Does timing matter?

Before I had children I would exercise right when I got up or as soon as I came home from work.  When my oldest two were younger and I became a stay at home mom I would work out during their naps and we took a daily walk to the park, weather permitting.  Now that I have four and they don't all nap, I work part time and have a husband who works nights and sleeps during the day I find it harder to prioritize exercise.  Mostly I get on the treadmill or do a workout video around 9 pm when they finally all go to sleep.  Sometimes when I don't have to work I fit in a walk with the kids in the stroller while the older two are at school.    Does it make a difference when the exercise happens as long as it happens?  I guess consistency is the key.

Day 2 (yesterday)

I am not sure if I buy the idea that you need to have rest days if you are only working out for a half hour and most of it is walking.  We all walk all day, on and off.  I can see for people doing really strenuous things or working out for hours a day, but for most of us a half hour or more a day doesn't require a break.  Unfortunately for me if I do take a break for a day there is a good chance I'll take a break the next day, and the next and then I have to start all over.

Yesterday I did a half hour on the treadmill again, this time I ran for 13 minutes of it, so just over a mile.  I'm not sure if I will keep adding a minute a day like I did the other time I tried this, but I am going to commit to the half hour on the treadmill and be a bit more flexible with the rest of it.  Maybe without putting too much added pressure on myself I will stick with it past 11 days this time.

Day 1 (again!)

So at the end of April i decided that I was going to start running.  In 11 days I went from running 4 minutes of my at least 30 minutes on the treadmill to going for 27 or 28 minutes.  That 11th day I ran for 2.25 or more miles and felt really good about it, then I took a break for a day, then it was Mother's Day and I didn't want to do it, then it was a few weeks since I had run last and i realized that I dropped the ball again.  For me, with exercise, I cannot take a break.  Everything I've read suggests days of rest and giving yourself time, but when I give myself time I end up making that time longer and longer until I have to start over, again.

Last week, I ran twice, which was a start.  Tonight I ran again.  This time of my 30 minutes I ran for 12 and went one mile.  I looked up a local 5K for August.  I've never run that far before so I am starting, again, to work up to the point that I can do it.  I guess every race is a new beginning so each day can be a new beginning.  Today was my new beginning!

Making the time

Why is it so hard to make the time to fit in exercise? Shouldn't it just already be a part of our daily life? I love the times in my life when I am taking care of myself and making the time to go for a walk or run, whether inside on the treadmill or more enjoyably outside in the fresh air, or practicing some kind of dance or workout DVD every day. Those days, weeks or months are when I feel the best, but I feel like when I have that ball up in the air and I am keeping it there other balls fall down. I feel like maybe I am not spending enough time with my children, my housekeeping starts to really lack or I never seem to finish reading a book. I wish I could develop a formula to make it all happen within a twenty-four hour peiod of time, without sacrificing sleep of course. The person who does that could change the world!