Six Minutes 52 Seconds

I went to the same gym for over 10 years. Fitness Works was just down the street and I loved how close it was. When the one down the street closed a few years ago I tried going to the one farther away, but didn't like it, so I moved to Mountainside Fitness and loved the classes there, but hated the extra 30 to 40 minutes the drive added to my morning. So, when I began working at Vital Solutions MD quite a bit and changed my workouts up, I cancelled my membership and have been working out at home. We have a nice treadmill, so I've been doing a lot of running lately for my cardio portion. I usually keep it at a nice steady pace, but have been working on "spiking" my heart rate to keep in the fat burning zone the majority of the time, but raising it every 4 or 5 minutes for just a minute.

A few weeks ago I had been walking for a few miles and was going to run a quick mile, and decided to see if I could run it really quickly. I was able to do it in about 7 and a half minutes and was kind of surprised. In Freshman PE in high school if we could run a mile in under 7:30 for 6 weeks of the term, we didn't have to run the last 3, so I was able to do that most of the time, but I was never able to get it under 7 minutes. I thought that might be a good goal for me before I turn 40 next month, so I've timed myself a couple of times since then. A couple of weeks ago I tried it and after 8/10 of a mile I had to stop because I had been pushing too hard, so I didn't quite meet my goal. So last Thursday I decided to time it again. Now granted, I was on a treadmill, so it's not quite the same as running outside, but I was able to run the first 1/2 mile at 9mph, and the last 1/2 mile at 8.8mph and finished at 6 minutes and 52 seconds. Not too bad for a 39 year and 10 1/2 month old girl.

It's funny how competitive I can get - even with myself. I was doing a consult with someone at our office the other day and I was telling her about our different weight loss plans. We have 3 different plans and our best seller is our expensive program - mostly because people want to have regular follow up and accountabilty to support them in their program. This woman I spoke with said that if she decided she was going to do it - she didn't need the follow up - she was pretty self motivated. I could relate to her. I'm not one who likes to have a regular workout partner, because I want to work out on my own time - and I'm usually disciplined about doing it.

My big motivation problem comes in deciding to challenge myself, not usually in carrying through once the challenge has been made.

I can see that with setting spiritual and family goals. I don't want to make a goal and not be able to carry it through, so I sometimes get complacent in not setting those goals for myself. What if I were to push myself as much for things that are important to my eternal progression as much as I like to push myself (sometimes) for my physical progression. Maybe it's because my goals for physical progress are quite easily measured and recognized. I can lose a certain number of pounds, or have a certain percentage of body fat, or run so many miles, or lift so much weight, but how do you measure your spirituality or your patience, or your kindness? How do you measure or count the number of times you follow or recognize a prompting?

I think I've learned that I have to DECIDE what is important for myself spiritually and push myself harder to accomplish that. I have so many things vying for my time and attention. I'm finding it very easy make time for the things I can see or where the need is apparent. I work out, I try to make sure I spend a certain amount of time keeping up with my house, I try to spend time with my children, I kind of have to spend time at work, and I even spend time each night reading my scriptures and saying my prayers, but the thing that I think is lacking is the decision to progress. I can either just keep running my steady pace spiritually, moving slowly ahead, or I can push myself harder by setting tough short term goals for myself that get me out of my comfort zone and help me find out that I can go further and faster than I thought I could go.