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Recovery Is Training Too: Listening to My Body After a Long Run

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today has been pleasantly relaxing, not because I have been idle, but because everything has gone according to plan. A recovery after a long run is important.

Most of my chores are finished, and I even made up the weighted squat holds that I skipped yesterday.

Normally, I prefer not to miss a scheduled workout. However, after yesterday’s 10-kilometer run, I was simply exhausted. Between summer yard work, regular training, and the occasional surprise from the weather—or even one poor night’s sleep—my body had clearly voted against any additional exercise.

When your body casts a unanimous vote, it is usually wise not to overrule it.

So, after a brief consultation with my most important training partner—my own body—I decided to skip the workout.

Today was a different story.

By this morning, I felt refreshed enough to make up the missed exercises. Sundays are usually reserved for lighter activities anyway. That lighter schedule gives my body time to recover from a week of work, running, and whatever landscaping projects decide to appear in the yard. After a Saturday 10K, I generally welcome the opportunity to slow down.

Ironically, because I had skipped yesterday’s strength session, I had enough energy to comfortably complete it today.

One lesson I continue to learn is that improvement and recovery are not always the same thing.

Treating my anemia has certainly helped my running. I have more energy, and my pace has steadily improved. Unfortunately, treatment does not magically speed up recovery.

Part of the challenge comes from my kidney condition. Since I need to limit my protein intake, I cannot simply increase my nutrition the way many athletes do after strenuous exercise. Building strength and recovering well are not just about muscles—they also depend on keeping the body’s vital organs healthy. Fitness is a balancing act, and sometimes restraint is just as important as effort.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast has already introduced the next challenge.

Rain appears to be moving in, so the earlier I start my morning run, the better my chances of staying dry. Unlike today, when I happily remained in bed for an extra hour, tomorrow morning will require considerably more discipline.

Apparently, even the weather enjoys testing my commitment.

Still, that’s part of the routine.

Some days, the challenge is running farther. Other days, it’s knowing when to rest. And occasionally, the greatest athletic achievement is convincing yourself to leave a warm bed before sunrise.

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When Staying Healthy Means Trying Not to Lose Weight

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Most people spend the summer trying to lose a few pounds. I spend it trying not to. lose weight. I have a kidney disease, and maintaining weight in kidney disease is hard.

Every year, as the weather warms up, I find myself facing the same challenge: keeping my weight where it belongs. It sounds almost unfair to complain about losing weight, but everybody has their own peculiar set of problems, and this one happens to be mine.

Part of the reason is simple.

I have maintained relatively high muscle mass for my age by exercising consistently for many years. After my stroke, I became even more committed to staying active. At first glance, that sounds like a wonderful success story.

The catch is that muscle is expensive.

Not financially, thankfully, but metabolically. Muscle requires energy every hour of every day, whether I’m running, mowing the lawn, or quietly reading a book. It is like employing a team of energetic workers who insist on being paid three meals a day.

Summer only makes the challenge greater.

Our backyard includes a steep lawn that requires several hours of mowing. Altogether, it usually takes about five hours of work, although I wisely divide it over two days. Add regular strength training and my running schedule, and my body becomes a remarkably efficient calorie-burning machine.

Unfortunately, increasing my food intake is not as straightforward as it sounds.

Because of my kidney condition, I cannot simply eat whatever I want. My diet requires careful moderation. I have to limit protein, avoid eating excessive amounts of potassium-rich foods, and keep phosphate intake under control as well, rather than eliminating everything; we aim to maintain a balanced diet so that no single nutrient becomes excessive.

Even with careful planning, maintaining my weight remains surprisingly difficult.

This morning offered another small reminder of how unpredictable life can be.

I woke up earlier than usual, only to discover it was raining. Rather than racing the weather, I decided the bed was temporarily winning the negotiation and stayed there until my alarm sounded.

By then, almost miraculously, the rain had stopped.

