By Virginia Winder
Over-working is appallingly bad for my health.
On Friday, I worked for 18 hours. That was 3am to 9pm, without a lunch break and no dinner.
Blame the migraine, which put me back terribly when I still had deadlines to meet.
Not only was my brain fizzing with over-use, but I had no time for exercise, my family, friends, the dog, eating properly or writing this blog.
Even had stress chest pains again.
I did walk home from town though, which sort of counts as activity, but not training.
When I went to bed I couldn't sleep properly because my mind wouldn't shut up and I was terribly restless.
Saturday was another rush day and I missed exercising because I was too tired to get up early, then had a radio slot to do (love it) and an early wedding (beautiful and wouldn't have missed it for the world).
Won't beat myself up though because nothing good will come from it.
I did start to feel down though and thinking "I'm a failure" thoughts, but decided it's better to be kind to myself and simply start over again.
There's this wonderful song by Michael Franti called Never Too Late, which always reminds me that at any moment of any day, you can start over again.
So am back into it.
Went for a 1 hour 15-minute fast walk today and even ran some of it. To make certain that my Achilles wasn't injured, I only ran downhill.
Well mostly. I was on the lee breakwater and my aim was to fast-walk past this couple in front of me before they reached a particular puddle. If I got there first the All Blacks would win, but these people were getting too close so I had to break into a run. Whew, I made it.
Ridiculous, I know, but we play these little mind games don't we? A mate of mine called Mark Belcher plays mind soccer while out running. If he passes someone he gets one point and if he gets passed, the opposition gets a point.
I got some big ticks for eating today and yesterday. Made an extreme effort to choose healthy food and feel better for it.
People are always giving me great tips and research information, like this one about monkeys and protein (click on link - after you've finished reading!).
In other news, I did a cardiac exercise stress test this week. It was a followup to my wee trip to hospital with chest pains several weeks ago. My resting pulse was 55 and it took ages to get my heart rate up to the required level for the test and, afterwards, I was down to under 100 in less than three minutes. Apparently all of these things were great news.
I've also lost more weight!
Slowly, surely it's happening, even though I do get damn impatient.
Meanwhile, my quest to be better continues...
This week I'm having a session with a personal trainer from the gym to get my triathlon schedule on track and have an appointment with one of Taranaki's best swimmers for some style tips.
Have definitely increased my water intake, which one friend suggested may have been the reason for my migraine.
Another woman talked about how she has lost heaps of weight simply by running and healthy eating - not dieting - and how it's completely changed her outlook on life.
"I feel like I have woken up from a very long sleep," she told me.
Inspirational stuff!
Today, I:
Walked/ran for 1 hour 15 minutes (and the All Blacks!)
Slept for 10 hours
Ate fantastically well
Drank heaps of water
Had three cups of coffee
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