In Praise of Planning

In a perfect week, I like to exercise  six days. Rarely do I experience a perfect week. I place the importance of getting a good night’s sleep above working out. For me, that means 7 hours of zzzzzs.

I’ve dealt with off and on insomnia since I was in the 4th grade. So while my intention is to wake up at 4 a.m. so that I can get to the gym by 4:45, if I didn’t sleep the night before, I’ll hit the snooze button. That’s an example of an unavoidable sleep-in. I didn’t plan to have insomnia, I’m somewhat powerless over it, and I forgive myself for not working out the next day.

There are also times when I know in advance I’m going to be out late, either for a work function or volunteer work. I know in advance that I won’t go to the gym the next day. I’d always thought of those times as “life on life’s terms” and I didn’t worry about it…until I entered the fitness transformation challenge. I know that if I have a shot at making a dramatic change in my appearance and get in fantastic shape, I REALLY need to work out six days a week if at all possible.

Looking at the week ahead, I know I have a VERY late night on Tuesday. I’ll be attending a work function and I WON’T be waking up at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday. So rather than resign myself to working out a maximum of five days this week I decided to work out this morning. It was raining and I didn’t feel like running outside. One of our local YMCAs opens at 8 a.m. on Sundays. So I went there and ran 45 minutes on the treadmill, burning 472 calories. I still made it to church, arriving while Sunday school was halfway in process.

I’m finally learning that the fitness goals I’ve set for myself take massive planning and commitment. The much used phrase is true: “if I fail to plan I will plan to fail.”