cereal) in the Middle East, and Jackie announced to everyone that on the night they did that filming, they forgot to film the introduction. Jackie positioned herself to get ready to do her introduction, and we were all waiting for her to say her thing. Just as she was about to start talking, she was told that they didn't need her to do it. So she said, "Oh. Okay! Goodbye!" and quickly disappeared off the stage. Everyone burst out laughing and then broke into applause. Jackie, you are awesome.

Did anyone out there attend the Body Balance 46 filming? It would be great to hear your thoughts :-)

Body Step 77

Normally, once a filming class is over, everyone puts any equipment away that they've used and then the other members flock to take their spots on the floor, and they then subsequently set up any equipment that they need to set up.

Generally, Les Mills is clever and don't set up classes that need equipment right after each other. For example, Pump and Step are rarely scheduled right after each other since the conflict of people putting away their steps with people trying to grab their steps gets a bit ridiculous.

This is why I was very surprised when I saw the GFX schedule that Pump and Step were directly after each other - Pump being the first filming, and Step being the second for the day. I figured that GFX would be more ridiculous than normal, so I was a bit puzzled as to why the classes would be scheduled this way.

Though when Mid and Carla started ushering everyone out of the studio once Pump was over, it made sense to me. They didn't want the participants setting up the Step gear, they wanted the Les Mills GFX Crew to set it up, and in order to do so, they wanted everyone to get out of the room.

I was waiting for the bottleneck of people to clear at the stairs to exit the studio before joining the line to get out, when Mid turned to me and said, "Hey sorry guys we're gonna need you to...", and she stopped herself when she saw it was myself, Tina and Rosita standing around. She then said, "Oh... you're members... you can just stay there."

Sweet!

I wasn't going to be participating in the Step filming, so it seemed a bit ridiculous for me to leave and reenter the room when I wasn't going to be using up a Step, but hah, I probably should've been made to leave like everybody else.

It was a good idea to get everyone to vacate the room though - we were asked to put away our Pump plates and bars, but to leave the Steps behind. Normally after a filming class, putting the steps away often leaves many people with bumps on the head with all of the pushing and shoving to put them away. It's probably the only glitch when it comes to filmings, unfortunately - people being very aggressive with their spaces on the floor and with equipment when the classes themselves are not in progress. And this even goes for non-equipment classes like Combat, Jam and Attack. Balance is the only constant exception, even Vive has had its problems!

There were five presenters this time around - Mark Nu'u, Craig, Sarah Robinson, Lisa Osborne, and an international presenter; a guy with long-ish brown hair... his name escapes me right now, is there anyone currently reading who'd be able to help me out with a name?

The boys were wearing black and grey, and the girls were wearing pink sleeveless tops with black shorts (although Sarah Robinson may have been wearing a skort, I couldn't tell from down the back), and Lisa Osborne was wearing a pink cap.

The reason why they were in pink?

Body Step 77 is a commemorative release, dedicated to all those who currently have, and those who we have lost to breast cancer. This theme ran throughout the class, and for one of the tracks there is a guest presenter who is a breast cancer survivor who comes on stage. The particular song they selected for the guest presenter to be onstage for is very fitting, and I can't tell you how proud I felt standing there watching that track being filmed. The guest presenter used to be a regular feature at Les Mills New Lynn - she was an instructor for several classes and was also a membership consultant; she slowly disappeared like a lot of people do from time to time, though I honestly had no idea that she was battling breast cancer. I've always thought she was awesome, and seeing her on stage with the Step presenters today only confirmed that awesomeness.

I must say, there is one track in particular that had me going "Oh you CANNOT BE SERIOUS?!", because of the similarity it had to a previous Jam release. Any of you who are both Step and Jam instructors will know EXACTLY which track I am referring to when you see the release. Not only is the music the same, but even the choreography is very very similar. Sarah Robinson presents this particular track, and she would've been a perfect personality to present the Jam track as well (in fact, for workshop and local launches, she was generally the one who presented the Jam block I'm referring to).

But anyways. During the class, Mark Nu'u asked everyone in the room who had known someone who they had lost, or was battling with breast cancer to go downstairs into the second studio and write their name on a piece of paper. Those pieces of paper were transformed into lanterns, and during the cooldown track, the Les Mills staff placed the lanterns at the base of the stage, the name of the cancer victims lit up with the Les Mills stage as a backdrop.

Body Step 77 is a very inspirational release. I can't speak for whether it's challenging cardiovascularly, since I only watched and I'm not a regular Stepper so I can't make any comparisons.

