No Time

When I tell friends that I work out six days a week--between 45 minutes and an hour and a half on weekdays, and between two and three hours each weekend day--some of them are simply shocked. Shocked, I tell you! They shake their heads and say that I must be some kind of ...(fill in the blank....superstar, idiot, alien).

Yet...if I said to everyone that I watched TV or surfed the 'net between 45 and 90 minutes per day....I'll bet no one would even blink. In fact, that is way below the national average of FOUR HOURS a day of TV watchin' for us Amurikans.

I probably spend about an hour each day on the 'net (non-work related), and maybe an hour every week watching TV (that increases during football season, I will admit). I don't really like TV all that much, and I'm not too much of a 'net surfer, unless it's cruising www.active.com community chat sites or looking for stuff to buy to feed my triathlon habit. I actually have a Facebook page, which I diligently check about once a month after I get enough reminders that someone REALLY WANTS to be my friend, and now and again I will check www.slate.com for some good liberal stories to make my Republican blood tingle.

Other than that, TV and the 'net kinda don't hold my interest for long. I have a busy career that takes me from 40-55 hours a week, a family (that does include a VERY Patient Spouse), other hobbies (I like to train my dogs in agility and field, I like to go dancing, I like the movies, I like to travel) and I love, love, LOVE to read. Books. Real ones with paper that you can hold in the swimming pool without worry of them getting wet and sparking out on you (okay, I really don't mind Kindles. I don't have one yet. I probably will some day).

So...although I have a very busy schedule in my life (my mom warned the Patient Spouse when we got engaged to "not to try and keep up with her." He doesn't), I find plenty of time to work out and still have time to do the laundry, cook some meals, make the grocery runs, walk the dogs, have brunch with friends, and even change the oil.

I am always amazed at the amount of time other people spend on the computer (they keep sending me, or asking me for, things like goats and cows on Facebook and I always feel terrible that I don't traffic in internet animals) or watching stuff on TV that really isn't even that interesting to them (I am not telling on the Patient Spouse, because guys really do need some zone time, and most zone time for guys is spent watching reruns of Seinfield). I don't expect everyone to be like me, but if you want to find the time to work out, something's gotta go, at least a little bit. Unless you are a second year law associate in a Wall Street firm with five kids under the age of 7 who all go to different schools, you really CAN find the time to work out. "I don't have the time" is not good enough for an excuse. We all get the same 24 hours.

I'll bet that most athletes who are training for long distance races (Ironmans (TM), 70.3s, marathons, etc.) AND who have full time jobs have their TVs and home computers gathering cobwebs too. Not that there is anything wrong with TV (I adore House, and I love HGTV-- when I do watch, it's usually sports or HGTV) or the computer (no computer? Hello...no blog. Bad idea). We just have other things to do with a lot of our time.

If the average American gave up three hours of TV a week--that's not a huge amount--think of what he or she could do with that time. Take a walk, bake a cake, visit a friend, run 10 miles....!

Last night I left work about 5:45 p.m. I got to the gym at 6:45 (yes, I also have a terrible commute to take up even more of my time). I warmed up and ran 45 minutes from 7 to 7:45, cooled down and stretched, and then did a grocery store run. I sat down to dinner (grilled a steak and some zuchinni, and cut up some watermelon) at 9, and was ready for the sack by 10:15 after running a load of wash. Fortunately, I have a Patient Spouse and kids who are older; if that were different, I would have done the run at 5:30 in the morning instead (tomorrow morning's swim will be at that time because I have dog agility class tomorrow night). It was a good, steady, slow paced run --kept my heart rate low and didn't ever stop--and I cheated and went indoors since the heat index at 6:45 p.m. was 101 degrees (a heat index over 100 is my personal limit for running outside).

Tonight's a bike ride for 90 minutes post work in the blast furnace. Followed by a Costco trip. You spend all this money on your bike stuff, you gotta save on the groceries somewhere! I heart Costco. Perhaps I can give Costco away on Facebook?

Terry