exercise: changing things up

I love running. I really do. It’s easy for me, and it’s so easy to throw my shoes on and head outside. (It’s also been cheaper than joining a gym just to run on a treadmill.) A couple of months ago, I bought a Groupon for our YWCA thinking it would be fun to take some of their classes, and also get a discount on swim lessons for the little guy.

I activated our membership last week (it’s a family membership) and we went to a cycle (read: spin) class on Saturday. It was fun to do with the husband, and they have a drop-in childcare, so L was well taken care of for the hour. The husband and I weren’t sure if we were doing things right, since we found the class somewhat easy. I think I needed to add a bit more tension during some parts, but as the day wore on, I realized I must have done SOMETHING right as my legs became increasingly sore. Today, 48 hours later, my legs are still a bit sore. (I can attribute some of the soreness to mowing the lawn directly after the class, but I’m not usually this sore.) My abs even felt it.

Of course, I’ll be back. It’s just a matter of figuring out which classes fit into our schedule.

This Saturday, I think I’m going to give water aerobics a try. I’ve done water aerobics classes in the past (not consistently) and in college I did them with my cross country team. I was in the best shape of my life when I was running cross country (my longest run at that time was 5 or 6 miles. Nothing like half or full marathon training) and doing water aerobics.

I have at least one 5k in mind that I’d like to sign up for, and possibly two 5k races. Only one is local.

The Y offers other classes that appeal to the husband – like yoga. I’m not sure if I’m really cut out for yoga. My husband absolutely adores it though. A couple of days ago, I even found him looking up yoga teacher training courses on websites like https://www.siddhiyoga.com. But I’m excited about the swimming and cycling, so that’s something.

We have two months of this membership, and then I think we’ll decide on whether we want to keep it long-term. Seeing how the little guy’s bedtime is 7:30, I’m not sure how often we’ll be there right after work. I don’t want to spend my two free hours with him exercising (and leaving him at child care), when we could be out walking or running together. Side note: I tried running with the jogging stroller a week or so ago. Whoa. That’s a a tough workout!

It seems that I’m definitely changing things up, which is good so I don’t get bored. And here’s hoping that I’ll be back to my racing shape sooner, rather than later!

What classes or activities do you do, in order to keep from getting bored?