Getting back in the harness

Today I did something I haven't done in 2 months. I went to the gym and exercised. For one month I was on a trip and didn't bother to exercise. I suppose I could have done some exercise at the workout facilities in the hotels we stayed at. But those rooms are designed for joggers, it seems. Treadmills and stationary bikes. No weights, nothing but cardiovascular equipment. Not my thing. Jogging down roads is boring enough but to run for 20 minutes and get nowhere at all? Beyond tedious.

After I got back, I fell victim to the flu. Some kind of flu that, as they all do, weakened me and settled in my lungs. For two weeks, I struggled with a cough and weakness. I still played golf but that isn't real exercise. Unless you count climbing in and out of a cart exercise.

I went today because I had been putting it off for a week. I felt well enough to do it but it had been so long that I just dreaded starting over. It's like work and vacations. When I worked I hated to take more than a week off. Each day over a week would make coming back to work harder; it would add two days to what I called "re-acclimation time", that time needed to re-establish your work routine. I dreaded that walk back into the gym, I was reluctant to even try to get back into my exercise routine.

The biggest problem in returning to an exercise regimen after a prolonged break is overdoing it. This leaves you with aching muscles and painful stiffness. And it is so easy to overdo. All you need to do is remember what you used to do and go do it.

But I am clever and know better. I did less reps and used lighter weights. I think I cut back enough but I won't know until tomorrow. That's when you find out. In the morning when you find you cannot get out of bed. When the back refuses to bend, when the knees wobble so badly that you just sit back down on the bed. When movement is so painful that your brain starts making excuses that you would have laughed out loud at any other time.

And I have to get up to play golf tomorrow morning. If I bail on that, you know I overdid it today.