Good Morning! Happy J*U*L*Y!
So you may remember a few weeks ago when I posted about setting a workout goal for myself this summer. I wanted to keep track of my walking, biking and running distances to hopefully get to 325 miles by the end of the summer.
The main reason I set this goal for myself is because I usually go through periods where I do a great job at exercising regularly and then randomly fall out of my routine. This mostly happens when I have a busy week or two at work, things are stressful and I am working really long hours. I was hoping that by setting a 3-month goal, it would help me develop better habits that would lead to better and more permanent workout habits.
I was interested to see how our beach vacation would go because I am horrible when it comes to working out on vacation. I have done so well through the month of June and I really wanted to keep that momentum going. So here’s how I did last week:
Saturday (6/21): 10.13 mi bike ride (in Charlotte before we left)
Sunday: rest
Monday: rest (due to bad weather)
Tuesday: 4 mi walk/run
Wednesday: 2.81 mi walk/run
Thursday: 3.03 mi walk/run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10.67 mi bike ride (in Charlotte after we got back)
Total summer miles so far = 102.44
A few things that helped keep me on track: I tried to be realistic with myself with the fact that I was on vacation. I purposely planned bike rides on the Saturdays before we left and after we came back so that my ‘rest days’ fell during our vacation.
We planned our days around getting lots of rest and relaxation and I kind of let my workouts fall whenever nothing else was going on. I know this is usually backwards thinking when it comes to working out, as they say you should ‘schedule’ your workouts to make sure you follow through with them. I initially wanted to follow this mentality by planning on working out every morning… but after I thought about it, I really wanted to sleep in! So I just kind of decided to go with the flow and try to fit in a run or walk whenever K and I didn’t have other plans. This made my exercise much more enjoyable because I didn’t feel like I was inconveniencing K or getting in the way of us enjoying our time together.
Another thing that helped keep me on track is that there are paved paths all over Kiawah. I just stuck to the path that goes along the main highway and I never had to worry about getting lost or being in the way of traffic. There were also lots of other friendly people out running, walking and biking. I loved seeing different parts of the island.
Lastly, I brought all of my workout ‘gear’ with me- clothing, electronic devices, running shoes, etc. It took up half of the space in my suitcase and I didn’t want that space to have been wasted 
Something awesome happened during our vacation… I ran a full mile without stopping. I can’t remember the last time I have done this- years ago? I’m not much of a runner and usually only run 0.5 mile at a time with walking breaks in between. It must have been something in the beach air because I did this on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’ve always wanted to run longer distance but have lacked consistency with training. Maybe this is a turning point for me. We shall see. I’ll keep you updated.
Have a great day!
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