So, I came down with the lovely virus that has been going around.  I typically do not get sick but with everyone in my house and my daughter’s house having been through it, I was the last one to finally succumb.  In two words it sucked.  I was diagnosed with bronchitis and medicated by my Doctor, but it still took a week until I began to feel human again.  I have no patience with myself when I can’t do anything due to lack of energy or coughing my lungs out.  My last day at the gym was February 11^th.  I saw the doctor, took my meds, did nothing but walk or clean house, and was losing my mind to put it mildly.

I was having trouble sleeping, I couldn’t concentrate, my entire body ached (due to lack of movement more than the virus), and I just wanted to stuff my face with carbs.  It was cold and rainy here which didn’t help my negative attitude one little bit.  I gave in to my own self-pity and self-sabotage and spent the 12^th through the 15^th coddling myself and feeding my virus homemade chicken soup and… drum roll please… Girl Scout Cookies.  Ugh… all that did was make my negative attitude worse because now I also was angry with myself for eating crap!

Well, Sunday, February 17^th I cleaned house and did laundry most of the day.  I washed blankets and towels and anything I might have come in contact with to get the sickness out of my house.  I must have been up and down my stairs 10 times plus scrubbing and sweeping and… well you get the picture.  Guess what?  I survived… Time to go back to the gym.  I prepared to go Monday morning and wound up being able to do 21 minutes on the treadmill before I had the need to cough… and then I went and did some upper body work with weights… I survived and had energy right through until 9pm after getting up at 5am. 

Tuesday came and I went to the gym again and decided to see how the elliptical (my machine of choice for cardio) would work out.  Well, 12 minutes later, sipping water and trying not to cough I stepped down and stepped over to the treadmill to do another 20 minutes of cardio.  I survived…  I was able to run my heart rate up to 134 without coughing up a lung, so I did, for short intervals.  Then it was to the weights again.  I increased my weights, my reps, and I survived.  So, I tried some dips using the bench with 1 leg extended for some extra effort.  I survived two sets of those.

I may yet heal completely.  Tomorrow is my first day back with the trainer and I plan to get 30 minutes on the elliptical before we do our weight lifting.  Bet I sleep like a baby after being challenged by my trainer… OH, and my eating is back on point of course.  Nothing but protein and produce for the win.

Another life crisis pushed through to the other side to get back on this wagon of good health.