I hurried outside for my run, hoping to finish before the next shower arrived. Fortunately, I accomplished both goals. I hit my target pace and avoided the rain.

Technically.

The humidity, however, had other ideas.

By the time I returned home, I was completely soaked anyway. Apparently, Nashville’s weather makes umbrellas seem merely decorative.

After peeling off my thoroughly saturated running clothes, I stepped onto the scale.

To my relief, I had gained just over two pounds.

I am still below my preferred weight range, but at least I am moving in the right direction. Considering how much energy disappears into running, yard work, and everyday exercise, I have learned to celebrate small victories wherever I can find them.

Sometimes that victory is a faster run.

Sometimes it finishes before the rain arrives.

And sometimes, rather surprisingly, it is simply watching the number on the scale move upward.

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Lessons from a Difficult 10K Run

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today I got lessons from a difficult 10K Run. I usually run first thing in the morning because Nashville’s weather quickly becomes unfriendly to runners.

Even by 7:30 a.m., the air can feel remarkably heavy. It is not always because of rain. More often, the culprit is humidity. Once the temperature climbs above 70°F and humidity approaches—or exceeds—90%, the atmosphere transforms into something that feels almost tangible. It is less like running through air and more like trying to jog through warm pudding.

Saturday is my regular 10-kilometer running day.

Unless there is a snowstorm, thunderstorm, or a family event—which, for some reason, always seems to choose Saturday—I stick to that schedule. Consistency has become one of the most valuable parts of my training.

Since beginning treatment for anemia, my body has felt noticeably lighter during my runs. The improvement has been encouraging. Even so, there are still mornings when exhaustion appears without an invitation.

Today was one of those mornings.

From the very beginning, my legs felt unusually heavy. Every kilometer demanded more effort than it should have, and the pace that normally feels comfortable seemed frustratingly out of reach. By the time I finished, I was more than a minute behind my target pace and completely exhausted.

The strange part was that I hadn’t expected it.

Summer naturally brings more physical work around the house, especially lawn mowing, which is more exercise than many people give it credit for. Still, I had mowed on Thursday, so I assumed I had fully recovered by Saturday morning.

Apparently, my body had other opinions.

As I looked over my to-do list later in the day, I found myself trying to solve the mystery. Everything had seemed to be going well this week. I had slept well, eaten well, and generally felt healthy. Yet my run told a completely different story.

Perhaps that is one of the most humbling lessons running teaches.

Our bodies are wonderfully complex. They do not always explain themselves. Sometimes they perform beyond expectations, and other times they quietly remind us that recovery is not something we can schedule with the precision of a calendar appointment.

Instead of dwelling on the disappointing run, I moved on to the rest of my day’s tasks. One by one, I finished everything I had planned before our grocery shopping trip.

There is a special satisfaction in checking the final item off a to-do list. It means that once we return home, I can spend the rest of the evening doing something every runner eventually learns to appreciate.

Absolutely nothing.

After all, rest is not the reward for hard work.

Sometimes, it is part of the training itself.

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A Small Victory on the Running Trail: Beating My Target Pace by Seven Seconds

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

This morning, I finally achieved something I had been chasing for several runs. I beat my target pace.

To someone who does not run, seven seconds might sound insignificant. To a runner who has been stubbornly chasing a goal, however, seven seconds can feel like winning an Olympic medal… or at least earning the right to enjoy breakfast with a little extra satisfaction.

The weather certainly decided to cooperate today.

Relative humidity was around 20%, a dramatic improvement from the previous week. Here in Nashville, humidity regularly climbs above 90%, making the air feel as though someone forgot to wring it out. This morning, however, the air was crisp and refreshing. It was actually cool enough that I felt a slight chill when I started running, a welcome change from feeling as though I were jogging through warm soup.

One tool that has become surprisingly valuable is the ASICS Runner app. I have it announce my pace at regular intervals so I can make adjustments while I run, rather than discovering my mistakes after I’ve already finished.

