Week 110

• Friday - Rest
  
  
• Saturday - RPM
  
  
• Sunday - RPM Enduro
  
  
• Monday - Body Pump, 4.5km Run
  
  
• Tuesday - TBA
  
  
• Wednesday - Body Pump
  
  
• Thursday - Personal Trainer Session, Personal Trainer Circuit

Where have all the beeps gone?

Plan

• Cardio
  
• Personal Trainer Circuit
  

Actual

• Cardio
  
  • Run
  • Sumo Squats
  • Tricep Extension
  • Sit Ups with Clap
    
• Personal Trainer Circuit
  
  • 5min Walking Warmup
  • 2km Run - 14:00 [Personal Best]
  • 15mins Step Machine
  • 2 x 40 Step Ups
  • 3 x 10 Seated Overhead Shoulder Press
  • 3 x 10 Barbell Tricep Extension
  • 3 x 10 Adductor Squat w/Barbell
  • 3 x 10 Kneeling Arm & Leg Lift
  • 3 x 10 Reverse Crunches
  • 3 x 10 Swiss Ball Crunches
    

In the morning, I got up, amped. I was supposed to be doing a beep test today, and I was excited. Well rested, I had fuelled myself for it, I was totally pumped.

Alas, the studios were in use. Grant was with his client in one studio, and Amy had a bunch of people in the other studio.

Goddammit! Not fair!

Adam even said that after the beep test, he had other exercises planned to do in the studio, so his plans were scattered as well. Instead, we went for a run, and followed it up with some strength exercises.

One thing of note is during the run, I kept on increasing the speed. Once I hit a particular speed, Adam said, "Ahhhhhh, now THIS is your speed!" I was in my element.

In the evening, I went into the gym again, and instead of going on the bike for a 5 minute warmup, I claimed a treadmill and began thinking about running for 20 minutes instead of warming up for 5 and running for 15. I must admit, normally I go straight into the running (unsafe, Adam picked up on this, and insisted on a low impact warmup in this circuit) Knowing that it would be tough to get a treadmill after all of the nine-to-fivers walked in, I got on, and went for a five minute walk. Once five minutes was up, I stopped the treadmill, then started it again for the 15 minute run. Convoluted, I know, but I knew it was the only way that I wouldn't turn it into a 20 minute, un-warmed-up run.

As I kicked up the speed, I thought about Adam's words in the morning. "This is your speed." As I hit that speed, I thought, "Okay, this is MY speed. Let's stay here."

And I stayed there. I ran along, and kept on going, in a very similar satisfaction mode to the way that I was running on Monday.

I hit 2km, and would you look at that, without thinking of the time it took, I hit a personal best - knocking off my previous 2km best time of 14:13. So when I don't think about times I completely kick ass on times? How come I didn't realise this before?!

Please refuel to continue regular functionality

Plan

• RPM @ 5:20pm
  
• Body Jam @ 7:30pm
  

Actual

• RPM with Mid
  
  • 45mins
    
• PT Circuit - Weights
  
  • 2 x 40 Step Ups
    
  • 3 x 10 Seated Overhead Shoulder Press
  • 3 x 10 Barbell Tricep Extension
  • 3 x 10 Adductor Squat w/Barbell
  • 3 x 10 Kneeling Arm & Leg Lift
  • 3 x 10 Crunches
  • 3 x 10 Seated Chest Press
    
• Body Jam with Carla and Olivia
  
  • 60mins
    

I sent an email to Mid requesting that we do Painkiller for our number 5 track. I was in for a treat.

Mid did the entire release!

RPM 36

• Little L - Jamiroquai
• You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (Definitive Radio Edit) - The Kinky Boyz
• I Like To Move It (Jens O Mix) - Zoo Gang
• Straight Lines - Silverchair
• Painkiller - Freestylers
• Only If I (Alex Megane Extended Mix) - Kate Ryan
• Played-A-Live (Darude vs JS16) - Safri Duo
• Every Little Step - Bobby Brown
• Light Surrounding You – Evermore

I'd only asked for one song, and got the entire playlist! Crapulence! YAAAAAY! RPM 36 is my favourite release of all, and it was awesome to do the entire thing to bottom again.

