The Spin Factor

Yeah, so yesterday was a real red letter day. Here's the quick recap: I had to go off campus with the Head of School to a site visit and be all mingly for half the day. We got back JUST in time for a meeting with the Head and the communications team about our new viewbook, which was engaging and interesting but created a bit more work, as per usual. Then a conference call re: the viewbook which ended 10 minutes AFTER the workday was supposed to end, leaving me 5 minutes to get up to the dorm to be on duty. 4:15 to 5:30 was filled with doorbells ringing at the same time as the phone and a few smallish disciplinary things. And I SWEAR God is playing some cosmic joke on me because EVERY SINGLE time I sit down on the toilet, the dammed doorbell rings. EVERY TIME. At 5:30 I had the dorm parent meeting, which went until 7:30. Michael got home at 7:45 and I went to the gym with Melissa soon after scarfing down takeout burger king. Awesome. Got home in time to do a project for the dorm, which I finished just before the ten o'clock meeting. As I was starting the meeting, a mom called me with a signficant concern about her daughter. From the time the dorm meeting finished until 1 am, I was working through that whole thing and then I called the mom back and then of course was too wired to fall asleep.

Of course that made it that much harder to get up when my alarm went off at 5:35 am this morning to go to spinning with Melissa. BUT WE DID IT!!!

If I could have, I would have cancelled but I couldn't exactly call her at 1 am so I figured why not? So with four hours of sleep, I made my way to the gym. Five minutes in I knew I was in trouble. Ten minutes in, I started "cheating"...reaching down and pretending to ramp up the resistance. 20 minutes in I remembered Eckhart Tolle and Susan Piver and told myself to drop the "story" I was telling myself about how I couldn't do this. I reminded myself that this is what my body was built to do. 30 minutes in, I started planning my escape. I was out of water and figured I could waste 5+ minutes getting refilled. Kind of like in middle school. By 40 minutes, though, I had talked myself into sticking it out because I noticed that I already had 2500 steps in and I wanted to see how many I could get.

At the 45 minute mark, I nearly threw up, which caught me off guard. I had to admit that I was overdoing it and should probably throw in the towel. Preferably at that instructor that cheerily kept insisting we push it harder now.

And just when I decided to stop before my body revolted, it was over. WHAT? I made it? Yes, she stopped early to cool down and stretch. I felt accomplished. And very, very alive.

In fact, whereas exercising in the morning last week had me crashing by 10 am, this was different. I was on FIRE today. Kind of like I imagine speed makes you feel...I was super productive and on top of things and crossed things off my to-do list like crazy. I felt in control and just...buzzy. In a good way. It lasted until early afternoon, when I began to crash as per usual. But the productivity and sense of livliness was very nearly worth it. I think I actually did quite like it...just need some practice. It might have been a good idea to ease into it since it's a MUCH more intense workout than I'm used to. But it made me feel like maybe my 30 mins on the elliptical isn't really doing what it's supposed to for my body.

Actually, I think maybe what happened was that my body went into panic/survival mode due to impending death and kicked into adrenaline overdrive.

So yeah, I would do it again. If Melissa comes with me. Just have to make it to BodyPump and Zumba before the end of the month now!

Today was another busy day, going from meeting to meeting (including a dorm roommate mediation meeting). I got home around 5 and crashed until Michael got home at 8 and made dinner while I did some more work. At 9, we dragged ourselves to the grocery store out of pure necessity.

Now it's somehow gotten to be midnight. I'm thinking tomorrow might be a day off from the gym because I am very, very sore in places that don't deserve to be sore.

What? No one's ever thought of memory foam bike seats? Seriously?