Feeling Strong

 My last post was about feeling pretty.  And while that was a nice feeling for a night, I would much rather feel strong.  And be strong.  And well... maybe once in a blue moon feel pretty too.

Over the last week I have gotten back into the exercise momentum that I lost after my holidays in November, then the plague in early December, and the chaos that is Christmas.  It feels good to be back at it and the happy endorphins it is releasing is powering me through the January blahs!

So what did I do over the last week for exercise?

• Sunday: squash, couch to 5k
• Monday: squash
• Tuesday: day off
• Wednesday: snowshoeing with the kids, couch to 5k, skating lessons
• Thursday: squash
• Friday: couch to 5k, skating lessons
• Saturday: snowshoeing 6k (at -24C!)
• Sunday: couch to 5k

And in between the formal exercise is the informal chasing of the terrors up and down the snow hills and around the rec centre gym.

I am surprised at how much I am enjoying this new couch to 5k program.  I have only finished five sessions, but it is good!  Today it was a 5 minute warm up walk, followed by 1.5 min running + 2  min walking (repeat x 3), then 1 min running + 1 min walking (repeat x 2) and then ending with a 5 minute walk to cool down.  I covered just over 3km in that time period and had my earphones in and watched part of a tv show!  That really made the time pass quickly.

The snowshoeing trip on Saturday really made me feel strong.  That is my longest trip on my new snowshoes.  It was not incredibly tough, but it was still challenging enough to keep me breathing hard and sweating enough that I had to take off layers even at -24C.  I loved every minute of it and cannot wait to do it again.  The hardest part was trying to coordinate using the darn poles without hitting myself.

Snowshoeing at -24C. The Rabbit Trail 6k loop near our house.

My partner in adventure- Michelle.