Eye of The Tiger

Why "Eye of The Tiger", Kimberley? 

Simply because it has been in my head all morning.  


For the past two weeks I have been trying to get back into working out.  I've never fully committed myself to it, but I've had instances where I have tried for a month at a time.  In May of 2012, I decided that my exercise was going to be push mowing yards.  It wasn't an incredible workout, but it got me outside and moving, and it was something that I needed to do anyways.  

I have a very light complexion, so I decided that I would only go out in the very early morning, and I still covered myself with sunscreen.  I would mow my mother's yard and my own.  I would mow for only about an hour to avoid the heat (it was a really hot summer, I was still sunburned every once in a while.)  It would normally take me 3-4 days to get both of our yards mowed, but it was worth it because it saved my mother some money, and it was something that I could do to help with the reconstruction efforts at our house.  

During this time, I was monitoring my calorie intake and I ended up losing 10 lbs in a month.  So I guess it was pretty good exercise.   It's one of my most successful dieting strategies ever.   I did eventually gain some of the weight back, but I remember how incredibly motivating it was. 

So let's get past the history lesson.  

Let's discuss why this morning was so wonderful.   Like I said, I've been trying to go to the gym 4 times a week.  My plan has been to go Monday and Tuesday, then I take Wednesday off, then I go Thursday and Friday.  I don't think that this is a poor plan, I end up having days for recovery in between so that I don't wear my body out. 

Today was Friday, and it was actually the first time that I've felt strong enough to go on the fourth day.  Last week I was sore most of the weekend from exercising.  

I always try to get there right after the sun rises.  This is normally at about 7 in the morning, and I always watch Charmed on TNT while I work out.  

This morning I got on the treadmill immediately, this is standard for me, as I'm trying to learn how to run without panicking every 30 seconds.  I haven't ran regularly since I was seven years old, so I always get a little scared and immediately give up.  Lately I've decided to combat this by doing interval running.  I run for 30 seconds at about 4.0 mph, then I walk at about 2.5 mph for 30 seconds, then I run again.  I'm managing to keep my heart rate up, I think.  According to the machine I'm still burning a large amount of calories, so that's super encouraging.  

Normally I do this for about 14 minutes before moving onto another machine.  But normally I am alone in the gym.  This morning when I was about 5 minutes in, two girls came in.  They got on the other two treadmills (one of the treadmills is a dinosaur of technology).  Because I had a good treadmill, I realized if I stopped running, they would claim it and I wouldn't be able to come back and do another 10 minutes on it.  Instead I upped my time to 26 minutes of intervals.  

I eventually did have to start resting for 1 minute in between running, but it was still great that I could go that long.  My hope is that I will eventually be able to run without taking breaks, but I think I need to strengthen my heart first.  

After my 26 minutes (and 189 calories :] ), I got on the elliptical for 20 more minutes, then decided to leave. When I got back to our apartment, I did 15 minutes of yoga or stretch my continuously aching muscles.  Overall I had a morning burn of 443 calories, which is incredible for me! 

It made me proud, and it's a morning workout that I want to remember and repeat.  So this is a good day.  I'm still going to log my calories today, but I'm not going to be nearly as worried as I normally am.  

I am two weeks into my diet and I have lost 4 lbs.