I even changed the settings to kilometers instead of miles. Since announcements come more frequently, I receive feedback sooner, giving me more opportunities to adjust my pace before bad habits settle in. Sometimes success isn’t about running harder; it’s simply about getting better information sooner.

As I approached the final quarter kilometer, I checked my pace. I may beat my target pace.

I was ahead by exactly one second.

One second is an amusing amount of confidence. It is just enough to make you optimistic, and just a little too much to make you nervous.

Then I remembered yesterday’s disappointing finish, when I lost precious seconds right at the end. That memory was all the motivation I needed. I pushed harder over the final stretch and crossed the finish line seven seconds ahead of my target pace.

Those extra six seconds may not sound like much, but they represent progress.

If I can repeat today’s performance on Friday, I’ll be back on track toward setting new personal bests. Running has taught me that improvement rarely arrives in dramatic leaps. More often, it comes disguised as a handful of seconds, earned through consistency, patience, and the willingness to keep trying after yesterday didn’t go as planned.

So today, I’m happy.

Not because I ran a perfect race, but because I proved that yesterday’s disappointment was simply another step toward today’s success.

Sometimes, progress is measured not in miles, but in seconds.

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How to Build a Fitness Identity That Lasts for Life

Day 100 of 100 Days Muscle Resistance Workout Challenge

Focus Topics: Learn how to build a lasting fitness identity beyond goals and challenges. Discover how long-term habits create strength, health, and consistency for life.

Learning Material: Building Fitness Identity

Goals are excellent starters. Identity is the finisher.

For the past 100 days, you followed a structure: days, numbers, reflections, adjustments. That structure did its job; it got you moving. But now the project is complete, and something more important remains: who you believe you are.

Psychological research shows that long-term behavior change is more likely to stick when actions align with identity. Goals say, “I want to lose weight.” Identity says, “I’m someone who takes care of my body.” When the goal is reached or missed, motivation fades. When identity is established, action becomes automatic.

The real achievement of these 100 days isn’t muscle, weight change, or reps. It’s that training is no longer something you try to do. It’s something you do, the same way you brush your teeth or make coffee, no applause required.

Today isn’t a finish line. It’s a mirror.

Key Insights

1. Goals expire; identity persists
A goal has an end date. Identity does not. Once training becomes part of who you are, there’s nothing to “fall off.”

2. Identity reduces decision fatigue
When something is “just what you do,” it no longer competes with excuses. The question disappears. Action remains.

3. Long-term vision is flexible, not rigid
Identity allows adaptation. You don’t stop being a healthy person because life gets busy; you adjust how health shows up.

Example / Metaphor

Think of learning a language.
At first, you study to pass the test.
Later, you speak because that’s how you live.

Or think of glasses. At first, you’re very aware of wearing them. Eventually, you forget, until you take them off and wonder how you ever saw anything before.

That’s identity.

My Reflection

Today marks the final day of my 100-day muscle training challenge, and I’m genuinely happy to have completed it.

The biggest challenge throughout this process was not physical effort, but a lack of knowledge. I work with someone who trains extensively, and through our conversations, I realized that I needed to update, and in some cases acquire, basic knowledge of training and nutrition to evaluate my progress accurately. I don’t need expert-level mastery, but I do need enough understanding to make informed adjustments rather than to guess or react emotionally.

The most important improvement was learning how critical adequate protein intake is, something I had neglected for nearly a decade. In hindsight, it’s no surprise that I was losing muscle mass despite exercising. While I haven’t fully reversed that loss yet, I’ve at least stopped it, which already feels like meaningful progress.

Physically, I feel much stronger. Tasks that once felt difficult, like lifting the water bottle for the office dispenser, are now manageable. I can perform far more push-ups than before, and I can feel increased strength in my legs simply by touching them. These are small but unmistakable signs of change.

Looking ahead, my goal is to sustain this routine and gradually increase my training volume so that I can begin rebuilding muscle mass rather than focusing solely on weight loss. I want to age happily and remain mobile for as long as possible. I hope to travel and explore many places in the future, and that will require strength, energy, and resilience.

