Cardivascular Jump Start

After morning routines were completed yesterday I felt that I needed to get my workout back into being a part of my morning routine. Now that mornings can start at 6:30 or 7 a.m. (as opposed to 5) and I don' t have to be anywhere early for the next few weeks, it's a good time to get workouts out of the hit and miss time slot of afternoon or evening and back in the morning. My workday will be starting earlier when I go back in mid-August, so getting this habit well under way will help to energize the change when it comes.

So, after I put on my heart rate monitor to measure my workout, I went in to get my EA Active fired up. I usually do a fitness check with Wii Fit first so started that program on the Wii and the balance board wouldn't turn on. The batteries needed replaced. No big deal, I thought. I found the charger in the wall and a freshly charged set of batteries were ready to go. I put the batteries in and pushed the button again. This time the board flashed the blue light on and off over and over again. Now what? Do I need to sync it? Well I got it to work during the Wii Fit balance/fitness check, but not for the EA Active workout. So to save time and any further frustration on my part, I just did the workout without the Wii balance board. I think I will settle for my workout DVDs for the bulk of my fitness plan. I just hate how slow the interactive workouts are. EA Active is better than Wii Fit when it comes to time between exercises. Even so, I burned 449 calories with a maximum heart rate of 172 bpm in the 46 minutes it took me to get through the workout which varied between cardio and resistance exercises.

Yesterday also was time to get the yard mowing done before the next rain. I had a little help with the rider over the middle and bottom yards. I did two separate push mower workouts to do inside the fences in the top yard. It was an awesome day for cardio. Mowing burned a total of 891 calories in  a total of 76 minutes. And that adds up to over two hours of workouts. I really needed that.

Today, my workout was with an old friend, my Denise Austin DVD. I love how her workouts always have a variety of types of exercise. It sure keeps it interesting while I work up a sweat. I am so ready to start running again. I can't wait until my body has joined my mind.

Summer Challenges!!!

It's been a while since I updated my blog. Busy, busy, busy...that's my life. I am enjoying slowing down a bit and focusing on some personal and home goals during this brief, but much appreciated, break from work.  

I have purchased the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin Rooney Doland. I bought it several months ago thinking I could focus on one day in the book for seven weeks, but even that proved too much of a challenge for me. I only made it through the first two "days" in the book and it took me over two weeks to complete them. So I am going to begin the process again and follow through with it during the next week and see how far I get.

I have several other goals I want to explore over the next two months as well. I have a large stack of books to read, and I haven't even started after almost a week of surplus time. I did get caught up with The Tudors series on Showtime. I had been recording the new episodes since April and just caught up on them this week. Bittersweet. There are only two episodes left, and I wish the series would continue beyond the reign of King Henry and onto those of his children. I really love that show. Oh well, I'll have to find more good novels to read. Did I ever mention I am a big connoisseur of history? I love reading both biographies and historical fiction, but will also spend time reading fantasy, science fiction novels as well. Another item on my to do list is to get back into working out daily so that I can be in shape to run again. I miss the level I was working at even a year ago and how healthy I felt. I need to get that back on track to enjoy some new energy. And the last goal I have is staying connected to the people who mean so much to me. I really enjoy keeping up on Facebook, but have also attended many family and friend events over the past two months, taken a few day trips, as well as welcoming family over to visit on many occasions in May. I am planning a trip in July to visit family and national parks in the Northwest with all five boys, but Joe will stay behind to work. That should prove interesting, as I have not taken a vacation without Joe, aside from many day trips with my sisters or kids. Joe has taken several "fishing trips" with the boys, including a productive trip to fish for sharks, crab and salmon with my cousin in Washington several years ago.

My life and home are buzzing along pretty well, with daily and weekly routines and my ability to delegate some of the household tasks to my husband and children. But every life and home can do with a lightening, a decluttering, and simplifying by dealing with less stuff. For today, I am going to reread the chapters I have read previously and begin the "Day 1" tasks which include decluttering and organizing my clothing closet and drawers and working on getting my office and desk streamlined. I hope to report back with progress later. Onward and always upward!!!!!