Back at it!

We here in Ohio (and most of the country) just experienced some of the coldest weather in a very long time.  They were calling it a Polar Vortex and the media was reporting that today that very vortex was moving away back up north where it belongs.  And now we are celebrating temperatures of 11 degrees at 8 am.

I believe in running outdoors in most conditions.  Most.  I don't however believe in running outside when the wind chill and ambient temperature are low enough to turn a pot of boiling water tossed in the air into a mini snow storm.  (google it there are some awesome videos out there!) So, the last time I ran was Saturday and the last time I worked out was Friday morning.

This lead to a weather induced hiatus.  I tried my best to not leave the house under any circumstances for the past two days.  My children were off of school (they were supposed to start back from winter break on Monday), and so I have had an extended rest period.

Today, the weather warmed up and the windchill was up to 0 degrees Fahrenheit and school was back its normal programming schedule.  So today I went back to the gym!  I add the exclamation point because if you had asked me last night or even this morning when I woke up I didn't want to go.

You see, I learned this a long time ago in Physics class, a body at rest wants to stay at rest and a body in motion wants to stay in motion unless a force acts upon it.  My motion stopped abruptly after my run on Saturday morning and I had to really convince myself to put on my workout clothes and head to the gym.  I double and triple checked if school was delayed (which would mean that WP and I would not meet) and the weather status before I got dressed.  Thankfully I had a force acting upon me and that was knowing that WP would be there.

I share all this because I know how easy it is for anyone to get derailed, especially when starting a new habit (a good, this will change me for the better habit).  You can get derailed, but you CAN get back at it.  Sometimes it helps to have a few fail safes installed.  And its important to know what fail safe method will motivate you.  I have a couple: 

1.  I hate spending money - if I have spent money on something such as a gym membership I will guilt myself into making the most of it.
2.  I hate going back on my word - if I have promised WP I will be there, then I will be there.

and as a bonus, I now have the evidence of how far I have come by going to workout 3 mornings a week for a year - my strength has increased, my muscle tone has improved to the point you can see muscles when I flex, and my stamina has increased.  I wish I could give you nominal proof, but I can only give my personal observations which is really all I need.

So today I was back at the gym and it felt great.  I was a little rusty but I still felt strong and we got it done.