This morning I woke up at 4:40am so that I could swim with my old swim team at the Palm Harbor Y. There was no question that I would join them for an early swim, 4 days before my wedding, since I was in town. I arrived at the Y and said my hellos before jumping in to the semi-cool outdoor pool. It was pitch dark outside but the pool was lit up just enough to see the bottom of the pool.
The swim set was great and it kept me from thinking about the wedding.
16 x 50's w/ fins warm-up on 40 sec (more like a 800 straight)
5 x 200 kick w/ fins on 3:30 (my fins were giving me blisters and since i hate fins and I have to wear sandals on sunday, I suffered through 4 of them and then got rid of the fins for number 5)
Main set: 16 x 100's on 1:30 w/ fins (I did the first 4 with fins and my feet were killing me. I toughed it up and did them all without fins while the other two guys on my cycle did them with fins).
Then I was ready to run. Instead of running on the treadmill I decided to grab my radio and hit the pinellas trail. Oh how I missed running on that trail! So many memories...IMFL and KONA!
As I was driving home I started thinking about my day. I worked out for 2 hours and then did my wedding stuff. Fun beauty stuff today...I had my hair done for a practice run and it came out great! A wife of one of the gearlinkers works at a hair salon and she did an awesome job on my hair. I can't wait til sun to see the real deal. Then after lunch, I went and got my nails done. I am struggling a little bit on the computer...it has been 8 years since I have had a french manicure. I think it was my senior prom when I had fake nails. They do look nice and they will look good in pics but I would not pay $40 for these to stay on on a daily basis. I think campy likes when I rub his back though.
Aside from all the wedding stuff I was thinking about starting my day with my workout. I didn't think twice about not working out this morning. I often wonder how people can tell me that they don't have time to exercise. 1 hour a day is my recommendation for 6 days of the week. when you think about it, if you sleep 6 hours a night and work an 8 hour day, that leaves 10 hours to workout. Ok, I know there are other errands to be done and commuting takes up time, but to give yourself 1 hour a day to raise the heart rate, get sweaty and burn calories is not that hard.
I think there are a few reasons why people make excuses not to exercise.
Sleep is a big one. I am usually in bed around 9:30 with lights out around 10. Sometimes I watch the beginning of Nancy Grace at 10 but I am really consistent with my sleep. I know a lot of people don't have the luxury of going to bed early but it takes a little time management to get things done during the week (Not all in one day) in order to go to bed 30 min earlier a few nights a week. I think sleep is a major reason why people don't make it to the gym.
Another reason, which occurs a lot in athletes, is that feeling that the workout won't be productive. Regardless if we are tired or full of energy, we always eqate workouts to rewards. Of course quality is better than quantity but we look at HR, zones, times, durations, speeds, power, etc. all to define if we have a successful workout. For the past 4-5 weeks I think I have done something active almost every day of the week. Maybe 2-3 times I have taken the entire day off (aside from crunches) but I find myself looking forward to exercising because I am just burning calories and getting in a good sweat. I don't care about interval times or how much I think I should do. I am just outside or in the gym because I like to challenge my body. Even if I don't have expectations, the challenge to my body is to become a little healthier than the day before.
I think if we could all just enjoy being active it would be a lot easier to make ourselves just exercise. We don't always have to train.
Well, as for me, I am LOVING just exercising and getting myself to the gym, in the pool or out on the road almost everyday of the week. Hopefully everyone out there is finding ways to keep their bodies in motion during the "winter" so that come spring, the body will be ready to train.
Oh-did I mention I will not be training, exercising or doing any type of physical activity on sun morning!!! Instead, I'll be burning off my lunch and cake calories by dancing all afternoon!!!!
*To Karel: I MISS YOU! Can't wait 'til you are here with your family on Sat.
The swim set was great and it kept me from thinking about the wedding.
16 x 50's w/ fins warm-up on 40 sec (more like a 800 straight)
5 x 200 kick w/ fins on 3:30 (my fins were giving me blisters and since i hate fins and I have to wear sandals on sunday, I suffered through 4 of them and then got rid of the fins for number 5)
Main set: 16 x 100's on 1:30 w/ fins (I did the first 4 with fins and my feet were killing me. I toughed it up and did them all without fins while the other two guys on my cycle did them with fins).
Then I was ready to run. Instead of running on the treadmill I decided to grab my radio and hit the pinellas trail. Oh how I missed running on that trail! So many memories...IMFL and KONA!
As I was driving home I started thinking about my day. I worked out for 2 hours and then did my wedding stuff. Fun beauty stuff today...I had my hair done for a practice run and it came out great! A wife of one of the gearlinkers works at a hair salon and she did an awesome job on my hair. I can't wait til sun to see the real deal. Then after lunch, I went and got my nails done. I am struggling a little bit on the computer...it has been 8 years since I have had a french manicure. I think it was my senior prom when I had fake nails. They do look nice and they will look good in pics but I would not pay $40 for these to stay on on a daily basis. I think campy likes when I rub his back though.
Aside from all the wedding stuff I was thinking about starting my day with my workout. I didn't think twice about not working out this morning. I often wonder how people can tell me that they don't have time to exercise. 1 hour a day is my recommendation for 6 days of the week. when you think about it, if you sleep 6 hours a night and work an 8 hour day, that leaves 10 hours to workout. Ok, I know there are other errands to be done and commuting takes up time, but to give yourself 1 hour a day to raise the heart rate, get sweaty and burn calories is not that hard.
I think there are a few reasons why people make excuses not to exercise.
Sleep is a big one. I am usually in bed around 9:30 with lights out around 10. Sometimes I watch the beginning of Nancy Grace at 10 but I am really consistent with my sleep. I know a lot of people don't have the luxury of going to bed early but it takes a little time management to get things done during the week (Not all in one day) in order to go to bed 30 min earlier a few nights a week. I think sleep is a major reason why people don't make it to the gym.
Another reason, which occurs a lot in athletes, is that feeling that the workout won't be productive. Regardless if we are tired or full of energy, we always eqate workouts to rewards. Of course quality is better than quantity but we look at HR, zones, times, durations, speeds, power, etc. all to define if we have a successful workout. For the past 4-5 weeks I think I have done something active almost every day of the week. Maybe 2-3 times I have taken the entire day off (aside from crunches) but I find myself looking forward to exercising because I am just burning calories and getting in a good sweat. I don't care about interval times or how much I think I should do. I am just outside or in the gym because I like to challenge my body. Even if I don't have expectations, the challenge to my body is to become a little healthier than the day before.
I think if we could all just enjoy being active it would be a lot easier to make ourselves just exercise. We don't always have to train.
Well, as for me, I am LOVING just exercising and getting myself to the gym, in the pool or out on the road almost everyday of the week. Hopefully everyone out there is finding ways to keep their bodies in motion during the "winter" so that come spring, the body will be ready to train.
Oh-did I mention I will not be training, exercising or doing any type of physical activity on sun morning!!! Instead, I'll be burning off my lunch and cake calories by dancing all afternoon!!!!
*To Karel: I MISS YOU! Can't wait 'til you are here with your family on Sat.