Morning Workouts

Call me crazy, but I think I like working out in the morning?

Over the past two weeks, I’ve not only convinced myself to get my butt out of bed an hour earlier, but I then proceed to put on my workout gear and get my limbs in some sort of coordination that mimics what we know here on Earth to be exercise. Physical activity. Sweat and muscle. At 6 in the morning. And I’m enjoying it?

Like I said, call me crazy.

But what’s not crazy is checking it off my to-do list, and being able to come home after a long day to a glass of wine and some couch time rather than trying to motivate myself to go get in a workout.

If it’s raining, or I have limited time, I’ll do a short yoga video from Reflexion. But most days I go out for a run. Normally when I go running after work/internship, I’m thinking about things that happened that day, sometimes over analyzing situations. Exercise should be a time to de-stress! But in the morning I can just kind of be with my thoughts and let my brain do it’s thing. So, the other day I came home and wrote down everything that came to mind during my run.

Things I think about while running at 6am:

1) Why did my neighbor ask if I was going running or jogging? Is there really a difference?

2) It’s so effing humid. I feel like I’m swimming. Does running in this make my lungs conditioned more or less?

3) Aw look at all the baby ducks! I wonder what would happen if I tried to take one home with me. Would momma duck go ape-$h!t ?

4) These other people out running, I wonder what time they have to go to work?

5) Did Andrew wake up yet? I bet he slept through his alarm again.

6) I think I want eggs for breakfast. But I also want something cold. A smoothie? But I want eggs. I really want eggs. Probably gonna be a smoothie though.

Obviously, not a whole lot of intelligence in these thoughts. But it seems to make the miles go by quicker. I think I might just stick with the morning workouts.

Are you a morning workout person? How’d ya get in the habit?

Staying Active Lately

I’ve learned a lot of things about myself over the past year or two. So many things have changed and I’ve had to do a lot of just plain-old growing up.

One big thing I’ve learned about myself is that when it comes to exercise, it needs to be something that I actually want to do… not something that feels forced.

Since February, my workouts have been kind of sporadic and totally half-assed. But the past month or so, I gave it a different approach and now I find myself back into a groove that I’m liking.

Running. Walking. Yoga. That’s about it.

Andrew and I started running outside again, before it gets too hot in Florida for us to handle. Nothing major, no distance goals. Just short 2-3 mile runs in the sunshine.

I’ve also been taking Annie on long walks when I can, and really enjoying the quite time with my most favorite little creature on earth. I feel like she’s my child… normal?

And yoga? Well I know you guys want to hear about the yoga. How can a poor intern afford yoga? Well, I can’t really. My yoga mat is old and faded and I haven’t set foot in a yoga studio in over a year. Yoga doesn’t have to be all of that.

But if you’re like me, you probably prefer at least a little direction when getting your Om on. For a while I was YouTubing “full length yoga” and coming up with just terrible, awful videos that just left me frustrated. Until, one day, Clare from Fitting-It-All-In did a review on Reflexion Yoga. This is a website with dozens of full length yoga classes, ranging from 30-60 minutes, with all of their own instructors.

First let me just say that I absolutely LOVE how the site is organized. You can filter the yoga by difficulty, length, and specific instructor. Also, under each thumbnail of the class is a short description, saying what it specifically focuses on, the length and the difficulty.

Another plus is that the instructor is actually teaching the class to a student, so they will sometimes redirect the student’s posture or position. I find this to be helpful because they are typically things that I’m not fully aware of in my own practice, and it keeps me mindful in the more difficult poses.

The best part about Reflexion Yoga is that it’s only $12 per month. I swear I’m not trying to sell you on their site… I am in no way affiliated with them! Just a satisfied, paying-customer that wants to share my find with everyone. Finally, good-quality yoga I can afford!

Even more, they offer a 15 day free-trial, and if you decide you don’t like it then you can simply cancel your “order” before the 15 days is up so that they won’t charge you. They also have a “Free Content” section with just a handful of shorter videos to try out as well.

With my long-lost-love yoga thrown into the mix, I’ve really just been having fun staying active. It’s not that I don’t like lifting, or circuit workouts, or anything else.. but for right now I’m happy with what I’m doing and when I feel the need to change it up, then I will!

What workouts are you loving right now? P.S. Tell me if you try Reflexion Yoga and if you liked it!

 

Fit Friday: Lots of Dog Stuff

Workouts this week were kind of sporadic, and involved a lot of this face.

dogfaceSunday: long dog walk

Monday: another dog walk…. she was being so needy all day!

Tuesday: super fast 2.5mi run, cut an entire minute off pace! I was dying…

Wednesday: OFF.. had way to much stuff to do

Thursday: 3 mile run

Friday: P90X yoga… I was totally inspired by Amy’s post, especially that video! Oh an Annie made sure to stick close by for any downward dogs, she’s good at those

yogadogSaturday: the plan is a 6.5 mile run! gradually kicking up that mileage :)

 

And now a little something that I was nominated for… the Sunshine Award! Except, I’m only going to be answering the questions because last time I nominated a bunch of people for an award-thing, I was put on a spam list and it was a whole mess trying to get it fixed.

Thanks to Kelsey for nominating me… she’s a fabulous lady!

1) Who is your favorite philosopher? Because I’m a fan of rationalism, I’ll go with Decartes. I think, therefore I am…

2) What is your favorite number? I tend to go with odd numbers, like 3, 7, 9.. etc. But if I had to choose a favorite, probably 9.. because it rhymes with wine. Also a favorite.

3) What is your favorite animal? DOGS! As if that wasn’t obvious from this post.

4) What are your Facebook and Twitter? Ok so this is something that I should hop on board with.. I’ve been toying with the idea of creating a Twitter account for my little blog here, but I’ll be honest… I’ve tried the whole Twitter thing before and I just CAN’T get into it. And I have a FB, just not for the blog.

5) What is your favorite time of day? I love mornings. Coffee, my favorite meal of the day, that’s enough to get me out of bed.

6) What’s your favorite holiday? Welllll Christmas holds a special place in my heart, I really can’t deny that. Everything about it, the lights, the food, the family, the traditions, the snow (I mean.. in Michigan at least).

7) What is your favorite physical activity? Am I the only one who’s mind went immediately in the gutter? No? Ok, fine, running I guess..

8) What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? Easy answer, coffee.

9) What is your favorite flower? Orchids…

10) What is your passion? FOOD! Nutrition. Things related to food and nutrition. I just really love food. I love eating it, making it, reading about it, playing with it, researching it, analyzing it, creating it, talking about it, thinking about it, … and eating it… oh I already said that? Oh.

 

Do you like dogs as much as I do?! Do YOU have a dog?