Saturday, February 13, 2010

week one

monday i ran after work, uhg!

that somewhat "easy" 30 minute jackie warner workout i did on tuesday had me walking around like i had a stick up my butt for 2 days.

i was complaining about how sore my quads were still to monica on wed when we met up for a run. when we get together we tend to talk and walk alot more than run, and since we hadn't seen each other since before christmas and because i was still so sore it was a veritable gab fest.
there's a big hill i've always been curious about but never took the time to explore along side of the paved trail we were on and at my suggestion we checked it out. once to the top we followed the single track back down to the main trail and continued a short ways to the 1 mile mark. the hill warmed me up and the legs felt better than when i started so we started a slow jog. we turned around at the 1.5 mi mark and i ran the rest of the way back.

thursday i passed on happy hour with work friends and went home and did wii fit for 30 mins. mostly yoga and a couple of strengthening ex's.

by friday i was wondering why i hadn't incorporated a rest day...uhhh because you need to do SOMETHING in the way of physical activity every day duh! so as i'm loathe to do i waited till after dinner and went with T and took the dog for a 30 plus min walk.

so far the 30 day challenge has been doable and i can already feel habit starting to take hold.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

30 DAY CHALLENGE

as is typical for me, following a big endurance event i go into hiding for a while. i dunno. once the event is completed i tend to shift my focus on all the crap that went neglected while i trained . i have a really hard time balancing it all.

that said, 10 plus pounds creeped back on since october!

we've been working on the kitchen, remember that remodel we started about 3 years ago? anyhoo, i have spent every free minute over the last month prepping and painting my kitchen cabinets. T and i celebrated our 10 year anniversary and decided to spend money on sprucing up the cabinets. we swapped out old hardware for new and added crown molding. it looks amazing but as is want to do i'm itching to address the lighting and would love a new sliding glass door with a doggy door built-in versus the panel that's in place now.

it was a big job, all the sanding and kneeling to get to the lowest cabinets...yes i was extrememely thorough and with the exception of a few deeper sections everything was primed and double coated. my arms and knees got a workout for sure but it's not the same as really working out.

painting with all the wet weather wasn't the best move but i know i'll be too busy in the spring and summer with training to deal with it so i have no regrets, sure it took longer but now i have a pretty kitchen that has inspired us all to cook at home more.

so, i'm on day 5 of my 30 day challenge which is about re-establishing the habit of exercise. the point is to do something for a minimum of 30 mins daily. it usually works out to be more than that. back in '05 when i returned to running for the umpteenth time that's all i did. in '06 i discovered triathlon and that seemed to address the lack of cross training. then after my marathon in '07 things got really inconsistent all the way through to this past summer when i finally committed to training again for the pac grove tri in '09.

excercise for the sake of exercise has never held much interest to me. training for events did, but this cycle of going from balls to the wall to virtually nothing isn't working. i have my secrete heart on a couple of big events this year but what i really want to accomplish is the habit of working out over the long term not just for a specific event.

i'm no stranger to injury, i've let my ego get in the way when trying to reclaim former levels of fitness. still, i've been fortunate and only have laziness to blame for the current lack of excercise. so, for now i'm mainly concerned with consistency and not hurting myself. and while nothing will ever replace my love for a good long run i'm realizing more and more the need to strength train. rw has some great videos as does fit tv so there's no excuse when i don't get to the gym....not to mention the wii that hasn't been used in a months. tri club starts back up in march at the Y where i spin 1-2 x's a wk and the bart trail is close and paved which is a plus on these wet rainy days.

lastnight working out to the core video felt well kinda lame..and at times a little too easy but that's when i recalled a sage bit of advice my tnt coach gave and it's was essentially a reminder that in the beginning of an excercise program it should feel like you could do more....but if your patient and give your body time to adjust and don't do too much too soon it will pay off in the long run.

i'm in it for the long run.