Date: 2010-03-27 22:10:42 Created: null
I'm pretty much an indoor-type person. If there's nothing I need to get or do I can be perfectly happy spending a whole day or two without leaving my apartment. I sure don't mind being outdoors, it's just that most of the things I do are convenient to do indoors.
My main form of exercise is biking for own transportation. Biking is my main mode of transportation, and I don't hesitate to bike anywhere up to 10 kilometers (well, unless I have to look very cool and orderly when I arrive ...). Sure, buses are nice, but it's annoying to keep track of their schedules and stand around waiting for them. This city is very bike-adapted in any case, it's not like I'd cling to my bike if I moved somewhere with different circumstances. But I don't know what would happen to my physical shape if I stopped biking to get around. I mean, a Segway would just ruin it all :-) ... I don't mind walking either if there's enough time to do so.
When it comes to moving purely for exercise, sweat and muscle training running is the thing for me. My goal/ideal is running about three times per week, weather permitting, but it's been a long time since I managed that with any regularity now. When I lived with my parents we had a hilly three and a half kilometer forest track not too far from home. I got into a nice routine of running to the start of the track, stretching a bit, then running the whole track, catching my breath and then walking home (dad and other energetic people of course ran the last part too :-). Now I've moved, but fortunately I've got a nice five kilometer track nearby that allows the same routine. And the track itself is much less hilly too, so it might just be easier than the good old one in Lillån ...
I actually don't feel any need to time myself when I run, even if I'm always interested in knowing the time if someone else happens to keep track.
June 24th, 2006
Indeed, it literally took years to get back to regular running. I began running regularly again during Easter this year and have kept decently close to three times per week since then. I run right from the door of my building and stop back outside the building after a lap of about five and a half kilometers.
I feel like my running style has changed a bit, but perhaps it's because I haven't timed myself anything at all while running this round. In the Days of Olde I used to wear myself down more by running as fast as I possibly could the last distance. Now I push myself a bit more, but not in any explosive way. It's like I don't feel like doing that anymore, prefering to find a solid pace I can maintain all the way round and perhaps increase slowly over time. Finding a good pace and feeling that I can maintain it is a part of the enjoyment of running to me. It's something like finding a balance between movement, breathing and mind.
Just a little bit meditative if you will.
Also see this diary entry for some 2010 thoughts on exercise and its effects.