So, it turns out that Marcella really is shooting for a little pain and possibly a little humiliation. I say that tongue in cheek, but here's how our session went. The first thing she asked was, "Were you sore the last time?" I said, "My biceps were a little sore the day after, but that went away by the second day." To which she responded, "Your legs weren't sore? How about your abs?" I said, "Nope, just my biceps. My back got a cramp in it, but it was fine." So she leads me to the leg press contraption. She put some weights on it and told me to do 20 leg presses. I did them too easily so she put more weight on it and told me to do 20 more. I did THEM to easily, so she put MORE weight on it and told me to do 20 more. I did THAT too easily. She put MORE weight on it and told me to do 20 more. I wanted to tell her that when you were recently obese you're used to leg pressing of a lot of weight just getting up and walking every day, that's why I can do more weight than she thinks I should be able to do. Not to mention the fact that there is nothing that she can make me do that is going to be harder on my legs than the Killer Trail. My legs weren't sore at all from that. She did have me do some tricep exercises lying on my back with this weird barbell. You press the bar up, then you bring it down to your forehead and press it back up while lying on your back. She made me do those until I couldn't lift the bar up any more. She had to pick the bar bell up so that I wouldn't have to add "bruised forhead" to my list of sports injuries. She liked the fact that she got me to the point that I couldn't do something. Then an evil inspiration came to her. "Let's work on your balance," she said with that evil smile again. Now, you guys remember how funny Chrissie thought I was when I was trying to do the tree pose from the yoga video tape. Balance is not my best asset. The balance exercises were ab exercises. Who even knew those existed? She said, "Today, you will know that you have abs." I said, "I know I have abs. They were hanging all over the place, so I joined the gym." She is starting to get used to my sense of humor and laughed pretty hard, so I guess I made her work her abs just a little. She showed me the position that she wanted me to get into. She sat down and lifted her legs and leaned back so that she looked sort of like a v only her legs were bent. The only thing touching the ground was her tush. Now I had already done about 100 ab exercises when she asked this of me. I said, "I'm pretty sure I can't do that." She said, "Yes you can. Give it a try." It took a second to find my center of gravity, but I got into that position. Then she said, "Now hold it for 30 seconds." I am fairly certain that there is something wrong with the second hand on her watch because that was a long thirty seconds. I hope that she can read her second hand better than she counts, because she always loses count by saying 1,2,3, now breath (4 and 5 happened when she said that), 4,5,6, ect. I keep telling her that I am a qualified math guy and can teach her how to count in exchange for training sessions. Any ways, that wasn't good enough (because I could actually do that) so she said that I needed to lower my back and legs further but not touch the ground. THAT was a lot harder, but I did it for a really long 30 seconds. That wasn't good enough (because I could do that too) so she decided to get me to do a v shape sideways, on my hip. I said, "I know I can't do that." She said, "You said that the last time." I corrected her, "No, the last time I said that I was pretty sure that I couldn't do that. This time I'm saying that I know that I can't do that." She said, "Yes you can. It's like this." She only held the position for a second or two and explained that she would be doing it with me, but she had just eaten. I could only hold the position for about 5 seconds, in my mind, who knows how short her defective watch says that it was. Of course you can't do one side without humiliating yourself on the other. Her work was done. She gave me a hug and sent me on my way. I got home and took a well needed shower and encountered another sports related casualty. My blow dryer caught on fire inside the handle. I tried turning it off and it wouldn't turn off. I didn't know where to hold it so I held it by the cord and unplugged it. Chele thinks it did that because it was 15 yrs old. I think it did that because I'm blow drying my hair once or twice a day instead of every other day except when I have enough time to air dry it. I'm glad that the fire stayed in the handle so that I didn't have to add "third degree burn" to my list of sports related injuries.
So the next day I got to thinking, Marcella is right. I can do a lot of things that I don't think I can do without being told by her that I can and told when to start and stop. I hadn't done the trail in a week because of the weather and my toes needed to heal. I decided to jog every other song on my ipod. Once I conquered that, I could jog 2 songs, then rest a song and work my way up to jogging the whole trail. I would continue to jog up the hills though because I can't walk them quickly. I jogged very slowly and probably could keep up with myself if I was walking with me. But it worked! I jogged every other song for 4 and a half miles. That means that I jogged at least 2 and a quarter miles without even adding the extra hill jogging in! However, at about the 2.5 mile marker I noticed the pain in my toes that I didn't feel before. I now know the difference between blister pain and bleeding pain. By then I was determined to meet my goal though, so I kept going. I couldn't jog every other song for the last mile and a half of the 6 miles, not because of my toes but because my legs were soooo tired. I did keep jogging the hills though because I didn't want to regress. I finished 6 miles in one hour and 29 minutes. (I told you I jogged very slowly.)
I got home and looked at the shoe that I was going to have to gingerly take off again. EJ, my husband, was sitting in the room and saw the look on my face. "What's wrong, honey?" he asked. I said, "Look at my left shoe." The toe of my shoe was bloody. He said, "You've been doing that stupid trail again, haven't you? You need to get better shoes." "These are the better shoes that I got. They are made for running trails. I need better toes," I said. I took off the shoe and it didn't look as bloody as the first time, I guess the shoe was bloody from the combination of incidents. I had fun showing the shoe and sock to Chrissie (my twelve year old), she can be so mellow dramatic. "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" is so much more fun than, "Ew." Any ways, it really doesn't look bad or hurt that much so I am encouraged. I really think I might be jogging that trail in a month or so. I just can't do it very often because of my pitiful toes. The elliptical machine is building my endurance even though I can't do the trail more than once or twice a week these days.
That is my saga for the week. You guys keep up the good work too: Randall with the walking, Susie with the YMCA, Michele and Marcia with the healthy eating. (I'm trying that too, but I cheat...a lot. However, when I want to cheat I spend more time at the gym. I pay for the calories in advance with the elliptical machine. Sometimes I don't end up cheating and I actually burn more calories than I take in = lose a little more weight, hopefully. Pay it forward works for me.)
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