Manic Monday....wish it were Friday!

It's Monday.  Plus it's Martin Luther King Jr. day, which means that many people (not me!) are off from work today.  Must be nice.  :)

Not only do I have to be at work, but I have a 3 hour conference call with China in 30 minutes.  I'm already wondering how to handle the numerous bathroom trips I'm going to need in that time.

Speaking of which, funny story.  I was on back to back conference calls last week and desperately needed the bathroom.  So I dialed in to the second call on my blackberry, muted it,  and took it with me to the bathroom. I figured my two cents wouldn't be needed until the end of the call.  Pretty much the second I hit the toilet, I hear "Jessica, how about you start and give us your update?"  To which I freaked out and then said that I needed five minutes as I had just stepped away from my desk.  Oops! Thankfully that was OK and no one really needed to know where I was.  Just a random silly story.

Hope the weekend treated you all well!

One more quick tangent... GO J-E-T-S!!!
Sorry, couldn't resist.

I subbed out my class on Saturday.  I NEVER sub it out.  NEVER.  But my "friend" asked me nicely if I'd sub it out since his birthday was on Friday and he wanted me to be able to enjoy myself on Friday night and not say "I need to go home, I have to teach tomorrow", which is my usual speech on a Friday night.  So I did it.  I got myself all excited about being able to sleep in, which never happens on a Saturday.  We went out Friday, stayed out somewhat late.  I turned off the alarm clock and went to bed.  Guess what?  I was up at about 8:30a and couldn't fall back to sleep.  Seriously???  I did linger in bed for a while, but I was pissed.  Pissed that I could have taught but also pissed at my body for not letting me sleep in on the rare day that I actually could.  Grrrr!

Then I found out later in the day on Saturday that my sub didn't show and that someone else had to cover at the last minute.  Ugh!  Thankfully the guy who covered is great so it all worked out.  Phew.  Not going to sub out that class again any time soon.

I also got new spin shoes.  After trying on just about every pair in the store (in every size), I ended up with a pair of men's Velcro Specialized.  However, I wasn't really thinking, and got the shoes without the tread for walking.  I figured I don't walk much in my spin shoes so it wouldn't be an issue.  It kinda is, but since they can't be returned I'm going to just deal with it.  Walking is do-able, but it's weird and since you're walking right on the clip, you might wear it down.  My thought process right now is that I'll wear those when I take classes and wear my old ones when I teach.  Maybe?

Walking on the clip kind of requires balance so I actually thought to myself that now it's like I have a pair of those toning sneakers.  Ha!

OK, the ramble machine will shut her trap now.  Welcome to the new week and have a happy MLK!

TIGF and the importance of energy

First of all,

Happy Friday to you!!

Is it just me, or does it feel like Friday took forever to get here?  Perhaps the mid-week snow storm just made things worse.  Regardless, Friday is here and I couldn't be happier!

My alarm went off this morning and I had no clue what was going on and was sure it must have been a mistake.  No dice.

Last night I took a class at the gym.  It was called "ultimate conditioning" and in my experience, the definition of that class varies depending on who is teaching it.  But essentially it's a toning/sculpting class with a little cardio mixed in.

The instructor last night was stuck in traffic, so the GM started the class.  He had us doing some random stuff, which I might not have chosen, but his energy was high and he challenged us.

About 15-20 minutes in to the class the other instructor arrived.  First of all, he walked in thinking he was holier than thou.  Second, his energy was about that of a piece of paper, i.e., zilch.  Plus, he totally changed up what the first instructor was doing.  It was not a smooth transition.

I ended up leaving early.  I did have to be somewhere, but if the class were good I would have stayed to the end, my plans could have waited.  But I didn't like his personality or his class, so out I went.

Do you think this is rude?  Have you ever done something similar? 

I was telling a friend that instructors probably dread me in their class because I'm so incredibly opinionated.  Oh well, such is life, right?

Five looooong days

So sorry that I've been missing for five whole days.

Stuff has been really busy, plus I started having some cold symptoms last Sunday.  As the week progressed the symptoms hung around and occasionally worsened, only to let up again.  I figured it was a quick little cold.  Well when the following Saturday rolled around and I was still sick, I came to the realization that I was wrong, and maybe overdoing it a bit as well.

Since starting to feel sick on Sunday, my week went like this...
Monday - thankfully work was closed and I skipped the gym
Tuesday - work all day, then boxing
Wednesday - work and then skipped the gym but had to run an errand at 9pm
Thursday - 6am class, then work, then Spin Odyssey meeting at 7p
Friday - 6am class, then work, then a get together at a friends
Saturday - teach 10am class, clean, parents visit, errands, etc.
Sunday - I forced myself to take a day of rest
Monday - teach 6am, work, then finally relax....
Tuesday (today!!) - work, then gym...then SNOWSTORM, uh oh!

When I was complaining about not getting better, my friend said that maybe it was because I was go-go-go all the time.  I didn't really think that was the case until I stepped back and looked at what I'd been doing.  Without a cold this is all fine, with a cold perhaps it was pushing it a bit too much.

Class yesterday morning was HARD because I really wasn't feeling too well, so my breathing was labored and as a result I was a tad dizzy.

The good news is that it seems that my cold is finally on the outs.  I didn't take Nyquil last night, the first time in a week, and so far I haven't taken any meds or blown my nose non-stop.  Fingers crossed that this is it!!

Normally if I catch a cold at the beginning, a good nights sleep can usually keep it away.  Not so much this time.  Any little tricks/remedies that you use when you feel a cold coming on or have one?

maybe i'm a spin snob

I like control.  I'm better as the driver than the passenger.  I've often though it would be neat to try flying, but I feared that then I'd be on a commercial jet and uncomfortable since I wasn't in control.  That last sentence was a bit extreme, but you get the idea.  And yes, that thought really has entered my mind before.

