Sunday Goals -- 1/20/13

I’m just going to come right out and say that last week was a big, fat, giant fail. On all counts even remotely related to the things I write about in Sunday Goals posts. Without even reviewing last week’s goals, I can tell you that I did one 45-minute yoga workout at home on Monday night and one 30-minute (3.08 miles, booyah) treadmill session on Tuesday night, and that was it on the exercise front.

So, now you all get a fun little introspective post about the two big things I learned this week of sending a big fat F YOU to the efforts of exercising and healthy eating.

#1: It’s really, really, really fine. I promise.

There is a whole other post that could be written on this, but I think the whole fitness/healthy living blogger/twitter Internet world is a bit of a double-edged sword. It can be great for finding inspiration, workout buddies, advice, and more (for serious. I am 100% sure that without reading healthy living blogs and their authors’ respective Twitter accounts, I would not be nearly as into exercise/running/training/healthy eating as much as I am, and I would be missing out on some new friends that are seriously the bomb.), but it can also make you feel like absolute crap when you slip up. And I don’t mean in the “Whoops, I ran 10 miles today and then ate three cupcakes” kind of way. I mean in the “I haven’t gone to the gym in a week (or more, let’s be honest) for zero good reason AND I can’t stay away from these trays of free cookies that I swear are following me around all the time” kind of way. 

But honestly, it’s okay to slip up. The reason that it’s called a “slip-up” and not “falling off the wagon completely” is that it’s temporary. You are not a bad person for eating brownies and not going to the gym. If you’re genuinely trying to lose a lot of weight and make a total life change, you probably should try not to slip up because it makes it harder to start again. And no matter what your goals are, if you’re slipping up every other week, that is not called slipping up, that is called failing (sorry), but that too, can be temporary and turned around!

But in general, it’s okay to have a bad week. It’s okay to NOT want to wake up at 5 AM to get a workout in at the hotel gym so you can be downstairs to leave for a breakfast event looking pulled together (i.e. not with your hair wet in a bun on the top of your head) at 7:45. And to go out for a beer or two with friends after the day’s events are over instead of going back to the hotel at 9PM and working out late. I think we can probably all get on board with that. But it’s also okay to, after 36 hectic hours, spend the morning hours before your 11:45 train on Saturday lounging around in your hotel bed and reading/watching TV rather than going to the gym. And to do the same thing in your own apartment on Sunday morning. Despite the aforementioned indulgence in the brownie trays. If it’s the exception rather than the rule, it’s very, very okay. You are not going to gain 25 pounds or lose all your running fitness in one week. And if it’s been a month, you might gain some weight or lose some fitness, but it is never too late to jump back into it and get back to where you were before. BUT.

#2: If you want it enough, there is always time.

Yes, some days are just too busy to realistically fit in a workout. But not every day. And you can plan ahead for those. But newsflash, you don’t need to work out [grammar break: "work out" is the verb, the act of exercising. "Workout" is the noun, and what you do when you go to work out.] every day. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Also, rest days are the bomb. But yeah, if you want it badly enough, there is always time for a workout. There are ten fabillion online articles floating around out there on workouts you can do in 20-30 minutes. And 20-30 minutes of anything is better than zero minutes. You did not need to read this blog to know that. And if you want it badly enough, you can make the time.

Take last Tuesday. I was supposed to run in the morning with Jenny, but that fell through, so I gritted my teeth and brought gym clothes to the office, resolving to hit the treadmill that night. By 5 PM, it became very clear that I wasn’t going to get even remotely close to finishing everything in time to clear out my to-do list before going to the gym. And I know myself well enough to know that there was no way I was going to get on a treadmill after leaving the office at 8PM. But I really wanted to run. So I stashed my laptop in my purse, went to the gym, did a short speed workout (because the treadmill sucks) and then went home to shower, eat, and do a few hours of work. And yes, I am lucky that my job is flexible enough that I can take a gym break and work remotely. But the point is, there was time, and I wanted it, so I found it. Today, when I didn’t meet Rebecca until 11 to grab food and run errands, there was plenty of time for a run, but I didn’t want it, so I didn’t find it. The end. It is not always imperative to go to happy hour or that you have enough time for your hair to dry perfectly. That is what ponytails, braids, and buns are for. There is always time.

Because this post is so text-heavy, a nice picture of the sun rising over Cambridge on Friday morning.

So on that note, here are my goals for THIS week. Because I actually miss a good sweat and feeling a little less flabby around the middle, and so I will make the time.

• 1 Warrior Fight Club class
• 3-4 runs (no distance pressure)
• 1 Flywheel class
• 1 strength workout
• 1 yoga class

And maybe fewer cookies.

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