It Takes Two To Zumba

This time around as I train for a half marathon, I chose a training program that has 3 days of running, 2 days of cross training, and 2 days of rest. I changed it from the generally accepted formula of 4 runs, 1 day of cross training and two days of rest because after I went overboard with the running during my last couple races I developed bursitis in my right hip. Then when I got pregnant and added a teeny bit of weight on top of loosened ligaments, that hip became an ongoing issue. I got unpregnant, weight came off, hip is still weird. And here we are today.

When I pictured ‘cross-training’ (essentially a cardio-building exercise other than running) I thought about biking or swimming or even hiking during the early weeks of training since the runs are all distances I can easily manage.

My sister, however, had other plans and used this really weird tactic she has of aggressively guilting you, sometimes using profanity, into agreeing to do something with her. And this something was ‘Zumba.’ I resisted because basically I am not coordinated and don’t like group exercise. Making Zumba the LAST thing I should ever do.

I won’t get into all the details of the Zumba. Let’s just say the lights were turned off, thank universe for that, and the music was loud and the instructor was both VERY enthusiastic and really good at very fast dancing. I wasn’t the worst dancer in there, though at one point during a number called ‘Octopus Arms’ I did cry out ‘Ouch! I hurt my elbow!’, but I wasn’t the best either. There were a few women in the class who had the actual Zumba pants and I feel like they had way more practice.

I can totally see the appeal of Zumba. You know those times when you go out with your friends and suddenly tequila is involved and next thing you know you are on a dance floor dancing so hard you can’t breathe and sweat covers you from head to toe? I think that’s the idea, except with water as the main beverage and no hangover. Genius, actually.

When the class was finished, I definitely felt I had worked out. I also felt like I don’t ever want to Zumba again. I can absolutely understand the appeal, working out can be really hard to motivate yourself to do…in a class full of that much energy and music at that volume, it’s easy to shake it until a couple hundred calories are gone. But I can’t, in good conscience, pay money for this experience again. Between this and Magic Mike, I’ve done my sister enough favors for a while.

On A Run

I invited my husband to run four miles with me. He is a much better athlete than I am. More coordinated. Stronger. Faster.

I beat him home by 20 seconds.

Later I heard him telling someone “At first when she pulled ahead of me I thought ‘let her win this one’ but then I thought ‘no, do NOT let her win this one’ but then I realized ‘wait, she is legitimately winning this one.’”

I pushed a human being out of my body, you think I can’t  beat you in a foot race?

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My best friend and I met to run a quick three miles. She needed a chat and we both needed some exercise. As we ran up a hill past a shop window I caught a glimpse of our legs and thought ‘Now those are some legs that could kick down a door.’ I didn’t see the jiggly bits or the wobbly parts. Just the four legs that can carry the load of two toddlers all day and still find the energy to run. Up a very steep hill. Felt quite bad ass about it, actually.

Three miles turned to five and after five miles we walked up and down some stairs for a while because the chat wasn’t over. I get the distinct feeling we are saving a lot of money on therapy by spending it on running shoes.

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Training with my sister usually helps me take almost a full minute off my per mile pace. Training with me probably adds time to her pace. She runs with me anyway, because I’m her big sister.

Even though we are usually both dog tired by the end, we always sprint-race each other for the last 500 meters. She always wins. I have to let her, because I’m her big sister.

Movement This Month a.k.a How I Broke My Slump

Most of April’s movement consisted of running, walking, a few yoga classes and some yoga at home. But overall, despite getting in some form of exercise very regularly, I just didn’t feel great about this month.

Since our return to the North American continent, my running has been in a slump. At first I blamed jet-lag. Then a cold. Then lingering jet-lag. Then the hilly terrain. But eventually I just had to admit that the gains I’d made while reinventing my running career in Japan were slipping away for no logical reason, just a simple slump.

There’s nothing wrong with a slump. It happens with everything. In work, in healthy eating habits, in your love life. Slumps always pass, but it can be frustrating because sometimes doing nothing is just as effective as doing something.

