Getting in Shape...Again

A year ago almost exactly my fitness world was knocked completely out of the ballpark when my kneecap came out of place during a run. It was all down hill from there and I'm not getting into all of that again but needless to say I spent the last year not being very fitness minded. Granted, I did join a gym to workout, spin and swim when I wasn't in and out of physical therapy. After the surgery, I literally sat in the recliner for months. Needless to say my muscle mass is pitiful now except for my upper arms from two months of crutches. Physical therapy went until the end of June and so finally in July I could rethink my workouts and decide how I was going to get back in shape and stay in shape without running.

This is my plan, which I have to adapt weekly as to my schedule. I'm two weeks in and its going pretty well. What's nice is that I'm not going to the gym right now because its so nice outside but everything I'm doing can be moved inside when the weather gets colder.

Monday

I do my core workout on Monday. In a few weeks I will add some short cardio on as well and then later some short bursts of HIIT. For now, Monday is a day that if I need to miss a workout I can and just add it on to another day.

Tuesday

I do between 30-60 minutes of cardio and since I'm not running, I walk on Tuesdays. I've found the best calorie burn walking is to do hills. So if you are familiar with Pittsburgh and where we live, I walk Stanton from our apartment through Stanton Heights and down to Lawrenceville and back. It's only a little more than a four mile walk but it takes approximately an hour because the incline is so steep part of the way up from Lawrenceville and on the other side from Morningside/Highland Park.

Wednesday

I do an upper body workout on Wednesday focusing on my arms, shoulders and back. Eventually as with Monday, I will add light cardio and HIIT.

Thursday

Thursday is a repeat of Tuesday with cardio and the time amount. The only thing I change is that I bike (or try to) on Thursdays. Right now, I'm riding Dennis' bike since I don't have one but I'm not sure how long I can do that because it sucks. I might even go rent one of those ones that are all over the city.

Friday

I do a total body strength workout on Friday.

Saturday

Same as Tuesday and Thursday, although on Saturday I swim! My favorite cardio day! 

Sunday

Sunday is supposed to be a rest day but I think I'm going to start doing yoga again at the gym. I need to improve my flexibility again and hopefully it will help me relax.

I'm not perfect. So believe me, there is rarely a week that goes by  that I get some sort of a workout in everyday. Sometimes I do more than on on the weekends to make up for a lousy week. I'm happy with getting a workout in five days a week.

Alright, let me know if you want to work out sometime together!

All in a week at the library...

People often ask what a typical day in the life of a librarian consists of and the answer is that every day is different, which is one of the reasons I love my job so much.  Each week is no different.

For instance this week, we used our creativity, practiced relaxation and learned crime scene investigation skills.  What a week!

On Monday, the girls made magazine picture frames by rolling colorful pages from magazines into tubes and gluing them on to a shoebox lid.  I was worried they might have trouble but the frames turned out awesome.  They are pretty expensive to buy in the store.

Then on Tuesday the tweens relaxed and learned some new yoga techniques. It was the first time for many of them and they all had a great time, especially during the wall hands, which even the librarians did!  We were supposed to try it outside but it was too hot.

And finally on Wednesday, all of the teens went to PTI to learn crime scene investigation skills from one of the department instructors there.  They learned how to match fingerprints, analyze handwriting samples and determine what evidence was used for a break-in.  I learned that I have a rare fingerprint, which only 5% of the world's population has...interesting.

It was a fun week and I'm excited for next week - owl pellet dissection lab in the park and glow-in-the-dark t-shirts!