Week 12: Setbacks

It started last Wednesday with a ginger cookie recipe.  It seemed harmless enough.  I've made cookies before and had one or two and been able to easily ignore the rest.  So I made the cookies.  I couldn't stop with just one or two.  I ended up eating a dozen of them before the weekend arrived.  They were like crack cocaine, and by the time I weighed in on Sunday morning I was already feeling less than happy with myself, and the one pound gain did nothing to help.  

After the weigh in came the Sunday morning workout, and I realized 10 minutes in that something was wrong.  I was exhausted, and was only able to finish two 4 minute running intervals before my muscles were so fatigued I couldn't continue.  I opted to walk for the rest of my workout, and by the time I was finished my stomach was very upset and my muscles had started to ache.  It was noon when I realized I was suffering from all the classic symptoms of food poisoning.  (I narrowed it down to two culprits in my fridge, and both have been disposed of.)  Fortunately, it was not what I would call a “serious” case, but I was still down for the count.  

I spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday in bed.  This morning I attempted to run intervals again and wasn't even able to make it through one, so I opted for speed walking again, even though I was only able to manage 30 minutes.  At this point I am extremely frustrated and starting to feel anxious.  I’m running my first 5K in less than two weeks and because of this illness I’ve lost two training days.  I know in the grand scheme of things two days is probably not much, but it’s making me anxious, none the less.

So, yeah, this week as been a week of setbacks, both dietary and fitness.  But I’m going to overcome these setbacks.  That ginger cookie recipe has been relegated to the dark depths of the nearest trash can.  The food poisoning symptoms are much milder than they were even 12 hours ago, which means it’s likely I’ll be able to run a good portion of my scheduled intervals tomorrow.  

And most importantly?  Giving up never even crossed my mind.