Sunday: yoga and five mile walk

Well, today's 'fitness' pursuit included a yoga class and a five mile, causal, walk with T and the little dog. We walked around 'the pond' (a lovely paved trail around a pond) near our house. The distance is 1.5 miles and it's .7 to the pond (and .7 back). So, we did two loops and with the trip there and back I'm fudging a little by calling it 5 miles, but it's nearly 5. It was a nice day of movement...though admittedly I all too often struggle when I don't work out 'hard' with intensity. Usually the absence of this results in poor body image, negative self talk and poor emotion regulation. As such, you can probably easily imagine how easy I am to live with tonight. Alas, I will return to my 'regular' gym time tomorrow after work.

Oy Vay, what is my deal?

In my first post I mentioned the difficulty I have felt in locating a gym sin my cross country transplant. I can and have located MANY gyms in Boston. Gyms with meat heads, gyms without meat heads. Gyms with fancy equipment and gyms with worn, tattered equipment. I have seen and used neighborhood gyms and fancy downtown gyms. I have joined three, and have left three (or rather, I have left 2, but the third is on its way out). And I continue, despite my love for movement, fitness and exercise, to miss that lovin' feeling that I have had with prior gym spaces.

This displacement has resulted in diminishing workouts though I continue to move this body on a daily basis. The weather here is beautiful in the summer and I walk daily for 3-5 miles. I do however miss group fitness yoga, group strength training classes and kickboxing classes. I run and do the 'basics' on my own, but I miss the sense of belonging and 'social time' that naturally comes with attending a class or being a member at a gym.

I have been considering a 'scary' proposition, one that I have not ever considered before. I am actually considering foregoing the gym membership per say and continuing my daily movement and exercise on my own, and joining a yoga studio instead of a 'gym'.

Any suggestions?

Yoga, Running, Spinning and Lifting...OH MY!

I'm an exerciser. I love to participate in regularly planned, structured physical exertion. I make it to the gym most days, but also understand that my life is one of luxury. I do not have children, I have enough financial resources to afford 'workout outfits', shoes, a gym membership and the other 'accoutrement' that accompanies this very white, non-child, middle class, able-bodied approach to exercise. I also appreciate that these values are NOT the values of all people and that the way that my values and status position me is NOT a more valuable position than that of others. Meaning, I do not think that people who do not do movement the way I do movement are lessor people or doing less to care for themselves than I do.

That said, I've tried a few classes at my new gym and have used their machines several times. I am happy to report a return to yoga! I attended a 'beginners' course in yoga on Sunday last with great success. I left feeling like I worked, but not like I had damaged myself (as I have in the past). I also attended a cycling class last night and did not enjoy it as much as a) other cycling classes I have taken, or b) as much as I enjoyed the yoga. I am happy to report that I am running again (regularly even) and strength training every other day. Slowly I am getting back to my regular 6-days a week routine and feeling strong and healthy again.

Like my sister my daily movement is also influenced by lots of walking. Unlike my sister, this walking is not in a lovely high desert community, but in an interesting urban landscape where I trek to trains, bus stops, office space and dog parks (to ensure that my small dog gets her daily movement as well!) multiple times a day. I sometimes think that this movement is among the most important in my day...even more than my 90 minutes at the gym.

The Neglecting Blogger

Although I truly love reading other peoples blogs...I myself am not a good blogger! This blog is all about my sister and I blogging, sharing and connecting with each others daily movement from opposite sides of the US. It is a really great way for us to stay in touch and support each other. Unfortunately this "blogging" is not something I am good at so.....blogging now needs to become part of my Daily Finger Movement.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, The last few days I have not been running but I have thought about it!! Fortunately, I have been riding my bike.

To the grocery store, dog walks, website management meetings, farmers market and anywhere else I tend to burn gas getting to...I have not. I actually have only driven 1 time since my last post. This one time I drove it was pouring rain, hail and flooding so I figured it might have been a little unsafe to actually ride my bike....still might be an excuse (but a good one!). I am focusing my daily movement on making more movement where I normally would not, at least up till this post!:)

New Life, New Gym(s), New Exercise Routines

Today was the second day of really fantastic, off the charts workout since our arrival in Boston. After we unpacked and felt relatively settled (see posts on lotuserupted.blogspot.com) I started back to my daily movement routines. Naively, and despite everything I know about exercise and the influence of life transitions on exercise (and other healthy) routines, I thought I would just immediately pick up where I left off working out a few hours a day. It turns out that the emotional and physical disruptions that naturally characterize a relocation DO indeed interrupt previously well established exercise routines. Something seemed to come up every day that kept me from getting to the gym or the park (for a run). So, instead I have been doing a ton of walking and recently returned to running short distances.

This week however it seems that I have turned over a new leaf. We have tried MANY gyms since arriving in Boston (see my heart is still in it!), but nothing really fit. Despite the mismatch I have had a few really terrific interval workouts in which I combine intense cardiovascular work with high rep/low weight strength training. I have also had a great heavy strength training workout this week.

Today we picked a new gym, located only 1 mile from home, that seems to be a much better fit. I ran nearly 3 miles and felt terrific! I could actually feel my bad mood slipping away under my pounding feet. The bonus was that my lady joined me...is there anything better than running beside the love of your life? I have also found that the time I've taken 'off' from heavy training has given new life to my legs for running and all of my 'lifting' muscles. Turns out these 'exercise-experts' may know a thing or two about 'rest' and 'recovery'.

So, here's to turning over a new leaf...in Bend (go sis go!)and in Boston where everything is the same but oh so very, very different!

Day 1

July 22, 2010

Today was my first day of getting back to....well I guess movement.

Over the years I have become less and less active. I say this even though I walk at least 4 miles a day. This walking is work…although it is fun and I enjoy it immensely, it is simply a way to bring in money. So, today I ran. I ran 1 mile and then repeated 10 sun salutation and just for good measure 100 old fashioned sit ups.

I woke up at 6:30 and said to myself, you are going to go for a run. But as I poured myself a cup of coffee and started putting some thought into how my day was going to pan out I began to talk myself out of going for a run. I have to much to do today to take a quick half hour out and have some movement…But then I said no, I am going to do this!

I quickly grabbed my running shoes, sweats, bra and ipod before I could talk myself out of it. I did a few stretches and hit the pavement. In less than a 1/4 of the mile my ankles stopped popping the sweat started pouring and I felt GREAT! Just at about the midway point my ipod jumped out of my pocket and started bouncing down the side walk and into the street. Fortunately, it stayed intact and only suffered a few scratches! Whew!

I would love to say that it was a beautiful morning and so spiritually awakening that it gave me a whole new piece of mind but, it didn’t. It did feel good and I am stoked that I ran but when you go for a run for the first time in a long time it feels more like, wow I am really out of shape!

So, here is to (hopefully) the first day back to daily movement!! CHEERS!