exercise every day

It’s the last week of February and I have exercised every day this year. Most of those days have been low-intensity workouts like skiing or walking, but last week, two people asked me if I’d lost weight. I hadn’t really noticed, but they did. Last week I also started training for a marathon, so I have workouts scheduled for four days a week until the end of June.

I exercised every day in January, so my goal is on track so far. On January 10 I decided that I would ski every day for the rest of the month. I did that too, even though about half of the ski outings were on a very short trail near my house and didn’t last more than 15 minutes. But I had a lot of good skis on the coastal trail and a great park that has many trails. I am a much better skier than I was a month ago and I have already skied more this year than I have in the last 2-3 years combined. Now that January is over, I’m not going to ski every day, although I’ll keep exercising. I have to start running in a couple weeks if I want to run a marathon this June, but I hope to go skiing when the weather and snow conditions are nice.

By JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP)—The more fit you are, the longer you’re likely to live, according to a large study of veterans that applies to black men as well as white men. The Veterans Affairs researchers found that the “highly fit” men in the study had half the risk of death as those who were the least fit. Being “very highly fit” cut the risk even more, by 70 percent. Read more

After my unpleasant ski at Kincaid Park, I had two very nice skis along the Coastal Trail on Friday and Saturday. The sun was just beginning to set on the ice as it moved out on the tide. It was pretty, the snow was good and the trail was flat. This let me concentrate on my form instead of climbing and sliding. I can maintain a good diagonal stride for about 30 seconds and then it wears me out. But I am definitely improving.

Yesterday I did NOT go skiing. But it wasn’t lack of dedication! We have had some crazy warm weather the last few days. It was 40 degrees and raining a little yesterday and the snow just wasn’t very good. So I laced up my skates and went skating instead. I feel this fulfils my commitment to go skiing every day in January because it is still an outdoor winter sport. And it was more appropriate to the weather.

It also made me miss skiing. I am worse at skating than I am at skiing and it makes my feet hurt after five minutes. It makes my feet hurt a lot. Needless to say, I didn’t skate long. The ice wasn’t very good either. Today looks clear and cold, so I will return to the Coastal Trail.

On Friday, I drove to a trailhead about 10 minutes away and realized that I had my skis and poles but no boots. I had to drive another ten minutes home to retrieve the boots. Ordinarily, I probably would have gotten mad and given up. “I’m not going back out there.” But thanks to my resolution, I couldn’t. I just had to shrug and make the extra trip; and it turned out to be a nice day. Behold the power of a firm goal and the accountability to stick to it.

Five days ago I decided that since I am in Alaska, I should take advantage of the state’s recreational possibilities when working toward my goal of exercising every day. So I resolved to ski every day for the rest of January. I have skied five days in a row, which is more than I skied all winter last year-so I already feel like I have accomplished something-and I thought I was doing very well on my short jaunts. But today was a frustrating exercise in futility. I returned to Kincaid Park, which was beautiful and full of people on Saturday. Today, though, I spent 4/5 of the time herringboning up steep hills-two steps forward, one back-and 1/5 of the time careening down icy slopes at 20 MPH, usually sliding the last 15 feet on my face. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that the steep downhills eventually became equally steep uphills, so I had a little valley to crawl around in while looking for my pants. Unfortunately, that meant the cycle could start all over again. I suddenly remembered why I quit skiing. Who invented this @*!# sport?

Zeus? Hades? Sisyphus got off easy. If the gods had been really angry with him, he would have to ski up a hill, aaaalmost to the top, only to slide back down, and fall on his face. For eternity. There is no need for the boulder. (This is where the city in Colorado got its name.)

Those of you in the south are welcome to try this great sport as well. Put a stepladder in your yard; climb to the top and then jump off. You may land on any part of your body except your feet. Do this over and over and over again while your friend or spouse hits you with blocks of ice and the occasional tree branch.

It doesn’t help that the trails are not marked very well. And the map is not always accurate. It leaves off details. Intuition says, “Avoid the trail called ‘Big Niagra.’” But when the map labels it a moderate trail and marks other trails as steep hills, but not this one, I tend to put my faith in the cartographer. The attached painting shows the artist’s rendition of Big Niagra. Of particular note is the sudden and drastic change in the size and relative spacing of the groomed ski tracks at the top of the hill, and of those waaay at the bottom. You will also note that there appears to be no intervening space between the top and the bottom. That’s because you can’t draw fear or cold.

I did make it back to the car and was surprised to find that I had been skiing for over an hour. My knees hurt and I will be sore tomorrow, but I will strap on the Mach sticks again and look for a trail called “Timid Kitten” or “Kansas.” My goal is to ski everyday, so as long as today doesn’t prevent me from skiing tomorrow, it was a good day.

It has snowed a lot in the last two days. After my walk I was inspired to dust off the cross-country skis and ski through the neighborhood and down the path near my house. Considering I haven’t skied in nearly two years, I did rather well. I didn’t fall down but I did get that heart rate going. Skiing is not an energy efficient mode of transportation. You’re working hard or you’re standing still. There’s not much in between. Still it was good to finally step into the bindings and enjoy the snow.

Another goal for 2008 is to exercise every day for at least 30 minutes. All 365 of them. I think this is the best way to create a good habit. I don’t mean that I have to run 6 miles every day or lift weights six days a week. For the first three days of the year, my exercise has consisted of walking for 30-60 minutes. On Wednesday, this meant walking to the coffee shop, talking to a friend for a couple of hours and walking home. I think that is a sustainable exercise regimen. My goal here is to form a long-term healthy habit, not to become Mr. Universe. I haven’t ruled that out, but then I couldn’t have a pastry with that coffee.