Daily routines

Last week, I went to the gym six times. And this week, I'm on track to do the same thing.

I still can't get over how good I feel about this. It's not like this is the first time I've ever been to the gym, because it isn't, at all. But it's the first time that I've ever gone nearly this often. And I am really liking it. Maybe it's because this time the gym isn't free in our apartment complex, so I feel more compelled to go and make use of my paid membership? Or because it has a pool and water aerobics classes and I love swimming?

Regardless, I go. Almost every day. And I like it.

I like it so much, in fact, that I have this crazy niggling thought in the back of my mind about maybe, someday, some VERY FAR OFF day, doing a triathlon. I know. It's insane. But I'm thinking about it. And I really want to do it. I wrote more about that over at Bodies.

I think it's a good long-term goal to add to all my short-term goals. Last night as I was swimming, I was thinking about that triathlon, and I swam faster and with fewer breaks than I'd been able to do before. It's very motivating.

The one thing about going to the gym is that it has totally changed our daily routine. We work, and I finish sooner than Torsten, so I take Montana to the dog park while he finishes up. When I get back, we go to the gym. The gym takes about two hours, what with getting ready to go, driving there, getting all my pool stuff ready, actually swimming for an hour, showering, getting dressed, and driving home.

So by the time we actually get home, it's usually already 8:30 or so, and we haven't eaten dinner yet. Torsten usually grills food for dinner, which takes about half an hour, meaning that we don't even eat dinner until 9 or so. Sometimes it's really tempting to just go into Whole Foods to grab dinner instead. Especially because it's in the same plaza as the gym. In fact, it's literally right next door.

But for the most part, we're able to resist the temptation, which means we don't usually finish dinner until around 9:30. And we have to get up early for work because we start on East Coast time, so we try to be in bed by 10:30. So that leaves us an hour of time to relax, get something done that we've been needing to do, etc. And an hour just isn't very much time. Plus, with the time difference, by the time I have any free time it's nearly midnight on the East Coast, which makes it hard for me to find time to call my family.

Still, I kind of like the routine. It feels simple, and healthy. We're at the gym together, and plus we're in the house together working all day long, so it's not like we don't get to spend time together. We still have time to talk, in the morning and in the car and over dinner and in the evening and in bed. We definitely still have plenty of quality interaction. It feels privileged, really, to have the kind of schedule that allows us to do all this every day without feeling totally stressed and overwrought at the end of it.

However, I have to say, thank god we don't commute. Because if we had even short-ish commutes, this routine would be impossible. And in fact, now that I think about it, I think that's really the reason that I never went to the gym six days a week before. The round-trip commute added an extra hour and a half to my daily work time, and sometimes you'd get home after a long day at work and an unpleasant ride on the bus or Metro, and the last thing you'd want to do is put on your gym clothes and go work out.

Now, there are no excuses. When I'm done working, I walk down the stairs, and voila--I'm home. And therefore, we can use that time that would have been spent commuting at the gym instead. And we do.

What about you? What's your daily routine like? Does it stress you out, or does it work for you?