Work in Progress

That Didn't Suck!

I am in the process of adding running to my fitness program. I started out with just two minutes. It was hard and when it was over I felt pretty crappy physically (but satisfied that I had done it). I am working towards running for twelve minutes (which should end up being about one mile) so I am increasing my time by thirty to sixty seconds every time I run.

On Saturday morning, I ran for four minutes. (Hey, I just realized, that's 1/3 of the way...I'm very fond of dividing things into thirds!) The thing is, the four minutes didn't suck. I felt like I was breathing better (more deeply, maybe, I'm not sure) but I actuallly felt good when I was done. Oh - don't get me wrong - I was very happy that I had run for four minutes and even happier that it was over. But I LOVE the fact that I didn't feel like crap when I was done. That feels like definite progress!

Tonight I'm going to try for four and a half to five minutes.

I will say that I don't really like running on the treadmill. It feels very strange and I'm always half-expecting to lose my footing and shoot off the end into a heap. I'm curious to see if running outside might feel better for me. I have a nice one mile walk in my neighborhood...I may try running at least part of that to see how it feels. It will certainly be more interesting than watching the numbers on the display. Food for thought.

I had a very busy and interesting weekend. It was the first time since I started that I had to change up my workout schedule. I have been working out six nights a week and taking Mondays off, but I had so much going on yesterday (cleaning up after a sick kitty and helping out at my niece's birthday party) that I decided to switch my day off. I don't like the gym on Mondays - it's the most crowded night but I am only doing cardio, so it should be fine. It may actually be a good thing to switch the day off from time to time. My body seems to respond well to changing things up.

Random musings - when I started losing weight, I was at a point where my belly stuck out about the same distance as my chest. I caught a side-view of myself in the full-length mirror and I noticed that that isn't the case any longer. Yippee!!