Since I went from teaching 5 spin classes a week to only 2, I've had a lot more gym time to myself.  In my opinion, spinning is one of the best bang-for-your-buck cardio sources, so I've been taking a bunch of classes from different instructors.

On one hand, it's really nice to just take a class and not have to worry about cuing, timing, or music.  On the other hand, I'm at the mercy of the instructor, and sometimes that doesn't go so well.  Lately I've been feeling bored during classes.

This morning I went to a different gym for their 6:00am class.  I teach a 6a, so I know that energy and upbeat music are KEY.  This chicks energy was OK, but her music was no bueno.  My mom probably would have enjoyed it, but even she might have said that it wasn't the best 6am/pick me up/wake me up music.  My mom's a long-time spinner so she definitely has her opinions.  Every song was dated, the most recent being Beautiful Day by U2.  That's a fine song but I've heard it about a million trillion times.  Her warm up song was reminiscent of the Indigo Girls and I think her cool down song actually was the Indigo Girls.  I've never liked the I Girls, but even if I stepped back from my preconceived notions, their genre is not 6am music.

I'm opinionated, we all get that.  It was bad before I was an instructor, but I think it's only gotten worse as I've learned more of what riders like and dislike and adjusted my style accordingly. 

Do you have similar experiences, being an "expert" in a certain area and as a result holding others in that area to a higher standard?

Any spin song (or workout songs) that you HATE???

Spin Ride!! Don't Back Down

This ride was taken from a ride entitled Don’t Back Off on pedal-on.com. The concept is that you load up the hill and then resist the urge to back off the resistance as you sprint and continue to climb.


It was a tough ride but it went over well. This version is 60 minutes.

I’ll fill in the song lengths later.


Tonight – Enrique Iglesias featuring Ludacris
Warm up

Rhythm Nation – Janet Jackson
Starting our climb, adding resistance every minute or so, ending the song at about an 8/10 and coming out of the saddle. A nice solid/heavy hill. Difficult but do-able.

Raise Your Glass – P!nk
Staying on this 8/10 hill, let’s do 30 second sprints. First two back in the saddle, third staying out at 3.

Monster – Lady Gaga
Still on the hill, alternate 1 minute seated with 1 minute standing

Hey Baby – Pitbull
Continue the pattern from the previous song. Make sure riders didn’t magically lose their hill. Encourage them that if at any time it feels like it got easier to add resistance back on.

You Look Better When I’m Drunk – The White Tie Affair
Silly song, but good for sprints. Last song on this hill, 3 30 second sprints. Mix up whether you take them in the saddle or out at 3.

Cantaloop – Not sure of the artist
Recover. Whole song recovery, as breathing normalizes and HR come down, play around with cadence on the flat.

Walk This Way – Aerosmith and Run DMC
Take 2 on the hill. Back to building the resistance up to an 8/10. I told my class they could try for a 9 if they wanted.

Push – Cat deLuna and Akon
30 second sprints again. In the saddle, out at 3 or at 2. Your call, but there are 3 of them.

Quixote – Bond
Back to the 1 minute seated/1 minute standing combo.

Open Your Eyes – David Guetta featuring Stereo MCs
Continue the 1 minute intervals.

If I can’t Have You – Kelly Clarkson
Final set of sprints on the hill. Usually the seated ones are the hardest so I’ll do the first two out at 3 and the last in the saddle.

The Pretender – Foo Fighters
Take it to a flat and pick up the pace. All out sprints on the chorus. Final sprint goes to the end of the song.

Congrats, you're done!

grind time

It's back to the grind here.  My office was closed yesterday, so it was a nice looooong weekend.  But now it's back at it and of course it's like the time off never happened.  And now there are no office holidays in sight.  Booo!

I put together a new spin ride for my class on Saturday, so I'll try to get that up  later today or tomorrow.  Yay.

Like everyone else, I'm trying to get back on the fitness bandwagon.  Thankfully I haven't been too bad these past few weeks, but even so, time to get back to things.  I'm still adjusting to the work schedule but hopefully things start to sort themselves out (how long can I keep using work as an excuse?).

So I learned over the weekend that Crunch! was coming to CT.  As a native NYer, I know all about Crunch! and the awesome classes that they have, so I was pretty excited to learn about the new location.  Did a little research and found that they're offering memberships for $9.95/month.  So I joined.  Yup, I already belong to a gym, but for $10 I thought it was worth it to give it a try.  Their class schedule will initially be a little limited, but it's still something new.  Thing is, they're not opening until mid-February, so I guess my excitement will have to be put on hold.  I'll let you know how it goes once they're open.

I would imagine the gyms in the area are not too happy about this development.

Not much else here, just pushing forward, ready for the weekend.  Ooops.

Hope your year/week/month is off to a good start!!

A new year?

Historically, every year I get together with friends (or family) and celebrate new year's eve.  And every year, we raise our glasses and say that this year is going to be great!  2011 is going to be the best year yet, or something to that effect.

Well you know what?  That isn't always true.

Plus, in terms of our lives, what is the significance of the new year and January 1st?  My birthday is in August, so January 1st doesn't really mark a new year for me, it's more of a celebration 4+ months in to my year.  How is that significant?

So last year, or the year before, I stopped going by the calendar year and instead started going by my years.  After this past birthday, I said, good things are going to happen this year.  And you know what, they did.

But why not think good thoughts and request good things on a day unique to you, not the day that EVERYONE uses as their chance to wipe the slate clean and start over?  If there are forces up there helping out, don't you think the might be a bit overwhelmed on January 1st?

Show of hands, who now thinks I'm insane?  :)