How much is enough exercise for one day, one week?

I read that 150 minutes a week of exercise is recommended for health. That's a brisk walk..  and  just 2-1/2 hours total per week. 

I spent most of my Wednesday on the soccer field. I for once skipped my morning workout with a plan to do it later on in the evening. Sitting.. watching my kids play soccer is not exercise. It makes me giggle when I hear parents talk about having soccer, baseball, hockey, etc as if they are the ones participating and, running around getting exercise. Watching a game can be intense and makes me feel like I want to jump in and participate. I see a lot of parents talking like they are a back seat driver. Easy to say what the kids should do and how to do it from the sidelines.. but a lot harder to actually play. I think some parents forget this very fact. They are the ones watching and not capable of running around like these kids can do. The parent is not the one with the skills needed to play the game. Sometimes I just sit there and listen and think, wow too bad roles weren't reversed so the kids could yell out.. come on Dad, you can try harder, get to the ball faster. 

Afternoon came when I had the time to go run, bike, lift weights or just do something to get in a cardio workout. I am not an afternoon person.. I'm a morning and evening but afternoon is my down time. I really need to change that.. Which I did! I got out the bike.. and off I went to the gym. I did a little stretching, yoga and had a little caffeine to wake me up. I needed all the help I could get to not just sit there on the couch. 

I actually felt pretty good once I got to the gym. My next plan was to lift weights for 30 minutes then bike to Steve's parents house for dinner. After 30 minutes, Steve was still at home, so I ran for 10 minutes on the cross ramp while I caught up on some magazine reading. It felt weird to get back on that cross ramp. I was reading and killing time so no need to crank up the intensity because I still had more biking to do.

                                         

So much for killing time.. I just biked home.. 7 easy biking miles done, 1 mile or 10 minutes on the cross ramp and 30 minutes of full body workout with weights. 

I didn't do a hard workout. but the point is I did it. I didn't feel like it later on but I know its important to move each and every day. I need more then 1 hour of exercise to feel healthy. Days where I don't workout right away in the morning.. I feel off and blah.. Glad I figured out a way to get out and move.. 

I was patiently waiting for my dinner ( dinner was excellent!) and decided to look up how many calories strength training burns.. not too many.. 100 for 30 minutes... If I sat on that couch I would have only burned 75 calories. Plus, biking for the 30 minutes burned 200 calories. I always say.. doing something (moving your body) is always is better then planting your butt on the couch! 

Bright and early this Thursday morning.. Happy Thursday by the way.. I was out running my favorite dirt road running route. It was a nice, cool morning.. I just wanted to keep an even pace for the 4 miles. 

I just concentrate on 1 mile at a time.. Easy pace but a little more challenging to keep it consistent. I wanted to push the last mile and run it faster then the first 3.. Speed is starting to feel a lot better.. I'm working it at a turtle pace.. speedier for me since I was in a bad habit of running a 10:30 minute miles.. way too easy!

Only when I've done my workout of running or biking.. can I enjoy a little feet up and relaxation... its short lived as I have another busy work day and then a sit on the sidelines to watch more soccer.