Finding my new groove

I'm still struggling to find a new workout routine.  I will say that not working makes it easier to get some form of exercise in.  Having a husband who is gone for several days at time though adds a degree of difficulty because any workouts that I want to do while he is away have to be done with a 17 pound wrecking ball baby trying to climb over me or heckle me from the stroller.  It's happening though.

I got in nearly 9 miles total last week, doing a run/walk combo.  That's nowhere near where I'd like to be but it's better than 0 miles!  I'm only at 3.5 miles so far this week but I have plans to get in at least 6 more by Sunday.  I've also recently added two "30-day challenges" to my routine.  I found two beginner arm and ab challenges where each day you build upon what you did the day before (with some rest days).  There have been lots of sit ups, pushups (modified for my current ability), planks, bicycle crunches, reverse crunches and chair dips happening in the family room while Megatron crawls (yes, CRAWLS!) all over the place.  Also part of my workout rotation right now is a Post-Natal Rescue DVD.  It is more directed to women who are more immediately post-natal but that's ok.  My fitness level is so sad right now, that the DVD is challenging but not discouraging. 

I did a free Jillian Michaels workout off Amazon Prime/Roku and damn near had a heart attack during the warm up.  I only made it through 45 minutes of the hour long work out.  She would probably have spit in my face or something had I quit on her in real life.  I was also sore for two days after the workout.  And I didn't even use the weights like instructed.  I'll definitely try again because ya gotta start somewhere.

Prior to January I never really did much exercise other than mileage.  I would just do my mileage needed to train for a particular race.  I could never seem to stick with a strength or cross training routine.  Of course the times I saw the most results in terms of my fitness and weight was when I was training for triathlons.  Mixing up the three sports made a huge difference.  Triathlons aren't really in the cards now and I need to be able to do short, more frequent periods of exercise in order to juggle Megatron while The Pilot is working.  I'd love to be all hardcore and take Megatron on bike rides too (in a mounted seat or a trailer) but even though he's a year old now, he's so tiny that the smallest bike helmets don't fit him yet.  Maybe next year.  Other than wrangling Megaton during his 30 minute, once a week swim lesson, I don't have access to a pool right now either.  Maybe next year.

Faster mommy!

This new workout routine is a completely new way of thinking for me though.  I'm so used to working out for an hour or more (sometimes A LOT more if I was training for a half or full marathon) but I can't really strap Megatron in the stroller for a 3 hour walk/run.  The goal I have set for myself is no fewer than 4 hours of exercise in a 7-day period (ideally more but for now I'm erring on the side of realistic).  If I need to break that up into 10 minute increments when I get interrupted by Megatron taking foooorever to eat his breakfast, then so be it.  I found an exercise log online that I printed so it's handy for me to jot down what I've done each day so I can be sure to stay on track.  Hopefully writing down my progress on a piece of paper that sits in the kitchen will help remind me to not slack off.  I'm going to also try to blog more because that has always kept me more accountable in the past.  Megatron sure isn't holding me accountable.  He's perfectly content if my only exercise throughout the day was to chase him away from the cat's water bowl....all.day.long.

My training partner is LAZY! He almost always conks out within the first mile.