This past week forced me to move my workouts inside. It seems laughable to type that now, as it’s a balmy 52 degrees today and I’m wishing it was a run day just for the sheer joy of running in this beautiful weather. But last week it was cold and snowy and icy. Given that I have no treadmill, and running laps in our living room is pretty much out of the question, I had to move my cardio to the bike. I’m kind of glad I was forced into doing this, as I discovered I LOVE doing intervals! No, really. It was an awesome challenge! I made use of a couple of the cardio interval workouts found on Tina Reale’s site (how am I just coming across this page, by the way? I’ve been frequently health and fitness blogs for years now! I thought I’d scoped out all the good ones! Just when you think you’ve come to the end of the internets, you fall down another rabbit hole!) and really enjoyed pushing myself. It did, however, drive home just how old and outdated our exercise bike is. Soooo….
We bought a spin bike! It should be here early next week! I’d squee but I’m too grown up for such antics. I had intended to hold out for a treadmill and convince the husband by next winter that I neeeeded it. But, in reality, I’m the only one that would use the treadmill. Well, the kids would play on it and fight over it and probably write on it with Sharpies, but I’m the only one that would actually USE it. J and I both will get a lot of use out of a spin bike. I see some biking challenges in our future 
My week at a glance:
Monday: 30 minutes strength training/30 minutes yoga
Tuesday: 30 minutes cycling intervals
Wednesday: nada, except for child-wrangling
Thursday: 30 minutes cycling intervals/45 minutes yoga
Friday: 1 hour walking/50 minutes yoga
Saturday: 30 minutes cycling intervals/45 minutes ashtanga yoga
Sunday: 40 minutes strength training/30 minutes ashtanga yoga
That’s a lot of working out! I’m trying to make the yoga a daily habit – otherwise with the running and strength training I get so stiff I start walking like a little old lady.
As for eats and drinks? Meh. I’m taking part in Amanda’s Spring Bootie Buster Challenge, and this challenge encourages you to get at least 64 ounces of water a day and eat at least 7-9 servings of fruit and veg per day. The water has been a piece of piss. (I’m snorting as I type that. Apparently I’m to grown up to squee like a girl, but talking like a twelve year old boy is perfectly acceptable.) However, I’m surprised by how little fruit and veg I eat. It’s not salad weather, so that definitely makes it harder. But I find I’ve slowly segued from basing our meals around a vegetable to basing them around a grain or pasta. Thanks, Amanda, for helping me become aware of this. I’m going to make a real effort this next week to up the veggies on our plates.
This next week I’m planning to get back to my running, keep on keeping on with all other things physical, and reread my Intuitive Eating book. Make it a good one, ladies!
For a time, I thought this blog was dead. I felt like I had nothing to say. I still feel that way a lot of the time, but there are things going on I want to explore in print. Whether anyone will read it or not isn’t really important. This blog is a commitment to ME. It’s a commitment to getting and staying fit. It’s a commitment to self inquiry and self love. This is where I find out what amazing things my body can do, instead of chastising it for what it can’t. Or for what it isn’t.
This isn’t your typical fitness blog. I’m older than the average, and I’m certainly less fit than the average.I practice yoga, but I can’t twist myself up into a pretzel. And my mind is certainly not quiet and focused. I run, but I’ve never even run a half marathon. I’ve only just recently discovered that I’m not allergic to sweating. In fact, I kind of like it I suck at taking pictures of my food – or of pretty much anything else, for that matter. So, yeah, definitely not typical.
Oh, and I’ve decided I’m done with the scale. And weight loss challenges. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with either of them. But because they are not good for me. I’ll workout daily and feel awesome and eat good, healthy, wholesome food, and then I’ll step on the scale at the end of a successful week and see the scale hasn’t budged and I’ll feel like shit. And I’ll forget how awesome and healthy I felt. I don’t want to forget how awesome and healthy I feel!
I’ve decided that feeling awesome and healthy, and being awesome and healthy, are far more important than those 10-15 pounds I “should” lose. I’m going to continue running and cycling and sweating – not because they might help me lose a pound or two, but because they make me feel good. I’m going to continue lifting weights – not so I’ll someday look good in that imaginary bikini I’d never wear anyway, but because I want to be strong. And I’m going to continue eating good, healthy, wholesome foods – not because it’s what the experts of some diet/lifestyle tell me are best, but because they are what my body craves.
So, that’s where this blog is going. It’s going to be about discovering just how great I can feel, regardless of my BMI or weight or whatever you like to use as a standard. I will post photos of my unabashedly short and squat self, running races and in yoga poses and probably even in shorts. I will not take 47 self-portraits just to find the one that makes me look the thinnest and hides the grey in my hair. I will talk about my successes, and my struggles. And I won’t be letting the size of my jeans, or the size of your jeans in comparison, determine how I write about them.
I just thought you might want to know I’m back
Today, rather than waiting for the bus home from university and arriving home too late to get a workout in before the kids are done with school, I made the commute home my workout. It’s 3.3 miles if I follow the canal. I would have liked to have run it, as it’s been nearly a week since the weather has cooperated with me getting in a good run.But carrying a 10ish pound sac of books probably doesn’t lend itself well to a good run. So I walked it in 56 minutes. A little slow, definitely not my power walking pace, but I was sweating by the time I got home. That was probably the wool coat I was wearing
Then, after I collected the kids, I settled in for fifty minutes of yoga. Nothing too intense, but it was a super-slowed down class. All those warriors held FOREVER really helped me build up a sweat!
I’m currently participating in Amanda’s (Run to the Finish) Spring Bootie Buster Challenge. It’s a challenge designed to encourage you to move a little more, eat a little better, and be part of a community of like-minded people. I love that SBBC is about adding healthy habits instead of nixing the bad. I’ve yet to hear anyone speaking in absolutes: No chocolate for me! Or no alcohol for the duration of the challenge! I also love that it’s not a weight loss challenge. There’s no official weighing in, no rewards for losing the most, etc. It’s about small, healthy, sustainable habits.
You earn points in this challenge by drinking 64 ounces of water each day, eating 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, and excercising. I’m finding it quite easy to get in the water, quite difficult to fit in all the fruit and veg (and I’m a vegetarian!), and quite addictive to be exercising so much!
The weather is currently cold and miserable here. Although I’ve prided myself most of the winter on getting out and running no matter what the conditions are, this week conditions forced me inside. I’ll run outside if it only means being cold and wet. But if I’m risking injury, well…. I’m not stupid. And this week the sidewalks and roads are covered in ice and/or slush (depending on time of day) and I’m not willing to risk a knee injury. I’ve had problems in the past with my knees. I carry less weight with which to pound them these days, but I’m not taking any chances.
Today, I turned to our stationary bike for a half hour of intervals, following this beginner program by Tina Reale. Talk about sweat! But it was fun and challenging, and over before I knew it. I then eased onto my mat for forty minutes of slow but intense vinyasa yoga. It’s a goal of mine to sweat nearly every day, and to hit the mat daily. I feel better, physically and mentally, when I do.