The gym

I'm happy to report that dancing helps one's general fitness. The gym has a treadmill (a runmill? running machine?). I decided to try it out. The first time I decided to see what I could do in 20 minutes. Answer: 2 miles. Could probably do better since I was didn't know what I was doing.

The next week I tried to see how quickly I could run a mile. I didn't count the first minute because that 0.1 km was spent getting the machine up to speed and figuring out how the buttons worked. The next 1.609 km took 7m43s. That's an interesting number because in high school when we did track for gym class that was almost exactly my best time for the mile. I would have been 16 or 17. I turn 36 this August.

Running on a treadmill is boring. There are several TV screens to watch; subtitled in Swedish. The text goes faster than I can understand it. I hit the tedium wall 12 minutes in. Emily (from AZ) says that running outside is more interesting. She enjoys running on the path through the woods near work and is working her way up to a marathon (or was that a half-marathon?).

Running inside is hot, without any self-made breeze to cool down. Rayleigh's drag equation says wind resistance goes as v². According to Google's calculator and various physical constants, my running drag is about 0.5 * 1.225 kg/(m**3) * (1 mile / (7 minutes + 43 seconds))**2 * (5 feet + 10 inches)*(2 feet)*0.9 or about 7 Newtons. Not much; a bit less than a kilo weight pulling backwards, or about 3-4 kilos for a world class mile runner.

To run outside I'll need another pair of shoes. The gym doesn't allow outdoor shoes inside. I already own 6 pairs of shoes. Everyday, gym, dance w/ latin heels, dance with low heels, jazz dance practice, and boots.

I never thought of myself as someone who can run. Okay, and I'm not saying I can run, only that I'm doing as well as I've every done, which surprises me. At the gym last year I found my body handles weights well. Growing up I never even considered that possibility. Or in my 20s. Then again, 5 years ago I never would have thought of myself as a dancer.

I saw some clips from "So You Think You're A Dancer." By the scale of the people who got selected in the first pass, I am definitely not up there. The closest to what I do would have been the swing dancer and he's still much better than I and with broader dance experience. What I've been saying is that I'm a city-class dancer, or a club dancer.

In an unrelated effort to broaden my dance skills I've been going to the gym group workouts for funk and BodyJam. (Guess there should be a TM in there somewhere.) I don't have much experience with choreography and often get confused as to which part is next. A big reason for going is to learn what to do with my hands. In pair dancing they are connected. When I go out to a non-pair dance dance place I end up moving my feet a lot doing shines but my hands are all very boring.

That's evident in the classes where my feet can follow what the teacher's doing but the arms and upper body are confused.

Two observations about my dance style. Even when starting I had problems remembering what goes next in the pattern for the lesson. I would alternate and try things out, or forget what goes next then need to recover. A woman here last week said she enjoys dancing tango with me because I don't follow a routine like some of the other men. I'm also an energetic dancer, even in tango where you might thinks it's more sedate than salsa. My favorite song by Nosotros (a local New Mexican band) was a fast flamenco influenced salsa song. Don't remember the name though.