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Archive of ‘Personal’ category

After November 6

For months, my life consisted of just two times: before November 6 and after November 6. In case you don’t know, November 6 was the ING NYC Marathon.  If something was planned for after, like a work conference I had on the 9th,  my only thought would be  “That is after November 6. By then I’ll be done with the marathon.”

Thinking of December was not even something I could fathom. It was all about November 6. I couldn’t imagine anything else. Then November 6 came and went and I still wasn’t a marathoner and then November 12 came and went and I was one.

It was all strange and surreal. It’s odd to base your life around this one event, this one day. Because what happens after?

In my case, lots of getting back to normal along with learning a new balance. Andy and I started dating in March and up until about September we spent more time apart than together. Things were new and we were getting to know each other, so I would see him once or twice during the week and one weekend day. The other days, I stuck to my usual workout schedule and my life was never disrupted.

The real disruption came with my new job — longer hours meant less time to take my favorite classes. But I still had enough time to make it all work.

When we eventually started spending a lot more time together, I was so deep into my marathon training that I needed to cut out strength anyway because my legs felt too sore. The extra free time (which likely would have been used for yoga or  spinning or other classes I could still have done) became extra time with him. I liked it. I liked being completely and totally lazy for the first time since I started the Core Fusion Challenge in January 2010. I didn’t even feel compelled to pick up a set of dumb bells. I liked doing nothing. Perhaps I lost my mojo. Or maybe I was just burned out. Or maybe I just felt like giving myself a break.

I liked doing nothing so much that I worried about what would happen after the marathon. I feared that my new life of leisure would mean that I never could get myself back to my beloved workout classes, and I would get weak and soft, lose my edge and overall become unhappy with myself. I worried I would never get back into a routine.

I’m getting there though. The marathon is over and after about a week I slowly started taking my classes again. I took Core Fusion Cardio, Refine Method and Music Yoga Flow (wow I needed that one). Getting back into a routine means I need to do something I didn’t have to do before — I need to balance time for working out with time for my boyfriend. Of course, time with my friends too, but that has never been an issue. My issue is that I like going over to Andy’s after work at 7 pm, plopping down on the couch, eating dinner and watching episode after episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.

Last night was my first attempt at achieving this balance. I had a Refine class scheduled for 7:35. I already don’t like working out that late, but it’s the only time I could make it after work. But I also wanted to see Andy because we spent Thanksgiving weekend apart. That meant I hurried home from the office, changed to workout clothes,  packed a bag of work clothes and went to class. From there, sweaty and smelly, I went directly to Andy’s.

It worked out fine. I could do this more (although I threw down money for a cab because waiting for the bus at 9 pm did not appeal to me . . . so it might get expensive) and it felt natural and normal. Instead of choosing what to do tonight (take my favorite Core Fusion Yoga or go to Andy’s?) I finally feel comfortable doing both.

It will continue to be an experiment, and it will continue to not be ideal. But it is a relief that this one day is behind me because now I feel like I can finally move forward with everything else. And even though that one day did not turn out as I planned, I’m extremely thrilled with how it did turn out.

I’m glad to be back in class even though right now it really, really sucks. Exercises that used to be relatively easy for me are now impossible. I can barely even do a pushup anymore. I used to love pushups! It hurts and it’s hard and I often either don’t want to or can’t push myself. Last night at Refine I switched my jumpbacks to step-backs. My quads were just on fire and I couldn’t do the jumps. Or could I? Was I just taking the easy way out? Am I frustrated that things that used to be easy now feel so hard? Or did I really do my best and my legs were truly too spent to do the jumps?

If I got out of work just an hour earlier, or worked closer to Manhattan, it would be easier. I could take earlier classes and have more time. But I don’t. So now that I am over three months into my new job, now that I am over eight months into my relationship with Andy, now that the previously unthinkable “after November 6” is over — now I can figure out how to organize my life in a way that includes everything I love and settle into a new routine. At least until I start training for my next half marathon.

(1) IntenSati Success (2) Exercise Pain (3) Writing Stuffs

(1) Missy’s and my free IntenSati class for BeFitNYC.org Launch Week

THANK YOU to everyone who came to the BeFitNYC.org launch week event that Missy and I held this past Saturday. Our IntenSati class was a huge success and I am still so happy with how many people showed up — even with the 11th hour location change from Central Park to an indoor space because of the weather.

We selected the biggest studio in Simple Studios and the room was still packed. It got hot and sweaty, but the class was so much fun I don’t think we minded much! I’m not generally a big sweater; I walked to and from work on that 100 degree day in NYC last week, a little over a mile each way and did not sweat a drop. But in this class, I was completely soaked, the bottom of my ponytail was sopping wet, my face was shiny and I felt awesome. I’ve only done IntenSati once before (when Missy taught for the first time!), but I got so into this class! Our instructor Lindsay was extremely motivating and awesome, and I had the best time. I still find myself repeating the catchy affirmations to myself — which I believe is the point.

Enjoy our butts:

Here I am with Missy in our post-class glow (sweat).

