Insanity

When my daughter said she was going to order the latest P90X program and asked if I would do it with her, I agreed. Honestly, I didn't think she would actually go through with it. Now I find myself with "Insanity" on my to-do list six days a week. With a mess of continuing education credits to complete before the end of the year, a new group of yoga teacher trainees starting in five days and countless home and garden projects already on the list, perhaps "insanity" is most likely to get checked off daily.

Today, day 1, was a fitness test. I made it through the warm up feeling confident. Halfway through the second test exercise I had paused the DVD and was sprawled, panting, on a deck chair. I'm pretty sure it was cold outside, but I couldn't feel anything except a very, very rapid heartbeat.

I went back and finished the test, pacing myself better, having acknowledged my lack of cardiovascular fitness. I've never been comfortable at a high heart rate, which is one of the reasons my half-marathons and triathlons were always slow. And, with a history of cardiac events on both sides of my family, I have a some fear around pushing too hard.

At least I felt good during the warm up and cool down stretches. Perhaps I'll be doing Insanity in half-time. Does that make me only half-insane?