So, instead of waking up to breakfast in bed and flowers on my table like most of my girlfriends did, I woke up to the beeping of my alarm at 6AM. My swimsuit was almost dry, but the slight dampness touching my epidermis made me cringe. I ate half a banana and a few macadamia nuts, fed the dogs and drove to the pool to meet with my coach.
Jason (my coach) is an attractive man. He looks (and acts) a lot like my old personal trainer/massage therapist Rich. I have nothing but praise for this man. He is so humble about his abilities and he is so down to earth, but he has accomplished great things. Very cool guy, to say the least. At the pool I typically swim at, there are not a ton of attractive men. Every once in awhile, one will dip his toe in the waters of the public pool, but usually it is just older dads, grandpas and guys in du-rags. So, when this 30-year-old competitive triathlete walks out with defined muscles and confidence to boot, the women can't help but stare. One woman went to the front desk after finishing her workout.
"We need to do something about what happened at the pool this morning," she complained. "That attractive man walked out in his little speedo with Hammer written across the butt and totally distracted all of us from our workouts. Mary almost had a heart attack." Oh man. A heart attack on Valentines. Now that would be something.
After my swim, I went home and hydrated... with coffee. Then I laced up my Wave Riders and down the road I pranced. Well, I'm trying not to prance as much, but I'm sure there is still some of that left. My Garmin was fresh out of battery, so my hand was heavy with my iPhone. I bought the new Imagine Dragons and Walk the Sun CDs yesterday though, so I had an excuse to listen to them. When I passed a college student jamming out to techno, I had to laugh. My running music is so much more mellow than most people. Here, let me show you an example. The following is my favorite song for trail running:
It was a beautiful run, but the last two miles killed me. My legs were completely spent. I tried to keep pushing and, to my surprise, my pace stayed constant on the 9th mile; unfortunately, mile 10 did not hold the same bright promise of a quick turnover. Not at all. The only thing that kept me from stopping and clasping my sides was the fact that Jason would be looking at my times later. If I didn't do well on this mile, my entire 10-mile pace times would be thrown off. I was happy, no... I was relieved when I was finished. I did 5 rounds of :09 strides then made my way into the house to prepare a recovery drink and a sweet potato before cycle class.
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| From my run. Epic day. |
Oh cycle... oh cycle on a holiday... oh cycle on Valentines day... Last year, my playlist consisted only of songs with the word LOVE in the title. This year, my mom thought it would be fun to make a playlist starting with all of Taylor Swift's love songs, but ending with her breakup songs. I figured that might be a little too much T Swift. I liked the idea though, so I made a relationship mixed tape. I warned the class that the mix would start with the search (warm-up and extended warm-up), finding that special someone (sprints of excitement), thinking you might be in love (standing zone 3, quick cadence), falling head over heals (seated spin-ups), realizing maybe things aren't as great as you thought (:30 in various zones), getting your heart broken (lots of zone 5), being angry at your ex-lover (standing build from zone 3 to zone 5 repeats) then moving on to independence (strong, zone 4 sprints).
Barry shook his head. "What is that head shaking for," I asked.
"It's a good shake," he comforted me. "I love your creativity."
"What stage are you in," asked Dave.
"The Forget You stage," I shot back. Howls of laughter filled the room.
I started with Justin Beiber's Somebody to Love. "Really," Dave asked. "Justin Beiber? Can't you skip it?"
"No," I responded. "It's part of the relationship. Everyone starts out looking for somebody else."
"We might as well listen to Taylor Swift the whole time," he grumbled. Dave, if you're reading this right now, you make me laugh.
I'll admit, the playlist was a little dorky. After Beiber, Call Me Maybe graced the ears of my participants. A couple of women started singing along... of course. I mean, I can't deny Amy and I made a music video to that song when we were in Tahoe last. Next was Usher and Pitbull then Natalie Cole came on the stereo system singing L-O-V-E. "Ohpe! You fell in love wayyyy too quickly! Stand up and sprint," I yelled. We followed that with Mike Poser and after him, Imagine Dragons Hear Me came on. "Uh-oh, you just realized you jumped in too quickly. Now things aren't going the way you planned. You are confused, so is your zone!" We switched zones every :30, staying mostly in zones 4 and 5.
A few songs (and heartbreaks later), Bon Jovi came on. As soon as he belted out "Shot through the heart", cheers spread through the room. Whoops and even a "Yes!" played across the mouths of my class participants.
Of course, We Are Never Getting Back Together played right before Ben Fold's and Regina Spektor's You Don't Know Me At All.
It was a great class; when is it not a great class?
Tonight, I have a hot baking date with my future roomie Amy. Time to say Welcome home! to those calories who thought they were leaving for good. Nope... I've got you this time, you little buggers.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
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| From Jameisha. Oh my word. So good. |
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