Runner's High

Well, it finally happened. I injured my knees running. I have tendinitis/jumper's knee. I guess pounding the pavement, though it makes me feel good, is not so great for my joints and muscles. The doctor said that I cannot run for three to four weeks. That is torture to me. I already haven't run for almost two weeks because my left knee hurt so bad, but now I have to spend more time without running.

However, on the upside, I joined a gym yesterday so that I can use the two pieces of equipment that I am allowed: bikes and stair masters. I can also swim, meh. I tried swimming for the past week. Swimming just doesn't get my heart rate up like running, it just doesn't do it for me. Maybe I am not strong enough for swimming yet. All I know is that for the past two weeks or so I have not been running, I have been swimming instead, and I have felt horribly depressed and had no reason to smile.

But yesterday and today I tried biking for 50 minutes, keeping my heart rate between 140 and 160 the entire time, and I feel one hundred times better. I got sweaty, I got tired, it felt so good; I think I was just missing that runner's high. I guess those endorphins that exercise produces really are addicting. Maybe that's another reason why I have felt so much better at college -I have been running 4 miles, six days a week at Asbury. Exercise really is addicting.

Well, it probably isn't all running/swimming/missing my cardio that has gotten me down. I started the pill last Sunday AND I have been working 50-60 hour weeks for 5 weeks now. I have 3 more weeks left of this crazy work. I hope I make it.

Excerpt from Dictionary.com:
Prolonged, continuous exercise contributes to an increased production of endorphins and, in some people, the subsequent "runner's high."