Staving off the post-show crash with physical activity

Aaaaaand here's that emotional crash I was expecting from the show being over. I had a lovely evening last night with Steph and Jenn, but this morning I woke up with a longing for rehearsal. I've been trying to stave it off with physical activity apparently. It's a strategy that's helped in the past with low points. When I'm sad I want to lay around and do nothing, so getting on a schedule of things I have to do, such as going to work out, helps me immensely.

I was really looking forward to being able to go to ballet class two times a week again, but it turns out that they're going on hiatus for the summer except for a two-week intensive that looked interesting but is pretty far out of my budget. But I've resolved that I'm going to try to dance, at least a little, every day on my own. I've messed around in the the dance studio in the Brandeis gym every day so far this week. Practicing ballet, trying to figure out some choreography. I will be meeting Charlotte this weekend to brainstorm, so I want to have a few thoughts in my head and my tendons loose enough to do stuff!

I've also been going once a week to this little gym place in Waltham for a session with a trainer. It's a pretty intense circuit workout, where you alternate between equal periods of weights and cardio with a one-minute break in between each period for one hour. I hate it considerably less than I would have expected to. Mostly it's been challenging but not insurmountable, which is nice. It's really made my physical strengths and weaknesses stand out to me. My back is a little weak, it tends to get sore and tired quickly when it's engaged. And anything involving my arms is real work. I didn't even realize how noodly they were because I think both my arms and back look pretty good, but apparently there's nothing really there. Is it wrong that I kind of like their waifishness? Whatever. My ab strength, however, impressed even my trainer. My abs are apparently considerably above the fitness level of the rest of my body and I can breeze through most of the recommended exercises for my level at twice the reps. Gee, guess that's what happens when you're that fixated on one particular part of your body. If only I could get rid of the layer of bleh over them so the word could SEE how good they are. ;-) Alas, I continue to dream.

I do think it's helping. Periodically we have to max out on pushups, the wall sit, and the plank, and each time I've managed to do better than my previous time, so at least I'm getting stronger. I'd really like to be losing weight, but my eating habits have been so terrible lately, as they always tend to become as show dates approach, so I'll have to buckle back down. I noticed last night that my thighs are firmer than they've been in quite some time, which is nice. Unfortunately my knee tendons still twang during certain exercises. *Sigh* The hips of a contortionist and the knees of an old lady, as I've discovered in ballet. Is this really all the same body? I think ballet may be very slowly, very slightly helping with that, though, so if I manage to do the dancing and the accompanying stretching ever day like I plan, maybe I'll see real progress. It's a shame that since I'm getting stronger, I won't be going to ballet class. I was just grumbling about how as soon as we get to the hard stuff by the end of class, I'm almost out of energy and never dance as well.

My legs are hideous with about eight zillion bug bites that I got at the cast party-- and I've never managed to do a show without getting bruised --but at least they're getting toned.