Revelation

Something has not felt right for the past week or so.  Let’s start with physically.  I’ve noticed that my body doesn’t have quite the same feel to it.  It’s not something anyone else has noticed, I think, but I do.  Things just feel…..softer. Not as streamlined. 

So last night it hit me.  The piecemeal thing isn’t working.  Doing a mile here, two miles there, rounding it out with another couple at night – it’s just not giving me the same workout as a sustained, 1 ½ hours of pushing myself.  It’s even showing in my face.  I love the way I look and feel after a really good workout, when I’ve really sweated and my face is beet red for a while. Once the redness wears off, I have this glow.  The last few days, my complexion has seemed sort of gray.  Drab. 

But I think the thing I hate the most is the feeling that I’ve been fitting the walk in, rather than planning my frickin’ day around it.  It just doesn’t feel as special as it used to.

So today I made the change.  It was a gym day, and the only non-treadmill time I counted was the .4 miles there and the .4 miles back, because it was a continuous, unbroken process.  It was 4.2 miles on the treadmill and it was major work.  This time I got on the back row of treadmills, and these ones have super elevation.  They also have handles above the top of the treadmill, another way to balance myself when I’m really working it.

But the best thing I discovered was listening to podcasts of NPR’s Fresh Air.  I don’t know why I haven’t done this more often, but it’s the perfect antidote to the monotony of walking on a treadmill.  Each show is 45 minutes – today’s was an interview with Paul McCartney – and then I can either start on another one, or zone out for the next 20 minutes or so.  I’ve got like 14 on my iphone, and also a bunch of This American Life podcasts, so I’m set for a while.

I don’t know if tomorrow will be a gym day or an outdoor day, but I know I’ll be walking my five in one long, unbroken trek.  I’m back.