Friday-Sunday, February 24-26, 2012
Friday
*Ballroom dance lesson with M.S. 2 hours. Standard & Latin. Very enlightening Standard practice. Great to have the feeling that I am leveling up and constantly improving and refining. Starting to use my feet very differently and my shins are screaming at me, “Go back to the old way! It got you around the floor, didn’t it?” Very humbling Latin lesson. All I bring to this return to Latin is apparently pattern knowledge (fuzzy after a year off) and desire to learn. No base at all, really. I am matter-of-fact, not depressed or exaggerating or whining, when I say I have never done Latin hip action right. But if hard work and good instruction can enable me to do it, then do it I shall. Several light-bulb moments when I understood what my teacher wanted me to do and I was able to do it, not repeatedly but doing it right at all is a start. Glutes screaming, “WTF?!?” Obliques saying, “If you keep this up, you will have the smallest waist of your life.” OK, noisy body parts, we’re going forward. Get used to it.
Saturday
*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour. Without teacher to follow, I’m still pretty lost in Latin hip (and knee) action. I remember the principles pretty well — except Samba action, which disappeared with scarcely a trace— but my body is seriously balking and stuttering. Patience, the virtue I most need to cultivate. Practicing Standard was more gratifying.
Sunday
*Ballroom dance practice: 1 hour and 30 minutes. Smooth & Standard feeling quite good. Feel like I’m dancing Latin the old, wrong way, instead of with the techniques taught to me this week. But, I can’t locate in muscle memory or anywhere in brain-bank the right way. Errrrrgggghhh! Will have to learn all over again at Tuesday’s lesson.
*Cardio: 30 minutes. Cybex elliptical machine. Intervals 1:2 program, Level 7, with high resistance of 55 and low resistance of 30. Covered 1.14 miles.
*Post-cardio stretching: 10 minutes.
A lot of demanding stuff going on in family life this week. Things seem to have calmed down and be heading toward improvement, which is excellent in the big picture. On a comparatively smaller scale of importance, I will be able to amp up my exercise in the coming week, which I am really looking forward to, as it helps keep me on an even keel and helps me progress in my personal, long-term goals.
