Posting Failure (and Tri My Way Thursday Update)

Posted by Missy in Fitness, Whatever | 3 comments

Hmmm. I scheduled a post for the first time ever. Not only did it not post at the requested hour, it has now turned into gibberish and refuses to let me anywhere near the “post” button.

Internet Technology Thingy That Makes My Blog Work, we should talk. I do think if we spent a little time together, one-on-one, we could be friends. As it stands now, I’m kind of tired of the technical difficulties you throw my way. Oh, don’t start up with your “user error” bullshit* again. I realize I don’t know everything about you or how to make you happy, but this process takes two. I would appreciate it if you do your part.

Real people readers? Are you still here?

Thanks for hanging around. I’ll repost today’s previously scheduled programming soon. Who knows, maybe my Internet Technology Thingy That Makes My Blog Work knew the post was drively crap written late at night after two sangrias with some fun new friends (here’s where I give a shout out to Christina at A Closet Writer and Gigi at Kludgy Mom). Yes, you read that right – two sangrias and I’m done for. I’m officially old and lame.

A quick Tri My Way update. You may have seen that the gym landed on my head this week. This did nothing to dampen my spirits, although it thoroughly dampened the gym. This week, I also learned the following:

1. I don’t posses the inner strength and will power required to do much more than the bare minimum. I am seeking outside motivation and trying some new tricks. I have a little contest going on with The Churchill Family. We haven’t done our weekly check-in yet, but she’s winning. For sure.

2. I didn’t want to count calories, but I am going to have to. I tend to get crazy obsessive once I start and spend half my day writing down my food intake. As I currently spend half my day on Twitter, I’m running out of hours left to care for my children. They are really particular about the whole food, clothing, love and attention deal. So in my continued efforts to be a real grown up, I am going to use my time more wisely. Writing down my daily caloric intake is now a non-optional activity.

3. I am really, really good at making excuses. I might turn it into a business. Excuses by Missy: You Don’t Wanna Go, I’ll Get You Out of It.

4. I still have a long road ahead to get my IT bands and knees in good working order. I need to slap my ego out of the way and accept that I’m not doing any triathlons in 2010. My husband so kindly pointed out that “at your age, you shouldn’t expect to see results so quickly.” I asked him how it feels to sleep alone. At his age.

So there you go. Summary: I ate well. But I also had two big slip-ups in the food department. I exercised and was very active. But I also talked myself out of going to the gym. Twice. One step forward, two steps back. This week’s goal: no back-stepping.

*Did you catch the movie reference? It’s not an exact quote, but it’s clearly borrowed from one of the most quotable movies ever. If you can tell me what it is, we will be good friends. How’s that for a motivating prize?!

3 comments

Wonder Why Wednesday: Crashing Down Edition

Posted by Missy in Fitness | 6 comments

Picture it: The gym. 2010. A young-ish woman is in Pilates class.

(If you caught the Golden Girls reference, then you watch too much TV. Also, we could be good friends.)

So. Monday night I was in my Pilates class when one of those summer storms popped up, quite literally out of the blue sky. I walked into the gym at 5:50 p.m., under blue skies dotted here and there with clouds that looked like they could make rain only if they got very organized. As it was, the clouds all looked like high school seniors during the last week of school. They were doodling on their notebooks, daydreaming about being bigger, cooler, college clouds.

Approximately 30 minutes later, as I was prostrate with my feet inside spring loaded loops, focused on zipping up the bottom ribs (huh?), we heard a noise like something being ripped off the roof above us. Less than a minute later, we heard rain. But not the pitter-patter of drops on the roof. More like the sound of running water somewhere very near our heads. My two classmates and I leapt off of our reformers mere seconds before the acoustic ceiling tiles came crashing down, just inches from where our heads were once located.

That noise like something being ripped off the roof? It was the roof being ripped off the building. Apparently the wind caught part of the roof and just rolled it back, like the gym was a can of sardines. There was significant water damage to one corner of the building. In fact, the entire facility was closed today; the Pilates and yoga studios are closed indefinitely.

Of course I said a prayer of thanks that my head was not still on the reformer when the ceiling gave out. And I marveled at the power of nature. But my first thought was, Oh, man. This is just going to add fuel to my mother’s anti-exercise fire.

See, my mom is in nice shape. She looks great and she takes good care of herself. She walks for exercise, but she will not go to the gym. My mother jokes (but she’s not kidding) that exercise is dangerous. And it so happens that my life has been one long proof to her theorem. I continually have some kind of sore joint, strained muscle, over-or-under-active tendon. My fitness history is a series of athletic pursuits, broken up by injuries and rehab. It’s what I do.

And now the gym nearly lands on my head. My mom is so vindicated.

Since it’s Wonder Why Wednesday, after all, I have some questions for you.

My light question for today:
Why can’t I be that fitness buff who rarely experiences setbacks and injuries? Why does the ceiling come crashing down every time I start to hit my stride?

My only slightly deeper question:
Why am I writing so many health/fitness posts lately? We’ll move on to other topics, I promise.

