Lay like broccoli

Sloth
Originally uploaded by CityPhotos by Rod.
So I went to Pilates again this afternoon to do Boot Camp class #2.  For the last few days my calves have been so tight and sore, but otherwise I felt that my body had pulled up pretty well from Wednesday night's hour-long torture.

The routine for today's class was the same as Wednesday, so I was confident in the exercises I was doing, and didn't need any correcting from the instructor about my form and such (phew!). There were only two other girls in the class with me, so we were getting really close attention and cheering from the instructor/sadist and really, that was good too.

I remember on Wednesday that one of my biggest fears was about my hands slipping during the plank-pushups, sending me crashing onto my face. Rather prophetic, as it turned out.  Because about 40 minutes into today's routine, I started to get really dizzy. I didn't feel like I was getting any air and so I got light-headed and had to sit down. I talked to one of other instructors as I gulped cold water and tried to cool down.  I didn't do things too fast, just in case I fell down in front of everyone. Sure, everyone in today's case was only 4 other people, but to my mind that would have been four people too many.

I re-joined the class towards the end, for the stretching and breathing (aka cool-down) portion - by which time I was feeling slightly better. Physically, I mean. Mentally I just felt like an old lady who couldn't keep up.  Shameful.

My instructor wasn't too worried - he just said that sometimes your body isn't ready to kick its own ass. He didn't say I shouldn't do the class again, but I'm wondering for myself whether I shouldn't just stick to the lower-impact Intermediate classes that I really enjoy, and leave the high-impact, running and jumping and weights to other (fitter?) people.

It doesn't help of course that the top half of my head is besieged by allergies and the daily anti-histamines I'm taking are doing squat. Can I blame my lack of fitness on allergies? Cause I totally will, if it helps.  Hmm I probably can't.  But it feels like crap anyway.

I guess the good news is, I don't need to feel too uncomfortable about today's effort in the long run. I mean, I contained the humiliation by not fainting or otherwise falling over or anything. But wimping out is a bit like blacking out, isn't it?  So perhaps I really have to think seriously about whether this boot camp business is for me after all.

And the good news is that if I decide these classes are not really my thing, I can always transfer the remaining lessons I've already purchased into "normal" Pilates and still kick my own ass - just at a much more controlled speed. And laying down. Better.