Fitness: Squats & Lunges

Perks of my job:  4 weeks of free skiing at Alta with my teens in March.  There will be groups from 4 other Boys & Girls Clubs and everyone will have free equipment, lessons, gear, and lunch every Saturday.  The organization providing such an amazing experience is http://www.shejumps.org/ and they seem pretty awesome.  


Today was their first day of "dry land training" to get them conditioned to the intense leg workout that skiing requires.  I run.  I snowboard.  I seem somewhat "fit" and wasn't even planning on doing the conditioning today.  But I decided to participate to keep the teens involved and active... and 1 hr later I was dripping sweat with shaky, sore, burning legs.  Who signed me up for this?!  No one.  I volunteered.  And that dang workout kicked my butt.  However, it was a wake-up call of how I should really do lunges and squats more often.  But the reason why I often avoid them is because I usually can't walk for days afterwards, even if I just do a few. Let's face it-- I'm kind of a wimp.


I had a church basketball game tonight and even just walking from my car to the doors of the church I was hobbling and wincing from the pain.  But somehow I managed to run up and down the court and actually play fairly well.  I wasn't a superstar and made dumb mistakes as usual, but it felt good to work up a good sweat, play aggressively, and be a part of a team.


This is my concern:  Tomorrow I will be even more sore... and then the full monty of pain will probably kick in on Saturday.  However, I have plans to go snowboarding in Colorado on Saturday, and killer sore thighs do NOT make a good combo with snowboarding!  So... this little conditioning activity today really just made my life a lot harder than it needs to be.   But nevertheless, it's good for me to face a challenge and give my muscles a little smack in the face.  Life must go on!