Today, I celebrate my exercise. You see, last night, I told myself, if I wake up early, I’m going to the pool early. For no reason at all, I woke up every hour from midnight until 7am. I slept terribly.
Now, in the not too distant past, I would have woke up and said to myself. I’m tired. I don’t feel like exercising.
At least today, this morning, I choose to exercise. It’s a routine now. I know that if I skip a day of weights and swimming that I just don’t feel good. I know that if I skip more than one day, then the likelihood of restarting the habit slips, and if I continue to slip, then the moment of non-exercising has just taken over.
Celebrating did not even cross my mind until midway through my hour long swim. It was my usual Thursday high interval, high heart rate swim for me. I was lagging today. Not my usual energetic pool self. I started to get down on myself. Why am I not swimming strong? What’s wrong? Then, I said to myself, stop thinking negatively. Celebrate. Celebrate that I am swimming after a night of bad sleep.
Almost immediately, my swim rate improved. I chose my attitude today and every day. Sometimes, I have enough self-awareness and enough mental energy to stop negative self-talk. Just like the habit of swimming, or healthy eating, How one talks to their self is a habit too. The more we wake up every weekday to swim, the more that becomes ingrained and routine. At first, it’s difficult, then day after day, month after month, year after year, it becomes part of your personality.
So, Celebrate where you are at. What are the parts of your life that your younger self would be surprised to see? Celebrate! What are the parts of your life that when you’re nearing the end of your life, you’d love to have back? Celebrate Now. Give yourself a break. Be Kind to yourself. Talk positively to yourself as often as you can. Make it a habit. Start tiny and build. Then, it will become a routine. and you can celebrate that too.
Today’s Workout
3100 Yards High Intensity. Focus on getting the heart rate up.
Dryland Exercises
It’s Thursday, that means Hamstrings and Quads.
- 60 seconds of jogging
- 4X Weight routine:
- Hamstring: 12 X Hamstring lifts
- Quad: ONE 60-second wall sitting
- Abs:
- Upper: 12 crunches
- Lower: 12 knee up reverse crunch
- Side: 12 Oblique V-ups each side.
- Back: Reverse exercise ball crunch
- 60 second full-plank
- Stretching
Pool
Warm-up:
- 150 Yard Freestyle no flip-turns
- 150 Yard freestyle with flip-turns
- 100 Yard backstroke
- 100 yard breast-stroke
Main Set:
- 500 Yard Kick with kickboard:
- 100 Yard Freestyle kick
- 100 yard dolphin kick (face down)
- 100 yard back kick (face up and no kickboard)
- 100 yard breast kick
- 100 yard free kick
- 500 Yard Freestyle with Pull Buoy & Paddles
5X following- 50 Yard Easy
- 50 Yard Fast
- 5 x 100 Yard freestyle fast no tools with 30 seconds rest
- 500 Yard Kick with fins and kickboard:
- 150 Yard free kick
- 100 yard back dolphin kick (no kickboard)
- 150 yard free kick
- 100 yard back dolphin kick (no kickboard)
Cool-Down:
- 300 Yard freestyle easy with paddles and pull-buoy
- 300 yard freestyle no tools
- Stretching in the pool