Monday, December 29, 2014

Feeling old.

The other night at spin class, it seemed like the denizens of the studio were noticeably younger than usual. I normally suck at guesstimating peoples ages but it seemed a bunch of little girls crashed the class. The leader asked how old they were. They giggled an answer of thirteen all at the same time. Then they giggled about answering at the same time.

The leader said that she was twenty two and she remembered how it was to be thirteen. She was proud of them for trying a spin class. I don't remember what it was like being thirteen. I know, though,  that I would not have been in a spin class (I would have been "outside"). In contrast,  I can remember fifty three like it was today. Maybe because I'm currently fifty three. And I was in a spin class with thirteen year olds.

Sometimes I get the mind set to do an exercise class just to get it done. This class was one of those classes for me. To motivate the "kids" the instructor kept telling them they were doing great and encouraging them to keep it up. This encouragement seemed to be mostly at the time where the class would veer into the land of suck for me (most often high cadence standing up stuff).

At the end of these spin classes, the instructor leads an optional 3 minute or so stretching session. They don't like when people leave in the middle of the stretch since opening the door changes the lighting and ruins the stretching mood. I wasn't feeling the need to stretch that day so I followed the stretch-optional folks leaving out the open door. As I approached the door to leave, the instructor yelled "Sir, can you close the door behind you?"

Sir? She called me Sir?

Only then I felt old. I closed the door. And felt old for the rest of the night.

Sigh.

Friday, December 26, 2014

I resolve to be a Resolutionista

I saw a sign in the spin studio the other day, "December is the new January." I think it was a little bit of snark towards those who will show up in January after stating their new year's resolutions.  The irony is that the Resolutionistas are not there in December yet to see this sign. I wondered what the sign will say in January.

The good news was that I was in the spin studio to see it at 7AM on a Wednesday. My daughter, who is home from college, had a brief thought to get up early and join me, but her resolve around those plans disappeared as soon as she saw that the class was full with only the waitlist left. She slept in. I got up and completed the class anyway.

This is traditionally the time of the year to look back at what you accomplished and to look forward to what you will accomplished.  Were you naughty or were you nice? What are you going to do next year to be either nicer (or perhaps naughtier?) I'm normally very good at this in my professional life but I've found that in parts of my personal life I've been a mess for a while.

I found that if I make audacious statements of that I am going to do this or going to do that, I don't. in the past I did. So something needs to change.

I decided to be a type of resolutionista.  I resolve to do something about my weight/body composition and to stop finding excuses to not get back into shape. The difference is that this resolution can't go away for me or there will be grave consequences.

Most Resolutionistas disappear by February. I need to not disappear. The first step is that I've reserved a spot in a spin class on Friday. The resolution begins.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Complex in its simplicity.

First of all, thank you to all those who encouraged me. It helped.

Second, I came up with a plan I want to try. It has two parts:

1) Do something physical for 30 minutes each day beyond my normal activity. Doesn't matter what but it needs to be at least 30 minutes. Bias Monday and Thursday for swimming, Tuesday and Friday for biking or spin class, Wednesday and Saturday for sneaker stuff, and Sunday as a wild card.

2) Score on a scale from 0-10 the quality of my diet. Track everything I eat.

I'll post the results daily on twitter along side my normal stream of sarcasm. I don't want to overthink it but I want to see how long I can keep it up. My goal is do this until Christmas.

It will be my present to myself.