Sunday, August 17, 2008

Some Walking, Some Running and Yoga



I have to admit, I have a very hard time with motivation on the weekends. My days are unstructured, I enjoy relaxing, I don't feel like going anywhere. So, I find it a real struggle to push myself to go run or something, like I do during the structure of a weekday. The day was waning today when I finally decided to drag myself downstairs to the treadmill. I decided to try one of the pre-programmed options on my treadmill for a change. I hadn't tried these before because I was worried that the top speed would be faster than I can handle. However, I found the opposite to be true, it never seemed to take me past a fast walk. I was able to bump it up myself however, so I did throw some running intervals in there. I've been watching GI Jane on the player by the TM, looking for kick ass inspiration, so I was particularly motivated to run during some of the more ass kicking parts. I need to find some other equally inspiring movies to watch from the TM, but my mind is currently a blank. Anyway, what I liked about the program was that it took me continuously up & down inclines. This was done much more than I would do myself and it took me as high as 7 or 8%, so I think I will try and use the programs again. Now that I know that the speed isn't too aggressive, I will definitely add more running intervals though. After the program was complete, I stayed on the TM and then did an additional mile of more regular running intervals. The total distance walked & run was about 2.5 miles.

After my treadmill session, I decided to try some yoga. I had purchased a beginner's yoga dvd a little while ago, but hadn't tried it yet. I bought a yoga mat while I was at Target yesterday, so I decided that I had run out of excuses. This particular dvd features an AM session and a PM session. Ideally it means for you to do this twice a day, the AM first thing in the morning, and then the PM to wind down from your day. I don't know how realistic it is for me to think that I'll actually do this twice a day every day, but I like the concept. Anyway, I did the PM version and found it relatively easy, with some nice stretching and relaxation parts. And it only took about twenty minutes, so it really wasn't at all overwhelming. Over all, I found it to be a nice cap off to my workout.

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