Winter 2011 - 2012

This first catch up post brings us back to the end of last year and beginning of this year. The winter of 2010-11 was a miserable snowy one and I was prepared for another bout of snowy misery in 2011-12; however, mother nature had different plans and we ended up with warm average temps and almost no snow. Ideal for running. Too bad it didn't fit into my plans.

I finished the 2011 season off on November 13th with a new 8K PR. It was a great way to wrap up an exciting year of running. I finished my first marathon and went to school to become a personal trainer. That's when my passion for all things fitness really exploded.

With winter nearing and my new knowledge of fitness training I decided to focus on more aerobic strength training. I had seen a nice gain from Insanity back in May and June that I thought it would be great to do another round. As I said I planned for another snowy, icy, cold winter which meant I wouldn't be able to run outside anyway. In fact I had made plans to do a lot of cross country skiing along with aerobic strength training. Turns out you need snow to do that, but I digress. So after that last run I jumped right into the workouts. I logged zero miles from November 19th to January 31st, but was super consistent with my workouts. Due to the holiday's I didn't lose any weight.

The most amazing part of my winter was the opportunity I was given to put my newly acquired trainer skills to use. I led a group of 20 people, of various ages and abilities, through 16 weeks of group fitness training. It was a lot more fun and fulfilling than I ever thought it could be. It had some challenges, but that's what keeps things interesting right? The biggest challenge was the lack of equipment. We had resistance bands and that was about it. Most of the moves were body weight orientated. Keeping things new and fresh was hard, but I got a lot of great feedback from the participants. What's even more exciting is I will likely get the opportunity to do it again this winter. I'm already in planning mode. It reminds me of setting up my training plans for running. Planning is half the fun!

That's pretty much the skinny on my winter. Next up spring training.