Day 365 – Week 52 – 52 mins (52)

And so it is done! I have to admit, there was many a time I thought this day would never arrive.

I finished off with a proper 52 minute session – warm up – five sprints – jog – warm down and stretch, and can’t believe I actually managed 4 or 5 full 52 minutes for this slightly extended week.

Time to have a look at the whole experience and decide whether I achieved what I wanted….

1) Did I set up a regular exercise habit? God, I hope so. You would think that a year of exercising nearly every single day would convince your body that this is the way to go in the future – but I suspect it is not my body, but my mind which needs most of the convincing. And that is going to mean being constantly on guard against major slippage. If  I find myself missing several days in a row, I hope the ‘just one minute’ philosophy will get me back on track.

2) Did I lose weight? No. I am exactly the same weight as when I started. BUT I have got a lot more muscle, so the experts assure me that means I would have lost some body fat. In fact, just this last week I have FELT that there has been a slight change in my body shape. I am hoping this is something to do with the sprinting I have added to my runs (which I intend to continue) rather than the fact I have been doing 52 minutes (which I do NOT intend to continue). Another factor to consider in all this, is that I suspect my alcohol consumption has increased quite a lot over the last year (I cannot be sure that relates to doing more exercise!) so if my weight has stayed the same, then the exercise must surely have been doing some good.

3) Do I feel healthier? Well – I never really felt unhealthy, but I certainly think there is some benefit to just having that blood run around your body a few times a week and I certainly like the feeling of having some muscles in my arms and legs.

4) Can I fit into my skinny jeans? No. I tried them this morning even though I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it. I can actually do them up, but they are not at all comfortable – and I can’t quite fathom how they ever were. But to be fair, I did buy them at a time of great angst in my life and was probably unnaturally slender as a result.

SO WHAT NOW???

Well, I AM going to give myself a few guilt free days off as a small reward. But come Monday I aim to settle in to a routine of two runs and two strength and stretching days a week, and then some kind of physical activity (bike ride, hula hooping etc) on the weekends. I will be cutting down the time to around 30-45 minutes, but I will now start trying to increase the intensity – some faster running, and some ankle weights etc.  I am also planning on going back to doing some dance classes, but at the moment my work hours conflict with class times, so it is going to have to wait for some expected changes to my shifts in a few months time.

I will no longer be blogging daily – I think that both you AND I have probably had enough of that – but will post each weekend with a quick run down of what I did manage to do for the week. I have no doubt that it is your accountability which kept me going during the past year and a bit, and I am hugely grateful for knowing that you are out there keeping an eye on me. I can only hope you stick around for a bit to keep me on the straight and narrow.

So while I am much relieved to have come to the end of this experiment, I highly recommend it for anyone who really can’t get into the habit of exercise. If I made it – then believe me you can. The trick is not to be too hard on yourself if you don’t do your full minutes – that is not the aim of the game. All you are trying to do really is regularly get out there and do something. I am now heading to the next stage – and if that is successful, then perhaps I can move on to the ultimate physical challenge…..

….pole dancing!

Thanks to you all,

Suzi