Feel the burn

My wonderful guy got me a heart rate monitor for Christmas.  I love it!  I feel like I have a better idea as to how effective my workouts truly are.    I decided to test it on Insanity, since I'm going through the program right now.  I hadn't done it in a few days - holidays, my guy being in town, my whole routine shifted.  I figured I'd wait.

Tonight was the night - I busted out the Cardio Power and Resistance video, donned my heart rate monitor and got to work.  I took it sort of easy tonight, since I hadn't done it in a few days, and wanted to ease back in.  That being said, even with taking it easy, I still burned 765 calories.  765 DUDES!!  Imagine if I pushed harder!  Psshhhhh.  I mean this program is amazing, I already knew that, but I didn't think I was burning that many calories in the 30-40 minute workouts.  I assumed somewhere closer to 400.  I'm certainly impressed.

Like I'd said before, I feel my strength as well as stamina building with these workouts.  A prime example would be New Year's Eve day.  My guy and I decided to hike into the canyon a little ways.  He had never been to the Grand Canyon, so a hike was definitely in order.  We did a 5 mile round trip hike down the Hermit trail, which is pretty steep most of the way down/up.  I hiked it with no problems.  I was barely getting winded!  No stops necessary for me for the entire 2.5 mile trek back out - though I did stop for my partner, since he's not used to this elevation :) Last year when I hiked this same trail, I had to stop a multitude of times on my way back out.  My increase in strength training - weights, running, Insanity, have all contributed to this boost.  I couldn't be happier.

Now, to keep that momentum going!  I've been rather lax lately, and I really need to change that.