midlife monday: setting the tone
me running = a surreal vision
I've been able to prove to myself that I can work from home and work efficiently when I have deadlines. Meh, I'm not quite so good when there's no urgency, no 'must be done now' breathing down my neck, but it's a work in progress (or W.I.P). This is (allegedly) a Quiet Time Of Year for me; so far I've been battling a homework-induced creative block and tried to work on Being Less Busy aka Not Filling In The Gaps. This morning's Q dedicated itself to One Thing At A Time Day which was kind of (hipsterishly) ironic seeing as I was mixing up frosting for birthday party cakes, running a load of laundry and compiling a grocery list while listening.
Apart from the housework, oh and date nights, the only other thing missing from my schedule was regular exercise. It's one of the first items of personal care which disappear in a busy life and I need to remedy that pronto. There's the little matter of a 10k plus race I'd like to run this summer, and if I don't start some training I'll probably be slower than this year's slowest London marathon runner. Oh, and midlife is characterised by gaining pounds, inches and girth :(
But I think I've found a way to fit in some exercise and tackle some of the items on my 'to do' list, both at the same time, all without leaving the house thus preventing me from copping out with the 'I've got too much to do today' excuse. I ski while listening to podcasts (see, I told you I'd reveal all, Amber). We have an ancient Nordic Trak thingy in our basement. For most of its life it has been incredibly neglected by He Who Bought The Damn Thing. It doesn't fold up neatly or stash away anywhere tidily and has, until now, been one of life's little banes. Enter stage left my interest in podcasts, science journalism and Google Reader. I now have a stack of subscribed podcasts which I don't get around to listening to cos they're a little too long and gripping to fit in with my work flow(unless it's The Archers which I listen to religiously over breakfast). Assemble ski machine, click url, add headphones and voila! twenty to thirty minutes of brisk Scandinavian cross training.
See below for some suggestions for your daily twenty :)
- perennial favourite (with me) from the good old BBC, The Archers (14 mins, six days a week)
- intelligent medical journalism in White Coat, Black Art on CBC R1
- Amber's awesome interviews over on her blog (and you can subscribe to her podcasts on iTunes too)
- more wordsmithing on BBC's Just A Minute or I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue with the magnificent Mornington Crescent (each = 30 mins, weekly)
I think that's good enough for a start. Happy skiing :)
