So I’ve been doing these fitness diary entries pretty regularly over the course of the past half of the year. Sometimes I feel compelled to write that my training has been going great, everything’s fine, and I’m really going to rock the next race.
…But the truth is that everyone has their ups and downs, and this fitness diary is here to keep me honest. So the truth is:
- my diet is less than optimal and I don’t want to look at the scale
- I haven’t been sleeping well lately
- right now I have the beginnings of a cold
Let’s work through that list backwards, shall we? Yesterday I was already feeling a little congested in the head, and considering it rained in the morning I wasn’t very inclined to complete my assigned swim. But the sun came out and I went out to the pool and really enjoyed the session. I even got faster this week!
Then last night the congestion began in earnest, and I woke up this morning with a post-nasal drip, sore throat, and a congestion headache. Ugh. It’s why I distrust swim sessions the most when I’m already feeling fragile — swimming is the most likely to kick off a cold I’m trying to shoo away.
I do think that my poor sleep lately was the reason I didn’t have great immunity to fend off the cold virus anyway. I’ve been pulling some long hours writing and video editing, and even if I’m done my brain keeps working into the night. Add to that I might have overworked myself in training again and didn’t recover well enough from racing (which causes me to sleep poorly), and it was really only a matter of time before my immune system weakened.
And the first item on the list is my diet. Lately I’ve been eating anything if the fancy strikes (including indulging in potato chips again! hoo boy), and while that hasn’t impacted my waistline yet due to the volume of my training, I’m also in denial that it eventually will, hence my avoidance of the scale. A lot of this eating isn’t because of hunger; it’s more emotional in nature. Anyway, I don’t punish myself with exercise just because I ate too much. I just need to eat more high-quality food and steer clear of the junk food again.
So that is the state of my fitness this week. Hopefully next week I’ll be better!
