Fitness Hurdles

John and the kids seemed to have thought it nice to share their cold with me, so I'm not feeling so well today. That doesn't make for a good motivator to work out. I'm debating whether it's better for me to stick to my program or to rest. If I stick with it, I may depress my immune system enough for this cold to root more deeply, and I could end up being sick longer. If I rest, I could be crushing the minute momentum I have to continue working out. Both have great merit. Now would be a good time to be able to see the future, so I could tell where each decision would lead. Unfortunately, I haven't the ability.

I'm leaning toward working out, because I'm so scared to take a day off now and getting off track again. But what if I do get more sick? Then I might be forced to rest even more days than the one I'm thinking about doing now. What if I get more sick anyway? At least if I work out today, I would have one day more than if I rest today and have to rest tomorrow and the day after that anyway. My nose and body are telling me to take a bath and get back in bed, but my brain is reminding me how bad I am about overcoming such bumps in the road.

The road has been an awfully bumpy one lately. My favorite fitness site is barely working anymore, since Weider bought them. The free training programs they used to have are all deactivated, and my account is no longer present there. I can't access my old workout log or anything. It's so discouraging to me, because it was the one place I found that really seemed to fit me. There are lots of other great fitness sites on the web, but that's the one I loved most, and now it's gone, another little fish swallowed by big business.

Another blow came this weekend when I read the adventure racing mailing list I'm on and found out the Hi-Tec race I was just in will not be held in Pittsburgh next year. This is the original location of the race, the birthplace. The race coordinator talked about what a special place Pittsburgh had in his heart just this October. I guess it was so special that it ascended beyond being a site for his race. I hoped to run it again next year, but if I want to do that, I will have to go to Washington, D.C., which seems to be the replacement for Pittsburgh. I don't know who would go with me for that or if I can afford it at that time. I'm letting my frustration and worries get the best of me. I'm just angry. It was a big motivating factor for me, and it's potentially gone.

Maybe this is a sign I need to stop relying on outside factors to make me exercise. If I have a deadline or a dated goal, it's much easier for me to do than to do it just to be healthy. That's not a tangible goal like running a race or losing ten pounds. I feel much better with dates and numbers, things I can chart on a graph or plan on a timeline. This whole "just be healthy" thing isn't so easy, especially when there's a bag of Heath Bites staring me in the face right now as opposed to 300 pounds staring back at me from a mirror in five years.

That vision sure does affect me at the moment though. I think I will work out today. That cup of tea cleared up my nasal passages enough. I'm feeling better. Hopefully this won't be a bad decision.