My Journey With Health And Fitness – Back At Home

Well, arrived back home late Saturday after my longest trip ever away from home. 2 1/2 months is a really long time to be away though I don’t regret doing it. The challenge I have now is that everything I wasn’t working on while away needs to be dealt with. Many people waited until I came home to start piling stuff on me and now that pile has gotten huge. I’ll just simply work on it each day until I get through it.

I was pretty good at the condo in terms of trying to work out every day. I admit the last week I was a little slack by not doing my online classes but I made sure to walk at least an hour every day. The problem with that is it really isn’t enough for me. I need to keep moving and that means a hell of a lot more than just an hour a day. In my defense, when we left it had gotten really hot so even walking at 5:30am it was 28 degrees and super humid. That always tends to discourage me because when it is that hot you are just constantly sticky and wet with sweat. It is not a pleasant feeling.

I also realized that at the condo I do not really have a way to challenge myself as much. Sure, this time I found that local gym and would go there a few days a week to work with heavier weights (the ones at the condo are only 10lbs) but I don’t believe that is a sustainable solution while there because of the costs. I’m just going to have to work on finding a way to keep myself up to my normal level while I am there because if not when I come home I have to fight to get myself back to my normal fitness level.

Despite the late night Saturday I was determined to get even a short walk done. I opted to walk up to the local Farmers Market to meet my husband and sister and hopefully pick up some local fruit (which I did). This is when I really noticed the difference. You see, you are not getting to the City centre from our house without going up an incline. I got part way there and thought ok, my legs are just not used to that now because all the roads around the condo are really flat. Still I kept going because I have a limited amount of time before my next trip to build up again. I got through it though.

Yesterday I was back at my gym and determined to push myself. I think I did fairly well. Then it was walking time. I decided the best was to do it in segments, 2 one hour segments with a rest break then a 1/2 hour walk. It was the most I had done in 2 months (remember that whole foot issue that made me have to cut back). Since I got through that ok, today I again did a class 1st thing but it was 3 one hour walks. Tomorrow I have to cut back a bit because of my schedule but it is probably a good thing to allow for a little recovery. My goal will then be to push myself Thursday and Friday.

I can’t deny it, I do like walking when the weather cooperates. There’s just something about hitting the pavement, listening to a good book that seems to clear my head a bit. I guess after 5 years of being in motion I finally have to acknowledge it’s a good thing.