I hauled myself out of bed at 6 am (I was awake, and I once I am awake, I cannot go back to sleep so it was no big deal) and got on the treadmill. This was the first time I exercised with the A/C turned on. It was not bad, although I do prefer to have the window open and get fresh cool morning air. By 8 am, I was showered and walked through downtown to the farmer's market.
In spite of the mugginess, it was still very bearable outside because there was a nice breeze. I felt so gooooooooood about myself! Nothing was hurting and the jeans that I recently "donwsized" into now feel loose even in the thighs.
I love those endorphins - they are making me enjoy myself again.

I purchased a lot of goodies: apricots, cherries, grapes, blueberries, red peppers, tomatoes and apples. Got home, took the dogs for a quick walk and now I am off to a 1/2 hour core class.
Wishing you all a nice weekend.

Yes, endorphins and I were recently acquainted and it was love at first sight.

When I don't want to haul my butt onto the elliptical, I have to remind myself I'll feel better when I am done...

I love me some endorphins!

I've been lucky enough to experience runner's high two or three times, and I wish I could get it more often!










Well, it's either runner's high, or I'm just dizzy and about to pass out. Either way, it feels fab! lol!

There is nothing like heading out into your day, still early, exercise already done. It seems especially sweet on the week-end. This is kinda weird for me, because I have struggled with dragging myself out of bed all my life. I do miss sleeping in, but I really love how this feels. I slept until 7 this morning, because it was noisy until 1am last night, and it felt soooooo late

I'm a morning endorphin person myself too. No matter how I'm feeling when I walk into the gym, I always feel better when I walk out. (and it's not because the workout is over! )

As for the runners high, I don't know much scientifically about it. But it happens to me all the time now and I consider it nature's own little feel-good drug. I'm definitely addicted!

Gina Kolata talks a bit about the phenomenon in Ultimate Fitness. There's been research trying to pin it down, but my recollection is that it's an individual thing that some people experience and some don't.

I didn't experience a runners high until I had been exercising regularly for probably six months? Before then, I think exercise was just so hard for me due to my excess weight and being deconditioned that I struggled just to get through the alloted time. I loved the results of exercise, but actually doing it wasn't all the pleasurable.

Now the "high" seems to be associated with pushing myself to the limit, my personal best. Like with cardio, my heart rate needs to be at least 90% of max before I feel the endorphin rush. Same with weights -- and I definitely get the "high" lifting weights too -- but I need to be lifting heavy and really pushing myself. Which also elevates my HR out of the stratosphere, so maybe it is a HR thing? It's not something that would happen to me walking around the mall or lifting light weights.

But it's a real phenomenon! It's funny that the closest thing I've ever had to a transcendental experience has been in Ballys, of all places.

I remember a couple times after rollerblading on the trail near where I used to work (I miss my hometown *cry*) I would sit in my car for 20-30 minutes afterwards because I felt like if I drove, I might get pulled over for driving drunk! It was a very similar feeling, with almost none of the hangover afterwards. The same has happened a couple of times here in the gym when I push extra hard, but at least I don't have to drive.

I say "almost none" because I have found that about 50% of the time I get this "runner's high" I end up with a nasty headache after the workout Does this happen to anyone else? I thought it was because I wasn't hydrating enough, but the headache doesn't go away even if I replenish my water. It's like the migraines I used to get - sits in one side of the head for a long time, then moves from spot to spot until finally I sleep and it goes away if I'm lucky.

s0nali, that is a migraine... although a mild one, it sounds like. No one knows what causes migraines, but the circulatory system seems to be involved. It sounds like when your heart rate goes above a certain level, it gets triggered.

I had a migraine-type headache for 24 hours following an emotional upset that raised my heart rate and BP out of normal range. Normally I don't get them, only once in a blue moon--but they do occur in my family.

Jay

Meg,

I need to clarify - I don't think it was a true 'runners high'; I think it was a happy feeling from having done something good for my body, from having added another two minutes to my jog (3 months ago, I could barely do 2 five-minute long intervals and now I am ok with 27 minutes non-stop) and from having started the day on a good note .... that type of thing.
It just felt really good and filled me with happiness.

Tomato, it doesn't matter whether it's a runner's high or not because it's such a fantastic way to start the day! Look at how far you've come! You should be very proud of yourself.

Dh and I were talking about this the other day. For me, it's getting past 6 or 8 minutes. Then I'm good to go. And after 20 minutes, I can sail along for quite a while with a pretty high HR. I took that to be a sign that I needed to figure out intervals.

I've walked home from the gym pretty giggly.

I've been going through a rough spot in my life. My mom died less than a year ago, someone I dearly love broke her back, and I lost my job last week. A couple of months ago I went off Prozac after taking it for 8 years and I've been sober for 20 years, so I'm without chemicals to help me cope.

I've been exercising regularly for about a month, mostly by doing a series of DVDs that are a fusion of weights, cardio, pilates, and yoga. Several times, while in the midst of doing the workout, I've gotten a "pop" of extreme clarity and I deeply and thoroughly know all is right and everything is okay. A few times after finishing a routine, I've been engulfed in a high that reminds me a bit of certain pharmacueticals, if you know what I mean. But this high feels clean. In other words, no hangover, no side effects, no poison. My brain chemistry has been altered and manipulated for most of my life, one way or another, and what I'm feeling from exercise is the sweetest and most gentle I've experienced.

I hear ya! I wish I could drag myself out of bed before I go to work in the morning. There are just too many factors that makes it difficult so I have to do my workouts in the afternoon. Sometimes it's hard but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I feel great now, today, cause I've burned more calories than I've taken in so far.