funner punching, fitness shopping, and faster she goes

Last night was my second time of kickboxing class.  Last week there were I think 8 of us plus the teacher; last night there were TWO of us plus the teacher.  Here's the fun thing about that, as my teacher pointed out:  it was almost like getting a personal training session!  I really did appreciate the extra time and the way the teacher was able to stop and help me work through some of the stuff that really jams me up.  And, I find that I really get a kick out of this business of punching the pads as my partner holds them up.  We did this new thing last night that, amidst a whole flurry of movements, involved punching first with the "front"...like, with my knuckles, and then with the back of my hand on the way back by.  OH GOLLY.  Not gonna lie, I felt like a real bad-ass.  I wanna do that again!  LOL


The problem of having only 2 in the class is that there is no excuse not to work out in front of the mirrors.  Last week I was safely down at the other, mirror-less end of the room.  Last night, I got to see me in all my glory.  And while I am learning to really appreciate the changing shape of me (which has gone from less "lumpy" to more "curvy"...though still with a very long way to go to "this is the weight that is best for my health)....working in front of the mirror showed me things I am not so fond of noticing.  Mostly:  upper arms.  OMIGOSH.  I mentioned a few days ago in a TMI moment that being less "full" has meant more floppy/jiggly/etc in a very unwelcome way.  Well my poor upper arms.  They are less like tightly packed sausages and baby, have they ever got movement.  They flapped like wings...I practically expected to take flight!  NOT.  PRETTY!!!


However, I have decided that this surprises really only ME...everyone else around me has been seeing these wonder arms all along.  So I just need to get over the horror and stay on track:  the objective is loving my body, not finding something to hate and dwelling on it.  Some of the upper arm thing will resolve itself as I continue to condition; some of it I will be stuck with, partly as a consequence of being so very overweight for so very long (the skin is still there, even if it ain't stuffed full of fat anymore, after all) and partly as just a natural thing...being 45 AIN'T being 16, thank God, and I'll happily take the flappy wings in exchange for not having to live the wretched emotions that came back with that uhhh perkier body. 


On a slightly related note, I'll be buying an exercise ball and mat tonight, because we did the situps and pushups on the ball-on-mat last night and I already know the clock is ticking...by this evening, I'm gonna once again be feeling my abs and other muscles in an ouch, ouch, OUCH kind of way.  I'm not willing to spend every weekend in pain and I'm sure as heck not giving up the fun of kickboxing (who KNOWS what groovy smackdown I might learn next week, after all?!) so I just need to start doing a few of those situps and pushups every day, to avoid the pain.


And speaking of shopping...yes, it's paycheck day.  I've started working on my (healthy) grocery list but also on figuring out what fitness things I need to buy this round (after 9 months without a paycheck, payday is like CHRISTMAS, people!)  So in addition to the ball and mat, I also want to find:

• something warmer to run in - I need long sleeves for sure, and it's time to learn how to layer running stuff, because 5 AM is definitely getting colder as fall advances, so maybe some kind of jacket too.
• a good pair of bike shorts with the most diaper-like giant thick padded seat in them that I can lay my hands on...I'd like to say bye-bye to bike seat pain and I don't mind looking funny to do it.  I was going to get these cool combo capri-pants and skirt, but it's getting cold, so I think I'll just get shorts to wear under my jeans for now and by spring, I'll be a lot cuter in the skirt combo thing and it'll be a smaller size.
• maybe some more reflective tape and such - it's getting dark earlier and I'm not prepared to give up biking after work.

 In other news, my body continues to amaze me with how it keeps up with advances.  When I ran the 3/3 intervals on Wednesday, I was sure I'd be repeating them next week...felt like I was dying on the parts that were 3 minutes of faster running.  Wellll....this morning, I did the 3/3s again, and...when I ran faster...my knees didn't turn to jelly and I didn't feel like puking.  And I didn't struggle in the 3 slower minutes to catch my breath...it was like a 30- or 45-second recovery time.  So that means I advance next week.  Why?  Because darn it I WILL ride Lulu up that 17th street hill, and endurance is the crucial factor in doing that!  So next week's intervals (I looked them up today, so I don't fudge Monday from forgetting to find out ahead of time) are 2.5 minutes slower jog, 5 minutes running.  Kind makes me ill even imagining it, but hey...this bod continues to shock me...so I'm inviting it to do so again.  


Not bad for a Friday morning.