Friday, January 7, 2011

"Moving" right along

One of the great perks of working at REI is coming across some awesome deals.  Because of the very liberal return policy we have, people sometimes return items they've had for a while.  When this happens, the current cost of the product can be very low.  Yesterday I was lucky enough to find a heart rate monitor, brand new, for $19.93.  I needed a new watch anyway, so I snagged it, had Keith help me get it set up and wore it last night to a "24SET" class.  I have always wondered how many calories I burn in one of those classes.  320 calories in a 52 minute class.  I wore it to my spin class this morning and found that I burned 480 calories in 65 minutes.  It's super light on my wrist and I can't even feel the heart rate monitor strap. 

Speaking of spinning - I attended my first spin class Monday morning at 6:00 a.m.  I upgraded my gym membership so I can attend all of the clubs, instead of just the one.  Because of my work schedule, attending classes five days a week was becoming quite a challenge.  Being able to attend the different clubs (three within a three or four mile radius) I am now able to choose different class schedules.  So, one of the clubs offers spin classes.  Even though there are three classes (6:00 & 9:15 a.m., 6:00 p.m.) every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I am choosing to do the early one.  Why?  Because I figure it will never interfere with my work schedule.  The *only* reason I wouldn't go to this class is because I'm too lazy to drag my butt out of bed.  Also, I still have enough time to walk Boomer even if I have to go to work at 9:45.  I went all three days this week.  I like it a lot!  It is an EXCELLENT workout, and it's TOUGH!!  It should really help out with my 100-mile bike ride training, which starts in one week too.


Tuesday Keith and I went skiing at Alpine Meadows in Tahoe with a few other people from my store.  The ski resorts offer free ski days to people that work in the industry, about four days a month. 


Do you see that smile on my face?  Yeah, it pretty much stayed there ALL DAY.  I was so stinkin' happy to actually be able to ski, just a little over three months since my foot surgery.  I could not believe it.  Yes, I had tried on my boot and put it on a ski and did movements like I was skiing, here at home and felt pretty much fine.  But, to actually be moving down the mountain on skis without too much pain was wonderful.  Making left hand turns was a little bit scary at first, because you have to use the inside of your right foot.  But, I was able to make quite a few trips down the intermediate runs for over half a day.  My foot was a little sore the following day but not unbearable.  I'm going again on Wednesday.  :)

I am very happy to know that a few of you have decided to commit to moving every day for at least 30 minutes.  That's so exciting!!  Good luck to each of you.  As I did prior to my surgery on October 1st, I will again be reporting my "Move Every Day 2011" activity.  I'd love to hear about how you are doing too.


"MED2011" Accountability:
01/03 - Spin class, upper body work out
01/04 - Ski
01/05 - Spin class
01/06 - 1.5 mile walk/run, Body Pump class, "24SET" class
01/07 - Spin class, 1.5 mile walk


Until later.............

11 comments:

Looney said...

Beautiful pictures. Now you make me want to get up there and ski again. I haven't done it since I had a big knee injury getting off the lift about 6 years back.

Lily on the Road said...

Good grab on the new heat rate monitor! So glad you are a lady in motion again and I'm very happy to see you have a helmet on while skiing!

A Prelude To... said...

I love REI with all my heart. I could live there!

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

Sweet deal on the heart rate monitor!

I love that smile! You look like a kid at Christmas. So glad you got out there to ski and you'll be doing it again soon. Awesome.

Ewa said...

Are there any job openings at REI?
I have never been to Alpine Meadows but from the pics it looks I would like it as long as there are enough easy trails. I am such a beginner.
Glad your foot is letting you ski.

Unknown said...

how nice to get a free lift ticket!

i added my MED stuff to my blog today. thanks for motivating me to move every day!

Aka Alice said...

((trying to figure out when my next ski day can be...))

Thanks for the photo mojo. Sloop happy you could ski!

Stuart said...

oooh snow!

Hoping to see some of that this year!

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

Sweet deal.
I need one of the temp jobs where I can work in the morning and ski in the afternoon while on vacation... actually we would need 5 jobs now that I think about it...

Runners Fuel said...

Yay for spin classes! Tahoe is so beautiful right now!

Anonymous said...

I love spin class, but can rarely make it in time because of work :( Love the skiing pictures and that smile on your face :)