My first slump busting plan was to power through it. I tried runs at a faster pace, with my hardest running music, mind over matter and such. But the runs felt like I was stuck in molasses and the music was just noise.

My next idea was the ‘do nothing’ approach. When I didn’t feel like running, I didn’t. If I felt the urge to slow down or stop during a run, I did. I thought maybe this gentle approach, my mojo would wake up from it’s slumber and kick in again. Nothing.

So finally I simply took the middle ground approach. I made some new playlists. I downloaded a favorite podcast. I picked an out-and-back loop that wouldn’t give me the option of quitting early. I varied my pace depending on my feeling. I tied my shoes tightly and disappeared into my mind.

The run that broke the slump wasn’t breaking any of my personal records. It wasn’t my longest or fastest or best run ever. But it felt good. It hurt in the right way. When I felt myself waning I used the line my sister told me she uses when she needs motivation to go harder: I berated myself for getting lazy when there are people who can’t walk/run and would kill for that chance…we operate really well under the conditions of guilt apparently. I pushed harder and I knew the slump was over.

And into the next month we go.

On A Walk

Here we go.

Two adults, a toddler, and 3 dogs.

Enid, Falcor and our nephew Lewis take turns ‘marking’ this lightpost. Makes you realize, there is pee everywhere. EVERY. WHERE.

Taking a load off.

The source of the bells that our child loves so much. Every hour she is amazed and exclaims ‘Whoooooooa. Whoa. Wow.’

Mitten adjustment.

You can’t make a toddler walk when a toddler doesn’t want to walk.

Spring, it’s happening. Please say it’s happening.

Waiting for their just reward.

Movement This Month: March

A little late on this post, but seriously people. Jet lag. It’s crazy.

In March I ran with and without the jogging stroller, walked, and practiced yoga. I also circled our 24 hour travel day because I was carrying 22lbs of toddler and WAY too much luggage much of the time.

 

 

February.

January.

 

On A Walk

When I say we live in Japan, most people conjure an image of Tokyo and all that urban insanity. But while most expats do live in the major metropolitan areas, we are in a little village outside of a sleepy tourist town. And for me, it’s the perfect setting. I never was a city girl, though it would probably sound cooler if I could say I am. This is a place where a toddler can wander while her mother follows slowly behind only protecting her from the occasional car or a random pile of manure.

Here we go.

Wearing her lucky button.

We drop sticks into the rivers that drain from the rice paddies and watch them float away.

Flapping her arms and crying ‘caw caw’ to the crows.

Taking a little rest.

When we were having a weekend away recently, the baby lost one of her shoes. Just one. And we had to buy her new ones. For $50. OH MY GOD I KNOW. But we had to go the first store that opened (shops do not open early here, my friends, and we have a walker who likes to walk) and these were what she walked out in. They are made in Japan, so at least the price tag meant we didn’t pay for shoes made by a child slave….right? And there she goes, marching in the mud.

Breathe it in.

Best friends.

Watching the trains roll by.

A mural. The theme seemed to be safety.

Again with the mud.

Sigh. The shoes. My god the shoes.

This crouch indicates that a dog is coming near.

A dachsund you say? And what a nice little sweater he has.

And what do we have here?! This poor child’s path was blocked by our baby for 5 full minutes. Her mother spoke a bit of English, by some sheer miracle, and thanked me for taking a chance on Japan after the earthquake last year. She told me how her father literally had to run for his life from the tsunami, and he later told her all he could think about was holding her in his arms again. It was so touching to have her share such a thing.

See you later! Mata ne!

Enough fresh air for one morning, I think.

Run With Me

When I have time to sort through my thoughts, most often while my legs are moving and my heart is pounding, I often make lists of ways I’ve found to improve my running. And a few times I’ve started drafts of posts laying out those ideas, but I never hit ‘publish’ because that annoying internal voice of self-doubt says ‘who are you to tell anyone how to run?’ I’ve only been running for about 6 years. I haven’t won any of the races that I’ve run, not even close. In fact, I wasn’t even trying to. I don’t know if I have the ability or even the desire to attempt something like a full marathon. I don’t run very fast and my gait isn’t very attractive. So what do I have to share?

