district delights

The Winter Workout Blues

Posted on December 16, 2011. Filed under: Uncategorized |

I’m a night owl. My Mom has said that I’ve been a night owl since I was born. In fact, I was born around 6:30pm and since then I just seem to strive better in the evening. I’m definitely an evening workout person and I kind of feel like that’s rare. Most people love to workout in the morning but it’s a real struggle for me. In high school, I made the stupid decision to join the swim team (I didn’t like indoor track and quit basketball freshman year after one practice and really needed to do something between field hockey and lacrosse season) and we practiced every weekday morning at 5:30am. UGH. By second period I’d be half asleep. Not ideal.

When I joined the fancy-pants gym that is less than ONE BLOCK from my apartment in June, I was hoping to change my workout habits and start going more regularly in the mornings. I tend to work long days and sometimes it’s really hard to motivate myself to get to the gym after a tiring day at work. Sometimes you just need to eat some dinner, sit on the couch and watch some stupid TV. The first 9 days of joining that gym I went in the morning 6 times. Woot! Go me! The rest of the summer and was pretty good for my morning workouts. I was going in the morning at least two times a week and it was great. I did find myself struggling a bit in the afternoon’s at work but nothing too major. I had accomplished my goal!

Well. Now I’m back to struggling with morning workouts. And it’s really affected me this week because I’ve had social plans almost every day after work. When I don’t work out regularly not only do I get down on myself, but I slip into poor habits and my mood drops. Those endorphins really do work! I really need to focus on getting back into the morning workout routine and while it’s winter and super hard to get up when it’s cold and dark out, I know that in the long run, I’ll feel better if I hit the gym at least two times per week in the a.m.

How on earth am I going to get motivated again?

1. Workout with a friend! This morning I went to a Barre Method class with my co-worker at 6am. This required me to get up at 5:15am and drive there. I honestly only made it because I knew she was going to be there too and I didn’t want to leave her hanging. I’m so happy I went and got in a great workout to start off the weekend of indulgences ahead.

2. Set two alarms. This seems like a no-brainer but honestly, I never do this unless I really need to get up for a train or a race or something. I need to start acting like that every morning, like I have to get up early or else I will miss something. Two alarms, here I come.

3. Lay out my gym clothes. Easy. I just need to DO IT.

4. Visualize how great it will feel to get my workout done and not feel guilty after work at a social event. I know that seems really harsh but there is nothing worse than feeling guilty about something has could have easily been avoided.

So we’ll see how this goes moving forward. I’d like to workout in the morning M, T, W of next week before I head home. I’m still working out my workout plan for the 8 days I’m home. It’s going to be easy to indulge by hitting up favorite spots and eating home-cooked meals. But I’m determined to keep my sanity and hit the gym and feel good during the visit home.

Stephanie

Thursday’s workout: Walked home from work – 40 minute walk on a beautiful night!
Thursday’s meals highlight: None.

Friday’s workout: Barre Method (I went at 6am and am already reporting it!)
Friday’s meals highlight: TBD?

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