Before I left for France, I was probably in the best shape I’d been in since I swam. Or at least, I was on my way… Working at the Y & having lots of free time seems to bring that out in me. I mean, free gym membership to a good, well equipped gym? Why not use it. So I was working out at least 4 days on, one day off. Running, biking, swimming, weights, core…you name it..& then I came to France….

Last time time I lived in France, in Rennes, I swam for the school so I at least had 3 hours of that a week. It didn’t compare for swimming for the U of C (3 hrs vs 23 hrs) but it was something. When I first got to Lyon, it was warm enough to run outside, so I did quite a bit of that. I also tried to swim at the pool here, but I quickly learned that that was more frustrating than satisfying. It’s times like that where I wish (for a split second) that I wasn’t such a good swimmer. I have to work so much harder to get my heart rate up & have to swim so many meters for it to be worth it & that’s just not possible at the pool here, sadly. 
Winter arrived & I could no longer run outside in shorts. I can’t bring myself to run in pants (it drives me nuts) so I resigned myself to the fact that I’d have to get my exercise from all the walking & velo’ving I was doing. & I am sadly out of shape now. I miss the gym & doing weights & going for a swim whenever I want. I love being in shape & feeling good & being somewhat toned. I always felt like I wasn’t in great shape, but looking back now, I really was. 
Now that April is here, I can run outside again in shorts & I’m so excited about this. It’s also dry enough for the most part to bike at least one way to or from work, so that’s exciting as well. It’s nice to not be in hibernation anymore. & I definitely need to start working out again to prepare for a summer of hiking & backpacking. I’m way too competitive & proud to let any mountain kick my ass. 
So now begins my getting back into some kind of shape. The goal is to do pushups & abs & squats to make up for my lack of weights & to run at least 3 times a week, plus bike & walk places as much as I can. I haven’t bought a metro pass this month, so not only is this good for me, it’ll also save me money on public transportation. 
As usual, I am so full of good intentions…we’ll have to see how successful I am at carrying them out though now.