Inertia

I'm slowly getting back into my running and biking after about a week and a half off for those nasty antibiotics. What I didn't know is that Biaxin can mess with your heart and breathing. That interaction explains the awful, terrible, no-good, very-bad interval runs I had the first week I was on the meds. I am thankful that I escaped the two weeks without any damage, and now I'm slowly moving forward. I stepped back on the intensity, and this week I'm working on consistency and frequency (and comfort). Sunday, we hit a few trails at Eastern State and Georgia Marble, and Monday, we did a slow 5K at Hastie Park. (South Knox is a brilliant place to live if you like off-roading it, which I do.) Yesterday, I did a morning interval session at a one setting lower than I'm used to doing, and last night, we did a 15-mile bike tour of Knoxville. The road just doesn't call to me in the same way as the trail does, but there are some strange and wondrous artifacts in this Scruffy Little City. Safety City, for example, is a mini-replica of the entire city of Knoxville, complete with Sunsphere. It's used to train kids how to navigate the city in a "safe" manner. And the War Dog memorial in front of the Ag Campus is one of my favorite random memorials. I do believe that by-bike is one of the best ways to experience Knoxville, as long as you stay off the narrow, heavily trafficked roads.

With the drop in activity I felt a drop in my mood and interest in my dissertation. Another side effect of Biaxin, I found out, is depression and anxiety, so I'm not shocked that I'm feeling this way, but I am disheartened. I started writing June 1, and a short month in and I feel tired. Not tired of the material or the process, just tired. But I have to approach the writing with the same forgiveness as the fitness. While I recognize that I need to hold to my plan, I also recognize that the worst thing I can do is stop. While "taking a break" might work for some people--maybe most people--for me, taking a break usually leads to quitting or losing complete interest or getting sidetracked. I'm the queen of half-finished projects. Today, for the first time this summer, it was a true struggle to round up my materials and go in to the office. But I came in and I set a reasonable goal: 5 pages. Even if those 5 pages are rough--and they will be--and painful to write--and they might be--at least they'll be something I can come back to later when I'm in a better frame of mind. My goals for my writing echo my goals for my body: consistency and frequency. Those two aspects trump intensity any day.