After the Holiday

It's Monday and it feels good to get back to my routine. I am a creature of habit, I thrive on structure.

David and Cooper have two weeks off, one down, one to go. Last week I had half of Thursday and all of Friday off. This week I am off Thursday and Friday.

The holidays mess with my schedule so they mess with my head and my body. I stick to my training schedule when I can, meaning if I am at home, and the gym doesn't have special hours, I am on schedule. I could sleep in as late as I like on my days off, but I won't, I leave the alarm just as it always is (only I turn off David's side).

I know that sticking to a schedule makes me and others more successful, studies prove it. If you just decide to go to the gym 'whenever", that "whenever" may never come.  It makes it even that much easier to decide to stay up late and party, since you don't "have" to be at the gym at a certain time, and then it all snowballs.

Same with your food. Try to stick to your scheduled meals. Kim taught me to fill up on my scheduled meal, then if I really wanted something I shouldn't be eating, I am less likely to eat very much of it.

So this morning, I was at the gym at 5:00am when they opened, I hit the shoulders hard and threw in some extra cardio, I am jumping rope everyday this week, I am too jiggly around the middle to feel good. 10 minutes in the morning and 10 when I get home.

I ran up and down my 300 stairs just before lunch. Since I am at a University, usually there are lots of students hanging around the area I run, and a few always watch with dismay as I run up and down, over and over, huffing and puffing and sometimes singing to my music a little too loudly I think,  but it is winter break and no one is here, it's very very quiet.

I only had two observers this day. One apparently homeless man and one man in a wheelchair. I wondered what was going through their heads? Perhaps the homeless man was thinking that if he had enough to eat for a few days in a row, he may have energy and then he might be interested in running stairs with me. And the man in the wheelchair? He may have been wishing he was just able to walk and marveling at the thought of actually running up the stairs.

I felt very fortunate as I finished my stairs, fortunate that I have more than enough to eat, and I have my health. I will remember this as I choose my food and decide how to treat my body every moment of the day.