spinclass

the space between where you are and where you want to be is inspiring.

~ loveandlunge ~ 1 Comment

Have you guys ever seen that SNL sketch about back home ballers?  If not, I will leave you with this, come back when you’re done.  Right now Leslie Jones going “Bowls, bowls, all types of bowls” is stuck in my head except I have rearranged the lyrics to be “Goals, goals, all types of goals”.  I am aware I’m a lunatic.

I’ve been doing a heck of a lot of self-reflection lately and one of the weirdest realizations I’ve come to is that I am extremely goal oriented.  Someone at work asked me the other day, “What are the top three things on your bucket list?”.  I stopped and thought about it for awhile.  To be honest, I don’t have a bucket list.  I set a goal and then I work to get it done.  I wanted to run a half marathon, so I did it.  I wanted to become a certified personal trainer, so I did it.  I wanted to teach spin classes, so I did it.  This is what motivates me in the morning.  It’s the reason once I stop working, I start in on a long list of other projects I’ve got going on.  I’m never happy with where I am, but I know where I want to be.  In the middle of all of that madness is where I find the inspiration to keep going.

I heard this quote the other day “the space between where you are and where you want to be is inspiring”.  I have goals and dreams bigger than I can imagine at this point.  I don’t have a crystal clear picture, but I know the type of person I want to be and everyday I do something to work towards that goal.  While I’m working towards my goal, I’m crushing small goal after small goal and each one is inspiring me and fueling me even more.


I don’t crush all my goals though.  In fact, for every step I’ve taken forward I feel like I’ve taken four giant leaps back.  But it’s that tenacity and that feeling of knowing there’s more good to come that makes me work a little bit harder.

In my spin classes recently, I have regularly reminding my riders to not get complacent.  That minute that we feel comfortable and secure is the minute that you should realize you could be doing more.  It’s hit your butt on the seat and coast after a hard climb, but that’s not the type of thing that changes you.  We did a class the other day that cycled between a run, a climb, and an interval set over and over again with very minimal rest.  It was so difficult, but everyone was happy with how they had performed in class.  They had set a goal of completing the challenging workout and as they worked to get there, they realized the power of what they were doing to reach that goal.  Something we can all take away, that’s for sure.

 

-sj

why I’m thankful for the fluidity of fitness.

~ loveandlunge ~ 1 Comment

Dear lord, I have been busy.  I remember setting up my calendar for September and going, “Oh woof, I’m traveling a lot”.  Little did I know, on top of all of that travel, I would also have a couple major projects due at work, which required more late nights and weekends on my laptop than I’m proud of.  So let’s get started on a little recap of what’s going on over here:

My boyfriend was in Thailand for three weeks, which was all fun and games on paper.  But, in practice, it was a nightmare for me.  I had to travel a fair amount while he was away, to Dallas to New York to Philly, so my poor little dog, Boo, had to spend a good amount of time at Doggy Daycare.  I’m not going to lie, there were often times when I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  In fact, I still kind of feel that way.

Enter last week.  Welcome to my wonderful world of traveling around visiting business schools.  It’s awesome and so fun…or it would be if I also didn’t have two massive proposals due.  I flew out to Chicago to visit a couple of schools and see my family.  Although I was massively stressed during a large part of the trip, I got to balance it with ample amounts of play with my family.  I am very #blessed to have an extremely a) hilarious b) supportive family and love spending time with them.  One of my biggest regrets is that I don’t live closer.

I spent Friday hopping from the Starbucks on campus doing work to taking many a campus tour of a University I more or less grew up visiting weekly, so when the work day was done I was beat.  Naturally, I took out my stress on a plate of nachos and with a side of good company.  Saturday morning, cousin, my aunt, and some of her friends laced up for a 7 mile run around the campus I had visited the day before.  I cannot express how thankful I was for this run.

Running is such a unique activity.  There’s not that feels quite like it.  Lately, I have found myself aching to just run when I’m standing still.  All of the anxiety, stress, and frustration that is building up within me makes me want to just launch into a sprint.  I could have run forever on Saturday.  My legs were energized, I had an appropriate carbo-load via nachos/taco dip, and the conversation was amazing.  Being able to unplug my brain and just move was all I could have asked for.

I headed back home on Sunday morning and sat on the flight reflecting on where my head has been these past couple of weeks.  Truthfully, I have been viewing fitness as an outlet more than anything else.  I have so many goals I’m working towards in other areas of my life, I don’t really have time to focus on any in my gym life.  And, I’m okay with that.

Because I’m not wrapped up in my daily performance on my runs, lifts, or aesthetics, I treat my gym time as brain time.  I can watch a mindless show or listen to a podcast while on the treadmill or doing weights and that is what I need right now.  I have goals in my fitness life that I’m eager to crush in a couple months, but right now, I have to focus my energies elsewhere.  The gym is just my daily mental break.

I’m very thankful that fitness is fluid.  The day I realized that every workout didn’t have to be better than the last was one of the best days I’ve had.   Knowing that my workouts can be challenging during the week, but recovery days are just as important was a fact that took me longer to learn than I care to admit.

All this being said, I’m not just throwing away my progress.  No, I’m focusing on just maintaining for now.  I’ll throw in some speed workouts and heavier days now and then, but for now my drive has to be refocused on the real world.

By the end of next week, I will have been in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas all within a months span.  Needless to say, I am crazy.  And I’m busy. One may venture to say I am crazy busy as well.  There’s a time and a place for goals and right now, my goal is to stay afloat.  By no means am I throwing away any hardwork, just restructuring how I’m going after it.

-sj