Weekly Rundown

I tricked myself this week: I aimed for six days and I worked out five 😉 Sometimes you just gotta fake yourself out to get it done.  I seem to be remarkably easy to trick.

Monday: After getting out of work on time, I came home and changed immediately. I find the longer I wait after I get home the less likely I am to exercise as planned. This is an issue on days when I get out late and really just want to eat lunch first. But this time I did my yoga. It was the Candlelite Yoga, and took about 37 minutes. I focused on deepening into the stretches–sometimes when I do the Candlelite I just use it as a relaxer rather than an actual workout. Today I worked it.

Tuesday: Another day out on time, and although I was pretty hungry, I made myself get out there. It was a beautiful, if chilly, day when I started, but the wind came up towards the end; making me glad it was near the end! I was doing my hill drills, and the five sets turned out to be a hair over three miles.  That is the longest I have run in a while, and I was pretty happy with myself that I managedto do it well during my drills.

Wednesday: day off. Here is where I derailed a little bit. I had planned a rather tough workout that I hadn’t done before, and I was resisting it. I came home and ate, and made excuses and finally admitted I was taking the day off.

Thursday:  my actual planned day off, as I worked both jobs. I knew I wasn’t going to do anything when I got home!

Friday: So cheating again, as I had bookended my day off with that tough workout, I did 21 minutes of free yoga. Must have done it right, however, as I made my arms and back hurt the next day.

Saturday: with a ten-hour day ahead of me, and a snowstorm on the way, I didn’t have a lot of time in the morning. I did squeak in 15 minutes of stretching yoga before heading out the door. One of my favorite standing poses is Tree pose. Perhaps it is my affinity for trees that makes me enjoy being one? Regardless, this is a great pose because it is adaptable to everyone. One can start with the raised foot against the other ankle and work it up the leg as one gets stronger.  A chair can be used for balance as well if needed. In the full pose, arms should be raised above the head, hands stretching up as one foot is pressed into the thigh of the other leg.

    “one thing we all want more of in life is balance, and tree pose can help us with that” 
                                                                                –Sara Ivanhoe

Sunday: a day off from work! How lovely.  I helped cleanup from the snowstorm and cleaned off my hay barn with the roof rake. Great for my abs and arms, but short, only took about 15 minutes. Later I helped bring in the wood–weight lifting! Finally, I got organized and did that workout I had been avoiding all week.  And what do you know, it wasn’t that bad. Took about 30 minutes  to do one circuit. This is a workout I found last year in Fitness magazine, and I can’t even tell you how much it hurt the first time I did it.   It has a Mon, Wed, Fri set and a Tues, Thurs, Sat set. I did both together–that’s what I had been avoiding.  It’s nice that I was able to do it so much better now! Next week, 2 circuits 🙂