Back on the Treadmill...Again

On Tuesday night, October 13th, I finally got myself back on my treadmill, with whom I have a love-hate relationship with.

Whenever I get bored or lose motivation, I hate the machine that is always waiting for me in the corner of my basement. When I'm motivated and seeing progress, I love the treadmill and think about it often. Of course, just because I think about it, doesn't mean I spend quality time with it.

So on Tuesday, I finally decided I haven't been getting enough pure cardio into my workouts. I popped in a workout video; one I haven't tried yet but has been in my house forever, and hopped on the treadmill. I did intervals, switching between walking and running and changing the incline. I sweated but felt great running! I was trying to remember why I stopped shortly after discovering I can actually run earlier this year.

As a kid in school, I NEVER finished a mile run, even though we had to do it twice a year. I always preferred to "power walk" it. I was a thin, tall kid who was probably very able to do it, considering I rode my bike and rollerbladed everywhere. I don't know if I didn't want to sweat or if I thought it was just too hard, but I figured since I could walk it in 13-15 minutes, I didn't need to run it!

When I started my fitness journey in January of this year, I worked my way up to being able to run 3.10 miles (5K) without stopping. Then, I did the worst thing for me...I stopped working out completely. Why? I have no idea. I'd love to say I didnt have the time, but I think it was that I didn't think it was important to make the time and I was losing motivation because the scale wasn't showing any progress, even though my clothes were telling me otherwise.

 This time around, I'm determined to keep up the exercising. I need to push myself to fit it into my schedule, even if it means getting up earlier in the morning, and I really need to focus on staying within my allowed calories for the day. Unfortunately, I've always had an unconditional love of food.

 Here's to another mile of running logged on the ever-faithful treadmill!

Hiking

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went hiking at Afton State Park. We hiked for one hour and forty minutes, which burned a whopping 1126 calories according to my heart rate monitor. The hills were challenging (and there were plenty of them), but we kept at them at a steady pace with breaks as needed. It was amazing to me how many calories I burned doing something that didn't seem that hard.

 Of course, if I rewind my mind to about a month ago, I can recall just how difficult our first attempt at hiking was at Frontenac State Park. True, the trail there was much steeper and contained steps rather than a gravel trail; however, I feel that my fitness level and stamina has increased greatly.
Earlier this year, we decided to get annual state park stickers so we could explore some of our state rather inexpensively. We've used the permits several times and recently discovered that the parks offer a hiking club where members hike on their own but log the miles and passwords. There are rewards at various mileage markers, including a plaque showing your accomplishments and free night stays in the campgrounds.
 Although it is late in the year, we still plan to join this year and want to spend the rest of the fall hiking and accumulating points. It's so much easier to exercise when you have a goal and a purpose.
 For us hiking is a great way to explore our state, get outdoors, exercise and spend quality time together. We've tried biking and other activities but hiking is easier, burns as many calories and we can see so much more, as most of the parks have double the hiking trails as they do biking trails.