Water Aerobics

We’re now almost to the last quarter of the year and I have been going to water aerobics since the end of January. I have missed some weeks. Work travel, vacation, theater….and then there have been a few times where I just really didn’t feel like going. But on the whole, I have consistently gone for about 8 months now. I’m starting to see small changes in my arms. My forearms are definitely getting smaller and more defined. I remember one time looking at them in the shower and wondering how they had gotten so big with no muscle. They are changing for sure, but so are my upper arms. I still have flab and they aren’t super defined, but I can see muscle there now. And I already know my lower body is getting stronger because of the way I can get up off the floor so much easier now. 

I still have a long way to go, but this is the point where I’m starting to see a little bit of results and it makes me want to keep going. Honestly, the membership is worth the pool alone and its one of the best things I could have done for myself this year. I’m making friends there (even though it’s not the type I hang out with outside of the pool) and between the exercise and the community, it’s just helped me so much, both mentally and physically. 

I’m wondering this winter if I want to add another day. Some of the ladies really like the aqua jump class where they have mini trampolines in the pool. They say the water keeps it from being hard on the knees. So I might try that, but also, there are other classes and a whole gym, plus the walking track. 

I’m still struggling with sugar, but my eating is slowly improving as well. I’ll get there. It actually feels like I might really get there this time, making slow changes that I can actually live with. 

Winter? And Swimming

We got a tiny bit of snow yesterday. I believe it's called a trace of snow. I left work and it was snowing just enough to get the roads wet, but not be a problem. And when I arrived home, my grass had a slight white tint to it. Maybe we got a quarter of an inch? Half an inch? 

This morning it was in the 20s so I decided to make today my at home day and when I opened my blinds I was so glad I did. Fog! I love fog. From indoors. I don't love driving in it so much. But looking out my window to the foggy streets was so nice. So I opened all my blinds and enjoyed it for a couple hours until the clouds went away and the sun came out. 

I guess you can call me crazy, but I love any kind of weather that's rainy, gloomy, foggy, or just brings an atmosphere of a storm. I know "bad" weather can really wreak havoc on people, and I get it's not fun to be out in and I have a warm, comfortable home. But I love it all the same.  

So I went to water aerobics tonight. I meant to go on Tuesday, but it just didn’t work out that way. Tonight was fun and I saw a lady from my ward there and talked to a few other women so it worked out well for me to go today for the first time. The instructor was nice and she played techno ABBA for the whole hour, which I loved hearing. There was a wide mixture of ages, and even 3 men. The few people I talked to sounded like they go once a week but I’m going to try twice next week. I’m already feeling it in my shoulders. We did a total body workout and it didn’t feel like much, but I know I’ll feel it tomorrow as well. That’s good. I am looking for something outside my house and I need to be active and moving my body. I do need a different swimsuit. The top of mine is cute and concealing, but it floats and that’s not great when you are jumping up and down in the water. I had to tuck it in. So I’ll be on the lookout for new swimwear. And this is going to kill my fingernails and possibly skin but I’m sure there are things I can do to help, because I’m going to try this for a few months. 

And as a bonus, on the way home, it was foggy again. What a beautiful night!

Walking

My sister talked me into joining a walking challenge for the summer, actually April - September. I have to walk or hike 3 miles a week, 75 miles total. If the weather is bad I can do indoor walking or other exercise but part of the goal is to actually be outside. As of right now I’m caught up and right on target, and 3 miles is not hard, but you have to be making time for it constantly. I got sick one week and got behind for a couple weeks. I’ve completed 26 miles so far. Kind of crazy to think of how they add up. 

I do feel better and am sleeping better. Not every night is great, but I’m having fewer sleepless nights. One thing I’ve really enjoyed though is getting out without my earbuds in. Instead of music or a podcast, I’m listening to the river or the birds and in my own thoughts. I’m not sure I’d want to do that for long distances, but for the mile or so I’ve been walking at a time I kind of like it. 

Now it’s getting warm though. I’m not sure how I’m going to fare through the summer. There will be fewer days walking on my lunch break. My plan is to get up and walk before work on the days I’m working from home. I actually did it this morning. I can’t say I super enjoyed it, but there are positives. The biggest one is that I’m done already and don’t have to worry about walking later. The parkway has fewer people on it and I like that. It’s cooler. With the canyon breeze in the morning, it smells like camping, which is something I love. So maybe it’s not so bad. In June, I want to try turning one of the days of walking into hiking and get out on some of the easy trails near me. Saturday is June 1. I wonder if I can get myself up and out there in the morning?

