Exercisional Elements

It's a new year!  And that means it's time to pretend like we'll all be better about exercising now!

Thanks to some creative rearrangements of scheduling, I should actually have time to go running after work (everyone's favorite time, right?) this year, which means I'll do it more reliably than "if the vanpool gets me home in time before I have to make dinner", or "if I want to get even less sleep than I usually do by getting up at 4:30 in the morning to squeeze it in before work", or "if I feel like it when I get up on weekend mornings rather than sitting in a chair by the fire with a blanket, a book, a mug (or two) (or three) of hot tea and everyone else asleep".
At least after work means I have sunlight for most of my run this time of year, which also means that I've so far managed not to lose a finger to this meteorological equivalent of liquid nitrogen.  (And then I remember that in high school, I used to go out in this weather in just shorts and a t-shirt.  Yes, I was an idiot.)

The problem, of course, is that, having not gone running much for the last few months, I'm just a bit out of shape.  Which means my first few days have felt something like this:

Day 1:

(Average mile time - 8:48)

Day 2:

(Average mile time - 8:46)

Day 3:

(Average mile time - 8:50.  WTF?!?)

After Day 3:

(You can decide which one is me.)

It'll get a bit better next week, and the week after, but getting started back up is never fun, especially with this weather.  I mean, I have a tendency not to warm up enough for my runs to begin with (which is probably why my first mile generally sucks, whether looking at it from the point of view of time, form, or general feel), so I absolutely wind up thinking, "So this is what Tolkien meant by 'gangle-creature'..." as I flail my way down the street.  (And as someone who generally has a pretty good running form, it's a rather mortifying feeling.)

"Well, why in Eä are you outside in this weather, then?"  I can hear you caustically thinking at this point.  "Why not try some form of, y'know, indoor exercise?"

See, the problem with indoor exercise is that you can stop.  Like, just, whenever you want, you can stop and be done.  Want to go run 3 miles on a treadmill, or ride an exercise bike for 30 minutes?  Great!  Now what's stopping you from just quitting a mile in when you get tired?  Absolutely nothing.  ("Self-discipline", you say?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAno.)

But you can't exactly do that when you've run a mile straight away from your house.  At best, if you quit now, you have to walk a mile back to your house.  Might as well keep running!  Self-discipline through geographic estrangement!

So yeah, indoor forms of cardio are out, and that leaves pretty much the exact opposite of hot yoga in both temperature and tempo.

But I guess there's always this:

(Actually, I really like running in the snow.)