Monday, February 25, 2013

Trying New Things

I am very much a creature of habit.  I find something I like and I stick to it.  This means I eat the same sandwich for lunch everyday, do the same running routine, cook the same recipes for dinner.  Lately I've been breaking that trend.  I have actually tried new things.

I see this all over the internet.  Such a brilliant man!
 
First new thing - I went swimming!  To be fair, swimming is not a brand new activity for me.  In high school I taught swimming lessons at the city pool so I have a good background of all the strokes.  However, it has been a good 4 years since I've put on a pair of goggles to swim laps.  It was my boyfriend's idea.  He wanted to try water jogging for his injury recovery, but I latched on and begged him to take me to the pool.  Our first swim was last Monday and in half an hour I swam about half a mile with a lot of breaks.  It felt soo good though.  It was the day after my long run, so my body appreciated the break from hitting the pavement.  My knees were no longer sore, but I knew my leg muscles still got a good workout.  We went for a second swim tonight.  I even bought a new swimsuit for the occasion.
So pretty!
 
Tonight I tried a second new thing - coconut water.  After about 1000 meters of swimming today and some handstand practice in the water, I hopped out of the pool and immediately my calf cramped.  Charley Horse - ouch!  I knew I needed potassium so I headed home to try the coconut water I had recently stocked in my fridge.  I didn't love the flavor, so I looked up some recipes.  I ended up making hot chocolate out of it and the taste of that drink was amazing.  The best part is I know I'm still getting over 600 mg of potassium.
 
There have been a handful of other things I've been trying lately.  I've made new recipes like this pasta one from Self Magazine and a butternut squash mac and cheese from nutritionella.  That was my first time dealing with butternut squash and I really liked the flavor.  I've also tried out compression socks and tabata workouts.  I'm a fan of both.
 
I know these are small changes, but for someone who is used to a precise routine, these steps are groundbreaking.  What new things have you tried lately?


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