Today, I’m closing this 100-day challenge, but not the practice itself. The benefits of muscle training are now too clear to ignore, and I fully intend to continue.

Biometric data

Change in Weight from Day 1: -7.0 lb.

Skeletal Muscle: 39.9 %

Muscle Mass: 93.4 lb.

Adjustment Ideas (Strategic Adjustment)

Choose one next Saturday, something that reinforces identity, not effort.

  1. Language shift: Replace “I’m trying to…” with “I don’t skip…” or “I’m the kind of person who…”
  2. Maintenance mindset: Design your next phase around keeping health, not chasing transformation.
  3. Legacy habit: Choose one habit you want to carry into your 60s, 70s, and beyond, and protect it first.
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Fitness Backup Plan When Life Gets Busy

Day 99 of 100 Days Muscle Resistance Workout Challenge

Focus Topics: Learn how to create a fitness backup plan for busy days, travel, stress, and low motivation. Discover how to stay consistent without relying on perfection.

Learning Material: Fitness Backup Plan

By Day 99, you already know the truth: progress doesn’t collapse because of bad days. It collapses because bad days arrive unplanned.

Real life will interrupt you. Flights get delayed. Meetings run long. Sleep gets wrecked. Motivation takes a vacation without notice. The mistake isn’t experiencing these things; it’s pretending they won’t happen.

Psychology calls this an implementation intention: deciding in advance what you’ll do when obstacles arise. Not “if,” but “when.” This removes decision-making at the worst possible moment—when energy and patience are already low.

Perfection says, “I’ll train when conditions are ideal.”
 A system says, “When conditions are bad, I already know what to do.”

Key Insights

1. Friction kills habits more than laziness
 Most missed workouts aren’t due to a lack of discipline. They’re due to increased friction—travel, schedule chaos, or mental load. Reduce friction, and habits survive.

2. Pre-decided responses protect consistency
 When you remove choice (“Should I train today?”), You reduce emotional bargaining. The rule does the thinking for you.

3. Recovery strategies are part of planning
 Illness, poor sleep, or stress aren’t failures. They’re signals. A smart system adjusts instead of quitting.

Example / Metaphor

Think of your training like emergency exits on a plane.
You don’t plan to use them, but you’re very glad they exist.

Your backup workout, your travel food plan, your “bad sleep” training rule. Rather rigid to the rule, adjusts how you approach the workout.

Or put simply:
A plan that only works on good days is not a plan. It’s a wish.

My Reflection

This situation comes up often for me. When I have to go into the office, my schedule becomes much tighter because of the added commute. During these 100 days, I committed to the process, so I adjusted my routine instead of letting the schedule dictate my behavior.

When I go into the office once a week, I treat that day as a rest day from resistance training, but I still do cardio. When I have to go in twice a week, I further modify the schedule and reduce my workouts to the shortest possible version for that week. The key point is that I don’t give myself an excuse to skip movement entirely.

Work or a boss’s demands can easily become “valid” excuses to abandon commitments, but they only win if I let them. Ultimately, I’m still the one making the choices. If staying healthy is important to me, those external pressures can’t override that decision.

The biggest challenge for me is audit season, when I have to go into the office every day. During that time, I need a solid backup plan. One option is adjusting my work hours; there are days when I start work 1.5 hours earlier than necessary, even though I’ll be staying later anyway. That early start quietly costs me valuable time across the week.

I plan to be more intentional about reclaiming that time by starting later when possible and taking a few days off once the audit work is complete. Planning ahead like this ensures that temporary work demands don’t derail long-term health goals.

Biometric data

Change in Weight from Day 1: -7.4 lb.

Skeletal Muscle: 39.9 lb.

Muscle Mass: 93.4 lb.

Adjustment Ideas (Strategic Adjustment)

Choose one next Saturday, something designed specifically for imperfect days.