 

Taking Care of the Crazy

I’m almost afraid to say anything for fear I’ll jinx myself, but I’ve been getting regular exercise for the past 4 months and I feel so good. I don’t plan on stopping. Thinking about my life, I’ve only ever had pockets of exercise. I’ve done really well for a period of time and then stopped. Like my friend and I used to go run at the track at the high school (ha ha ok it was walk/run stuff), I completed 12 weeks of the PiYo program and actually saw results, I walked and hiked a ton to get ready for the trek to Machu Picchu. Then for whatever reason, I stopped. I live in a great place to walk so I always got some exercise, but not regular or consistent.

Last November I think the pandemic finally got to me. I couldn’t deal with the stress and sleepless nights any more. The anxiety was killing me. So I dug out my old DVDs of Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home program and started walking at home. They aren’t hard and I do sweat but they aren’t super sweat inducers or super high intensity. For the first time in my life I didn’t start exercising to lose weight. I did it to get rid of the crazy. And you know what? My anxiety dropped almost overnight. My sleepless nights took a bit longer to get rid of and sometimes I still have problems falling asleep, which honestly, could just be because of age. I feel so much better. It hasn’t been perfect and there are days when I just don’t care but one bad day doesn’t make a bad week. I started where I was and didn’t make any demands on myself except that I try because it was helping with the anxiety. Now I actually signed up for Walk at Home streaming to my tv and one other program to my iPad. With spring coming, I’ve even gotten outside to walk a few times. I still don’t really love exercise and I’m probably never going to be an early morning exerciser and I’m letting myself be ok with that. What I do love is that I feel better and I’m dealing with my anxiety in a healthy way. 

Tis the Season

Christmas hasn’t exactly felt like Christmas the past couple years, between my parents selling their house and moving somewhere smaller and my dad dying. Change is inevitable so I’m not saying Christmas isn’t a good time, it’s just been different. In my opinion one reason (besides the 2 I’ve already mentioned) has been that my mom gave the piano to my sister when they moved and Christmas had always been filled with music on the piano. Not great music, mind you because we are not the greatest pianists, but music all the same. Over Thanksgiving I asked my sister if her old keyboard could travel and we set it up at mom’s house. It was fun. Not only did we get to play our Sleigh Ride duet, the kids had a blast playing around with the sounds and dancing around. My niece made her bring it back last night to family dinner and we played it again. Livi is learning the piano and we’ve been practicing a duet. It’s kind of amazing what music can do to the human spirit, not only at Christmas time but all times.

We had our first snow of the season in the valley last night and I got up early for spin class. It was so beautiful this morning. It was still dark with just the street lights and porch lights and most of the snow hadn’t been driven in. It was totally worth getting up for, even if I hadn’t been headed to the gym. I’m still loving spin. I think I’m slowly adjusting to the seat. My butt still gets sore but seems to be getting over it a little quicker than before. Good thing, because I’m not ready to quit at all.

What Was I Thinking?!

Well, I did the unthinkable. Seriously. Never in my life did I think I would do this. I joined a gym. Before last week I would have told you the only type of exercise I do in public is walking, and even then I prefer to walk on the parkway or in less busy neighborhoods where I won't see people I might know.Weird, I know.

When I changed my house around this year and made myself a library, I got rid of my treadmill. I did use it, but there just wasn't any room for it. I kept my stationary bike, but I think I'm going to get rid of it very soon. My friend talked me into trying a spin class. She has been going with another friend off and on for a while now so last Friday I went to class with her. And I realized I can go to a 5:30 spin class and still make it home to be ready to leave on time for work. So Monday after I went to class with her again, I joined the gym. I'M NOT EVEN WORKING THIS WEEK AND I GOT UP TWICE TO GO TO A 5:30 AM SPIN CLASS! What in the world am I thinking? I'm not going to lie. It was really hard to get up this morning. I had a dream I had overslept and didn't make it and when my alarm went off, I was a little disappointed. LOL

Anyway, I'll see what happens. I'm not going to say I love spin class, but I kind of do. If my tailbone will ever get used to the seat, I might be able to do this. I can't say I'm any good at all and there's no way I can get to the speeds most of the class does, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that I kept pedaling even when I wanted to stop.

