Another attempt at establishing an exercise regime underway
Last year when I went snowboarding, the gradual but continual increase in my waistline meant I was finally unable to fit into my old skiing gear, necessitating the emergency last-minute purchase of new salopettes. This was desipte an attempt in the 3-4 months previously to do regular exercise in the form of going running and bike riding.
The trouble was that I was trying to fit in exercise in the evening, but kept being stymied by doing stuff with friends (ow, my twisted arm! :-), or by the local football team playing and making the roads too dangerous for cycling and too intimidating for running, or by exhausting days at work, or any one of many other convenient excuses I could come up with to not go. To be fair, I think I did enough so that my leg strength and stamina helped me get a lot more out of the holiday than I would have otherwise, but I didn't get as fit as I'd hoped.
So, 4 weeks ago I shifted my body clock back by a couple of hours. Instead of going to bed around 1-2am and getting up at around 8 to go to work, I'm going to bed around 11-11:30pm and getting up at 6. This gives me time to exercise from around 6:30 to 7/7:30ish, then cool off for a bit before showering, and then going to work. Yes, I'm finally going to bed before midnight, and it feels strange. (The teenager in me is protesting strongly.) It was actually the hardest thing to do, but I needed to do it before any of the other things could fall into place. But, because almost no-one schedules anything for 6:30am, I should find it hard to come up with excuses to slack off.
As a result, I've actually managed to go cycling or running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for these last 4 weeks. Well, except one Friday where I overslept, but made it up by going out on Saturday instead.
Still, I'm actually surprised I've managed to keep it up this long. I mean, yay! for having done so, but I suspect it may not last. I've tried a bunch of ways to exercise previously, with varying initial levels of enthusiasm. They all lasted for different amounts of time, but I've not been able to keep up anything as a permenant lifestyle change.
However, the first 4 weeks is a bit of a milestone, so I thought I'd mention it as an update into my own life. The next 4 weeks, starting tomorrow, sees a change to the routine, by going out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. This is to give my poor legs a chance to get used to working hard 2 days in a row, in preparation for moving to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in another 4 weeks. If I haven't given up by then.
The trouble was that I was trying to fit in exercise in the evening, but kept being stymied by doing stuff with friends (ow, my twisted arm! :-), or by the local football team playing and making the roads too dangerous for cycling and too intimidating for running, or by exhausting days at work, or any one of many other convenient excuses I could come up with to not go. To be fair, I think I did enough so that my leg strength and stamina helped me get a lot more out of the holiday than I would have otherwise, but I didn't get as fit as I'd hoped.
So, 4 weeks ago I shifted my body clock back by a couple of hours. Instead of going to bed around 1-2am and getting up at around 8 to go to work, I'm going to bed around 11-11:30pm and getting up at 6. This gives me time to exercise from around 6:30 to 7/7:30ish, then cool off for a bit before showering, and then going to work. Yes, I'm finally going to bed before midnight, and it feels strange. (The teenager in me is protesting strongly.) It was actually the hardest thing to do, but I needed to do it before any of the other things could fall into place. But, because almost no-one schedules anything for 6:30am, I should find it hard to come up with excuses to slack off.
As a result, I've actually managed to go cycling or running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for these last 4 weeks. Well, except one Friday where I overslept, but made it up by going out on Saturday instead.
Still, I'm actually surprised I've managed to keep it up this long. I mean, yay! for having done so, but I suspect it may not last. I've tried a bunch of ways to exercise previously, with varying initial levels of enthusiasm. They all lasted for different amounts of time, but I've not been able to keep up anything as a permenant lifestyle change.
However, the first 4 weeks is a bit of a milestone, so I thought I'd mention it as an update into my own life. The next 4 weeks, starting tomorrow, sees a change to the routine, by going out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. This is to give my poor legs a chance to get used to working hard 2 days in a row, in preparation for moving to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in another 4 weeks. If I haven't given up by then.