CUNNING PLAN

[highlyeccentric]

I HAVE COME UP WITH A CUNNING PLAN. Several months in advance, so I can prepare properly.

Things that I do in winter: stay inside, staring at a fixed point, consuming audiobooks or TV; consume vast amounts of cheese and potatoes; be miserable
Things that I do not do (much) in winter: exercise

Reasons I do not exercise:
- outside bad
- lack of outside-worthy clothes
- outside cold!
- decision fatigue: get home, go flop, no more going places
- depress: does not enjoy anything, therefore does not enjoy things normally would enjoy about running, eg, ducks
- outside too dark to see ducks!

Reasons I should exercise:
- lose weight? at least stop gaining weight? (this is the least useful motivation ever, but it must be noted that outgrowing my exercise pants significantly hampers further exercise)
- wish not to make fool of self on 'gentle walks' with swiss people (this is a good motivator: it is the only reason I'm running at all)
- short-term energy boost / smugness / etc (less effective in winter anyway, because depress)
- long-term supposed to be good for mental elfs?

Things I have already figured out are significantly more likely to lead me to exercising:
- monotonous routine (run same route. every time. bonus points if ducks)
- eradicate decision fatigue by using app which tells me what to do when
- minimal human interaction
- Ridiculous music choices
- bicycles if not on roads

CUNNING PLAN:

GYM. Go to gym before 6pm, for minimal human interaction. Pick a gym between uni and home, in order not to get home and then go flop. If necessary, play the 'no speak french!' card for avoiding human interaction.
GYM HAS: running machine. Can stare into space and obey instructions. Bicycle machines that are not on roads.

BUT THAT IS VERY BORING.

CARROT: PODFIC. Headphones in ears is a great way to avoid humans in gyms!

I'm gonna be miserable, staring at a fixed point and consuming trash media anyway, right? If I can somehow convince myself that the best place to do this is in a warm gym while running on the spot, we might achieve either long-term mental elfs benefits or at least cardio-vascular fitness.

Salary goes up in September; there's a 'woman fitness' gym on my street with student deals. If I start this in october or november, when I still have some cope, I might be able to establish an actual habit?

Comments

[wildeabandon]

You may well already be aware of it, but Run! Zombies! is another headphones in ear option which I found to be the only thing that's every let me keep a running habit going for more than about a fortnight.

[liseuse]

I have developed an actual exercise habit purely because free classes are running at the university and they start an hour after I finish work. I can usually persuade myself to stick around for that hour - especially because it means I finish work a little bit late and then have the "well, now it's X past the hour, and the traffic home will be horrible so I might as well stay" conversation with myself. I don't know what I'm going to do when they end in September.

[dynamite_lady]

Better still, get a picture of some ducks and stick it over the static bike/running machine ;)