After being extremely committed and actually succeeding at meeting all of my diet and exercise goals for the whole of September and most of October I accepted an extra three weeks of work in another state and the wheels somewhat fell off. Not that I went on a massive junk food pig out and gained 10kg in those three weeks, just that I'm now back at little bit in my running, I'm feeling a bit out of shape and my eating has reverted to my usual pattern of whatever I feel like.
While the experience gained in my three week stint were unbeatable, I just couldn't get the motivation/energy/momentum up to commit to my regular bi-nightly runs. The reasons (excuses) I was finding included the following:
- Too tired and need extra sleep
- Too humid (the new work site was well into the Tropics)
- It would be anti-social - I should be getting to know my co-workers
- I did lots of physical stuff during work hours, so why should I run?
- I forgot my iPod charger, and without music it will just be too hard
- Well it's dark now, and that could be dangerous
I think you get the picture.
To be fair on myself, in the two and a half weeks I was in camp I went on two runs (one ~5km, one only 20mins or so) and two hour long walks, but these were half-hearted affairs at best. The work I was doing involved lots of heavy lifting and sieving, and yes it was humid. But these excuses are still just that. The reason, if there was a reason, that I didn't run, was that I just didn't start running! My routine got broken in the three days travelling to camp and I didn't restore it. Instead my normal work routine became replaced with a new work routine of chatting, lounging in the pool and drinking wine after work.
This has happened before and usually, at this point I give up exercising regularly. I slip back into old habits and although I don't turn into a blimp, I slowly lose muscle tone, slowly gain weight, and slowly begin feeling miserable again. Eventually, 6 months or a year down the track I start to worry about my health and embark upon another attempt to get fit - thus the cycle continues.
But not this time. Although the next few months will probably be fairly busy with wedding planning and flights, I need to keep doing this. I've finally begun to enjoy running and I'd like to keep going. The challenge to motivate me - a 10K, early next year, somewhere in Victoria.
