Training Update - Self Motivation

Sienna's not sure about the bike either...

So, those that know me will know that I’ve never been massively into fitness, despite being married to a personal trainer and much to his annoyance! But when I started spin classes a few years ago I felt I’d found the one exercise I actually enjoyed, well ‘enjoyed’ is perhaps a tad strong, more like tolerated and didn’t give up after 5 minutes.

During my 20’s I happily ate what I wanted, which mainly consisted of a diet of crisps, chocolate bars and the odd banana when I visited my Mum and she tried to get some goodness into me. I did bugger all exercise and went out partying every weekend, drinking I’m ashamed to say, copious amounts of Jager bombs (are they still a thing?! Sickliest drink ever with a shot glass in that smashed you in the teeth every time you downed it and ended up with a sticky dribble down your chin… so sexy).

Anyway, I’ve digressed, my point is that I never felt I needed to exercise, but then I hit my 30’s and BOOM – where the hell did those thighs come from?! I also started to realise that doing exercise actually made me feel good and if I didn’t do any for a couple of days I turned into a massive bitch, not ideal.

For me, I have to be in an exercise class, probably because I’m locked in and can’t sneak out after 10 minutes (although, believe me I’ve been pretty close) a heavy breathing, beetroot face mess, telling myself ‘phew, my legs are killing me, I’m sooooo sweaty so I must’ve burnt at least 500 calories’ (for those fitness buffs out there, yes, I know it’s not all about burning calories, as Rob tells me constantly ‘it’s the full workout Sadie blah blah blah’ before I switch off) as I said…. I'm not a natural fitness person.

We have gym at home, well a converted garage but you get the idea, so I literally only have to walk downstairs to have a workout. But I just can’t train on my own, some may call me lazy, I like to brand myself as ‘social’ (i.e. if I can get away with having a chat instead of training I will).

So, imagine Rob’s surprise when I decided to order a spin bike for home to train for our event. I’d love to book into CYC:D to attend spin classes every day, but it’s just not feasible with a baby, I manage a couple of classes a week which does help, but it’s not enough.

I told myself that if I had my own bike I could train during the day when Sienna napped, train once she’d gone to bed, heck she could even sit in the bouncy chair and watch me spin – the perfect solution! Well… it’s not quite gone to plan, I’m getting there – Sienna has sat and in the bouncy chair next me (she’ll last about 15 mins before getting bored, which is fair dos, I’m bored on the bike, let alone watching) and I have managed to get on the bike a few times during her naps. But my self-motivation is so bad (you’d think the looming 8 hour event would be enough to scare me into it wouldn’t you?!)

Any tips on how to motivate myself would be much appreciated (Rob’s advice of ‘stop moaning and get on with it’ strangely didn’t work). I’ve tried saving Love Island to watch whilst on the bike (don’t judge me, I know its horrific, but also… so great) but even the lure of Tommy Fury isn’t enough to get me on that bike every day.