Shakin' It Up

I have stuck with the "insanity" workout program for over two weeks now. It's tough. It involves a little strength building and a lot of cardio work.  These workouts get my heart rate way up near my max, and keep it there for various intervals of time, depending on the particular workout scheduled for that day. The two week fit test showed improvements in 7 out of 8 exercises. The one I didn't improve on was a push up move, and I blame that on the fact that I had just finished shovelling snow. Also, I have to say, I felt pretty darned strong and fit on our first ski outing of the year last week. So, although my work is still causing me to spend way too much time working and not leaving me enough time for my health and fitness, I am still working out and staying fit.  And I'm loving it!

I am enjoying downhill skiing because I'm new at it and have a lot of room for improvement. It's a challenge! It's the same way with mountain biking for me. I can see and feel myself progressing. I've been running steady for 35 years and have been doing ultras for about 15. I'm at a point where there's not much left to learn about running (its a very simple thing really) and not much personal progression . Years ago, I realized that I had already read all the articles in Runner's World, just the authors and the names in the stories had changed over time. I had even lived through the whole barefoot thing before. My running is like that, at one point or another I've already done it all with my running. It is time to shake things up a little. So while I still love running on a trail in the woods as much as I always have, mountain biking and skiing have added a nice twist to the theme. 

Speaking of shaking things up a little, I have a long term goal of returning to my roots of short fast running. 5K races are great; Cheap to enter, no lottery, very little time commitment on the day of the race, fast recovery, not a lot of ego or attention involved, nothing popular or trendy about it, and very healthy and  non-harmful to a person's body as long as the correct training has been done. Well, these insanity workouts are a start toward that goal. My heart is starting to remember what its like to hit 180!