Exercise

There are No Zombies Chasing Me

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Apparently, getting a membership at my local YMCA and attending a water aerobics class three times a week wasn’t enough for me.

After a vacation this past March, I returned home and immediately told my husband I wanted to run a 5K. In a supportive tone, he simply said, “Okay.” We almost immediately started searching for a race to sign up for so I wouldn’t back out.

When I mention to people that I’ve started running, their first reaction is to ask why I would do something like that, as if running is the most heinous thing in the entire world. Granted, I used to say the only thing that could get me to run was if zombies were chasing me. I’ve had to explain multiple times that I wasn’t suffering from delusions nor was I on drugs of any sort when I made the decision to start running. I had a long plane ride (both ways) and a ton of time by myself during my vacation to reflect on what I wanted out of life.

I’ve never been satisfied with my physical appearance, but is anyone 100 percent happy with how they look? Despite not always liking certain things about my physical being (my barely-there eyebrows, my nose, my flabby arms), I have come to love me as me. That said, I realized that I could still love me, but move toward a healthier me. Why lie, I’ll still indulge in the occasional doughnut or piece of cheesecake, but I’m not looking to be paper thin. I just want a more active life.

While it is easy to talk about running, doing it is a challenge at least for me. My husband has been a great supporter and trainer: giving me tips on breathing, pushing me to keep going and taking me to buy proper running shoes. He also listens to me complain (and I do, a lot). It hurts using muscles you haven’t used since you were 12 years old. When I hit my teens, I became a child of the Internet and books. I became a nerd and not one that wanted to do physical activities. I became a slug.

I have tried over the last few years to get active again, but a few car accidents, knee surgery, chronic back pain (I have permanent “severe” disc injuries), and visits to physical therapy set me back. While I have to be conscious of my back problems, it is no longer my crutch. When I run, it hurts, but it hurts when I sit at my desk, it hurts when I stand for too long. The only time my back doesn’t hurt is when I’m in a pool or lying down.

This running adventure is challenging for me. Not only physically, but mentally. My husband recently told me that running is 90 percent mental, and the other 10 percent is in your head. I was recently stuck in my head and wasn’t progressing. I wanted to kick and scream and cry and quit. When I just needed to get out of my head and not focus so much on the time (I’m doing high/low intervals a.k.a run/walk). I needed to be in the zone.

“Running is a road to self-awareness and reliance. You can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet.”

– Doris Brown Heritage, first woman to run a sub-5:00 indoor mile

I was focusing on my physical limitations rather than the road ahead of me. Once I started coasting it was unbelievable what I was capable of doing. This happened just the other night. After days of feeling like a failure, barely running one minute here and there, I continuously ran longer than I have at any point in my training (I ran six minutes continuously). I was majorly in the zone, and it was FREAKING FANTASTIC. I was near tears when I realized I was gliding along the path as if I had wings. When I finished, I felt better than I ever have in my life and the best part was I had hope that I could actually do this thing. That I could run a 5K race.

I will be running my first 5K in May. This race isn’t about being the fastest one or running the entire 3.1 miles; it is about challenging myself and doing more than I think I can. Running isn’t for everyone, but if this nerdy girl can get active so can you. Take a walk, dust off that bicycle and go for a ride, or dance to one of those silly Wii games, just do something. Now don’t worry, I haven’t gone all Richard Simmons on you, and my blog isn’t going to be inundated with workout/running advice. I will always find a way to bring a little nerdiness into everything I do…which means running time equals audiobook time. I think that also means I should post another book review soon.

Until next time…DFTBA.

-AM

 

Nerdy Girl gets Physical

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When someone says the words, “Water Aerobics,” you probably picture someone wearing a floral, one-piece bathing suit with silver hair peaking out from under a swim cap bobbing along in the shallow end of the pool.

With promises of cardiovascular benefits and low impact on joints, what senior citizen wouldn’t want to be part of that type of exercise? But honestly even for a 20-something like myself, it is a lot harder than you think. With the water taking on half your body weight, you can exercise longer and you have resistance that you don’t have above water. There also are all kinds of special workout tools that you get to use to exercise (like wade boards, foam weights, exercise bands, etc.) as well as routines that create more resistance.

I’ve been attending a water aerobics class twice a week for the past month at the local YMCA and can attest to its benefits and difficulty. Not only have I lost weight, but I physically feel better and more fit (aka I feel less like a beached whale and more like an active whale). The instructor, Kathy, is a bubble of happy energy, but don’t let that fool you. She tries to kill me on a regular basis. She doesn’t care if you’re young, old, in shape, or a popsicle, she just wants you to keep moving. In fact, in one class she said it at least thirteen times.

When Kathy brings her small, blue radio along with her favorite dance tunes, the only thing you can do is hope that you don’t die. Last week, I actually asked the lifeguards if they could save me if I started drowning. I thought I was going to croak after Kathy’s routine. My face was as red as a tomato, my lungs were on fire and let’s not forget the jello-like feeling of my overused muscles. She tends to work the class the hardest when she has music. I’ve started hoping for music because it makes for an amusing class.

My fellow water bobblers (Kathy is always telling us she wants us to be bobble heads, which means we are really working out hence the nickname bobblers) are very interesting group. There are a few regulars and some occasional bobblers who make me laugh as much as I sweat in that class. Kathy alone is a hoot. Each class, someone always asks me what exercise we’re supposed to be doing because they couldn’t hear Kathy or everyone’s giggling profusely because we’ve created such hectic waves we can’t stand to even do the routine. Overall, the class is fun and a great way for me to exercise.

I’m going to sign off with the motto of the class, “What happens under the water, stays under the water.”

-AM

Read more about water aerobics here.