This morning I've got a company coming to clean my vents out and then I'm enjoying my week off. I probably need to go buy some more workout clothes if I'm going to be sweating in public.

PiYo Week 8 and Final Thoughts

Yesterday I finished the 8 weeks of PiYo workouts.  I have lost 8 lbs (yay!)  and I tried taking measurements but none of them have gone down. However, I’m wearing my smaller pants today so I’m not too worried about that (and for all I know I could totally have missed the spot I measured last time since it’s not something I can pinpoint exactly).  I can definitely feel the difference in my clothes.  The goal was to be able to wear my hiking pants and one of the pairs is going to fit.  I’ll take it!

Final thoughts:

Overall, I liked PiYo although I still think it moves a little fast for beginners to get the correct form. My knees didn’t like it so much. Toward the end I had knee pain and my right knee is still creaking when it bends.  I have seen my flexibility improve, which I love.  I also ended up with a little definition in my arms. That hasn’t happened in a long time. I like Chalene as an instructor.  I’d do more of her workouts, ha ha, except the clips I’ve seen online look hard. Don’t think I’m quite ready for that level of intensity. Besides my knees hurting the other real issue I had was that I got bored because you are essentially doing the same moves in almost every workout. By this last week, I kind of hated doing it.

I’m pretty happy with what I accomplished in the 2 months. I’m sure I could have had better results had I been putting that much effort into my eating but it got me to the point where I’m ready to keep going with getting regular exercise. Right now I’m tired of PiYo workouts (and my knees need a break) so I’m going to go back to walking and other things for a while.  Then I’d like to try it with more variety so I’ve put together my own PiYo hybrid schedule based on some I saw online and using DVDs and the treadmill I already own.  I will go 2 weeks without repeating a workout so hopefully that will help with the repetitiveness and the knees will feel ok.

I’ve decided to do a little hike tonight after work and I’m kind of excited to get some exercise that isn’t PiYo. I feel good and life is good.

PiYo - Week 7 Recap

This week started out as probably the hardest so far. I had to talk myself into not quitting. Honestly, I think I’m just tired of PiYo. I love how I’m feeling but would like to mix it up a bit. I want some variety. However, these two months have flown by. I have a saying on my bathroom wall that says something to the effect that the time is going to go by anyway so I can either be healthier in that time or not. On Friday I put on a pair of jeans straight from being washed and they are definitely loose. Like, pull them up loose. And on Monday I wore an old pair of jeans that I couldn’t wear earlier this year. It seems like it happened overnight but it’s a great feeling and what I’m concentrating on to finish up strong.

I’ve learned that I definitely have time to exercise and I can do it at random times if I have to. To complete these workouts I’ve gotten up in the morning, used my lunch break, right after getting home from work, and even right before bed or other random times in the evening. It’s really about telling myself there are no excuses. I still really want to be more of a morning exerciser but there are very few days when I literally don’t have time somewhere in the day.

PiYo - Week 6 Recap

I’ve started to get a weird little creaking/popping sound in my right knee. It doesn’t hurt and I don’t have any knee pain but it still bothered me that it was even happening so I’ve been really careful on the lunges. It doesn’t seem to be getting worse. I can’t believe I have stayed with it for 6 weeks. It feels good. Two more to go!

Yesterday was Labor Day and I took a nice little walk in addition to the PiYo. I did a loop from Birdsong up to the 22^nd street trailhead where I hooked back up with Rainbow trail. The hill to the 22^nd street trailhead about killed me…and I think I definitely will do it again. It took me just over an hour from where I parked so it was a nice little walk.

PiYo - Week 4 recap

So this week started out with an upheaval in my planned schedule and I managed to get the Wednesday workout in at a weird time but by the time I got home Thursday night exercise wasn’t going to happen. Normally, I’d skip the one day and be fine with it but I made it up the next day and did Thursday and Friday workouts back to back on Friday. It actually wasn’t too bad and I can say I did it.  I was kind of dreading the Drench workout (probably because it’s the longest) but it turned out to be not bad. I did sweat a lot and I was stiff that night and when I got up the next morning.

I’m done with the first month. I didn’t measure myself again; I’m going to wait until the end for that. My clothes don’t feel all that loose although I have been able to wear my jean skirt again. It’s still a bit tight but not terribly so. I did weigh myself and I’ve lost 2.5 lbs since starting PiYo (I’ll take it because I really had a few bad eating days) and I’ve lost 5.5 lbs since I started exercising again in July. Thinking about it, that’s not too bad.

