Setback

Late January is a typical time for the best-intended New Year’s resolutions to begin to lose steam.  Despite all of my planning (see my last blog post), I too am prone to a setback.  First, I had traffic, bad weather and just plain getting lost (hard to believe in the GPS era) cost me my three weekly Team in Training triathlon workouts.  I did still keep the Rock Body Challenge fitness classes going so it was not all a loss.  However, a business trip to Washington DC and a busy work schedule followed that lost triathlon week with a blank slate of zero workouts until the weekend.  My motivational ship was rapidly filling with water so what was I going to do about it?

A key to maintaining good habits is not to give up when you break them, but how you respond when you do.  So with every plan to set a good habit (whether that be diet, exercise, or something else) one should also have a setback plan or a way to get started again.  Generally for me a reward system often helps me get going; I try to establish a special treat (e.g. some item of fitness gear I have an eye on or something like a massage) if I maintain three straight weeks with four or more workouts a week.  So in turn I am going to provide a “punishment” system of sorts by using the old fashioned football term of two-a-days taking the many opportunities for those on my master schedule and try to make them happen.  The main advice is to determine something that works for you and get started again; don’t use the setback to give up completely.

One of the challenges that often derail my plans is when work takes me out of town on a business trip.  I will search for some good tips to handle that common dilemma and share what I find.  In fact in just two weeks I will have the opportunity to face down that challenge to my workout habit as I have another trip to Washington DC.  Now it is time to start planning my second workout of the day after Masters swimming.  A run is probably in order so after a little time to recover (writing this post helped) I will hit the trail.