This is going to be great

So I'm getting close to the one-month mark since my race, and I've been sort of casting about for a New Life Plan.

This is my husband's term. He always teases me when I come up with a brilliant new strategy to get more housework done, lose some weight, get organized, plan healthier meals, write more personal letters, be a better parent, read more literature, grow a garden, expand my mind, or whatever. It goes like this: I read an interesting article, form a conviction, do some research, add my own clever twist, set up a schedule or a set of complex rules, make some lofty declarations. Then everything goes great for a while until I get bored or forget completely about it. Then I come up with a new New Life Plan.

Pffft. As if this were a problem.

Anyway, the Ironman training was a New Life Plan of sorts, and I was thrilled with the results. (Take that, NLP doubters.) But it is nearly time for a new one, and only today, a Facebook friend posted a link to a very interesting article called "Two Experiments in Exercise Minimalism." The most minimal of the minimalist experiments suggests working out only 32 minutes per week—a far cry from the 20 hours per week I was doing toward the end of my Ironman training.

So right now I'm in NLP Phase III ("do some research"), and I'll let you know how it goes. But I'm kind of excited to try this. It will leave a ton of time for me to start a regular bathroom-cleaning schedule, make handmade birthday cards with my kids, experiment with quinoa recipes, and learn to quilt.