Keeping Things Fit

As part of my New Year - New Me campaign, I have hit the roads again to run. I was a Varsity swimmer growing up, and until college, I never knew that working out was actually something I had to do. I just enjoyed swimming, and never realized that I could eat whatever I wanted because of those three miles I did earlier that day!

Enter college, the freshman 15 and an eye-opening year of hitting the gym for the first real time in my life. Solo, no team in site or behind me touching my toes in the lane to keep me going. Ugh. 

I LOVE the post-workout feeling, don't get me wrong. I know how amazing I can look if I work off more than I eat and drink, and if I weight-train the right spots, that bikini will look that much better. It's never been easy, though. Getting my booty to the gym is tough, y'all. Even tougher? Getting my booty outside for a run. Running has been hands-down the only thing that I can do to keep my body trim and tight. Spin class, kickboxing and swimming all add to the fun, but my legs and butt get the biggest bang for their bucks with just a pair of athletic shoes hitting the pavement. And guess what? I hate to run. 

I'm going to do a weekly mini check-in here moving forward where I feature my Daily Mile exercise updates. Have you ever used Daily Mile? If you are a social networker, you will love Daily Mile for that "bragging" quotient of telling your friends and fellow athletes what you accomplished on that day's workout. It lets you input any kind of workout, from swimming laps to lifting weights. Even better, though, is the feature that lets you share how you actually felt during the workout so that others can provide feedback, motivation or just a simple "yay"! It may not be someone right behind me in the pool or my coach yelling at me from the side, but it definitely works.

I was sure to start 2012 off right with a run, even on a super windy/chilly day!

Working out may be tough, but sites like this one give people like me an extra oomph, and I am going to extend that accountability out to you all here, too. In honor of today's first New Year - New Me workout post, here is my Daily Mile weekly summary so far!

I have a spin workout scheduled for tomorrow and also am planning on a long walk outside to hit my 4 workouts per week goal. So far, so good! It's been tough with long workdays and trying to also get enough sleep each night, but I know I can do it if I put my mind to it.

I have added a new Daily Mile widget down on the righthand sidebar so you can follow along with me and help keep me honest :) How do you track your workouts? Do you use a special app, gadget or site?