Naomeri
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2019
- Messages
- 5,002
Introduction, pt 1–2020
Hi! I’m Maureen. I’m a 37 y.o. woman from Minnesota. Sit back and relax, this intro is going to be long
I’ve never been a runner. I’ve hardly been a walker since I hit my teen years. I dreaded running the mile in elementary school, and barely managed to walk it most of the time. I’ve never even been particularly athletic, in part due to a definite lack of coordination. I’ve spent most of my life sitting on my widening behind, reading a book or watching tv.
But now I’m sick of it.
I’ve finally got a job and a living situation that lets me take vacations, and I’ve decided Disney World is my happy place. I like going other places, but Disney is so contained and (reasonably) hassle-free, and it’s never the same trip twice. But it’s A LOT of walking, and when I went in January 2020, I ended every day practically crippled from tight, stiff muscles, even with a midday break.
After the lockdowns started, I decided to use my new, trapped-in-the-house status to start making some changes. I live in the middle of nowhere, and I knew from past experience that if getting in shape involved leaving my house, it wasn’t going to last for long, but now I had no choice but to get in shape without going places. Luckily, we have a stationary bike.
I started out really slow and okay-ish, using the bike for 15-25 minutes once or twice a week. For a few weeks. Then just…nothing. I lost my motivation, for whatever reason. But in mid-August 2020, I found my motivation again, in my happy place. I decided that I needed a mental health break from lockdown with my grandparents and booked a trip to WDW for the last week of October. I’m a permanent remote worker, and I live in the basement of our house, with a fridge and microwave, so I would have no problem quarantining when I got home. But if I was going to spend 5 solid days in the World, I needed to be able to move without pain.
I went about it a little different than I had earlier in the year. I got the Sworkit app on my phone to teach me yoga and stretching to get my muscles more flexible. It worked better than I thought! For the first time in my whole life, I could bend over and touch my toes! I spent the latter half of August doing mostly yoga and stretching, with a few stationary bike sessions mixed in. Then I started going to our local arboretum and walking. I had gotten my grandma a family membership for Mother’s Day, and I could go anytime I wanted for free. They have a great paved walking loop that’s about 2.25 miles around. I started doing that once or twice a week, when the weather cooperated. I racked up over 12 miles of deliberate, exercise walking in a month and a half, which doesn’t sound like much, until you know that I had about half a mile of exercise walking for the previous 8 months.
My October trip rolled around, and I was in much better shape! I ended up limping a bit, but that was because I got blisters, not because my muscles were rebelling. I walked 30.9 miles in 5 days and survived!!
I kept up my Sworkit workouts a couple times a week for the rest of 2020, and even made it out to the arboretum loop a couple times to take advantage of unseasonably warm winter weather. In December, we got a small treadmill because my grandpa’s doctor said he needed to walk every day, so I had another option for at-home workouts.
Hi! I’m Maureen. I’m a 37 y.o. woman from Minnesota. Sit back and relax, this intro is going to be long
I’ve never been a runner. I’ve hardly been a walker since I hit my teen years. I dreaded running the mile in elementary school, and barely managed to walk it most of the time. I’ve never even been particularly athletic, in part due to a definite lack of coordination. I’ve spent most of my life sitting on my widening behind, reading a book or watching tv.
But now I’m sick of it.
I’ve finally got a job and a living situation that lets me take vacations, and I’ve decided Disney World is my happy place. I like going other places, but Disney is so contained and (reasonably) hassle-free, and it’s never the same trip twice. But it’s A LOT of walking, and when I went in January 2020, I ended every day practically crippled from tight, stiff muscles, even with a midday break.
After the lockdowns started, I decided to use my new, trapped-in-the-house status to start making some changes. I live in the middle of nowhere, and I knew from past experience that if getting in shape involved leaving my house, it wasn’t going to last for long, but now I had no choice but to get in shape without going places. Luckily, we have a stationary bike.
I started out really slow and okay-ish, using the bike for 15-25 minutes once or twice a week. For a few weeks. Then just…nothing. I lost my motivation, for whatever reason. But in mid-August 2020, I found my motivation again, in my happy place. I decided that I needed a mental health break from lockdown with my grandparents and booked a trip to WDW for the last week of October. I’m a permanent remote worker, and I live in the basement of our house, with a fridge and microwave, so I would have no problem quarantining when I got home. But if I was going to spend 5 solid days in the World, I needed to be able to move without pain.
I went about it a little different than I had earlier in the year. I got the Sworkit app on my phone to teach me yoga and stretching to get my muscles more flexible. It worked better than I thought! For the first time in my whole life, I could bend over and touch my toes! I spent the latter half of August doing mostly yoga and stretching, with a few stationary bike sessions mixed in. Then I started going to our local arboretum and walking. I had gotten my grandma a family membership for Mother’s Day, and I could go anytime I wanted for free. They have a great paved walking loop that’s about 2.25 miles around. I started doing that once or twice a week, when the weather cooperated. I racked up over 12 miles of deliberate, exercise walking in a month and a half, which doesn’t sound like much, until you know that I had about half a mile of exercise walking for the previous 8 months.
My October trip rolled around, and I was in much better shape! I ended up limping a bit, but that was because I got blisters, not because my muscles were rebelling. I walked 30.9 miles in 5 days and survived!!
I kept up my Sworkit workouts a couple times a week for the rest of 2020, and even made it out to the arboretum loop a couple times to take advantage of unseasonably warm winter weather. In December, we got a small treadmill because my grandpa’s doctor said he needed to walk every day, so I had another option for at-home workouts.
I came home and did a round of Sworkit stretching to fill up my rings. Still feeling good about this, and I’m excited to register for the Wine & Dine Virtual 5K and 10K on Friday morning.
