Burn With Us

I skipped Monday’s run to get some karate practice in before Tuesday night’s review (I did get promoted, by the way). Tuesday night a storm blew through, so I couldn’t run after karate. The weather turned on us again, and last night was cold and wet. My calves felt a bit sore, and I’ve been staying up way too late all week. On top of it all, I was just feeling plain lazy.

I ran anyway.

As Jack said, it’s a matter of discipline. If I bail now, it’ll set a precedent for bailing again and quitting will just get that much easier. I’m not about to let that happen.

The trick for me is just getting started. It’s Newton’s First Law: a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion unless influenced by an outside force. Sure, he was talking physics, but it applies to fitness as well.

If you’re sitting on the couch watching TV, it’s tough to get up and get started. My old man even calls it “overcoming inertia.” You’re comfortable, you’re content, and you don’t want to disturb that. It takes an outside force — in this case your mind — to jack things up and get you in gear. Once you’re up and running, it’s not so bad and the workout is over before you know it.

I feel that all the time. I may not be in the mood for karate practice some nights, but as soon as I start our normal warmup routine, my body knows what’s coming next. Next thing I know 45 minutes or so have passed and I’ve worked up a good sweat.

Running last night worked the same way: I dragged my feet while I got dressed, and I even plunked my ass back down on the couch to talk to the wife a bit.

“You’re just stalling,” she said. “Get out there!”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I walked out onto the porch, took a deep breath and a stretch, then hit the start button on the iPod and started my warm-up walk out to the track. It only took a few steps to feel the energy, and next thing I knew I was jogging.

Whatever your activity, choose your slogan — “just do it,” “git ‘er done,” whatever — and heed its advice. Once you get up and moving, you won’t regret it.