Running the fat race

Yesterday I started back out onto the campaign trail to fitness after having gone A.W.O.L. for the holidays. Karen and I went to the gym at work after we finished for the day, and I put in a solid half hour on the treadmill doing some kind of fat burning program. In hindsight, the program was completely worthless because all it did was monitor my heart rate and restrict how fast I went; I only went 2.25 miles in the allotted time, which if I remember correctly how long it took me to run three miles outside in the blazing heat of summer, is a load of garbage. Next time I will just run on the manual setting and quit once I've done three miles at a pace more to my liking.

All that being said, I was really surprised at how effortless the whole thing was; I finished without ever having become tired or short of breath, and definitely ready for more. However, this isn't to say that I didn't feel like I got a good workout - my abs were definitely feeling it (for some reason they always do when I run) and my calves were as well. This morning, on the other hand, I'm feeling it all over. I've got that wonderful/terrible, all-over feeling of having been run over by a truck a few times, especially my hips and abs - riding Big Bertha felt like I was pedaling with a weighted suit on. I find it funny that something that seemed so effortless in t he doing has made me feel so out of shape in the fallout. At least I've gotten back on the trail though. This morning it's my usual bowl of muesli, a cup of Emergen-C to try to fight off this cold, and a lot of water.