Workout Wednesday-Couch Potato to 5K strike three?

A few months ago I wrote how I was starting the Couch Potato to 5K program in order to become a runner. I actually did pretty well. I got to the point I where I could run for twenty five minutes at a brisk pace. I know that isn't an earth-shattering record but for me that was fabulous.  I was doing really well then my grandma died, the holidays hit, and we bought a house. My running routine, heavens my exercise routine was shot for about two and a half months.

Finally things stabilized, we bought a treadmill, and I started the CP5K program again. I was getting back in the groove, I was doing better and that was fabulous. Then I broke my toe.

Yeah stupid toe.

So I was sidelined for about three months. At least this time my workout routine actually kept going and didn't suffer.

This week I was finally ready to tackle the program again. It was easier this time. I found the run the first day was fabulous. It was so nice. I knew this time I was actually going to succeed and get to the end of the program...then I sprained my foot.

So yes, I am out for the next few weeks and part of me is wondering if it is even worth going back to doing the running thing again.  Is that a sign?

Workout Wednesday: commit, stop, recommit, stop, repeat

Okay Workout Wednesday only exists because of my friend Elisha, who runs a wonderful blog over at My Thunder Thighs.  Elisha and I have been friends for six or seven years now and we have had similar struggles when it comes to our weight and weight loss. She has been a huge inspiration to me and we have big plans for the future.

Anyway she is the one that suggested/insisted that Wednesdays be the day I dedicate to writing about my workout journey.

I fall into a rather bad cycle of work outs. I get excited and I am all gung ho. I go to the gym five or six times a week, I track my food, I make good decisions with food-then something happens. I could be I get sick, or we go out of town, or we buy a house...anyway I fall off the wagon and I do it big time.  Then something, usually the way my pants fit or the number I see on the scale, or how I look in a picture, sends me back into action and back to the gym.  Where eventually something else happens...see the vicious cycle here? Right now I am well into a repeat cycle.

I make it to the gym four to five times a week right now, I try to be active on Saturdays making sure I get some type of work out in, even if it is just mowing the lawn, but I know just over the horizon is that new stoppage point. I need to find a way to over come that one, find a way to fight through the temptations for sleep or over indulging in food (my biggest vice). I need to find a way to talk myself out of talking myself out of going to the gym.

Let's face it, I know I will commit and stop and recommit again and again but what I really have to decide is what do I want out of the work out experience. Am I working out to lose weight or do I want to be strong and healthy enough to run a 5K with friends in September, or chase after my children in the park.  I think once I can really truly answer this question maybe I will be able to put a stop to the cycle.

What do you to to avoid the slumps or to pull yourself out of one?