And to think I thought I was in pretty good shape these days!
Last night was "Up All Night Sports," which, as the name says, means that I got to stay awake all night locked in at a fitness center. With 200 or so Girl Scouts.
It was a very, very nice fitness center--the sort of place I'd love to be able to afford a membership to. It's the same place Connor does his swim lessons, but I had never wandered beyond the pool area before. Last night we were in the gyms, the racquetball courts, the climbing wall, the spa, the studios and the vast sea of gym equipment. Because I was in charge of keeping track of 11 4th and 5th graders, I didn't have that much time to myself, but over the course of the night I got in a short swim, 30 minutes on the rowing machine (lordy, I love those things. Why isn't that standard equipment in gyms instead of appearing only occasionally, and then only two machines hidden in the corner?), and a circuit cardio class that kicked my butt. For what it's worth, I was the only one who actually kept up and pushed myself through the whole class--I didn't see anyone else who didn't stop and just collapse towards the end of each station--but I'm feeling it (and the rower) today. The class seemed to be based around pylometrics alternating with calisthenics. My average heart rate stayed at a good range for me, but the top heart rate was 195!!! I thought I was supposed to be dead with that heart rate. And on all of the jumping exercises, my heart rate was regularly in the mid-180s--173 is supposed to be my top heart rate for a hard workout. Some of this may be due to the time of day (the cardio class was at 1 a.m.) and my caffeine-laced blood, which meant I started with a higher base heart rate. But even though I'm hurting today, I'm also thinking I need to start recreating this class at home once a week or so, because clearly I need more intensity like this. All the endurance stuff I do is fine, but only challenges me in one direction.
And this probably won't last until Tuesday, but when I got home my weight was 140.2. Not really surprising since I spent the whole night working out, not sleeping and not eating. I'll probably be back up in the 142 range (where I've been all week) by tomorrow morning.
2 comments:
That sounds awesome (the workout part). That's the way my workouts are built. Boot camps, stairs and jump rope really really really boost your heart rate.
I mix it with interval-based cardio and weight training. I've got a 20-minute boot camp workout that's great. Let me know if you want me to send it to you.
I went on a huge hike on Sunday and it was HARD. I wish it didn't hurt my knees as much but it felt good. everywhere else. Read: OMG
Still, I was surprised it kicked my butt. But maybe I underestimated the hike difficulty. Still, hard.
I can get on most pieces of equipment and go, go, go but bringing my workout outdoors, whole different ballgame. But I know you've been doing that.
I know how crazy your life is so I'm impressed by your dedication.
I love rowing machines too. You get a WAY better all inclusive workout on that than ANY other machine. It is cardio and works your leg, back, shoulders, arms and abs all at once!! And it is sort of zen. It is hard (at my peak I think I could do 15 minutes at full pace - now it kills me to complete 2 minutes!!) but at the end of it you are all done... I need to start using that again.
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