  1. Create a “bad day” workout: Short, equipment-free, zero-excuse. This is not optional; it’s your safety net.
  2. Travel protein strategy: Identify one portable protein source you’ll always carry or buy when away from home.
  3. Stress-response rule: On high-stress days, reduce volume but keep movement. Preserve the habit, protect recovery.
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Running with Anemia: Learning Patience One Kilometer at a Time

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

My run this morning ended in disappointment, which is unfortunate because for most of the journey, success seemed perfectly happy to accompany me.

I was either meeting or slightly ahead of my target pace almost the entire way. Then, during the final quarter kilometer, something happened. I slipped twenty seconds behind. I never felt as though I had slowed down, but the stopwatch is a brutally honest companion and apparently disagreed with my assessment.

Still, despite the disappointing finish, victory was clearly within reach. That alone is encouraging.

I have dealt with anemia since childhood. After receiving treatment for my kidney condition, my doctor reminded me that anemia also needed attention. I was treated for it after my brain stroke years ago, and once again I began treatment in February 2026.

What surprised me was just how much anemia affected my running.

Until this year, I had accepted many things as normal. Since beginning treatment, I have noticed that I have more energy during my runs. Gradually, my pace has improved. Of course, now that I have tasted improvement, I naturally want more. Human beings are wonderfully unreasonable in that way. Give us progress, and we immediately ask whether there is a faster version available.

Although my current pace is significantly better than before treatment, improvement has become more difficult. That is hardly surprising. Running, much like life, refuses to cooperate with our desire for perfectly straight lines. Progress is more like the stock market than an elevator. There are ups and downs, good days and bad days, and occasionally days when one wonders whether gravity has become stronger overnight.

Summer has also brought additional physical activity. Lawn mowing, for example, turns out to be an excellent way to discover muscles one never knew existed. It is entirely possible that I was simply more tired than I realized.

Fortunately, patience is one of the most important lessons that running teaches. Progress never arrives in a perfectly orderly fashion. Internal factors, external conditions, and simple fatigue all play their part.

So, despite this morning’s disappointment, I remain optimistic.

The next run offers another opportunity.

And next time, I intend to remember that a race is not finished until the finish line actually appears. The final quarter kilometer, as I discovered this morning, apparently has a mischievous sense of humor.

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Build a Minimum Fitness Habit That Survives Real Life

Day 98 of 100 Days Muscle Resistance Workout Challenge

Focus Topics: Learn how to build minimum fitness habits that survive busy days. Discover simple routines for training, protein, recovery, and long-term consistency.

Learning Material: Minimum Fitness Habits

By Day 98, the question is no longer “What’s the best program?”
It’s “What survives real life?”

A personal muscle system isn’t built around ideal days. It’s built around bad, rushed, distracted days, the kind where motivation disappears and time shrinks. That’s where non-negotiables matter.

Non-negotiables are not your best habits.
They are your minimum viable behaviors, small enough to execute even when tired, stressed, or busy, but powerful enough to keep the system alive.

From a behavioral science perspective, this works because habits fail at the activation point, not the intention stage. When the cost of starting is too high, the habit collapses. Lower the cost, and consistency returns.

Think of today as designing your muscle life’s emergency power grid.

Key Insights

1. Minimums protect identity
Even a short session reinforces the identity: “I’m someone who trains.” Once identity stays intact, restarting full training is easy.

2. Frequency beats volume on hard weeks
Research consistently shows that maintaining training frequency, even with reduced volume, preserves strength and muscle better than stopping altogether.

3. Non-negotiables reduce decision fatigue
When rules are clear, willpower is unnecessary. You don’t debate. You execute.

Example / Metaphor

Think of your system like brushing your teeth while traveling.
You might not floss.
You might rush.
But you still brush—because zero isn’t an option.

Your muscle system needs the same rule:
Something is mandatory; perfection is optional.

Or imagine a lighthouse. It doesn’t shine brighter on calm nights; it shines reliably during storms. Your non-negotiables are storm behavior.

