Something Shiny Disorder » Exercise

80 year old knees

Katy — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:34:00 +0000

I’m in some serious knee pain today! Last night I went with Kathryn to her “boot camp” after work. You’ve heard of nonmilitary exercise boot-camp-style classes for regular people who just want a motivating workout? That’s what this was. It’s not the kind of boot camp where the instructors scream “get moving, maggot!” to motivate you (although I think those do exist)… the instructor was very motivating but she achieved it by hollering “Nice job! You can do it! Just 15 more seconds! Come on! Keep moving! Way to go!” They offer a free class to newcomers, so I thought I’d go and see what it was all about, and why Kathryn gets up at 4 a.m. to be at the morning class by 5:30 a.m. three times a week.

We moved constantly for about an hour, in “stations” drills (zigzag running between cones, tricep dips on a bench, hurdles, running a ball back and forth, running through tires on the ground, squats with a medicine ball, and crunches), and then alternating between lifting weights, running “suicides,” more crunches, running around a coned-off box in various ways (knees up, heels up, run sideways, skip, run backwards), and doing plank pose on our mats. I was sweating like crazy, panting, and occasionally saw little black spots in my vision.

I thought I was in better shape than I apparently am!

Today I’m mildly sore all over, but my knees really don’t work right. If I sit still for more than 10 minutes or so they stiffen up and are so sore I’m afraid they’ll buckle underneath my weight. I guess it was all the squats and “suicides” (running back and forth between cones and touching the ground at either end). I’m walking like I’m 80 years old today.

The one thing that made me feel a little silly was the rah-rah “Go Team!” stuff that was happening. All the attendees were shouting “Yeah! Come on! We rock! Go team!” to other attendees. I guess I just had a hard time getting that excited about it. The instructor was motivating like that, which was fine, but I felt like I was expected to drink the koolaid and be perky and yell encouragement to everyone. Maybe it was because it was my first time or because I’m a little shy, but I didn’t really feel the comraderie that the regulars seem to feel.

It was a serious workout, and I know if I did it regularly I’d get in shape pretty fast. But it’s a little pricey. I might do it for a month just to “kick start” getting back into shape.

cyclist vs. auto: the auto will always win.

Katy — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 01:39:00 +0000

I just rode my bike from the house down to the lake, around, and back; probably about 15 miles total. It took me about an hour and a half. Not bad! Especially considering that for most of the 3 mile (each way) journey to the lake, I ride on the sidewalks because the streets are a little bit too busy/too major for me to feel comfortable riding a bike on. Proving that point, I had two separate people honk at me as they drove past. I cannot understand why people in cars feel the need to honk at cyclists. Assholes. Do they think it’s funny? It can startle us and can cause us to lose control of our bicycles. And if you ride on the street, drivers often don’t change lanes to pass you — they’ll drive by within a foot or two of you on your bike.

The closer you get to the lake, the more understanding the drivers seem to be; I guess because it’s more common to see cyclists on the roads near the lake. Once I got to Northcliff I started riding on the street, both because it is a smaller quieter street, and it is closer to the lake and has more of the bicycle-friendly atmosphere.

The other thing about riding on the sidewalks is that not all the curbs have ramps. I’m not the kind of gal who feels comfortable popping a wheelie to get up onto the sidewalk from the street, so I have to stop and manually do it. That is kind of a pain.

I could probably have made better time if not for the lack of curb ramps. I don’t even know if that’s what they’re called but you know what I mean.

I didn’t know this was going to become a rant about automobile/cyclist etiquette. I really was just going to say that I rode 15 miles today, and ran about 2.5 – 3 miles at the lake yesterday morning.

Also, in case you were wondering, I’m not operating under any illusions that my mileage and workout results are of any interest to anyone but myself. I do want to keep track of it, though, so this is as good a place as any to write it down.

Time to go make dinner. I made asiago cheese buns this afternoon, as well as some pasta salad to use up some leftover veggies and pasta. I think we’re having sloppy joes for dinner, and I’m taking pasta for lunch tomorrow.

I think I’m going to run at lunch on Tuesday instead of after work, because I want to come straight home so I can start working on dinner. I’m cooking for Kathryn and Brett as a birthday gift to her.

Tomorrow is Yvonne’s birthday. Her party is Saturday, but maybe she’ll want to celebrate one night this week at Times Ten Cellars — I have free drink tickets to use up!

skiing sucks!

Katy — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 01:22:00 +0000

Skiing sucks! ugh. i am not cut out for winter sports. i’ll stick to yoga.