Skip to main content

A different kind of exercise

Yesterday, I decided "to hell with you, gym.". This is the time of the year in Tucson when you can actually spend time outside, and you won't fear for your health. (i.e. dying of dehydration or severe sunburn)

So when I wanted to get some exercise, I drove to the gym, pulled into a parking lot FULL of Massechusetts license plantes, and said "Yep. It must be Senior Citizen exercise hour", and looked at the crowds indoors , (Oh, snowbird season, I love you....) ....



And so I said, "To hell with this..."

And drove 1 mile north to a park called "Riverfront Park".

Now, let's not be foolish, here. There's not really a river. There are no rivers in Tucson. But there's a "wash" that as once a river in the ice ages. So they have built beautiful bridges and running trails along these washes.

I turned on my heart-rate-monitor and started jogging not knowing where I was going.

I haven't done this in............

.....I don't remember the last time I did this! Training for the marathon -- everything was VERY regimented. "Run 6 miles, every other mile sprinted......Run 8 miles, 5 of which will be tempo....Run 20 miles...Blah, blah. blah"

Yesterday I just laced up my shoes, enjoyed the mountains and ran for 45 minutes. It made me feel free.

Then, after my run -- I walked over to the soccer field at the park and startd to do good ole' plylometrics. I skipped up and down the field, did high-nees, karoke step (however you spell that), and sprints. I'm sure other spectators around the park thought I was a crazy woman.....

But after my work out, I realized this exerted me and gave me the best cardiovascular exercise I've had in a LONG TIME. Dare I say even more envigorating than running 20 miles? I think this is -- due to that fact that I didn't feel the need to be dragged home on a stretcher after my work out! I felt energized!

This reminded me that things don't always have to be so regimented and militant. Making workouts fun makes them go much faster! So as we are all attacking our New Years Resolutions...try to remember that exercise is fun!

It's what we loved to do as children way back when -- remember playing tag and running around in circles for hours?? That was hard work! But it was fun...because we weren't staring at the monotonous count-down timer on an eliptical machine!!!! We were just simply moving

Comments

I love child-like exercise :)

I also love all the MA license plates- that will be me in another 40 years, sooner if all goes to plan haha
Lisa's Yarns said…
So funny about the MA license plates! (and about Kelly's comment).

I think it's good to find exercises that you enjoy. I like running, but by the time I was done training, I was SO tired of the super long runs. I mean, doing something that sort of requires an ice bath? That's odd. I've been enjoying doing shorter runs and doing things like biking and taking a strength training class.

See you tonight! :)
Unknown said…
Hey! Be nice to us snowbirds!! :)
Have a fun weekend with Lisa!!!!
Marlys said…
I enjoyed reading about your "outdoor" exercise! That sounds so much better than running on those machines! I've done very little of it in my life, except for our treadmill, but always found it extreme! I like my Wii-fit system so much better, and it lets me pick which ones I want! I must get back to it, though! January is slipping away!

Popular posts from this blog

One Confused Lady

Yesterday morning was packed with a session of cross training.....rushed home to shower and get professional-looking....headed across town for an interview.....kicked butt at my interview...."bopped" over to our house to see the progress of the build......headed to the "design center" to sign more paperwork.... (Side note: I cannot get over just how much paperwork is involved in building a house. Holy Hannah. And we haven't even closed !!! Iy-yi-yi....Those lovely people in history who got law-suit-happy.....God bless 'em.) Yesterday was a good day! So here's a little humor for your Thursday. A little thought. A little depth.....( A little cynical rant ) Afterwards, I decided to head to one of my favorite places to peruse.... Target. But my experience at Target was far from fun, relaxing, or pleasant. Just confusing. Loud. Crazy. Despite many screaming children-temper tantrums.... Which is common and un-escapable. Although screaming chi...

A weekend of the great outdoors

As I am preparing for my return to the real world tomorrow, I feel a strong sense of dread. As I won't have a weekend or free week for a long while! Instead of focusing on that.......I'm sharing a few snapshots from our awesome weekend! This weekend we were in Big Lake, AZ -- which is about 20 miles from the New Mexico border (just 5 1/2 hours from our house). (last weekend we were in Parker Canyon...which I will blog about another day) We camped from Friday-Monday, which was the perfect length of time. The temperatures were a great escape from hot Tucson. In fact...it was VERY cold at night. It was in the low 30's at night, 60's during the day. The trout fishing was incredible. Here's a few snapshots: Home Sweet Home for the weekend! Look at the giant tree I cut down!!! Wow!! (Okay, this was posed...) But...Ryan did teach me how to use a wood-saw! There were tons of dead/fallen trees lying around. So we cut all our firewood for the weekend! I felt very ...

St. Anthony, Where are you??!!??

So. Let's talk about my day so far. And why I suck at being organized. Do any of you know these people who always have it together? They never lose ANYTHING. They have a spare set of every important document, item possible. Every document has a file, every item has a place, every place has a label. They are always collected, have every duck is in the row. They live in perfection. This description is my husband: Ryan. My second question: Do you know anyone who's life is an absolute train wreck? They are always running in circles. They cannot be responsible for an important item if their life depended on it, because the strangest things happen to them. They never seem to be at the right place, or never seem to be on time. They cell phone often ends up in the refrigerator. There is always a giant debacle occurring. This description is me: Abby. Well this morning two people of this nature got to mingle a little. Well, they happen to be husband and wife--so they have to mingle withi...