Feeling Good

Tonight Mac and I went out for our first Princess training run. It was just 30 minutes but it felt good to get back out there. We were supposed to go for a 3 mile run this weekend as the first run but after walking a ton at the Tex Ren Fest and dealing with being out of town, we didn't do it.

It felt good to get a run in again. It has been a while since I have been out there. I didn't feel great during the run but by the end I was better. My biggest issue was the drastic temperature drop we have had the last few days. This weekend it was still in the 80s and muggy then the cold front came through and today when we went out it was just a little above 50. My lungs hate running in the cold. I read an article recently about how you should breathe while running, especially in colder temps. It said that you should only breathe through your nose because it warms up the air and adds moisture to it. Well, I couldn't handle that. My nose was running like crazy and I swear the cold air gave me brain freeze, haha. So I opted for the second method they recommended, breathing through a scarf or shirt over your mouth to capture heat and moisture. As we ran by the house I asked Mac to run in and grab the neck gator I purchased from Bondi Band last year. (I'm a little jealous looking at the website now because when I bought it last year, they only sold them in black and now they have tons of colors.) I slipped it over my face and instantly it was so much easier to breathe. I have to get used to having it on my face but it definitely made running in the cooler air much easier.

Once we were done I was a little disappointed in my pace as I saved my workout on runkeeper but I was happy I had at least gotten it done. When I got inside to check the map and chart on the computer I realized the map was a little off and once I fixed the few points that were wrong my distance and pace improved and I felt much better about the workout. I still have a long road ahead but taking those first steps really feel good.

Since this time around I am trying to focus on more than just running, I decided to get in my TurboFire workout before I took a shower. I think I am really going to like the program once I get the hang of it. It was easier for me to pick up on the combos today during the Low HIIT workout. Low HIIT stands for low impact High Intensity Interval Training and it will kick your butt. I am glad that it doesn't have all of the jumping that the high HIIT workouts will because after a run, I needed low impact. It was still brutal though. my legs were screaming at me half way through. There were still a few moves that I just couldn't figure out but over all I was able to pick it up pretty quickly and get in a great workout. For those tougher moves, in the future I think I am just going to have to pause the DVD so I can repeatedly do the moves at a slower pace until they make sense to me. I love that the stretching portion of the workouts is a separate thing.(You have to go back to the title screen and select the stretching.) It is the same stretch sequence most days so it is easy to remember how it progresses.

I still need a little while to get used to the program but I really think I am going to enjoy it. I've seen a little success with the 10 Day Challenge this time and I am sure that it will continue as I am running and working out more. Mac has made eating better easier because I'm not just cooking for me. We've tried some fun new things lately and that has been very nice. Some have been a hit and others haven't(for me, Mac loved it) but it is nice having someone who eats almost anything around for those meals that I'm not crazy about. It's also nice being able to actually use an entire loaf of healthy bread without having to throw it away half way through because of mold. When I was alone, even if I had a sandwich for lunch everyday, the bread I buy would go bad too quickly because I only buy stuff that is preservative free. It's the little things like that that are making things easier now that he is home.


Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge so I will be writing a recap on Thursday and letting you know how you can participate in a future challenge if you would like. I have hit one new milestone and I am VERY close to another so I will tell you about both hopefully on Thursday. Things have been going well. Much better than I expected and if I can keep this up, it will be awesome. Now I must go and eat my lemon pepper chicken and couscous, my favorite post workout meal and a great fall back dinner when we can't figure out anything else to eat.

(I'm also working on a post about some of the emotional and mental parts of this kind of journey that came up while we were at Ren Fest. Hopefully I will have it done for you soon.)