Well maybe not defying it but battling it hard at least. That's what hill workouts are all about. I do really well with the downhills but I'm also clearly getting better at the uphills. Hills are a key ingredient in any endurance training regimen as they build both aerobic capacity and strength. I was pleasantly surprised this mornong that my legs seemed to have recovered fairly well, and heading out to my hills I felt good from the get go. I did 8 of them, ecah hill being a half kilometer long, and I maintained my pace from start to finish. My heart rate was in control as well, not reaching 150 until the very end. The reason this is a key indicator is that it tells me that I was recovering well in between efforts while jogging back down. My hill, or actually 2 hills as they make up a valley such that I go down the one and immediately up the other, is 2.5 k from the house, so I used that as a warmup and cool down. So 13 kilometers total, and feeling strong the whole time.
I've hinted the last few days that I have been struggling a bit with depression again, so this morning on my run I gave that some thought. It is certainly always there as a constant nagging reminder to me of how I felt, and yet it is nothing as compared to just a few months ago. So what's happening? Well I have come to some conclusions. I am pretty sure that if I was not doing this crazy training thing, I would have already sunk back into my hole, and furthermore I believe that persevering in my efforts will eventually take me to a new and even better level of self confidence and peace of mind. I felt it this morning, and even though I know that the feeling will ebb and flow to some degree, I'm fairly certain I'm on the right track. I think regardless of what comes out of it in the end that this intense activity is a critical ingredient in my long term mental health, never mind the obvious physical benefits.
So to anyone out there who may have just recently started on a journey of renewed physical wellness, please don't quit. I won't if you won't, and then we'll be able to swap success stories.
Oh and I highly recommend hill's regardless of what else you are doing. There is something exhilarating about overpowering gravity....especially when you reach the top!! Oh, and it doesn't matter how fast you go, but it does matter how hard you go.
I'm off to Mexico tomorrow but I hope to get a tough, but not long bike ride in before I go, maybe 40 or 50 K.
On other stuff, it is a very exciting personal time for Roo and I. Our grandchildren are moving in next door to us!! How can we be so fortunate I dont know? Of course I think their parents are probably coming as well....but when I think about it that's probably a good thing too. Someone has be there to give them baths and make them go to bed and all that other 'parenting' stuff eh.
I wish to decicate day 46 to my brother John, who has had his own suffering, and become a better man for it. He will also probably attest to both of the following quotes?
" Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other".--Henry David Thoreau.
....and because who would know better.
"You can't exercise and be high. It's impossible." Tommy Chong
love
peter
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2 comments:
I have to add one exception to Tommy's quote. That is you can, if it is the exercise that makes you high, which it often does for me!
Love Old John
Hey I assume you're talking directly to me when you say you'll keep going if I do. I mean who else is there really??? And I guess you'd better keep going cause I intend to, albeit at a slower pace to be sure.
And when oh when will you learn not to second guess Claudette??? I know some things are hard to learn but if you learn from your mistakes at all, I suggest you've had enough practise. When she says you haven't eaten enough, you haven't eaten enough!!!
Love you even in your stupid stubborness, and how was your trip Old John??
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