According to my OTF visit history, I did eventually stagger back into the studio.  Again, at 5AM (what the?)

I consistently went twice a week, always at 5AM.  Always camping out at station #12 – because you know, that’s the one in the corner where people won’t walk by and have to see me in all of my sweaty, wimpy, fat girl glory, hoarding the 5lb weights all to myself (but really … I don’t think many other people were using the 5lb weights.  Thank you, T-Rex arms.)

I couldn’t really dread going to OTF because every day was a different workout – I never knew what new torture I was going to experience.  Dumbbells, TRX straps, ab dollies, and sometimes just fun with your own body weight.  (Hello, burpees.  Yes, you suck.)  I’m sure in my attempt to do lunges, I looked a lot like a wobbly newborn calf, but not nearly as cute.

I kept going, twice a week (still always at 5AM – what the?) until I burned through my 10 pack in June.  At this point, I figure I’m in, so I signed up for twenty more.  Eventually, I got to the point where I could go three times a week without feeling a need for narcotics the next day, although most days my muscles were still vocal about the work I’d put them through (“core blasts” in particular did NOT make my abs happy).  Eventually I purchased another twenty pack, and eventually a thirty pack.  My calorie burn stayed pretty consistent, as did my “splat points” (number of minutes at 84% heart rate or greater).  I was averaging 10-12 splat points a session – not bad, but I still wonder who you people are who hit 45 splat points in the hour.

The 5AM crew was pretty much the same faces, day in and day out, and always with Gina as the trainer – she was my ‘comfort zone’ – I was a little anxious about starting with another trainer (why, I’m not sure).  At some point along the way – after the post workout stretch – Glamazon Muscley Trainer Woman Gina admitted she had struggled with her weight, too – even showed us her drivers license picture, chubby cheeks and all.  It’s comforting to know that Glamazon Muscley Trainer women struggle, too.  Although I am pretty sure that unless I devote myself to working out full time, I will never reach Glamazon Muscley Woman Status.  Oh, and there’s my cookie problem … so no, Glamazon Muscley Woman status is not gonna happen for me.  That’s OK.

Somewhere around Christmas, I decided to go ALL IN (or is it “ALL OUT”?   Sorry, total OTF dork moment there.)  I paid for a monthly membership – as many times as I wanted to go in a month!  Oh boy!  And I signed up for sessions while I was in Scottsdale – still, 5AM (although my TX body thought it was 7 – whoo! Sleepin in!)

I guess I figured if I made a complete ass out of myself in Scottsdale, no one would know – it’s not like I’m going to see these people at the grocery store, dropping their kids off at Brinker, etc., like I do the West Plano crew.  So I’m venturing out of my comfort zone … a little.  The Scottsdale studio, though – weird.  For one thing, they let people into the studio when they showed up – no waiting in the lobby for the trainer to usher you in (the first time I was there, I panicked, thinking I was late – or I wondered if they were totally insane and had a 4AM class).  There was one woman who did nothing but the treadmill the entire time, and another who made up her own rowing routines – they sort of did their own thing, I guess (why you spend money for a personal trainer and not use it … ?)  And last, they run through a crazy stupid number of wipes.  It’s not like they sweat that much more (and it was December, so it wasn’t 115 outside, either) but I swear, every five minutes someone was grabbing 5-6 wipes and hitting their treadmills and rowers.  But I survived my AZ experience, even though at one point I did make an ass out of myself – sorta.  I had my workout shirt on backwards.  (Not sure how I managed that – it’s a v-neck.  Trainer pointed it out.  #IMADORK.)

I started paying more attention to my splat points and calorie burn.  Getting your heart rate up typically happens in the cardio portion of the workout – the treadmill.  Me + running = Not really but maybe?  So I started cranking up the incline … and the speed, up to about 4.5 MPH.  On days I wasn’t doing OTF, I was trying to hit the streets either on my bike or on my own two feet – sometimes even JOGGING in the process (I don’t know exactly what possessed me).  When I was really feelin all sortsa crazy (and the workout required it – I’m crazy but not stupid) I would jog at an incline.  And my left knee started to give me some grief.  Not a lot, but it was a specific pain on the inside of my left knee.  If it was really bad I’d make sure to take a day off from OTF, or tone it down.  In May, it got to the point where I had to take a break for several weeks – but I’m too stupid to go see the doctor (I’m no athlete – I’ve never been through this before, I figure some rest, and I’m good, right).  I picked up again with a regular schedule in late June, still mostly 5AM classes (what the?) although I did start the occasional lunch hour or 4:30 class when my work schedule allowed.  And – I’m venturing out of my comfort zone and doing classes with – gasp – someone other than Gina.  Still MOSTLY Gina classes, but the occasional “cheat”.

