Habits, Both Good and Bad

Joy here...Okay, it's been 45 days since my last post, and that's the longest I've gone between blog entries since I very first started blogging with my friend Nomi back on our East and West Running site in July 2010, fresh after we had completed our first ever running race (a 10km event in Singapore).

It's not that there's been nothing to write about.  Since my last post, Lance Armstrong's career has gone into full free fall mode as the media and public have circled the waters like sharks amidst a chum-filled sea.  The feeding frenzy has been fierce, dramatic, and painful to watch.  Since my last post, I've also gotten fatter and lazier than I've ever been in my entire life.  I've stopped being able to fit even into my stretchy jeans, and so my body is definitely not my own.  Since my last post, I took a trip to the UK and enjoyed running around the East Sussex countryside and wandering the busy streets of London.  My friend Power Penna (from last year's cycling sisterhood) finally had her baby, a happy and healthy baby boy.  So a lot has happened and there's a lot that I could have been writing about.

A run in the English countryside isn't really enough to
make up for all the resting I've done!

But when my coach explained the "rest" I was supposed to be having right after my Time Trial effort in order to let my body rest and rebuild, I took him a little too much at his word.  He wrote:  "We actually want you to be out of shape at the moment," and I kinda took that a little too much to heart.  I'm very out of shape at the moment.

You see, since my last post in early September, I fell into some bad habits, which is remarkably easy to do.  Folk wisdom tells us that you can make or break a habit in around 3 weeks - anything from cutting out that cream in your morning coffee to getting over a bad break up - and back when Nomi and I decided to train for our first ever running race, I trained myself into the habit of running often during the week.  Then on the high from our first 10km race, we worked ourselves up to longer distances (a max of 30kms for me, but Nomi's gone on to do two full marathons) and then I took up bike racing.  I got into the habit of the bike, and all was good.

Then I was supposed to take some "rest" time in September.  And what happened?  Well, I got into the habit of being fat and lazy.

Then when October rolled around, and my "rest" was supposed to be over and I was supposed to get back into the building up phase of things, I found that the habit of being fat and lazy was pretty hard to break.

Running in the beautiful fall colours.

Now, to be clear, I never registered that I was being fat and lazy.  I just believed that I had gotten really busy (which I did), but the truth of the matter is that I had gotten into the habit of working and not having to work my work schedule around work outs.  So then when the "rest" was over, I was unable to make the switch back to having to juggle work and workouts.  As a result, well, um, workouts became secondary, and then almost nonexistent.

For instance, the week of Sept. 24th, I was supposed to do 8hrs of working out; I did 3.  The week of Oct. 1st, I was supposed to do 7hrs of working out; I did 45mins.  The week of Oct. 8th, I was sick, and then the week of Oct. 15th I was supposed to do 5.5hrs of working out, and I did 1.5.

This past week, I've decided to get back on track.  I did my workout as planned on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, mixing both the odd easy run in with getting back on my bike.

The man and our friend who accompanied me back out there
for my first bike ride since sometime in September.

And let me tell you, I had forgotten just how fun riding my bike is.

I had forgotten that sense of "wheeeeeee!" that a burst of speed can give; I had forgotten how even a little ache in the legs can actually feel good; and I had forgotten the rush of endorphins that make me feel happy.  I no longer care that I don't fit my cycling clothes and bulge out of everything I own; I no longer care that I have neither the speed nor the power that I did at the end of the summer.  Instead, all is right in the world because I made time to get back on the bike with my friends, and I'm going to do it again and again.

Because I'm sick of this habit I've fallen into that pushing working out to the margins of my life, and I'm going to make it a habit again to prioritize my workouts.

Because, well, I'm making a habit of prioritizing me...and in 3 weeks that good habit will be set in stone.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll start feeling fit again.

Over and out,
Joy