Inertia.

I used to get up (nearly) every day at 6am to go to the Rec. Since the very day that the Rec opened in the fall of 2003, I would sacrifice my sleep to go while a handful of people were there too. Not that I used to get up that early to work out regularly before I moved up here, but I told myself that if I wanted to keep the body I had built, if I wanted to get in a good workout without a crowd, that's what I had to do. And for over a year I did it.

But then in November I stopped. I was facing a stressful end to the semester and I thought I was going to have a relationship and I had been told by several people that I needed to gain weight and they were rather correct. I was 137 lbs. and under 5% bodyfat and had excellent fitness numbers across the board, considering I was thinner than a rail. So I figured "Hey I've earned a week or two off," which became three weeks which became a month which became this semester of the on-again/off-again workout schedule.

Not that you would notice any bad consequences to look at me. Despite doing no cardio whatsoever and being substantially looser in what I eat, I'm still hovering around 143 lbs. and have been injury-free. I figure the inertia of 2 1/2 years of constant exercise and the complete & total reformation of my body has been carrying me through so that I'm still in above-average shape.

But that shouldn't be good enough, at least it doesn't feel like it when I read through my Outside magazine and think "Hmm, I may not traverse Patagonia anytime soon, but I'd like to think I could." I'm considering reorganizing my apartment from top-to-bottom and I'd like to do the same with my exercising too. So starting immediately I'll be at the Rec three mornings a week at 6am to do my cardio schedule (rowing machine, cycle, cross-trainers, wind jammer), while one other morning and on weekends I'll do my home workouts, leaving Fridays as my free days (conveniently after schooner nights; hey, priorities people). I'm also going to start counting calories again, if only because it gave me a sense of more control over my body.

I would've done this sooner in the semester but I worried about whether I could handle all of the fuss again: the notebooks of calorie notations, the 6am wake-ups, the added laundry, the driving to the Rec (yeah it's ridiculous, driving to do cardio, but whachagonnado?). But I did it before and it worked well enough. Besides 6am should be easier without cable to tempt me. No more Robot Chicken is a tragedy in its own right, but it's for a higher calling now.