Accountability Update

It's been over a week since I blogged about the habits that I need to reinstate to improve my overall wellness, and specifically my fitness and running performance. I did fairly well for the first week of using checklists. I worked out for at least 30 minutes per day for 12 days in a row. On the 13th day I gave myself permission not to do a workout because I did a lot of physical chores that included lifting and carrying heavy objects. That may have been a mistake. Once the streak was broken, it was easier to slack off over the next few days (the weekend) when I had a lot of other things to do to get things organized at home and prepare to leave for Tokyo. But I'm going to keep up the checklists even if I don't check every box every day. Here's what I learned about myself:

On Sunday I will be in a crowd similar to this...but way in the back and out of the picture

  • It is easier than I thought it would be to get 30 minutes of exercise daily once I accept any form of exercise. Some days I ran, others I walked. Several days I did strength training using resistance bands and ab exercises on a mat. One day I did a Bollywood dance DVD. The days I did strength work, I was able to do this with the TV on in the background, so I didn't miss any shows I wanted to watch. The days that I slacked off were not because I didn't have time for 30 minutes of activity. I had the time; I just didn't use it wisely. 
  • Snacking was my worst area of performance. I knew it would be. I'm a snacker. That's not bad if you limit the types and amounts of the snack foods. My problem is that not all my evening snacks are healthy, and I don't stop at just one portion. I really need to improve in this area.
  • Drinking a glass of wine a day was easy. I made sure to consume the wine when I was either eating or cooking, so it was related to the meal. I didn't keep refilling my glass and drinking all night.
  • Getting to bed by 11:00 PM is hard but I felt good about it on the nights that I did it. I want to continue to work on this.
I'm not all better. I still have a lot of work to do to make these new habits stick. This week is going to be hard. Monday through Wednesday are the build-up days to Tokyo, and I have so much to do. Then we leave on Thursday morning. I don't anticipate much exercise on Thursday or Friday unless I count walking through airports. Saturday we have the Tokyo Marathon Friendship Run 5K, and Sunday we have the marathon, so those days are covered. I'll give myself a pass if I don't check all the items off the list while I'm traveling, but then I need to get back on track. I'm still not sufficiently trained to do a quality marathon in Tokyo, but I shouldn't have any trouble finishing before the cut-off. Wish me luck!

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