Day Seventy-Two – Am I A Sadist or A Masochist? Part I

Thursday’s Workouts:
• VO2 Max Test
• Beach Walk/Run (1/2 walked 1.75 miles, 25 mins jogged 1.75 miles)
• Abs/Core session (1/2 hour)
• Swimming (1 hour, 72 laps, 32 of those non-stop, arms only)
• ”Cooking” class and a “Glass of Fresh”
• Volleyball Drills (1 ½ hrs)
• Acupuncture

Yesterday after my seminar in pain from Mistress Nicola, I had quickly looked up the definitions of sadism and masochism to help me determine if I was becoming a sadist or a masochist. Thanks for pointing out the differences to me, Margaret, ‘cause I believe I did get it backwards. A sadist gets pleasure from inflicting pain, and a masochist gets pleasure from receiving pain. So, I think we can easily determine that Mistress Nicola is indeed a sadist, and I think it’s also safe to say that Schuyler, Arleigh, Marco, and Eric are also part of Mistress Nicola’s den of torture. On the other hand, since I have already admitted that I liked the “pain” that I get from acupuncture and cupping and also from the chiropractor’s jackhammer and from Mistress Nicola pressing down on a weight on my stomach, I guess I have to accept that I’m a bit of a masochist. For the most part, I can tolerate a lot of pain. Like…whenever I have blood drawn or get a shot, I have to watch the nurse do it. On Thanksgiving Day in 2000, when my scooter bike handles fell onto my right knee and snapped my leg backwards, I clearly remember not feeling pain at that very moment (but the anaesthesia from surgery made me miserable). I prefer going to the dentist than any other physician. And when I’m stretching, I like that little bit of pain that comes when I stretch a little further. Uh oh. If you think about it, I bet all women are masochists whether we like it or not. And I think we handle pain better than the boys. Sorry, guys, but I’m pretty sure it’s true! ;-P Well, if I am to accept this then perhaps I should dress the part. Do you think they have workout clothes for masochists? Oh wait, I already have some…my bras! I still have to wear my normal support bra and an athletic bra on top of it to keep the girls under control. Aaargh!

So, just to prove that I’m a masochist, I had it in my head that I was going to jog more than I had ever done before. But first I had to do my VO2 max test, which measures oxygen-intake during strenuous activity and determines more accurately your own fat-burning and cardio heart rate zones (Schuyler or Arleigh, please correct me if I’m getting this wrong). On my very first day, I took this test and showed only a 12 in VO2 max, which was indicative of a “very low” fitness level for my age. Four weeks later I took the test again and it went up to 24, which was at the top of the “low” fitness level. I’m glad to say that it has gone up again to 26.6, which puts me in the “fair” fitness level range. Now…how does this test work? OK, I’ve uploaded the photo from my test at Week 4 (so I’m a few inches thinner than this photo). You’re on a treadmill with this mask contraption and are supposed to breathe as normally as possible. The administrator of the test slowly increases the speed and the incline of the treadmill with the intention of getting your heart rate as high as possible apparently without making your heart explode right out of your chest. As the treadmill gets faster of course you start breathing harder, too. To get me to my highest heart rate, Schuyler had the treadmill at an incline of 6.0 and speed of 4.1 mph, and I had to run that for about 90 seconds. Holy crap! You should try that – well, only if YOU’RE a masochist, too. I’m not sure how it works, but the contraption also indicated that my maximum heart rate increased from 160 beats-per-minute (bpm) at four weeks to 170 bpm today. Considering that on my first day my maximum was only 139 bpm, I am REALLY pleased with this improvement. I’m going to inquire about what it will take to get into the good or excellent fitness level for my age; this would be a minimum of 29 for good or 32.9 for excellent in the VO2 max test. I’m sure it will involve more masochistic activities, don’t you?

So, why not hit the beach and give it a shot, eh? As I mentioned, I thought I might try jogging for a longer distance today. OH, and I’m doing all this with almost NO SLEEP. Last night the knot in my left shoulder blade kept me awake all night long; I awoke at midnight, at 1am, at 2am, at 3am, at 4am, at 4:44am, and then with the alarm at 6:30am. I’m being punished for something, I just know it, or maybe I’m subconsciously inflicting this on myself. So, we arrived at the beach and we had just under an hour and I knew that I could walk beyond the pier in 30 minutes, so my plan was to do that, and then jog back ALL the way. This would not have been possible if it had not been low tide so that the sand was flat and hard. I did make it past the pier and still had a couple of minutes, so I guess I made it about halfway to the rocks. From the rocks to the sidewalk is 1.75 miles according to my pedometer. I’ll measure it again next Tuesday. I kept my promise to myself, turned around, and started jogging. Remember that I jog like the Turtle in the Bugs Bunny cartoon, but I kept going. I was soooo tired but I pushed through the fatigue (yikes, signs of more sadistic behavior). It was interesting to me that the end seemed nearer than I expected, rather than far away and unreachable. When I reached the beginning of the beach, I still had a few minutes so I kept jogging, even up the slight incline to the sidewalk through soft sand, and then when I reached the sidewalk I still kept going. I wanted to get a full 25 minutes jogging time done. My heart rate had already gone past 170 but I felt OK. I was breathing heavily, of course, and I’m sure that anyone I passed would have thought that either I was going to die OR that I was some pervert breathing down their neck. I still had a minute to go once I reached the van so I kept going. Holy mackerel, I was tired and that baboon-ass was permanently tattooed on my face! In fact I think it stayed that way all day. Anyway, I really am very happy with myself for jogging the entire way back. On Tuesday I will try for longer, and by Thursday I hope to jog the entire beach, which means 3.5 miles. Geez, that’s scary….I WANT to inflict such torture on myself.

Back at the gym we had our abs/core class before swimming. This is another session in torture and we pay them to do that to us. Anyone seeing a pattern here? There were a lot of us swimming this day, so I wanted to get a lane away from the crowd as soon as possible so that I could concentrate on my laps without distraction. Some people like to chat the whole time. I do not. That is a sort of torture that I do NOT enjoy. On Tuesday I was able to swim 64 laps, or a mile, so I wanted to at least repeat that, but this time I wanted to do at least 20 laps without stopping. So, I warmed up with a set of 10 laps with stops at the end of each lap, then I did three 10-lap sets…one set with arms only and the buoy between my knees, one set of backstrokes, and one set of normal freestyle. 40 laps down, 24 to go. Now, when I say I stop, that means I usually pause at the wall, have a drink of water, and perhaps stretch my arms, and also catch my breath. Now I was going to try for 24 laps straight. I find I swim better when I have the buoy between my knees and only use my arms…the buoy helps keep the rest of my body closer to the surface and of course it really works my triceps, ESPECIALLY using the swim gloves. I was using these the entire time. I can feel the resistance working on my triceps, and that is important to me ‘cause I want to get rid of those flags that are waving down there. OK, here we go with the buoy and using arms only……4 laps done….8 laps….16 laps…only 4 more flip turns to go to reach 24. BUT, while I was doing that, I thought about the fact that 32 laps is half-a-mile. Could I do a half-mile without stopping? Why not…it was only 8 more laps past my original goal; only four more flip-turns. So I went for it. I could see by the clock on the wall that I was going to go a couple of minutes past the time we normally get out of the pool, but this was important to me. And I did it. 32 laps without stopping. Half-a-mile! 72 laps altogether – over one mile in an hour. Woohooo! Two major accomplishments for me this day. I was very happy about that!

I must dash so Part II of Day Seventy-Two will be posted later. Have a great weekend everyone!!!