Even so, as an outsider, I could see that this release was something very special. The world is going to love Body Step 77, though the world might be surprised by the reasons why.

It's a compassionate, beautiful and powerful release. It moved me, and I didn't do a single knee-repeater.

Body Pump 71

I had deliberately taken the day off work so that I could attend the Friday filmings for the GFX Carnival. I hadn't attended a GFX event before, so I wasn't sure on how different it would be to normal filmings.

For regular filmings, you can rock on up to the studio like any other class and then go in and set up your gear, like any other class. Naturally, there's a whole lot more demand for things like steps, risers, bars and plates - sometimes you can get crushed by the large number of people clamouring for stuff - though GFX takes it to a whole other level.

The Body Pump 71 filming was due to start at 9:10am, and on a normal filming day, I would probably arrive there at 8:50am and wait to set up my stuff.

Because of GFX, however, there was a massive line of instructors that wound down through the stairs of the group fitness studio, even going down outside onto the street. I was absolutely slackjawed at the number of people waiting to get into the room. Patrick and I had been chilling out in the gym cafe, having breakfast and a natter, and while he had to go to reception to get a padlock, Fred and I headed off to the line - we were naughty and knew that Hannah was in line already and pretty much jumped ahead of everyone else. (Sorry, everyone else!) The instructors all seemed to know what was going on, but since I'm a member and it was a work day (that, and I don't hang out at LM Auckland Central as much as I do at New Lynn), I wasn't very aware of what was going on or what the procedures were.

But never mind - we got there, and before we knew it, the line was moving and we entered the studio to find all of the steps laid out neatly on the floor, with a bar, and some plates placed on top of it. I was an idiot and initially thought "oh crap, there's no steps left!", being used to setting up my own gear, and it took me a while to figure out that the gear had been placed there for us and all we had to do was claim a step and modify our weights to suit our needs.

I was quite lucky since I had told Glen that I was going to set up my gear outside the sound booth, and thankfully, after realising that I just needed to find a free step, the closest free step to me happened to be right outside the sound booth. Phew! He spotted me and came over to give me a hug, the only thing he managed to say was "You're exactly where you said you would be!" Heeee... he didn't know about what a fluke it was that I ended up being where I said I would be.

The presenters for BP71 were Mark Sinclair, Glen Ostergaard and Susan Renata. The outfits were very simple and athletic this time around, though Susan Renata was wearing a cropped long sleeve top that had her signature abdominals on display and causing every other woman to go absolutely green with envy.

We started off with the warmup and squat tracks, which went through pretty smoothly, though problems started happening when we were getting ready to do the chest track. For some reason, the music didn't start. The class waited, and waited, and waited - Mark Sinclair, who was presenting the track got irritated and said something along the lines of, "YOU JUST PRESS THE BUTTON WITH THE ARROW ON IT!!!" The participants laughed, and continued to wait.

I can't imagine how hard it must be for presenters to try and keep the energy elevated and the buzz maintained when there are technical difficulties (never mind how hard it is for the technical staff running around to try and sort out the difficulties), though there was something about this particular Pump class that meant despite the waiting, everyone maintained a good mood. So much that after continuing to wait, another participant piped up loudly, "Are we there yet?", which again, sent everyone into hysterics.

Mark Sinclair sat up and tried to keep everyone entertained by telling us about a story he'd read in the newspaper about a scottish dwarf who used to do a comedy act by coming onstage naked with a vacuum cleaner hose attached to him - and one time he had to use superglue to attach it. He said to us with a disapproving expression, "You can guess what happened."

The knockout blow came from a Pump instructor towards the back of the room that said in her beautiful Scottish accent something along the lines of "We do that sort of thing in Scotland every day!". OH, too funny! I loved sitting there and hearing the participants of the class pipe up this way. I've seen this sort of banter go on at New Lynn - normally the classes in Auckland Central are too big for this kind of thing to happen, and filmings are more packed than a regular class, so it was great to see that even with so many people, the light hearted nature of the participants still shone through. It certainly made what otherwise would have been a rather uneventful wait into a funny, memorable period of time.

Finally, we got the chest track under way - and it's a great chest track; not the milestone track of BP70, but I like it, and I know it'll be a popular track when it hits the globe.

From the chest track, we moved into the back track, which Susan presented. There are a few little bits of interesting timing where as an instructor, you'll need to feel the music to know where to pause as instinctively, you'll want to do something else. This caught Susan out during the filming, where she went to start doing a set of dead rows when she should've paused instead. You could tell from her expression straight away that she knew the mistake she'd made, but she was a star as always and carried on with the rest of the track. She's been teaching that track for the last three weeks and just her luck, the day that she made a mistake was the day it mattered - awww! As a result, we had to do the first set of the back track again - it's a killer of a track, so it was a big effort having to do it even once, never mind a second time, aaahhhhhhh!

