Forming a New Habit

I've read that it takes three weeks to form a habit. Well, I've got three days in on the "hope to be habit" of exercising in the morning. I've been dragging my fat, out of shape tail out of the bed around 5 am and walking a mile.

I've never been one to exercise in the morning. Danny, my former workout partner, loved working out in the morning. I would drive 30 minutes down to Hazel Green for our 7:30 am workout on Saturday no less. I always seemed to injure myself. I hated working out in the morning but I'm actually enjoying the cool temps and watching the sun rise on my morning jaunts. It's very relaxing.

For once in my life, I've managed to keep my ego out of my fitness routine thus far. I've managed to just walk although I want to sprint at times... No can do. I must walk for the following reasons.

#1 I tore my left hamstring a long time ago and it's never been the same. The older I get, the longer it takes to warm up. For some reason, I'm also having pain in that foot. It does seem to improve as the day progresses. Perhaps plantar fasciitis? I've had it before but this feels different.

#2 When I was sprinting and jogging regularly, I used to tell my wife, Cassie, that walking was only beneficial for old folks that had suffered from heart attacks. I'm eating those words but I know that if I just start running then I'll be disappointed in my performance, get shin splints, or both... and quit.

#3 My resting heart rate has gotten ridiculously high and it quickly zooms up into the 120 range while walking at ~ 3 mph. I live on an incline so my heart rate is about 140 bpm on the return trip. I don't seem to be out of breath at all so perhaps my Polar monitor has gone insane? I haven't used it in years. I need to verify my heart rate manually.

#4 My blood pressure is also making me nervous. I always test high at the doctors office but the frequency of results in the pre-hypertension area at home has been rising. It's been 138/90 several times at the local pharmacy. My family is full of blood pressure problems and I believe the only reason that I'm not taking medication now is because of the years that I spent taking care of myself. I'm suffering from my lack of activity now.

I need to keep walking as much as possible for the time being. Combined with body weight exercises and some yoga, I need to obtain a certain amount of conditioning before even attempting more strenuous cardio activity and a weight lifting routine on a full-time basis.