Week of Rest

This week did not turn out at all how I'd planned. My long run on Saturday was underwhelming, I think due to the oppressive humidity that morning. I did a solid 6.5 but it felt hard and I wanted to go for 7 before setting out but that became an impossibility. Sunday's I have reserved for my HIIT sets and they went well. Monday I did my usual set of 30:20:10 intervals, upping to 14 total with one minute walking between the first and last 7. All relatively good.

When I got to work on Monday I started sneezing and having watery eyes - I thought I was having an allergy attack. As the day wore on into evening I got progressively stuffier and felt worse. Tuesday was arguably the most important day at work for me since I started and I did my best to push through. I got through about 3 hours before I had to go home, and spent Wednesday at home too. The early days of my illness felt like a sinus infection but I had hopes that rest, tea, and eating clean would knock it out. I worked Thursday and Friday, and by the time I got to Friday I started feeling a constant feeling of there being a catch in my throat and that I couldn't breathe properly.

I stopped at urgent care on the way home (no doctor here yet), and found out I have an upper respiratory infection. I started a z pack of antibiotics on Friday. The nurse told me it was good I came in before it turned into pneumonia or bronchitis. She also advised me that I should absolutely not exercise until I was 100% better because forcing myself to breathe deeply or rapidly could worsen my infection. I have not gone this long without exercising in at least 2 years.

I'm trying to make the best of it and really rest. It's easy to not let yourself rest properly, there are a million things to do and I hate feeling like I'm being lazy. I don't want this infection to linger so I've been taking naps every day and spending time in bed reading. I won't say that I'm addicted to exercise, but not being able to do it is taking a toll. I even got jealous today watching a scene in a show where someone was exercising!

I have trouble turning off the negative voice in my head that's fretting about gaining weight, losing muscle tone, and a weakened aerobic capacity that is likely going to follow this much time off. I did weigh 150lbs fully clothed in the mid-afternoon at the urgent care, so I have to remind myself that I am surely exaggerating these concerns. I saw a quick article from Vega this week about extended rest and I'm trying to harness the attitude that this time away has been like a full recharge of my batteries, and will help me re-ignite my passion for what I've been doing.

In other blog news I decided to go back through my old entries and tag my recipes. I'm not done but when I am I hope to put a link to posts tagged that way on the home page. I also hope to post more recipes!