Creature of Habit

I am a creature of habit. I get into a routine and stick with it come hell or high water. It's why I gained weight so easy (bad routines) and why I was able to lose weight (good routines for eating and exercise). They say it takes 30 days for something to become a habit and if I make it thru those 30 days, I'm usually good to go after that.

But being a creature of habit can be a bad thing as well. Sometimes I feel anxious if my routine gets out of whack. Like if I can't get to bed by my bed time. Or if I have to eat at a time other than my plan. Or if I can't ride to work because I have to drive somewhere for business. I know my routine shouldn't cause stress and for the most part it's like a comfortable cloak but sometimes I feel more like Linus after Snoopy has stolen his blanket.

Knowing this about myself, I had to think about how I would feel having a coach. Would I be able to handle putting my "routine" in someone else's hands? Would I be comfortable with not knowing what my workouts would be for the next month (or two or three)? I'd read Matt Fitzgerald's Run - The Mind Body of Running by Feel and he talked about not having a long term plan but instead building your weeks based on how you feel. That you know what type of runs you should do in a week but not to be a slave to them. This concept was a little hard for me to grasp. I think because I thought if I didn't have a set plan, I might slack off...get lazy...take the easy way.

However...I really do need to learn be more flexible. And I'm not talking about running! Although that too. ;) So I decided that I would go ahead and get a coach and if it took me out of my comfort zone (with running or my habits), all the better.

You know what? It hasn't been bad. I trust Jason to give me the workouts I need. I still have a rough idea of what to expect but if I run on different days or do different workouts, I'm fine with it. It's kind of freeing actually. Kind of nice letting someone else dictate what I'm going to do. At that's saying something coming from this control freak.

I think an added bonus has been that my body is like "Whaaaat?" and the mixing it up has made it stronger, more resilient, less rigid. In more ways than one.