So, today is day three of my attempt to get back into a regular routine of exercise and physical fitness.  While I love vacations, I find they tend to be a detriment to my attempt to stay physically fit.  More motivation to relax and/or go site seeing and less motivation to use a hotel’s fitness room and usually no capability to prepare the healthier versions of our favorite foods.

For me, this means a slight increase in weight whenever I return from vacation.  Fortunately, this most recent excursion only added about 5 pounds.  With some will power and dedication, that’s quickly lost again.  I’m not sure why it started bothering me again, but being up past 180 lbs got me depressed the other day. 

So I’m back to trying to get myself down to my 175 goal weight, and maybe a little less.  To wit, I called up Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon training schedule again.  I’ve missed running (again, a lack of motivation for some reason).  With the Evansville Half Marathon coming up Saturday Oct 5th (that’s right, it’s on a Saturday this year, according to the website), I back dated the start of Hal’s training program.  This week was the start of the program.  I got it in the middle of the week, and so missed a day or two, but jumped in with both feet.

My first day of training was a 3 mile run + strength training.  The strength training isn’t too bad, as I enjoy my ActiveTrax schedule at Dunigan’s YMCA.  But I was admittedly worried about being able to run 3 miles w/o stopping.  My last attempt to make it past 2 got me to my goal of 2, and no further.  But yesterday morning, Danielle had to leave for work early (6am, go figure).  So I left when she did, and went to the gym to run on the treadmill.  Surprisingly, I completed 3 miles w/o even realizing I had run the distance.  Even better, neither my legs nor my hips complained at me during or after the run.  And not one single stomach cramp the whole three miles!  This morning I started my day off at the gym again, with a 30 minute stationary bike ride (fulfills the “cross training” requirement for Hal’s Fridays). 

I’m rediscovering that morning workouts feel really god, and make the day go better.  But, this is only day two.  Let’s see if I can make this my new routine.  Workout in the morning before office time, then get to spend more time in the evening socializing with Danielle and friends.