It’s time for me to indulge in posting another week’s worth of my workouts, if you don’t mind. This week was a pretty great one, fitness-wise. I made it to three group fitness classes at the gym, did a bike trainer workout, and ran three times. I don’t think every week will be this full (I usually like to have two rest days and this week I only managed one), but this was sure a fun one.

Monday: I did another simple bike trainer workout while watching Hulu. Like last week, I did high-intensity intervals during commercials. The only difference: I ditched my Hulu+ subscription in between last week and this week and now I have regular free Hulu and…now the commercial breaks are twice as long. Um, unexpected bonus? I guess?

Tuesday: Boot Camp class. I am really enjoying this class. The instructor does something a little different every week, and every workout itself is varied. She keeps the pace going so that we’re active the entire time and mixes in plenty of cardio, weights, body-weight strength, and agility elements. This week there were jumping squats, walking lunges, squat-presses, bear crawls, caterpillars, burpees, planks, situps with weights, skaters, and a bunch of other stuff I forgot.  I want to keep hitting this class all semester. Plus, I’ve been attending with my friend K., so it’s a bit social, too.

WHICH REMINDS ME. Let me tell you about this girl in class. We were all gathered around the dumbbell rack getting our weights, and this 18-20 year old girl comes up to me and K. and says, “DO you guys know how grown-ups get into these classes?” The disdain dripping from her voice on the term “grown-ups” was palpable. The classes are mostly students, and K . and I were the only 30-something faculty-type people there. Oh no she didn’t. But, sadly, oh yes she did. 

K. says (quite nicely, I might add), “Well, I guess I qualify as a grown up, so…” and then explained a little about the faculty/staff memberships, to which the girl responded, “No, I mean, like, ELDERLY PEOPLE. Really OLD.”

“Well,” I said, they’re probably faculty, too.” She seemed honestly baffled by this.

“But what are they DOING here?”  Reader, I almost died trying to hold in my laughter. Guess what? OLD PEOPLE work out, too. (And we can keep up, as I believe K. and I adequately demonstrated.)

MOVING ON.

After class, I did a relatively easy 2 miles on the treadmill. Next week I’ll shoot for three miles — once I get my legs going, I can run, even if I feel tired from boot camp.

Wednesday: Kettlebells. Tough class today with a big upper-body strength circuit. Some kind of rows hanging from under a bar, clean and presses with more weight than I could manage. I take it upon myself to use less weight than the instructor advises if, for example, I can’t even do the clean with the prescribed amount, let alone the press. This makes me feel more than a little disgruntled, honestly. Like, hey, let me teach you a new move and then expect you to do it with 25% of your body weight? Slow your roll, buddy.

Oh, also, I did a little run-walk warmup around the rec center track beforehand.

Thursday: 4-mile run. My legs were a little sore and tired from the precious two days’ workouts, but I tried to push the pace anyway. I got faster on each of the first three miles (9:49, 9:36, 9:27), and then hit mile four with the massive hill (9:58). This run wasn’t nearly as fast as last Thursday’s tempo, but I was still happy with the results.

Friday: Pump. The one class I have missed the most since I last belonged to a gym has been Body Pump. I used to go to that class pretty regularly and I always felt I got a good workout and challenged myself. I don’t need a lot of extra motivation to do cardio (hello), but I do need all the help I can get when it comes to weights. And guess what? The new rec center has a pump class! It’s doing business under a slightly different name (trademark issues, I assume), but it’s exactly the same. Hooray! This was my first time trying it, due to the quirks of my changing Friday schedule, but I can say that whenever I get the chance, I’ll be back. And I’ll be increasing the weights because this time I “forgot” how much I used to lift and I totally wimped out. I’m coming for you next time, weights!

Saturday: Rest. More beer drinking and football watching. What can I say? When in Rome, you know? I also ate all the calories I would burn on Sunday’s run pre-emptively. That’s just strategy right there.

Sunday: Long run – 10 miles.  Aw yeah, bitches. I still got it. Yeah, perhaps I’m a little proud of myself. It’s been a while since I knocked out double digits, so I’m going to enjoy it. I’m signing up for a local ten-mile race that’s taking place in three weeks, so this weekend I thought I’d run out along the race route and check it out. I’d been under the mistaken impression that part of the route went up a wicked hill, so imagine my relief when I found the course to be pretty, tree-lined, and full of gentle rolling hills. So nice! My hamstrings were like rocks thanks to Friday’s pump class (I’d forgotten how much that can tear up my legs), but I still felt fine throughout the run. A little faster on the declines and a little more slow and tired on the inclines and the last two miles, but still a nice run over all. V. pleased.