Back in the Saddle...

Well, hello there!!! It has been a while since I've blogged, and I have missed you all!! Things are good around here...the same old, same old, basically. Children are all now firmly back in their school schedules (although I am still pining for the laid back days of summer, the children have adapted, and that is a good thing...I am fine pining in silence!) and we have all moved into the busier days of Fall.

For me, the crazy days present a bit of a challenge, as I find myself pulled in a variety of directions -- The roles I fill are Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Assistant and Business Owner, to name but a few.  Unfortunately for me -- as far as balancing roles goes -- as you know, earlier this year, I decided to add yet another role, and that was Woman Who Exercises and Eats in a Purposeful and Mindful Manner (or "Healthy Woman" (HW) as I like to call her.) Anyway, for the majority of the Spring & Summer, "HW" really ran the place.  My focus was on exercise, on eating mindfully, and that worked, because the pressure of school and children's activities was a little lessened in the loose days of Summer.  Of course, with the arrival of Fall comes the arrival of the more hectic days, and for the past month or so, ol' "HW" kind of took a back seat.  Business Owner ruled the roost, yielding only to Mother & Wife when she had to.  "HW" was nowhere to be found.  Now, I will tell you: my eating habits never suffered.  I am very proud of the fact that I have been able to maintain the healthy food choices that I implemented in February, and they have served me well. No, what went out the window was EXERCISE.  Don't get me wrong:  I don't think that I sat down for any continuous amount of time (with the exception of when I was sitting at my desk working in the office)...

And the truth is, I really thought that taking a mini-break from my exercise routine (I was working out 5 days a week...2 days with a Personal Trainer (or "Beast Master" as she likes to be called) and then 3 days Spinning) would be no big deal. I thought I could leave it for a few weeks, and then when things settled down, just waltz back in and pick up where I left off.  BOY! Did I ever learn (and not the easy way....WHY can't we ever learn things the EASY way?!) that this was most certainly NOT THE CASE!!!

This morning, I decided that I had to get things back in balance.  Oddly enough (and no, I never thought I'd be uttering these words, much less publishing them for the world to see), I really missed working out.  So, I put on my Spinning shoes and made my way to the gym for a Spinning Class. And promptly had my butt handed to me!! I was huffing & puffing...maybe even more so than I did in my VERY FIRST Spin Class!!! I did, however, make it through the class.  I must have had a surprised look on my face, though, because afterwards, as I was talking to the instructor, we talked about my performance in class.  And here is a lesson I won't ever forget:  when you take off 2 weeks (just 2 weeks!) from your regular exercise routine, you lose a minimum of 10% of your overall fitness level, depending on how fit you were before you took your break.

For me, since I have only been exercising regularly since July, today felt like I had never taken a Spinning class before!  When I got home, I must have looked a fright, because Ron asked me how my class had gone...I mentioned to him what I had learned and that I didn't know that just by taking three weeks off you'd "fall out of shape," but his reply was, "Well, Rebecca, anytime we've taken three weeks off, we've never gone back, so how WOULD we know?!"  Of course, this is NOT acceptable to me!! I am in this for the long-haul, baby! So, I have now taken steps to ensure that NO BREAKS of more than a couple of days (I am not going to turn down a weekend trip to Aspen, ya know!) will happen again.  I have no desire to have to crawl back up the steep mountain...I actually had really been enjoying the view from about mid-way, with the top sort of visible in the haze...and me making my way to the tippy-top!

So, it's back in the saddle (in this case, literally!) for  me... what about you? Have you been on a break recently? Is it time for you to get back in the saddle too? I am assured that it should not take as long for me to get back in the groove and have my fitness level back to where it was 3 weeks ago...but, I have to admit: patience is definitely not a virtue I'm known for...so I'm ready to go NOW!!!  Wish me luck...

Oh, and if anyone has a cloning machine they'd like to lend me, give me a holler, would you??