Step-Mill Intervals! And a Rant About Personal Space.

Today was my step-mill day where I do intervals. Liz suggested I do intervals as she does and when she spoke she had a level of excitement in her voice that rivals mine when I talk about math! And if you know me and my love for math (just ask me about Henri Poincaré and his hyperbolic geometry heaven!!!), you know just how sick and twisted Liz is.

For the intervals I did 50 minutes of 5 minute intervals doing 4 minutes at level 4 (easier) and 1 minute at level 10 (yucky). I typically could get about 20 seconds into the level 10 minute before it was hard and then I pushed through the final 40 seconds huffing and puffing. About 2 minutes into the the next interval, I felt as though my heart rate was back to where I like it. Then after two more minutes, back at it again!

ZTT (Yes! We all missed posts with fun ZTT stories/advice!) always said that intervals are great for your fitness because they are rapid and unexpected and force your body to react quickly to handle it. I believe that as a general rule of thumb, it's always good to trick your body in fitness. Keep it guessing!

Here are my stats:

Calories Burned: 514.1
Time: 52:00
Distance: 3.63 miles
Floors Climbed: 174
Average Pace: 54 steps per minute

It was almost exactly 100 calories burned per 10 minutes. There is no point to that statement other than it makes my math-loving, OCD-like heart happy. :)

Now for my rant! People! You gotta learn to appreciate personal space! I'm not talking "my bubble"--most people know not to stand within 6 inches of someone else (although not ALL people...). I'm talking about a concept I like to call "Relative Personal Space." (You heard it here first.)

What is this new concept, Erin? Oh, I will tell you. Here is the scooby: if I am in a sparsely populated setting, stay away from me--if it is densely populated, simply respect the bubble. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Here are some common places where people do NOT demonstrate courteous relative personal space practices:

1) The Couch at a Party: If I am the ONLY person sitting on a standard, three-seater couch, it is my duty to sit on one end and not directly in the middle. It is then YOUR duty to sit on the other end. There is NO reason for you to sit in the middle unless a) the other seat is filled leaving ONLY the middle seat for sitting; or b) you want to snuggle with me. Depending on who "you" is, option b is more or less appealing.

2) Public Restrooms: If I walk into a public restroom and I am the only person there, it is my duty to choose a stall that allows a second restroom patron to select one away from mine. This is only an issue in a three-top setting. In that scenario I shall NOT choose the middle stall. In the >3 cases, any stall selection is fine. It is YOUR duty to choose a stall not directly to mine so long as they are available. The end. I don't want to be able to see what color your shoes are when I KNOW there is an open stall on the opposite side of you. Ew. (Side note: I am not the only one who ascribes to this theory, here is an algorithm for men's room urinal usage. Enjoy. And you're welcome.)

3) Gym Equipment: Ok. Now that you are on board with this excellent concept. Here is what happened today and how it violated it so egregiously. If I am in the gym and it is Friday night and, hence, sparsely populated, and I choose a step-mill far from everyone else, when YOU come to use a step-mill, it is YOUR duty to choose one AT LEAST one machine away from me. There should be a one-machine buffer until the gym fills up. The end. Tonight, this simple principle was violated. Repeatedly. Until I ended up in the following situation (yes, I made a diagram...it's not exactly the gym floor map, but good enough to make the point):

From Carry-On With Life

The red dots are BAD gym patrons and the teal dots are acceptable ones. I WAS SURROUNDED!!!! If there was a wall rather than the terrifying drop-off to the lobby behind me I might feel like I would implode! Oh my! Too much. Too much...

Luckily for me, they all seemed to be pansy workout-ers and didn't last very long. Yes, I was there before they all showed up and after they all left--further evidence that only crazies do the better part of an hour on the step-mill.

OK. That's enough ranting. Thanks for listening/reading! I hope you enjoyed it and will apply these principles in your everyday life if you do not already. Which you do. Because you read my blog. Which makes you awesome. ;)