My Reflection

When I introduce a new habit, I’ve learned that it needs to be anchored to an existing one and require minimal preparation. If it demands too much setup or decision-making, it simply won’t last.

Resistance training was challenging for me at first because I don’t enjoy it as much as outdoor light jogging or brisk walking. To solve this, I made it an extension of my morning cardio routine. This worked well because the cardio naturally serves as a warm-up for resistance training, and I’m already dressed and mentally prepared to move.

Looking back, I realize I had never approached it this way before. I used to do much longer cardio sessions until I discovered that I was losing muscle mass the more I pushed endurance training, especially after we adjusted our diet to accommodate my husband’s medical needs. That period made the imbalance very clear.

Over the past 98 days, I’ve learned how essential adequate protein intake is. Rather than changing our household meals or cooking separate dishes, I simply added protein to what we were already eating. Foods like yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, and tofu became regular additions, and I also incorporated a protein shake when needed.

I do wish I had more time in the morning. Even though I wake up at 5 a.m., my exercise window is about 45 minutes, combining cardio and resistance training. After that, I move on to my morning journaling, German language study, and writing. Exercise leaves my brain especially energized in the morning, which helps create mental flow for the rest of the day.

I may not spend hours in the gym, but this compromise fits my life. I work full-time with no flexibility in my schedule. Still, waking up early remains one of my favorite habits, and it sets the tone for the entire day.

I’ve also defined one clear minimum requirement: I go outside every day, even in extreme cold. This December, temperatures dropped to 11°F and 14°F, and I still went out. Having lived in Canada, I own a heavy jacket designed for snowy mountains. It may make me sweat, but it’s far better than feeling cold—and it keeps the habit intact.

Biometric data

Change in Weight from Day 1: -5.4 lb.

Skeletal Muscle: 39.7%

Muscle Mass: 94.0 lb.

Adjustment Ideas (Strategic Adjustment)

Choose one next Saturday, boring, reliable, and durable.

  1. Set a minimum workout rule: Example: “10 minutes of resistance or mobility counts.” No negotiation.
  2. Create a default protein habit: One always-available protein source that requires zero thinking.
  3. Define a recovery non-negotiable: A single nightly cue (lights, music, phone boundary) that signals shutdown.
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From Fitness Challenge to Lifelong Fitness Habit

Day 98 of 100 Days Muscle Resistance Workout Challenge

Focus Topics: Learn how to turn a fitness challenge into lifelong fitness habits. Discover why systems, identity, and consistency matter more than motivation.

Learning Material: Lifelong Fitness Habits

A 100-day challenge is a powerful container. It creates urgency, clarity, and momentum. But containers are meant to be left, not lived in forever. The real success of this project isn’t that you reached Day 97, but that the behaviors now feel… normal.

This is the quiet pivot point.

Psychology calls this identity integration. At first, you form the habit. Then, you become the kind of person who does the habit. When that happens, motivation stops being the engine and turns into a side effect.

The danger here isn’t quitting. It’s finishing and unconsciously relaxing the system, assuming the job is done. Bodies don’t regress because people stop caring; they regress because the structure disappears.

Today is about turning effort into default.

Key Insights

1. Systems outlive goals
 Goals are directional; systems are sustainable. A goal ends. A system loops. Strength gained through a system doesn’t need motivation but does need maintenance.

2. Identity beats willpower
 Research in behavioral psychology shows habits stick when they align with self-image. “I train” lasts longer than “I should train.”

3. Maintenance requires less energy than rebuilding
 Keeping strength, muscle, and health takes far less effort than regaining them. Consistency is cheaper than recovery from everything.

Example / Metaphor

Think of brushing your teeth.
You don’t feel “motivated.”
You don’t track streaks.
Just do it, because it’s part of being you.

Your training doesn’t need to feel heroic. It needs to feel obvious.

Or imagine this project as scaffolding. Once the building stands, the scaffolding comes down, but the structure remains.

