It’s the First of the Month!

A brand new month…yay!  First a bit of reflection…I ran 12 days in July for a total of 25.8 miles.  This may not seem like a whole lot but it’s the most running I’ve done in months.  I’m happy!

I’m determined to make August a fun, but simple, month.  What do I mean by that?  Well, one thing I’ve come to realize is that lately I’ve bitten off a bit more than I could chew with monthly fitness challenges.  Now that I’m working more regular hours and not prepping for a wedding, I just don’t have the time or energy for more than 1 fitness challenge per month.  Especially if I end up missing a day and trying to make up 2 days in 1!  What should take less than 30 minutes ends up taking up up to or just over an hour.  Nope, don’t got time for that…especially if I completed any sort of other cardio based activity that day.

So, this month, it’s back to a basics.  I am going to complete a plank challenge.  That’s it!  No other daily challenges with increasing reps that I completely give up on by the 23rd of the month.

 I’m going to keep running and/or swimming at least 3 times per week.  Although it’s funny that I’ve been doing much more of the former than the latter.  I guess I got over my running slump.  Yay!  Now, I just have to keep swimming at least once a week in order to justify my new gym fee 😛

I hope everyone has a wonderful first weekend of August.  I’m headed to my parents lake house with the hubby and doggy this weekend.  Weather permitting we will be spending tomorrow morning on the water.  Expect pics!  Later, Lovelies!!

Fish Out of Water

Or…actually…the opposite!  That’s what I feel like…some non-swimming thing in water.  It’s a very odd experience coming from someone who used to rock 2 hour swim sets, completing drills and feeling great afterwards.  After more than 4 years since I’ve done any sort of regular lap swimming I am convinced that the swimmer I once was has disappeared for good.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing…just different.  Here are a few things I’ve noticed about this new adventure in swimming:

*Everything is WET!  And not just a little damp…but soaking through my gym bag wet.  One towel is definitely not enough to dry off after my swims and (TMI alert) have you ever tried putting on a sports bra with damp skin?  Not fun!!  And where does all this wet stuff go?  Right now I’m stuffing everything in a gallon size Ziploc until I discover a better system.  Any ideas??

Check out the wet mess of towels on the dryer! 😛

*Shoes- If I head to the pool after work (like I did on Wednesday) I realized after my swim that the only shoes I had to wear home were my work flats.  That looked just a little odd with my gym shorts and tank top lol!  Enter my awesome, teal UNCW Rainbows.  These will be my swim shoes for now unless I decide to get something else.

I used to rock these shoes back in my swimming/lifeguarding days:

Seaweed Shoes

*It’s dark in here!  For some reason, my pool is very dark.  The only goggles I had were also very tinted.  This may cause problems if I ever have to share my lane.  I am investing in new goggles asap!  I think they still make the ones I loved back in high school!!

*I’m sooooo slow!  I’m not really sure what I thought would happen my first time back into the pool but cranking out 50 second 50’s was not what I expected.  Time to chill out and just enjoy the water.  I can tell swimming is working muscles I haven’t used in FOREVER!  This is good.  This is going to be fun.  Besides, don’t I look like I’m enjoying myself? 😀

Anyone know of any good apps to track a swim workout?  

Runkeeper has a swim option but I’d prefer one I can track yards with, instead of trying to convert everything to miles.

What are your favorite summer sports?

I’m going with swimming right now…it’s to hot to not be in the pool! 😀