A journey of a thousand miles....is very boring sometimes.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that my cardio is rather predictable and boring (and usually blurry):



So when @SuzieRobb asked me the following, I wasn't surprised that more people haven't asked me the same. 

The answer?  Yes.  I do get sick of it.  HOWEVER....(and like I said to Suzie), I'm incredibly thankful for my boring, repetitive, locked-in-a-dungeon cardio.

I've written in many other posts about my history of back problems and just how it limits what I can do.  I've also mentioned in many places (in person and on the internets) that I miss being able to box (my doctor doesn't want me to spar, and I'm just a bit nervous about getting back into it).  I also cannot run on hard ground (I'm very jealous of all of you that get to enter races, get fancy tech t-shirts, and medals, and celebratory beers).  Heck, I can't even walk on hard ground (marble floors in museums are MURDEROUS). 

So I do what I can do.  My first few runs after neck surgery were slow, and painful.  (NB:  yes, I know two of you don't like me using the word "run" for what I do on the elliptical.  But since the ultramarathoners and iron men/women are okay with me using it, I'm going to use it.  So :P) I was lucky to get through one 12- minute mile before every nerve in my body told me to stop.  It wasn't just that I was out of shape, but I was scared.  I didn't want to jeopardize my surgery/recovery.

I had to re-learn my limits -- of how far I could go, how fast I could go, what cross-ramp I should use, how much resistance i could use -- and then figure out how much rest/recovery I needed between runs.  Once my doctor cleared me at the 3-month mark to (1) start rehab (2) start weights, I began to work those elements in to my workout plan.

So long story short, yeah.... I'm bored doing the same cardio almost every day (even if I am varying distance, speed, difficulty) and jealous of all you marathoners and CrossFitters, doing all these things I can't do.  But spending those 45 minutes or so on the elliptical, I'm able to meditate on how very thankful that there is this one thing that I can do.