This morning, I completed my tenth run since starting my exercise plan. Today also marks the beginning of the fourth week. According to most professors of habits (if there even is such a thing), habits are formed after doing something for three weeks. If that’s the case, I should now have a good habit among all my other habits. According to lots of exercise gurus, you start getting fit after three solid weeks of exercise. Maybe that explains some of the things I’ve noticed.
My legs were still a bit sore from all the walking we did on Saturday, but I went ahead and just took one step followed by another, and so on. As usual, I was finally warmed up at about the 1.5 mile mark, and the rest of the run was just a matter of waiting it out until I was done. I went my new 3 mile course, and I finished in 30:33. That’s a little over two minutes faster than my last three mile run. I also had the best half-mile split times of any run to-date. What makes me happiest about this is that my heart rate was the lowest of any run yet: 140 average BPM. This, despite the fact that I ran faster than I ever have.
I also didn’t have any real aches or pains other than the fact my legs were a little sore from the Saturday walk. At a certain point, all the pain went away, and it was just me, the music on my Bluetooth headset, and my steps. I actually (gasp!) enjoyed it!
As for push ups, I started with 10 and I’m now up to 25. I know I can do more, but I’m still not really pushing myself. I do as many as I’m comfortable with, and right now, that’s 25. In four weeks, moving from 10 to 25 makes me happy.
It gets easier. It gets enjoyable. I am the first person to say this was impossible to expect, yet here I am. Give it a try. Give it three weeks. I did, and I’m glad I did. My life is better because of it.
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