Wednesday, December 22, 2010

You gotta know your limits.

Today... today was an interesting day. It started out fairly well, I was very proud of my whole wheat english muffin with pumpkin topping, I drank only one cup of coffee, and felt like I'd had plenty of water. But somewhere, something went terribly wrong.

I met up with my trainer at the gym at a quarter to 1 p.m. We did all of the exercises I'm used to, but this time, my body revolted.

Halfway through my second circuit and I was light-headed. By the time we finished the third, I was feeling queasy. Ten minutes later, my trainer had called the paramedics. Awesome.

I had gone into the women's locker room to try and not vomit, and I leaned on the counter. After leaning on the counter I discovered I couldn't not lean on it, every time I stood up my vision swam, I became insanely cold, and was literally unable to walk. I couldn't even make it over to the benches to sit down.

The manager brought in a mat, made me lay down, put my legs up, and then force fed me Gatorade.

I don't have any idea what happened to me, but I got better, and didn't need to endure the embarrassment of the paramedics because I got better before they got there. But, it's definitely not how I'd imagined my day would go.

Note to self: don't be so stubborn you ignore what your body is telling you.

5 comments:

  1. Oh geez, glad you're okay! That's happened to me before and I know how terrible it feels. I've spent more that one gym session lying down on the bench in the locker room trying to get the room to stop spinning.

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  2. Oh sweetie - how scary! (Your body probably needed some sugar to keep you from fainting - hence the Gatorade.)

    Glad you are alright :)

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  3. Thanks for the concern ladies - it was super crazy! The manager called me this morning to see if I would go to the doctor... I think she wants to minimize the chance something would happen to me...

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  4. In all the years I have pushed myself in martial arts, the gym throwing weights, training Muay Thai for 8 hours a day in 100 degree weather.....the most important lesson I have learned is ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. There is a thin line between pushing yourself and pushing too far.

    I have had similar experiences, flat laid out wherever I stood. Your body is telling you something. Usually, and for people our age, it is dehydration. Just because you drink a lot of water doesn't mean you are hydrated. You don't need sugar to work out, hence ketosis, but you do need electrolytes to retain water. Go to the health store and buy electrolyte packets to add to your water...they're better than Gatorade. I drink at least one a day.

    Listen to our body. If you feel irritable, shaky, get a cold sore or canker sore, achy....then back off. Sorry that happened to you....it's a scary feeling.

    C

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  5. Hey C - Just noticed this - thanks for the advice, I'm definitely "scared straight" and will be paying closer attention in the future.
    Hope you had a great holiday!

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