Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Confession Time

So I have a confession to make, today I was just off my game. I was just all over the place emotionally and stressed out. It seemed like everything that I have been trying to do lately has been difficult. So I woke up today and had my normal reasonable breakfast. Got ready for my run and then found that my iPod was not charged. So I bugged my husband for his and he looked all over for it. By the time he gave it to me, I had already talked myself out of my run.

I went about my daily tasks until lunchtime at which time I could not figure out what I wanted for lunch.  I went past several fast food joints, that I could not push myself to go into. Eventually I opted for a long drive home to prepare my own lunch. Still in a funk, I enjoyed a nice lunch at home. The evening progressed and eventually realized that I made it to 7:30 pm without completing my workout. I was curled up in my bed, in my husbands pajama shirt. I logged on to Facebook and the first thing I saw was this picture:
 Omega 3 Fitness
So I got up  and jumped into my work out gear and threw on my Insanity DVD.  Motivation comes from everywhere !!!

Boredom

I think you can get bored with even the funnest routine. Doing the same thing, day after day gets boring. I have completed P90X 3 or 4 times( lost count). I am on my second round of Insanity and I have to say " I am bored". I am always  running regardless of what program am doing , so that is just a part of my life.

The gym for me can get a bit mundane because I take all the classes and have been on every machine!!! So I am looking for something new to get me excited about. So I am dropping into a cross-fit class this weekend, it is not entirely new to me. I tried it when I first started my journey and felt too out of shape in the class. I am also signing up for a month of boot camp.  I love to workout outside and this  boot camp is outside with a new routine everyday.  Last night I started revamping  my iPod playlist, so that I have some new music to motivate me.

I just started looking into a new hybrid program of P90X and Insanity.  I just cant wait for the weather to be consistent. So I a can hike, run hills, run stairs and just move outside again.   The last two weeks I was so excited about the weather and I was outside exercising as much as possible.

I guess the moral of this story is, if you get  bored  don't give up.  Simply shake up your routine !

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The stress monster has arrived

Really, it appears as if there was a meeting that I was not invited to. They decided that  everything that could go wrong, would go wrong in my life at the same moment. Which left me sleep deprived due to travel and stress. Usually my first stop  would be the grocery store to pick up some comfort food and sweet snacks.I have realized that is not the answer, so I figured I would share what I do to deal with stress.

With a husband, two children, a career, bills and a host of other unpaid duties life can get stressful. I have always been an emotional eater,so I always turn to food to soothe me. If I need to have food to comfort me , it has to be fuel. So I  have carrots and a teaspoon of  peanut butter, instead of a slice of cake.  I always make sure to eat breakfast when I know I am having a stressful day. That  way I don't have an urge to overeat or grab sugary snack later in the day.

On those really stressful days, I amp up my exercise. I head into the gym and take a boxing class, my gym has a kids gym and daycare. So I drop the boys off and head into the boxing rooms. I  go through all the boxing circuits  for an hour until I feel better. I usually run down to the snack bar afterward for a recovery drink.  The young lady behind the counter, always has  some hilarious story to tell me. I find that laughter soothes the soul and make you forget about all that ails you.

I have also come to the realization that the stress will come back. So instead of ending a stressful day, hoping the stress wont come back. I now make a plan to deal with stressful situations. That way I can prevent having to deal with the same stressful issues  in the future. Confronting  problems maybe stressful initially but in the long run it prevents future stress.

Monday, March 5, 2012

The Imaginary Wall

I often meet this wall when I am working out . It is like you get to that point  where you feel like , your legs are heavy and you can move anymore. You have hit the wall, I call it my imaginary wall, in the past I would just stop.  My body is telling me that it cant do it anymore, every step seems to be more and more difficult.  I think we all hit the wall but  the difference is what we do when we meet up with it.

Many of of us give up far too soon, we think that we can't go on. The question is: Have you  ever tried to go any further? If you have never tried to keep going, how will you know if you can do it or not?  We sell ourselves short when we don't realize that we have the potential to do more. If your loved ones  were in danger beyond that wall, would you stop or would you fight to get to them?  Would you keep pushing your self until you achieved your goal, I know I would.

When I made a decision to break down my imaginary wall, I had been running 1 .5 miles on a daily basis and it seemed that I would always lose steam at when the announcement came on through my iPod that I was at 1.47 miles. One day I realized that, I was giving up and I need to push through to see what would happen.  The first thing I did  was turn off the  miles announcement on my iPod.  Then I made my self and energy packed play list. That day , when I started my run  I was determined to run  more than 1.5 miles.  When I finally hit my wall and looked at my iPod I had ran 2.76 miles.  It was proof  positive that I could do more than even I knew I was capable.

Now when I strap my sneakers to run, I never say I am going to run 6 miles. I say to myself that today I am going to break  down that wall and keep going. We all have imaginary walls that hold us back, can you look in your life and see where your wall stands ?