More hilarity ensued when Susan was off to the side shifting her bench around and moving her weights - something slid off and she, LOUDLY into her microphone yelled, "FUCK!!!". I've heard Glen swear before, and I've heard Mark Sinclair be grumpy before, though I haven't ever heard Susan swear and from the sounds of things, neither had a lot of people in he class that day. The amount of energy behind her swearing, it was so intense that everyone couldn't help but laugh, it was yet another classic moment.

I wish I could supply photos for this class, but we were told that all cameras would be confiscated - they were really trying very hard to make the events of GFX a secret. This is why, even moreso, I'm not revealing too much about the choreography. While I've said many times on this blog that I cannot reveal choreorgraphy and music spoilers, I still generally make comparisons to previous releases. This time, I'm taking a bit more care because of the extra protectiveness that Les Mills has taken this time around.

That being said, there will be a lot of fans of BP71. I thoroughly enjoyed the filming - there was something in the air that day amongst the participants. It wasn't the OMG INSAAAAAAAAAAAAYNE energy that I've experienced in filmings in the past - the Attack and Step filmings from the last quarter had that. This Pump filming was different. It was just like, everyone felt comfortable with each other. We were a bunch of Pumpers who had never met each other before, but were relaxed and having a good time. It was refreshing, and fantastic.

To me, it is that feeling that is the essence of Les Mills - how so many people from so many different walks of life can be brought together and feel comfortable.

I can't even begin to explain how awesome that is. :-)

Is that the time?!

Sorry about the lack of updates, folks! I've been INCREDIBLY busy, I've got so much I want to write about, but I don't think I'm going to get the time, arrrrrgh!

So a quick bullet point summary of the stuff I've done since the swim on the 19th of April.

• 21st April - RPM with Mid, Pump with Glen. Saw the bulk of BP71, like the chest track, adore the lunge track, and OMG to the abdominals and EEEEEEEEE to the warmdown track (Rebecca was right, I do love it! Girl, you know my tastes :-D) As for RPM with Mid, the woman made the entire class sing Happy Birthday to me, AND, she even got them to sing it to 'Marshy' rather than 'Rania'! FREAKING. AWESOME.
  
  
• 22nd April - Kick-arse session with Adam in the morning. Even Adam was surprised when I took control of the weights and kept on increasing them since he'd put them too light for me, ahahaha. He gave me a present for my birthday, which was so sweet of him! Then went into Auckland Central in the evening and did BC40 with Hernan and Ang, then BJ50 with Gandalf(!!!)
  
  
• 23rd April - Loved lunchtime Jam with Gandalf. Fred and I went wild in the front row and Louise got to see the incredible street Jazz block of BJ49.
  
  
• 24th April - Up early to do BP71; Susan and Mark Sinclair were teaching with Glen this time, can only assume that they're the presenting team for this release. Hahaha, Mark Sinclair is a cranky old bastard at 6am; it was hilarious! Susan couldn't help but jibe at him, it was great to watch :-D
  

For the 25th and 26th of April, I was in Melbourne, and I needed to rest on the 27th of April.

• 28th April - RPM with Mid, worked bloody hard, harder than I've done for quite some time. BP71 with Susan, Mark and Glen, this release is growing on me, though I do like some tracks more than others, rather than the release as a whole (as I did for BP67, 69, and 70). It's Hannah's first day back in Auckland and when we did Carla and Sarah's class (the whole of 49 was what we did), it went absolutely INSANE!
  
  
• 29th April - Another look at BC41 with Dan and Rach; what a hard release this one is shaping up to be. Was absolutely dripping with sweat in the warmup, WHAAAAAAT?! Then another look at Jam with Gandalf, Rach and Fetty? (Not sure of the spelling - can someone please help me with this if you know her name? She's from Indonesia and is BEAUTIFUL!). Patrick arrived from Melbourne today and I was constantly picking his jaw up off the floor for him, he was ABSOLUTELY in awe. (And I am loving having him here :-D)
  

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to do Jam with Gandalf at lunchtime (let's hope the timetable isn't lying to me on this one - I'll be happy with whatever he teaches), and then MAYBE I'll do the 49 workshop rehearsal in the evening. We'll see how tired I am. (And yes, I am tired!)

And theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen... It's GFX time, AHHHH!!! Of which I will have LOADS to write about :-D

Much love to you all, any of you who are still out there!

