It's too damn hot to really push myself outdoors in the summer here in Chicago and I nearly paid the price the other day when I tried to David-Goggins my way through what he calls a "punishment run" and felt like I was going to pass out.
After that day I decided that I am still going to get my cardio, but the name of the game is going to be making sure that my heart rate isn't crazy and that my body is not overheating like mad.
For the past week or so I have been heading out for an hour with my only objective being to get an hour's worth of movement in. Some days I run a lot of it, some days I walk all of it. It's not that hard to move around and just do something for an hour.
I've been reading up about how people that are trying to lose or maintain weight that zone-2 cardio is the best kind of cardio. I don't know if I really agree with that because to me it seems like the harder your work the more fit you get. I think that what they really mean is that zone-2 cardio is quite easy, and therefore something that most people are going to be a lot more likely to stick with. I know that when I really push myself on my runs I do kind of dread it the next time I go out to do it but my 1-hour relaxed sessions are pretty easy in my book.
now from a purely caloric standpoint, this isn't going to earn me very many beers. Just 3 regular ones or maybe 5 of those awful tasting low calorie runs but drink or not drink, I feel like the cardio is important for muscle retention and joints and bone strength. This isn't science I am talking about, i'm just talking about how it makes me feel. Normally I feel pretty good after one of these sessions.
I'm a pretty competitive person so even when I set out with the intention of this being very light exercise, I still end up pushing it a bit. It's probably the surroundings and I treat everything in my life as if it were a race. When I am walking out there and loads of people are passing me like I am standing still, I tend to join them at least for a little while.
I have a little bit of an issue of maintaining my zone-3 goals though because if I jog at all it tends to take me to zone-4 and if I just walk a standard walk it keeps me in zone-2. I think I look like a goofball if I am powerwalking but that does seem to be the only way I can get into and maintain a zone-3. I suppose interval training is going to be the way forward for me.
But anyway, I think I have kind of found the right exercise for me at least until the end up September when the temperature will start to drop for us.
We complain in summer, we complain in winter. I think there are just a few weeks in April and October that people like me are truly happy with the weather here. Why do I continue to live here?
