Maintaining Active during Injuries

When the pain of the injuries was taking full effect, it was no longer possible to run.

Having developed a habit to exercise almost every day, such abrupt change made life extremely uneasy.

Attempting the keeping pace with cardio, I tried swimming and hitting the gym.

For both, I need to go to a premises to get changed — this slight but non-negligible barrier actually prevented me from exercising regularly before I started running.

Still, since running was no longer possible, I need to try whatever alternatives viable.

Swimming was always recommended for runners who no longer run, given its combination of both resistance and cardio training. It helped built muscles and strength while maintaining cardio. I started off with swimming 1km every time but an apparent issue struck when I attempted to swim more — I didn’t have that much time.

At that time, the swimming pool closest to me opened around 6:45 and it took me 15 min to reach there from home by the fastest transportation available.

And I need to be at office at 9am.

Getting changed before and shower afterwards would easily take me 20 or 30 min.

As someone who only swims once or twice per year in the past, it could take me up to 30 min to swim each 1km.

So the math adds up seem to suggesting that I couldn’t get similar amount of energy burned in swimming as I was running — I could run 10km using the similar amount of time; and I could start as early as I could.

As for gym, I tried all cardio machines other than treadmills. One simple issue — very boring. Always facing the same wall while endlessly sweating was a jailing experience which I was not yet seasoned enough to endure.

Indeed swimming is boring too. Just that the boredom won’t easily strike because I was busy surviving in the pool — coordinating breaths and movement, and keeping myself floating.

Therefore, both attempts were not successful. I need to find ways to get back to running. I don’t want to quit like many others. And I don’t want to gain a lot of weight like many of them after stop running.