Fitness + Bone Chilling Cold

I’m not going to sugarcoat it – being stuck far inside during winter weather can stink sometimes.  The bone chilling cold of today (wind chill temps in the -30s, -40s, -50s) only reminded me even more how much I miss the outdoors.  There is hope though.

I love being outdoors and my first preference for any physical activity is outside.  During winter, I am resigned to jumping on the treadmill for running or walking and hopping on the stationary bike or rowing machine.  And I get bored pretty fast.

Learning to take a real break from “routine” after my half marathon journey has been eye opening.  First, I loved not running for over a week.  I am running lightly now and I still love it, but a break was great.  I also felt like my muscles actually relaxed for awhile.  I see why pro athletes have on-season and off-season!

So despite the fact I’m stuck inside working out, I really changed it up this week.  First, I’m running slower on the treadmill – on purpose.  I’ve backed off the pace and upped the intensity by alternating the incline.  One of the workouts I like is 2 minutes at .5 incline, 2 minutes at 5 incline and alternating for the whole run.  It has actually felt amazing.  My legs are being worked but it’s different muscles than the ones I used to run my relatively flat road races.  I feel like it’s been years since I’ve spent time doing that.

Also, I’ve spent significantly more time on weight training (which by default is usually an indoor activity) and other bursts of cardio (jumping jacks, jumping rope).  I have felt very powerful, like I am gaining fitness.  I’ve focused on challenging myself with different activities, at different intensities.

Using these past few weeks (and upcoming weeks!!!) while it has been freezing cold, snowy weather to first recover and second re-introduce myself to a variety of exercises has been refreshing!  If you’re stuck in a rut or bored to tears working out indoors, think about what a switch in your routine could do for you.

I’m currently putting together my plan for 2014 and I have a big goal in mind :).  I want to continue spending time recovering, rediscovering and then deciding what my commitments will be this year.  As I make progress, I’ll keep you posted.  In the meantime, feel free to share your tips for working out indoors and/or your goals for 2014!

Miss FitGab