Friday, August 26, 2011

Big Wheel Keep on Turnin

Happy Friday Readers.  Indeed it's happy here because Mrs. LIAYF, Lukas, and I will again be on vacation next week.

Since it's August, and this is the beautiful Pacific Northwest, we are staying local and enjoying the gorgeous weather Mother Nature bequeaths to us each Summer.  We will spend a few days north of Seattle "Camping" (quote marks used to signify that we are staying in a small cabin - with a bathroom), but other than that we will use the time to enjoy our fair city.

That means my posts here will be pretty sporadic for the next couple of weeks.  In other words, don't expect to notice much change.

Though I haven't made much fanfare of it, after a fairly long hiatus from working out - to have a child and raise him to the age of 4 - I am back in the saddle, so to speak.  I have been getting up before the birds for the last month or so, with varying degrees of success, to re-introduce myself to my old friend the treadmill.  Now I am not going to say that I have seen any dramatic results from these efforts, but I do feel like cardiovascularly at least my health is improving.

Along with working out in the mornings, with Mrs. LIAYF and Lukas (who long ago mastered his two wheeler without training wheels) I have been riding my bike a lot more this summer.  This has been a lot of fun, and actually inspired what I decided to attempt today. Or, I should alternatively say complete. 

This picture should give you a clue to what I am talking about:


That would be my bicycle parked in my office.  Yes, I biked to work Friday.  True, It was only about 15 miles round trip, but for those of you not from Seattle there are a lot of fairly significant hills here to navigate so for me this was a pretty big deal.

In fact, by the time I finished this is what my legs felt like:


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Not that I didn't expect as much, but I'm pretty sure I will be sore for a few days afterwords.  Wish me luck with that.

Anyway, I have been really needing to get into better shape recently, especially with Lukas each and every day becoming more active and hard to keep up with.  I want to be able to be active with him as he grows, and keeping myself in shape is a necessity so this has been a big step in the right direction for me.

How about you readers?  As a parent do you find it hard to get your workouts in?  Did it become easier as your children got older?

7 comments:

Mrs. LIAYF said...

Yay! Next time take the lovely paniers we have and you won't have to tote your laptop on your back!

Much love - the missus

Mrs. M said...

Mostly I work out early before they get up (5:30). Worth it to me. Sometimes I have to do it later in the day and I try to get them to workout with me (usually with less than successful results).

Have fun on your trip. Your "camping" trip is right up my alley! :)

I've Become My Parents said...

I suppose I would find it hard to get my workout in...if I tried, that is. Good for you for making the effort. Maybe I'll dust off my bike and give it a go.

V said...

I do find it hard to get a workout in with the kids. I generally bike to work about 5 miles one way each day. I've been doing it for a couple of months now and while my legs still feel like jello most days right after I like the fact that I can get my workout done that doesn't interfere with my time with the kids.

Homemaker Man said...

Good for you, man. I've been attempting the same lately. I wait til they're in bed and then I go for a run. Jog really. But I'm up to 3 or so miles and I know longer simultaneously puke and cry at the end so, progress!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I've totally stopped running now that the 5K is over and done with. My wife continues to try to get to the gym but it's always a struggle to carve out the time. It doesn't matter how old our kids get, cuz we'll probably just keep adding more, so...have to work it out I guess. I loved the pictoral description!

Diplo_Daddy said...

Look forward to reading all about your fabulous vacation. Enjoy!