I’ve discovered I probably exercise 60% of the time in the evening and 40% in the morning, which goes to show that it’s not that I don’t have the time after work, I just don’t want to do it. I still would rather be a morning exerciser but at this point, I’ll take what I can get.

PiYo - Week 2 Recap

I actually went and bought a sweatband. It was a cheap one from Walmart but I was tired of all the sweat dripping from my face. I haven’t even got to the workout called Drench yet. It helps a little bit but it’s disgusting when I’m done.  At this rate I’m going to need more exercise clothes just because of all the sweating I’m doing.

I’m getting used to more of the moves and I got to add the Core workout. I’ve decided I really like the Define: Lower Body workout. It feels more like traditional yoga and I had forgotten how good pigeon pose feels.  My wrists are feeling stronger and I’m doing all of the pushups (on my knees, but I’m doing them).  I even did a few of the real burpees and not the modification. I’ve added some walking also and I walked/hiked 5 miles on Saturday in addition to the scheduled workout.

I might add that I didn’t buy Shakeology. I don’t eat/drink that kind of thing in general. I do like the clean eating plan that comes with the DVDs. It’s basically a list of foods that you should be eating and helps you figure out in what portions. Many of the foods on the list are things I will eat anyway so I don’t feel like I’m changing my diet. I’m not following it exactly, but in the 2 weeks I’ve been doing this, I’ve cut back on other foods (like chips, pop) that I was eating way too much of. I’ve been planning a menu and freezing and eating leftovers for lunch for a few years now so I’m always on the lookout for new recipes that are tasty but still made from real, healthy ingredients.  And my mom keeps giving me fresh vegetables from her garden so that always helps.

So after the second week, I’m feeling better about the workouts and I’m motivated to keep going.

PiYo - Week 1 Recap

I finished the first week of the PiYo workouts. Walking (and a bit of hiking) is the only exercise I've done for a while now so I have a lot of muscles that haven't been used in the ways that PiYo is using them. Or in other words: I'm sore. But it's a good sore.


So what do I think? I'm overweight so it's been a bit hard for me. I have to do almost every modification.


I'll start with the not so good:


I found very quickly that I need more of a warm up for my body, especially if I’m doing the workout in the morning after just getting out of bed. I’ve started warming myself up by getting on my treadmill or bike and just getting myself to the point where I am comfortable for PiYo. It’s not a problem because the pre-workout is good for me too.

It moves really fast. Maybe if I was an athlete or in great shape to start, I wouldn’t have a problem with the pace. Also, I’m very uncoordinated in general and learning even basic aerobic moves is usually a challenge for me. So I’m slow to do the moves which means I don’t get all the reps in, and there aren’t a lot of reps to start.

I have done yoga before, including live classes. I never kept up with it to get much above a beginner level but I think without some of that live instruction (or even DVD instruction), some of the yoga positions would be hard to do correctly. The Align DVD did show some stuff, but it was also at a much slower pace. If I were going into this cold, I would probably be doing it all wrong. As it is, I’m sure I’m doing some of it wrong just because of the pace.

The good:

I can feel my muscles working and that feels great.

My wrists are already getting stronger after one week. She says they will so I wasn’t too worried about it and have just been trying not to overdo it and injure myself. But I can already see improvement there.

With the extra walking and stuff I’ve been doing, I feel like I’m getting some good workouts in.

I’m not saying this is because of one week of PiYo, but my jeans do feel loose today. I’m sure it’s because I’ve already worn them once., but it’s a good enough feeling that I’m ready to get going with the second week.

I might add that I started on a different day than the calendar that came with it. I am following the workout schedule, I just planned it so that the rest day hits on Sunday, which is the day I'm taking off.

On to week 2...

August Already?

I eat when I’m stressed or when I’m bored. I know it and yet sometimes a lot of times have a really hard time stopping myself.

June of this year marked 1 year of being the RS president in my ward. In some ways it was a rough year. Just trying to figure out how to manage my time was a challenge. I think I’ve gotten the hang of a lot of stuff. Some things still give me stress, but probably always will because of my personality.

I sometimes eat mindlessly when I watch TV. To be perfectly honest, TV bores me but sometimes I just don’t want to do anything else anyway. But to just sit and stare at the screen is really not my favorite thing to do. I can handle a little bit and some TV shows I really like. I just can’t do a lot of it without eating at the same time. It’s a bad habit.

