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Workout Plan: Week of March 17, 2013 + My Twenties

Welcome to the last Monday of my twenties – yes, I am playing “that game” as Andy so lovingly asked me when I made the same comment yesterday about Sunday. I’m not being immature or dramatic — at least, I don’t think I am — I just really am in shock that the last 10 years flew by so rapidly. The fun years, the years without much responsibility, the years between being a child and being a real grownup. It’s all grownup from here.

I’m turning 30, I’m getting married, I am taking care of a tiny living thing called Larry.

dori pretending to bite her dog larry

I may have a case of Peter Pan Syndrome. I just remember so badly wanting to turn 21. I remember on my 20th birthday feeling miserable that I still had to wait another year. I remember how happy I was to finally be 21. And then… everything just sped up.

I graduated college, I worked on a teen tour, I graduated grad school, I got a real job, I moved to Manhattan, I went to Israel and met Missy, I started taking spin classes, I got a new job, I learned about running, I started taking Core Fusion classes and fell in love with exercise, I ran my first half marathon on my 27th birthday, I started taking Refine Method classes and fell even more in love with exercise, I met my fiance, I got yet another job, I ran a marathon, I moved to Jersey City, I got engaged, I got a dog, I became a spin instructor.

And that is the short version. It’s been a good decade, and I can’t believe how much has changed and how different I’ve become. 10 years ago I had never even stepped foot in a gym. My coworkers on the teen tour I worked at when I was 22 discussed getting up early to run together in the mornings and I wouldn’t even participate in the conversation – why would I want to run? Why would I want to exercise?

Obviously things have changed. I can’t imagine my life without exercise and I don’t understand how people handle stress without the outlet working out gives. This blog played a huge role in getting me to this place — I’ve been writing it since November, 2007 — and I’m really grateful to all of you who’ve been along for the ride (like Catie who I finally met on Saturday, who’s read my blog for over 3 years!)

With that said, here’s my workout plan for the week of March 17, 2013:

  • Sunday – Refine Method (1 hr)
  • Monday – Teach spin (55 min)
  • Tuesday – RIP Ride at Revolve (1 hr)
  • Wednesday – Refine Method (1 hr)
  • Thursday – Refine Method (1 hr) **BIRTHDAY WORKOUT** I will be requesting hip lifts with a band, just like last year. And this year, Andy has to come too.
  • Friday – TBD – Short run, spin or rest
  • Saturday – Teach spin (50 min) and Refine Method (1 hr)

Here’s how last week went:

  • Sunday – Rest (When I saw how nice the weather was, I hoped to get a 3 mile run in before the sun went down but thanks to 45-minute Holland Tunnel gridlock in Manhattan I didn’t make it back home from Boston in time. I hate NYC.) – Complete!
  • Monday – Teach spin (55 min) and Body Ride at Revolve (45 min) – Complete!
  • Tuesday – Refine (1 hr) or run 4 miles (Depends on how late I get home from the Revolve class….) – Refine, Complete!
  • Wednesday – Refine (1 hr) – Complete!
  • Thursday – Refine (1 hr) – Complete!
  • Friday – TBD – Either Refine, Revolve or Run – Body Ride at Revolve (45 min), Complete!
  • Saturday – Teach spin (50 min) and Refine (1 hr) – Complete!

And for all of you who can’t wrap your head around the passage of time like me, I recommend the Timehop app. Every day I see photos and status updates I posted on the same day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, even 6 years ago. Like this one

Dori meets Chelsea Handler in 2007

Then I take screenshots and tweet them with a line about how young and fresh-faced I used to look. Because I was young. And fresh-faced. That is how time works, but I just can’t get myself to believe it.

Are you as astounded by the passing of time like I am? Do you get crazy nostalgic like this? Do you love the Timehop app?

30th Birthday Gift to Myself: My Own Schwinn Indoor Cycling Bike

Hi! A big thank you to everyone who came out to the DSB & Fitness NYC Revolve Body Ride class! last night. Jason is an amazing instructor who taught a challenging, fun, motivational, high-energy class.  I’m amazed and impressed by his ability to know every nuance of every song and be able to cue perfectly to those. I can only hope to be half  as good of an instructor as he is one day. I consider every class at Revolve “studying” and Jason is the perfect study guide.

So about that thing about me hoping to be half as good as Jason Tran one day: I have this need to be awesome at certain things. By awesome I mean the best and by certain things I mean everything. That reflects to work, to my writing, to my performance at Refine Method, to my running (I take my own improvements as the measure of awesome here) and now, with being an indoor cycling instructor. And when I’m not awesome, I’m hard on myself. Really hard.

The entire reason I even became an indoor cycling instructor is because I was unhappy with many of the cycling classes I took in Jersey City and believed I could be better. And I can – but me being me, I want to be better than better.

The thing is, there’s a natural talent some people (like Jason Tran and the other Revolve instructors) have. I don’t have it.

I’m not saying the great instructors don’t work hard, don’t listen to every song 200 times before playing it in a class, don’t labor over every song on every playlist. It’s more of a personality thing. There’s a way of being that makes a great instructor, and I am not that way.

That doesn’t mean I’m not a good instructor now (I am) or that I won’t ever be a great one (I will). Rather, it means I have to work on figuring out my place as an indoor cycling instructor. Where do I shine? What am I doing that isn’t reflecting my own personality, just because other instructors do it? What would I be doing if I just relaxed and was more myself? How can I give my class the best possible experience? What will make me a favorite instructor? Would I benefit from taking a shot of vodka before each class?

OK maybe not that last one. (Or maybe EXACTLY that last one).

My point is, I want to be better. I want to be awesome. I want to the best. Or at least, one of the best in Jersey City.

Dori's Schwinn spin bike

Enter my own indoor cycling bike.

After obsessing over this purchase for about a month, I realized the only way to stop thinking about it would be to just buy it. But $318 is a lot of money, especially when I’m trying to pay for a wedding. Then I realized I’m turning 30 on March 21, that’s a huge birthday, I’ll probably get a little money and this could be my birthday present to myself. After all, it’s helping my future earning potential.

After doing tons of research, I ordered my original choice, the Schwinn IC2 (Amazon affiliate link). I got it for $318 and the price went up since then, further validating my decision to go for it. I chose this bike for a few reasons, the most important being that I was certified through Schwinn and believe in their indoor cycling philosophies and bike technologies, and because this was one of the only inexpensive bikes to have a display monitor for RPMs.

If I’m getting a bike so I can plan the most awesome and effective rides,  I need to be able to see my RPMs. That’s a personal decision for me because, like I said, I don’t have that natural talent on my own. I need to see the numbers and work hard.

I haven’t had a chance to use it much yet other than jumping on quickly the other day when I wanted to see if a certain song would work in a class, but I’m excited to start using it more. I want to be able to hop on to test songs and also to try full classes, to see how the class will feel when they’re riding what I planned out and most importantly for me, to better learn the cues of my music.

The fact that the bike takes up very little space in my small apartment and that Andy can (and I think will) use it for his own workouts makes it even better. When the weather is shitty or I don’t feel like leaving the apartment, I can get a great workout in right at home (especially since as much as I try I am not a workout DVD person).

In addition to the bike, I also ordered this gel seat cover and mat (both Amazon affiliate links).

So, happy birthday to me – the gift of pressure to be the best at yet one more thing! Kidding. The gift is for my capacity to improve, my desire to give other people a great workout, my happiness in doing something I love.

Have you ever bought yourself an extravagant birthday gift? Does anyone else have their own spin bike?

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