Since I'd committed to having a sauna in between classes, I felt free to push myself hard. Since I was getting a break, I knew I could go completely hog wild with the effort since there was going to be some down time after the class. I'd eat one of the muesli bars that I'd brought along to refuel myself, then have a rinse off and sit in the sauna for a bit. Fantastic.

After RPM, I said to mid, "So I'll be seeing you tomorrow morning?"

I was absolutely shocked by her response.

She said, NO. Why? She was supposed to be taking over the Wednesday 6am Pump class from Matt, though recently, Matt had done a U-Turn on the class and decided that he wanted to keep it. I was stunned, and as Mid told me about it, I could see that she was incredibly disappointed.

As I was leaving the RPM studio, I realised that I couldn't exactly sit in the sauna for an hour and a half, and thought about the new program that Adam had given me. Essentially, it was 35 minutes of cardio followed by a series of weights exercises. Given that I'd just done 45 minutes of cardio, I thought, why not do the weights portion of the program?

It was tough, and I liked it. I need to turn the program into an image file so that I can load it onto my iPod, since I kept on leaving the goddamn sheet in random places across the gym, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it. Only thing was I forgot about the reverse crunches at the end and did chest presses in the end.

I went and had a brief sauna and shower, and headed on over to the studio for Body Jam.

As I was waiting for Combat to finish, a girl walked past me, staring intently at her iPod, and on the screen lit up brightly was "Good Luck (feat. Lisa Kekaula) - Basement Jaxx". I recognised it as the trash jam track from Body Jam 41. As she walked past, I glanced at her briefly, enough to notice that she was wearing an instructor's belt. Carla was already in the room, so I thought, "Hmmm, looks like we have a guest instructor team teaching today... teaching from Body Jam 41!"

Aaaaaaaand, I was right! Carla introduced her as Olivia, and instructor who had come up from Christchurch for the workshop and some of the modules that the other classes were running.

Body Jam 45, 41

• Work (Freemasons Remix) - Kelly Rowland
• ------------------------------
• La Bomba - Ricky Martin
• Good Luck (feat. Lisa Kekaula) - Basement Jaxx
• ------------------------------
• Livin' A Lie - The-Dream feat. Rihanna
• The Anthem - Pitbull feat. Lil Jon
• Television Rules the Nation - Daft Punk
• With Every Heartbeat (Coronell Remix) - Robyn
• Silence (not sure what remix) - Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan
• Somebody Else's Guy - Jocelyn Brown

As I watched Olivia during the warmup block, she seemed very stilted, her moves very proper and sharp. In a way, she looked a little goofy. I admit to being quite skeptical, but as soon as she started teaching the latin block, she was like poetry. BEAUTIFUL. Her and Carla both move in very different ways. Olivia clearly has been trained in dance before, and her movements are precise, theatrical, and formal. Carla, however, shows more of her aerobic capabilities with her moves being more fluid and carefree. It was very interesting to see how the two instructors compared.

Though as I went on throughout the class, I felt myself getting tired. I only had so much to give in the end block for the class, and saved it all up for the Robyn track. After that, I was spent. I admit to being puzzled. Why the heck was I so tired? I mean, I'd had a rest in between the classes, unlike my usual goodness knows how long cardio stints, so what the hell?

I chatted to Carla and Olivia briefly after the class (giving Carla the second half of her present which arrived from Cafepress earlier today), finding out from Carla whether or not she was going to be in New Lynn on Saturday (she isn't, which gives me even more free reign for doing RPM and brunch with Pip, yaaaaay!) and headed on back to the lockers to grab my gear for a shower. When I dug out my clean clothes, the muesli bars fell out along with it.

Ah.

With that, the tiredness made sense.

Peeling Back the Label

Plan

• Body Pump @ 6am
  
• 4km Run @ 5pm
  

Actual

• Body Pump with Magali
  
  • 45mins
    
• Run - 4km
  
  • [read post to find out the time]
    

Brief rundown of Body Pump in the morning - I increased my weights for the tricep track, but I can't tell how much of a struggle it's going to be, since Magali picked a track that was full of tricep kickbacks and very little bar work. Maybe Mid will pick a more... uh... suitable tricep track on Wednesday. But I didn't feel the effects of the extra weight on the bar.

