As my good friend Clare told me once, my "Exercise Switch" is either On or Off at any one time. She's right: I seem to be psychologically incapable of sticking to a routine of regular exercise, like normal people seem to - a couple of runs or gym sessions a week or something like that. Instead, I'm either in full-on training mode - day in, day out - or I'm sitting around for weeks on end with a beer in one hand and a fag in the other.
The problem is that I find it impossible to stay motivated unless I've got a long term goal to aim for. Once I've got a goal, finding motivation to exercise isn't hard. If there's a climbing trip on the horizon I'm usually keen to get fit for it. Back in 2004 in the months leading up to a mountaineering trip to Peru I trained like a demon and, by the end of the trip - after 5 weeks of carrying a rucsac at altitude - I was fitter than I've ever been in my life.
But then my arrival back in the UK was my cue for a plummeting spiral into Couch-potatoland and in no time I was back where I started.
The solution is obvious really: find a form of regular exercise that's so enjoyable that it provides its own motivation. Easier said than done! Going to the gym won't hack it, that's for sure. Gyms are way too dull (for me anyway). The gym is like dieting, it doesn't work in the long term.
Cycling, maybe? Anyway, that's a problem I'll need to think about for after the Marathon.
In the meantime the Switch is On.
The problem is that I find it impossible to stay motivated unless I've got a long term goal to aim for. Once I've got a goal, finding motivation to exercise isn't hard. If there's a climbing trip on the horizon I'm usually keen to get fit for it. Back in 2004 in the months leading up to a mountaineering trip to Peru I trained like a demon and, by the end of the trip - after 5 weeks of carrying a rucsac at altitude - I was fitter than I've ever been in my life.
But then my arrival back in the UK was my cue for a plummeting spiral into Couch-potatoland and in no time I was back where I started.
The solution is obvious really: find a form of regular exercise that's so enjoyable that it provides its own motivation. Easier said than done! Going to the gym won't hack it, that's for sure. Gyms are way too dull (for me anyway). The gym is like dieting, it doesn't work in the long term.
Cycling, maybe? Anyway, that's a problem I'll need to think about for after the Marathon.
In the meantime the Switch is On.
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| Silly hats a given. Acclimatising on Ishinca, Peru 2004 |
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