New Year's Resolutions!!!

Wow - doesn't 4 months go fast?

Well that's the last time I posted as The Fat Runner. Since the Nike 10k, the amount of running I did went down sharply. A couple of colds in October, a lot of travelling in November, and then the party season in December, coupled with the dark and cold mornings/nights gave me enough of an excuse to persuade myself that it was ok not to go running.

But now is the time for New Year's Resolutions - time to forget about all of the bad habits and to leave them behind, and think only to what you can do now!!

So, here I declare to the world (well at least the world which reads this blog) to:
a) go to the gym 100 times this year
b) on top of this, run a total of 300 miles
c) on top of this, cycle a total of 1,000 miles

This is actually quite a target to go for, and I'll keep you updated as I go.

But, in the luxury of armchair planning, this is what it might look like:

Monday morning - 7am gym
Tuesday evening - 3 mile run
Thursday morning - 7am gym
Saturday morning - 3 mile run (the Wimbledon Common Time Trial)
Sunday morning - 20 mile bike ride

So this doesn't look impossible. But then I ask myself why I haven't been able to do a schedule like this for the last 5 years or so?

Is work the reason?

No - I used to work just as many hours - perhaps more - in my mid 20's but was still able to get to the gym 3-5 times a week.

Is socialising the reason?

While it is true that I spend more time socialising now than I used to, I can't blame that on my lack of progress on my fitness goals.

Is family life the reason?

Ahhh - perhaps we're on to something here. I LOVE spending time with my wife, and given the choice of going for a run or being with her, then it's too easy to choose the latter. I was having a chat with one of my colleagues about this - his wife is just about to give birth to their second child, and yet he is able to go for a long bike ride and a short bike ride per week, and has the same job as I do. His secret was to specify "Me time" with his wife.

Me time - what's that?

It's time which they both specifically set aside for themselves as individuals - he uses his to go cycling and she uses hers to go to art galleries and museums (she works for an auction house).

So I had a similar conversation with my wife this morning and shared with her the above schedule.

The schedule starts when I get back to London (I'm in Sweden at the moment, it's -5 deg C and too cold to run). I'll let you know how I get on - let's see if I can resist the temptations of my wife!

Happy 2009!