Alternatives to my normal....

This week has been different when it comes to getting my exercise. I have been going to the Natatorium and doing various water exercises but this week the Natatorium is closed for cleaning.

So now I am trying to find alternatives.

Yesterday was a very wet day....it rained ALL day long. I was supposed to meet a friend and bicycle down a trail but we called it off because of the rain. I really wanted to do some kind of exercise but I was losing motivation. My two favorite forms of exercise were not available. What did I end up doing???

I put a workout video in and spent the next 20 minutes working up a sweat. I can't even remember where I got this video...I think it was at the thrift store. It's called Walk Away the Pounds. It is one of the shortest workouts I've done. 20 minutes. But I liked it and would do it again. It was low impact. There was a 5 minute warm-up, 5 minutes of higher intensity, 5 minutes using hand weights, and then a slow down and finally a stretch. I ended the 20 minutes feeling like I did something and glad I finally tried out the video. I think I had this video tucked away for probably two years....

Today I really wanted to go for a bike ride. One of my tires was majorly dead so while my hubby was out going to various appointments he managed a trip to the store to buy a new inner tube and then came home and fixed it. Not only did he fix it....but he was willing to go for a bike ride with me. And I was very happy because I was wanting to try riding somewhere different. Usually I ride my bike in my neighborhood. It's not too bad but it gets boring because there are only two roads in my neighborhood. If I follow them around in a circle it's about 2 miles.

Anyways, I wanted to transport my bike in our truck to a gas station that is on a "country road". This road has a very wide shoulder to ride on. I took a timer and planned on riding for 20 minutes and then turn around. This road we were on is actually a peninsula and it ends at a State Park, so once you get to the end you basically do a u-turn and head back in the direction you just came.

The first half of the ride was nice....a lot of it was downhill. Yep, I knew what that meant!! We reached the State Park in 16 minutes...not bad. However, the return trip was a bit different for three reasons. #1 Most of it was up hill. #2 We were riding against the wind [which I didn't realize till we started back] and #3 My bike doesn't like me to use the 3rd, 4th or 5th gears...which of course were the very gears I wanted to use going up the slow inclines. Our return trip ended up taking 22 minutes and I must admit there were a few times I wanted to stop. But I kept going, lagging further and further behind my speedy husband. And finally I made it back to our truck...feeling very accomplished.

Afterword we drove down the same road to see how far we rode. 7 miles!!! Not bad...the last time I rode 7 miles on my bike I weighed 130 pounds less and was 28 years younger.