Exercise, Week Six (Seven)
Jun. 26th, 2005 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuWeek six of the nine-week plan, week seven of my actual efforts because I repeated the previous week.
Some days you find the groove, you fall into that smooth, minimal-effort rythym that you know could take you farther than you're really required to go by the program. Those are the days when you really enjoy the work, enjoy feeling your breathing, which is deep and regular but not heavy; the days when you enjoy moving your body and feeling it respond with a strength and endurance you simply didn't have a few weeks earlier.
And then there are the days like today. I did my 25-minute run. But I didn't enjoy it today; this was one of the days when I simply endured it. My lower back was very tight--it has been for a while now. It complained. My legs were tired. I was breathing hard and sweating heavily. It wasn't at all pleasant today. Of course, I breathe deeply and sweat heavily even on the good days; I just didn't see these as necessary consequences of doing something enjoyable. Today they were necessary evils.
I wasn't at all sure I'd be able to finish my run when I began, but I hung in with dogged determination because any pause, any slowing to a walk--however brief--would mean FAILURE. And FAILURE was unacceptable, even if the only person judging me was me. So I ran and checked my stopwatch frequently, hoping always that it would be farther along than it was, and told myself, "Just a little longer, just a little farther" over and over again as the stopwatch slowly accumulated seconds and minutes until I reached the end of my allotted time.
VICTORY! So in a couple of days I'll move on to Week Seven, which is where the program gets serious. No more run/walk/run for Yours Truly. From now on it's a five minute warm-up followed by running the whole way. Twenty-five minutes three times this coming week, then twenty-eight minutes the next week, and then 30 minutes the final week...and indefinitely thereafter. But I'll be able to do it, and that's the important part.
Well, that and knowing that there will always be days when I endure my exercise routine, but there will also be days when I really-o, truly-o enjoy it too. Those are the days that make it worthwhile.
Some days you find the groove, you fall into that smooth, minimal-effort rythym that you know could take you farther than you're really required to go by the program. Those are the days when you really enjoy the work, enjoy feeling your breathing, which is deep and regular but not heavy; the days when you enjoy moving your body and feeling it respond with a strength and endurance you simply didn't have a few weeks earlier.
And then there are the days like today. I did my 25-minute run. But I didn't enjoy it today; this was one of the days when I simply endured it. My lower back was very tight--it has been for a while now. It complained. My legs were tired. I was breathing hard and sweating heavily. It wasn't at all pleasant today. Of course, I breathe deeply and sweat heavily even on the good days; I just didn't see these as necessary consequences of doing something enjoyable. Today they were necessary evils.
I wasn't at all sure I'd be able to finish my run when I began, but I hung in with dogged determination because any pause, any slowing to a walk--however brief--would mean FAILURE. And FAILURE was unacceptable, even if the only person judging me was me. So I ran and checked my stopwatch frequently, hoping always that it would be farther along than it was, and told myself, "Just a little longer, just a little farther" over and over again as the stopwatch slowly accumulated seconds and minutes until I reached the end of my allotted time.
VICTORY! So in a couple of days I'll move on to Week Seven, which is where the program gets serious. No more run/walk/run for Yours Truly. From now on it's a five minute warm-up followed by running the whole way. Twenty-five minutes three times this coming week, then twenty-eight minutes the next week, and then 30 minutes the final week...and indefinitely thereafter. But I'll be able to do it, and that's the important part.
Well, that and knowing that there will always be days when I endure my exercise routine, but there will also be days when I really-o, truly-o enjoy it too. Those are the days that make it worthwhile.