My Reflection

Over the past 97+ days, I have finally integrated resistance training into my daily routine, but the change went deeper than simply adding a new exercise.

I have a long-standing habit of aiming for an ideal version of everything. When it came to weight loss or resistance training, the moment my results fell outside that ideal, I tended to abandon the effort altogether. Running was the only habit that remained. Not because I was especially good at it, but because it was ingrained in me from childhood as a form of discipline. That early structure carried the habit into adulthood.

My struggle with weight became more pronounced after my husband suffered a brain stroke. I adjusted my diet to align with his medical needs, which meant consuming significantly less protein than the average adult. As I continued to exercise harder under those conditions, I began to lose muscle mass rather than gain strength.

Now I understand how critical adequate protein intake is. Over time, I’ve seen my muscle percentage gradually increase, and as a result, my focus on scale weight has softened. Ideally, weight would decrease smoothly toward a target, but in reality, it fluctuates daily, sometimes simply due to salt intake or hydration. These fluctuations no longer trouble me.

The lesson I’ve learned is this: wanting to lose weight or gain muscle is not enough. The internet is full of advice, but no single method works for everyone. For example, while a ketogenic diet may help some people, it would be harmful for someone like my husband, who has impaired kidney function.

Perfection is not required. Discipline is. When healthy behaviors are integrated into daily life rather than treated as a temporary project, they become automatic. I now take Mondays off from resistance training, but more than once, I’ve almost exercised anyway. That’s when I realized the habit had truly taken root.

Biometric data

Change in Weight from Day 1: -6.6 lb.

Skeletal Muscle: 39.8 lb.

Muscle Mass: 93.4 lb.

Adjustment Ideas (Strategic Adjustment)

Choose one next Saturday, something you can imagine doing for years.

  1. Remove the countdown mindset
     Stop thinking in “days left.” Start thinking in “this is what I do now.”
  2. Redefine success: Success = maintaining the system during busy or imperfect weeks.
  3. Lower the minimums: Set minimum habits so small they survive stress, travel, and bad moods.
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Why Our New AC Unit Deserves a Medal

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

I have developed a new appreciation for our recently installed air conditioner. Summer has not even fully arrived, yet the humidity has already launched an aggressive campaign against the entire neighborhood, and our AC unit is bravely defending the home front.

We keep the house around 77°F. Since having a brain stroke, my body has become somewhat unreliable when it comes to regulating temperature. Large swings between hot and cold do not agree with me. Fortunately, this new air conditioner seems particularly talented at keeping humidity under control. The result is a remarkably comfortable house and one less thing for me to negotiate with each day.

Outside, however, is an entirely different story.

Humidity hovers close to 90%, and the air feels less like air and more like a warm, damp blanket. The temperature itself is not particularly high yet, but humidity has a way of turning ordinary weather into something resembling a steam room with birds.

As usual, I headed out for my scheduled 10-kilometer run. Humidity and I have an ongoing disagreement. It insists on making every activity more difficult, and I insist on pretending not to notice.

Needless to say, by the time I returned home, I was completely soaked. I had to change my shirt immediately before beginning my household chores. Vacuuming is considerably easier when one is not dripping across the floor like a malfunctioning garden sprinkler.

My wife and I previously lived in Canada and Oregon, so adjusting to Nashville’s climate required a period of negotiation. Oregon summers are pleasantly dry and comfortable, and the winters are relatively mild. We eventually moved to Nashville to be closer to family because my wife worried about my health.

Ironically, I think I have become healthier since the move.

We eat reasonably well, sleep properly, and exercise consistently. Gradually, my body has improved. I still have anemia, and I am currently receiving treatment for it, but overall, I feel much better than I did in the past.

If only Nashville’s humidity would cooperate.

Running and yard work would certainly be more enjoyable if the atmosphere did not resemble soup. Until then, I will continue my daily negotiations with the weather, while our heroic air conditioner quietly keeps civilization intact indoors.

Some heroes wear capes.

Others hum gently in the background and lower the humidity.

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