Another great week of workouts and I love, love, love that spring is in the air! Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous (high got to the mid seventies!) and today is sunny and bright although much cooler as we dip back in highs in the low fifties this week. No, you're not reading a weather report but after a winter of more snow than I'd ever seen in my life I'm very excited by spring!
I have been going to my spin classes twice a week for just over a month now, and on Monday night I could really tell how much I've improved. My instructor commented on it too, and one of the other people taking the class told me at the end how her goal was to be me when she grew up. She teaches pilates at the gym and on Tuesday she once again told me her goal was go get to be as good as I was. When she first said it Monday night, I had been taken aback slightly because there is still very little when it comes to working out that I consider myself good at other than making it to my work outs. But as we were walking out of class Monday night, I commented to my spin instructor that I never expected anyone to want to be like me when it comes to working out because I still remember how I was when I started out (meaning last year). He said to me that I'd come far fast (in spin) and that consistency is key.
It reminded me of an Aristotle quote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
And this week I've been battling some self doubt about my running and overall working out abilities, but I think that consistency really is my greatest strength. From the very beginning of starting my workout routine last April, I have not missed a workout for any reason other than sickness or injury. I made everyone of the boot camp classes I was scheduled to attend until September when I went on vacation. Yet even on a cruise, I went to the gym on the boat and took a run rather than a nap at a family gathering. I am not going to be mistaken for a world class athlete any time soon. I still struggle with how much weight I'm capable of lifting (my kettlebell instructor the other night told me my form was off because I needed to be using more weight, I thought he was crazy until he handed me more weight!) and how hard my body is capable of working, but I keep showing up.
And while I do things consistently, its not that I'm happy with the status quo or not challenging myself to get better, its that I get better by doing things often. I can't just show up on May 21st and run my half marathon! In order to get strong enough to run it, I must consistently run before hand. In order to succeed at weight loss, I do not have to get my diet absolutely perfect everday, I just have to consistently make good choices and not beat myself up for my bad ones.
In addition to consistency, the thing I talk about all the time is sustainability which I think goes to the same Aristotle quote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
The last time I got close to my goal weight on Weight Watchers in 2006, I was practicing a lot of behaviors that I could not sustain for the long run. I cannot eat the same 4 food choices over and over again for the rest of my life. I cannot restrict an entire set of food from my eating reprotoire and expect to have long term success. (Yes, I've become vegetarian, but please read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and watch Food Inc. before you tell me that it won't be a sustainable decision for me! :)) So, one of the great things about Weight Watchers is while you're encouraged to use your daily points on healthy foods like low fat dairy, whole grains, lean protein and get 5-8 servings of fruits and veggies a day, you are also given a weekly allotment of points that you are to use for anything you want. If you want pizza or ice cream or beer or wine, you get to have them! They are not your best choice for everyday of the week, but you learn to have them in your diet without having them everyday. I have done this for over a year and not felt deprived or like I need to take a weekend to have whatever it is I want (because often doing that for a weekend becomes for longer) I know that this will work for me for the long term.
The other question of sustainability is can I workout at the level I have been in the long term. I think I found my answer the other night when I realized I actually really like working out. I was afraid that the joy I've found in boot camp might be more from the cammerederie than from working out, but Tuesday night as I stepped off the treadmill I realized I felt really good and that if I hadn't done it I would have missed it. That wasn't about cammerederie with anyone other than myself.
If your big reason for not working out is you just don't like it, loop back to the earlier part of this post where I talk about consistency. I didn't like working out at first either. I have complained that my sedentary lifestyle never caused me to injure my knee or have plantar fasciitis but I kept doing it consistently and my body and now my brain have come to love it and crave the endorphins. (And honestly my being overweight probably contributed to my likelihood of being injured while working out!) Someone at work made the comment that exercise is a form of addiction and maybe to a certain extent that is true, the part I love is probably the endorphins flooding my body much like an addict gets from drugs or alcohol. But my body never took pleasure in sitting on the couch and watching TV (comfort is not necessarily pleasure) so I think I'll stick to the working out thing.
Your body improves amazingly fast! In a week of training, I'm already burning less calories for the same distance and speed of running because I've improved. It was the case when I first started out too, but it was still hard even with improvement so I didn't always notice. The bad thing (and the reason you have to be consistent) is you can lose your hard won improvements even faster. Although if you need encouragement to work out once a week after you've gained some fitness there was an interesting study about how much it takes to maintain fitness here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/phys-ed-if-you-are-fit-you-can-take-it-easy/.
So for the exercise recap of this blog, I have maintained my desired mileage and frequency for the last two weeks and already feel like I've put in more training time than I did when I did my Disney half marathons in late 2006 and early 2007. Today is an off day from my training plan (I've actually been taking 2 days off a week lest you get frightened that I'm overtraining!)
So my plan for this week is as follows:
Sunday- 6 mile run and yoga
Monday - Kettlebell Strength Class followed by Cycle Recovery Techniques (lower HR spin)
Tuesday - 3.5 mile run
Wednesday - usually an off day, I have an event on Tuesday when I'd normally do Pilates so if I'm feeling up to it, I may go to yoga
Thursday - Do some hill training as I know the half marathon course has a pretty hilly first 6 miles, and then pilates
Friday - Spin/Kettle Bell
Satruday - Rest before my 4 mile race in Central Park on Sunday!
Hope you have a great week! Take advantage of the spring weather to get out and move! :)
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