I’m not making excuses, I’m just saying that stress and boredom are my big eating problem areas and I haven’t dealt with them well this year so I gained back all the weight I lost getting ready for the Inca trail.  LOL – it’s not the first time and I know I’m not alone.  I haven’t mastered the trick of stopping the downward spiral before it gets too bad.

Anyway, I’ve been exercising regularly again and trying to make it a priority and I feel a lot better when I do. However, my trip to Asia will be coming up in a few months and I want to be able to wear my lightweight hiking pants. I’m not taking jeans. I’ve been to Asia before around the same time of year and the humidity is going to kill me even if I plan for it.

So I’ve done 2 things recently to help my problem areas and stop the spiral.

1. I bought an “adult coloring book”. How did I not know about these?!!  I think they are so cool! It’s a perfect thing for me because while I’m not very artistic and don’t want to create art of my own, coloring someone else’s design is fun. These books are actually marketed as stress relievers and I can see why.  It has the bonus of keeping my hands busy so I don’t eat while I’m sitting and I’m getting a stress release at the same time.  I actually have another one on my wish list at Amazon. I’m hoping this keeps me a little busy this winter when I want to hibernate. So far, I only have one picture colored but I’ve really liked doing it.

2. I bought the basic PiYo workout. I wanted something to motivate me that had a beginning and an end, if that makes sense. Not that I couldn’t have planned my own 60 days of workouts (ha ha, I have and didn’t keep with them) but just thought a program would help. And yeah, I get sucked into the hype and think this is going to “cure” my bad habits miraculously, when I know it just takes a lot of hard work and developing good habits. Anyway, it’s been on my radar for a while now and I bit the bullet. I don’t want to get a coach or join any groups or anything, but I think I will post a recap every week I finish just to help me keep going.

Life is good!

Saturday Morning

I've been making myself get up on Saturday mornings instead of sleeping in. I don't like to exercise when it's too hot outside so that means I have to get out of bed. As much as I love sleeping in, it's kind of worth it to be up. I left my house just before 7 this morning (which was actually later than I had planned) and walked along the river parkway and then kept going to Birdsong trail and then back home again. It was about 6.6 miles round trip.

 

It was a beautiful morning. Ok - no "kind of" about it. It was definitely worth getting up. And I was early enough that there weren't a lot of people out when I started.





 

 

The wind always comes out of the canyon in the morning. It was pretty strong walking against it. But once I got in the trees and out of the open areas, it didn't bother me.

I texted my sister and she ended up meeting me part way when she took her dog for a run. After I got home I took a really fast shower and put on some sunscreen and mascara and ran out the door again to meet part of my family at the Farmer's Market downtown. I got a pastry and a fresh squeezed mint lime-aid for breakfast.

My legs are a little stiff. It's been a while since I've walked that far. And I didn't stretch when I got home. I'm already thinking about where I want to go next Saturday. I really do live in a great place.

Fourth of July

I spent the 4^th of July weekend in the Uintah Mountains with my sister and her dog, Charlie. After the excitement of the Inca trail, I found myself purchasing gear for a backpacking trip. We were trying to do a trip to King’s Peak, which is Utah’s highest peak but that fell through and in hindsight I’m glad it did. I believe it is better that my first real backpacking trip was only 13.2 miles. Well, I consider the Inca trail a “real backpacking trip”, but this is the first one since I was a teenager where I carried all my own stuff.

We hiked up to Amethyst Lake, which sits about 10,740 elevation wise.  The hike is really not that hard although I did feel the elevation a little bit. It starts out pretty level with some minor ups and downs. Then a couple miles in the trail forks and we took the path up the mountain, which was the hardest part. It wasn’t super steep, but it was all uphill over a really rocky trail.  Then it leveled out again for a bit until we arrived at the meadow and lake below Amethyst. That’s where we made camp for the night.

 

We set up camp and rested a bit then we got up to explore again until it was time to make dinner.  In the morning we left camp after breakfast and hiked the last little bit to Amethyst Lake.  Then we packed back up and headed down the mountain.

 

 

 

Once we got down we put everything in the car and drove along Mirror Lake highway. It was a busy weekend. We had decided to camp one more night in a campground and we found a good place at the Trial Lake campground.   Then in the morning we packed up and went home.

