Monday, September 17, 2012

Pushing Through the Burn

For months, I've been contemplating buying an elliptical.
Last week, I took the $200 plunge.
Thinking about it was getting me no where.
Prior to this, I considered going to the gym a few days a week since the gym on post is free.
Except they don't have childcare.
And my husband 'doesn't have the time' to watch Adelei when he gets home from work.
So, I'd have to take her to daycare on the days that I wanted to go...which would take the experience from free to close to $80 a month if I went 5 days a week.
Elliptical it is!
It arrived Thursday, and it took me no time to put it together.
I'm not going to lie and say the directions weren't confusing, because they were.
I'm pretty smart & have a ton of common sense though  [thanks, Nanny!], so I didn't have any trouble just figuring it out on my own.
I am loving it!
It's easy to get my work out in while the baby is napping, and it doesn't take up very much room in our garage.
 I didn't realize how out of shape I was until I started my first 'run'. Within the first few minutes, my quads were burning so bad I slowed to a walk. And that was with basically NO resistance!
I set my goals, though, and stuck to them. I pushed my way through the burn, and kept going. 
It wasn't easy the first few days. However, I am working my way up slowly but surely.

Day 1: No resistance - 1 mile, 8 min 23 sec
Day 2: Level 1 resistance - 1.5 miles, 11 min 46 sec
Day 3: Level 1 resistance - 2 miles, 13 min 58 sec
Day 4: Sunday [rest]

I do realize that running on an elliptical is way different than running on pavement or grass. I know I couldn't do a 9 minute mile on an actual surface right now, but I do feel good that I'm at least working towards my goal to get fit.

If you have the myfitnesspal app, you should add me on there! Username = jakintheb0x

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I hate the eliptical because I think it's harder than running! Try doing some sqauting while you're running. That will really help you feel the burn... :)