Corso Unplugged

This Monday morning it was time to re enter the Corso Zone. Michelle took us on a ride for the ages and if it were not for KSC my training today would have missed her strategy. In the past in Michelle’s class I would spend most of the hour just trying to catch my breath because I just could not keep up with the level I perceived Michelle had in mind.

 I had the inspiration to ask just what that strategy was and at the end of the session she said that when she sees us moving our level of performance up she raise the bar as well. It all made sense after all because the goal of spin is to increase the fitness level and for me that means fat burning as well. My Iron Man friend told me about a year ago that you couldn’t lose weight spinning. My expert was so off the mark because I don’t recognize that man in the mirror from the one I saw one year ago. 

About ten minutes into the session the electricity (the high priestess of false security) failed. The music stopped and Michelle was unplugged. Corso did not miss a beat even though the percussion was gone. She improvised instantly and the naked CS was held firmly in place by the professional she is. It wasn’t long and we were back to the regular choreography but it was indeed telling to see how Michelle handled it and it was a stellar performance. 

Michelle said she had a fever and she apologized for not riding the whole ride with us. Gee she’s sick and she’s apologizing to us. What dedication I thought, would I get out of bed with a fever? I don’t think so but Michelle  is a breed apart.  I loved it seeing her walk around because it gave me a deeper appreciation of her brand of spin and I told her so. I forgot my CSI shirt today; I won’t next time Ms. Corso. 

Tiny Humans

It was yet another Sunday and I silently assented to yours truly that I was going to just take it a little bit easier. I seem to be telling myself this a lot only to be foiled by my own motivation inside and those damn talented spin instructors that I frequent at Woodbury Equinox. 

The Blue Sapphire, Carolyn Mellace is a multi talented woman with an indomitable spirit packed in what looks to be less than a 100 lb. physiology. I have had a spirited time in each and every class I have attended with her.  And with those patented flashing whites of her eyes that light up like beacons on a foggy night she brings out in me the effort I want to keep lodged in my back pocket. 

I had taken the free look at the club down the street called Lifetime. I visited on their opening night several weeks ago and as I have written the club is very impressive. Impressive when there are no children present that is. As I closed out my trial membership with nary a workout I witnessed what I would never be able to live with and that is tiny humans. There were just too many for this ‘old man’.  I like to learn new tricks but not that one.  And by all means if you want to move to a city like atmosphere where kids run into you and don’t say excuse me have a good trip. For me I will stick and stay because for me right here is  my third space. 

Days Like This

It’s a long way to Tipperary but I didn’t think it would be far to KSC this past Wednesday morning. I had all the time in the world but when I saw the traffic on Jericho Turnpike my heart sank. All this preparation to make my birthday spin in The Evil Woman’s class looked as if they would be dashed. 

I finally got to the parking lot and as I scurried in to change I looked at the clock and it was ten minutes into class time. I rumbled up the stairs and as I opened the glass door I saw that #3 was still open. Kristen said: We’ve been waiting for you! It gave me chills. Imagine that, a 60-year-old man excited to get to his exercise bike. But make no mistake about it I was. I had brought my walking stick in for effect and KG before long had it banished to the outside corridor. 

Kristen informing the class it was my birthday several times then  asked not to be blamed for some of the musical selections she had picked out for me.  She played the Killers and two of my all time favorite songs: Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order and Chains of Love by Erasure.  These two songs are indelibly etched in the psyche of my romantic soul.  So it was no wonder my heart was pounding and on fire. 

I know that this entry was all about me, but please know in your hearts that without you days like this would never exist in my new lifetime.  The stick may indeed be getting shorter but I am determined to take it one day at a time. 

The Sexagenarian Soliloquy

Struggling to maintain even a modicum of tenacity in KSC was a daunting task after a 2nd upper respiratory infection hit me this winter. The only thing that might help in knowing what I did to contract another debilitating flu might help me avoid a 3rd round.

And I do not want to miss any sessions with The Evil Woman now because she seems to be on a mission to educate us on creating efficiencies on reaching whatever is our particular goal. 

