gotta get back to this - by losing 35 lbs so I can invert again!

Wednesday was my pole dancing class, and it was (as always) a blast. In going in, I knew that this would be my last class for a while. It’s just gotten too prohibitive (time and $-wise) to come into the city in the middle of a weekday. I also have about 35 pounds too much “junk in my trunk,” and so I have not been able to do any of the more advanced moves – heck, I can barely climb and invert! I am going to up my practicing at home, and perhaps get back at it after the Ironman. I should have “brought sexy back” by then! Assuming of course that work has picked up. Knowing it would be my last class for a while made me really throw myself into it. I did my last free pole/dance to Moulin Rouge’s “Roxanne” – a song that a lot of us used “way back when” we were first learning. I pushed the chair up against the 2nd pole and the gal I was giving the “lap dance” to (whom I didn’t know – new in our class) said “Woah, I was actually a little scared there.” It was a faboo last class (for a while).

Wednesday was supposed to be a Spin workout, but I got home, did some chores, and went for a “nap” at 6:00p.m.  – waking up the next day at 9:00 a.m.! H didn’t wake me when he got home – he said I was “out like a light.” I am reading Younger Next Year for my 50th time (I LOVE that book) and I have to believe that my body was so busy making all the new connections and mitochondria and veins and muscle fiber and what-have-you in this Ironman Adventure that it couldn’t keep the lights on, too.

Jakie & Sandy playing Lance Armstrong in the garage

Thursday was supposed to be a Swim, but because I’m such a dog on the Bike, I decided to do the Spin workout instead. Yup, Jake and me in the garage again . . . I put on Podrunner.com and put in a BPM that I could keep cadence to, and worked out to that. It was supposed to be “progressive Valley Drills” but because I have no way to keep track of RPM and all that jazz, I decided I would work on keeping a steady cadence and going up and down my gears. Think I have mentioned Podrunner before – it’s free workout mixes at set beats per minute. It’s sort of “house music” which makes it easy to mindlessly pump away to.

Friday was 8 x 880s (or is it 800s? 2x around the track) and Strength. I procrastinated for a while, as it was cold and I was feeling very snug in the house with the fire H had made. However, when it was nearly too late, I got in the car. First I checked out the new dog park area at Red Hill – H had said that there was a track there – turns out that it’s actually a soccer field with the red clay/gravel/whatever surrounding it, but not a track per se. I went to Drake, and though they were having lacrosse AND soccer practice, the track only had a couple of young gals practicing sprint repeats (no Track Team or Coach). So I did that. I started out with a Podrunner 132 BPM mix, and though that felt like a good cadence and my heart rate was nice and in the aerobic zone, I was 2+ minutes (MINUTES – yes and this is just two times around the track) off my VDOT. So I cranked it up to a new mix, which was 162 BPM. I was still slow on my VDOT, but that felt like a good cadence. A number of other folks joined me on the track and lapped me shamelessly – some day I won’t be dragging this extra 35 pounds around and I will be able to have a spring in my step too!

H actually wants to map out the “cut off” (or “chip”) times for the Louisville Ironman, so that I really KNOW how much time I have, and what “pace” I need to meet, to get it done before the 17 hour cutoff. I think he said that on the bike, I have to be at 12.4 MPH “on average” to make it, but I’m not totally sure.

After the run today, jumped in the car and headed off to Pole Dancing class. I was wiped – at one point we were supposed to do pushups and I just sort of rolled around. It’s dark, but Deb saw me. “How’s it going over there, Sandy – how’s the training?” I just laughed. And kept rolling around. The best part of the day, though, was when my fellow pole grrl (and fellow “class matron”) Susan told me that my butt was looking GOOD. I’m so tired of having a gut in front – which in my whole life I’ve never had – it’s nice to hear that SOMETHING is “getting affected”!

Today’s Run Playlist (I actually did my Pole Dance to Prince/Let’s Get Crazy – made me laugh):
Let’s Get Crazy, Prince
Controversy, Prince
Delirious, Prince
I Would Die For You, Prince
She’s Got The Look, Prince
4 Minutes (feat Justin Timberlake and Timbaland), Madonna
Down (feat. Lil Wayne), Jay Sean - this was a new one I downloaded, as it’s being used for the “Pink Glove” campaign for Breast Cancer. Like it!
Spill The Wine, War – this is a seriously odd song. (smile)
Sing, Sing, Sing, Benny Goodman & his Orchestra – yeah, call me eclectic
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh), The Tokens – call me REALLY eclectic!

While there, I saw some voodoo dolls. They were “good” voodoo dolls – to be used to help remake your life. One that jumped out at me was “Flambeau” – a gentleman in a top hat with a wily smile – and his “missin” was to “Fire You Up.” I thought – I could use that! His tag was even “singed” around the edges.

NOW, since Flambeau has come into my life – as mentioned below – I have been called out of the blue by ABC-TV to be part of their new show HOME, launching nationwide on their new HD channel some time end of this month. That was Monday – taped it, had a blast. Yesterday, I got a call from the San Francisco Chronicle. They want to do a sidebar on me for their “crazy things folks do for exercise” column – someone turned me in, no doubt! – and so I met them today at the S Factor and we did a photo shoot of me pole dancing.

Mind you, I think once they tell me when it’s going to run, I’m going to have to have everyone I know go out and raid all the newspaper boxes – because they made we wear THE TINIEST little frilly shorty short shorts known to man, and of course my 6″ heels! Yeah yeah, and I’m currently about 25 pounds overweight. Serves me right not to lose it all…but I guess Flambeau couldn’t wait on that!

