This is the busy time of the year when, despite my best intentions, I end up skipping breaks or spending my lunch breaks running errands so I never make it to the gym. As of today it had been 13 days since I exercised in any form (walking around trick or treating doesn't count) and between Girl Scout cookies and Halloween candy I've been eating way too much, to the point where not only do I not weigh myself but I can't even look at the scale gathering dust in the bathroom.
So I forced myself to go to the gym. That's the stupid part--I really had to convince myself to go. I have no pressing deadlines, I have no work that is so important that I can't put it off an hour or so and I was fighting sleepiness, which I knew I could counteract with moving. But I still put it off and put it off. Then I promised myself that I only had to do 30 minutes at a low level on the elliptical, so off I went.
And I had a great workout. The ellipticals were all taken, so I got on a treadmill. I *did* set it to 0% incline and 5.5 m.p.h. (knowing now that I lose fitness so quickly when I stop exercising that anything more would be too much) and only for 30 minutes, but it felt so good to be moving again that I kept adding time and ended up on the treadmill for 50 minutes. I kept it slow the whole time to keep my heartrate down, but felt at the end that I really could have kept going a while (not another 22 miles though--what's wrong with those people?).
It's a start, and the challenge will be to keep this up so I don't fall into my usual holiday slump. I've got the NCR trail ride in a couple of weeks, and the Solstice run a month after that (today I did a little under 4.5 miles between the run and the cooldown, so I think five miles for the Solstice run will be easily do-able as long as I keep up the running between now and then). I need to get some winter running clothes. I was on the treadmill today because I packed my gym bag two weeks ago so everything I had was for THAT weather, which was much warmer. A sleeveless shirt wouldn't have cut it today. I have one pair of warm tights, one long sleeved shirt, and a softshell jacket that is too small. That's enough for one outdoor run, but if I want to run outside more than once a week (or do laundry only once a week!) I need to get some more.
1 comment:
It's not just the busy time of year -- when the weather gets cooler it's harder to want to move. We're a bunch of hibernating bears. Or stink bugs -- they barely creep after they come inside. And the junk food season starts at Halloween and keeps going through Easter. But good for you for getting to the gym and exercising! I'm glad it was such a great workout. Maybe we both can remember THAT as the dull-fitness season goes on! I started a diet today (stupid the day after Halloween, especially since we're finally going out for Mary's birthday dinner tonight) because I'm tired of feeling sluggish and fat, too. I wish I could exercise properly!
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