Today is day 5 of the early a.m. workout regimen — an hour of Nia on Monday and every other morning except Thursday (on account of a late-running Wednesday night meeting), 30 minutes of heavy cardio. I’m hoping to incorporate some lifting into the mix and some formal stretching (yoga) in the next couple of weeks.
I’m doing this because, although I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the last few years, there’s still some more to go, and because of the way my body works there’s very little chance of dropping more weight without a lot of exercise. (All hail the metabolism!) Plus, there’s the thorny issue of when that’s going to happen.
By the time I get home at night after running errands, walking the Doggie Ranger, fix dinner, and take care of whatever chores need taking care of, there’s not a lot of time left. Mostly what I want to do is read a book or watch a DVD, or sometimes noodle around on the harp. Anyway, the key word in that equation is RELAX. So working out gets the short shrift every time. This way, I make sure I get it in. And it makes a heckuva lot of difference in my day, what with all the sitting I do while legal secretary-ing.
I’m gradually getting more used to this crack-of-dawn schedule and I’m liking it, even it it means I’m in bed no later than 10:30 and the alarm goes off a 5 AM every day and that I can’t just putz around the house with a mug of tea or stare at Angel re-runs on TNT. There’s not only the cardio to do; there’s also a sit because meditation is my daily grounding, not to mention some pages to write.
Some days its faster writing and others slower, but I usually can manage 500-1000 words in the hour I’ve got for that. I left our small for his age 13-year-old hero this morning in a muttered war of words with his much larger (if not older) traveling campanion. (Whale. Shrimp. Am not. Are, too.)
Anyhow, page 142 of the novel and counting. Happily this weekend I don’t have a ton going on, so there can be extra writing time.
The Barnes & Noble big box (thanks to the $100 of gift card money I found in my bookcase) is here. It includes my very own copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (I, like everyone else of late, blame Julie & Julia). Also the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series (because I’m behind the rest of the world), Just Listen, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fragile Eternity, and The Demon’s Lexicon. These are in line behind God is a Verb and Coyote Blue. Plenty reading, me. Oh, and cooking, too!
