Thursday, September 11, 2008

Starting Up a Brand New Day

I've been listening to a lot of Sting lately... and this song really sticks with me when I hear it. Like I did this morning when I was at the gym. I had a series of really disturbing dreams last night, which made me sit up in bed, wide awake at 5AM. I said to myself "Calm down, sleep for another 75 minutes, and then hit the gym." Yeah... I ended up sleeping until 8:15 (have you noticed that I have no qualms about hitting the snooze for about an hour straight before I just turn the damn thing off?) I finally got to the gym right before 9 (NPR sucked me into the 9/11 stories) and decided to do something that I had been doing prior to the summer black hole of exercise. I did some cardio circuit training. On the days that I wasn't running, I would choose two or three different cardio machines and spend 10-20 minutes on each one, just to mix things up a bit.

I did that today. Did 10 minutes on the stairmaster, 20 minutes on the elliptical, and 10 minutes on the rower. After that, I did my weight circuit and I felt AWESOME. It felt good to have a clean workout after getting hung up on my running over the past week. I spend about 5-8 minutes stretching at the end of each workout. (do YOU take the time to stretch?) During this time, I like to reflect on my workout. I felt strong. I felt slimmer (phew... that's a long time coming!) I felt accomplished. Maybe a workout like today's is what I need to get over this mental hump. We'll see tomorrow when I go back outside (if it's not raining) to do another run.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sucked into those stories as well. You will get it going...nice post! :)

RooBabs said...

So glad that things are going better for you. Your workout routine sounds fantastic (and yes, I have to take time to stretch, or else I can't run the next day).

I like that Sting song. One of my favorites is an obscure tune from Mercury Falling (I think) and not sure what it's called, but it's all about "she can be all 4 seasons in one day". Hello! Story of my life.

Good for you for feeling stronger and slimmer- I think those endorphins are kicking in (love that). Good luck with tomorrow's run (and even if it's raining, you should give it a shot- running in the rain can be so cleansing and gives you a feeling of toughness- like you conquered nature).

Anonymous said...

uhoh
Im gonna be singing that all day :)

and no.
I should take time to stretch but, like you, im in a time crunch right now (wont be lifelong I pray) and that's what gets cut.

ONLY because I know I can get a little in here and there (playing w/toddler...brushing teeth etc) but I really should DEDICATE more time to it.

especially at my age (wink)