If you feel the need for some depth:
This story has the potential to take us down numerous paths. We could talk fitness (check), nature, spirituality… So I wonder, why can two people can look at the same event or circumstances and walk away with two vastly different views? Obviously our life experiences inform how we see things, as do our religious and political beliefs. I guess what I wonder – what I’d like to discuss – is do we ever choose a different view of something simply because a particular perspective suits us? Do we see things how we want to in order to further our own agenda? I know what I think about this. And I know what I want to believe. What do you think?

6 comments

Tri My Way Thursdays

Posted by Missy in Fitness | 11 comments

So I have discovered the drawback to promising a post “tomorrow.”

Someone could stay out too late catching up with a friend, and then someone could be too tired to write a post, and someone A) might be sorry she didn’t write the post earlier and B) wish she hadn’t promised a post.

Someone is me, by the way.

Someone will try to keep this short and sweet then. (And will stop referring to herself as someone. That is so annoying.)

I want to improve my physical health and fitness level. The stuff I’ve tried so far has not worked for me. Okay, by try, I mean the stuff I’ve thought about trying. I cannot get motivated. One. Excuse. After. Another.

I’ve always enjoyed athletic pursuits, even though I’m not particularly athletic. Let’s discuss.

I was a swimmer. I was not an Olympian or anything, but I rocked the summer league. I’ve dabbled in Masters Swimming as an adult, but I never stick with it. I love to swim. I am never more at peace than I am swimming laps, so I’m recommitting to some time in the water.

I also used to run kind of a lot. I ran a marathon. Honolulu 1998 with Team in Training. Ran is a loose term. I limped across the finish line, but I finished and that’s all that matters.

Honestly, I’ve never been much of a bike rider. When I was about 10, maybe 12 – okay, I have no idea how old I was – the front tire of my 10-speed (a silvery blue Schwinn – she was so pretty) got tangled with the back tire of my friend’s 10-speed and we had an ugly crash on the suburban asphalt. That was the beginning of the end of my biking experience. But just a few weeks ago I discovered that I love spin class. Except for the fact that my bottom parts hurt in ways I didn’t think possible, it was really a great time.

As I mulled over my illustrious athletic history, I discovered my motivation: a triathlon.

I’m doing one and you get to follow along.

Sorry, no details for you. I haven’t decided when, where or really how. Currently I am rehabbing an insanely tight IT band and a few underachiever muscles. This is a theme with me, the injuries. I get really excited, go all out with the exercise and end up in traction.

Not this time. This training will be some seriously slow going. Fair warning: Tri My Way Thursdays will likely appear in this space for a long, long time.

My ultimate goal for this space is to keep you updated and thereby keep myself motivated. If I have to fess up every time I skip the gym or eat my weight in Annie’s Chocolate Chip Bunny Grahams, then I just might work a bit harder and eat a little less.

Yesterday I took my measurements. I am not telling you what they were.

Your inner voyeur is very disappointed, right? I get that. But I just have to draw the line somewhere. Releasing my measurements to the internet is that line. What I will do is tell you once a month whether any of the numbers shrunk and by how much. I will give you the details on number of pounds and inches lost.

Each week I will confess – or brag about? – my workout schedule. I will tell you about any dietary slip-ups. Confession is good for the soul, they say. We’ll test that theory.

What this won’t be: a lengthy, weekly post. From here on out you can expect a blurb on Thursdays, not a diatribe. As I have more specific details about the impending triathlon, I will share them with you. We’ll talk stats each week and then we’ll move on to more Wonder, Friend-specific stuff.

For now, I am so dang tired. So. Tired. If I have any hope of getting to the gym tomorrow, I must leave you now.

11 comments

Wonder Why Wednesday: Hell, Breaking Loose

Posted by Missy in Fitness | 6 comments

It’s possible that Wonder Why Wednesday is not long for this world. I’m considering giving it the boot so I can focus on some other things. Of course, WWW does not take up that much time or brain space, so it might stick around.

Since it’s Wednesday and I’ve made no decision on this super important topic, let’s go ahead and play. If you’ve forgotten the point of WWW (hint: there really isn’t one) or you are new here, read this.

Not long ago a friend of mine was at the gym, a feat made all the more commendable by the fact that she has two kids, ages two and six months. She also has a husband, a job and a home to manage. Anyone who has kids knows what an effort it is to get to the gym. Somebody’s always sick or napping or having a tantrum or something… just something. Add kids to everyday life and you get a recipe for missed workouts.

So she’s working with a trainer, putting in the effort, and she falls. The result? A broken tailbone and two broken bones in her hand. Let’s add some insult: her husband had to travel for work that week, leaving her one-handed, sore bottomed, working full time and taking care of two very little kids.

Around the same time one of my neighbors, a super-fit triathlete, who had in fact completed a triathlon the day before, had an accident while securing her toddler. As the little guy attempted a mad dash into the street, his mom quickly reached, scooped and turned, only to feel her back give out. She was immobilized.

You guessed it, her husband was out of town, too.

My takeaway from all this? Exercise and fitness are a dangerous business, to be avoided if you are responsible for the care of small children. (Says the woman who can barely walk today due to exercise. Stupid exercise.)

My friends, however, had a slightly different takeaway, and they suggested I pose this question to you:

Why is that all hell breaks loose every time one parent leaves town?

6 comments