Since I awoke at 7am sharp, I got up, gave myself 30 minutes to really wake up, stretch out my muscles, got dressed and took myself to the gym.
It’s quiet there on Saturday mornings. I was there by 8am, had my pick of treadmills, remembered my earphones so I could watch a movie (they have cable, I don’t!), and enjoyed a cool, easy walk, caught pieces of the movie, but more enjoyable than that, watched the lifeguards get the pool ready for open swim, and, as well, people watched.
No one was swimming yet, but, there must have been a racquetball tournament or something because there were several families (mostly fathers/sons and 1 grandmother/granddaughter) heading to the courts over past the pool area. What a great way for parents to spend some quality active time with those active kids!
I love the gym. Triton is located just across the street and one block down from where I live. There is so much to do there. You can just work out, have a trainer, take advantage of all sorts of classes, ranging from dance cardio, kickboxing, pilates, water aerobics, tennis, swim team, racquet ball, and they’re adding new things all the time. I can’t wait for the slides to be added to the pool…
I was in water aerobics a couple of weeks ago and the women were talking about how they dreaded the slides being added. One lady who I thought might be someone I would like to maybe hang out with at some point stated: “Oh, we seniors won’t really like the slide thing…ha ha ha”. Sigh. My first fearfilled, panic ridden thought? “OMG, is this a seniors class?! Are you people all old?! What am I doing in this class…I didn’t know it was for seniors!!! aauuuggghhh!” “Well, how old ARE you?”…they asked. “Oh, I’m 56″, I respond most assuredly…oh, yeah, I see…hmmm…well, ANYWAY, I happen to LIKE slides!”
Sigh. Where are the people my age who still want to be our age and not jump right straight into nursing home status? AAuuugghhh….hmmm…there’s a song I remember…goes something like “…stuck in the middle again…” which is absolutely weird for a first born! LOL!
Anyway, I really enjoyed my walk this morning and it was so good to make myself get out of my apartment. There’s so many things I need to get taken care of but I can’t seem to train myself to focus long enough to complete anything. It’s really frustrating but, oh well, what else am I going to do with any down time I have,right? I might as well keep on practicing!
I usually start my walk at 2.5mph for 5 minutes, increase to 3.0mph for 3 minutes, maintain 3.5mph for 15 minutes, decrease to 3.0mph for 2 minutes, 2.5 for 3 minutes, 2.0mph for 2 minutes and stop. (Yikes…that sounds tedious…is that an outward reflection of my fragmentend brain?) Anyway…I finish with a good stretch while all my muscles are warm using different stretches I have learned from Denise Austin workouts, water aerobics w/Diane and ballet training with Sarah. Oh, warmups—that is done at home before I head to the gym — every morning, I do floor exercises to stretch out my lower back muscles, and joint muscles, then I do some floor movements using weights (3-5lbs). The above walking time usually works for a full-30 minute walk and makes a mile in about 20 minutes in length — yes, I know that miles are measured in feet but I’m not a numbers person you see…a mile has to be ’seen’ and ‘felt’ .. not measured by numbers…even an engineer building roads has to ’see’ it in his head…doesn’t he/she? My dad saw it in his head, of course, he also ’saw’ the numbers w/out doing the calculations.
Anyway, back to walking. Today, I wanted to stretch my routine out to an hour walking at a slower pace. I’ve noticed that while 3.5mph really feels good heart rate wise, my right knee seem to get a twinge and my left ankle doesn’t really hurt but feels weak sometimes. So, today, I started at 2.5 and slowly worked my way up to 3.0 but stretched it out to one hour in tme with a 15 minute focsed stretch at the end. I completed 2 miles. I’m not going for time so I’m happy with that. What I want to accomplish is relaxed endurance. I can push myself for heart rate, weight control, toning, etc. during water aerobics and ballet training…but I want the walking to be about pure enjoyment and peaceful disengagement!
So many things I could blog about and when I’m not blogging I remember all those things and make lists both mental and written…but…when I sit down to blog…well, I can’t remember a single important thing I wanted to record. Sigh. Another focus issue I believe. WELL, maybe the oxygen generation from my peaceful walking endeavor will help me recapture that illusive butterfly called memory plus action equals success!
I think I’ll go again tomorrow!
gracy2