Tag Archives: exercise

Sep 14 2010
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Local- New York/Dirty Jersey, Ship Shape

Ship Shape: Reservoir Running

I’ve been in my new apartment for exactly a week now. It is not a block from the beach, but it is a couple of blocks from Central Park–I can’t very well complain. I obviously have not been surfing every day, so I’m back to gym-ing and the like.

This morning, I ran (ok, jogged) around the reservoir in the park (ok, just part of the way). I got to play the “funcomfortable” game of Nanny or Mommy? which definitely helped distract me from the actual act of running. I discovered that once you get to the top of the reservoir, there is a really excellent view of the mid- and downtown skyline. Finally, and most importantly, I realized that the reservoir runners, who are of all ages and skill levels, employ a fascinating array of techniques, postures, and demeanors. In short, I don’t know if I’ll ever feel self-conscious about my form again. Which is a huge relief. I think I might actually like running in the park.

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Apr 06 2010
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Local- New York/Dirty Jersey, Ship Shape

Ship Shape: Running With Celebrities

This morning, I went for a pathetic, red-faced yog.  I’m 98.5% sure I passed Mischa Barton.  That is all.

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Apr 06 2010
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Ship Shape

Ship Shape: Swimming. Finally.

Swimming is one of my favorite things, yet somehow it took me almost two semesters to muster up the courage to swim at Palladium.  I don’t really have a good excuse.  I also don’t have fancy swimming bathing suits, just bikinis, so I picked the one least likely to fall off and went for it.

I'd rather be in the ocean...

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Nov 17 2009
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Ship Shape

Ship Shape Part 2: RUNNING

I’m also not really a runner.  Are you sensing a pattern here?  I like to swim and ride my bike, sheesh!  I don’t have a bicycle here because the idea of riding on the same streets as these crazy taxi drivers scares the scheiße out of me.  And swimming is a venture yet to come, as soon as I purchase a non-bikini and figure out exactly why the Palladium pool intimidates me so much.

Anyway, despite the fact that I was on the high school track team, running has never been one of my strong points.  My knees get sore, I wheeze, I get bored and start counting or repeating nonsense phrases in my head… it’s not pretty.  Nonetheless, I believe that running is one of the most complete workouts and, hey, maybe it’s time running and I resolved our differences.

As it turns out, I’m not the worst runner, and I can even run farther than 2 miles.  Astonishingly.  All it takes is odd people to ogle and the promise of coffee at the next block to draw me along.  Who knew?

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Nov 17 2009
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Ship Shape

Ship Shape Part 1: YOGA

Part of my mission as a surf-thirsty city-dweller is to stay in shape.  Surfing is one of the few things capable of motivating me to exercise, so, fittingly for this site, I try to think about how each workout I do will affect my surfing.

I’m not a complete yoga neophyte, but I’m definitely not one of those people who do yoga twice a week, or even once every two weeks… well, you know what, I’ve done it before, let’s leave it at that.  The point is, I hear that it’s good for surfers, and I decided that as part of my “training” (heh.  I use that word extremely loosely) I would give this bendy thing another shot.

I’m not sure what I expected, exactly, from Yoga To The People, but after being buzzed into what felt like someone’s apartment building and spying the yoga room with lovely, calming hardwood floors and tranquil exposed brick, I thought, This shouldn’t be too bad. I paid $2 to rent a mat, set it out in uncomfortably close proximity to everyone around me, and before I knew it, I was sweating my ass off (literally, I hope).  By the end of the 60-minute class, all of these little, forgotten muscles felt utterly exhausted.  The next day, I’m almost as sore as that time I was crushed by a giant Australian.  Each and every muscle in my body hurts, which I’ll take as an excellent sign.  I plan to make this a semi-regular thing (at least once a month), so I’ll let you know how it affects my surfing, er, sometime soon, I hope.

Oh, P.S., did I mention it’s practically free?

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