Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat

Whenever I’m working on a physically draining campaign or task, I always reflect on the US Postal Service.

They get the job done, and pretty much always have. While they officially have no motto, many of us have grown up believing the that the inscription on the James Farley Post Office in Manhattan is their creed: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Evidently the saying wasn’t original; like many great quotes, it was lifted from an earlier tome; here, Herodotus’ Histories is intended to describe the service of the Persian system of mounted postal messengers under Xerxes I of Persia. As history buffs, like the one I’m married to, know, Xerxes was perhaps the greatest King of Persia, and his reign heralded many innovations including timely message delivery.

In this age of the internet and email, instant messages and video conferencing, it’s easy to forget that we have not always been this instantly connected. People even a decade ago used to lose track of a person as soon as they moved; long distance phone calls used to have static in them; and most people lived within a 10 mile radius of the town they’d grown up in.

While some things have changed, some remain the same. People still need to get stuff from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Many of us still use formal writing paper and note cards, and use fountain pens to write on them. Some of us consider which stamp to use on an envelope, and how it relates to the paper on which it is placed or the person to whom it is addressed.

Yet even as one waxes nostalgic about the art of writing, the US Postal Service chugs on getting the job done. Not only do mail carriers walk and drive routes in all types of weather to get your mail to you, the workers in the actual post offices show up day after hot, humid, cold, icy day to keep things running on time. Some might say that they are the backbone of civilization itself, because without efficient and consistent message movement, how could people coalesce to move any agenda forward?

This brings me back to physical endeavors.  

Like any other system, efficiency and consistency move a physical campaign forward. Most weight loss and exercise campaigns say in a throwaway line, buried on page 188 or some such, that showing up day after day and remaining consistent in one’s efforts is one of the most important achievements in the program. The body simply becomes more efficient on processing a set of actions the more that the body repeats those actions. A 50 minute run eventually becomes a 20 minute run over the same distance. A seemingly impossible 50 pound lift becomes easy peasy after weeks of training. Don’t let the weather or your own psych slow down your progress.

Last week, much of the US suffered through an intense heat wave. Here, the heat index had the temperature hovering around 115 degrees, and it was routinely 80 degrees and humid at 7:00 am. While I did get in a couple of runs outside to switch things up, the mainstay of my workout routine continued to be exergaming inside my air conditioned house.

As I’ve said before, exergaming helps make workouts doable and convenient. In the past, I’ve discussed this in terms of ice, snow and cold weather. The same works in the heat and humidity too. I don’t need to drive 20 minutes to get to a gym to workout, I can roll into another room of my own home and exercise here, mere nanoseconds away from the shower room (aka bathroom).

Today, for instance, it’s a nice 73 degrees out, but it’s raining. So while a load of laundry ran to catch up on a week of no drier during the heat wave, I worked out in the other room to Zumba Fitness by Majesco. I’ll discuss the video game more in future posts, but just want to mention that I had a tremendous fun in a very efficient use of time, without having the brave the elements.

What do you do when it’s icky out? Do you take the day off or change your weekly routine around?

Note: Majesco gave me a copy of Zumba Fitness to try out and use.