A Moment of Calm

I am sitting in my living room, the kids are napping.  I should be packing for our camping trip but instead I'm taking a little breather.  I know the next few days will be both fun and exhausting and there won't be many quiet, solo moments to be had so I'm taking advantage of this one. 

I went to the gym yesterday (Tuesday) and rode the bike for 25 minutes, doing Level 7 for the second time.  I ended up chatting the whole time with the woman next to me, which made the time fly by.  And each time I glanced at the bike I was going faster than usual...sweet!  I hopped off the bike and dug into chest/triceps/core work.  I noticed my shoulders were a bit sore and I have this weird twinge in my bike.  Weird because it's off to the side, which is not where my back usually acts up.  It feels like it might totally rebel at any moment and drop me to the floor in total agony if I make any sudden moves.  So I'm moving gingerly and mindfully engaging my core when I pick-up/put-down kidlings.  Let's hope it heals quick.

Anyway, my workout went fine.  I did more jackknife ab stuff and the trainer was there so he showed me a variation where you keep your legs straight and pull your feet toward your head, which shoots your butt in the air.  Hard!  AND you do pushups between each one!  Of course I loved it.  I'll throw those into the rotation.  I wonder what they're called?  As far as chest stuff goes, I think it's time to move to the bench and do real chest presses with a bar.  Maybe next time. 

After the gym I went for a 1:1 Pilates session. Yes, because I'm crazy like that.  Neurotic is probably a better term.  Part of me felt like I should skip the weight training given I was going to Pilates but I didn't want to feel like I missed anything since I'm short on workouts this week.  The Pilates session was all mat Pilates, no reformer stuff, so I can do these on my own later.  I was affirmed in my conclusion re: Pilates though, it's quite nuanced and you really need to practice to get it right.  It's like golf, or swimming - a ton of stuff to remember at any one time!  Toes pointed, breathe, drop your shoulders, ribs into the mat, neck down, you're not breathing, drop those shoulders, stabilize your core.  Ack!  I can see myself getting into it, especially if I had the funds to take several classes a week.  Of course everything was a bit harder than it might have been given that I just did all that stuff at the gym right before.  Next time I'll have to share some of the specific exercises she taught me.  Right now I've got to get back to my quiet time before the kids wake up.

Here's the plan for the rest of the week:  Gym tomorrow at the crack of dawn.  Maybe a run on the camping trip.  Fun, water, sand, fun, beer, food, fun.  Oh and sleep.  Please pray for me that my kids sleep this time!