EP 1 When Adam at the Town of Canmore asked if I wanted to participate in this year’s Elevation Place 30/30 Fitness Challenge I was initially pretty gung-ho.  The idea of doing 30 minutes of physical activity for 30 days (over the course of 42 days) at Elevation Place was definitely outside my comfort zone but a good challenge like this seemed like just the push I needed to take some positive personal steps towards better physical fitness.  I eagerly grabbed the core class schedule with goals to try every one.  Spin!  Tabata! Climbing!  AquaFit!  This will make good radio!  I’ll blog every day!  But there was one thing that I didn’t count on…

Intimidation.

Day 1:

I threw my stuff into one of the lockers and walked up the stairs to the fitness centre.  Looking around I realized I didn’t know how to properly use 90% of the equipment in this room.  I walked down the hall and glanced in where a SpinFit class was fully underway.  The Cardio Room next door was packed with healthy, active Canmoreites using every treadmill and stair machine available.  I froze.  I’d never done this before.  It suddenly dawned on me that this was the first time I’d set foot inside a gym since I was a teenager and I felt like I was way out of my element.  It was then that I made a change of plans.  Before going crazy with core classes I really just needed to focus and get comfortable in this space on an individual level.  After all, how could I push my physical limits if I didn’t even know what those limits were?

I went back to the fitness centre and, probably sounding more desperate than intended, said to the monitor Lisa “I’ve never been to a gym before and don’t know what I’m doing.  Can you help me use this spin bike?”  Lisa was very helpful showing me how to adjust seat and handlebar heights and tension settings.  Thirty minutes later…I did it!  I pushed myself just a little bit, sweated a lot, but Day 1 was complete.  It might seem silly to realize how proud I was to get my first hole punched in my 30/30 card and box shaded on the board but…I did it!

EP 2

Days 2 and 3:

I felt a little better going back to Elevation Place the following day.  I ran into Sally Caudill from the Town as I was walking past the front desk who was off to Tabata class.  “Come join us!” she said.  In my head I went “Eep!” and politely declined.  You will see me in Tabata before the end of this challenge.  Just not today!

The Cardio Room wasn’t as jam packed as it was on Monday and the treadmill was calling my name.  This is another piece of equipment I’d never used before and wanted to pace myself, figuring it would be rather unpleasant to exhaust myself after 15 minutes and have to somehow deal with the final half of my workout.  My pace was a light jog with a few power walk breaks and a slight incline.  When the machine automatically shut down after about 25 minutes I was actually a little disappointed as I was prepared to go for the full 30.  Unlike yesterday’s spin bike the time seemed to fly by.  Did I actually kind of enjoy that?

EP 4

I tackled the treadmill again the following day and, pushing myself a little harder and, adjusting the time settings, hit 2.75 km in 30 minutes.  I realize this is a fairly lousy distance in that amount of time by running standards but it’s something I’d never done before and felt really good.  It was then I made two realizations.  The treadmill is my comfort zone, a piece of equipment I surprisingly enjoy using, and whatever else I end up trying during this challenge I’ll probably come back to it every other day.  I also decided I want to run one of the many great 5k races held around here annually and would work towards that goal.

Fitness comfort zone!  Goal setting!  Three punches on my card!  I can do this!

Day 4:

Maybe I can’t do this.

Outfitted in new gym shorts and running shoes and bursting with fitness confidence, I tackled the treadmill with the goal of pushing myself even harder.  Halfway through the workout though, it happened.

The dreaded side cramp.

What the heck, body?  I’d been paying attention to my breathing so this wouldn’t happen.  As much as I tried to push past it I ended up ditching out 5 minutes early with no improvement on distance from the previous day.

My wife Lauren, who was really getting into the personal fitness thing herself before having to take a break due to pregnancy, told me it’s pretty common at this point in person’s fitness journey to hit a bit of a wall.  You’re essentially remaking your body into a new reality and there’s going to be a bit of push back.  She told me not to be too discouraged.

Day 5:

On my way out of the Cardio Room after my disappointing Day 4 I noticed this on the wall:

EP 3

Okay, let’s give this a try!

I’m still trying to figure out what an ‘energetic pace’ and ‘go all-out’ limits are for me.  For this workout about 8 km/h seemed to be one I could maintain for a few minutes, 8.5 km/h to push myself a bit harder towards the end, and around 5 km/h as an easy pace.  Doing this I was able to run 3 km in 30 minutes.  Still not going to break any records with that speed but it’s an improvement, and no cramps!  My goal is to incrementally increase this over the next month.

Week one done with 5 of 7 days at EP!  Canmore is a healthy community with a lot of very active people and it can be intimidating for someone who isn’t quite as into physical fitness to not feel like an inferior newbie.  If anything, I hope by blogging this journey I can help inspire others who may be in a similar place to take the first step.

This week I’m feeling comfortable enough to branch out with attempts at the climbing wall and spin class.  Stay tuned!