As I hit 60 there is only one thing I can tell those of you that are far off from this milestone: It comes so rapidly you won’t believe how fleeting youth is. Some might say age is just a number but in reality the stick is getting shorter no matter how you look at it.  By the same token as I look back I wouldn’t want a do over. I can live with the mistakes I made and the successes I did accomplish were helped markedly by staying out of my own way. In addition being sober for 21+ years changed the landscape of my life so dramatically. These are my most precious years because I was cognizant of everything in my life that was transpiring whether it was perceived to be good or not so good. Even the ‘bad’ things seem mitigated in retrospect because they never turned out as badly as they appeared in the moment. 

Just this morning I was trying to explain what ‘spin’ is to two of my friends who could just not get a grip on it. One thought that he had to watch television in order to work out and the other stared blankly at me and said: Isn’t it boring?  I recalled what Kristen had said earlier in the week about those exercising in the great hall and how she indeed felt sorry for them because they were totally disassociated from their exercise regimen.

 I never felt that way for the first 7 years here at Equinox because other than listening to music you would never find me reading or paying any attention to anything other than the workout at hand. Luckily I wandered in to the CS across the hall almost one year ago and found my new nirvana, which I thought, was lost when I stopped long distance running

Later in the hour Kristen pointed out that the body simply adjusts when you don’t shock it and if we continue to work out in the endurance zone we wind up just packing on more pounds if we keep doing what we have always done. Okay enough pontificating.  

And as I close out the first year of my rebirth into serious exercise I of course thank all the instructors and all my new friends that have made this transition so much fun. Kristen is of course the architect of my renaissance and as always I laud her professionalism and truly singular style. 

The Refractory Period

The relaxation of booking online has an ethereal feeling of comfort attached to it. I don’t mind the ritual of waiting for the now fourteen most wanted but if I can book #3 in advance it does feel good. And there appears to be less competition for that front row. It’s not a matter of narcissism seeing my shrinking form in the mirror, but rather I am overcoming the childhood reticence to be too close to teacher. 

I had a strange visceral feeling of sadness yesterday when I arrived for Tripp’s 6 AM class on Friday and I didn’t see a full house. My thinking was that Lifetime had put a bullet hole in the heart of my favorite exercise club, Equinox. I felt melancholy, but the real reason was that I had not taken into account the snowstorm and after I had reconciled that my fears abated.  It was the seminal moment that told me emotionally that I would never leave here. I knew it logically and now my heart resonated the same epithet. 

You could tell that Kristen was just a little under the weather today but I’ll be damned, she never lets that put a dent in her scholastic soliloquies. Always fresh are her vignettes and she imbues her strong feminine personality with charm, grace and at times acerbic wit. She is truly a virtuoso in her field. 

I loved seeing some of the familiar faces from the weekday sessions like Debbie Jensen, Cindy, Nancy to name but a few. It is a warm feeling to have that closeness KG was referring to. We are alone but the oxymoron is that we are so together.

 As I start to hone in and listen with more sensory acuity I am picking up the beginnings of a plan to get to my goal of fat burning. I have lost significant weight and inches this past year but I know now that I can do it more efficiently and that will be my focus in year ahead.   The HR monitor which I can barely see tells me that my zone is just a bit higher than conventional tables tell me but I will let my stress and echo tests tell me what my efficient frontier is actually. 

Definition of getting it up again from a scientific perspective is called the Refractory Period. In neuroscience it means the period of time following the stimulation of a nerve during which the nerve will not respond to a second stimulus. We never want to have sexual innuendos in spin class unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Hey as if I didn’t mention it enough my status as a sexagenarian begins on Wednesday just in case you don’t know.  

Amongst So Many, Yet So Alone

To say that this edition of KSC was the most strenuous I have ever experienced would be an understatement. Yes, yes I have said similar things in earlier publications but my own proof was my HR monitor showing a full 10 bpm higher than I have recorded in the last month. Now I may have been too long in the anaerobic zone and defeated my own goal of fat burning but it did prove that I was able to break through to a pedal stroke I thought I was incapable of. 

