Resistance

I've been going to the gym more often this summer. Not only do I have more free time as well as more time to kill (yes, the two are different!), I am also going to be running a 4 mile run in Central Park this weekend - the New York Road Runners Central Park Conservancy run/walk. The walk part of the name is particularly important to me. While I can average 10 minute miles for 4 miles, I always end up walking of it. Granted, that time was on a treadmill without a lot of hills (I still have to go over the route, but it's Central Park, there will be some changes in elevation!), I feel fairly confident that I'll be able to finish the 4 miles before the kid's races start an hour and a half later

There is one thing that I noticed at the gym. Some days, I just can't face running, and so I head to the stationery bikes. As I enter the settings, I must admit that I cringe a bit when I put my age at 26. Yes, in many ways, I'm still extraordinarily young, and I recognize that. But there's also a faint twinge that I'm in my late 20s. I'm not overly sensitive about my age, yet I feel as though there are things that I should have done, or should have happened by now. But that is a topic for another day.

Every time you sit down at any of the cardio machines, you have to enter a "resistance". It starts at "1" and goes up from there. At first, a lower setting is ideal; it takes time to get into the rhythm; your muscles and your breathing has to adjust. Above all, I need a rhythm, a pattern to my movement. Much of it is based off of the music I'm listening to. Ideally, the movements of my body match the beat of the music, and if it's close, but not quite the right tempo, I find it frustrating. But again, I digress.

As I get into the rhythm and begin to sweat, if the resistance goes back down to where I started, it makes the biking difficult and jerky. The wheels are spinning faster then I'm pedaling, frustrating my efforts and throwing off the rhythm and pace. There needs to be some resistance, something to work against, for the workout to keep progressing.

This is something that to keep in mind as I continue through life. Without some resistance, some friction, some difficulty, I'm not going to progress. So when it hurts (as it often does at the end of a workout as the legs begin to ache and the lungs start burning) and it seems difficult (really? there's still another mile to go?), that's actually a good sign. It means that somethng is happening, or going to happen.