For the Love of God

Venturing into KG’s one-hour class this past Thursday was a leap of faith. I had been in the 45-minute versions almost exclusively but in this winter break I was able to secure a bike in prime time. I hadn’t thought much about the extra 15 minutes until Kristen said “you will feel like giving up today.” Now I’ve completed 17 marathons and 3 ultra marathons and was a DNF (did not finish) in just one. My mind turned to that one time and I started to doubt my own resolve but I couldn’t stand the embarrassment of unclipping and getting off my bike and waltzing unceremoniously out of the studio.

When I heard Kristen talk about her 6-year-old son as he said to her “For the love of God, you’re teaching again?” That was all I needed to dismiss this qualm and I settled back into my gel seat and gone was any notion that I was in any way quitting. I took on the face of the 17 races I had completed and the 1 I didn’t vanished with my next breath.

In this class we have heard a lot about the Hard Zone and going anaerobic, And my awareness of being out of breath and being accustomed to it has expanded and I am determined to visit this middle ground of the hard zone rather than just being out of breath the whole session. This will take discipline I thought but maybe it just comes with my rising fitness. The hard zone, breathing in through my nose and out my mouth takes concentration because the easier softer way is just to breathe through my mouth.

But let’s get serious now; can I really escape being out of breath for virtually the whole session? “For the love of God” the answer is that I don’t know and my sense is that I’m okay with it. I am okay with it because my quality of life in the other 23 hours has already seen a marked improvement. My weight is dropping and my lungs are starting to take on the size of a yellow physio ball. And I am starting to feel sorry for all my other Equinoxites that work out exclusively in the main room. Poor things they’re just going through their workouts in the infield while we are getting comfortable on the warning track and not afraid of hitting up against the outfield wall.