Having said that, The Evil Woman on Thursday was the most serious I have seen her since my first session last February 1. The specificity in her instruction was illuminating because for the first time I made the connection that I was spinning without a plan. That’s all changed and after a few words with “Evil” at the end of the session it seems that her instruction is going to take a vastly different turn in the days, weeks and months to come. I will keep mum on this subject and let it unfold the way she wants it to. Suffice it to say that I am excited at the prospect because it will add even more flavor to an exercise regimen I have become devoted to like I did when my existence was predicated on long distance racing in the 70’s and 80’s.  

Amongst so many, yet so alone. This quote had me reeling just a bit even though I know it’s true it made me feel isolated for a moment. But that soon passed because I am so connected to the energy field in the CS and because of that I am never alone. 

When I Tell You

Monday does not ordinarily find me in Young Atlas’s class but due to some early business scheduling I got the upcoming star in the 7:15.  He is an upstart in many ways carving out his own brand of self-promotion that you just gotta love. He was pushing his class on Facebook a few weeks ago and lo and behold his class was full. I admire this kind of hype because this young man delivers every class I have taken with him. His trademark phrase is: When I tell you!  But it’s never bossy, you find yourself being guided rather than pulled and he knows just how to push the right buttons.  He is loaded with specificity but it’s never boring because he varies the ride just like the pro he is. Can you tell I like him? I do. Ask Keith Bratti (ZB) he’ll tell you. 

I love taking the off hour sessions once in awhile outside of Kristen and Tripp because we are laden with talent at Equinox and I just wonder how the new club down the street is going to compete outside of more square feet and boasting shiny new surroundings. Where will they get the talent? It has to be from the minor leagues. To all of you leaving we will be waiting for your return.  

Miss Thing

I was always hesitant to place a moniker on Kristen like I have with others like Tripp, (Svengali) Carolyn (The Blue Sapphire) or Cathy Munzer Stone (The Heart of Stone). Eventually though I capitulated when I decided The Evil Woman captured her ferocious enthusiasm about this sport of spinning. Then I was casually confabbing with Pam Polestino on Friday, while she was digging deep on the elliptical. I was cajoling her to take over Tripp’s classes while he’s away scaling Mount Washington in two weeks. And she replied matter of factly that she would check with, “Miss Thing”. I must have a had a look of incredulity on my face as I said, “Who?” And she said Kristen. Miss Thing? I retorted.  Yes she said, Miss Sexy Thing.  Hmmm. Well of course she’s that but I never thought of that as a nickname but okay, Miss Sexy Thing. I have to try that on for size. It must have been an inside joke but the cork is out of the bottle now. 

For the most part during the week getting into KSC has been doable if of course you have the discipline to play with the cursor and refresh button as the clock hits the magic second. However, the Saturday edition of KSC is just as it was with the old CS, gone in virtually one blink of the eye.  I can live with it obviously because if you want something you go for it. 

Saturday with The Evil Woman or Miss Sexy Thing, take your pick was another stellar outing. And I love this front row thing and it’s contrary thinking because you would think we would be under much more scrutiny but NO, she is looking in the back rows scanning for fakers.  She is on a hunt sniffing out for them. I know what whiskey smells like but I don’t know how the olfactory nerve figures out what a faker smells like.  I would think it’s similar to Hydrogen Sulfide, pretty nasty. But I can’t really imagine how anyone who is in this class just goes through the motions. It’s difficult enough to get in what would they be thinking? I don’t get it. 

Oh and what about the ticklish issue of the new club opening next week where they were offering trial one month memberships?  One third of the club supposedly is auditioning the new space.  But just like flood tide, ebb tide will be on Lifetime as it scrambles to keep the members they “think” they have. It’s true it’s a new place, larger but where is the talent going to come from? At least for a month or so getting into KSC will give me the luxury of 6 seconds as I scurry with my nervous fingers booking a bike. I have been here since day 1 and as I have told you all this is my 3rd space and I can’t go, I love it too much here. Sorry Lifetime. Oh and this is not a paid advertisement. 

Kristen you know I am a sexagenarian on the 26th and I am in supplication that you will play a song for me. 

My Third Space

At about ¾ way through this morning’s KSC, Kristen asked Sharon if she could make the announcement that they had found a donor for her husband. It was then that Kristen dedicated her ride to her.  It was a great way to start the week on a joyous moment for one of our fellow riders.

