A Time for Maintenance

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Hey there stranger, it's been a while - nine days since my last post. I haven't been silent for that long in quite some time. It's a combination of things. As I said in my last post, I've been grouchy. Add to that, I was sick. Add to that, the lack of sleep I've been getting lately is adding up. Plus, the life stress. And working more days. Oh, and I've been getting headaches again lately.

It's all too much sometimes. I allowed for the blogging to slip on the priority list while I focused on other things, like sleep. And getting over the cold. These days I seem to be either getting sick, sick, or recovering. Why the non-existent immune system? I think not enough sleep is at least one factor.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm still recovering from the cold, I'd say 85-90% well. I'm still coughing a bit here and there, my nose gets stuffed up now and then too. Oh, and the headaches. I've had more headaches in the last 10 days then I've had in the past two years combined. One night my head woke me at 4am hurting so bad I had to dig out some old pain pills for relief. I think it's the stress.

In the remote past I got headaches all the time, with a standing order for pain meds because they were so intense. I'd assumed that I was just a person that got headaches. Back then it didn't occur to me  they could be related to my lack of fitness and poor diet. But when I got in shape, started exercising regularly and eating better, they all but went away. I got minor ones now and then but nothing Excedrin can't handle.

So now they're back, and since I'm exercising fairly regularly I'm assuming it's stress, and not enough sleep, and not-so-great food choices. I'm not going crazy on the food or anything, but I'm making kinda crappy choices more often than I'd like. At the very least I know that's not helping. What is helping is the exercise, it's my saving grace right now. Seriously, I think it's keeping me out of a padded cell.

On that note, how about a quick run-down of my exercise feats of late? I took all of last week off from exercise on account of being sick. On Saturday I finally got out for a run.

Saturday: What a run it was; 6 miles along the northern California coastline. Here's a pic looking down on the area in which I ran. The miles were flat, some rain and wind at times, but I hung in there. I think my pace was in the 10:15 range but I can't remember and haven't uploaded my Garmin stats yet.

Sunday: Another run, this time 3 miles in better weather. I had to drag myself out for this one, I really just wanted to rest. But after a week off I gave myself the needed nudge out the door. After the run I did a few exercises outside, some pushups, squats, and a plank or two - just to remind my body.

Monday: Rest. I was tired from all that running after being sick. Not to mention I was still kind of sick. And I got to spend some time in a hot tub with a book.

Tuesday: Gym visit - upright bike for 25 minutes (level 8), back/biceps/core. It was tough. And I was still coughing. So that night I went by my nurse buddy's place and had her listen to my lungs. No pneumonia but still plenty of wheezing. Also, my pulse was a tad higher than normal and my oxygen saturation was a tad lower than it should be. She told me to SLEEP and take better care of myself, in no uncertain terms. Thanks Catherine!

Wednesday: Gym visit - treadmill run. I ran at 6.5mph for most of the run, then in the last half-mile I increased it to 7.0mph for a total of 3 miles in 27:27. I haven't run that fast on a treadmill in a while. After that I did chest/triceps/core.

My right hip started really hurting both during the run and through my workout. I powered through as best I could but I was bummed out to have it hurting again, I thought I was past that. Today I was walking funny as a result. But it wasn't so bad that I couldn't workout.

Thursday: Gym visit - upright bike for 25 minutes (level 8), legs/shoulders/core.

So that's my exercise of late. The eating has been so-so, nothing stellar but nothing I feel terrible about either. I'm not out of control or using the stress as an excuse to go off the rails. My weight is in the 143 range, my body fat is at 29%. I'd like to see both of those go down a bit but now is not the time to be striving for that.

Now is a time for maintenance. So I'm maintaining. I'm not losing, I'm not gaining, I'm not throwing my hat in the ring nor am I throwing in the towel. I'm doing what I can to stay where I am. Because when it comes to my body, my weight, my fitness level, my eating habits - where I am is a great place to be.