session as if it’s the first time you’ve worked together or who wants to try out something new in the gym, you need to move on. I have little goals and big goals, and that’s where the strategy part comes in. I think that’s why Adorable said it takes 16 weeks of intensely working out to see results; you can’t work everything at the same time. Bummer, I know! Wouldn’t it be nice to see your arms slim down after pumping 30 leg lifts?
My little goals are to build stamina and to go shopping in my closet. My big goals are to go running on the Capital Crescent Trail and to let the sun see as much of my skin as is legally acceptable without embarrassing Mia and Adin.
I had to be at work for an early meeting, so I did a quick workout. I didn’t do any yoga that evening, since I was co-hosting a Meet the Candidate Dessert at my house with Jordan Cooper, Democratic Maryland General Assembly Candidate representing District 16, a fellow Vassar College alum. My guilty pleasure was a single slice of chocolate babka from Green’s of Brooklyn.
Warm Up
Try – Pink
Monster – Eminem
Before-work Cardio
(3 miles / 45 minutes / 3.7 MPH; arm bike 5 minutes).
Blurred Lines – Glee cast version (Don’t judge.)
I Am the Best – 2NE1 (Adin sent me this one.)
Get Lucky – Daft Punk
Stronger – Kanye
Sunshine – Mos Def
Crazy Kids – Kesha
American Idiot – Green Day
Cool down
The Boxer – Mumford and Sons version
Fare Thee Well – Mumford and Sons
Day 5, April 3, 2014
“Tell it like it is”
—Aaron Neville, “Tell It Like It Is”
I weighed in at 120 pounds, an official loss of a single pound since late February. I was mildly discouraged and bummed but not surprised. My goal was to use the weekend to think through and prepare the kind of food I would need to eat moving forward. Adorable encouraged me to consult a registered dietician. I knew I needed to find the right balance of protein in my diet since I have a natural tendency to bulk up. My focus for now would be complex carbs, including fruit and vegetables.
Training with Adorable that evening was more difficult than I anticipated. And it was practically always difficult. I would try to tell you what we worked on, but as at the time I did not know a single thing about exercise science or anatomy, I’ll simply note that I thought we were working on my core, but learned later we were strengthening the muscles around my knees.
***
It’s not that I am not self-aware about how mundane a lot of what I am writing might sound to many people, especially friends who have taken significant steps to stay in good physical shape for years. I also know my musings about my training sessions may often sound stupid, but I promise I am not posing as someone I am not. I am stupid. I still reach for a “Slow Start” button every time I step onto the treadmill, expecting to find it right next to the “Quick Start” one that I need to tap three times before it agrees to get going.
The irony is not lost on me that when I first came in to the Department of State as a public diplomacy writer for the former website www.america.gov (now www.share.america.gov), from the beginning I covered First Lady Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden and her kids’ healthy eating/Let’s Move campaign. Although my colleagues knew I kept signing up for the beat just to get another glimpse of dreamy White House kitchen chef Sam Kass, I—like whole continents of women—admired Michelle Obama’s unambiguous commitment to keeping herself in awesome shape. I never said it aloud, but it crossed my mind even then that she must have a strategy for staying fit while making room on her full plate for fruits and vegetables, running on the treadmill, and advocacy for veterans and military families.
Warm Up
Tainted Love – Soft Cell (This one stayed with me all day.)
Electric Avenue – Eddy Grant (From Killer on the Rampage.)
Before-work cardio
(4 miles! Over 60 minutes / 3.7 MPH)
My Evolving Beach Mix:
I Don’t Wanna Dance – Eddy Grant
Drop Baby Drop – Eddy Grant
Exodus – Bob Marley
Many Rivers to Cross – Jimmy Cliff
You Can Get It If You Really Want – Jimmy Cliff (Of course.)
Tell It Like It Is – Aaron Neville
Electric Avenue extended Version – Eddy Grant (Probably on repeat twice—I’m old school with a time-honored passion for reggae/calyso/zydeco.)
No cool down this morning as I was in too much of a hurry to get to work. It’s a good thing I like my job.
Day 6, April 5, 2014
“Leave those umbrellas at home.”
—The Weather Girls, “It’s Raining Men”
I had woken up fighting a cold, which I likely caught at the gym. I’m not complaining. Equinox is extremely well-kept, with members who regularly wipe off the machines both before and after using them. Trainers walking the floor are constantly bringing around clean hand towels, including chilled towels soaked in eucalyptus, and in the yoga studio you rarely see body fluids pooled on the floor. It’s like when your child goes to day care for the first time. My children were always bringing home bugs that made a run at me even when, over time, the kids seemed immune.
Despite the periodic club emails reminding members of basic etiquette, you know there will always be that person. I’d seen her at the gym a few Saturdays in a row. She was probably in her fifties and in extremely good shape. She would come in from a run outside and settle her things, including a duffle and a designer handbag, next to the elliptical machine outside the restroom door. She would begin to strip off her outdoor running clothes and add them to the pile of bags on the floor. She would tap her running shoes to shake off the mud, and then she’d stack several newspapers on the machine. As she exercised and made her way through the papers, she’d toss the pages one by one to the floor on all sides of the machine. Other members nimbly stepped over the pile of clothing and bags, the discarded pages, and the dirt to reach the restroom and other machines.
The first time I observed this routine, especially during the disrobing, I was sure there was a Candid Camera crew somewhere. Then I wondered whether I had missed a Groupon offering discounted membership if you didn’t use the lockers, which, by the way, have wooden hangers.
My take is you have to be at a certain phase in your life to appreciate working out in a civilized environment. I’m sure at another point in time, this would have been a turn off. Now I craved it.
Usually when I’ve finished a workout, especially in the early mornings before work, I would get into my car energized and alert. But occasionally, as on that morning, I might feel lightheaded and disoriented. I was able to add 10 minutes to my workout because I walked to two different parking lots before I remembered I had parked on the street directly in front of the gym. I walked by my car twice heading for the lots.
“Is this something you plan to bring up with your physician?” Lord Baltimore asked me, not so much as a question but as a commentary.
Cardio