I loved the class so much that I decided to go to a CoreSati and IntenSati class at Equinox with Missy next week to take class with its founder Patricia Moreno! I completely get why Missy and many other people love this class so much. I wish I had the courage to try it when the gym I used to belong to offered it a few years ago! I thought IntenSati meant “intense” (it doesn’t) so I was scared away.  This was before I became a hardcore awesome exerciser.

So the giveaway winners.

I’ve gotta be honest, I threw in my very own Physique 57 DVD because I know you all get wet for that class, so I was a little surprised more people didn’t RSVP just to say no to enter the contest. Oh well. Better odds for the winners and really, I am beyond thrilled by how smoothly the event went.

The winner of the Physique 57 Classic 57 Minute Full Body Workout and IntenSati Great Body, Great Life and other DVDs prize pack goes to Emily!

And the runners up  who won a free YogaVibes class — and I have to apologize, I had 3 classes to give away, not 5 like I initially thought —  are Sam, Grace and Amber.

Thank you so much for entering and thank you for helping make NYC your gym! This is not the end of my partnership with BeFitNYC.org so I hope to announce more exciting events soon.

(2) On to the next topic:

I tried a new class on Friday that temporarily destroyed me. In addition to physical bruising and torn skin, I thought I messed up my hip again. I spent Sunday crying and being angry at myself. I work so hard in the classes I know well — mostly Refine and Core Fusion, but I also know how to modify yoga, barre, strength, cardio and other similar classes — that in this situation, the exercises were all so new and different that I had no idea my hip would take it so badly. I did not think that I might destroy all the work I did for months over the course of ONE hour.

It did not hurt at all during the class, and I didn’t do the things that I know typically affect it, like turning my hip out. However, looking back, there was definitely flexion over 90 degrees as part of exercises like bear crawls, but the class was a boot camp and you kind of just have to go with it. It was intense and I didn’t really think much except how to push through in the moment. I didn’t think before or during the class about whether something so unfamiliar might be a bad idea. I was so excited to review the class for NBC New York, a brand new type of class for me — which, I must add, was the hardest workout of my life and actually very awesome for people who like ass-kicking boot camps — that I just didn’t think much about how my body would respond.

I was not being dumb by going to the class. I was not in any hip pain before or during. I just wish I thought more about my decision to try something I would not automatically know how to modify. I got a little too confident in my own abilities, when in reality I am just a girl who learned how to modify the things she does every day. I am not a fitness professional or expert (although I have been toying with this idea lately . . .) and therefore I do not have the knowledge to adjust to every possible fitness scenario. Lesson learned. While I am marathon training, I am going to stick to exercises I am comfortable with — and there are plenty of classes I can try that fit that formula — and not go for anything too out of the ordinary.

After the marathon, when I am not as concerned about my ability to run for 5 straight hours, I can revisit different types of workouts.

So I basically spent Sunday feeling depressed and beating myself up (I am trying to be less of a bitch to myself, but it is hard) because my hip was hurting more than it ever did when I was injured. I could barely walk and I could not even lift my leg to get into bed! I had to get in on my good side and then use both hands to hoist my other leg up onto the bed. I also could not put on a pair of pants. I was certain I destroyed my months of hard work, rest and healing that I went through to get my hip better. Up until last week, I was running again! Pain-free! And then suddenly I could barely even WALK. My hip was swollen. I was scared.  I was a wreck. I was sure the marathon was not happening. I was sure I would never even get to go back to Refine or Core Fusion. I iced and Tiger Balmed like it was my job.

I woke up on Monday feeling a LOT less pain. It still hurt, but I felt much more hopeful about my future. I made the (hard) smart decision to cancel the Core Fusion Cardio class I had spent all week looking forward to. The dramatic difference from Sunday to Monday made me suspect this was not a re-injury; rather, just a little inflammation from trying something different. And now, Tuesday morning, I feel almost completely better. The difference between Sunday and Tuesday is incredibly drastic. I am still going to take it easy this week, but I am confident now that I will be OK.

I think that because I have this hip injury, it reacts to the unknown by becoming inflamed. I think that is all that happened here. I do not think I permanently destroyed it. I do think that after some rest, I will be fine. Lesson learned — and thankfully this happened before marathon training and not during. This experience also serves as a reminder that I am not 100% better (and I might not ever be) and I need to continue to be cautious and modify exercises in my classes. Even if I think I can try something, right now, as I begin to train for the ING NYC Marathon, is not the time to experiment.

It helps to think of everything as a lesson.

(3) And lastly, I want to share some of my newest writing with you.

My guest post on the Real Business at Xerox blog with my time managing tips*



*Any time management tips taken from me are at your own risk. By reading this, you agree that negative outcomes cannot be blamed on Dori Heather Manela, including but not limited to: inability to get out of bed; neglecting responsibilities until the last possible second; weeks-old dishes toppling over the sink; clothing flung on all surfaces; a bedroom in complete and total disarray; flies; wrinkled clothing; a torn-apart bedroom because you can’t find anything, even after creating dedicated spaces for things — you won’t actually put your things in those spaces; inanimate objects taking over your bed so all you have for yourself is a tiny corner at the top; and, an overabundance of old books that have not yet made their way to the donation box at the library 20 blocks away, despite owning an old-lady shopping cart (which currently functions as a place to throw bras).

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