Cardio Queen
I’ve been on competition prep since January.
They say every prep is different, but honestly is any experience ever the same when repeated? So, my coach assigned me the elliptical. I’ve been on one before, but to be completely honest, never for long.
I’ve never been a cardio queen.
Going back to high school, I ran track. They had me try every track event and the only thing I didn’t suck at was long distance. Let me be clear, I wasn’t good at long distance running, I just really sucked at everything else.
The caveat was that…I hated running. I’m not sure why I signed up year after year. Maybe I just like suffering through things. But because I hated running, I cut corners — literally — every chance I could and walked when the coach wasn’t looking.
Fast forward to now…I have never been one to get on a treadmill or any cardio-type machine and just go and go. I’d get on it for maybe 10 minutes and get back off to do something more interesting. Getting friendlier with cardio has been one of the many challenges of contest prep.
The last time I split my cardio into two parts — morning and afternoon. This time I am working with a different coach and she is focused on the calories burned and less focused on the time.
Ah-ha. Makes sense.
Low and behold…it turns out my calorie burned output…sort of sucks. (Not surprised…remember, I was the high school kid that cut corners and walked when the coach wasn’t looking?)
So…back to the elliptical. I was assigned 20 minutes. Not bad. Except about ten minutes into it I noticed my toes started tingling. The balls of my feet started feeling kind of numb and the feeling creeped further and further up my feet and into my shins the longer I was on it.
That’s weird.
I lamented to my coach and she did research. Turns out, it is a thing.
So we are trying different tactics. Pedaling backwards, adjust my feet while pedaling, and sometimes, I just skip it and get on the treadmill and stay on longer. But also, it’s become a challenge I want to conquer (sorta).
Either way, the main focus seems to be more calorie output, no matter which machine I’m on. So, I’m walking, or elliptical-ing, my way to leaner. I’ve noticed my step count has been much higher this time around. But the scale still moves so slowly.
Maybe it’s hormonal — I’ve read that perimenopause and menopause can slow down metabolism. Maybe I’m just not pushing hard enough. Maybe I just need a bit more patience.
For now, I’ll just aim to be a cardio queen and try not to cut the corners.
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