Taping #2 DONE

How will it look? No clue. I do know it went well overall. Janet told me it was the best class I've taught by far. I think I agree with her, in terms of confidence, coaching and motivating. Alex said the coaching was better and my voice carried much better over the microphone. Of course, there were some bloops.

After spending the early morning hours feeling anxious about coaching and motivating, I slept a bit more and was able to wake up, eat and get ready without incident. However, as Franklin was driving me to the gym, I was fidgety and nervous again. I did feel better once I got to the gym and met up with the gang before class. Alex showed up and set up as I was setting up, then called me to the back of the room to privately tell me a couple of pointers and to let me know he would be stepping out and would leave the camera. So there wouldn't be the watchful eyes like last time. My anxiety level dropped right there. He explained to the class that he was there helping me and then had me do the intro over again and started the filming and left.

Overall, I think it was a great class. I set my bench and weights up in a more organized fashion, but next time will place all the weights in a pile because I find myself reaching and scrambling a bit to change weights. Alex's suggestions for organization and keeping those transitions rapid fire are really helping to move the class along. Again today I finished in under an hour. I went up on the weights as suggested, as I have been doing the last two classes. Triceps were a KILLER because I went up to a medium plate (which is 5 or 6 lbs, can't remember) and the tricep pushups.....well I did a couple on my toes but let's be real here. I have to keep training because I just don't seem to have the upper body strength to do pushups on my toes. Wimp.

Back track - check. Biceps - caught myself tapping my toes inside my shoes once and promptly stopped. Got the mid-range pulse down, lower than my chest this time. Lunges even went pretty well. I added a plate.....which is a first. Just one, though. With my foot on the bench. I'm getting there!

Where I blew it......shoulders. The problem? Because I had to go up in weights, I went to the medium ones. Which would have been ok but I was tired, sweaty and during the side raises or the alt mac raises, or both, I can't remember, the weights began to slip and I had to re-adjust. These weights have only a hole in the center and are pretty impossible for someone with small hands to grip. I have no idea how that will look in the video but Alex says that I just have to explain on the assessment form that I turn in with the video what happened during that track. I hope it is that simple. I'm just afraid my form suffered because of it so I hope it came out okay.  The hover with the pointer, didn't do all on my toes, only a couple so I hope that's okay. I know people have had to tape up to 5 times but I REALLY hope it doesn't come down to that.

After class, Alex and I went for lunch, coffee and plant shopping (for him because I kill plants unintentionally). He will look at the video later and give me feedback but wants to hear from me first what I think about the class. ????? What???? I need to know what HE thinks because I don't know if it will be good enough to submit. However, I understand that I need to take ownership of my class, be able to critique myself and objectively look at it to see if I think I hit all the compulsory cues, coaching, chorey, etc. I'm pretty sure I can do that this time without too much whining!! He did tell me that since he spent the class time out of the room he wanted to see if I was projecting my voice and he was able to hear me much better than last week. The mic guard made a big difference in the audio quality, plus I paid attention to how I projected my voice in general. It will be interesting to hear myself on the video. I have a bit of a cough and was just praying that I would not have to cough during the video. For the most part I held it in!

Spent time with Cassie at the park while Alexander was working with his trainer and it felt SO good to be in the sun. I wasn't feeling great today, just really tired and kind of blah. Well, by now, almost 8:00 pm, I am officially feeling crappy. My head is pounding and I just want to go to sleep. Now I know why I felt off today. I refuse to get sick; too much to do this week. I'm subbing Tuesday for Rosa, teach Thursday and Sunday, have a District Kindergarten day and I will be out of the classroom yet again. I cannot afford to take a day off but I think a trip to the doctor may be in order, as I have a bit of a cough, can feel it in my chest and with my history last year of pneumonia, I want to nip it in the bud. Overall, though, I think with getting healthier and exercising, my immune system has gotten stronger so I have been able to fight illnesses much better over the last year.  Many people have been sick around me, and even if I get a touch of a cold, it goes away quickly and I don't contract it to the same degree as others. I just hope this one goes quickly because this is the worst I have felt in a long time. I am hoping it's the lack of sleep last night, and the residual emotional stress of the last week. My voice is now hoarse and will make for fun tomorrow in class :(

Hope to crawl into bed early tonight.......but the guys are not home from a Superbowl party yet and Cassie did not let me take a nap this afternoon. If I feel this bad tomorrow, then it's sub plans and a day at home for me on Tuesday so I can rest up to teach that night.

Sigh.