It's not that I am wholly unactive, but I've had a lot of start and stops. Some stops justified, others not. ...But I think mostly justified. Bad knee. Physical therapy. Pregnancy/post-partum.
I run. Well. I call it running. Really, it is probably more accurately described as a kind of bouncy-plod at a brisk walking pace. Here is the best visual representation of how I run:
...Yeah.... That's probably fairly accurate. Be that as it may....
And then there's a piece of wisdom I cling to, given to me by a close friend who is a coach at the middle school that I teach at, not to mention a veteran marathoner. She says, more or less, that if you're got the "bounce" part of running going on, you're doing good. Well, I bounce. I know that I bounce, because I can feel it in my rear. lol ..Another sign that I've had too many starts and stops, because I also know that after a few weeks of consistent running, that rear end bounce tends to decrease somewhat.
The problem is that running, right now, is not very conducive to my schedule. And by "not conducive", I mean that there are a few areas in which I refuse to budge:
- I will not run in the dark.
-Maybe I'm paranoid, but I've read one too many news articles that validate this decision.
-It doesn't help that right now we're in the tail end of winter, which means the days are still pretty short, and by the time I can run, it's already too dark to go out. - I will not wake up at the butt crack of dawn.
-I know. I know. Maybe eventually I can/will change this, but as of now, I am not a morning person, and no amount of motivation will cause me to be one.
Luckily, my parents, who have an XBox kinect, don't actively use it right now. They opted for an actual gym membership, which is something that is not currently in my budget.
Even more lucky, my parents brought the kinect, along with 1 dance game and 2 workout games, down for me when they came to visit recently.
I tried the one game the other day, "Your Shape". Not bad. Definitely a good workout. What I don't like is that you really (or at least I didn't, if you can) modify the workouts too much, and there were several workouts that engage your knees. My problem with that is that my right knee is wonky and gimpy, and exactly what landed me in physical therapy all summer long a couple years ago. Squats, while a great workout, wreak havoc on my knee. I feel like an 80 year old, and I find myself wondering if a knee replacement would correct the issue. Seriously?! No. No surgery!
Today I spent the morning, and I do literally mean the whole morning, setting up my kinect profile, and then setting up again in EA Active 2. I decided to go for the 9 week program. Today was Week 1, Day 1/4.
Kicked. My. Butt.
My husband came home for lunch as I was closing in on the end of my workout. He wasted no time in making fun of my avatar's running style as I did circuit running. I was too busy trying to make my legs continue to notice, but he was kind of right. lol As I said before, when I say that I run, what I mean is faster than walking, with a bounce. My trainer was insiting I RUN, and since it was a "race", and I do have a streak of competitiveness in me, I had to win! You know, because outrunning a digital guy in spandex is extremely fufilling. :) ...I won.
He also got to witness me doing side to side jumps. He was very.....motivational.... lol "Jump higher! C'mon babe! Keep going!" ...I did complete the exercise, but I'm pretty sure gravity won. ...Kinda don't ask me to do one of those 'jump-in-the-air-and-I'll-take-your-picture' shots. It will be a futile attempt, that looks more like...
So. Anyway. Week One. Day 1/4, out of a 9 week program completed. Is it bad that I'm craving chocolate chip cookies?! lol
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