Let Me Pass a Lesson on to You

I'm baaaack-- and with a new look too! Do ya like it? I said I would do it possibly last night, but guess what--didn't happen. Here's why-

I went to the gym and took my very first spin class. Wait, or was it a cycling class? Are those one in the same? Either way, lets just say my rear end feels pretty bruised/sore after doing jumps and extended rides while adding a little drag. I hope I'm using my new vocab words correctly!

Those 45 minutes I spent pedaling away burned me roughly 500 calories-- so really I can't complain--okay, really I can complain. Let me tell ya folks who have never dared such a class, I'm pretty sure that in the first 10 minutes I thought I was either going to pass out, puke, or die the entire time. Is it supposed to feel like my airway is swelling shut? I thought I used to have asthma induced by exercise-- but apparently all this time I say I've been exercising at the gym (including some running, heavy lifting and elliptical work) I really wasn't exercising according to my asthma-- you know, because it wasn't induced! Did you follow that? I digress...

Those first 10 minutes I kept hearing all the people from the many seasons of Biggest Loser saying "You know, I'd sit at home on my couch and think I could tackle that last chance workout, but boy was I wrong. I thought I was going to die!"

Yep, it was me who had walked by and peered into the windows of the spin/cycling room and thought to myself, Eh-- I could handle that. Well, I guess I was kind of right-- I handled it, but it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay tougher than I ever imagined. I'd have to say it was the hardest 45 minute workout I've ever endured. I almost feel like I've accomplished something major by attending and surviving that class--which, actually the teacher thought I wouldn't do (survive that is) when I walked in without a water bottle. More on that at the end of my story.

A possibly tragic (I use that term loosely) story turn lesson learned that I'm passing on to you all:

If you ever go to a spin/cycling class, please, for the love of God, take a water bottle (preferably one with a flip cap so that you can just leave it open--trust me, the last thing you're going to want to do mid-ride is take the time to unscrew your cap).

Anyway, I walked in all innocent last night sporting my Jayhawk t-shirt and stretchy, black workout pants only to notice that every other person in the room had a huge bottle of water in their water-bottle holders so awesomely displayed on the front of the handlebars. I know, I know, you're thinking I would have registered these water bottles one of the many times I was peering into the windows as I walked by with my biggest loser-looks easy complex, but I didn't.

So, uh, am I in trouble if I don't have some water, I ask the teacher. In all honesty I wasn't being too serious at the time.

Well..., (her face is saying wow, dummy- you're screwed) you're really going to need to replenish what you sweat out. (What she should have said is, Um hon, I'm guessing this is the first time you've ever done something like this-- and YES, you will definitely need water if you want to walk outta here insteada bein' carried on a stretcher).

So I figure I'll just stop and grab a drink at a nearby fountain if I really need one, but I'm sure I'll be fine.

Well, then I notice that everyone has a towel (again, didn't notice this back in my peeping days) draped across their handlebars. So maybe these people aren't being all that dramatic about it. Maybe this class really is a swift kick in the rear to sweating!

Luckily, I remember that there is a half-empty (or half-full) water bottle sitting on my passenger seat. It didn't take me long to surrender to possibly being tardy to class in order to retrieve what will be my oasis in this sweaty, spin desert.

I jet up the stairs and literally run to the car parked quite a ways away. The water bottle is there (thank God) where I thought it'd be, so I grab it and head back to class. I literally run back (because I really don't want to be tardy) to class and prop myself up on one of these bikes and put my water in its holder. I also grabbed a towel from the cleaning supplies (hey, at this point I didn't care). Now, I'm set (and sweating-- not supposed to be sweating yet, right?).

The cycling started out okay- a nice pace without much resistance, and then we added drag and yowzers, it got tough. I just kept repeating to myself the mantra I silently chant while running, just push through it, just push through the pain. But I'm not gonna lie--this is the only time in my life I felt death's grip on my chest.

Those first 10 minutes (slowly) passed and believe it or not I think it got a teensy bit easier after that. No, not easy, but maybe just a teeny tiny bit less hard. From the way I was sweating I thought there'd be a puddle on the floor around me, but only a few sprinkles actually reached the floor. I think the rest ended up dripping on my legs or soaking into my shirt. What, too much info? Okay, I'll move on.

So the super-cycler teacher is blasting Lady Gaga on the speakers and we begin our jumps. Those are fun-- and it's kind of hard to describe them without a visual, but I'll try. You pedal in the seated position for x amount of counts-- in our case we started out at 4. Then you stand up and pedal for 4 counts. Then you sit for 4 more and stand for 4 more. This continues for the given amount of time (2 minutes last night). Sounds easy, eh. Well, I thought so too; in fact, I thought the first 45 seconds were rather tolerable. Then I found myself barely able to move my legs after entering the second minute. And then guess what, super-cycler upped it to 2 counts. Mmmmhmmm, up for 2, down for two. Repeat for another 2 minutes.

Legs. Feel. Drunk. Like. Epidural. Legs. Wobble, wobble. No control!

At this point I'm actually trying to think of ways that I can stall after class and wait on my bike until everyone leaves so that nobody sees me fall flat on my face when I try to step onto terra firma. Lucky for me, a cool down (where we just coast with little resistance) was about all I needed to convince myself that my thighs were in fact, still part of my body. It was probably due to all the water I took in as I was pedaling away {please sense sarcasm here}.

Soon, class ended and super-cycler shouted out to me in front of the class, I'm so glad you got that water... I didn't want to have to pick you up off the floor!

HA! Yep, you're funny. I just smiled.

So, lesson learned. You + spinning/cycling = thirsty, sweaty person. Take it from me-- Please take your own H2O bottle and a darn good, absorbent towel. And if you have a biggest loser-looks easy complex about spinning, throw it out the window! Even super-cycler, was ready to quit at quitting time; she asked if we wanted another 10 minutes and those who answered said, yes. She then asked if we could compromise and do 5 minutes. I'm just sayin'...

So, back to what I first spoke of, the new look here on my blog-- I did it mostly today. Last night I pretty much came home,bragged to told my husband how awesome sore I was, and parked my booty on the couch to work on my teaching stuff online.

I sat for quite some time (lots of work to do) and to my surprise, when I stood and tried to walk I really wasn't that sore (other than my hiney from that awfully tiny seat). Not only that, but I could also manage the stairs quite well-- you know, after the shaking and trembling of my entire body ceased!

All in all, the class was an awesome, scary at first, experience that I will be participating in again in the near future. If for no other reason, the calorie burn is sooooo worth it! Oh, and I'm sure it's doing amazing things for my stamina- burn, baby, burn.