Somewhat Belated Breaking News

Last Sunday was a major day in the sporting world.  Spain won its first World Cup and yours truly finally learned to ride a bicycle:

Me on a bicycle with YSG not too far behind!

This picture from my sister's blackberry is a little grainy, but there I am.  I was very excited to cross this off my list. 

I rented the bike from Larry & Jeff's Bicycles NYC on 3rd ave.  The plan was to wake up really early Sunday morning and bike along the 102nd St. transverse in Central Park.  That didn't happen.  Instead, I met up with Little Belle and her friend, Yellow Shirt Guy, at 10:15 and we headed over to the East River, figuring that path would be less crowded.

Little Belle and YSG seemed confident that I could do this.  I was hopeful, but less certain.  I'm really not sure why I never learned as a kid.  I wasn't totally uncoordinated.  I figure skated.  I horseback rode.  I just never figured out how to bike without training wheels.  Just before my 7th birthday, my family moved to a town with lots of windy, hilly roads and no sidewalks.  I think that's when I gave up trying.  It wasn't a good town for kids on bikes.  I was a bookworm, anyway, and perfectly comfortable being quirky. 

There have been times when being able to ride a bike would have been helpful.  When I was fifteen or sixteen, my whole bunk at sleepaway camp went on a long bike ride on some field trip.  Oddly enough, my best friend couldn't ride either, though, so that ended up being ok.  Somewhat more recently, I had a moment of panic when I learned that one of the firms I was considering interning at during law school had sent their summer associates on a bike trip the previous year.  I figured I'd just call in sick that day if it came to that. 

Mostly, though, not being able to ride a bike has just been interesting trivia, good for ice breakers and first dates.  (It's also a failsafe comeback to "it's just like riding a bicycle.")

As I walked my rental bike to the East River last weekend, it struck me that the mechanics of bike riding aren't all that different from those of horseback riding.  It's much easier to steer a horse when you're moving at a decent clip.  You don't want to steer much with your hands.  You need to focus at approximately the same point in the distance in front of you.   (There are differences, of course.  A bike won't hesitate to crash into a fence, but it will never purposefully try to throw you, either.) 

YSG deserves lots of credit for teaching me, but, actually, once I figured out how to start, I was pretty much fine.  Yes, I fell a bunch.  And I went off the path a few times.  But I managed to go for decent stretches between incidents and didn't hit any people or dogs.  I was hoping to go again this weekend to make sure the progress sticks, but the heat's just been awful.  Hopefully riding a bike is, in fact, all it's cracked up to be, and I'll remember everything I learned next time.

I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-

Gym Paralysis

Before I left for Baltimore the weekend before last, I downloaded a Tabata timer* to my iPad.  I figured that, worse comes to worst, I would be able to get a good workout in my hotel room. 

When I got to the hotel, though, I learned that it had a pretty sizable gym.  In addition to tennis courts and a pool, the gym had plenty of treadmills, ellipticals and stair climbers and lots of weight equipment.  I bounded out of bed on Sunday morning eager to check it out.

And then I got there.  And I didn't know what to do. 

As much as I workout, it's rare for me to just "go to the gym" without a specific class or plan in mind.  I lost a good few minutes gaping at the possibilities.  I bypassed the cardio machines thinking that if I really wanted to run, I'd brave the heat wave outside before hopping a treadmill.  I considered the weight machines, but they seemed so foreign.  I haven't used machines in ages.

Then this beauty caught my eye:

I had never seen a pink kettlebell before.  So cute!  Only, it was 5 lbs.  What do you do with one 5 lb kettlebell?  I moved on.

I ended up getting in a decent workout playing with the bodybars (to the right of the pretty pink kettlebell).  At CrossFit, we learn and practice lifts with hollow PVC pipes that don't weigh anything.  It can be a big jump from a PVC pipe to a barbell sometimes, so messing around with 10 and 12 lb body bars was kind of fun.  I practiced overhead squats and snatches.  Next, I used free weights to improv the Physique 57 arm sequence.  I finished off with some body weight exercises and, for good measure, ran a fast mile on the treadmill before calling it quits.

All in all, it was a pretty good workout once I just got going.

-Gym Belle-

*Tabata is a form of super intense interval training.  For four minutes, you go all out on an exercise (think squats or push-ups) for twenty seconds and then rest for ten seconds.  It's way harder than it sounds.  Learn more here.

Perceived Exertion

I'll be honest; I don't always give 100%.  This morning, for example, it was incredibly hot.  I don't recall the exact temperature, but it's currently 96 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of 98.  Our workout at CrossFit Metropolis was a series of four 800 meter sprints separated by three minute rest periods.  As much as I wanted to sprint, I also wanted to make sure that (a) I finished the workout and (b) I didn't make myself sick along the way.  I don't question my logic in wanting to take it a little easy today, but I do wonder how good I am gauging my exertion level.  Could I have worked 10% harder and still been fine? 

In this video, taken not too long ago at CrossFit Metropolis, I'm carrying a 52 lb barbell overhead while walking in a figure eight pattern.  I knew when I was doing it that I could handle heavier weight, but I didn't know how much.  My final attempt was 62 lbs, and it was fine.  I wobbled in a few places, and I'm not sure that I would have been able to smile like I did with 52 lbs, but I did it.  Could I have done more?  I don't know.

Later that evening we rowed 100 meters, then did 20 burpee box jumps, ran 800 meters and finished with 20 burpee box jumps for time.  Here I am in my final set of burpee box jumps:

Was I working at capacity?  I know that I felt that I was, or at least 85% or so because I had to pace myself, but in the video I just don't see it.

CrossFit's big on scores.  I love that, and I struggle with it.  I find that I care more about "the numbers" when it comes to weights.  Lifting more is cool.  Getting through a workout faster than I had before, though, doesn't do as much for me.  Still, I like to feel like I'm giving it my all.  I probably just need to start wearing my heart rate monitor more again.

On that note, I leave you with two pictures.  Enjoy.

 one of 250 air squats done in that workout

 muscle up progressions

-Gym Belle-