Gettin into Gear!

    Workin Out:

It can be hard to motivate yourself to workout! I struggle with this a lot. I love dancing and performing, but if I'm not on a stage, its hard to get me to move. I'm active, don't get me wrong. I don't sit around all day. I work, take classes, shop, dance, clean, run errands, etc. By no means do I stand still long. However, I'm not building muscle this way. I decided to start working towards gaining muscle and getting healthier. I didn't want to do too much right away and end up getting burnt out. So for the first week I just did more activities like more cleaning, working around the house, and during my tv shows and during my nebulizers I would stretch.  I struggle a lot with flexibility and stretching. I was born 10-12 weeks premature (docs weren't exactly sure) and because of my premature birth I had cerebral palsy. I was also informed the other day that at birth I had no eyelashes, nails, and was still fury. Mom claims I was beautiful, had heartbud lips, and that nurses told her I was really pretty, that (apparently) most premature babies aren't. They have misshapen heads, etc. But I'm not entirely sure I could be that beautiful with the above description..haha. We didn't know I had Cerebral Palsy along with my Cystic Fibrosis until I was almost 3 years old. I'm fortunate that is only affects me slightly anymore. It was a lot worse when I was younger. I have written two blog posts about my Cerebral Palsy and how it has effected me over the years (including pictures of the leg brace, etc). Just click here for both of the CP posts to Read! So stretching is very important, especially my legs muscles. But I did it, I stretched, which is something I should do everyday. But let's be honest. Life gets busy.

Well, I have to do more than stretch to make a difference. A couple weeks ago (Read it here!) I told you I would let you know how I'm doing with my jogging and exercising. Well, I did find a couch to 5k pin I like. But considering most couch to 5ks are meant for people with normal lung function. So I have to allow myself more time to achieve each new step. The biggest obstacle to jogging is I won't do it indoors at Gyms, etc. I cough to much and sometimes end up throwing up. It's not pretty and I'm not comfortable being infront of others. I love jogging outside, but in the winter that is impossible for me. Luckily, I have a treadmill (my Grandpa found it at the thrift store)! I enjoy using it and I especially love walking on it. However, when I jog I tend to focus on how labored my breathing gets and my asthma/CF starts to interfere. Sometimes if I can block the sound of my breathing or focus on something else like music I can jog longer. Well, I'm a huge movie person! I'd prefer that over music for sure! Soo....

Exciting news! I figured out if I turn my monitor screen around I can watch movies while on my treadmill! Obviously I need to turn it clear up and put on captions, but I loved it! I tried it Wednesday Night and it
worked quite well!

Haha, yep watching Legally Blonde while jogging.

Okay, so I realized jogging the other night that dang, do I need to keep at it. When I ran the 5K in 2012 (Read about the 5K Here) I ran it in 42 minutes. Which isn't amazing, but I was happy with that. It equaled out to 14 minute miles... Well.. I'm not as fast as I used to be. I did 30 minutes of walking/ jogging last night. My jogging time has gotten a lot slower. But I can work back up to it!

I hope to Jog/ walk 30 minutes 3 x a week. Lift weight (especially focusing on my skinny arms) 3 x a week. And stretching 5 days a week.

Usually my problem is keeping track "Did I jog yesterday? Should I do it today?" I needed to find a way to keep track and keep me on task. I'm going to make jogging marks that I can put on the calendar! Maybe that will help! I've been giving my dry erase board a big makeover, slowly step-by-step. I just made a re-usable calendar for it where it wipes off. So I'll make a mark on each day I work out and at the end of the month I can see how I did. Perhaps give myself a reward :-)

Hopefully I keep this up! And I will see the pay off.

And now we are headed to are hometown area tonight around 10pm, so I can get my hair cut tomorrow and then we can go to Andrew's Grandma's 90th Birthday!