The Journey as the Roadblock

Sounds deep. Trust me, that’s not where this is going. I’m just referring to the annoying phenomenon that threatens to keep me from working out. I almost always pull through and make the effort to sweat, but it’s often a fight. What I’m referring to is the journey TO the workout. If I run in the park, then it’s the walk to the park. If it’s a gym day, it’s the walk to the Equinox. It’s FIVE blocks always. Small blocks. Forget that, the park is even closer.  It’s not uphill. It’s not in the snow (yet), I’m not walking barefoot. It really shouldn’t be that bad. Let’s take a walk…

The smell of this cute  little bakery doesn’t do me any favors but… running is so much better for me than eating cake, right?! (Right.)

Alas, it’s not the distance, it’s the monotony. There I go again! Tying it all in with the variety theme. (Really need to reconsider the title of this blog.) In any case, I just can’t bear doing the SAME thing over and over too many times. There are only so many routes I can take to the same place. And yes I do purposely go to different Equinox locations just for the sake of a change of scenery. Do you ever find that doing the same boring walk is more of a roadblock to your fitness routine than the workout itself?

Behold, my reward…

Gorgeous scenery. Another reason I love my run is the oldies but goodies that pop up on my iPod. Today I heard everything from Neil Young to Lenny Kravitz to TLC to a few hippity hop pop artisits I do not care to mention. And I mentioned TLC, so… But I don’t listen to this stuff unless I’m on a run, so it’s allowed. I need a wide assortment of different types of songs, fast, slow, bubbly, brooding… a little bit of everything. Plus it’s a bit of a treat that adds a little extra joy to my workouts.

How’s this for dedication? I saw one woman running around the big loop of the park with a stroller… filled with TWINS! I could not snap a shot as I was running up an incline unfortunately. I have a very strict no stopping while running UPhill policy, only down. My husband knows. He loves it. Ha no he doesn’t. I’m surprised he runs with me. And pretends to enjoy it. Anyway… sweat out the hills, push through. If you NEED a break, at least do it on a flat or, even better, a downhill. Do you have any silly rules? (Not that mine is silly!) Try it!

I also saw a man running (again, around the BIG loop) kicking a soccer ball. That is dedication to sport! I couldn’t snap that either as I was not quite at the crest of another hill. Hmm.. I didn’t think to look back but I am now wondering how he would have been able to keep control of the ball while running downhill…

Happy working out! Go! Get it done! If I can do it so can you. x

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Night Vision – Another Ode to Variety

Good God it feels good to be back!! My elimination diet made me feel FANTASTIC, but exercise was an unfortunate casualty for the last week and a half. I won’t get in to why…

So I decided to go for a run in Central Park this evening. I didn’t bring any music because I figured I would brainstorm for my next blog post. I wrote the entire thing, my brain was on fire! Well, “wrote” in my head, of course. Oh the witty comments! And the brilliant content, wow! Where did it go now that I’m sitting at the computer??

Anyway… It’s not entirely well-lit, so I stuck with the small (more populated) loop and just did an extra lap. That reminds me, there are a couple of drawbacks to night running. The pros absolutely outweigh them, though. For one thing, there was a good couple minutes where I actually had no idea where in the park I was! I suppose that may have just been because I was on auto-pilot while “writing” this blog, who knows. But the other unfortunate thing that was definitely due to poor lighting was the several minutes I spent wondering why the smell of horse poop seemed to follow me, no matter where I went. Hmph. Well I’ve probably put more than enough miles on these shoes anyway…

Note: in the interest of making this blog more visually appealing I wanted to try to add more photos, but I can barely take a decent photo while standing still (actually, not really) so there was certainly no hope for me taking my own photo while on the run! Alas, I must give credit where credit is due.

I am so glad I did it!! I highly encourage running at night – provided you can do it safely. It is such an easy way to add variety to your workouts! You can do the same run you usually do and yet it feels different. Varying the direction and even location of your workouts is a great idea too. In fact, given how much I go on and on about variety and its benefits I almost want to make that the theme of this entire blog. Really, when is variety not a good thing? With nutrition, it helps you get all the nutrients you need from all sorts of different (healthy) foods. When it comes to exercise, you will most definitely see better results if you change up your routine! Swim one day, bike the next, run the next, try a new class the next… you get the idea. You want to challenge your body and work different muscles, right? With travel… who wants to go to the same place all the time? No, you want to explore the world! And on goes the list. OK I guess I can think of one area where my husband might discourage variety, but… if you really think about it, you want to try all sorts of different people out before you settle in to something permanent! See?? It still applies!

So that’s my message for you today. And now on to my healthy, easy and hopefully delicious dinner idea. Asian-inspired chicken and veggies over soba. Only without the soba, ha! Quinoa was a tasty stand-in luckily, as that’s what we had in the cupboard. A side plate of roasted Japanese sweet potatoes made for a DE-LISH addition.

How easy is this? 1. I chopped up some cucumber, red bell pepper, green onion, poached chicken and cashews. 2. Mixed up a pinch of this and a pinch of that with no measuring equipment at all whatsoever. Sesame oil, tamari, chili garlic sauce, fresh ginger and… nothing, that’s it! 3. Finally I mixed it all up and threw it over the quinoa.

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