When I got my iPod five years ago, it was revolutionary since it could play videos and was in COLOR. There was a part of me that felt grateful towards whatever delinquent freak broke into my room and stole my old iPod in Acapulco (forcing me to get a new one), because this one was so much better. I had it when I was studying abroad in Italy, and I always downloaded shows onto it when I had a long train ride the next day. I'd curl up in my seat and watch "Lost" or "Grey's Anatomy". It was enough to keep me distracted until I rolled up in Rome or Verona or some other exotic destination. It was a "cool" iPod at the time. These days, the geriatric battery dies within a few hours, and there are black lines going through the middle of the screen. The poor device is literally begging me to get something new! I'm really leaning towards getting a new pink Nano. Alastair can have the blue; I can have the pink. Sooo typical.
I know what you're thinking. My cover is very grainy.
I should backtrack about two weeks back, because I have not kept you updated on my hip situation. After that glorious run along the river, I blogged about it and said that I wasn't in very much pain. I woke up several times during the night, however, because my leg ached every time that I moved around. It hurt to walk for the next day, and I knew that my leg wasn't healed at all. I wanted to kick things and cry, but that wouldn't accomplish anything other than more damage to my IT band and possibly some of my possessions. I made a firm decision that morning: I would not run or do my sculpt classes for the month of November.
I've never mentioned anything about my sculpt classes here, but I usually take them every Monday and Wednesday after work at my gym. There is a different teacher for each day, but they are so much fun and make us work very hard. We don't have any of the Les Mills classes (Body Pump), so this is the substitute. It gives the teachers the chance to plan their own workouts and do something different every time. We use handweights in all of our classes, but we also a lot of strength training with our own body weight. I love the classes so much, but it really bothers my leg. I'm one of those annoying people who always has to be in the front, and I like to do everything full-out. Even if I stood in the back and stopped an exercise if it hurt me, I'm still worried that I would feel pressured to keep going. I don't like feeling like a "weak" person in a group exercise class. Maybe it's a bad pride issue that I have.
I always try to strength train 2-3 times a week, so I'm continuing with that. I alternate between free weights and the machines (mainly free weights, though) with my upper body. My leg will bark at me if I do too many lunges, so I've been using the machines a lot for the lower body. Many leg exercises don't irritate it, luckily.
For my cardio, which I do on the other days when I'm not resting, I've been riding my bike and using the elliptical machine. I've thought about doing spin classes, but I really don't like them. I look at the clock the whole time, and our instructors are always telling us that we should turn our resistance up way too high. I'm not an expert on spinning, but I learned at Lifetime Fitness in Vernon Hills, Illinois that it's terrible for your knees to turn up the resistance to the top and still try to go fast. It sounds like common sense, but our instructors here want us to do it all the time. As I said before, I hate the feeling when I can't give the class everything I have. I don't want to get even more injured, though. When I do spin, I just make it all about me. Nobody will know if I'm not putting the resistance up to the max. Even still, I prefer to ride my own bike outside. It's so much nicer.
Every day, I use the Orange Miracle: my Grid roller.
For a last laugh, our apartment is listed on realestate.com.au. Take a look at our fancy shmancy pad.