Believe it or not, I have yet to start my daily exercising routine. It is just so hard to make exercise a priority when there are so many other things that NEED to be done. I co-taught a workshop on caring for fruit trees today and so I woke up early to prepare the handouts and work on my presentation. I had no time at all to go for a run or head to the gym. Many of my days are like that; I am parenting , working, volunteering, giving workshops, or - sometimes - seeing friends. I am always busy and I think i always will be. However, I need to make fitness a priority as well. It is such a magic bullet for me in terms of reducing stress, helping me to concentrate and relax, helping to to think clearly, improving my sleep and general health. making exercise a priority means I can do all the things I need and want to with my life.
Tomorrow I have the morning free. The kids are at their dads. I have no meetings, no appointments, no workshops, no work. Well, I should actually do some work on a course I teach BUT I can make time in the morning to exercise. The plan is to head to the Y by 8am, run on the treadmill (I am too depressed by the cold and snow - I know I ran in colder weather but that was in winter! I refuse to run in freezing cold weather in the spring) for 45 minutes, head to a yoga class, then go back to the fitness area and do some strength training. I plan to spend almost three hours there doing it all cardio, strength training, relaxation. Just really make time for myself. yes, there are a million other things I could be doing, grading my students, revising my course, reading, preparing workshops, cleaning my house, doing laundry, talking on the phone, etc, etc. But I have decided to carve out one morning where I spend a few hours doing what is necessary for me to be able to do all those other things.
And hopefully that will be inspiring and fun enough that I will get back in the habit of exercising and start heading every day (for much less time, of course) to the gym or the yoga studio or outside to exercise.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
I have fallen so far off the wagon I can't even see the tracks. Oh dear. My fitness plan has not gone well. One lesson learned: I can not do running training clinics. I just will never complete one. This one was even more demanding than the other THREE I have failed to complete because they expected me to attend group runs or classes three days a week and that does NOT work with my life. I won't sign up for another one of those! Also running in the winter is not fun for me. I don't like being cold or uncomfortable. Another thing I learned is that fitness videos are really boring (in my opinion).
However, my ambitious fitness goals remain (almost) intact! I am not sure if I'll do the 1/2 marathon in 2.5 weeks but I signed up for a September sprint triathlon and an October marathon. Crazy? probably but I don't care.
My new plan for achieving these goals is to exercise very early in the morning. This is the only thing that fits into my lifestyle. I need to get up at, like, 5:30 and head out for a run or head to the gym. And be ready to start my day at 8am. This fits into my paid work and even into single parenthood since I worked out a way to get my co-parent to be present in my apartment for early morning exercising on the days I have the kids (yay for easy-going co-parents who are also neighbours). Because I am ambitious, and apparently don't mind failing, I have a plan to do this seven days a week: hot yoga twice, swimming twice, and running three times. And maybe I'll even be able to combine some of the above mentioned exercises with a Zumba class.
In terms of healthy eating, I tried to do a detox and mostly focused on the food, although other things were part of it such as daily meditation and getting adequate sleep. It worked at first. I avoided sugar, wheat, and coffee, and ate lots of raw veggies and even did one day of a juice fast. But I think the one-day juice fast broke me. It made me feel crazy. I was so hungry all I could do was think about food. I felt tired, weak, and just awful. Maybe fasting is a spiritual and purifying experience for some people, but not for me. I will not be fasting again. I do, however, want to keep up the avoidance of wheat, sugar, and coffee. Or, start it again, since I failed on the sugar and wheat front!
But I'm also going to be flexible and accepting. Sometimes I just really need chocolate or a date square.
So, starting tomorrow, my goals are to exercise everyday, avoid sugar, wheat, and coffee, and get enough sleep while waking up very early. I will be completely changing my biological clock with the early morning wake-up so wish me luck!
However, my ambitious fitness goals remain (almost) intact! I am not sure if I'll do the 1/2 marathon in 2.5 weeks but I signed up for a September sprint triathlon and an October marathon. Crazy? probably but I don't care.
My new plan for achieving these goals is to exercise very early in the morning. This is the only thing that fits into my lifestyle. I need to get up at, like, 5:30 and head out for a run or head to the gym. And be ready to start my day at 8am. This fits into my paid work and even into single parenthood since I worked out a way to get my co-parent to be present in my apartment for early morning exercising on the days I have the kids (yay for easy-going co-parents who are also neighbours). Because I am ambitious, and apparently don't mind failing, I have a plan to do this seven days a week: hot yoga twice, swimming twice, and running three times. And maybe I'll even be able to combine some of the above mentioned exercises with a Zumba class.
In terms of healthy eating, I tried to do a detox and mostly focused on the food, although other things were part of it such as daily meditation and getting adequate sleep. It worked at first. I avoided sugar, wheat, and coffee, and ate lots of raw veggies and even did one day of a juice fast. But I think the one-day juice fast broke me. It made me feel crazy. I was so hungry all I could do was think about food. I felt tired, weak, and just awful. Maybe fasting is a spiritual and purifying experience for some people, but not for me. I will not be fasting again. I do, however, want to keep up the avoidance of wheat, sugar, and coffee. Or, start it again, since I failed on the sugar and wheat front!
But I'm also going to be flexible and accepting. Sometimes I just really need chocolate or a date square.
So, starting tomorrow, my goals are to exercise everyday, avoid sugar, wheat, and coffee, and get enough sleep while waking up very early. I will be completely changing my biological clock with the early morning wake-up so wish me luck!
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