How to keep the motivation for your mile a day of fresh air

Something that has stuck with me from lockdown 1, last March, is getting out for our mile a day of fresh air. It forced us to get walking into our routine as it was the only thing we could do, really and leaving the house once a day to do exercise was the limit. It feels like a different lifetime ago, but there are some lovely benefits to come from it.

Start small

So, I would definitely say start small. Think back to Lockdown 1 where we could only go out for one piece of exercise a day and how we had to do it from our doorstep. Start there. You do not have to go far and wide to get some fresh air and the fact is the smaller you start the more likely you will continue this new habit and make it stick. We started off by doing small walks around our local park that we can reach from the doorstep; no more than an hour at a time.

Keep hydrated

This is a big one as when you are out walking, especially in the sunshine, you need to keep hydrated. We take our Klean Kanteen water bottles with us on our mile a day walks; they keep the water cold throughout the walk and the kids find them easier to carry because they have the little loop that their fingers fit in to. They fit in bike cup holders too so we can take them on bike rides! They are perfect.

Explore and make adventures

Every time we do go for our mile a day dog walk, we always make it an adventure. We found lots of places to explore – search for bugs, dip our feet in the river or count how many different types of animals / breeds of birds we could spot on our journey. Children love the sense of adventure and so making it more fun with a treasure map, or acting out a story whilst walking is a fun way of motivating them to get out.

Try different activities

We have tried lots of different activities, getting fresh air doesn’t have to be just a walk. We go on bike rides, roller skate and when my foot is better I am going to start jogging and then running with Isla to mix the week up. As things are not fully open yet, or they might be come July 19th, it still doesn’t feel quite right to start mixing as we did before and so we will be carrying on with our family activities.

Home schooling and lockdown was a hard time for all working families; juggling everything in a 24 hour period was tough and just having this one little bit of fresh air was perfect to keep us motivated and also to help prevent cabin fever! I am definitely trying to keep this habit going.