2009: Exercise more days than not

it was with the intention of doing proper, cardio exercise everyday.
Then when things got tough I adjusted it to cover longer-walks as well – which was fine, that was realistic for the phase I was in and kept me motivated to keep moving.
The good news is, thanks to having joined the gym, I’m still in with a shot at completing this goal on its original terms! It’s 16 December today and I’m at 173 days, so I just need 10 more out of the remaining 15 this year.
I think that’s just given me the determination I needed not to let the party season wreck my gym habit!

Awesome! Today I have completed this goal – even if I do no more exercise for the rest of this year I will still have done 183 days against 182 rested! It’s very satisfying to complete this three months ahead of schedule!

I completed 183 days in 274 days, so almost exactly a 2:1 ratio of days exercised vs days rested.

I need to think up something else for the rest of the year now…!

1 Thu – 90min walking!

August was great – am up to 163 with just 20 days to go! It’s gotta be possible this month…

1 Tue
2 Wed
3 Thu
4 Fri – Pilates DVD, Tai chi DVD
5 Sat
6 Sun – 40mins Jogging + 1hr walking
7 Mon – Pilates DVD

8 Tue – 30min cycling, 180cal PB
9 Wed
10 Thu – Pilates DVD + 1hr walking
11 Fri – 30min cycling, 190cal PB
12 Sat
13 Sun
14 Mon – 80 min walking
15 Tue – 90 min walking
16 Wed – 90 min walking
17 Thu – 90 min walking
18 Fri – 90 min walking just 9 days more to do!
19 Sat
20 Sun
21 Mon – 90 min walking
22 Tue – 90 min walking
23 Wed – 90 min walking
24 Thu – 90 min walking
25 Fri – 105 min walking
26 Sat
27 Sun
28 Mon – 90 min walking
29 Tue – 90 min walking
30 Wed – 90 min walking

Just one more day and this goal will be DONE!

Went jogging today for the first time in ages… It’s amazing how I can be trying to make myself go for ages and yet when I’m ready it just happens in it’s own time and I really enjoy it. The park is about 15 minutes’ walk from here so I walked there and back and then gave myself 30 minutes’ jogging time of which I walked about 3.5 minutes. It was slow but it felt good – so glad we discovered the park, it was cool and misty and just a nice place to be.

I guess this would be a good habit to get into, trying to get faster and go further in that half-hour until I can run 5K. That’d be a plan.

_{No Fartlets for me but I couldn’t help thinking of Z & YG’s discussion as I was pootling around!}

Since the pool was closed for repairs a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been walking to work and back each workday and that’s been my routine – at first I was like “but it’s just walking”, but actually it’s just over 4 miles a day in total which is 20 miles a week. For four weeks I swam almost every workday and didn’t lose a single pound, and I’ve already lost a bit in the past two weeks just walking, so I guess I’ll stick with this for a while!

• It’s a lot less hassle which makes it sustainable – no getting up early, no stress, no fighting for space in the lane or in the shower, no big bag of stuff to carry. I feel a lot better knowing I can do the same thing every day.
• I don’t think of it as “exercise”, so don’t reward myself with food.
• It only adds on a half-hour to my daily commute, which seems like a fair trade.
• Even though it’s dependent on the weather, I have three chances to get in two sessions (to & from work and lunchtime) and it’s unlikely (even in London!) that it’ll be raining all three times. Even if I only do it one-way I get nearly an hour’s exercise so I don’t feel like I’ve let myself down completely.
• It’s time out to let my thoughts dissipate – I try not to even listen to music unless I’m really bored so I can just have some time out and watch the world go by, which helps with stress.
• Fresh air!
• Half of it is through the park, so I get to be nature-girl, which I’m sure is good for the soul.
• Walking is a short step from jogging – I feel much more like jogging these days and when I did at the weekend it wasn’t a disaster.

So I have been walking during the week, and saving the energetic, fun activities for the weekend. B and I have basically come to an understanding that we will get outside and do something both days at the weekend, be it tennis, badminton, or a long walk – I’m planning a swim this weekend while he’s out, that kind of thing. This has doubled overnight the number of activities we can do together, we get out and have fun and a couple of hours passes really quickly.