I have been here since inception in April 2003 and I was always a devoted member. My assistant at the time scolded me that I was spending entirely too much time here.  I always felt it was experiential when I walked through those glass doors, but with the current staff the gym has taken on the new dimension of being my 3rd space. Louis Cohen coined that phrase for me and it is an apt description.  I have seen so many managers come and go but none have changed the environs more than Peter and Jared have. They may have to follow what the “Mother Ship” tells them to do but they are not “Yes Men”. They take every suggestion and if it sounds reasonable they will buck corporate and get it done.  

My new friend Cindy is yet another gem in KSC. She takes spin seriously but never herself too seriously. She is pure pleasure to be near whether it’s on line or next to in an adjacent bike always with a smile and a kind word for everyone.  There are others and they will see their names here because I am not bashful even if I get a little maudlin about my classmates. 

P.S.

I wanted to add a post script today. On Sunday I slipped in the shower  and landed on my head. It was Jared, Kenneth and Louis that made me feel they truly cared and one member who threw a towel over my body as I lay prostate until aid arrived. Just what I would expect here and I thank you one and all. 

A Second Honeymoon

Ever have one of those?  I am not talking about the romantic kind. I am talking about the ones we are afforded once in a blue moon to rekindle relationships that have for whatever reason become distant.  For example, the President usually gets one at the start of his term but rarely has a second one. But I had one with The Evil Woman. I started this whole “spin” lifestyle last February in her class and it’s been one helluva ride since.  However, about 6 months ago I pushed the envelope in one of my posts and a comment from Kristen had me literally crushed and I found myself in other spin classes with Tripp and other Equinox instructors and accidentally on purpose missed KSC. I got a grip and I built a bridge and got over my ego and came back to where “class” is perfection. It’s always new and it's always challenging.  This past week had me in KSC 5 days in a row and I remembered what I had chosen to forget, that I love her class.  

I am committed to talking more about the people in our class and get a little more personal about their lives  (of course with full disclosure). This morning, Debbie Jensen pulled out a picture before class today for me. It was an image of her handsome husband and four very beautiful children, two boys and two girls. However, there was just one problem. Debbie was in the picture too and she just looked out of place as if someone inserted a Victoria Secret model into the image. The PQ is SFG and it’s as if she was inserted as a stand in.  Debbie Jensen if you don’t know her, sidle up she is like sweetheart soap, very rare indeed.  

And my friend Gloria, engineer by profession is a young woman who I got to know over the last 6 months.  She is sharp witted, intuitive and methodical.  Gloria is fairly knew to spin and has been taking about 3 classes a week and if you knew of her challenging medical past you might say that it’s a wonder she’s here at all.  About 14 years ago she suffered a stroke at the tender age of 28 but somehow survived but then at age 33 developed Lupus and if you’re familiar with that disease you know that at times just getting out of bed is an event. But Gloria is committed to live her life fully and has taken up Pilates with Shelia and gets to the CS with regularity. She has inspired me because the things I take for granted I don’t anymore. She taught me about “The Spoons” an interesting story that I will post the link to so that you can get a little insight as to what Lupus is like firsthand. 

The week in KSC was like a renaissance for me and although it’s not quite a year for me in spin, it has changed my life as I have told you before. I truly love my spin and love my life.  

The “Spoon Theory” Link  

http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory-written-by-christine-miserandino/

Embedded Innuendos

I came in early for the 14 most wanted bikes and there was Nancy K in a seat she never occupies.  I was stunned to see her first on line for the 8:30 KSC.  Nancy has perfected the computer entry system of booking a bike, but 26 hours before as is her custom fell down on her usual ritual and found herself on the “losers” line.  That was not in anyway arrogant because she was including herself on that list. In fact Lisa Collins text messaged her chiding her for having to wait with the rank and file.  Nancy, always personable and gregarious but somewhat reserved was a figure of fun and most loquacious and offered her own take on relationships and how enduring ones take a concerted effort and just don’t run without well timed additions of oil. She added that spin class is enigmatic in that we all work out together but outside of our small circles no one talks to each other. Of course this has changed dramatically at least in the last year I have been spinning.  