So that’s what’s been up with me – pretty wild, huh?

Dr. Six has a great podcast, which is about Erotic Integrity. She interviews local personalities about what Erotic Integrity means to them, and how Erotic Integrity shows up in their work and in their lives. As stated by Dr. Six, “Erotic Integrity is about the humanity of sex, not the acrobatics. It’s about being true to one’s erotic self.”

I strongly recommend downloading and listening to her podcasts. Dr. Six is a fantastic person, and a wealth of information! Not only that, Sheila Kelley’s S Factor has offered anyone who listens to the podcast and mentions it to their local S Factor half off on an introductory S Factor session through 2008. I discussed how working out at S Factor really has helped me to release my “Erotic Creature,” and S Factor has generously offered the ability to any of Dr. Six and my listeners!

Here are a couple of other links that we discuss in the podcast:
Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz’s website (put “sex” in the Search Box in the very top, blue bar to get some of the sex facts that we discuss in the podcast)

Sheri’s Ranch website link

Click below to listen to the interview:

OK just kiddin’ - here’s the link.

Besides, you just gotta LOVE the book that she’s covering… A Mind Of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis by David M. Friedman.

The host, Janelle Wang, did great! I hope that you enjoy it!

I’m at this global think tank. I have no idea why they call it a think tank, it’s really just a big old lecture series. I just went to a panel on the changing face of the Muslim world. I’m obsessed with women who wear veils whether of their own volition or because of laws that make them or the culture they ascribe to or the religion they belong to. One of the panelists was this beautiful scarved woman named Dahlia. The revelation about Islamic nations was stunning and humbling and exhilarating. The details are too numerous to go into right here in the middle of the convention hall but suffice to say I sure would like to go to Saudi Arabia someday.After the panel I was standing in the room, full with about 90% men in business suits, when this vibrant woman walked up to me and told me that she was an S Factor student. Another young woman standing nearby heard “S Factor”, turned quickly and said, “I want to do that, how can I do that?” The S Factor student said, “Oh it’s incredible. It will change your life!” The young woman whispered, “I’ve heard, I cannot wait, I’m so excited to take it.” Now you have to get the image in your mind’s eye, there was almost nothing but a sea of men, just men, milling about everywhere. There was a total of maybe six women in the entire room, three of them talking about the secret world of S Factor when Dahlia, the Islamic panelist who had been talking to some guys next to us turned around and asked, “What are you talking about?” En masse the three of us turned slowly toward her and said almost in unison something to the effect of, “Oh my god…”. Then the S Factor student continued on with, “It’s the most amazing thing you could ever do for yourself as a woman…”. Seeing my chance, I dove in to explain S Factor as an “organic feminine movement class”. I didn’t bring up the words “striptease” or “poledancing” as I’ve seen them scare certain women off completely.As I move further down the road into my own “S”-ness I find that the striptease/poledancing definition just doesn’t do the “S” justice. It has all of those elements but it is so much more. When people query me now I speak of the “tease” and the “pole” in the same breathe as “natural and organic feminine movement” and “floor work”, “mat work”, and “standing and wall work”…all are elements of what comes wholesomely from a woman’s body moving into her own “S” shape.
Dahlia perked up as she listened intently and intelligently, nodding her head up and down. She was intrigued. She asked how she could take “such a class”. I invited her to visit one of our studios across the country and asked her where she lived…DC, here I come!

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The italics above are mine.  I’ve been doing “The S” for a little over 2 years and yes – I even have a pole in my own home. It’s been very interesting to see how “Talk about The S” has become more empowerment, and less tease/strip, over these 2 years.

I love it, because I actually came to S Factor after one of my fEmpowerment teachers (Susan Bremer/Sensual Dance For Real Women) was un-chosen for the Oprah show in favor of Sheila Kelley, years and years ago. Susan was pretty bitter about it, and “refused” to watch any of the S Factor DVDs, etc. I, of course, wanted to see what the difference might be, and bought the DVDs (back then, there was no S Factor in San Francisco, it was mainly one L.A. studio).

“The S” is sooooooooo different than your usual “striptease thang.” It was even very different than Susan’s “Sensual Dance for Real Women” – though they both come at it from the same “mindset” … That you’re doing this for yourself and your “inner erotic creature” (or Inner Bond Grrl) not for anyone else.

The biggest difference between the S and other DVDs, books, and classes I have now attended or connected as a kinda pole dance/strip tease training collector? The S is a HARD workout!  Holy cow!  The first hour is just warmup, including abs, pushups, legs, stretches, arms, you name it. Then you learn some Pole Moves (which get harder as you progress – I’m a multiple Level 6 now). Last, you just let it go, and let your “inner erotic creature” take over to a song of your choice (at higher levels – at lower levels, you are taught a “routine” that you slowly, ever so slowly, let your Erotic Creature morph her way out of).

I just love that Sheila used the words “Natural and Organic Feminine Movement.” I would also say “fEmpowered Movement.”

It’s still fun at cocktail parties or business networking functions to find a way to drop in the fact that I have a pole in my house. It’s even funnier though to realize that a lot of the things that I do, workout-wise, with my life are to get me a smidge closer to being able to actually do a “Spinning Helicopter” or a “Climb and Flip” or a “Pole Cat.”

Pole dancing is part yoga, part Pilates, part balance, part strength, and all beauty. Check out the S Factor DVDs and if you live close enough – go to an Intro at one of their studios! If you write me a Comment, I can see if I can get you a comp’d Intro class ($40 value) – no promises, but I can try! You can click to go to their website to see locations.

Soli