Mixing it up

Holy cow am I sore from the stair climb on Sunday….OW!

I think that the use of muscles long since forgotten has resulted in a very vocal protest on their behalf to the rest of the body. Put it this way…I had to consciously think about going for a coffee in the company kitchen, decided that it would be too sore so had a mental vote against the coffee….I know that I need to get up and move around to prevent seizing up but movement scares me J It is day 2 after the exercise and I guess that day 2 is notoriously known as the sore day but really….oooooooowwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

The purpose of this post if anything is for me to have a whinge - because everyone I tell, and that is anyone that has the compassion to ask why I am walking funny, tells me it is my fault/choice…not helpful! True maybe but not helpful none the less. No really the purpose of this post for anyone that may glance through it is to sing the praises of mixing up your training.

For the past 5 months I have been running, mostly on the road with a little treadmill work thrown in too. I had the grand total of 3 cardio sessions in all that time and a couple of bike rides. I ran the half marathon a couple of weeks ago in 2hrs and 6 mins so whilst not super fit I felt that I had a good level of fitness. I need to rethink this…whilst I think that I have some fitness the body has become used to the training and so the protests the muscles are making are all the louder as they are from breaking the norm.

Just as we have broken the norm with the lifestyle change (I will no longer call it a diet as it is a choice of eating habit and if I fancy a treat I will have it and not call it cheating – more on that at a later point in time) so if we can change out habit in terms of eating why too should we not change our habit in terms of exercise.

Make it fun – this helps keeping us getting out there.

Make it have targets – this helps to have a sense of purpose. It is not just to get fit/lose weight/tone up – these are positive side products of the exercise. If the sole reason for exercise is to lose weight then I think you may lose your way and end up disappointed. It is a side product of the lifestyle change we are making and not the reason for doing it in the first place. This is something that I am only just starting to come to terms with myself.

Baby steps – you cannot go from not exercising in years to trying to smash out High Intensity Training sessions, running 10k (or 5 laps of a stair case…). Take it slowly and listen to your body, baby steps is all it takes!

Mix it up – the moaning noise made every time I stand up (or at least attempt to) is testament to that.

All that said, I look forward to the next time I tackle those stairs because believe me I can feel the benefits and this weekend the new training experience is going to be a beach run…

Have fun and enjoy the journey.

Happy thoughts and scales everyone.