Exercising

For a while now I’ve been wanting to write up a post about my exercise routine. For various reasons (I’m a bit of a procrastinator) I hadn’t gotten around to it. Until now, that is. I finally had some free time to sit down and write this. So, without further ado, here we go:


Exercising:


I’ve loved to roller-blade ever since I was little, and about 2 years ago, my boyfriend and I started going to a local rink every week. On Sunday nights we head out with a few friends we’ve recruited and skate to really bad 70’s and 80’s pop music. It’s a ton of fun though, and it’s really great exercise.


Even so, it’s not enough exercise. One of my New Year’s Resolutions from last year was to develop some kind of regular exercise routine besides roller-blading every week.


In June I decided that it was high time that I took care of that, and I decided to make some use of the treadmill that was collecting dust in our den. I started walking on the treadmill every day, for about 30 minutes. It wasn’t much, but it was a good start.


Shortly after I started exercising (or maybe before, I really can’t remember now) I discovered LilyPie Pregnancy, baby and parenting tickers. Now, I’m not pregnant, and I don’t plan on being so anytime soon. But Amanda Crichton, who runs the site, also runs DaisyPath which features Anniversary and Birthday tickers, PitaPet featuring count-down tickers for your pets, and LilySlim. LilySlim has count-down and count-to tickers to help you keep track of your weight loss, diet days and even exercise!


So I started using my custom LilySlim tracker (you can see it in the right-hand column on my blog) to keep track of how many days in a row I had exercised. I knew myself well enough to know that if I didn’t exercise every single day, that I just wouldn’t keep up with my routine. I’m not the kind of person who can work out a few times a week and keep that up. With this at least, it’s all or nothing. The best part was that I could see my days of exercising adding up. “I have been exercising for 2 weeks and 4 days!” the tracker would proclaim proudly. And I loved seeing that number get higher and higher.


The only problem was that if I ever missed a day, I’d have to reset the tracker. And I did, a few times. It wasn’t pleasant to see my total go from a few weeks to only a few days, and I never liked seeing that big fat zero on the day that I would start over. After a while I realized that the only way to avoid having to constantly reset the tracker (and lose all of my wonderful progress) would be to simply not miss any days.


And I haven’t! As you can see by looking at the tracker I’ve been exercising daily for 6 months, 1 week, and 1 day! I don’t know about you, but I think that’s something to be proud of.


My LilySlim tracker has been a huge help in accomplishing my goal of daily exercise. Most days I get on the treadmill and walk for 40 minutes or so, and on Sundays, I still go roller-blading with my boyfriend. But some days I just feel like getting outside for a bit. That’s when my other little piece of technology helps me out.


I downloaded the free MyTracks app for my smartphone, and I love it! Let’s say I want to go for a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood, and I want to maintain a certain speed, I can totally do that! The app uses GPS to track where I am, and how fast I got there. I turn it on at the beginning of my walk, and turn it off when I’m done. In the meantime, it’s been gathering data about the distance I’ve walked, the speed I walked at, and even the elevation. The app provides maps with trails marked on them to represent where you’ve been walking (or biking). You can even set it up so that distances you walked at a faster or slower pace are marked in different colors. For example, if I see a lot of green on my map, I know I better speed up a bit!


I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I freakin’ love this app! What it really does for me, is allow me to get out of the house. I can go for a hike through the woods and know that I’m getting just as much, if not more exercise than if I were to stay at home and walk on the treadmill. A big part of exercising daily, at least for me, is knowing that I’m getting the same amount of exercise in every single day, even if the work-out itself varies. I don’t want to get stuck in a rut, and the tools I’ve discovered are helping to prevent that.


Okay, I think that’s about it for now kiddies. I hope you enjoyed this brief glance into my daily routine. Stay tuned for my next post, which will hopefully be a continuation of my movie reviews from last April.


P.S. I have to admit that while I really try to improve my mind by reading while I’m on the treadmill (and my kindle is great for that), more often than not I bring along my laptop and watch Hoarders.