B is really great because he will do anything and eat anything! If we have to get up at 6 to fit something in before another plan for the day he’s fine with that. And he eats what I eat (as long as it’s healthy) and never complains about it not being enough, and hardly ever snacks in front of me. It would be so much harder if he wanted to eat more/different food or was less interested in exercise, but whatever I suggest he always seems to enjoy. It just makes it easier all round.

Tons of walking in July and I’m up to 136 – less than 50 days to go to complete this goal! And a great start this morning…

1 Sat – 90mins tennis + 10mins jogging
2 Sun – 2.5hrs walking!
3 Mon – 90min walk
4 Tue – 90min walk
5 Wed – 90min walk
6 Thu – 90min walk
7 Fri – 30min walk/30min jog/walk
8 Sat – 1hr05 swim/2k
9 Sun – 90min walk/30min badminton
10 Mon – 90min walk
11 Tue – 2hr walk
12 Wed – 1hr walk
13 Thu – 90min walk
14 Fri – 40min swim + 1hr walk
15 Sat – 90min tennis + 45min walk
16 Sun – 30min badminton + 10min jog + 75min walk
17 Mon – 60min walk
18 Tue – 31min jog + 2min walk 3.15k + 60min walk
19 Wed – 90min walk
20 Thu – 11min jog + 45min tennis + 15min walk
21 Fri – 90min walk
22 Sat
23 Sun
24 Mon – 60min walk
25 Tue – 90min walk
26 Wed – 60min walk
27 Thu – 60min walk
28 Fri
29 Sat
30 Sun – about 4 hours’ walking
31 Mon – about another 4 hours’ walking

1 Wed – Swim 900m/27min + 1hr walk
2 Thu – Swim 900m/28min + 1hr walk
3 Fri – Swim 900m/30min
4 Sat
5 Sun
6 Mon – Swim 1k/29min + 1hr walk
7 Tue
8 Wed
9 Thu – Swim 900m/30min
10 Fri – Swim 600m/21min
11 Sat – 90min walk
12 Sun – 90nin walk
13 Mon – Swim 600m/17min + 60min walk
14 Tue – Swim 600m/19min + 60min walk
15 Wed – Cycle 100cal/18.5min + 60min walk
16 Thu – 90min walk
17 Fri – 60min walk
18 Sat
19 Sun – 60min walk
20 Mon – 90min walk
21 Tue – 60min walk
22 Wed – 90min walk
23 Thu – 90min walk
24 Fri – 90min walk
25 Sat
26 Sun – 90min walk
27 Mon – 110min walk
28 Tue – 90min walk
29 Wed – 90min walk
30 Thu – 90min walk
31 Fri – 90min walk

And this goal is more than 60% done! I did a re-count today as some of my previous numbers didn’t match, but out of 181 days I have exercised 111 and rested 70 – a ratio of 61% to 39%. I have to hit 183 altogether at least, so that’s another 72 trips to the pool or walks or whatever.

Don’t really know what to aim for for July, things are going pretty well at the moment and if I can swim every day I’m at work that’s about 22-23 days a month. It would be nice to do something one day at the weekend even if it’s just pilates or going for a long walk – but I’m in a nice routine even without that. The pool is shut for the third week of July so I will have to work out a different schedule then without getting off track.

1 Mon
2 Tue
3 Wed
4 Thu – Walk 90min
5 Fri
6 Sat
7 Sun
8 Mon
9 Tue
10 Wed – Walk 90min
11 Thu – Walk 90min
12 Fri – Walk 1hr
13 Sat
14 Sun
15 Mon – Swim 600m/20min
16 Tue – Swim 600m/20min
17 Wed – Swim 600m/20min
18 Thu – Swim 600m/20min
19 Fri – Swim 600m/20min
20 Sat
21 Sun
22 Mon – Swim 750m/21min
23 Tue – Swim 750m/21min
24 Wed – Swim 750m/21min + 1hr walk
25 Thu – Swim 750m/23min + 1hr walk
26 Fri – Swim 750m/23min + 1hr walk
27 Sat – 1hr walk
28 Sun
29 Mon – Swim 900m/26min + 1hr walk
30 Tue – Swim 900m/26min + 1hr walk