Dreaming is exhausting! I dream most nights. Sometimes it’s just your average randomness, sometimes it’s connected to movies that I’ve been watching or books I’m reading or just general experiences. Every now and then, my mind will dredge up something from my past and work it into my dream in some weird way. Generally my dreams are fairly odd, but I don’t always remember them. I’ve thought about keeping a dream journal, but it’s pretty hard to put my dreams into words and sometimes I just want to forget them.

Yesterday we had a horrible experience at Ster Kinekor in Cavendish Square. We wanted to watch a fun movie to relax a little and settled on the new Xmen movie. Fun right? well I wouldn’t know. Our Ster Kinekor cards wouldn’t work in ANY of the machines! It was ridiculous. Not one machine. The staff, though pleasant, have no power to help you other than to say they are sorry or get a new card by paying close to the R30 extra. Bear in mind that these cards worked perfectly the day before. Not even the manager has access to somewhere that they can type your card number in instead of swiping it. We would have gotten over this by booking on the Internet site on my husbands lovely Samsung Galaxy tablet except that the payment site for Ster Kinekor wasn’t working either! Seriously!!!!!! It takes a lot for me to get worked up and angry with people, but after wasting 40minutes of our time even I was ready to explode.

Nevertheless, seeing as though there was nothing that they could do at all (useless) we went down to the Cinema Nouveau and ended up watching Get Low. A sweet and interesting movie, but rather slow and not quite the fun lighthearted movie we were planning on. Our cards worked perfectly at this Cinema. Weird that…

Other than that a lovely day, but when I’ve gotten worked up like that I need a way to work it out. Thus the dreaming began. I am also under a bit of pressure at the moment with an essay hand in and exam this evening plus my rather large Patisserie Diploma practical exam on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s not mentally difficult, but it is a lot to do in a short space of time and I haven’t been able to do as much preparation as I would’ve liked. So my mind is teetering on the edge at the moment.

I woke up in a bit of a state this morning at about 4:55am. I had just had an intense dream which was about doing the practical exam, having to redo one of the recipes 3 times because I kept getting it wrong and then someone taking away our workstations and ovens with everything in them because they didn’t know we were doing an exam and needed them for something else. After a good screaming session I ended up weeping in my dream as in heart wrenching, lung constricting sobbing. Waking up from that left me wide awake, but shattered.

I had set my alarm for 5:30 so that I could head off to the gym. I haven’t started properly training yet as I am still just getting used to the gym and where everything is. I also need to get a proper swimming costume, cap and goggles before I dive into the pool. Needless to say I did not get up at 5:30, but did my utmost to calm down and rest some more. I eventually got up at about 7 and headed off to gym still not feeling quite settled.

Isn’t it amazing how God provides even the simplest of needs. I arrived at gym to get a parking right outside the entrance, went upstairs, locked my stuff away, went and stretched a bit and then got onto a treadmill to have a bit of a jog, wandering what I was going to do afterwards. I needed a good workout today to somehow get rid of the adrenalin coursing through me. I haven’t learnt how to book classes or use of the machines yet, I’m getting that crash course on Friday morning.

The fancy new equipment in gyms these days mean that you now have a touchscreen on almost all cardio machines. My touchscreen needs some fairly rough treatment in order to wok properly, but we eventually get there and I’m catching up on some sky news hitting a decent jogging pace when all goes blank and the machine stops. Sigh, not the day I need this to happen. I decided that this is clearly not working and get off. Turn around to look at some of the other machines which are at the entrance to some of the studios in which classes are held including a spinning studio. Now spinning classes are usually quite full, so I’m just checking out the timetables and wandering what to do with myself when the man with the list, Darryn, asks if I’m here for the spinning class.

I say that I haven’t booked.

No problem, there are a couple of gaps.

Is it a beginners class, ’cause I have never done spinning before and here that it can be quite tough.

You’ll be fine, he assures me. Takes my name, gives me a bike number and sends me in to chat to the instructor.

A little nervous about all of this, I head in and introduce myself. He sets up my bike for me: seat position 4, height I and handles at 10. I repeat this to myself like a mantra to make sure that I don’t forget it. He also sets my resistance and advises me to perhaps stay on the low resistance for the whole class as it is my first time. 10 minutes into the class, I’m pouring sweat, trying to make sure that my form is correct and loving the pumping music and enthusiasm with which Peter explodes. I decide to up the level, but only up to 6 and a half instead of the 7 and a half that everyone else goes to.

After an hour of pedaling with a bit of stretching, I am drenched. It was great! I don’t think that I’ll be stiff tomorrow, but I certainly got the workout that I needed and have finally broken the mental barrier of spinning. This is the start of my cycle training for half ironman.

I have sweated out the frustrations and adrenalin that was bursting inside me and feeling a lot more powerful and in control. Amazing what a good workout can do. Thanks to Darryn who made the first move to get me into the class and Peter for a wonderful introduction.

Bring on the spinning!!!