Changing up my workouts

(Hey, look, she can talk about something other than Christmas!)

I've always enjoyed working out, but find that I occasionally get into ruts where things feel boring. This makes me much less motivated to be active, so I try to find a way to shake things up when I find myself losing interest. Over the summer (thanks to watching too many nights of Olympics races) I decided to start swimming laps occasionally. I was never a competitive swimmer as a kid, but I worked as a lifeguard for 4 summers, and taught swim lessons, so I had a decent grasp on how to do the basic strokes.

I hadn't swam laps in probably about 10 years, but thankfully it turned out to be like riding a bike. I was comfortable in the water right away, and found myself really enjoying this change of pace. Within a month or two I was able to swim a mile during my workout, and I started to teach myself flip turns to be more efficient. Turns out there are lots of internet videos to help with this challenging part of swimming. I got new goggles and a swim cap after my first couple workouts, and ended up investing in a new swimsuit when I decided my ancient one was getting a little too see through!

And speaking of riding a bike, I did that more this summer, too. Joe and I enjoyed biking around the city as a means to get places, but we also went out to a couple different trails in the area. Biking doesn't bother his busted knee, so it's a good sport for us to do together.

And you all know I love running. So it's only obvious what my goal for the future is... I've got to try to do a triathlon! Seeing I live in a cold northern city, this type of thing doesn't happen until late summer, but I've already got it on my radar. I hope I have a good reason not to do one this summer, so I have my eye on 2014. I'm already comfortable in all three sports, so it would just be a matter of building up my endurance to do all three at once. And what an accomplishment it would be! And no matter what, adding these workouts into my routine is keeping things fresh. Though my bike is packed away during these cold months, I'm trying to run at least 3 miles once per week, swim once a week, and do one cardio/weights workout on gym equipment. That should help me stay approximately the same size during Christmas eating season, right?