No idea what got into me but I was super lazy at spin class yesterday.
Although I had woken Eli up from his much needed catnap to get me to the gym on time for class, I wanted out as soon as we got there. I was feeling lazy and clingy. But Eli would have none of it.
After my first spin class, I had told him I would like to make full use of my three-month spinning “membership” and to go for it at least once a week. In my mind, I was just afraid of committing to every session possible even though I should.
Having missed last week’s session because we were visiting with a friend out of surgery, I kept bugging Eli about getting me to class ASAP. And now that we were there, my thunder thighs and weak arms were too terrified of the hour ahead.
The instructor looked just like Amy Poehler of Baby Mama fame. And she was toned, fierce and without a smile in sight. She was a good instructor though, constantly looking each participant in the eye and correcting their pace, posture and whathaveyous.
Perhaps I was being a tad self-conscious but I can’t help but feel she was judging me the whole time about my lack of energy and inability to push as hard as the other participants who were twice my age. It felt like she was staring at me, mocking me in her head and then scoffing as she moved on to the next bike.
I was the youngest in class, looked the fittest but definitely did not shine as the best. I managed a few peeps at my own reflection and hmmmm, I am pedalling so hard and fast yet it doesn’t show in the reflection. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?! I look like a grandma pedalling her stationary bike while watching daytime television. Uncool.
Looking around the class, these mothers and possibly grandmothers were doing so much better than me! They could do every stunt the instructor was doing, and they really could pedal! One was even asked to slow her pedalling. Hats off to them.
What really bugs me though, is not how embarrassingly slow my pedalling is. Rather, it is the lack of arm strength that kills me time and time again. I was unable to do push-ups or any of those forward-up and different alpha-numerical air figures we were required to do on the bike. But I did manage to burn the skin of my palms pretty good and now a stinging pain bugs me each time I run my hand under water.
I am not aching today, but am very sore with myself.
Still, I am very grateful to Eli for getting me to the gym and getting me back onto the bike. Cliché as it is, my greatest challenge is myself. May the next class be a better one.