I’m a Runner because…
- my bum didn’t come with the ability to be accessorised with a saddle
- after a run I’m left with a feeling of accomplishment, with swimming all I’m left with are raccoon eyes (def: that is where your mascara has smudged from the fog in the goggles, resulting in a black ring around the eyes) and cycling, well you can read about that here…
- it is social and you get to chat with all sorts of people while you are chugging along – swimming is without a doubt a sport for loners and unless you have bionic hearing and can keep up with the pack, so is cycling.
- if I’m tired I can just stop, if I try that with swimming death by drowning is the only outcome…
- I saw immediate progress which is what kept me going way back in the beginning of my running career 2 years ago, I’ve been swimming for a month now and the progress I see is negligible – barely even enough to comment on AND that is with swimming lessons!!
Any contributions are welcome!!
2 Comments / 
September 29th, 2009 / 
Cycling, Ironman, Reluctant runner, Swimming
My First Spinning Class
How many of you have done spinning before?
The concept of cycling, balls-to-the-wall and not actually covering any ground has always seemed a bit bizarre to me, but I put this aside last night and joined Nicola for my first spinning class. “Its only 45 minutes” said Nicola which sounded a lot better than the 90 minute class which I thought was our only option.
I felt like such a beginner when I walked in and had to be talked through the bike set-up by Nicola (it is quite technical), then I settled in not really knowing what to expect from the super ripped, all muscle guy who was our instructor.
The first 10 minutes was a bit of a warm-up which had me a little worried about how the rest of the class was going to progress considering I was already battling, although I had at that stage made a mental note NOT to wear the shorts I was wearing to cycle in, ever – I’m not even going to go into my views on camel toe.
Before we ‘really got going’ I was picked on by the instructor because he said I looked funny on my bike and needed to change the setting – a small dent in my already fragile ego.
And then… Well lets just say that half the time I was totally lost with increasing and decreasing the intensity, trying to work out what 70% of my max was (with nothing to compare it to) and there was something about cadence – whatever that is – that I just ignored because I was concentrating on not flinging sweat onto the person next to me or melting into a little puddle on the floor (which was already there and belonged to me) from exhaustion.
And yes, the class was only 45min – with a 10 minute warm up and a 5 minute cool down…
2 Comments / August 31st, 2009 / Cycling, Ironman, Reluctant runner, Training