Craving a Cadence

To know me is to know I crave a certain amount of spontaneity and unpredictability in my life.

I love having a full calendar and following a routine, but I also love sometimes having the ability to up and do something on a whim, like heading to Brooklyn for the afternoon to hang out by the water. I love to not be so busy that I can say yes to some last-minute plans.

But there’s a huge amount of unpredictability in my life right now, and I am craving some more routine and predictability for sure.

Good thing I’m training for a marathon. I mean, some days, I look at my schedule and want to do whatever workout I want to do instead of what’s on it, but most days, it’s nice to look at my schedule and think “Jess is awful Okay cool, I’ll go do xx miles at xx pace without having to think about it.”

I’m also doing a little cross-training to keep knee pain at bay, and I realized this morning how much I’m LOVING the cadence of certain classes right now.

In social media/editorial speak, a cadence describes a regular pattern of themes on social media or a site (i.e. Favorite Things Friday), and in group-fitness class-speak, the cadence of a class refers to the general rhythm and flow of a class.

At SoulCycle, that’s bunch of songs + weights + 1-2 more songs, and you’re done. When you pick up the weights, you know you’re almost done. At Uplift, that’s: work a major muscle group, tabata, work more muscle groups, tabata, ab work, stretching, done. Once you do that second tabata, you know the end is near.

Most of the yoga classes I’ve taken at Laughing Lotus switch things up pretty often, and that works pretty well for me in yoga, because I get bored otherwise. Embracing the unpredictability on the yoga mat helps me embrace it in life.

But I love the routine in a hard class. Knowing I have just one more tabata to go means that I’ll push it as hard as I can for those four more minutes. Knowing that I’m almost done after the weights at SoulCycle means that when the instructor asks us to push it all out, I can leave it all on the bike because I’m almost done.

So, I’m very pro classes that follow a standard structure, and this has helped me turn from someone who used to dabble more in different classes to a more loyal class-goer.

Other Stuff

I get some terrible pitches, and some awesome ones. Here’s some of the stuff of interest that’s landed in my inbox lately you might be interested in:

Revolve Playlists: I have terrible taste in music, but I love listening to other people’s playlists, and Revolve has some good ones.

Wolcott Hotel Marathon Rate: I know nothing about this hotel other than that it is at 31st and 5th (so right near Ayza, which I love), but they emailed me because they wanted me to tell you that they are doing a $225/night rate for the marathon. That is a good rate for normal NYC hotel stays, but is pretty amazing for last-minute NYC Marathon rates.

Lady Southpaw Marathon Album: Local singer Lady Southpaw released a concept album about the marathon, inspired by the NYC punk scene and with all songs at a tempo of 180bpm to help you keep an even stride.

This is not a pitch, but just some awesomeness from my buddy Gia. Want to get a free smoothie after your run? Sign up for her juice press run! Distances range from 4-20. You just have to haul yourself to the UES at 8am on a Saturday.

ALSO JUST REMEMBERED: (aka edited to add) Uplift is doing an awesome deal next Thursday where if you go to any of their morning or evening classes, you can also sign up for a blowout + makeup. More details on their website. (Disclaimer: I did do a blog partnership thing with them a few months ago, but any excitement about their events is totally my own. They occasionally ply me with wine, which is apparently all it takes.)

Fitness classes (and life, I suppose): are you team predictability or team unpredictability?