Runspiration

Monday, October 29, 2012

Tready Class - Both a Failure and a Success

For a few weeks now I have been eyeing the treadmill class on my local rec center's fitness classes calendar. I know how to run - one foot in front of the other, right?? But I am also a slow, stick-to-the-basics kind of runner. I rarely do anything but move forward. Sometimes, if I am feeling crazy, I will increase the incline on the treadmill, or create my own speed intervals by playing with the speed button a little bit. Sometimes I will run up some sort of hill when I am outside and call that my hill workout.

So, I am not ashamed to say that 2 weeks after having run my 4th half marathon of the year, I was more than a little nervous to think about showing up at a treadmill class. Luckily, I recently made my Mom read The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Bown and just the other day we talked about leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability. This treadmill class seemed like a perfect opportunity to lean into some discomfort. So, I faced my vulnerability and decided to run with it - literally.


I showed up and class and most of the treadmills were full. There were some running rock stars on the front row, and a couple of normal people on the row behind. I am so grateful for those normal people who made me feel a little better. CLASS. WAS. AWESOME. We warmed up and then our teacher decided that torture was a fun way to pass the time in class. We were going to skip. On our treadmills. At an incline of 10, 12, and 15. Have you ever skipped on a treadmill at maximum incline? It is ape crazy, I tell you. We did some other drills and then kept coming back to the skipping. It may not sound super intense, but please believe me when I tell you that it was. It was so intense that I actually pooped out of class 35 minutes into it - 20 minutes early.

Usually that would mean that I would leave class with my tail between my legs and go home to sit in a tragic ball of shame, vowing to never show that kind of weakness in public again. But it wasn't like that. I hit my limit, left and vowed to go back on Wednesday. I really did enjoy the class, I am just not used to it.  AND THAT IT OK. While it can be incredibly difficult to try something new, I will never grow if I am never willing to work for it. I left class, came home, and found a 20 minute abs and arms workout on fitsugar and counted that as the end of my class.

And next time, I will stay a little longer, grow a little stronger, and soon, I will be kicking that tready's trash...even if it continues to kick mine :)

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