Finishing out the year

Well 2009 was a year of ups and downs for me. All in all it was a good year, but not an easy one. I'm trying to end the year on a positive note, with a solid workout schedule logged this final week.

I did my first post-Christmas run yesterday, eking out just over 2 miles in 27 minutes. I had to take a 30 second walk break in the middle. I don't feel too bad about that, since I didn't run at all last week.

I also have a lot of new fitness toys to play with, my Running Buddy got me a balance ball and resistance band kit, which came with four workouts on DVD, I got a copy of wii fit plus and a brand new Yoga DVD to try.

Here's hoping for a healthy and fit new year ^_^

Heading to the parents for the Holidays

I've been in such a rush to get everything done, I've been neglecting to post. Suffice to say I've been keeping on track with getting exercise most days, and more often than not some part of my body is sore.

Happy Holidays everyone, may the new year be a healthy one!

Fighting the "lazy monster"

Lately I've been battling what I call my "lazy monster." It's a conglomeration of all the things that stop me from working out. It's the voice that tells me I'm too tired, that I've already done enough this week, that it's too late or too cold outside, too much work to get to the gym.

I battled it yesterday, and partially won. It told me that I didn't have to do my Yoga, I'd done Pilates the day before and besides weren't we going for a run later? I was tired and very susceptible to the "I've already worked hard enough" line. But I battled back with the simple fact that Yoga makes me feel better. So I did my yoga.

Later, however, real life got in the way of the running plans. Not only was I tired and grumpy and generally not feeling it, my S.O. was stuck at work late. He was also super tired and grumpy, so we called it, and I made a tasty new dish for dinner instead. A dish that with a tad bit of tweaking will be a healthy dish someday ^_^

Yesterday I also figured out a way to get my Yoga DVD's onto our television. You see, we don't have a DVD player, but I have several yoga DVD's. We do have a sort of mini computer attached to our television for watching things off Hulu and the like. So, I figured out that I can create a digital copy of my DVD's and transfer them to the TV's computer to watch. This makes me happy, as I really enjoyed the Am/Pm yoga DVD and miss doing the routine.

We're going to try for a make-up run today, and I'm going to do the Am part of the Am/Pm yoga routine around lunch. Crazily, we're also going to try to get some shopping done tonight after we get done with the gym.

I will not let the "lazy monster" win today.

Running again

Yesterday's run felt good. I pushed myself and ran for 20 minutes, walked for two, then ran for five more. It felt good to really push and run at the edge of my endurance. I'm a tad impatient to be able to really run all out for 30 minutes again. I'm trying not to push myself too hard to early.

My resolution has been spotty thus far this week. I haven't popped in the Yoga videos at all. I did that Pilates/Yoga fusion video on Monday (Would that count as yoga?), and Ran on Wednesday. Tuesday I fell victim to crams of doom and gave myself the day off. Today I'm going to do the p/y fusion video and then hit the gym later for some easy cardio on the Elliptical machines. I'm hoping to finish out the week well.

I think now accurately represents my "messy middle" this is the part between the before and after pictures. This is the part where I struggle. This is the part where I usually look at it, decide that this is not working, it's too hard, I can't do it, and I walk away. I refuse to do that this time. I've put too much time and effort into this. There's too much at stake for me.

Starting back up

After last weeks decision to take this all more seriously, I've decided this week to make a resolution to get some type of exercise in each day.

Today's workout was the Crunch yoga/Pilates video. Again, during the video I didn't feel like I was working that hard, but if last time I did it was any indication I'm going to be really sore tomorrow.

I'm going to go back to doing yoga as often as possible. I'm planning on doing the video I did today once a week, then twice a week doing the *hard* yoga video and twice a week doing the easy yoga video. I'll do the easy one on the days I'm planning to run, just so I'm not over doing it.

I feels good to be moving my body again, to be pushing myself again. I'm still trying to find my rhythm, to get back into that groove, but it's a start.

Taking this seriously again.

Yesterday I ran at the gym for the first time in a long time. For a while, me and the S.O. haven't been able to schedule in Gym Time. All of my exercise has come in the form of videos, mostly yoga at that. Needless to say, while I am definitely more flexible, my endurance has suffered greatly.

In a 20 minute run, I required two 30 second walk breaks. I was only running at a pace of 5.0. With a two minute warm up and a five minute cool down, I still did not break two miles (I hit 1.91 miles.)

I could blame the soreness in my entire core area from the Yoga/Pilates fusion video from Crunch that I had done the day before. I'm sure that had something to do with it. However I know the reality is that I haven't been running, and it's going to take me some time to build back up to where I was before.

I need to take this all more seriously. I've been slacking majorly, and it shows. In addition to being lax with my workout schedule, I've been eating poorly. I haven't gone back to my Double Bacon Cheese Burgers with a side of fries, but there have been a few McMeals in there.

I did a gentile yoga practice today, enough to stretch out the aching muscles in my core, but that's it for today. Need to rest up. Running again tomorrow.