Kristen will on occasion carry on personal conversations laden with content directed at different people in the room even though everyone can hear her words. They are transliminal in nature.   It’s just that some of her dialogue carries a higher degree of intimacy with people that are close to her. I think it is her way of sharing and often her cupid arrows hit the intended mark. 

Evil Woman had so many embedded innuendos today and there was one beauty and I will simply quote it.  “You’re not going to go soft on me now, are you?”  I had another of my own but when I tested it on Mary McCann she looked incredulously at me and said: “Don’t say that” and so I won’t because the last thing I want to do is get in trouble like I did in Tripp’s class when an innocent title had many women in an uproar.  So I won’t risk offending even one of you.  

Just a word about this class, it was my 200th spin with Kristen and it was by far the most exciting I have ever taken with her. Her energy broke the dial today and her usual interpersonal ‘touches’ had just a bit more condiment sprinkled in for a flavor that was most satisfying. She took me to a level I could not have dreamed of 11 months ago. 

P.S.

This writer becomes a sexagenarian on January 26, so if you read me please help me on and off the bike from that day forward and Kristen I wonder if you might consider playing a song for me on that day. Oh a sexagenarian is a great term whereby I get to say the word ‘sex’ and can get away with it. 

Love Your Life

Relative to the last two weeks I am feeling tremendous. I still have that cough albeit intermittently.  My energy levels are near 100% again and the lethargy that I always fear has run and hid under the bed again at least until the foreseeable future. 

A KSC in Roslyn today and in the darkened studio The Evil Woman was in peak form after her most deserved vacation. I spied her later in the office with Pam and got to exchange some small talk. And both fitness gurus who I really admire, looked stunning head to foot.  I didn’t really see their feet but I imagine they look good too.

When Kristen played her favorite ‘road’, Love Your Life the song resonated from my fingertips to the heart of my solar plexus and I knew right then that was the title for today’s post.  It reverberated on so many levels; let me try a few. 

It’s starts with where we are right here, right now. Leave it to a spin class with the Queen of Spin to bring out why I love my life clearly into focus. When you take care of your body inside and out it’s the first step in loving your life.  And in a way it’s a cinch that if you are fit or approaching fitness you feel good about yourself. Isn’t that what we all want?

And if you feel good about yourself, you’re ready to receive others on their own terms because you are secure with yourself. It makes for a more harmonious life when you are not trying to transfer your frustrations or even your will upon others.  It is true freedom because what I have discovered is that when I love my life I don’t have to worry about what other people think about me.  It’s frankly none of my business. That in turn helps me love unconditionally and the world is much less complicated when our expectations of what others should do or say becomes moot because we are trying to do the next right thing.  

The Zen of loving my life burns no calories but brings me afflatus every day for all of my writing. It is the spoken word that brings me the ability to hear the universe calling my name and making me a channel to talk about the people I write about and have learned to love.  How can I be more successful than to transfer feelings that I have that you all can identify with on some level? I love this commission and I love my life indeed.  

Young Atlas

It has been a rough road these past two weeks. No the holidays were grand in so many ways but the fact that I had to deal with influenza (for lack of a better word) made what was a festive time somewhat muted. In terms of my spin rotation, it was severely affected. I frankly had no impetus, no desire to get out of my warm bed when ordinarily I fly out of it in the pre dawn darkness.  All that changed quite suddenly when somewhere about mid-afternoon today, I became nonsensical and wired. My wife asked me if I had taken a 5-hour energy, but no I told her it was just my mojo returning without so much as a warning. Nonetheless I am glad as it landed just in time for a 4:30 spin with Young Atlas.  

Damian is a like a chrysalis that has emerged into a budding superstar taking his place in the extraordinary lineup of Woodbury masters.  He announced his new schedule for 2011 and I think it now includes 14 classes a week between Woodbury and the two sister clubs of Roslyn and Great Neck. A Herculean task for Young Atlas but I think he has the physiology and strength to pull it off quite handedly.  

Today I felt like a car that has been parked too long in the garage and has not been turned over.  And as I started my ignition, a huge puff back of black smoke stalled my return to form. Thankfully about mid session my exhaust was clear and my plugs were firing white-hot.  

Young Atlas, I am so tempted to call him a kid as he is half my age but here is a young man up to the challenge and only to shine brighter as the year waxes on.