November Challenge

As my Dad has gently reminded me ("hey, I heard a rumor you used to write a blog!"), I have still been remiss in posting. This has been my down week - in Denver for a full ten days before I head off on my next work trip. Since I have been back from Europe, I have been absolutely terrible with my eating and have become estranged from my gym. In November, that ends.

A coworker occasionally does what she calls her "Quest for Greatness" - a month long swimming yardage challenge that is pretty ridiculous. I have taken that concept and created my own Quest for Mediocrity. I'm not setting my sights too high.

Each and every day in November I will burn 200 calories. This seems simple enough. On days I actually make it to the gym, I easily burn 400-500. But that's not where my trouble has been. My trouble has been with all the traveling where its just enough to throw myself into pjs and hit the hay after long days of meetings. Those are the days I am looking to turn around with this challenge. And on those days, 200 cals is just enough to be a challenge but still feasible.

For hotels where its not safe to run outside (according to my mom, that would be all of them) and there is no gym, a coworker has given me her "hotel workout" - a mash up of different circuit training exercises I can do within the confines of my own hotel room at the beginning or end of a long day. Its a 30 minute workout chock full of planks, rows, and mountain climbers, so 200 calories should be just about right.

So far I'm 2/2 in November - 6am spinning on Tuesday (575 cals) and my second run in Katie's "get your butt back to 6 miles" training plan (2 miles, 308 cals). On the agenda for today is swimming during lunch. I am planning on picking one day each week to post my workouts to this blog to keep myself accountable.

Its been nice to be home for a full week and get a lot of things done that I'd been putting off - I'm actually getting a haircut on Saturday (once a year, whether I need it or not), uploaded the photo for my ski pass, ordered new contacts and I might (might) even take my car to the mechanic. Maybe. Its been really nice to have a reasonable workload.