DYHAXLIT: A Tale of Two Races

This has been cross posted from DYHAXLIT, and comments have been turned off this post to encourage you to go to the original post and comment there :-)

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PART 1: Capital Classic - 24th January

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I haven't blogged much about my saga with The Protea, probably because it only seems dramatic to me since I have little-to-no experience in that arena. That, and one of the first things I did when I started talking to him was give him the links to both C&E and DYHAXLIT, and he occasionally reads (which honestly, I didn't expect him to do, since he spends hours reading cricket articles, I didn't think he had the time. And hey, don't be judging, y'all. I be spending hours reading all you peoples blogs!). I respect that he is a private person - unlike me who is all OMG HERE IS THE STORY OF MY LIFE AND THEN SOME, however, this little tidbit is slightly relevant to the event that I'm writing about. I didn't have the strength to write about it at the time, but now, I do.

In the very beginning, I was biting my fingernails, wondering whether he was interested in me or not. He went on holiday for a week, then came back and wasn't talking to me much at all, and I began preparing myself for one of two possibilities based on my conversations with him. a) Him moving overseas (which he eventually did do), and b) Him realising he wasn't ready and was still hurting from his previous relationship.

The day before I flew down to Wellington for the Capital Classic, he told me he had started dating someone else, which was a massive shock to me. I doubled back through everything, wondering what 'He's Just Not That Into You' signs I'd missed. That night, I couldn't sleep. I was just so completely stunned, and it hit me so hard - I didn't want to be hit that hard, but there was no denying how horrible I felt when he gave me that news.

I didn't want my first swim to be in Auckland. I wanted it to be somewhere else, away from my parents. My Mum openly said that she would never support me in an ocean swim, and I didn't want to be around people who didn't support me - I wanted to be away from them. Now, I wanted to be away from them for a different reason.

I asked Sarah-I to come down to Wellington with me for the first swim with a 750m Ocean Swim event - the Capital Classic on the 24th of January. I've been to Wellington before and loved the city, so it made sense for me to go down there.

Given that I'd been swimming upwards of 3km in the pool, I rather arrogantly thought that 750m in the ocean would be easily doable. And here's the kicker, I arrogantly thought I would be able to do it in any conditions. Hah. We'll get back to that point later.

The day that I flew down to Wellington, I turned up to work, pale and exhausted, and completely numb from what The Protea had told me. I could barely speak to anyone, I didn't have any appetite, and eventually my boss told me to go home because he thought I was sick (and didn't want anyone else in the office to catch whatever the hell kinda illness it was that I got.)

When I met Sarah-I at the airport, I could barely speak to her. She jabbered a bit and did her very best to keep me distracted, but I was too numb and shellshocked. The previous races I'd done, I was nervous, anxious, shitting myself, doubting myself. This time, I couldn't feel anything. I wasn't a living being that day, the only energy I had, I devoted to existing. Feeling, experiencing, that was too hard.

I badly, SO badly needed the euphoric feeling of completing a race to lift me up.

And eveywhere in Wellington, there were reminders of the purpose of being there.

Sarah-I's friend kindly had picked us up from the airport and taken us firstly to the registration site where I picked up my registration pack and got my number written on my hand.

The course in Wellington for both the 750m event and the 2.8km event took you around particular highlights of the Wellington Harbour - the 750m swim around the Fountain, and the 2.8km around the Lighthouse.

These, the fact that I love Wellington, and that it was away from my family who did not support me, made the Capital Classic look like a perfect event.

However, it was not to be.

Sarah-I and I woke up to a sunny day, and after a nutritious breakfast and half an hour trying to wriggle into my wetsuit - this after a relapse of my ankle injury putting me out of my regular gym routine for a wee while - I waddled down the road to the start line.

What you can't see was how choppy the water was. It was quite rough, though the announcer was talking about how the wind had dropped considerably overnight and it was much calmer than it had been in the past few days.

Given how ridiculous the wind was in the triathlon a year ago (heck, was it that long ago?!), I again, arrogantly thought I was going to be fine. I really needed the race to lift my spirits. I wanted SOMETHING to feel good about. The ankle injury had kept me out of the gym, and I was still only just dealing with the deaths close to the family and the legal squabbling that had ensued thereafter.

My arrogance was even more inflated after taking a quick dip to... 'warm up'. I say that in inverted commas because of how cold the water was! It was freezing, and I was very thankful for my wetsuit purchase.

Sarah-I and the lovely Charmaine were on the beach in support, and it was overwhelming. I really felt that I had more support in Wellington than I did in Auckland - sad in a way, but the fact that two beautiful people were there only for ME was incredible.

