increase my stamina

i’m going to consider this done. my days are less groggy than they were four months ago, and seem to be getting better the more exercise i do. saturdays are much less of a challenge. springtime should just expand the amount of biking and tai chi i do, and should see me coming to life with the trees and flowers.

i’ve been doing a lot more biking since i got my folding bike, and i’m amazed at the effect. there’s something remarkably invigorating about biking, more than walking. when i get back from an errand run, i’m wide awake and alert. when i’m having a sluggish day, a trip to the library and back seems to turn me around.

biking seems to be helping. now that i have my folding bike, i’m pedaling around on a more regular basis, and feel more awake/less fatigued when i get home. paradoxically, adding bike travel to my saturday routine seems to be leaving me less exhausted instead of more so. there’s something invigorating about a bike ride, more than a walk.

i take 3-4 hours of tai chi classes saturday mornings, as it’s the only time i can make it to the school. i spend the remainder of the day walking and taking mass transit, with a couple of hours of zazen at a zen center in the afternoon, returning home in the late evening.

while i probably should be phased by this, i wish it weren’t quite so rough on me, and that i didn’t feel like death warmed over by the time i got to the zendo. i think increased physical activity during the week, especially more bicycle riding, could make saturdays hard but not so extraordinarily hard.