Recently, as I renew my relationship with running and log some miles, I’ve gone back over those partially finished drafts. And I realized I feel differently about what I could contribute to my friends who read this blog. Maybe it’s age, I am over 30 now you know and that obviously makes me more awesome in pretty much every way. Maybe it’s confidence that has come with motherhood, I did grow an entire small human and then use all my bodily strength to push that thing out into the world. Or maybe it’s just that annoying internal voice of doubt is slowly growing weaker and harder to hear over the thump thump thumping of feet on pavement. No matter the reason, I now want to share with all my friends. Longtime runners, running newbies, running wannabes. For what’s worth, these are little nuggets that have helped me. Please share yours if you have them!

Respect the shoe: As hard as it can be to get off your wallet and spring for a nice pair of shoes, it really is important. Go to a store that SPECIALIZES IN FITTING SHOES FOR RUNNERS, not a store where the kid trying to sell you a sneaker also tries to sell the skis and the bikes and the snowboards and his mom dropped him off before his shift. Talk to someone who can look at your foot and tell them how much you run and to what end. This person will, hopefully, help you see past all the marketing and the color schemes and the bullshiz and put the proper shoe on your foot.

Gravity is your friend: Everyone has had that moment of dread mid-way through a long run when you see a huge, steep incline in front of you. But while you may feel some burn in your buns while going uphill, going downhill is when you may actually start to feel some pain in your joints that can end up causing injuries. My best friend Jess once gave me this advice for running downhill: just go with it, don’t try to pull back. Of course you have to gauge the grade of the hill and remain in control so you don’t end up as a heap at the bottom, but use the natural shock absorbing abilities of your body to your advantage. Tensing up and leaning back only makes the impact harder. Let loose, take the chance to rest a bit, and go down the hill with arms and legs a little bit relaxed. You can make up time and save your joints some trouble all in one move.

Unclench: I originally was given this advice from a yoga instructor, but when I applied it to running I found it worked the same miracle. We often don’t realize how tight we keep small parts of our body when focusing on accomplishing something with bigger muscle groups. Even though it seems like the effect would be minimal, even the energy used to keep your jaw tight, your shoulders shrugged or your fists clenched takes away from the energy you need to hold a pose in yoga or to get a little further on a run. Take a moment during your run to do a head-to-toe check. Open and close your mouth a few times, relax your fingers and palms, roll your shoulders back and down to loosen them. The energy you were wasting there can be channeled to where you need it most at that moment.

Feel the music: I know most people listen to music when they workout or run. I know you probably stole some playlists from your spin instructor or you use all your favorite go-tos or you just put your iPod on shuffle. Often, however, it seems like people use the music as background noise while their head is still all wrapped up in the effort of the run. My advice to you is to really FEEL the music. The beat is your footsteps, your breath or your heartbeat. The lyrics are your mantra. Don’t just let the song be the soundtrack to how hard you are working, use the music as an actual tool to motivate yourself. It can be ANY music that moves you. Use Jay-Z ’8 Miles and Running’ for a long, moderately paced stretch. Use ‘Teenage Wasteland’ to get up a hill. Us ‘Rolling in the Deep’ (yes I know it’s Adele, but trust me on this) to get you over the hump of a runs beginnings.

Appreciate the silence: Although it seems like a direct contradiction to the previous tip, an important aspect to having ‘sucess’ as a runner is understanding that each run is a different experience. Some runs you will make you feel exhilarated, others will leave you exhausted. Some will make you feel both of those things in combination. Runs will vary in pace and length and spirit. So while music can often be used as an awesome tool of motivation and encouragment, try and recognize the important role that silence can play in giving you an extra push. Especially if you find yourself running in a relatively quiet place, like the woods, the beach or a peaceful park, taking our your earbuds can have a profound effect. Listen to the beat of your feet, counting the steps you take. The sound of shoes pounding is full of information. Use that data to learn about the length of your stride, the cadence of your gait, the pattern of your breath. In doing this you may find you are cutting your stride short or taking an irregular step every so often or stifling yourself from taking a full, deep breath. After you’ve crunched the numbers, use the silence to clear your mind. Don’t bother trying to stop thoughts from flowing, just them them come but float on by. As your mind stops gripping onto every worry that occupies it, your body will be given more energy for your run.

