NY, NY: Spin Control

The back wheel of my touring bike rested snug against the drum of an indoor trainer. A fleece hat protected my ears, a lightweight jacket filled with some fancy synthetic fiber promised to keep the steady  rain from making the workout cold and miserable. For the New Year, New You: Healthy Lifestyle Challenge workout today, I pedaled my buns off (as my mom would say) for 60 minutes.

Day 2: Dinner then bike, that's how I roll

The trickiest part about regular exercise for me is the when. The second trickiest part is sticking to whatever when I've chosen. For tonight, I decided on before dinner, a sort of re-energizing for the evening. In the time it took me to drive the nine miles from campus to home, the little imp in my head had re-decided. She was sure after dinner was better, mostly because changing clothes and setting up the bike felt like yet another set of tasks after a day filled with tasks that once one was done, another two were added. 

Most often, this speaking up by the imp devolves into an exhausting back-and-forth, all the while the minutes ticking away when I could be working out rather than arguing with Future Jill. I caught myself, though, noticed Future Jill and her trickery, so sat down to write in my journal, which is a way for me to clear my head, a sort of meditation. Soon enough, I settled on after dinner because I was hungry. Simple.

Judge-y thoughts about being irresponsible and unreliable for changing my plans didn't take hold. Worry that I would eat then find some excuse not to retreat to the garage for a spin turned to mist and drifted out of my head. 

Future Jill was caught in the act tonight in large part because of the Challenge. Rather than spin out of control, my thoughts were steadied by the simple notion to choose health.