At 4:15am, something woke me up and I remember my stomach hurting. Too much good food. Diet starts tomorrow. I took a few swigs of my remaining Sprite from when we got home (with an "oh-my-gosh-I-ate-too-much-good-food-and-won't-eat-again-for-a-week" feeling that dissolved once the Sprint was in me). I started feeling the saliva thickening in my mouth and my nose starting to run, my tell-tale signs that the flu is coming. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I was in the bathroom longer than in my bed for the next 4.5 hours.
The first thing I did when I realized this wasn't just a one-time deal was text my mom. We had awesome plans to go to the city and go to one of those fancy shmancy movie theaters like we usually do on her birthday. I was also super pumped to be taking her to Verizon to get her the new iPhone for her Christmas present. I did not have time for this sickness and was in tears thinking about what wouldn't be happening today.
Pretty much.
I've had a lot of time to think today. I haven't done much besides eat a banana, some saltines, drink some Sprite and G2, in terms of "normal" things anyway. I've just been sitting in my bed, falling in and out of sleep, so decided to write in my blog since that was number one personal goal over Winter Break. Before I recap my "2013 Year in Review," I thought I'd write a post on how important taking time off is.
For those who know me, this is probably a very surprising choice to write about since I don't do a very good job of taking time off. Today is definitely one of those examples. After what was hopefully my last trip to the bathroom, my immediate thought was, Well, running is out of the picture, but biking shouldn't jostle my stomach too much. Um, what??
Apparently, J.M. and I should be BFFs.
Clearly I'm addicted to working out. Not a bad thing to be addicted to when you consider the world we live in, but definitely something to think about as too much working out can lead to bad things. This current week is actually our recover week in terms of training with Bill. Ryan's sickness came on Thursday, so taking every day until today off, while not in the "recovery week plans," wasn't bad timing. While Ryan was going through his sickness, I was plowing through recovery week "workouts." We didn't talk training as, honestly, if you were unable to workout, would you really want to hear about my workouts?
I was so excited last night when Ryan told me he was going to try to workout this morning. It would have been incredible to have my training partner back as that is such a special bond we share. Unfortunately, my body had other plans and I am taking a day off.
Yep.
You heard right.
No working out for this girl today.
The last time I took a day off was when this little beauty occurred...in June.
So, to say I could afford to take a day off would be an understatement. I think sometimes multi-sport athletes don't always think of taking a day of literally no working out because we realize all the different muscle groups are being used different depending which sport we are doing. While this is true, our body does deserve a day or two of just relaxing. Wrapping Christmas presents instead of pounding the roads. Baking cookies instead of spinning on the bike. Going sledding instead of swimming (though, they do both get you extremely cold at times and can give you a pretty good workout despite not "feeling it" like with running and biking).
I guess my point in this specific blog is to remind my friends and family and blog-readers that our bodies do indeed deserve a break. Luckily for me, my body just gave me what I believe is the 24-hour flu, but in cases like Ryan's, I fully believe it's the body telling us that it needs a break. We put SO much stress on our bodies, whether we are a one-sport or multi-sport athlete, that taking those occasional days off is necessary. We aren't super human, and we aren't promised forever. Take some days off to just live and enjoy non-working-out related things. Enjoy your friends and family that don't "get" what you do and spend a day just being a normal person. Mental breaks are just as necessary as physical breaks, and if you don't take the physical breaks....the mental breaks might come after you.
As the year comes to a close, I do plan on writing a year-in-review recap, but want to emphasize that the breaks we take will only make us stronger in the long run. Pun intended.
For now, enjoy the rest of this holiday season my friends, and I promise a year-in-review recap soon!
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