2009 and off to a good start!

One week down.  I suppose right now it is over a week down.  I have completed 8 bike workouts since Jan. 1.  Unfortunately all of them have been on the trainer, but I haven’t missed a day.  The beginning of the week was the most challenging for my legs.  It took until about yesterday for the soreness and fatigue to leave.  I have also started yoga again consistently and that always leaves me very sore for a few days.  To be honest I don’t really mind the soreness since it means I have finally gotten my butt off the couch.

Another thing that comes along with my increased training volume is my increased food consumption.  Well duh, right?  I am burning more calories than before so I need to take more in.  Sometimes though, I feel like my appetite is much greater than that of my caloric needs when I am training.  When I am just training to maintain fitness, <5 hours a week, I hardly ever feel hungry and the numbers on the scale start to drop.  I won’t lie, I like to see that happen.  But as soon as the training started again I feel like I have been eating everything in sight (and not always making great choices) and I am up 1-2 pounds.  Muscle weighs more than fat?  Let’s hope that is the case here.  There is just something that I like about numbers around 120 instead of 125.  Truthfully, numbers on a scale shouldn’t matter as much as I let them.

Well Monday I decided it was about time for me to try a run.  I decided to run/walk every 5 minutes at an easy pace with the dog.  We started off walking and as I started running I thought I felt a bit stiff, but it might have been all in my head.  I actually felt so good that I ran for 18 minutes!  I was completely pain free, but decided to play it safe and head home.  It felt so good I wanted to jump up and down in the middle of the street and shout, “I’m running!”.  Instead I just whispered it over and over to Kelty.  I think she was pretty happy to have another running partner, too.  I think I will try again this weekend.