Every so often, I just like to write a blog about what I'm doing on the exercise front at the moment. It changes pretty much from month to month. I don't have a very good attention span. If you don't like exercise, then stop reading right now. This will be very boring for you.
This year, I started out wanting to run a marathon. I shelved that plan because, well, pretty much I don't like running enough to devote all the time needed to training runs. I love to run, don't get me wrong, but I've found that any distance over about 7 miles feels like torture. I can do it, as I found out when I misjudged the distance of a new route I took and accidentally ran 10 miles (I walked the last mile) but it's just too freaking boring. I can run for about an hour and then my brain wants to do something else. A marathon is not in my future any time soon. Someday, just to say I've done it, but not this year. I read somewhere that the average first time marathoner is a 38-year old woman, so maybe in 8 years I'll lose my ADD and be able to concentrate on marathon training. The longest distance I'll be doing this year is the Bix race---7miles. The first Bix at Six training run was last night. I made the mistake of going to yoga class first, so I was completely worn out. I ran up the first big hill, then ran into my mom and ran back with her. I was tired and it was a humid 90 degrees out. It was miserable, so I feel no guilt about wimping out. (Also, I've already ran the Bix route about 6 times this year, just for fun, once when it was ten degrees out)
Then I thought, maybe a triathalon would be fun. Running a short distance, biking for a part of it, and swimming. I took swimming lessons for a while but just kind of hated it, for various reasons. One, I was looking up my Y on Facebook and came across my swimming instructor's blog and it turned out she is a rabid, Ann Coulter-worshipping Republican, and I don't spend time with Republicans and I certainly don't trust Republican lifeguards. If she found out my political persuasion, she'd probably try to drown me. I realize this is a completely ridiculous reason to 99% of people, but some of you get me on this issue. Swimming just isn't my thing for other reasons too, like I could never figure out floating (lead bones), the chlorine was messing with my hair and skin, and you can't listen to an Ipod while swimming laps. Lastly, I seemed to notice a lot of fat swimmers. I'm so not saying this from a mean place, but I just seemed to notice that maybe swimming isn't really the best form of exercise for weight loss since 75% of the people in the pool were morbidly obsese.
So triathalon is out.
A new sport I did start up is kayaking. My mom, my cousin Michelle and I tried out kayaking in Galena a month or so ago and it was a lot of fun. I don't get out on the water much yet, but I've been hitting the rowing machine at the Y and totally love it. My mom liked kayaking so much that she bought a couple of kayaks, which I will be borrowing. I signed up for an "Adventure Triathalon" Adventure Triathalons are perfect for non-swimmers like me. It's a run, and some biking, and some kayaking instead of swimming. I'm pretty excited about that, although I'm sure I'll come in last place. I looked at last year's results and it was pretty much all guys.
So I will be working on the kayaking, in preparation for this, and also the biking. I was taking Spinning classes all last year and they were huge in my weight loss. I liked it so much I got certified to teach classes and I really enjoyed it. I attended a few cycling classes but once you've taught your own, it's really hard to go to others (mostly because of the music. Obviously I like my own cycling playlists better than anyone else's) So I don't go to classes anymore, but I do my own Spinning class about twice a week.
I have also actually started to ride a real bike. I bought a mountain bike a few months ago to start riding around the Sylvan Island trails (where my adventure triathalon will be). I haven't actually done that yet, I'd unhappy to report. Sylvan Island is a really neat spot---it's an island on the Mississippi that's a mixture of forest and abandoned factories, with trails throughout. Unfortunately, there are a lot of creeps there. The weirdo river rat fishermen kind of make me nervous to go out there alone. Once I buy some mace, I'll start riding out there or once I find a riding partner.
So I've been using the mountain bike on the bike path, and to ride around town a little bit. It is definitely too much bike for those purposes. So I decided I wanted a road bike. As I researched, I found that they are pretty expensive, but I lucked out. My aunt gave me an old road bike she had in her garage. It's a 1980 Schwinn but was in good shape. I brought it in to the bike store to be tuned up and the guy said it would be a good bike so yay! I have a road bike and didn't have to spend $800.
I'm testing it out this weekend. I'm doing the "Ride the River" bike ride. It's not a race, just a ride, but I pretty much signed up for it because they're opening up Arsenal Island (which is usually government restricted space). I've wanted to run on Arsenal Island for a long time. One time I tried to run there, and the security guy said I totally could----if I enlisted with the Army. So Ride the River is a good way to explore without having to attend boot camp.
As far as what else I'm doing, I've been taking lots of Zumba classes. It's just like a dancey aerobics, but it's fun and I usually burn a decent amount of calories. I've also gotten back in the weight training habit. I go the Y almost everyday, and lift a little before getting in my cardio. I love love love "the burn" I feel after lifting weights, although the activity of lifting weights bores me silly. Walking lunges, in particular, are really super boring but the ouch! factor you get the next day is amazing. I'm kind of a masochist when it comes to this. Exercise soreness is a great feeling. It makes me kind of understand cutters. Cutters should just try some walking lunges instead. It's a lot less messy.
I've also been trying to fit in yoga, but it frustrates me. I can't get up early in the morning to do it because I am a zombie all day long if I'm up before 6. I can't do it at home because I can't do anything that requires any concentration at all with the kids around. The Y doesn't offer many classes at a time when the childcare is available during the day, and I'm beat by the end of the day, so going to the yoga studios at night requires more motivation than I generally have left over by that time of day. So many excuses, right? I actually went last night, and it was not pretty. I totally sucked at it. If I don't do yoga pretty much every day, I tighten all up and lose any ground I've made. The biking, and the weight training and the rowing are so good for so many reasons, but not so good for flexibility. It's like one step forward and two steps back with yoga. So it's frustrating. But I do like it a lot and will keep plugging away at it.
I'm actually going for a Yogafit certification next weekend. When I was teaching fitness classes, I signed up for a Yogafit certification class. Then when I quit, I cancelled it and lost my $50 deposit. Then a few weeks later, they sent me a postcard offering me 25% off the certification, which is a good deal and would make up for the $50 I lost, and then some. So I wanted to take a little trip away on my own at some point this summer anyway, so I'm going to the Yogafit certification. I don't plan on pursuing teaching right now, but it will be good to have on my little fitness resume. I totally want to get back into teaching fitness classes once the kids are in school because I really love it, so it will help if I have this training.
So that's where I'm at on the exercise front.
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