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Wow. C25K ended on May 24th, but I think somehow it turned me into a runner. It feels like a natural step to make June’s 30-day challenge something I’m calling “Daily Fit”. The idea? Do something active every day. Run, walk, rock climb, hike, bike, 7-minute workout—whatever—just don’t let myself take a day without doing something that gets my heart rate up.
I already have some weekend activities planned out:
- June 8th: Fall City 5K Fun Run with my FIL and husband—the culmination of my C25K!
- June 15th: Hike a nearby trail with a friend from high school
- June 22nd & 29th: Bike rides along a local trail
The usual weekly routine looks like this:
- Monday/Wednesday/Friday mornings: running
- Thursdays & Sundays: rock climbing, and probably some kind of walking during the day
What Do I Want to Get Out of This?
Honestly, a lower resting heart rate.
I also want to exercise for longer periods of time without feeling like I’m gasping for breath. Running helped with that one—I can run for half an hour straight now without stopping and timing my breaths helped with that. (The worst parts are the hills.)
Cultivating an active lifestyle requires being active, no?
Daily Fit is my habit-building method to do that. I’m 95% of the way there already, I think. It’s just that now, some days I find the day speeding by and my intended non-C25K workout didn’t happen.
What Did I Learn from C25K?
Commitment is key.
The run won’t get done if I don’t purposefully schedule it and commit to doing it. The only time a run didn’t happen initially the way I planned was when I switched from afternoons to mornings. The afternoons now are too hot to run, so I moved my Friday afternoon run to Saturday morning on Week 6 Day 3.
Since then, I’ve been running in the morning. Even when I have a work trip. Even when it’s raining, or looks like it will rain.
I can spend ages thinking about whether I should move something, or just do it and get it over with.
As Ruth Soukup says, action is the antidote to fear—which in my case sometimes manifests as procrastination.
Pairing With a Digital Detox
Besides Daily Fit, I’m spending June doing a “digital detox” as suggested by Cal Newport in his new book, Digital Minimalism. You can read my review of Digital Minimalism here.
This is 30 days spent eliminating optional digital technologies from my life that aren’t essential for the daily operation of my personal and professional lives.
This looks like deleting Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter from my phone. It’s taking a break from Pinterest and unsubscribing from 90% of my Facebook notifications. I’m curious to find out how my blog traffic does if I don’t promote anything on social media that isn’t scheduled with Tailwind or Zapier. It’ll give me more time to focus on growing my email list instead of spending an hour or more a week doing reciprocation threads on Facebook.
I’m hoping that Daily Fit, paired with Digital Detox, lets me reclaim some of my sanity from my digital inputs. I’m considering using the Freedom app to block unessential websites and keep me on task.
What About Previous Challenges?
I’ll be honest—I lost my steam in January and February. I worked a lot on my book in January but didn’t get to the point of being able to self-edit, which is what NaNoEdMo is all about. And while I spent a significant amount of time interviewing my grandma about her life, I haven’t edited the audio or transcribed anything. She’s also settling into a new place, so I expect to pick that up again later in the year.
And slowly but surely, the decluttering project continues. I’ve listed things for sale on some buy/sell apps and Craigslist, and I finally tackled the front closet. It looks way better now!
The thing I’m dreading doing is organizing all my computer files because 1) it feels like I just did this, though it’s probably been a few years, and 2) I know it’s going to take a long time to do it.
Like anything, it’s about building the bite-sized steps into my process and not overthinking things. Action is the antidote to fear, as Ruth Soukup always says.
Want to Join Me?
Have you done something like this before? How did it go? Are you interested in joining me during this Daily Fit + Digital Detox in June? Let me know in the comments!
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