Welcome! I’m Caroline
follow me
Subscribe By Email
Search The Little Things Blog
Follow Me On Bloglovin’
Categories
Archives
January 21, 2014
2013 brought some surprises and changes in the area of exercise and fitness for me, and, as I’m hoping that they will continue on throughout 2014, I decided to write a bit about them.
- Biking! I actually started to bike again in July of 2012, but 2013 brought a solid and regular practice of it into my life (can you say practice for things outside of yoga and pilates?). All spring I biked once a week while training for my half marathon, but the summer of 2013 was when things really stepped up (I even clocked in my longest ride at 40 miles). I finally got a real bike this fall, and enjoyed rides a few days a week! In December I got a bike trainer, and have continued to regularly bike using that. 2 years ago I would’ve promised that I wouldn’t get back on a bike, and yet, here I am. SURPRISE!
- Pilates Barre Instructor. At the start of 2013 I had heard of barre classes, but had never tried it. A spur of the moment decision led to completing barre instructor training in July, and teaching barre this past fall. I would’ve never seen this coming last winter, but it’s turned into something I’ve loved. HAPPY SURPRISE!
- A regular pilates practice. I really love pilates and, although I’ve done it on and off since 2006, I just started making a commitment to doing it once a week at the start of 2013. It’s been nice to not really lose much flexibility while training for races, and I’ve noticed my core has gotten MUCH stronger over the course of the year. As a strong core is important for life as a whole (not just in exercise), I say that this is one of the most important things I do each week!
- Doing Physical Therapy exercises. It took almost 8 months of IT band pain for me to seriously commit to doing these exercises. I know that I don’t do them as much as I should, but I do them 1-2 times a week now, and I’m surprised that I’m actually doing them! I’ve never been dedicated to doing PT before, but I think I was sick and tired of having my IT bands hurt so badly. I don’t know how much it’s helping, but I’m not going to quit.
- Strength training! In a happy turn of events I won a free entry into Best Body Bootcamp back in March, and through this I learned to actually really enjoy strength training. I also think that having the extra strength has been beneficial to my running.
- I really like to mix up my exercise. I don’t think I could ever been someone to regularly run 4-5 days a week (first off- I’d be badly injured), because I just really enjoy variety! I don’t think I realized until recently how much I truly like to have variety to my exercise. When I started training for my first half marathon back in 2012 my weeks consisted of running, walking, and the elliptical. I think I like my schedule a lot more now 🙂
We’ll see what changes in 2014, or if I really hit an exercise grove in 2013. I’m open to surprises, that’s for sure!
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one thing you’ve been surprised about recently in terms of your own exercise? Do you like to mix it up with exercise or do you tend to stick to one or two things?
You’ve got a lot going on, that’s awesome! I feel like such a slacker in comparison. I’m constantly surprised at how easily I fall back into my lazy ways. I need to get back out there!
Last year was a crazy year of change for me in the exercise front. Signing up for races is the main thing that keeps me exercising, even when I don’t really feel like it.