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No. Not that season. And to be honest, I dread the beginning of that season which I swear now starts as early as July in some stores.

No…it’s THAT season. The season of change.

Living in New England makes us privvy to weather changes. We go from Winter to Spring/Summer (I swear spring is 2 days long now), Summer to Fall/Summer (Indian summer anyone?) and finally Fall to Winter again. Each time this occurs, there seems to be an overall “feeling” that comes with each season.

Winter brings commitment. We tend to hunker down and disappear during this time. We’re hoping to find the energy and resolve we need to do the offseason justice.

Spring brings renewal. We become engergized and want to either clean out our house or go for a hike. Depends on the day.

Summer brings carefree fun. Who cares about work or that house we just cleaned. All we’re thinking is ‘bring on the deck with the drinks’.

Fall brings a distinct feeling of change. You’re not quite sure of what you want, you just know it’s about change. I have spoken about this before when I touched upon being put back into a “diet box” and so on. Suddenly, we feel the need for structure, sweaters (even if it is warm out) and different food/exercise combinations. It’s wild. Everyone I talk to right now needs a change and it is because of fall.

Here are 2 things you need to be aware of to weather the change of fall:

Nutrition:
Lose the green veggies as a staple. I know I love them and push them on folks like a winter coat in a storm, but you need to break out the winter squashes again. Now is the time for a good soup like a butternut squash soup or a protein source like bison, liver or sardines to come out again. (I do want you to know I slid the sardines in there and have laughed my head off because of it.) Fish varieties should be changing if you buy your fish from a fish market and not a supermarket. Warm foods like oat bran and quinoa come back to life now. You may have been rocking quinoa cold in a salad before but now it’s time to heat it back up.

Suddenly, there is this sense of needing to be cozy. Quiet. Contemplative. With that our food should soon follow with healthy casseroles becoming more appealing, crock pots coming back to the counter and salads disappearing overnight. We need to keep up with the change of the season by rotating the same old staples that we have in the diet. Look for chili recipes and stratas–make it lively because it is easy to fall into the winter blues before it’s even winter.

Workouts:
“Non-Metered to metered”. What in Heaven’s name do I mean by metered? Summer time sends folks outside. Unless you just sit on your porch and fan yourself and then try to call it cardio, you are most likely working pretty hard. Outside workouts are bodyweight centered workouts. You must move your whole body and it’s not dependent on a piece of equipement to do it. You hike, bike, walk, run, skip, shuffle and so on. There’s direction change, scaling things such as rocks and park fixtures, level changes (ground to standing), sprinting, etc. There seems to be an endless amount of activity that we can do outside without having to kill ourselves creatively to do it. Then we come inside. Oh boy. Now we’re bored out of our minds. I would rather remove a limb with a butter knife than get on the elliptical which is where the problems begin: we’re going to forget to step up the indoor activity to match the intensity of the outdoor activity. We now have to meter our workouts by tracking time/intensity/mode etc. Do not think that just “punching” the clock of that workout is going to do the trick. Stay on it! This is how the holidays come up on us and we’re up 10 pounds without even realizing it.

Let’s avoid this catastrophe by 1) ensure variety within our workouts. Do not get on the same piece of equipment everyday even if it is your bike trainer! Vary it up. 2) Be conscious while working out. I really mean that. If you finish your workout and you don’t even remember beginning it–there’s a problem! KNOW what you’re doing right now. And 3) Try to get outdoors every once in a while even if it is monsoon wind season like it is now. Take one for the team and get either wet or cold. Who cares which–just get outside.

I have grown to love fall. I am a true summer girl, myself. I come alive in the summer and shrink back into my cave in the fall. I do enjoy a beautiful Indian summer but hate the fact that the sun goes down so early. I have thought about moving, every year about this time to be exact, but then I am reminded about bugs, hurricanes, tornadoes, mud slides and earthquakes whenever I bring up a great “warm all the time” location. I think I’ll stay right here and just learn to deal with the change.

It’s time to get ready for the offseason. I know a few of you still have events on the horizon, but for the most of us it is time to plan for the spring. Keep reading because we have lots of stuff coming along to help you get there.