Another Double Workout Day

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you're rushing all day long? That's the way I felt today. Running to get to work, to get to the ladies room and to get another cup of coffee before the first meeting, running to grab a yogurt or something to choke down quickly before my noon meeting. Noon meeting goes half an hour over, so rushing to get out and run before I have to be back and ready for yet the NEXT meeting. Rush from that last meeting to an appointment I was almost late for and from there home to take care of the dogs before I finally had to rush to the Spinning studio for tonight's class. Sheesh!

Anyway, so I went out in the afternoon for my run. It was another one of those brilliant, Fall-like days. A day you just have to try and get outside for a little while to enjoy somehow. Oh, also? You know that it is a low humidity day when your running shorts actually stick to your legs with static electricity. I decided to do my hilly trail route today because I don't think I did it at all last week (just the "shortcut" a couple of times). I enjoyed the run up the "Beaver Path" and I ran down the asphalt road, which wasn't as enjoyable, and then onto the "Northeast Loop" trail. I ran the first, very steep hill that I've previously almost always just walked. From there, I ran as many of the hills as I could. During all this hill running it occurred to me that maybe I should try to run hills more because they pretty much kicked my ass. Completely. But I did it. The second part of this trail was delightful, as always, and I was again able to run it completely to the wooden bridge at the end (no walk breaks). After this trail it was a jog down the fire road and back to the company road. Today I also took a detour down a short trail off the company road that had been mired in muck with all the rain we've had all Summer. It finally has dried up enough to use. Anyway, the total mileage was around 3 miles, not one of my better or more exhilarating runs, but I got it done and it was very nice to be able to get out for a little while on such a lovely day.

My second workout for today was a "Core / Spin" class that was meant to be half of a Pilates mat class and half a Spinning class. What it really was, was about 20 mins or so of core work and then a FULL Spinning class -- bonus! I'm very pleased with that because I really was more interested in the Spinning anyway, but having the core element forces me to do that work, which I normally avoid. And even though the class description said that the Spinning was the first part of the class, it was the other way around, which I found preferable. Get the core stuff out of the way and over with, and then you can use up the rest of your energy on the spinning bike. No holding back for something that's coming afterwards. Anyway, so that worked out pretty well. The core stuff also wasn't as overwhelming as I had feared. I was able to do everything (even the 16 pushups -- I did the "girl" kind though, everyone did). And there were even a couple of exercises that the instructor warned were hard to do that I had absolutely no problem with. So I was relieved. The toughest stuff for me was during the abs part when we did a few exercises where legs and arms/upper chest are off the mat (you're on your back) and you're kicking or scissoring your legs in the air in some manner or another. But I think after I take a few of these classes I'll get better at everything. So, I think this one is a keeper and I'm a definite for the class too, no fooling around with waiting lists or whatever, so that makes me happy.

There was a point in the spinning section of the class, near the end when I felt really relaxed and satisfied and pleased with myself and I realized that I was ... happy. Maybe the happiest that I've felt in years & years. It was a good feeling.