 

The trip was fun. Again I’ve realized I don’t really love hiking (especially with the heavier pack) but I do like to be in the mountains and Amethyst Lake is just one of those places you can’t get to without using your feet (or a horse, if you have one).  I really wish I would have taken my book on the hike, but after putting my pack on, I didn’t want even a tiny bit of extra weight. We had some downtime that I could have used to read. We also didn’t light a fire the first night and I just really like campfires. I don’t know why, but sitting around a camp fire staring in to the flames is one of the most relaxing things.

 

It won’t be my last backpacking trip, especially after I bought some of the gear (although some I needed or has multiple uses) but I probably won’t do another one this year.  I am planning on a couple smaller day hikes when my family goes camping.  I don’t necessarily love hiking but I do like the views from the top and the physical activity is good for me.

Hiking

So I've seen some interesting things while out hiking with my sister. This was on Birdsong Trail. There was another half buried Bug up above it, but it looked like someone had been using it for shelter so I didn't get too close.

I do have to admit it's been kind of fun to get out on some of the trails above Ogden. Since I've lived there for over 10 years now, it's a little too bad I haven't used them more. We see bikers, hikers, trail runners, families...all kinds of people. I would definitely like to go back to Birdsong when the trees have leaves. In fact, I just need to do more hiking in general. I still don't really love it, but it is definitely easier to go distances when there is something to look at or just being outdoors. I can't imagine doing that on the treadmill.

Walking

I walked 11 miles on Saturday. I had to do it by myself so I put on some music and just walked. I didn’t mean to do 11 miles, but I was walking along the river parkway and I was almost to the top so I just kept going. Then I had to turn around and get back home. It wasn’t too bad, actually. Around mile 5 I could feel my hips getting a little tight but nothing bad. Of course, by the time I got home, I was stiff and sore. That didn’t last very long either, thank goodness.

All this exercise I have been doing is starting to pay off. I have been seeing the scale go down slowly, but I really wanted to see a change in the way my clothes fit and its happening. I’ve been kind of thinking some of my clothes were getting looser, but with one of my pairs of jeans I wore yesterday, I can definitely tell they are looser. It’s not just wishful thinking. It’s still not easy to get up in the morning, but it’s getting easier to know that it’s not a question of if I exercise, but when I exercise. I’m actually making it a priority. There’s no way I could have walked 11 miles in January. I love that I can see improvements in my exercising also.

I haven’t changed a lot of my eating habits. Ha ha… if I could give up sugar I would probably see a bigger change. But I have been cooking. That may sound strange, but cooking for one person really sucks. And it’s so easy not to do it and just have cereal or run by a fast food joint… I can always come up with an excuse. But I have been finding a kind of sense of accomplishment by cooking meals that taste good and that I may want to eat again.  I have found if I can grab leftovers out of the fridge or freezer when I’m rushing out the door in the morning, it also saves me from the money and calories of eating out.  There is definitely room for improvement. I still need to eat more fruits and veggies and less sugar but I’m doing this with baby steps and making changes I will stick with over the long run.  And I’m happy with the progress so I won’t complain.

Progress with "The Plan"

So the exercise plan for my trip has been going on since mid-January. I’ve got to say I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’m finally starting to notice a few changes and I’m feeling stronger.  We’ve had a lot of rain, so I’ve been doing my exercising indoors. With the time change and some sunshine, I hope to be able to get outdoors a couple days a week from here on out. I’m still nervous that it’s not going to be enough but I try not to think about it.  The preparation will pay off and every little bit that isn’t as hard as it could have been is because of what I’m doing now.

The Plan

So my sister and I sent off our reservation and down payment for the Inca Trail trek. It’s exciting until I actually think about what I’m going to be doing and how greasy my hair is going to be. Then it’s not exciting at all. And naturally, I put off starting to get in shape for it until after Christmas. I’ve still got plenty of time, but just enough that I can’t waste any.  Every day counts.

My plan is that in January I just exercise. Cardio, strength, yoga, whatever.  I just have to move and stretch and work up a sweat however I can.  In February I am going to ramp all that up and maybe try to add some distance walks in there if the weather is nice enough.  In March the weather should be good enough that I can start the hills. Luckily for me, I live in a place where I can get to the mountains easily, and if I don’t want to actually get in the mud and dirt of the mountain trails, I can still walk around the neighborhoods that are built on the mountain sides.  I’ve walked some of the streets before and they can be steep.  And in April, I ramp up the inclines and add more distance. Then by the time we leave for Peru, if I have a hard time with the hike, it won’t be for lack of trying.