Goodbye, Penang Bridge Marathon

I think I’ll have to say goodbye to my dreams of doing Penang Bridge this year. First of all, the massage I did last week did me more harm than good. The area above my left ankle became very tender, that when I put on a new pair of socks, I could feel the gutter pressing on the tender injured area. That’s BAD, when you hurt from just wearing socks. Had to give the 20km another rmiss last Saturday.. Strangely, I did not feel the pain when I had the massage done. My theory is that I had it done right after a run, therefore my endorphins were still pumping and therefore I could not feel the pain. Moral of the story is, never have a massage right after a run. Sigh, my injury seems to be shifting from one area to another area..

Also, I woke up feeling totally exhausted today. Had an incredibly long day yesterday, I seem to be having church meetings every weekend, save for last weekend, but I worked last weekend anyway so in a nutshell, I haven’t had enough rest. I can still muster the energy to wake up for an exercise (I am one of those that feels MORE tired if I don’t exercise – strange but true) but it really bothers me that I don’t get Sundays completely off to myself. And the horrible part is, I can’t say no to these meetings because of my commitment and involvement. I have yet YET another meeting this weekend, and the following weekend I have a bridal shower for good friend ( which in this case I am looking forward to). Well anyway enough of my grouses. Just feeling a bit demotivated and discouraged at this point because I had my sights set upon doing the full marathon in Penang which I have to give up now. I guess I’ll just need to take a break and perhaps try Singapore again.

Anyway, as I’ve said, as tired as I am, I’d still get a bit of exercise done, just a light one; if not I’d be even more lethargic and get more depressed. Got to the gym at 6am (OK, I know you’re all thinking, this girl is nuts…getting to the gym at 6am – you call that taking it easy?) Felt quite lousy, and only felt like doing 1 hour’s worth of cardio instead of the usual 80 minutes.

Cardio:

30m min walk on treadmill

30 min on elliptical machine

Weights:

Leg extension

Seated leg curl

Calf extension

Adductor machine

Abductor machine

Was planning to go upstairs to do some squats, then Jenny popped over and said that RPM class was on. Had not planned to do it actually, but since Jenny was going and I had company, plus it’s the only early RPM class they’ll ever have, I decided to join….with the intention of not pushing myself. The instructor was this really athletic guy, he looked every bit a cyclist or runner. He was very muscular, had really nice deltoids, but I found the rest of him too skinny…you know, that sinewy kind of look. I much prefer a bit of flesh like Lee Hom : ) Anyway, there were a few other who were new to RPM so he taught a very basic class..which was good for me since I had no intention of pushing myself. What made it particularly enjoying was the tracks he played, there was an R n B version of “Sweet Home Alabama” and a Donna Summer hit (it’s an Italian title – cant’ remember it but it’s actually an opera song made upbeat) He has my approval, because I’m particular about instructors – they have to do it correctly. He gave some safety tips plus he was quite observant with the participants’ posture. I still remember there was a Brazilian instructor who could not teach RPM for nuts, he gave no instructions whatever besides increasing and decreasing intensity, without any safety tips. However his classes were always flooded with people JUST BECAUSE he had the looks. Nope. It has to be a properly trained instructor for me.

As exhausted as I was, I felt somewhat perked up after RPM, it really got my heart rate up. On other normal days I would have pushed myself even harder.Right after the exercise it was extremely difficult for me to walk up the stair, any my thighs felt like an anvil…then I remembered..i had done weights on legs before that! No wonder! Looks like I have to change legs day to Wednesday.