Dreams and cardio
I've started doing a lot more cardio in my workout because of a dream. I know that sounds a little weird, but recently I've been having vivid dreams of the very short period of time where I jogged. It was about seven months when I was fourteen and fifteen and I stopped because we moved and I find that I am extremely sensitive to disruptions in my schedule and an ugly home situation where we moved. But even in that seven months, I got to the place where I genuinely enjoyed running. At first it was really hard but then it got easier and then it got enjoyable.
When I started lifting, I was a little fearful of cardio because . . . well, I didn't want to run because it would mess up my knees. I tried going swimming when I had a membership at the Y, but I found that I didn't really like swimming as exercise. Mind you, I'm a strong swimmer but I found that there's a huge difference between swimming in a lane at the Y and playing in a private pool in the sunshine. It just made me feel awkward and waterlogged.
I've had a bicycle for several years, now, and I do use it to tool about downtown. Motivated by my dreams of the pleasures of running, I'm now doing a daily bike sessions and being as organized about it as I am with weightlifting. I have a route, I time myself, I mark how well I do for any given day - the whole ball of wax.
Right now, I'm definitely at the "hard" part of it, though even after a few days I'm starting to feel better about it - which is probably just me finding various techniques and not some sudden, massive cardiovascular improvement - but I fought through this with weightlifting and now I bring the various experiences from weightlifting to this. So, y'know, I grasp that it's probably a really good idea to properly eat, breath like you mean it and drink water before spending half an hour gasping in the sunshine. Plus, it gets me out into the sunshine!
I'm hoping the schedule will be firmly set by the time winter sets in. Santa Cruz has very mild winters, but there are whole weeks where it rains off and on. I want the schedule to be sufficiently strong that I do it even in the rain on a daily basis. Which means I'll be out every day to see some sunlight when there's sunlight to see - and I hope by then I am out for about an hour a day, furthermore. Even the sun through clouds is often better than just staying indoors, too, plus exercise itself brightens me.
I'm going to be doing this in addition to lifting. I'm not going to give that up, but supplement it with the bicycling. I suspect it will be wonderful for my lifting, too.
Which seems a big increase in exercise and it is. But right now, I have my life organized in such a fashion that I think I can do it and still have the unorganized time that I also need to be creative and productive.
Still, for me, the weird part is that this is in large part motivated by a dream, and very pleasant dreams. Not dreams of the fear of getting old and dying young because I didn't keep myself in better shape, but dreams of the pleasures of that running. Well, I adapted it. Instead of running, I'll ride.
I'm also hoping that I'll lose a little weight, too, shocker. Weightlifting isn't very good at weight loss. Your body has no difficulty being both fat and strong which is, indeed, part of the reason I started with lifting because I felt it would strengthen me without breaking me down. But endurance is a different matter and because of the lifting, hey, at least I'm strong enough to give it a serious go. I suppose we'll see!
Ideally, I hope to become good enough at cycling to do real mountain biking. I know that the odds are we'll be moved away from Santa Cruz before I'm fit enough to do even relatively simple mountain bike tracks, but not too much of a problem since we also camp and many parks have all kinds of bike paths. I don't know that I'll get there - exercise does NOT come naturally to me - but that's fantasy end of it.
When I started lifting, I was a little fearful of cardio because . . . well, I didn't want to run because it would mess up my knees. I tried going swimming when I had a membership at the Y, but I found that I didn't really like swimming as exercise. Mind you, I'm a strong swimmer but I found that there's a huge difference between swimming in a lane at the Y and playing in a private pool in the sunshine. It just made me feel awkward and waterlogged.
I've had a bicycle for several years, now, and I do use it to tool about downtown. Motivated by my dreams of the pleasures of running, I'm now doing a daily bike sessions and being as organized about it as I am with weightlifting. I have a route, I time myself, I mark how well I do for any given day - the whole ball of wax.
Right now, I'm definitely at the "hard" part of it, though even after a few days I'm starting to feel better about it - which is probably just me finding various techniques and not some sudden, massive cardiovascular improvement - but I fought through this with weightlifting and now I bring the various experiences from weightlifting to this. So, y'know, I grasp that it's probably a really good idea to properly eat, breath like you mean it and drink water before spending half an hour gasping in the sunshine. Plus, it gets me out into the sunshine!
I'm hoping the schedule will be firmly set by the time winter sets in. Santa Cruz has very mild winters, but there are whole weeks where it rains off and on. I want the schedule to be sufficiently strong that I do it even in the rain on a daily basis. Which means I'll be out every day to see some sunlight when there's sunlight to see - and I hope by then I am out for about an hour a day, furthermore. Even the sun through clouds is often better than just staying indoors, too, plus exercise itself brightens me.
I'm going to be doing this in addition to lifting. I'm not going to give that up, but supplement it with the bicycling. I suspect it will be wonderful for my lifting, too.
Which seems a big increase in exercise and it is. But right now, I have my life organized in such a fashion that I think I can do it and still have the unorganized time that I also need to be creative and productive.
Still, for me, the weird part is that this is in large part motivated by a dream, and very pleasant dreams. Not dreams of the fear of getting old and dying young because I didn't keep myself in better shape, but dreams of the pleasures of that running. Well, I adapted it. Instead of running, I'll ride.
I'm also hoping that I'll lose a little weight, too, shocker. Weightlifting isn't very good at weight loss. Your body has no difficulty being both fat and strong which is, indeed, part of the reason I started with lifting because I felt it would strengthen me without breaking me down. But endurance is a different matter and because of the lifting, hey, at least I'm strong enough to give it a serious go. I suppose we'll see!
Ideally, I hope to become good enough at cycling to do real mountain biking. I know that the odds are we'll be moved away from Santa Cruz before I'm fit enough to do even relatively simple mountain bike tracks, but not too much of a problem since we also camp and many parks have all kinds of bike paths. I don't know that I'll get there - exercise does NOT come naturally to me - but that's fantasy end of it.