DOMS

There's an acronym for everything. That one happens to be Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness. Oddly enough, no one actually knows what causes DOMS. Muscle soreness during and immediately after exercise is the result of lactic acid that is produced under anaerobic conditions. Basically, your breathing/circulation can't keep up with your muscles' oxygen demand. That lactic acid is cleared out of the muscles and surrounding tissue within a matter of hours though, so it can't be the cause, and no other plausible explanation has been offered for the soreness you feel the day after a hard workout. Which, by the way is the point of this little physiology lesson. I hurt.

I was okay when I woke up this morning. Until I tried to move. Luckily, hungry outweighed sore and got me downstairs for breakfast, and I managed to work the worst of the kinks out pretty easily. I rode into school a bit slower than usual, but not too bad. And then I had a 5.5 hour lab class on my feet the entire time. By the end my legs were aching so badly I could hardly walk.

So, I ate lunch after lab, then registered for my next term, and then what did I decide to do? Go to the gym. Yeah, I'm brilliant. One heavy lifting workout later, and I limped home on my bike and am now curled up in bed and planning to not move again all night. Can't wait to see how bad the hurt is in the morning. Maybe I'll take tomorrow off.