Monday, September 10, 2012

Change of Plans

I'm a planner. I like schedules, knowing what to do, knowing how things are going to be, etc. Yesterday, I was super excited about the idea of doing a track workout at the beautiful school track 3 blocks from my house. I envisioned a workout of 5 rounds- 100m sprint, 20 burpees. It was sure to be a butt kicker, and the weather was an nice overcast 65 degrees or so, perfect for running.

I changed into my workout gear and headed out the door towards the track. As I approached the school, I heard lots of noise. I knew exactly what it was...a soccer game. In the center of the track I wanted to sprint on. Damn. I had to think quick- what to do, what to do...then I remembered 3 blocks the OTHER way is a high school with an equally nice track. I walked that way. When I got close I saw soccer practice going on, way less spectators, but still, I didn't want to draw attention to myself as I performed burpees on their sidelines in my neon pink pants. Right next to the soccer/football/track was a huge empty baseball field. IT had a super nice infield with that fake green/rubber stuff that throws tiny black rubber balls into your shoes. I looked for where I could run sprints, and didn't see anything good, so I had to change things on the fly. I kept the 5 rounds, 20 burpees, then added 20 air squats, and 20sec handstand hold against the fence. So I started the stop watch on my iphone, and began performing burpees on the fake turf. It was kinda bouncy, and way more comfortable then I thought it would be. A few times when I was on the ground portion of my burpee I thought about just taking a nap, but then somehow kept jumping up. The handstand holds were fun because 1) I was outside, 2) I was in a strange non-gym location, and 3) I just like doing handstands. All five rounds took me a little over 18 minutes, not bad for 100 burpees, 100 air squats, and 1:40 of handstand holding.

I can remember a time not that long ago when I would frequent a globo gym, and if all my "planned" machines were taken, I'd be lost. I wouldn't know what to do. I had no back up plan, no creativity, and typically, I'd just wander around trying to look busy, and finally I'd leave. That sucked. It sucked that I couldn't think outside of my comfort zone and find something else to get me sweating. I was paying however much a month for use of the equipment that was supposed to "get me in shape." It's mind blowing that now I can walk out my front door and kick my ass with nothing but myself and some open field.

Here's me, post workout. You can see the fancy turf and my neon pants. Oh, and my face pretty much sums up how I feel about burpees. :)

2 comments:

  1. Nice job...I still think the handstands while soccer practice was going on would have been pretty impressive to those young whipper snappers

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  2. Adaptation is key to survival. :)

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