Given how disgusted I was with myself yesterday, I waned to make sure that I focused on distance. Since I know very well that there is no way in hell you can get a treadmill on a Monday evening (Weekend guilt? What weekend guilt?), I try to do my runs at home, and I have a bit more control over my environment. In Summer, it was fucking hard running at home, since it was like running in a sauna. Oh to run without blissful air conditioning! Now, it's no different to running at the gym, except that the treadmill at home isn't as nice as the gym ones and my treadmill does everything by miles.

I wanted to make sure that I actually ran 4km today. That I didn't burn out at 2km by trying to beat a time record, when the whole focus was running further, not faster.

So, I got creative.

Given that I needed to do an imperial-to-metric conversion before getting on the treadmill, I wrote down the conversion value on a sticky note. Then, I put sellotape around the edges and STUCK IT ON THE TREADMILL.

Don't believe me?

I didn't want to be all knotted up over "oh my god it's only been 12 minutes and I've run [this] distance, how on earth am I going to beat my pre-injury personal best at this rate?!" from watching the timer tick tick tick, so I stuck it over the time. I didn't want to watch the seconds tick away when really, I should be focusing on how much further I was running.

And hey, it worked a charm! I didn't care about how fast I was running. I didn't care about how long it took. I just ran and for the first time in god knows how long, I actually ENJOYED it.

First good point of this playlist - the first few tracks are slower. Admittedly, Sweetest Poison is a darn sight slower than Pump It, and it probably should've been around the other way, but overall, the first half of the playlist is of a slower pace than the second half. Gives me a good base for starting slowly and building my speed up.

Second note - I restarted Beautiful People and Pump It; listened to them twice. Imagined I was back in the filming for Body Jam 46, and having so much fun, that I wanted to listen to them both again.

I didn't try to take the sticky label off the entire time, and even when I got to 2.50 miles, it stayed stuck to there.

Time for a look at that ticker!

And now, a little treat. Or a little torture.

I bring you, Sweaty Marshmallow, peeling back the label!

It feels like forever till next Monday, when I run again.

Running into Trouble

Plan

• RPM Enduro @ 5pm
  

Actual

• Run - 2.08km
  
  • 14:40mins
    
• RPM Enduro with Jaci
  
  • 60mins
    

Ugh. I wanted to run for 4km today. I wanted to have the 4km run out of the way so that I could come home from work and relax. I enjoyed that last week. So I'm thoroughly annoyed with myself.

I seriously compromised myself today. I went on the treadmill, with the thought of running slower, and getting up to 4km. I was running slower, when I noticed that I was approaching the 13 minute mark, and at about 1.80km. I suddenly got all thinking I could beat my previous 2km run time AND carry on to do 4km. I picked up the pace dramatically. I ran faster than I ever ran before, and my back started to complain. Really badly. But I was just angry and hell bent on beating a personal record time.

I got up to 2km, and I didn't even beat the time.

Goodness knows what sort of damage I could've done.

I didn't feel myself in RPM either. My legs were sore, my shins were sore. It was awful. I took a 'toilet' break just so I could stretch out my legs.

Bah.

Work it out

Plan

• RPM @ 9am
  
• Body Jam Workshop @ 2:10pm
  

Actual

• RPM with Magali
  
  • 45mins
    
• Body Jam Workshop with Gandalf, Carla, Chris, Dion and Ginny
  
  • 60mins
    

RPM, with Magali, awesome. As per usual. I was so proud of my Mum, who came in, when she was sick and pushed herself hard. She told everyone that she didn't cancel because she was scared of me! Hah! But discussions later lead us to agree that it's better to go in and do a half-assed workout when you're not well, than it is to stop and begin again.

I didn't do Body Jam in New Lynn, I went home, had some lunch, and got ready to go into town and do the Body Jam 45 workshop in town.

