Saturday, November 26, 2005

Run for the Turkey

I hadn't exercised for about 6 weeks (probably my longest hiatus in 5 years) but was bound and determined to get some exercise during the short Thanksgiving week. I took my mt bike for a 50 min spin--felt great, wasn't sore, "hey, maybe I haven't lost too much." Then before the Thanksgiving feast I decided to hike Adam's Canyon to the waterfall. First mistake was to believe I would merely "hike" it. I wound up running about 70% of it and all of the downhill--today legs are toast, stairs becoming major impediments to safe descent. Now I'm too sore to exercise so there go my plans to get in a lot of workouts over the break (of course it's snowing today anyways); only benefit was that I was able to stuff myself with more turkey, cranberries, and pie as my workout gave me the deep down hungry feel. Last year in November I won a race and the prize was a 20lb turkey; this year I run once in order to plate up a few more scraps of turkey.

I wonder if I can will myself to exercise on a consistent basis over the next 40 years or so without some major goal (I've given up on running ultramarathons and even 5Ks--too many injuries, too much time, too much damage to overall health). I'm simply amazed at those who live the good life (exercising, reading, writing, eating healthy) without any huge goal to propel them. Just a few months ago I could have put in two hours on my indoor bike knowing it would prepare me for the spring running season; today I couldn't make it ten minutes. Motivation is a curious thing.

4 comments:

Dr. Write said...

I hear you. I had some idea that I would at least try to run or maybe hike. But instead I ate and ate, drank some. We did go for a walk. I'm just glad there is a substantial gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas, otherwise I would just have to roll on into the new year.
But I think I will set an arbitrary goal (running a real half-marathon?) in order to keep myself exercising in the new year.

Nik said...

Perhaps that's my exercise problem! No real goals. I walk/run 2-3 miles a day. That's it. Always. The dog likes it. I like it. But the benefits are still somehwat elusive. I was thinking of Police Academy training. I should be in at least as good of shape as a rookie cop, no?

middlebrow said...

You need games. You, sir, need to take up raquetball. We need to have a weekly game. It's an easy game to pick up; it's good exercise; and because it's a game, you don't notice (as much) that you're tired.

Counterintuitive said...

I used to play games--raquetball, basketball, softball--but then cut them all out because I was nervous about injuring myself and then not being able to run.

I'd love to have a schedule game of racquetball.