I actually had two classes with Trainer Sam (so my visit history tells me), in spite of remembering only the one.  The one where I went the whole workout and at the very end, I felt my knee not pop, not give – I don’t know what it did.  Except hurt like holy hell.  I did manage to stay through the after workout stretch (I probably figured that might help whatever I did – in hindsight, that might’ve been an amateur mistake) and limped to my car.  Got home, got cleaned up, and limped my butt upstairs (where my desk is) to get to work.

But OW.

That night I popped more Advil/Aleve than my family physician would likely recommend, and tried sleeping in a recliner.  I could not get comfortable no matter what position I took – leg up, leg down, didn’t matter.  I must’ve eventually gotten a little sleep, and while the next day my knee was better, I figured it was time to call the MD.  I didn’t have the first clue where my MCL or ACL were, or whether I’d done something to one or both or neither.

So knee is a little better, but I’m still pretty gimpy.  Get into see the MD, who contorts my leg this way and that way and when I don’t scream out loud or knock him on his butt, he decides I haven’t seriously sprained or torn anything ending in an L, so there’s that.  They do quick XRays on my knees and discover I do have old lady knees – mild arthritis and a small bone spur, YAY! But those aren’t likely the source of my knee pain.

So … referral to Edge Physical Therapy in Frisco, where now Matt (the therapist) and Taylor (the tech) are my new BFFs twice a week for six weeks.  My first favorite part of therapy is always the hot pack on my knee and the massage (duh).  My second favorite part though is the funky treadmill with the fart pants (I’m sure there is some official, technical name for this thing, but I’ve since forgotten it – and when you take the special pants off, if you’re not careful, it sounds like you fart, so there you go.  It’s the Special Fart Pants Treadmill, now and forever.)   The fart pants somehow zip into an inflatable “thing” that sits over the treadmill, and the inflation can be adjusted so basically you’re not putting 100% of your weight onto the tread.  Super cool – I could run ALL.DAY.LONG on this thing!  That part was fun.  The other exercises to strengthen my knees and improve my sucky balance – not so fun, but the knee pain does improve, and eventually I’m putting more and more of my weight onto the treadmill.

At this point, I’ve decided the 5AM stuff needs to stop.  If I didn’t have a job/husband/kid/house/life, doing 5AM on a regular basis might work.  But those other things … you need to be at least semi-conscious to be a functioning employee/wife/mom/housekeeper/human being.   You can’t accomplish much when you’re a drooling couch zombie by 7PM every night.

I figure, hey, I work from home.  OTF is 5 minutes from my house.  I can go to OTF over the lunch hour, I can do a class at 8:30, I can do 4:30 – I just have to plan for it in my work schedule.  My employer, CVS Health, has its stated purpose:  “To help people on the path to better health.”  I’m a people!  Surely, I deserve better health (CVS’s annual $600 bribe incentive to do the quickie blood work test tells me they think so, too.)  Skip asks if I feel guilty leaving during the work day to get my workout on.  And the short answer is no, not really.  I’m an exempt employee, so I’m not expected to work 9-5 or a 40 hour week.  BUT … that doesn’t mean they get to work me 55-60 hours all the time, nor does it mean I get to work 35.  There are plenty of days when I’m logged into the computer by 7:30 and I’m still working at 6:00PM.  The mess of English muffin crumbs in my keyboard is a testament to many a lunch taken at my desk, probably ear buds plugged in for some conference call.  I have worked many a late night and weekend on various projects or issues, and my regular camp out spot on January 1 is NOT in front of a TV, watching football games, but parked in my VP’s office in Scottsdale, monitoring prescription drug claims and issues that come about every January.   I realize I am very lucky to work for an organization and leaders who entrust me to do what they need me to do, and don’t worry too much about when I get it done.  I also realize I alone am responsible for my schedule; as I’ve gotten older, I realize the value in saying “no” to some things.  There are still days when an urgent issue will make me miss my scheduled OTF workout; it happens.  But I am somewhat selective in what meetings I think are worth the OTF “late cancel” fee.

At the point my therapy is complete, I get the OK from Matt to return to OTF.  So I scheduled some midday and 4:30 classes … with Deb.  The Deb who was a regular “tag” on countless OTF Facebook check ins – she had to be fun, right?