Five weeks and counting. That’s how long I’ve been banned from running and I’m hating it. At first I tried to maintain my cardio fitness and leg strength with other forms of exercise, but my resolve weakened when I found myself in physical therapy 3x/week for a pinched nerve in my lumbar spine. My will to exercise in any form disappeared around the same time I admitted to myself that there was no way I would be ready for my marathon on Oct 10th. Or my backup marathon on Dec 5th.
The process of becoming a body at rest is insidious and way too easy. It started with not taking the stairs anymore because of my back/leg pain, letting myself off the hook for aqua-jogging because the pool is getting too cold, then taking a week off from everything because I got a cold (which I attribute to not getting regular exercise–I haven’t been sick since getting a cold after my first marathon). The next thing you know I’m sleeping in every morning, eating all kinds of junk food, and not doing my daily PT exercises. It had to stop.
And stop it did; this week I’m climbing back in the saddle. I’m not running yet (hopefully this weekend), but I’m spinning and I’m doing my PT strength training. I’m sucking up the fact that it’s really hard to get out of bed early, I’m dealing with feeling like crap when I spin because I don’t have the same level of cardio fitness or leg strength I did 6 weeks ago, and I’m trying not to hate myself for the fact that I’ve gained weight (on top of the weight I’ve gained from having to eat at the company cafeteria twice a day). And I’m working on weening myself off junk food (why is sugar so addictive??).
Faced with the chore of getting back into shape, back into an exercise routine, I am reminded of why it’s so hard to develop an exercise habit. No one wants to feel incapable, unfit, or bad about themselves. Yet when you start an exercise program, that’s exactly how you feel. It’s a wonder any of us ever get past the inertia that compels us to remain at rest.
But there’s good news! The inertia that compels us to remain a body at rest is equally capable of compelling us to remain a body in motion. All it takes is an external force to change the inertia. That would be you. You need the desire to change your state, and the discipline to stick with it. Eventually it becomes a no-brainer, a way of life, a given. And if you need a little more motivation: for all the times I forced myself out of bed to go for a run when I haven’t wanted to, I’ve never once regretted having done so. And once you’re a body in motion it gets easier every day. You start to enjoy it and crave it, you’re thinner, more fit, more energetic, more productive, happier… Need I go on?
I can’t wait to be a body in motion again. Any of you want to become bodies in motion with me?
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Motivation
