Things That Motivate Us

What motivates you? This is something I try to figure out about myself quite a bit. I even took a test that would tell me what "motivational type" I am, since procrastination seems to be my favorite pastime. I'll find the results of that later to share.

The answer came today in the form of a graduation party for my friend Tanya (pictured left, procrastinating with me last year -- or eating crabs, one of the two) and on the right in high school, before I discovered wine. Let's hope my preference in eyewear, bathing suits and reading material have improved with age. My decision to attend her graduation party was an easy one. Life is just too short to miss these events.

The party is in Maryland on May 23rd, where there will be yet another pool involved. You know what that means.....pool + drinking = potential spontaneous cannonball and that would lead up to the two most dreaded little words known to woman: Bathing Suit. Eek. Although the alternative, which is "no bathing suit," would be a lot worse, especially for party-goers. No sooner did I hit the "buy ticket" button on the Southwest website, did those two words fill my mind, and anxiety start to set in.

So now I have exactly five weeks to try to get into somewhat better shape so that I don't ruin any of her graduation pictures. No chance of that happening with my mother's camera, considering she mostly takes pictures of her fingers. However, like at most "monumental events" in a person's life, there will surely be photographs from all angles and in most angles at the moment, I have a double chin -- not more than a Chinese phone book, but at least one that needs to go, and heaven forbid if someone catches this porker in a bathing suit with a camera. Not in the world where Facebook has taken over.....No way - it cannot happen. More stress.

Now with motivation on my side (or panic as the case may be), I came back to the little townhouse home-away-from-home gym tonight after work and tried out something that we were discussing today in the office: interval training. I started out at a good trot of 4.5 mph on the treadmill for one minute, revved it up to 5.5 mph for two minutes after that, one minute of 6.0 mph followed and in the end, one minute of 7.0 (which is almost a sprint for me), then back down to 4.5 mph again to do the sequence all over again. When I got back to the 4.5 mph (and could breathe again), I took my heart rate and at one point it was up to 180 -- I'm surprised I didn't pass out and fly off the back of the treadmill. 35 minutes and 3.25 miles later -- talk about sweat. I might just be onto something. Tomorrow I might get a kettlebell, which could help ramp up the progress a little bit. I even toyed with the idea of doing the Master Cleanse again if I get really desperate. That's still in the back of my head, although drinking immediately after coming off of that detox might prove to be deadly. Plus, I still can't even think about maple syrup from the last time I attempted it.

New plan of attack - working out more, drinking less wine (if any), and in five weeks - hopefully will be 10 pounds down. This is going to be quite a challenge since I will be Chicago next week for a conference -- which usually consists of more eating and drinking than humanly possible. Will pack my running shoes, keep the big picture in mind and hope for the best.