Wow, where have I been? December 23rd was my last post? Really? A lot has gone down since then. Actually, a “lot” might be a stretch, but at least a few things have…

On the evening of December 23rd I got engaged, so yay for me. Though that’s totally irrelevant to this blog as a health/fitness thingamajig, on with it!

I have graduated from the world of Acclimation classes to the not-so-different world of Base Building. An extra 10 minutes of the grind, but otherwise the same. I’ve been fairing well, doing more and requiring more from my body to reach the same heart rates that previously came quick. I seem to be recovering a bit swifter as well, which is a real highlight of the training. I used to walk up a flight of stairs and be winded for 24 hours. Now I catch my breath in 18-20. My next metabolic/heart rate test is scheduled for a week or two from now, so once that goes down we’ll really be able to see if I’m progressing or whether I just feel like I am. Or maybe I’ve been lying about the whole thing…

On the work front, we’ve officially received our shipment of Global Ride Virtual Cycling DVDs and launched that new site to tell the world all about their majesty. They really do look good and are a nice product, so we’re pretty excited about everything that is going on. Pick one up. I’ll come give you a hug. (1 mile traveling limit applies)

Today was the day of reckoning. Actually, that’s ridiculously overdramatic. It was just a day where I decided to push the limits of what I normally do during class. To date I have been maintaining a heart rate of a modest 125ish during my training. My response to this is that things have been a bit boring. It’s exceptionally easy for a deconditioned person to achieve a heart rate of 125, and I haven’t been able to participate with the rest of the group during the standing climbs, runs, and all that other good stuff that keeps your mental and physical momentum going. With Gene out of town for the past week and a half, I haven’t remembered to ask if it was suitable for me to up my heart rate a bit more and actually do some exercise.

So, I just took the liberty of doing so. Hopefully that’s cool, Gene. If not… tough, I guess. I can’t un-exercise. Well, I suppose I could go get a Double Whopper or something. That’d do it.

Therefore I rode with the team. I stood on the climbs. I kept my cadence where I was told to. I certainly assume my resistance isn’t as high as the other people, but my little rickets are far from handling high levels of resistance. But I did feel better after today’s session than I had after any other. I sweat profusely during class, and while I once said I’d rather be covered in a gallon of warm tobacco chewer’s spit than covered in sweat, it was indicative of my effort. I’m ready to keep going.

I suppose that’s all she wrote at the moment, so stay tuned for tomorrow.

In movies, especially in dramatic period pieces with intense love affairs and engaging stories, there is often a moment of deep impact that is emotionally expanded by art. The story’s climactic occurrence amplified visually by a reduction in frame rate. The heartbroken maiden clamoring over the body of her fallen soldier, silently screaming, dubbed over by a sad and lonely wind instrument or a somber piano. The old woman with her head bowed to the autumn grass, walking away as her life’s companion is lowered into the earth. A confusion of the senses, a muddy blend of conflicting feelings, unknowing whether the dominant emotion is fear, sadness, relief, or even love. This is how I viewed this morning – a moment of deep impact, emotionally expanded. Feeling awkward in brand new nylon-spandex thigh huggers, sitting bent over in a semi-broken office chair, I was mentally preparing for the arrival of my first 30-minute group Spin class. I felt just as trapped in a dramatic Hollywood apogee, and while I might not have lost the war, lost my love, or lost my mind – I waited, not knowing what the final descending chapters of today’s story would have in store for my fragile character.

Fine. I’m lying. That’s how I thought it would be. But in reality, and somewhat unfortunately (as it totally destroys the metaphor I was crafting), it wasn’t that bad at all.

I was going about my work here in the vault (Global Ride is in a former bank, I work in the vault) when Gene came in to tell me “it’s time.” I hoofed it to the men’s room and forced my legs through the very tight and forthright garment that is a pair of cycling shorts. The vault seems to have an unchangeable temperature of arctic lowness, so after dressing down to a t-shirt and stuffing my secrets into skin-hugging, leg-exposing bondage gear, I was freezing and actually somewhat anxious to exercise for the purpose of heating up. As if it’s not bad enough the shorts have a diaper built into them…

Gene fit me on the bike, got the gizmo gadgets on me to measure my rates, and I got ready to begin. He told me to keep my heart rate under 115 for the first few days of acclimation, for the sake of validity with our metabolic progress reports. Just looking at the bike put me at a rate of 110. That’s not true – it took at least a minute. Long story short, after 30 mins of cycling, I averaged 115. I rule. Ignore the fact that I was putting very little physical effort into the whole Spin session to maintain that heart rate. Apparently that’s alright, as it’s the right track for my development.

The class was 6-8 women and myself. Any one of them could likely kick me to death in a matter of seconds. After the class, Gene announced to all that it was my first class and instructed people to clap, claiming that humiliating newbies is “obligatory.” Surprisingly, he didn’t mention my oversized head or feet to the group.

All in all, you could say the first class was a success. I kept my rate where it should have been, got used to the bike, got a bit of exercise, and went through a new experience. I got through it with no problem and, once again, am surprised to find myself saying I don’t believe I’ll wake up paralyzed tomorrow. It feels good to be doing something for my health, and especially for my heart, because it seems it needs the workout. Seeing my heart rate amp up when I was hardly doing anything was troubling, yet there was satisfaction knowing that I’ve taken the first step to reversing it. My legs are probably the second most out of shape part of my body, so it’s a win-win of nearly epic Hollywood proportions.

This isn’t a somber, melodramatic story of love and loss after all. It’s a big, ridiculous, bombs and fire Michael Bay summer action flick. Trade in the weeping violins for a gatling gun.

Oh, there was one downside to the fairly easy exercise… When the class was over, I returned to my vault still cold.

As some French guy once said, “It doesn’t matter if the water is cold or warm if you’re going to have to wade through it anyway.”