Getting where you want to be

At best, I would describe my relationship with fitness as "casual". I know and like fitness, but committing full-time is much too hard. I envy all my friends who have embraced a lifestyle that lets them do all the physical things on a daily basis--sometimes complaining that it's hard, but more often, just happy to have done it. I have made countless excuses why I haven't found a way to commit to be consciously active--from spending too much time at work to basically saying my body wasn't built to run everyday. All these excuses fall short of acceptable because I see people around me who are no different than me and my situation, and they find ways to get out.

Yet I continue the struggle to be active. To fight the urge to just plop into bed, log on to the Internet, and live my zombie life. There's a big world waiting to be explored. Mountains to climb. Friends having fun outdoors without me. I need to be in shape. 

pool sessions

DOMS

As I regressed from my regular (almost daily) training last year, while trying to at least climb once a month, usually with a heavy pack, I've started to suffer more frequently from DOMS.

I'm talking about Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, and not Dirty Old Man Syndrome (though some would contend that I am also afflicted with this). As the name implies, DOMS is a delayed reaction of the muscle tissues from a strenuous workout, usually appearing after 6 to 8 hourse, peaking around 24 to 48 hours. I initially thought that lactic acid build-up was related to DOMS, but upon further reading, scientific findings have rejected this correlation. Sources say that DOMS comes from muscle inflammation caused by micro-tears in the muscle after eccentric (i.e. lengthening) exercises. I don't have the complete grasp yet of the science behind this condition; all I know is that after every extended climb up mountains, I get this, forcing me to do the "penguin walk".