Picking up the Exercise

So, yesterday, my roommate asked me if I wanted to go out on a walk with him. My first response was: "nah, its too hot out, and I don't feel like walking." I was more interested in hopping on my computer for a nice, long video game session. He asked again, and kind of guilt tripped me into it. "You know you should. You haven't been running in forever, and its good for you man. You can't sit around all day on your computer, its not health."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I reply. I still wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea, but I decided that instead of instantly jumping onto the computer, I'd do a little cleaning up around my room, just so he didn't have anything else to hold against me. I picked up my recycling and trash, took it out, and lo and behold, it was pretty cool out. I walked back inside, popped my head in the door and asked, "alright, when do you want to go?"



We decide to go ahead and have some lunch, and let it digest a little before heading out. Eventually, we got changed, put our shoes on, and started out. We walked down the road a little bit until we got to a paved trail that led around the lake. I used to run out there every once in a while back when I ran everyday, and its always beautiful to go running around there. Its peaceful, quiet and cooler due to the shade.

So, we start off walking the quarter mile it is from our apartment to the trail entrance, and I'm already feeling my heartbeat pickup. This was bad news, as the whole loop was slightly over 5 miles. If I was already getting worked up, then we were going to have a problem. However, I continued on, and it wasn't until the first mile that I really started feeling it in my legs and hips. I jokingly asked if it was time to turn back, and all I got was a "seriously?" stare and the pace picked up. Great!

I pressed onward, mostly distracted by our conversation. I can't even remember what it was about, but we jumped around from topic to topic. For some reason or another, every time we start talking, we go on for an hour or two. Its a little strange, but its fun. Its strange because I can't always hold a conversation with my girlfriend for that long, yet with my roomie, it never fails. Though, its probably because we are both technology geeks and can discuss the latest inventions to hit the news or plan out our own crazy inventions. But anyway, the point is that you really should get a workout buddy! They will not only help to push you to meet your goals, but they're a great distraction from the actual work you're doing. And everything they're doing for you, you're doing for them. You can't go wrong!

We started our walk at around 4:15 or so, and had planned to take slightly over an hour for the full walk. I was a little worried because this means I'd be running late for my nap at 5, and the last thing I wanted was to get really sleepy while I was exhausted and miles from my apartment. However, this never happened, and I was quite surprised. In fact, I actually started feeling better after the 3rd mile or so. I guess I got over the initial "I haven't ran/walked in 4 months" issue, and quickly adapted to it. I finished the mile and was only mildly sore.

As I got back to my apartment, I was reminded about my naps, and my energy felt instantly drained. I think this is mostly a psychological thing where 2 different things factor into my energy levels. First, the fact that I was away from my apartment meant that I couldn't just crash. I actually had to finish my walk in order to get to relax. Once I realized I was almost there, I switched off the backup fuel and just coasted through my door. The second issue, which is one that I've experienced with not exercising, is that when I think about my naps, I tend to get sleepy, especially if it is around nap time. As long as my mind is occupied with other tasks and thoughts, I almost tend to forget about the fact that I do have to nap. Every once in a while, stuff calms down and I get a quick reminder and then its all over from there. Just the other day, I was feeling at around 85% energy engaged in some computer work or game, when my roommate walked in and started chatting about how my nap time was coming up. Within a few seconds, I went from 85% down to 30% or so. It was terrible. So, if you can avoid thinking about your naps and the fact that you're sleepy, you should feel better much longer.

Anyway, we didn't get back until 5:30 I believe, and I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. I was so ready for a nap that I kind of skipped some much needed stretching that I should have taken the time to do. I'm paying for that now, as my legs are pretty tight, and I've been having to stretch throughout the day when I can. But, I've made it through the day, and was actually feeling pretty well, so I decided to go for another walk. This time, however, I was going to change a few things.

First of all, I decided to go at a time that wouldn't force me to have to lay down immediately after working out, as I'm sure that's terrible for your muscles. Also, today was a bit warmer than yesterday, so I wanted to go a tad later to let it cool off that much more. So, I opted to go after I woke up from my 5pm nap, which was slightly delayed. I got up, relaxed a little while I changed, then headed out. I also decided that doing another 5 miles today would be a little much, so I took a side route that let me walk somewhere between 2 and 2.25 miles.

This route was fine. Initially, in every step I felt a little bit of pressure in the tops of my feet and my shins, which I'm guessing is a muscle I haven't worked in a while. After the first half mile or so, that started to go away, or I just got used to it. Either way, that was the last bit of trouble I had during the entire walk. It was a little difficult near the end to keep up the pace, but that's to be expected with starting up exercising after having done nothing for so long. When I made it back to my apartment, I spent 10-15 minutes doing all sorts of stretches for my legs, so hopefully I won't have the stiff muscles again.

As far as my cycles are concerned, there have not been any noticeable effects yet. Once I take a nap after my walk, I'm feeling perfectly fine again. I don't think there are any lingering effects that span across my cycles. If there are, I certainly haven't noticed them. However, I do feel more tired today, but that may be because I am working on my wedge transition now (blog will be out soon on that), which means my core sleep is getting chopped up. I already discovered that lowering my core sleep from 3.5 hours to 3 hours made a huge difference in my day, so I'm sure this wedge will have a similar effect. Its too early to tell, and because I'm doing both of these at the same time, I'm not sure I'll be able to distinguish which is which. For now, as long as I feel fine, I'll keep on walking everyday. I plan on walking the 2 mile route everyday, until the weekend, when I'll step it up and do the 5 mile walk. For now, I want to keep them to just walks, rather than progressing into runs. I figure that until my body can adjust to my crazy sleep schedule, I don't want to put too much stress on it, and running would double or triple the amount of work that walking is currently.

I will probably put out another post on this subject in a week or so with any new discoveries that I've made to my exercising routine, or any changes that I've had to make in order to not run myself into the ground. I've already experienced what I believe is a lowering of my immune system (again, another post in the works), so I am really approaching this with caution, if you consider 5 miles out of the blue to be cautious. Its not really, but whatever. So, we'll just have to see how everything progresses from here.