What's New and Exciting?

I've been away from my blog because I am frustrated with my lack of weight loss progress and felt like it was pointless to blog about it.  But, then I realized even though I'm not losing weight I am making fitness more a part of my lifestyle.  I've been trying and accomplishing so many things these past two weeks that have me excited about and attending my work outs.

Yoga
I have been wanting to take some yoga classes again for awhile now, but they never work with my ever-changing teaching schedule.  I kind of fell into this Relax and Rejuvenate class as it was before some gym meetings I had scheduled.  It is definitely more relaxing than a workout, but it is strengthening my core and improving my flexibility without requiring much exertion and therefore I have kept going and then tack on a workout afterwards.

Member Connect
The YMCA offers a free member connect program where a trainer shows you around the gym and gives you ideas for workouts.  I met with Heather and now feel like I've been oriented to my new gym and have a few ideas for interval training and strength training to try out.

Belly Dance
This is an awesome class!  Learning to belly dance was on my bucket list.  There are only a few of us in the class so we get to learn a lot at our own pace.  I go home every week with a new routine, some sore muscles, and a happy face.  I'm going to miss this class in December when my schedule changes.

Treadmill Running
Yes, running!  At a slow pace, but a steady pace.  I'm lengthening my running intervals and shortening my walking ones.  A pair of too loose yoga pants was the only thing that kept me from extending my current 5 minute interval time.  I did make it 1.5 miles instead of 1 mile this time though.

Swimming
I returned from swimming one day to tell Chris that I completed my 20 laps for the day.  He asked "Why only 20?  Aren't you doing 40 laps (1km)?"  Yeah, thanks Chris for boosting my self-esteem.  My response was I'm doing 20, but sometimes I go ahead and do more.  He didn't understand if I can do more why wouldn't I?  So now I do 40 laps in the pool every time and I've extended the number of laps I do each swim style for before switching.  I'm also spying on the swim to fit classes and stroke improvement classes to get ideas.

Cycling
It is quickly becoming winter here in Canada (I saw snow a few days ago) so I am no longer cycling outside.  I will be starting indoor cycling this week though to keep up my progress.

Try-a-Tri
I figured with all the swimming, running, and cycling I am doing I might as well put it together to do a triathlon.  Last year I signed up for a charity race that I did not do because I was not able to run well enough.  Chris wants me to do The Warrior Dash, but I think it's a lot out of my league.  So a local try-a-tri scheduled for August next year is my goal.  It's a 300m swim, 10km bike, and 3km run.  It currently takes me about 12 minutes for the swim, 35 minutes for the bike ride, and I'm guessing 30 minutes for the run for a total time of 1 hour 17 minutes.  Last year in my age and gender category the fastest time was 45 minutes, the slowest 1 hour 13 minutes, with the average time being 58 minutes.  I think it's totally a reasonable goal to set for myself for next year.