Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Working Out Around Life

Our washing machine broke yesterday afternoon. First it made a strange noise during its spin cycle, and then when I opened the door to unload the clothes on the next load, it was smoking! And smelling of burnt rubber. It was upsetting for both David and me.

Yesterday's well laid out plans included trying out a new spin class. But with preparations David needed to attend to for his work last night, and me not feeling too great for most of the day, and then feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with mounting laundry and a smoking washer, we gave ourselves a downtime break -- once we caught up with those pressing issues.

Today is a new day, and I awoke feeling a lot better. I've been watching my six month old grandson for the past six weeks while my daughter was finishing her schooling. It was wonderful, but consuming. The normal rhythem of my old daily routine had escaped me.

Now I have open days ahead and much to catch up on. I had an appointment this morning to get my coumadin level checked (blood thinning drug I must take because of a clot discovered in my liver).  And, I am job hunting. (We need more income.) I have a household cleaning routine I had fallen back on... and, today I also needed to wait for the washing machine repair man to show up.

I did get in a little exercise yesterday -- a half hour on our elliptical machine. After that workout, I felt nauseated. But today since I am feeling better, I set out to make a sincere effort for more serious exercise.

I considered going to the gym. But then, realizing that I needed to be at home for whenever the repairman was going to show up, limitations are placed on my time. I then considered exercising outside. It is cold and windy, but the sun is shining. I couldn't let that be an easy excuse. After I was done with my blood testing, I decided to do a maximum effort walk outside from home.

Dave and I had recently purchased a new heart rate monitor. Our local Olympia Sports store was closing, and they had a great clearance sale going on. It was a great deal we might not have otherwise splurged on. While I routinely wear a heart rate monitor when cycling, I had never worn one before when walking. We have a new toy, so I thought I would see how effective walking can be as an exercise.

I was quite surprised! With a conscientious effort to move at a speedy pace for maximum results, I was able to attain a heart rate average of 132, which is only slightly lower than my average when cycling! Not too bad.

I have one more half hour workout on my to-do list for today -- on the elliptical machine. The purpose of that is to jump-start my metabolism two times each day AND to mix things up ~ as my doctor recommended. (I also saw that advice on a recent infomercial for P90X.) Let's hope it makes a difference!!


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