Setting Goals

The issue of scheduling time to work out is really an issue of commitment. I can make time, I just don’t like to. It feels so nice to go home after work and just lounge around until bed time…especially during the winter, because I am not at all a cold weather person. Being cold just makes me want to curl up in my electric blanket and sleep. Not to mention that darkness at 5pm makes the idea seem more acceptable. I would never go to bed at 9pm in the summer time, and going to work out at 7pm would be no problem.

I need to establish some fitness goals in order to have something more achievable to work towards than just a lower number on the scale. I did this when I lost the bulk of my weight initially and just got out of the habit.

For me, running was my goal. I have had asthma since I was 5 years old, mostly brought on by physical exertion or allergies, so I have never been very athletic and NEVER liked to run. However, because it was something I needed to work for and had to be diligent with in order to make any progress, I was able to stick with it for a long time and I saw major results. I began very slow, just pushing myself to run intervals. The first day, I would run for sprints of 30 seconds at 5.0 mph and then walk for 90 seconds at 3.8-4.0mph for a total of 30-45 minutes. This might not sound like much for an experienced runner, but since I was new at it…this was hard! (I should add that when I began, I had been walking for at least an hour a day for over a month so my legs and calves were already in slightly better condition. Others might want to progress more slowly to prevent injuries like shin splints which will interrupt your work out plans for a long time.) Each week that I ran, I tried to either increase the time I was running or decrease the seconds that I spent recovering at a walking speed. By week 4 or 5 I was running up to 10 minutes at a time before slowing to recover, and by 8 weeks, got up to 20 minutes! For me, this was a major feat! Again, I unfortunately got out of the habit so now I think my limits are somewhere around a 2 minute running interval again, but my hope is to stick to a plan and increase that to 10 minutes again by New Years. After New Years, I have a friend who is encouraging me to sign up to run a 5K with her in the spring. I think this could make a very good goal for me to strive for. If I could run consistently for 30 minutes strait at my 5.0mph pace, I could expect to finish the 5K in about 38 minutes.

Even if it comes down to just walking or strenuous housework, I have set a goal to get at least 1 hour of extra physical activity in EVERYDAY, though at least 3-5 days a week, I would like this to be a more intensive workout at the gym with my running and some weight and strength training.

I have gone over my schedule and I should be able to fit this time in. If not I am just making excuses for myself to be lazy. To start with, I am able to take walks on my 30 minute lunch breaks. If I do this, I only need to take another 30 minutes out of my afternoon schedule. Knowing my usual habits, if I get all the way to my gym which isn’t all that conveniently located, I will spend at least an hour there anyway so I can hope to exceed my goals.