Last night I returned to cardio kickboxing - I didn't really enjoy it when I took it a few months ago, mostly because it wasn't real kickboxing and only a glorified aerobics class.

But, I wanted to take something that would give my heart rate a serious boost and my body a real aerobic jolt, so I was at the gym last night for the 7 p.m. class. It was great - the instructor was so much better than the last one I had in terms of going through the steps and moves. The music was fantastic - I can so get behind any instructor who uses MC Hammer - and I managed to (mostly) keep up with her and not flail all over the place.

This weekend is the Shamrock Shuffle. I am as ready for this race as I'm going to be so aside from the two-, three-mile jogs I'm doing with the dog in the mornings, I'm not busting my tail to get a lot of serious run work in. I'm surprisingly not nervous going into what is my first race in 18 months. EIGHTEEN MONTHS. I cannot believe it's been that long since I've done one of these things.

I'm trying not to flagellate myself for letting myself get so much out of shape during that time but it's hard. All that time wasted, all of that work I'm having to "redo." So it's going to be a slow race, that's for sure. My goal is to finish within an hour. We'll see, though. I'm not holding out a lot of hope since all I've been concentrating on over these past few weeks is my endurance. Speed has not been on the agenda.

No matter. I'm going to finish that 8K on Sunday and begin training in earnest for the triathlon this summer. First I'm going to go see Anne Lamott, and then probably spend the rest of my day sleeping. And being happy that I've pushed myself back into shape.

Speaking of which, my weigh-in for this month isn't too hot - I'm up two pounds and back at 151. I'm not bothered by it, but I'm not happy about it, either. My hope is that with added intensity to my workouts, and an extra weight-lifting class thrown in for the next several weeks until I have to stick to a strict tri-train schedule, that I should be back in the 140s in no time.

Lastly, I hate tofu. I've really tried to like it but good Lord. It tastes what I believe warmed, slightly melted, rubberbands must taste like if they were marinated in soy, sesame oil, honey and garlic overnight.

Yick.

Posted by Erin at 12:43 PM | filed under: Ouch