Happy trails…

Movement This Month: February

This month I started out strong, took a little pause in the middle during one of Dave’s road trips and finished up respectably. Movement consisted mostly of running, a few sun-salutation routines and one aerobics class. I gave myself credit for exercise on the 27th even though I never strapped on a sports bra or counted any reps, but I did travel to Tokyo and explore the city for hours (including an insane number of stairs in and out of subway stations) with a baby strapped to my back. If that’s not exercise I don’t know what is.

January.

The International Language of Aerobics

Yesterday I went to an aerobics class. If you don’t know me very well you may be thinking something like ‘You go girl! Work it! Pump it!’ but if you know me you are most likely saying ‘Why would you do that?! I’m so embarrassed for you!’ Because I’m not good at group exercise that involves actual group coordination. And arm-leg coordination. Yoga classes work because whenever I get kind of off track I just say to myself ‘Oh I’m not confused, I’m just following my own body’s voice…errrrrmmmmmm.’

The fact that this Japanese class was taught in Japanese (the nerve of these people! IN JAPAN even!) made my attempt all the more perilous. But I will have you know that I (along with Lindsay and Jinny, two other non-Japanese understanders) were in the FRONT ROW. And we probably blew everyone’s minds. Just saying.

The class itself was kind of a city-sponsored health initiative. And for us it was a community event. Our friend Sachiko enrolled us. Our friend Mayu drove us. And the city of Nikko provided FREE childcare.

A word on the childcare: I walked in, stuck a sticker on my child’s back indicating her name (which took a few minutes to explain to the poor woman trying to write it down) and handed to her to a complete stranger. Some of you might be thinking ‘Get over yourself woman’ but seriously, that’s a leap of faith right there for this mama. I went and listened at the door once, heard the terrified screams of a child that was NOT mine and kind of just let go. When I came back to get her 1.5 hours later, she was sitting quietly by herself playing with some kind of flashlight. So she officially doesn’t need me anymore. I died a little inside.

Before starting the actual exercise portion of the class, we were given a bone density test and a brief women’s health seminar. Now, I’m not saying bone density tests are a competition but they might be…BECAUSE I WON. For my age, my reading was literally off the chart…at least the chart provided by the city of Nikko. And my bone-age according to my numbers put me at like 13 years old. BOOYA. I’m going to bust out a lanyard full of Lip Smackers like the 13-year-old me would have wanted. After my victory, we listened to some information about breast cancer detection, the dangers of smoking, and some other things. But mostly Jinny, Lindsay and I just made up captions to the illustrations provided in our informational booklet. Because we couldn’t understand a g. d. word.

The exercise itself wasn’t as embarrassing as I had mentally prepared myself for. The music was in the 1960s-1980s range. Loved it. The slutty Americans (Hi Lindsay!) dared to wear arm-bearing shirts under our hoodies, but since everyone else was layered like we were heading out to the tundra, we never really revealed ourselves. Following along with the person next to you while always remaining one beat behind is a universal language. A basic knowledge of numbers helped, too. Ichi, Ni…Ich, Ni, San, Shi!

After feeling the burn of many, many squats we did many, many stretches (my favorite part, personally) and rewarded ourselves with lunch at a bakery (think bread, bread, some veggies, homemade yogurt and bread, YUM) afterwards. Carbs for energy people, carbs for energy.

Next week: cooking class. Stay tuned.

Salute The Sun

My yoga practice isn’t what it once was. I do it when I can, where I can, which often means a baby weaving in and out of my arms and legs, using me as pull-up bar, pounding on my face, screaming happily and drooling crazily. It’s all very zen.

No more incense (fire hazard) or moving meditation (must be on alert) or extended time relaxing in savasana (or in any position anywhere at any time)…but change is part of life and if yoga has taught me one thing (besides the fact that I am capable of a headstand thankyouvermuch) it’s to accept each moment for what it is, to really be in the present. So that’s what we do.