Fitness Journals

I ran a mile this morning as planned. I got 9:08 as my time! You know, 11 calories a minute really isn't that many, if I'm only running for nearly 9. In swimming you burn somewhere around 12.5 calories a minute I think. But I swim for 90 minutes…so that means I burn 1125 calories (relatively speaking). I guess I'm not really running to burn calories so much as I'm running to keep my endurance up (and possibly get it up higher). And certainly not because I love running. I wish I liked it as much as swimming. But I don't. Oh well. I've tried.

And that doesn't mean I'm going to stop running.

You know how at the end of the year there's always this big fitness marketing thing going on? STICK TO YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS—LOOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF!! That and other crazy phrases are all over the place. I guess they die down around the end of January or so.

Anyway, about a month ago I was at Barnes and Noble at Triangle Town Center (I like that mall—it's huge!!) and I thought that, though I don't want to loose weight, they might have some sort of book that would interest me. So I browsed around, thinking of looking for something along the lines of a fitness-journal-thing that personal trainers sometimes use for either themselves and/or their clients.

What I found was basically exactly what I was looking for. When I say basically, I mean that it had everything I wanted in it. It had a place to write down what I ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner (as well as goodies, snacks and "booze" [under that column I just put what coffee I had]). It also had an area to write down what weight exercises I did for my upper and lower body, as well as cardio. There are boxes to check depending on how well I think I did overall, there are places to write down how my night was and my morning mood and plans for the next day. There is also a place at the beginning of every week to write down my overall plan and my weight and any ideas for the week ahead.

The un-basically part was that the book is called the Younger Next Year Journal. In smaller print it says, "Turn back your biological clock." In short, that means that it's for old people! Well, I don't care. It was the best one of its kind there. I bought it, and I try to remember to fill it out every day. It touches on a few things to do with "heart rate" which I tend to ignore. I don't have heart problems and don't own a heart rate monitor. Maybe when I do, I will, and then I'll actually be a real old person and the book will apply to me.

Anyway, I have rather enjoyed looking back over just the past month and watching myself get stronger and my eating patterns get better, among other things. However, one day I am rather ashamed of is February 4th, 2007 (or as it is sometimes known, Super Bowl Sunday). If you're like me, you would probably enjoy having a book like this around. It was just about $12, which is a good buy (for me). The dates are fill-in-the-blank, so if you buy it now you don't have to skip from January to the current date. You can just start at the beginning of the book.

Well, I guess I need to get on with my day. Talk to ya later!
~Jessica