My Journey With Health And Fitness – Finding Balance

Today I had trouble focusing on my run because it was so beautiful at the beach. There was a large harvest moon happening made orange by the haze caused by wildfires across the border. That moon reflected beautifully off the ocean and framed in the hazy sky was a sailboat. What a great sight to see early in the morning.

Thursday night I started to panic. I realized I had once again overloaded my schedule and I just didn’t know how I was going to get everything done. I was out for dinner with my husband and we were discussing it and he suggested I take a day off from working out. Of course that just made me panic every more. However, as we talked it through I realized I could probably get in a few brisk walks and still do at least get in 10k steps. Not optimum for me but better than nothing.

I got up yesterday morning and checked my Fitbit only to find that my readiness score was very low. My Fitbit recommended just some light walking to give my body time to recover. I admit that I am not good at the concept of light walking, I like to walk at a pace where I can get my heart rate up. But for once I took Fitbit’s advice and toned the walking down some (though still got into fat burn zone). After a couple of walks throughout the day I did get in my 10k steps so felt better about the day.

This morning I was a bit surprised when my Fitbit said my readiness was only fair. It recommended a lower level of zone minutes (fat burn/cardio/peak) than what I thought I was going to do. I decided to change plans so instead of an easy 8k run I would just do a 6k. I started off and realized Fitbit may actually be right because my knee was a bit cranky. I opted not to push it with any intervals and just enjoy the run. I realized after the 1/2 way mark that the knee felt pretty good but I still kept my easy pace. That was until I got to the dreaded hill where I thought ok, easy run so you’ve got the strength left to give it your all. And so, I ran up the steepest part of the hill giving it everything I had and while I was breathing heavily by time I slowed my pace it felt awesome that I had done that.

All of this leads to the fact that sometimes you need to look for a balance in what you are doing. I should not be panicking because I might not get in a run, I should not be putting my workouts ahead of absolutely everything, I should be reminding myself that I had several days of hard work this week so stepping back for a day is ok. Actually, it is more than ok as apparently my body did need that break.

Find the balance in your physical activities so that both your mind and body stay healthy.