Exercise Dive--Thank You Mr. Cold!

This post needs some color!

Mucinex is a wonderful thing.  If you ever get a nasty cold, with tons of congestion, take this.  It will suppress your cough enough that you can function, and dry up all that snot stuck in your head and chest.  Of course, you will still need to blow your nose, and use up at least two boxes of kleenex in this process.  Then you get the dried out skin around your nose, which looks so attractive when you're talking to customers at your job!  No amount of lotion makes it look better.  And forget about looking hot for your man.


Today is my day off this week, and I am doing nothing.  I did  have the weekend off, but since I was not feeling my best, and I was away from home, I couldn't lay around and feel gross.  I got to walk around and feel gross! But my honey took care of me and so far--fingers crossed-he hasn't caught the ickies.  It's going around my store; I think 4 people are sick from it.  


Being knocked out by this cold has pretty much killed my exercise for the week.  I would love to go outside and try running, but it's a cool 34 degrees, and I think I probably should take one more day to get my energy back and not have an aching head!


It looks like April will be my grand start to working out consistently.  And by workout, I mean weights--at least twice a week, and lots of leg work.  I am convinced that I only got through my first half marathon with a decent time because I had a personal trainer all summer who worked me out on a lot of strength-training equipment and showed me the proper way to train.  It certainly wasn't because I followed a training program for the half marathon.  I just ran all summer, and I think the farthest I ran was 10 miles.  I would have probably done better if I had eaten during the run, but I didn't and lost my energy after mile 10. I know the strength-training was what got me through it, so that's what I'm working on this spring and summer, along with the running.


Cause yes, I am running one more half marathon.  It will be my last long race.  I've decided, with much thought and a very intense discussion with my honey, that I don't need to run long races anymore.  I ran them to prove to myself that I could.  Last year was very disappointing race-wise for me, so I am doing one more to prove to myself that I can "come back" and know that I have done my best.  After that, I will continue to run 5k's and other races, but no more half marathons or full marathons.  And I am happy with my decision.  I started running to be healthy, and that's what I want to focus on, not the competitive stuff.  It's just not me.  I want running to be part of my life, like gardening and cooking, not all of my life.  I don't want to think about fartleks, supplements, improving my PR for every race, or any of that stuff.  I just want to run for fun and not have to run so far on a given day.  


So this summer is my time to train one more time.  Get myself back to a healthy weight, turn my wimpy legs into the muscle machines they need to be, and feel good about my physical self.  And I'm getting that Garmin!  What fun it will be to just start running and not have to map out a distance.  Just look at the Garmin and see how far I've run, and decide how much farther I want to go.  And I am going to try a spin class again.  


I had some tests done at the Doctor's office, and they all came out just fine.  This frees me to work out harder, knowing that it is anxiety that makes my heart race, and not a physical problem.  With that knowledge, I can work on ways to cope with anxiety and feelings of disappointment when I don't feel my work out was the best.  If I had Average Girl's will power, I would be ready to conquer the world sugar-free and fabulous.


So goodbye, Mr. Cold!  You suck.  I'll be bouncing back in the next few days and hitting the gym.  Now, if only the weather would warm up!  This is really ridiculous.  Even the early blooming flowers are saying "what the f**k?"