I pulled off a quick wave before the hooter went off.

That was probably my last genuine smile for my entire weekend in Wellington.

I walked into the water, not rushing, but definitely with some urgency. My last training swim before the race, I had done in 15 minutes. I was eager to be done with it and have it out of the way, to cross that finish line and feel that euphoria.

In fact, look at the post I wrote the very next day that said this (emphasis not from original post):

Unfortunately like everything else in my life at the moment, I failed to complete the Capital Classic.

You don't know how much I needed SOMETHING to go right, to feel one piece of euphoria and joy.

No. It didn't happen.

In the warm up dip I took, I swam in two directions - into the waves, and with the waves. When you swim into the waves, you can see the waves in front of you and moderate your stroke in time or duck your head under. Negative of this is that you tend to get a lot of salt water in your mouth. When you swim with the waves, you travel a bit faster as the waves carry you forward, but because you can't see them, you're not prepared for them, and the vertical drop that can occur catches you off guard.

By far the hardest was the one that I hadn't tried before. Swimming perpendicular to the waves. Trying to travel forward when the waves are pushing you sideways.

This was how we were travelling for the beginning stretch of the course. I felt the wind had picked up considerably from when the race briefing to when we hit the water, and because of the wave direction, I felt like I was getting no traction through the water at all. I tried as hard as I possibly could, taking mouthful after mouthful of salt water as the waves kept working against me, and the vertical drop from the height of the wave to the depth of it was huge - it quite possibly match the sinking feeling in my stomach that I had when I had that previous conversation with The Protea.

I glanced to my right, where I saw a lifeguard on a surfboard, watching the swimmers go past him. I know that I wouldn't have noticed him there if I wasn't struggling. I tried to ignore him, though as irritated swimmers swam over the top of me and collided with me as they tried to get past, I was exhausted, almost crying in the water, still feeling like I hadn't travelled anywhere, like I hadn't gotten any further from the start line. I felt like if the tide had gone out right at that moment, my chest would've been on the beach, my arms and legs flailing - like a bug who has been picked up yet still thrashes their legs about trying to run away.

I again look to the right at the lifeguard. Hating myself as I did so, I found myself raising my hand in the air. A couple of seconds later, the guy saw me and moved in my direction. He politely asked me how I was doing, and all I could splutter was "I can't... I just can't...". He signalled for the IRB (Inflatable Rescue Boat) and said to me gently, "You've done really well, you wouldn't catch me in that water!" It was lovely that he spoke so kindly, but it didn't help me with how much of a failure I felt, clinging to that surfboard. Not a moment later, the IRB arrived and the two lifeguards within it hauled me into the boat. It was a struggle and I was embarassed because I felt stiff, heavy, and my muscles wouldn't cooperate with me, so I couldn't help get myself into the boat as much as I wanted to.

The IRB dropped me back off to the beach - not without more embarassment since I went to climb out of the boat, though when I tried to, I ended up rolling back in (whoops!) since again, my legs didn't cooperate with me. In the end, I rolled off the side of the boat without trying land properly, falling down in a mangled heap. An official cut my timing chip off my ankle and Sarah-I and Charmaine came to my side straight away as I burst into tears.

For days later, I tried to blame The Protea. Like I blamed The Jerk for my back injury - and rightfully so, he begged me to come meet him when I'd been ordered to stay in bed, and my minor back niggle became aggravated to a serious back injury.

The fact of the matter was, even if I had been happy and well rested, I still wouldn't have been able to complete that swim. I hadn't trained in anywhere near as rough conditions as what I faced that day. The whole thing had been so perfect in my mind - yet I somehow amongst all of it managed to forget that Wellington? It's dang windy down there. I couldn't blame The Protea, no matter how hard I tried.

---

PART 2: King of the Bays - 19th April

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I know Wellington and Auckland most intimately out of all of the cities in New Zealand, which is why when it came to deciding which swims to enter, I entered the Capital Classic in Wellington, and King of the Bays in Auckland. When I 'Not Finished' the Capital Classic, I was wondering what the hell I was thinking having entered a second race.

In theory, I had a lot of time to train. Though with some travel overseas, Les Mills filmings, the first Run Auckland race for the year (which I still haven't written about), and getting closer to The Protea only to have to have the fool leave the country on me (if you're wondering about the Him Dating Someone Else, we had a phone call that thrashed that out, which had me bursting into tears and sounding like a big sook when really I was trying to yell at him), the training got shelved. I was still exercising, but not training. While events are great, when I love group fitness so much, the training can get exhausting. I can rock up to any old Jam class without any mental preparation - same with doing RPM or Combat. Training for a race, however, is a different kettle of fish.

