Rowing milestone

More Wednesday:

I went back to the gym this afternoon and got back on the rowing machine while the kids were doing their Gecko class. (I've decided they are going to keep doing Gecko for the moment, at least for the rest of this term while the weather is often too cold to play outside -- although today was lovely, almost Spring.) I felt like maybe today was the day to get that 5 km in the 30 mins.

I started strongly. The first five minutes I dealt with the usual little niggles; back feeling a bit stiff, knee giving a twinge. The second five minutes were hard, my muscles were protesting at the fast pace. I was on track though. The middle ten minutes, the middle third, was the worst; I had already worked so hard yet I still had such a long way to go! I was feeling at that point that I might not be able to keep up the pace, I was getting tired. I was dripping sweat, my bra was rubbing under my arm, my shoulder muscles were complaining ... and whenever I closed my eyes for a few moments to focus I unconsciously slowed down and had to go a bit faster for a while to compensate. But when I got to around the 25 minute mark I realised I was going to do it. I was still on pace, and I could do another five minutes. Five minutes is nothing. I tried to speed up at the end but had nothing left, I just kept pulling at the same steady pace I'd been maintaining pretty much the whole row. And I got to 5 km with 15 seconds to spare. I used those final seconds to slow right down, aware of my heart pounding and sweat pouring off me. At 30 minutes, I had gone 5.03 km.

I think I've been rowing for about a month, which seems about the right amount of time for me to work towards a specific goal. I have earned another charm! Yay! Finally!

After my gym session this morning I was thinking about how 30 mins of moderate intensity exercise was really quite pleasant. After this afternoon's session I can say that 30 mins of high intensity exercise is very unpleasant. I didn't enjoy it at all. My sense of achievement was more "thank God that is over". I had been pretty keen on rowing, now I have no immediate plans to do more. I might take a little break from it and do something else, and when I get back on the rowing machine I think I will put up the resistance but go more slowly and/or for a lesser time. I know that I don't have to enjoy something for it to be good for me, but it sure helps with motivation. That row was damn hard, and not fun.

Since writing this morning about spending more time exercising while work is slow, I won a job that I had quoted for last week. So I'm going to have less time again for a few weeks. Lucky I have Gecko in the afternoons to mind the kids while I work out!

Hmm, if not rowing, what am I going to do at the gym during that half hour? I did like the cross-trainer this morning.