C25K

One of my resolutions for 2014 (and beyond), like many other Americans, is to start exercising.

First, let me say, I hate exercising! I never feel good before, during, or after attempting to work out. I hate sweating. I hate the exhaustion afterwards. I hate trying to fit it into my schedule.

Well, my recent focus has been trying to make my husband's and my life on the right track. Mostly that has involved learning as much as I can about personal finance so that we can be assured that our current finances, homebuying, retirement, and saving for future expenses, especially our little's college fund, are on track. I'm still in the middle of that journey, and I'd love to share what I've learned in another post, but being on the right track also includes how we take care of ourselves.

My husband is very fit. So far he's done 2 full marathons and probably around 5 half marathons, he runs (6-12miles) several times a week and he loves it! He goes crazy if he doesn't fit his runs into his schedule. Because of how our schedules work right now and daylight savings, he actually goes running right after work, showers at his office, and the does his 1.5 hour commute home, so he gets his exercising in before he comes home and ever has a chance to get sucked into the couch. I don't have that luxury- I'm always home with our little one.

I could never find the time before to exercise, and by find the time, I mean make the time. Of course I had time! I just chose to do other things. Now that I have a baby with me all the time, you would think that I really would never find the time. But I am! Perhaps it's because I am home all day and we don't go out much, but I've actually found the time for 4 workouts!

I just started week 2 of the C25k program. If you've never heard of it, its actually the Couch to 5k program, where it literally takes a person from the couch/sedentary lifestyle to being able to run a 5k. I believe it is a 9 week program, but don't quote me on that. It's very simple, you can look up the program on active.com. I actually downloaded the app ($1.99) just because I knew if I was going to do it, then it needed to be simple, so I got the app, which tells me when to jog, run, and cool down. Because I have a baby, I've been running inside on a treadmill, so I can do it during one of her infrequent naps, or just when she is entertained on the playmat. I also like that I don't get stuck somewhere because I didn't turn around in time or whatever may be the case, I can just stop when the workout has ended.

Like I said, I've already done 4 workouts, you do 3 a week all at the same level and then each week it gets bumped up gradually until you do more running than walking. This is probably that farthest I've ever made in into a workout routine, I think my husband is surprised by my commitment to actually doing it this time. Maybe after we move, we can find someplace that we could run together, although we'll have to get a jogging stroller then.

Do you have a favorite workout program or routine? What is it? How do you stay motivated to keep going?