Change = not always a good thing

Is change good? I have to question the assumption. My gym was a pretty run-down place. The equipment and the clientele were old. I didn’t care because even though half of the elliptical were always broken, I could find one and get in my miles.
I woke up early on Sunday to go to the gym. I knew that no one would be there at 8:30. I was right. What I wasn’t prepared for was the new equipment. They had cleared out all of the machines and replaced them with new ones. I saw a row of elliptical that looked completely unused. I thought what the heck; try the new ones and then finish with the old.

Not every elliptical is made equally. On the ones that I was used to, I had to go as fast as I could to exceed a ten-minute mile. When I was going fast, I could burn 19 calories a minute. I never really trust those numbers, but they are the numbers I have. With the new ellipticals, I could do a mile and a half in ten minutes and burn about 15 calories a minute. I felt like I was moving at a different angle. Maybe I was a little more straight up with this one as opposed to leaning a bit. I struggled at first but completed seven miles in 50 minutes. I had to do this because when I stopped to go back to my old reliable, I saw that the row behind me also had the new machines. My old reliable was gone. I had no choice.

When I woke up the next morning, walking was a problem. My right calf belt like someone had kicked it repeatedly with a steel-toed boot. I limped around all day. Today is day two after operation new elliptical and my calf is still tight and sore.

I’ll recover, but for now change doesn’t seem like such a good thing.