I used to scratch my head at why Worker Emm regularly went for 10km runs didn't enter any races. He ran for the enjoyment of it, and didn't need any races to tell himself of his achievements. Because he didn't see them as achievements. He saw them as fun. If he entered a race, suddenly all of those enjoyable runs would become training runs. Yes, it is possible that the two can overlap, but it may not for everyone. There have been times where I absolutely hated the training for Run Auckland.

I had been mentally weakened by the events of the last few months. Starting right from Christmas where my friend went into hospital and that week on call was ridiculously ridiculous - this year has been... ridiculous. I have things to look forward to in the near future, though all of them seem incredibly exhausting at the same time. All I want is a weekend of doing nothing, is that so much to ask?!

King of the Bays literally snuck up on me. One week before the race I thought, "Heck... I haven't been in the water since Wellington! I need to do a swim..." With the race on the Sunday, Thursday was the day I managed to get in the water. I was sore from doing Body Combat and a session with Adam in the morning the previous day, as well as having weak feeling ankles, so I was a bit worried when I got out of the pool at 750m in 25 minutes, knowing full well that I had completed my last 750m pool swim in 15 minutes, and that I would probably be slower in the ocean. The time limit on the 750m event was 30 minutes - so being 25 minutes in a more comfortable environment made me be vewwy vewwy quiet nervous.

It was a different feeling to previous races. I'd been achieving something new, something different each time. This time? It felt like I was out to get... well... revenge. To vanquish the demons of January the 24th, and to round up my last day of being 23 by polishing off an ocean swim - one of the goals I'd been wanting to achieve for quite some time. I've always felt like more of a swimmer than a runner, which is probably another reason why I felt so devastated by failing to complete the swim in Wellington.

Knowing that I had failed before, I kept it quiet. However, I didn't count on my friends Amal and Tamara remembering how I had asked them to come and support me for the swim. I also didn't count on Sarah-I remembering too. Sarah-I had a late night out and wasn't able to get up in time to come to the beach, but I was shocked when both Tamara and her husband were at the beach waiting for me when I got out of the car.

She must've been equally shocked when she saw my parents behind me. My parents, in particular, my Mum, who had said that she would never support me in an ocean swim. Both her and my Dad had gotten out of bed and driven me across Auckland to be on Takapuna beach that day (and oh my god, Takapuna reminds me so much of the surfy towns in Queensland that it's freakalicious.)

While not as sunny and bright as the day that greeted me when I woke up in Wellington, the first thing I noticed was that the sea was much calmer. I knew it wouldn't feel that way when I was in the water, but seeing the difference in calmness from the shoreline was already a good sign.

I headed down to the beach for the race briefing, and for a moment, Amal and Tamara came off the grass and onto the sand to stand and chat to me before the Announcer Guy started Announcing. It transformed to what would have been a very lonely moment to something quite lovely.

(and Rangitoto Island looks rather impressive in the background there!)

As soon as the race briefing was over, we began heading off down the beach in a big mob to the start line.

I was a bit behind the group since I grabbed a nervous swimmers cap - which is a different colour to the event cap. For the Wellington Capital Classic event, the event caps were green, and for the North Shore King of the Bays event, the event caps were red. The nervous swimmers caps were blue, and I put this on over the top of my red one so that the lifeguards out on the water would be able to spot me easier.

I didn't mind being behind the group. I learned from Wellington that I wanted to be behind everyone - to have pretty much as many people ahead of me as possible. I didn't want to have people swimming over the top of me again.

I wasn't ready for it when the hooter went off, but it was okay since I slowly took my time getting into the water. I saw people in front of me shouting and exclaiming "OMG THE WATER'S FREEZING!", but I was surprised when my feet touched the water that it wasn't as cold as I expected. It was several degrees warmer than Wellington, which I didn't expect, given that while Wellington is further south, the Capital Classic took place in the height of summer, and at the height of the day. King of the Bays was in Autumn, early in the morning.

The cold caught some people off guard, and very early into the course, kids who were wearing nothing but their speedos were hauled out of the water, shivering like mad.

Very early into the race, despite it being calmer, I felt the same feeling that I did in Wellington. I felt like I wasn't going anywhere, no matter how hard I was pushing myself. However, I was swimming into the waves this time, not across them, and while I didn't realise it at the time, I *was* making distance.

