Oct 14, 2013

Things just got stoopid.



That is the one word that I will use to summarize my October Rock-It-Ober thus far.  My prior posts have been about rocking this month by starting to create and reinforce the healthy habits that cumulate to make a healthy lifestyle ultimately adding another focus each month as time progresses.

The clif notes version of my long term goals were to focus more on preparation and being proactive, rather than reactive and pushing things off until later.  Because why?  Later never comes for me.  I am better off saying that I will do this never rather than saying I will do this later.

I have to take those silly stupid steps that I spoke about last week in order to find success.  I have to get down right stoopid.

My goal for October is to focus on preparation the night before hand so that I save some time in the mornings, eventually working up to being a morning person by 2nd nature.   Somehow I jumped right into the whole morning workout thing and combined those goals in execution.  My goals for this past week were to go to the gym 2 mornings and to make it to masters swimming on Saturday morning.  I went to the gym 3 mornings in a row and made it to masters swimming on Saturday! 

I find that the night is key for morning success.  You can wake up at any time well rested and ready to go, as long as you plan ahead and go to bed at a reasonable time to allow for sleep, as well as provide yourself with the proper shut down before shut eye.  

I am doing much better with getting to sleep at a reasonable hour (typically between 8:30 and 10pm) however there is still improvement here.   I would like to consistently be in bed by 9:30 at the latest, up at 5:00am to feed the pups, out the door at 5:30am to walk them and on the way to the gym no later than 6am.   This will give me 1.5 hours for a workout in the morning and still be to work in time.

I am doing really good with the 5am wake-ups but I notice if I am overstimulated before going to bed such as watching TV or playing games on my phone I have a harder time falling asleep.  If I turn off the TV an hour before bed and make sure that my alarms are already set, I can flip my phone over and lay in bed typically falling asleep in under 15 minutes. 


I struggled at the start last week because I kept finding myself running back inside my house for things that I had forgotten.  I realized that while I did a better job at prepping, I in no way made it as easy as it needed to be.  That is exactly why I am taking steps each day.  I am not looking for perfection but rather I am trying to find what will work for me to be successful in my goals.  I have learned that I need to wake up,  go into routine, and find myself at the gym in the pool or on the treadmill before I realize what I am doing.  Hesitation can lead to procrastination.   


One thing that I spend time doing is picking out clothes for work and working out.  What do I need for work?  What about training?  Run shoes?  Bike shorts?  Goggles?  Where are my x, y, z? 

All of these things cluttered up my mind and slowed me down breaking my mojo a bit.  This weekend while doing laundry it hit me.  As I started to hang up my clothes and re-organize my shoes I decided to help things out by hanging up my clothes in ready-to-grab outfits right down to jewelry and accessories.  I was hanging up clothes anyhow so it just made sense to me to pair up all the clothes so I have one less thing to do all week.  I spent a good 30 minutes putting together all outfits with jewelry, undergarments, hosiery, shoes, etc. so that I don't have to spend time each night or morning trying to find something that fits me in body and mood.  I now have a good two weeks of outfits that all work well together, each one making me feel really good wearing them.   I just grab one out of my closet and hang it by the side door before I go to bed.  Done and done.

As for workout clothing that is a little trickier.  I have tons of it, possibly even more than work clothes.  I used to have all of my workout gear in a huge pile.  Talk about a time suck.  It was like diving into the rabbit's hole; I never knew when I would return! 

I have made strides in improving this already as I now have a set of drawers solely for workout clothes.  There are 4 drawers:  The top has all of my athletic / sport electronic accessories (HRM's, Garmins, blinky lights, chargers for the Garmins, etc.) as well as all of my swim gear (caps, goggles, suits).  The 2nd drawer has all of my sports bras and socks/headbands.  The 3rd drawer has all of my running tops and capris/pants/shorts/shirts as well as winter running hats and gloves.  The 4th drawer has all of my biking jerseys, shorts, capris, pants, and winter commuting gear in it. 

With this newer system I have cut down time spent sorting through clothes for workouts.  I still have to spend some time thinking about outfits - do I have a sports bra, the CORRECT one for the workout?  What about my socks?  The next step for me is that I am going to start setting out my workout clothes on each Sunday for the entire week ahead of me. Just gotta make my week days stoopidly simple.

This week I am learning that a little time invested up front makes for much larger gains in time later on in the week.  Now that is an ROI that cannot be beat!  



How are you progressing in your habits?  Finding anything that is not working for you?  Things that make a world of difference?  Feel free to share your experiences too, as the journey is not just about what works for one person but rather how we can learn from each other, arming ourselves with many tools in the tool box.

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