back in the saddle

this morning I knew I wanted to get back to exercising. I bought a recumbent indoor bike about 3 years ago when I was first diagnosed with health problems. For a person of size the recumbent bike is just so much easier. Your back doesn't hurt as much, you feel sturdier, it's easy to see the readout and it's low impact on your knees.

Before I started running, I biked in my back room 3 days per week and started out doing the interval program on my bike. I would bike for 30 minutes and each minute the resistance would go up & down for me. When I first started my mile distance was about 5 minutes. Then as I worked out I got my time down to 3:30 for a mile. Jumping back on the bike today I wasn't sure what I would be able to achieve. Although just the other day I heard the words "you can't loose fitness in a month" I still was unsure of how I would do.

So the curtains were drawn on our sliding glass doors (cause I don't like my family to watch), I turned the gas stove on in the back room (because there is no heat in the back room), and I popped my headphones on and started.

It was a lot easier than I thought and I wasn't concentrating on my time or my distance, I just wanted to keep a good pace, break a sweat, and just feel OK. After the first 3 minutes passed I looked down at my distance. I was close to the mile mark. It took me 4 minutes to hit a mile but then I decided I wanted to keep that pace. 26 minutes later, i hit 8 miles.

I got off the bike, felt a little light headed but that's cause I did not properly cool down. I was just excited that I made it through 30 minutes and wasn't overly winded or hurting. I could feel the muscles in my legs firing and I knew that it was a good thing.

I like working out in the morning because then I don't need coffee or tea. It just sets the day right. I know, it sounds nerdy & impossible and believe me I have days when I push my workout to the evening or even the next day. Still, it makes me feel good and when I put the exercise in my food journal well, I get to have more food to still hit my intake for the day. Sometimes that means more chicken, more greens, but tonight is the first night of rehearsal so it will probably equal out to one beer.