With the waves coming at you, even though I wanted to put my head down, I couldn't. I remembered Andrew sending me a message on MSN Messenger when I posted a video on my first training swim in the ocean, saying "Head down while swimming!" I tried putting my head down as this memory surfaced. When I would lift my head to breathe, I'd get a wave in my mouth and my gob full of saltwater, and the other thing was I would have absolutely no concept of where the hell I was and which direction I was going. Never mind having to avoid the other swimmers who seemed to be coming out of everywhere. I looked at all of the other swimmers and saw that none of them had their heads down. I knew I would get better propulsion through the water with my head down, though I also would get no oxygen at all... hmmmm... I took my heed from the other swimmers and decided to swim with my head up.

My thought of my head position had distracted me, and I looked ahead, and suddenly was shocked. The first orange buoy which had seemed so far from the start line was now MUCH closer.

I was ACTUALLY making progress! Progress I could SEE! I urged myself to get around that buoy, and it was an awesome feeling when I did. I never made it to the first marker in Wellington, so already, I had gotten much further.

The second stretch of the course was the hardest one, and it had me thinking about Wellington all over again. I was swimming across the waves, with them pushing me towards the shore while I was travelling forwards. The big difference now was that I had very few people around me. I, on one level, knew that it was because they had all finished already (grrr), but I liked having more space to work with.

There were lifeguards on the surfboards in the water, and one of them politely said to me, "How you doing, you doing okay?" and I gave her a thumbs up from in the water. She said, "You're over half way now, you're doing great."

Over half way? When did that happen? HOW did that happen?

Before I carry on, I will say that the hardest part of the swim, which is true for both Auckland and Wellington is the first part. It's where the waves are the most variable, and thus, where most people pull out. I came so close to pulling out again, despite knowing that there were FOUR people on the beach who would see my failure, again. And that I would have to report to you all about not completing it, again.

As I approached the second buoy, I found I had angled myself a bit too much (or... the waves had pushed me a bit too much... you take your pick), and turned inside the buoy, rather than outside it. Whoops. I hope they don't mind!

When I made that turn, I was facing the beach, staring right at the markers, knowing that it was the home stretch. Now that I was swimming with the waves, I found I was able to keep my head down and get some power in the water like I used to get in the pool. My arms had gotten pretty tired throughout the course, and there were moments when I briefly switched strokes to give them a break. I had more than enough strength in them to get through and back to the beach.

When the water was shallow enough to put my feet on the sand, I stood up and saw two figures on the beach. One of them was wearing a bright purple top, which was Amal. The other one, next to her, threw her arms up in the air, cheering - which was Tamara.

I can tell you, it was all worth it just for that.

The Announcer Guy at the race briefing said to be careful once you'd gotten onto the beach, and not to begin running to the finish line straight away. I walked for a bit, not running straight away, and when my feet had left the water, I whipped my cap and goggles off and made a run for it.

As I crossed the line, I heard the Announcer Guy say "Raina Singh from Auckland, crossing in at...", and I didn't hear the time because that didn't matter. Well, at that moment it didn't matter. Hearing him say my name as I ran across the line made me feel like the most important person on the whole damn planet.

Thankfully, this following photo was taken one second after I crossed the line.

My official time being 20 minutes and 37 seconds.

Well clear of having my ass hauled in by the Too Slow boat.

The demons of Wellington were well and truly gone, and when my Mum wrapped her arms around me and told me how proud of me she was, it was such a polar opposite of January the 24th.

I don't like myself in photos, and even I can see the genuineness of that smile.

I could also see that I'm damn tired too, but I didn't need to look in a photo for that. After the day I've had, I'm knackered and ready to hit the sack. Heck, after the YEAR I've had, I'm ready to hit the sack.

It was the best way to wind up my last day of being 23, and being 23 has been incredible. When I wake up tomorrow as a 24 year old, I know one thing for certain.

There is more to come.

---

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Latin Sensation

Plan

• Body Jam @ 10am
  

Actual

• Body Jam with Carla
  
  • 60mins
    

Whenever international Jam instructors come down to Auckland for the filmings, I feel sad that most of them don't get to experience the classes in the other Les Mills clubs - Les Mills Takapuna and Les Mills New Lynn. Especially Les Mills New Lynn, since it's very close to my heart :-)

I met Louise, a Jammer from London currently in Perth, in Gandalf's Jam class on Wednesday, and suggested that she join me for a Jam class out in my favourite gym :-D I picked her up in the morning from outside Auckland Central and brought her to New Lynn to Jam it up with Carla.

