After all that whirling, I am aching in muscles I didn't even know I had. My dear partner, who has better knowledge of human physiology, indulged me by naming each muscle or muscle group when I pointed to a spot that hurt.
I had a very strange reaction the actual night of the fling. After feeling like I hadn't really pushed myself to the limit, and actually being somewhat disappointed in myself for that, I boarded the subway and immediately fell into what felt like a giant, full-on, rushingflu. My throat was aggressively sore, my body ached and felt like it weighed a ton, my head hurt, and my steps dragged. I almost fell asleep walking home. I collapsed into a restless sleep that did not feel satisfying even by noon the next day, which was when I finally hauled my aching body out of bed.
I'm not sure what caused this, but it certainly can't hurt that this was the first extended exercise I've done in months. Possibly even a year, since it's been exactly a year since I hiked Breakneck Ridge with some friends and came to the realization that I was truly an adult (if being an adult means not being able to just up and do physically challenging things without adequate preparation). That also corresponded to my knee problem showing up, so I guess happy one year of knee pain, mazal tov to me. I really want to change this, because I know that one of the things I loved best about myself two years and thirty pounds ago was the feeling of strength, agility, and readiness that came with being physically fit. I was working out at the gym at least three times a week, walking to and from work each day, doing yoga 2 to 4 times a week, jogging a few times a week, and contradancing every few weeks or so.
Honestly, no wonder I dropped nearly forty pounds. That's a shit ton** of exercise.
I want to get back to that place of feeling fit and comfortable and powerful, but I just don't see myself going back to a gym regimen, and until my knee recovers I don't think I'll be jogging much until I have less weight pounding on it with every other step. I went jogging recently, and while it felt good to get that kind of movement again, my convalescing knee relapsed into popping and pain immediately afterwards. The deal is, I want to be able to set and keep a goal of an exercise regimen that works for me as my body is right now, and that will ease me into an active life again without falling into the kind of near-coma I experienced on Saturday night.
So, here is my current plan for Easing Into Activity Without Breaking My Back/Bank, written up as a weekly regimen, and measured in terms of Weight Watchers activity points.***
Swimming, slow - 1 hour: 4
Morris dancing, 1 hour: 4
Walking during lunch 5 days per week, 40 minutes, leisurely pace: 10
Contradancing, 2 hours: 8
Brisk walks to the subway, 5 times per week: 5
This would put me at 31 activity points per week, and Weight Watchers advises at least 28 per week. On weeks that I do not contradance, I will have to make up for it in other ways. I would also like to start going to yoga on Fridays, since after 6 months of no yoga at all I'm
feeling a loss of flexibility and balance. 1 hour of yoga nets 3 activity points.
The things that I will need to succeed on this:
Buddies for swimming: Check. Except that we have to figure out a good day of the week for us to go, which is looking like Mondays, but which won't start until after Thanksgiving.
Morris dancing: I'm hoping that we'll start running dances more regularly here so I can get the most out of those nights.
Walking during lunch: Must self-motivate. Especially during winter, this could get difficult. But even 40 minutes of leisurely walking nets me 2 APs, and also gets me the benefit of removing ass from chair and eyes from screen.
Contradancing: Wish it wasn't so expensive, but I suppose $14 for two hours of cardio isn't so bad.
Brisk walks to/from subway: Sometimes I get a ride one or both ways, so possibly could be variable depending on the day. I should probably start asking myself to walk regardless of the hour or the state of my knee.
If I can keep this up for a month, I can't imagine things won't begin to change. And of course, the longer I do this, and if I start losing weight, I will have to adjust my regimen accordingly. But for now, this seems like something I can do.
Moving forward.
* Said tattered skirt is no longer in one piece following an unfortunate attempt at standing up while standing on the hem.
** Shit ton is the colloquial standard equivalent of four metric tonnes. Or just a lot of something.
*** This may not be the most scientific way to measure how much exercise I'm getting, but I do appreciate that Weight Watchers takes into account your current weight in determining how much exercise will result in a certain level of benefit.
