motivation

There is pretty much one and only one thing that will really get me to exercise hard on my own. (Meaning not in a martial arts/circuit training class where someone is yelling at you to work harder.)

That one thing is hiking. I do not like being the slowest hiker. Thinking about being the slowest hiker will get me out doing something cardio-like when nothing else will.

After being the slowest hiker two hikes in a row (once because I didn't eat the right food and once because the other people were in better shape than me), I have had enough. 

I can't afford to pay for martial arts training right now.

My right knee can't handle jogging.

So I am doing the best combination I can. Instead of jogging slowly for three miles, I run hard for a block and then walk for a block and then run hard for a block again. As soon as my knee starts hurting, I give up the running and instead I periodically do some burpees. 

When I pass the stairs in the park, I run up them (or down them and then up them, depending on where I am). 

The result is that I spend the entire 35-40 minutes breathing hard. Interval training is better for you than jogging anyway, right?

When I get home, I run up the stairs sideways, hoping to strengthen the other muscles in my legs so my knees don't get so beaten up.

And then I do some situps and pushups and planks because, well, someday I am going to go back to martial arts, and I don't want to humiliate myself. I may add in some combatives work with my boxing gloves, too.

The weird thing is that I think that running fast might be easier on my knees than jogging. It seems like it shouldn't be, with the impact and all, but I ran a lot today without any knee pain, and I can only jog right around a mile before the pain sets in.

Maybe someday I will strengthen my knees enough to run a marathon...

A girl can dream, right?

For now, I will settle for a 13 mile hike on Saturday.