Today was an incredibly stressful day at work. We started the day with a dog that was a walk in emergency, and ended with a fractious, semi-feral cat who had to be shaved down. The dog ended up dying on the way to our sister hospital to be hospitalized, so that was a really sad cherry on top of the failcake of the day.
I had thought about going to the gym after work, but I wasn't sure that I would be up for it. I definitely was NOT up for it after that day, when all I wanted to do was to go home and snuggle my husband and pets. Then I realized something: if I'm exercising, I can't think about the stress! So, over to the gym I went. (I really like that my school and work are only five minutes away from each other. It's very convenient!)
When I went up to the cardio room, there was only one other person there, and she left shortly after I arrived. That made me one of two people in the whole gym- it was kind of nice! I am much less self-conscious when it's just me and the staff members. I started out with stretches and two leisurely walking laps (two tenths of a mile), and then snagged "my" elliptical. I always use the same one, because it is not in front of the mirror. I'm definitely not the type of person to find working out in front of a mirror beneficial. It just makes me sad and angry.
On the elliptical today, I really focused on the position of my feet. I have a tendency to walk a little bit duck-footed, and I noticed that I had my toes pointed out pretty far on the elliptical treads. I angled my feet to be more straight, and immediately felt a huge difference. The difference was pain! My knees told me that they were very unhappy with that position, so I alternated "comfortable" and "correct" every few minutes. That really felt awful, I have to say.
The last three minutes were the hardest part today, but I pushed through and went to do my three cooldown laps. I jogged (very, very slowly) the entire middle lap, and that pretty much made me feel like I was going to die. I wasn't breathing that hard, but my calves and achilles tendons were extremely put out. It took half the last lap for them to feel less tight again. I HATED doing it, and I'm not sure I would have if there were other people around. Jogging might be a Saturday/late night only activity. I chugged my water bottle and went on my merry way.
As I was leaving, I noticed a poster on the wall about what your heart rate should be for what sort of workout. My HR is generally in the mid-170's to mid-180's. According to that chart, that means I'm in the "Performance" workout range for my age, which they say that you are only supposed to do once or twice a week. I'm pretty much disregarding that because I have so very much weight to lose. I talked to my friend Vanessa, who is in nursing school, and she said that I was correct to think that my readings/experience will be pretty skewed until I'm used to working out. It was an interesting tidbit, anyway.
I feel good about working out today!
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