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| Welcome to the Thunderdome. |
Now that the boy has started to sleep through the night, I've been able to get into more of a routine for working out. For running, I'm using the Hal Higdon Training for 5k, Novice Level. I'm currently at week one, running for 1.5 miles. The first day was challenging and I walked a little bit, but the past two runs I've actually run the whole thing. This morning, I felt great the whole time.
One of my biggest challenges is my inner critic. Sometimes it manifests itself in the form of my shadow, which I've talked about in this blog. Monday morning on my run, it tried to taunt me: "Look at how SLOOOW you're going. Do you REALLY think you're running?" This time, though, before I could let it get to me and depress me into walking, I said back, "Hey, if I'm casting a shadow, it means I'm still upright!" I laughed about that the rest of the run. I'm guessing it's a good thing I go early in the morning so no one can see a crazy fat girl laughing while running...that has to be a sign of the apocalypse, right?
Speaking of the end of the world...I won't lie. I might have prayed for death yesterday morning. For my alternate days' workout, I've decided to try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. I've heard great things about it from friends and family, and I could check it out of our library for three weeks. Yesterday I got up, dressed, grabbed my weights, and turned on the DVD.
Jillian Michaels does NOT mess around. From warmup to cool down you DO NOT STOP. There is no rest during the workout. It is set up like a circut, mixed cardio and strength workouts. The strength parts were challenging, but I could keep up. The cardio sections were tough, and there were a few times I did stop, and I SWEAR Jillian could see me through the TV screen, because whenever I stopped to catch my breath, she would say "I know it's tough but DO NOT STOP!" ...I may have gasped a few curse words at her in return.
One of the cardio workouts is jumping jacks, which I haven't done since high school. I was afraid to do them in the house at first, because I expected the house to shake when I jumped up and down. When that didn't happen, I kept going. The second circuit of jumping jacks, I heard this...flapping noise. With horror, I realized: that was me. It was my stomach flapping with my jumping.
I wasn't sure if I was going to share that not-so-pretty moment, but this is what Chasing Chubby is about. Working out is NOT supposed to be pretty. It's sweaty and smelly, and now loud and flappy.
It's all worth it. I'm a little sore from the 30-Day Shred, but this morning I put on a pair of pants that the size did not start with a "2" for the first time since getting pregnant with the boy. I'll totally be flapping away again tomorrow.
