Saturday, June 15, 2013

Finding the time to train in transition

June 13, 2013...it has been a week since I left all that had been familiar to me for almost 5 years.  After moving around the world in one form or another, we had found our home in Florida.  The military was not done with our family yet, so we set out for what we hope is our last move a week ago.  The stress and craziness that comes from moving can be in a way as fatiguing as many workouts but without the benefits.  I know that deloading and breaks are good and many times necessary, so I have tried my best to be kind and take the time to relax, reflect, stretch and do yoga when my body would be stiff and achy from long car rides and unfamiliar beds.  We are now staying in a small hotel room: 4 people plus a 70 pound Labrador puppy equates to crowded quarters and restlessness! I wanted to run, get my legs moving and do some of the lifting I had been missing. I definitely become more irritable and ancy when I'm not getting a bit of stress relief from exercising.
     For the past year, the usual routine was that on Wednesdays, Hope and I would start the day at Starbucks (where we were well known), go to spinning and core class which she taught(sometimes I helped in core), have lunch and then we would do our weight training for an hour.  Hope and I had consistently trained together for more than 3.5 years.  It was a great dynamic and it worked well.  We have our own strengths and challenges. We are very competitive but not with each other.  Hope has a grace in her training that is amazing to witness and I have always tried to work towards that; all the while she would always be right there coaching on what things I needed to tweak or work on to improve my gait, posture, strength, form, etc.  But I digress; so I set out Wednesday evening to go to the post fitness center to see what equipment they had and so I could plan what I would do in the morning.  When you walk in, the first thing you see is a big one room like the inside of a wear house with tons of treadmills, elliptical machines all lined up neatly facing the same way towards strategically placed flat screens hanging from the ceilings....hmmm very military like.  Past the rows of cardio equipment, is the weight area, the left side occupying the machines, the right side had the free weights. They have many of the basic stuff I need: Olympic bar, heavy dumb bells, back extension bench, plates, the kettle bells are only 20lb, but they will work. Down stairs was a spinning room that was closed and a group fitness room where a small handful of people were lifting small dumbells to music. There wasn't much else on post that had this set up so while on post, here is where I'll train.
     So I set my alarm for early and got there at 6.  As I walked in I realized something: I had no partner in crime, no lifting wizard or form guru.  No one to banter with or call me on it if I want to pull back....crap! Even though I knew what I needed to do, the realization of this fact weighed heavy at first.  I looked around and let out a small sigh as I saw all others in groups of twos training together.  I then smiled with the knowledge that I had the gift of being taught by an amazing trainer and best friend and got to work.  I did my base warm ups of DB swings and goblet squats, I did Olympic pyramid sumo dead lifts, single arm rows and a ton of push ups of varying kinds, weighted back extensions and finished with pull ups.  I wasn't going to push it, but I was greatly encouraged by my continued strength; I knew that time was a good teacher.  Even though Hope was not with me in that room, I had been given the gift of knowledge and confidence to walk in and train effectively on my own.  I think I even had a few heads turn with the dead lifts :-). I finished my first training with a moderate pace 2.5 mile run and knew that it was the start of a new chapter in our training.  Separate yet still together.  What a great start!

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