If you're my friend on Facebook then you know that today at 6 PM I ventured into the world of spin class.
I seriously spent the day with my stomach in knots. I made up my mind last night to start a spin routine and ALL DAY LONG I was counting down the hours with PANIC. I was afraid for a few reasons:
A) I'm fat.
B) The most exercise I've gotten since high school has been comprised of intermittent 1.5 mile jogs and the 2 months I spent canceling my scheduled personal trainer sessions at Gold's.
C) Spinners are intense!
D) I'm too young to die.
So, naturally, I was hesitant/nervous/terrified about my 6 PM odyssey into spinning. All day long I wondered how hard it would be, if I'd have to stop and take breaks while everyone else continued, or if I'd fall off my bike and wheeze in a pool of my own sweat.
Luckily, none of that happened. I got to the gym about 45 minutes early because apparently the anxious Anna believes in the importance of being prompt. I warmed up with an easy 1 mile walk on the treadmill and headed over to the cycling room at about 5:45. I was 15 minutes early and there were already a few people in there on their bikes warming up and talking to the instructor.
I meagerly introduced myself and proclaimed that I was NEW to spinning, as if they couldn't tell by my obvious lack of preparation. I did NOT bring my own padded bike seat or bike shorts, I do NOT own fancy velcro bike shoes, and I was NOT familiar with how to adjust the bike seat & gears. Thankfully Belinda got me situated the right way before we started. Now, why the bike maker people make the seats so dang uncomfortable blows my mind. Why should everyone have to bring their own padded seats. Why can't they make them padded from the get-go? Stupid.
During the workout (today it was HILL CLIMBS) Belinda kept saying two things:
1. Lean back on your sit bones!
2. It's a dance between your mind and your body.
These are seemingly great words of wisdom with only a couple of exceptions. I HAVE NO FREAKING CLUE WHAT SIT BONES ARE. The only thing I could figure to do was to lean back enough so that my lady parts didn't want to secede from the rest of my body.
And sure, working out is all about conquering your mind telling you to stop blah blah blah or so I've heard. But as far as my mind and body dance battling it out, my mind kept thinking...EFF THIS LET'S GO GET ICE CREAM and my body kept thinking EFF THIS LET'S GO GET ICE CREAM. So there really wasn't much inner motivation other than my desire to avoid SHAMING myself in front of this group of total strangers.
But I did it. I pedaled my booty off and it was not as hard as I had anticipated. I sweated a decent amount, but wasn't drenched at the end. I had strategically placed myself directly below a fan so I think that helped. I also stayed hydrated. I felt the burn in my legs while we were climbing, but we took enough cool down easy rides to even out my heart rate and give my legs a chance to un-cock their weapons and decide not to kill me.
I came home feeling pumped and AWESOME. Then I ate a salad and turkey sandwich with a fruit smoothie and my belly pooch made a miraculous recovery. Belinda said we burned 400 calories. I easily nullified that already.
