All the Proof I Need

The last month or so I let exercise fall by the wayside in an attempt to manage a sudden onslaught of work. I thought it was the responsible thing to do, that the time I spent most mornings at the gym was much better spent at work for the time being.

I gained back 4 pounds in 3 weeks. My ability to sleep was seriously impacted. My appetite got all f'ed up - I eating out almost daily, felt hungry all the time and couldn't choke down a vegetable for anything. I was cranky and bitchy and started waking up with migraines - 5 in the last 2 weeks. That's some scary shit, guys. Numbers like that are liable to make my doctor slap me back on the medication I just fought so hard to get off of. That's about as many migraines as I've had, total, in the last six months.

Last week, after losing the second day in a row to a migraine - a puke-fest that was by far the worst I've had in a couple of years, the pain from which kept me in bed for about 6 hours, and the after-effects of which (dizziness, weakness, brain-fog) kept me useless for about 6 more - I realized that I was actually losing more work time to migraines and feeling crappy than I'd have spent at the gym anyway.

So I resolved to put the workouts back in, even if it meant working late. I eased back into things last week and felt remarkably good. Sleep patterns returning to normal, eating patterns returning to normal, optimism and patience returning, lost one of those pesky pounds I'd gained back. All the proof I need to know I'm making the right decision, and that dropping exercise cold turkey for work was horrible mistake.

Went to the gym today as planned. Started doing a 5K, as planned. Taking it easy, lost a lot to injuries this year, not out to prove anything. Did the first 2 miles to the HR monitor in Zone 2ish, then turned off the 'out of zone' beep at mile 2 to see if I could just run the rest.

I could. And it wasn't bad - HR in Zone 3-4ish and I felt fine. In fact, I felt so good I kept right on going to a new personal best for running distance - 1.25 miles! I felt like I could have kept right on running and it was tough to stop, but with my injury record for this season I wasn't going to break the 25% rule my first day back.

Pace wasn't great - 14:40/mile - but I'm really happy and can't wait to do it again. I feel like I finally have a shot at running down that 5K goal that's been eluding me for 18 months.