Carla was absolutely on fire in today's class, putting a special effort in since on of the long time New Lynn members is leaving. She requested a class packed with latin tracks, and Carla duly obliged. Carla knows heaps of latin tracks from older releases, and Louise was slackjawed at some of the stuff since she'd never seen it before! We did the warmup/iso from BJ49, then moved into the latin from BJ37, BJ46, and BJ49. She then had Adrenalina from BJ31 queued up, but we didn't have enough time (argh!), and moved into the recovery and House from BJ49, before ending it with the groovedown from BJ47. Poor Carla didn't have any crazy screaming to contend with this time, but she did manage to lose one of the main moves altogether from the second track of the house block - I wasn't much help either, I could feel something was wrong but didn't know how to get back into the choreography, never mind help Carla to do so. None of the members seemed to care though, they just enjoyed being to get their Jam groove on, who cares if the choreography is right or wrong anyway :-D

And I tell you what, I love hanging out with passionate Jammers. After class with Carla, Louise and I went to the cafe at the New Lynn gym (which is reason enough to come to New Lynn, since the food is DIVINE) and we just got along like a house on fire, talking a mile a minute and sharing gym stories. She then helped me to buy a dress for the Les Mills GFX Carnival Party (since all of my dresses are black... uh... not really carnival colours, alas!), and I took her for a drive out to Takapuna to register for the King Of the Bays Swim tomorrow(!!!). It was getting late so I only took her for a brief drive around the Les Mills Takapuna gym, telling her we should come for a class there sometime. (I think Grant teaches Combat there on a Saturday morning, the other option is Mark Sinclair's Pump on a Sunday morning - either of those sound fun.)

It was a great day, though I'm hella nervous about the swim. Being out there in Takapuna and picking up my registration pack and having the number '2014' written on my hand is bringing the idea out of my imagination and into reality, and that is really scary. Especially given that it was all a big huge failure last time.

19th of April. The last day of being 23. I would love to wind it up with vanishing the demons of January the 24th, on that day in Wellington where I had to be fished out of the sea after not even completing 100 metres.

Wish me well.

[and if it's anywhere near as windy as it was in Wellington that day, I ain't even going to bother getting into the water]

Call me on the telephooooone

Plan

• Body Pump @ 12:10pm
  
• 750m Swim
  

Actual

• Swim - 30 lengths, 0.75km
  
  • Start - 5:05pm
  • End - 5:30pm
  • Time Total - 25mins
  • Average Time Per Lap - 50.0 seconds

I desperately needed to get back in the pool, but had initially wanted to get one more Pump class in. Three Pump classes in a week would have been all kinds of awesome.

I had only just recovered from the DOMS from Amy's Pump class on Saturday (cured by Pump with Glen and Emma on Tuesday), though I had very sore abdominals and glutes from my session with Adam yesterday, and an aching upper body from Combat with Dan and Rach. These were all fine.

What I was a bit concerned about, however, was the fact that both my left and right ankles were feeling unstable. With the King of the Bays swim being just OMG THREE DAYS AWAY, I did not want to risk anything.

I posted a message on Facebook, asking whether I should go to Pump. Hah, for future reference? When the majority of your friends on there are Les Mills junkies who never seem to get injured, do NOT do this. Most of the responses were in the "Of course!" vein, and I began getting convinced to go to class.

However, I was in the kitchen making some tea when NewWorker Jay called out "Phone for you!", and as I ran to my desk to get the call before it bounced back to her, I felt my right ankle begin to give way underneath me. My right ankle is stronger than my left so I didn't collapse, but it was enough to begin stumbling and get severely off balance, AND to freak me out. I decided if my ankles didn't want to be worked, they would do anything to make sure that they weren't worked!

It was just as well too, since I needed every bit of strength to get into the first and final(!) practise swim for King of the Bays. It had been so long since I'd been in the pool, and I will say it, I was bloody angry at myself for not prioritising my training and swimming more often. So much has been going on and emotionally I've been a wreck - gone on a roller coaster ride and am still not in the best place at this moment, my training let slide. With the injury, it was okay to not go full steam ahead into three hours a day group fitness - though swimming was something that I always could have done. I really am kicking myself for not getting my act together on that front, though it all feels like the worst timing right now.

In the water, my head was filled with thoughts, the events of the past few months, I went through all of them and it was quite overwhelming. The swim also took 10 minutes longer than my last timed swim in the pool, which slightly pissed me off, and I can't put the slownesss all down to the soreness from Combat.

The cut off time for the swim is 30 minutes, and I know I'll be slower in the ocean because I never really got used to the buoyancy of the wetsuit.

...

Actually... I hope that thing still fits...