Rest and motivation

Yesterday was a rest day....5 days in a row meant I needed one. My body still aches today, I am lacking motivation to exercise, but exercise I must.

Rest days are difficult in some ways. My Philips DirectLife monitor always flashes a disappointingly small number of lights at the end of a rest day. I usually then get a nice message asking me if I want to reduce my target. I always decline, on the basis that the target is perfect for an active day. It spurs me on to do that little bit more, to keep using the stairs, to walk places I'd normally not, to park in the far corner of the supermarket car park.

But it does mean that rest days are very low vs target, and that in turn means that my weekly target is rarely 100%...you see, I have a pretty high target, well over 1,600 cals burned per day. 100% on one day is tough. But even if I hit the tough target on 5 or 6 days while resting for the other 2 or 1 days, it's impossible to reach 100% of the weekly target. I know the point of the monitor is to measure normal, everyday activity rather than exercise calories...but I guess I use it a little differently. I am not demotivated by not hitting the 100% weekly. The light show on a good day is surely enough reward (along with the smug grin I can afford myself). But it is also not designed with a light show for the weekly target achieved...so I can't be too far away from the norm.

Once again, blogging has raised my mood. I am now significantly more motivated to go and exercise than I was when I started writing.

So much so, I will choose a workout track of the day: "The Flood" by Take That (100 bpm; fast cycling).

Bring on the spinning bike!!!