Sunday, February 17, 2008

week 4--SICKNESS

Well, I guess it was bound to happen. If I am looking at this training program as a lifestyle change, there was bound to be a week when I was sick. This week was it. I missed one of my training sessions this week because I had the flu. I did however manage to get in 2 workouts on my own. I know it is short of my 5 days a week, but I am cutting myself some slack.
Monday i blogged about just not wanting to be at my workout. While I did learn a few things from it, on tuesday when I discovered that my world was spinning and i had a 101 fever I felt like less of a cry baby. I was cooped up in my house until Friday when I was going stir crazy. Since I wasn't running a fever, I went to the Y to a water aerobics class. Part of the justification in that was that even if I had germs to share, the chlorine in the pool would take care of it. CRAZY, I know but I felt like I needed to get moving. I was exhausted to say the least afterwards. I just now got back from the Y having done cardio for about 40 minutes. I still don't feel like I have the best amount of energy to devote to working out, but I feel good for giving it a go even when I didn't feel like it.
In week 4 of working out, being sick brought a few questions to my mind. When should you skip the workout and when should you go ahead with one? I read online that running a fever is a good indication to stay in and not exercise. What if you have a head cold? Are you supposed to listen to your body? I have no idea!
Second, what about eating? I didn't get out of my bed until midday and a few days I really couldn't eat anything. It was difficult to get those fruits and vegetables in. I certainly didn't really count calories. Then my biggest vice I have is that I love coke!! I have done pretty well over the past 3 weeks in pretty much cutting them out. However, the minute I started feeling bad was the minute I just had to have a coke. Oh, and for you diet drinkers out there, I just can't do it! I admit I overdid it on the cokes, but they tasted so good. Its strange but I drink them when my stomach hurts and when my throat hurts. My great grandmother used to give "let" us drink coke when we had upset stomachs growing up. Most of my childhood, I was not allowed to drink coke--I think because it cost too much money to let 4 kids drink coke. I drink it when my throat hurts because it just plain feels good. So, I guess in a sense coke is my comfort drink?!
Anyway, this week has challenged me to do my best to be good when I don't feel good. I haven't beat myself up over the cokes I drank or any other foods I may have consumed that weren't exactly diet friendly. In the long run of what I hope is many more years of living healthy, this was just a week. I didn't do it perfectly, but I did see myself going for fruits and veggies when I would have rather gone through a McDonalds drive through.
Week 4 may have been characterized by sickness for me but i see it as progress!!

No comments: