Interludes and Intervals

I’ve written enough blogs about red-hot rages, low-grade depression and free-floating anxiety that I really should celebrate the good times.  What’s so special about right now?  Nothing, really.  It’s just that every so often, the planets align.  The kids are doing well, work is fun and challenging, the house is clean, the checking account is ample, no one’s mad at me that I’m aware of…..they’re all little things, but together they add up to the “good” version of the perfect storm.  An interlude of sorts.  Which begs the question, why does it feel like an interlude?  Why can't life always be like this?

So even though I was tempted to skip today’s walk – remember, I still have an off day this week – I wanted to keep the momentum going, not to mention work out the kinks from yesterday’s treadmill walk.  So I did 45 minutes around the neighborhood, and 45 minutes around St. Ed’s.  The men’s soccer team was practicing tonight.  I love any signs of the fall – football, soccer, ads for back-to-school clothes – things that make me believe there IS an end to this summer and this heat.

I was discussing my gym work with my friend  Cynthia, who also likes to use the  treadmill.  I mentioned my flat walking speed of 4.2, then the incline at a slower pace, more flat, and then running.  She nodded sagely, noting that “interval training” is the most effective way to work out.  Huh?  Is that what I’ve been doing?  Heck, I thought all I was doing was trying to get it over with as quickly as possible, and keep from dying of boredom in the meantime.  But of course that’s interval training, and it IS effective, I can tell you that decisively.  So now I need to discuss with my athletic friends whether I should build interval training into my outdoor walks, or trust my gut about balancing interval with steady and predictable.  I’ll figure it out this weekend.  There’s a cool front moving in, and temperatures are going to plummet to the mid-90s.