working up to working out. LOL, does that make sense?

Not a bit confused there are ya. however, there is a method to my madness.

First I'll intro myself as I am new to this forum. 

I'm Katie. Surgery in 3 weeks.

Now that you know me..LOL.

I'm trying to slowly work my way up the workout ladder.

So here is what I do now:

2 to 3 mile walk (not every day but I try.) Sometimes with a 30 pound toddler on my back. (same benefit as a weight backpack right??? Hopeful...)

Not biking right now. (getting ready to steal my sons bike and fix that up for me to ride...and no he isn't the 30 pound toddler. LOL).

I do occasionally get on my "personal trampoline" and jump about for a few minutes. trying to work my way up to more time...I.e. first week 5 minutes, second week 10 minutes, third week...well you get the idea)

I also go out and work my horse 3 to 4 times a week. He's in training so I work with him on ground stuff. I.e. lunging, ground driving, (it'll make sense to those who have horses, otherwise, a lot of walking around pushing or pulling a 900 pound horse.)

So any idea's to step up my program with out killing myself? What's a good mileage for someone just starting out riding. Should I push for 5 miles, 10 miles?? I did do 20 miles one day a couple of years ago without building up to it....but I think my DH was trying to kill me...J/k...I didn't have life insurance at that point. Now he's so used to me, he'd miss me when I'm gone...well that and he'd have to take care of our two toddlers.

Is it better to have a destination in mind? or just ride till I drop? (figuratively speaking. I don't wish to hit the pavement, that hurts)

So all joking aside. Any suggestions about things to add. Keeping in mind I would rather do something outside than workout in a gym for hours everyday.

Walk to run programs:
If you knees, body, legs will let you do it, I highly recommend these.  You don't have to run, you can start out doing walk/fast walk instead of walk/run
http://www.c25k.com/
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

As for the bike, ride as far as you can without tiring yourself out or hurting yourself.
Go for a mile, 5 miles, 10 miles, whatever feels comfortable.  if that is too easy, then start adding distance each time you get on the bike.  Add 10% if 10 miles is easy, adding 10% is only 1 more mile.  Just make it gradual and don't hurt yourself. 

Best of luck working up your distances and congrats on the upcoming surgery.

Scott

In addition to Scott's reply, it's really important to do 30 minutes of continuous cardio exercise that keeps your heart rate up.  This is for heart and overall health.  Anything else after that is gravy and will help you in the long run.

I would recommend having a planned route on your bike at first and go up from there.

There are lots of things that people like to do for exercise/recreation.  The things you like are the ones that you will keep doing for the long haul.  Most of my recreation doesn't fit into the cardio category, but I like to do it anyway.  

Not much help, but find those things that you like to do and keep with it!

Linn

yeah, my problem tends to be that most of the activities I like to do are outside and I get nailed during the winter. I hate the cold/rain in January/February. I'm usually pretty good up through the late fall, but winter and early spring are killers for me.

I guess I need to figure out what I like that will work for indoors.

I pretty much have my gym membership to cover the winter months and those days where it is too late to go run.  I can hit the gym and do my treadmill time.  When my bike was broken, I used their stationary bikes.  I never feel like going out to run in the rain.  You can try and find a no frills gym so that you have the use of treadmills and stationary bikes during the winter months.


You can get a trainer for the bicycle.  It chucks up the rear wheel, and you can ride right in your house.  Park it in front of the tv and away you go.  They also sell spinning videos and other workout videos for the bike as well.  You can pop one of those into the dvd player and get your bike workout in.

Good luck on your exercise goals.

Scott

The trainer sounds like it might be a good option. I'll have to see about video's as we don't bother with any t.v. but do have a dvd player collecting dust. Any suggestions for some good, beginner DVD's?

I thnk I'll have to go kidnap my parents total gym thingy as it's collecting dust over there. LOL. I really hate the idea of paying for a gym, however, our little local pool has a small (and I do mean small) gym attached to it. So maybe a swim and a workout a couple of times a week during the winter would work.

http://www.spinervals.com/

Check ebay, you can get them there quite often for less than the cost on their website.
I purchased the one http://www.spinervals.com/products/item37.cfm
you can check out their videos on their site.  You can also rent or download some of their videos and try them out as well.  There is a vhs tape of the rid I purchased on ebay right now for $1.99


Scott

Thanks for the information.

http://www.spinervals.com/

Check ebay, you can get them there quite often for less than the cost on their website.
I purchased the one http://www.spinervals.com/products/item37.cfm
you can check out their videos on their site.  You can also rent or download some of their videos and try them out as well.

Scott