Cardio Saturday

It's "Cardio Saturday"!  I really like using my Saturday mornings for long and/or hard cardio workouts.  I have the time and it makes me feel refreshed so I can enjoy the rest of my weekend!  Often, like this morning, I am so tired on Saturday morning, but a quick breakfast and cup of coffee can usually get me going.  So, today, I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30, warmed up some leftover baked oatmeal, made a cup of pumpkin coffee, and hung out with my lonely cat for a little while.  Then, I headed to the gym!

It's about a 1/2 mile walk to the gym (I consider this my warm up) and I stopped in my office in attempt to find my arm band for my Zune.  No such luck!  It may be gone forever!  Then, jetted over to the gym and hopped on the treadmill.  It's nice to be able to walk to the gym as then I don't have to spend my time warming up on the treadmill.  I started by pounding out 3 miles in 42 minutes on the treadmill (including a one-mile run to start and inclines the rest of the time) and I finished my cardio morning with another 5 miles on the bike (20 minutes).  Then, the walk home to cool off and 10 minutes of stretching out my achy muscles.  I feel so good, endorphins rock!

So I mentioned that I ran.  I was feeling really good this morning and really missing running so I decided to see what I could do.  I only ran a mile so as to not aggravate my knees and hip any more than necessary.  BUT, that mile was run in under 11 minutes!  10:30 to be exact!  Heck yeah!  I have never run a sub-12 minute mile.  I know 10:30 is probably still pretty slow, but I'm super happy with that!  I will say that my knees and hip are a little achy now but I am icing them so that they hopefully don't hurt too much later today and tomorrow.

I am really loving the stationary bike as well.  I have never, ever been a cyclist (or casual biker) and have one heck of a time getting up hills.  I was hoping to start road biking this summer and went on a few rides but I just couldn't get into it.  Too many hills!  So, I am dedicating my winter to using the stationary bike and building up my cycling muscles!  Hopefully next spring I can put the rubber on the road and give cycling another try!

Have a happy Saturday!