Someone asked me the other day what motivates me to stay in shape. Call me fickle, but my answer tends to change on a daily basis. I mean, much though I might scoff at a 'no carbs before Marbs' type situation, I'll admit that my tendency towards toning quite vastly increases as summer approaches.
Today, the main aim is a box tick - getting my training out the way so I can enjoy a two day stint at Polo In The Park without feeling guilty. It's not that I don't want to train today, per se, it's just that I feel a little fragile.
For this, I largely blame my friend Callum. He was hosting the first screening of his new E! series - Famously Single - last night. And had he been a lesser host, I might not be feeling quite so anti-movement right now. Honestly, this morning, even just getting out of bed was a struggle. Like, big struggle. Luckily, I had a breakfast date at Good Life Eatery, otherwise I might just still be snuggled.
Naturally, the temptation post-food is to retreat back to bed. I mean, the weather isn't exactly begging to be basked in. Luckily, though, I have another motivation in reserve: Snoop.
Let me explain - I am currently looking after a beaut little miniature poodle called Snoop. He is one of the most extremely lazy dogs I've ever met, but occasionally he gets movement motivation. Today is one such day. And if I don't take him to the park soon, I'm afraid his squeals of complaint might be heard as far as Knightsbridge (I live in Chelsea).
And just to add more fuel to the fire, today a load of gym kit arrived for me from L'Athlete. Obviously, this needs road-testing. And my sense of runner's pride is *just* about preventing me from taking said kit on a casual stroll around the block and back to bed. Just.
But Snoop and new kit are not necessarily daily occurrences. So I need a more long-term motivation. When I trained for the London Marathon, I got into such a running regime that I sort of assumed that I would always always want to train. Once I'd done the Marathon, I discovered that it had been a mix of fear and excitement that shoved me out the door each day. Which brings me to my current long-term motivation: the London 10k, in July. It's looming. And the only way to make it easier is to train - practice makes perfect and all that.
The final thing that motivates me is food. I love food - good, healthy, wholesome food. I recently got into cooking with Rude Health's spelt flour (very low gluten content, which works for me), and this week had a stint of eating out at places like The Cavendish. The problem I find is that when I see healthy food, I tend to assume I can eat a lot more of it than I probably should. I turn a blind eye to heightened fat content, and will happily accept seconds (and the rest) despite being full. But that's ok, because I can train. And frankly, if an extra Paleo waffle pushes me out the door for a run, I've killed two birds with one stone..
Of course, I do have cheat days, too - last weekend was the screening of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, and I ate my body weight in gummy turtle sweets. Mainly because they were so cute. And now that I think about it, maybe I'm due another cheat day. Like right now. Perhaps I could work from bed until the polo?...