Spring Worries

The first beautiful day of spring sprung today. Beautiful blue skies, light breeze, and comfortable temperatures drew many out to exercise today. Including me.

No wonder. We have been pummeled by erratic temperatures, rain, and frozen pipes. This is the time of year we wait for

However, believe it or not, I still found myself complaining about the heat, the sun. I still grumbled that I should have gotten out earlier this morning when it was only 55 degrees. I berated myself for forgetting my sunscreen while I felt my skin fry in the 70+ temps. That's what I get for running at 11:30 in the morning.

And, with these preliminary worries over spring training, my mind naturally wandered to what changes I will soon have to make to my training schedule in order to complete it at all. In other words, if I plan to do anything outside, I have to plan to conclude before 8 a.m. I hate the heat! Between cycling and running, 75% of my training is outside. Challenging.

This means I will soon have to either complete my exercise before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m.  In order to complete my exercise before 8 in the morning, I have 2 choices. I can get up before the crack of dawn to exercise before my kids get up. However, there are some problems with this. First, I have never been a morning person by choice. I am a master at making every excuse to stay in bed another 15 minutes. These excuses include rationalizations that turn me away from training, for days in a row. Yes, I am the first to admit it. Second, assuming I do get up to train before they wake up, it will have consequences for my routine of making lunches for my kids in the morning and possibly even seeing them off to school. I'm not sure I'm willing to give that routine up. Too boring.

For long runs, I will have to figure something out.

I have surpassed this difficulty in past years. I will do it again. Chances are it will include much more time in the gym than I would like. But, like winter in the North, summer in the South keeps us indoors and seeking temperature control. It changes the perspective of our lives. We move indoors. We can't fathom the extent of the heat. We don't want to go outside. Sometimes we don't even want to move. Not wanting to move makes it difficult to maintain a rigorous training routine.

But, somehow, anyone who wants to stay in shape has to find a way.