When I first began working from home back in March, I made a promise to myself. I’d get at least 30 minutes of dedicated activity every day until I returned to work.
Why would I make a promise like this? I wanted to make sure I was doing something every day, even if I was taking a day off of running, because I was bound to be less active throughout the day.
My place of work before all of this started is a very large facility. Over the course of a day, just by walking to and from my car, going to the restroom and refilling my water bottle, I’d get thousands of steps even if I was taking a day off of running. While working from home, I might get hundreds of steps walking from the spare bedroom to the kitchen or somewhere else in the house several times a day.
While small activities like walking 1000-2000 steps from your car to your desk at work won’t make you an Olympian, they do make a difference in your overall health and fitness and, to some small extent, your running. Unfortunately, most of us who are working from home are probably getting much less of these activities.
I’d like to encourage you to think of these things and see how you can replace what you’ve lost if, like me, you are still looking at a long time working from home. Can you make a pledge similar to mine? Can you get out once or twice a day, especially on days you don’t run, to walk around the block? Can you take 5 minutes to do a quick strength routine of lunges and push ups? What about getting a standing desk or a sit/stand desk so you can be up and move around at least part of the time? This is another thing I did shortly after starting work from home and it’s allowed me to move more even while at my desk working than I would sitting in a chair all day.
These things matter, both for your overall health and fitness and to some small extent for your running.