Body Jam 45

• Work (Freemasons Remix) - Kelly Rowland
• Bring Em Out - T.I
• Feedback - Janet Jackson
• Killing in The Name Of - Rage Against the Machine
• Voodoo People (Pendulum Mix) - The Prodigy
• Livin' A Lie - The-Dream feat. Rihanna
• The Anthem - Pitbull feat. Lil Jon
• Television Rules the Nation - Daft Punk
• With Every Heartbeat (Coronell Remix) - Robyn
• Silence (not sure what remix) - Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan
• Somebody Else's Guy - Jocelyn Brown

Good grief, doing the whole release again reminded me of how much of a cardio killer this release is.

It was very different being in a workshop - a different sort of environment. I was surrounded by instructors, and everyone was friendly and excited. You could tell who the members were out of the bunch, because they were the grumpy ones!

All of the Jam instructors looked super hot, wearing variations on black and white suiting.

During the contemporary rock block - which gets harder and harder on the heartrate each time you do it - we were all throwing ourselves around when suddenly, from the stage, two gold hoop earrings were flying in my direction. Note to all instructors out there - do NOT wear big earrings when doing this release! They will get caught and twisted in ways that are too painful to mention. Carla realised this, and chucked them down to me for me to look after them until the class was over.

And, I made sure I rolly pollied in the right place today. I didn't want to be the only one rolling around on the floor with a bunch of buff instructors all around me, ack!

Glowing Conversation

Plan

• Body Balance @ 6:30pm
  

Actual

• Body Balance with Annie
  
  • 60mins

Body Balance was absolutely beautiful today. I really enjoyed Annie's class and even moreso, talking to her afterwards. She asked me about Mid's RPM class, and if I'd seen any major changes in my body shape after taking up RPM. I honestly told her, I didn't see any progress because I was so focused on the negatives. But that I'm working on it. She gave me absolutely glowing feedback on this declaration and was really interested in hearing how I was going with it.

We talked for ages, the gym literally closed around us as we carried on talking. Totally awesome.

Week 109

• Friday - Body Balance
  
  
• Saturday - RPM, Body Jam Workshop
  
  
• Sunday - RPM Enduro
  
  
• Monday - Body Pump, 4km Run
  
  
• Tuesday - RPM, Body Jam
  
  
• Wednesday - Body Pump
  
  
• Thursday - Personal Trainer Session, Personal Trainer Circuit

Jaws of Flab

Plan

• Personal Trainer Session @ 6am
  
• Personal Trainer Circuit @ 5:30pm
  

Actual

• Personal Trainer Session
  
  • Hamstring Leanback
  • Sumo Squats
  • Reverse Crunch
    
• Personal Trainer Circuit
  
  • 15min Run
  • 10min Elliptical
  • Walking Lunges
  • Glute Presses
  • Torso Rotation
  • Hamstring Curl with Swiss Ball
  • 10min Bike
  • Oblique Crunches
  • Sit Ups with Clap
    

Last week, I told Adam that I wanted to stay away from the scales and look to another form of measurement. Something more accurate. More accurate, and more invasive. Given that I've now been training with him for a year, I know that he is very professional, and have the confidence that he isn't going to judge me regardless of whatever number comes up. I am a person, after all.

Weapon of choice?

Calipers.

When Adam came into the room with them, they looked like the proboscis of some sort of vicious insect.

I mean honestly.

Adam admitted that he forgot to tell me to wear shorts so he could take a caliper reading from my thighs - but that didn't stop him from having a quick squeeze of my triceps and my stomach flab. He'll take the thigh reading next week - when I'm wearing shorts. Though amazingly, all this flab squeezing was going on, and I didn't feel uncomfortable about it in the slightest.

!?1?!!?!?!1!

Adam also gave me a new program. Which I didn't do today. Why? I left the sheet at the office after showing it to Worker Emm. Bah! But Adam has been a bit smarter this time, and is making me sit on the bike for 5 minutes before going off on a 15min run. I'll give this a go next week and let you know how it goes on it.

Music was good. Music is always good. Worked hard, enjoyed it. Woohoo!