Every month at the end I offer myself three consecutive days without treadmill sessions. Those days are 29-30-31 or 29-30-1, depending on the month. They are welcome, they are needed. Often I find myself sore, mostly legs, as most recent months I push myself to a new walking duration or up the speed by 0.1mph. Many months, including the one currently transitioning, have setbacks, days of illness or injury. I do my very best to avoid any zero days, mostly succeeding. But a drastically reduced session rarely resumes at the full level of where I left off. This allows me to reset at sessions 5-10 minutes below where I had exercised previously, then resume to full sessions, usually by month's end.
Those three days pass rather quickly, often with recovery more functional than complete. Back still a little stiff, knees still needing local care, if not a couple doses of naproxen. The new month invariably begins, filled with some optimism of reaching another new level when the new month concludes.
I have been fortunate that limitations have been mostly orthopedic, not cardiovascular. I had some symptomatic volume depletion following a blood donation this past month, one that reduced this timed walk to five minutes. I've also over-extended, feeling energetic enough at 25 minutes to push for 30. Additions of two minutes go un-noticed, even reset the new normal. Additions of five minutes bring soreness. This creates a branch point, endure or cut back? I mostly choose the prudent option and reset my sessions downward.
Having now done this for a couple of years into my 70's, I definitely feel more energetic, maybe adapting to a basal level of lower extremity soreness. Good decision to allow some healing each month.
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