Replacing my afternoon coffee with cardio

Coffee lovin’ white girl here. I have a morning coffee with breakfast ever day and on week days I used to have an afternoon coffee around 3:00 pm to get me through the rest of the day. This became a big habit of mine when I was working until 7 or 8:0 0pm. I needed to have energy at least until the end of my shift, then I could crash.

Recently I have replaced my weekday afternoon coffee with a run. Not every day, but most days. It slowly started when I was training for our 9K earlier this summer, but I have made it more and more of a habit once I saw all of the benefits it was providing…

For starters, I work in the heart of Boston. There are far too many shops and boutiques to avoid from at least window shopping and even the smaller purchases start to add up due to boredom on my hour lunch break.

Also, what the heck do people do for ONE WHOLE HOUR?! I have no idea what to do with my time. I tend to take a later lunch to break up my day so when I come back, I only have 2 hours left on the clock so I typically do not eat lunch ON my lunch break. Running has freed me of trying to find things to do outside, while not keeping myself inside when the weather is nice. 

My lunch time run has also provided me with the energy I need to get me through the rest of my day. So instead of picking up a skinny vanilla latte or toasted almond iced on my way back from lunch, I am burning calories instead of drinking them!

I have finally been back at the gym routinely and cardio is really a must for my body. Lifting definitely helps burn more calories and helps work on definition, but cardio helps me shed some extra calories and pounds. Remember – all of our bodies are different and lose/gain weight differently. I have personally found working out is most successful when I incorporate both. 

With that being said, my daily 30mins of cardio is now incorporated during an hour I usually roam mindlessly through the city, instead of adding it to the end of my day when I just want to get home.

Daisy wins here too…I’m home a half hour earlier to play with her now J

See where you can fit in a quick work out to save some time on the beginning or end of your day!

P.S. I know running is commonly hated. I used to be one of those people. I heard somewhere to set yourself a destination when running, preferably one of good taste or beautiful sights. Set your destination as your reward. Run there, enjoy your reward (take an excuse for a breather) then run home. That is another thing that has made running at work better than running at home. 

This is my reward...