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Community Corner

Health & Fitness: Starting Slowly

Don't bust your aorta trying to get it all back in one spring day.

Wow, has it been a beautiful week! The weather couldn't have been better.

Since moving to Maplewood, I've struggled with the length of the winters. Understand, I'm a North Carolina boy. Come March, we've got flowers, the lawns are green, and it's pretty warm down there…it's full-blown spring. So, the endless grey and cold of the Maplewood spring always left me wanting. 

Needless to say, this last week brought me home. It felt wonderful. As always when the weather gets better, I'm drawn to get out and enjoy the weather the way I do everything…exercise! But this heat was a little fast.

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Normally this time of year, we see some 60s, maybe some 70s for a day here and there, but it wouldn't be unusual to see snow. Then it's easy to hibernate for just a bit longer. Not last week—Heck, I was wearing flip-flops and shorts on Tuesday! It was already summer, and I was not ready!

So I went running, and I felt like I had some catching up to do. I've gotta get ready for the community pool! Forget that the calendar says I've still got two months to go, the weather is telling me otherwise. I take my run up a few notches. Maybe more than a few notches…I go faster and longer, that should do the trick!  I grab my iPod and off I go!

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Now take into account that I exercise for a living, and that I know better. As I shoot off down Springfield Avenue, I notice something‚—I'm not as conditioned to this as I was last year. Duh! I'm laboring a bit. Not awful, but I'm definitely pushing the edge. My hamstrings feel maybe a bit tight. My shins are sure to holler at me tomorrow…oh it'll be fine.  Right?

Here's the question: Should I continue pushing it to the edge, or should I let me body get used to this a bit? Yeah, the answer is pretty obvious, so I back off. I decide that my normal run pace and distance is very adequate. There are many more ways to enjoy these glorious days of spring.

I decide to take out my guilty pleasure. You've probably seen me around town in it—a white 1971 Mercury Cougar convertible. If you've not seen me, you've probably heard me. It's pretty loud. It's also extremely fun.  So I cruise around town, head over to Wyoming Avenue to take a ride and enjoy the air in my hair. 

That's when I see a good handful of folks with the same impulse I just went through a short while ago. I see more limping, bad-striding, miserable-looking runners struggling down that lane than I can count on one hand. I wonder how they feel about pushing it that hard today?

I've found that if remind myself of some basics I can avoid the misery many folks are feeling right now, and you can still have plenty of time to feel prepared to bare your bod at the pool.

Remember that getting conditioned is a gradual process. We naturally put on a few pounds in the winter. It's an intrinsic instinct. Helps us stay warmer. As it gets warmer, it feels better to lose a few of those pounds, get more active outside, eat a little lighter. We like to lose some of that insulation. And like the weather getting warmer, that's usually a slow climb. Our bodies like it better that way.

So don't let a couple really hot days fool you. We've got a ways to go.

Tim Reynolds is the owner/operator of THE GYM ON SPRINGFIELD, a personal training studio in its third year on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood.  He lives in Maplewood with his wife, Suzanne, and their two children August and Sinikka.

 

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