Well, every peak has to have a valley, right?
After a glorious six month milestone recap last week, early Thursday I jetted off to Houston, TX to do six shows at the Joke Joint Comedy Showcase. I returned late last night. It’s always a lot of fun to visit the club and hang out with my pals in H-Town. I also had a few meetings in town for a freelance project I’m working on. It was a grueling schedule.
The cab pulled up in front of my house at 5:50AM early Thursday morning. I was awake, but only after 3 hours of sleep (problem #1).
I finally landed in Houston at 3pm, went straight to the club with the owner Rachel (my dear friend), where I stayed for the duration of the night. Friday brought an early AM wakeup call for our meeting about an hour away, followed by a crafternoon class at an assisted living facility that Rachel taught (the most adorable), and early club arrival for the 8p/10:30 shows. I got ready in the bathroom. That night, we left the club about 1:30am, got in bed about 2:30am (problem #2) and didn’t set an alarm for Saturday. GLORIOUS, since I felt so sleep deprived due to the Wednesday night debacle. We met the show’s emcee, Jermaine Fowler, and the headliner, Tim
Harmston, for sushi at noon and then managed to run a couple more errands before getting to the club at 2 to set up for a 3:30 crafternoon class that Rachel was teaching onsite. I’ve never seen so many talented crafters! This class followed immediately by shows at 8 and 10:30 pm again. That night, we again left the club late – about 2:30 am. Then Sunday. Oh, Sunday. I slept in until 11. Still exhausted (problem #3). We had lunch and got ready for the day as the club was hosting a corporate show and holiday party for a local Home Depot. Again, we were at the club by 4 to see it get transformed into it’s holiday grandeur. You guys, I even helped the team do last minute prep. I am a contributing human. Plus it was like the most physical activity I had had in 4 days. Sigh (Problem #4). The Home Depot party went late and we ended up leaving the club after 1am.
Now, before this trip even began, I had already made a connection with CrossFit Friendswood and fully committed to the idea of visiting them to do my Diane challenge finals and to get a workout or two in. This is important for you to know. The steps were in place.
So here I am, Sunday, not having worked out yet, feeling bad about my decisions and exhausted from lack of sleep, and feeling uneasy about going into a gym that’s not MY GYM (oh my god you guys Solcana had the best 90s party on Saturday night and they made me feel like I was a part of it from 1500 miles away through hilarious text messages, FaceTime attempts, and Facebook Messenger. I LOVE YOU GUYS I REALLY DO).
http://vimeo.com/113885100
Regardless, I made the decision to go to CrossFit Friendswood Monday for the 6am class. It was the only time that would allow me to get back and get ready for my 11am meeting in downtown Houston for my freelance work before I hopped a plane back to MSP at 2:30. SO BUSY.
I got into bed Sunday at 3am (problem #5).
My alarm was set for 5:10am. I had determined it would take 15 minutes for me to get to the gym. I was going to do this.
The alarm went off. I got up. I put my eyes in and got dressed and then I had to sit down because I started to feel a little woozy and realized that at that point, what I really needed was sleep. So you know what I did? I went back to bed. My body was not feeling it. SLEEP IS IMPORTANT. A recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. A short-lived bout of insomnia is generally nothing to worry about. The bigger concern is chronic sleep loss, which can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power, reports the Harvard Women’s Health Watch. Here are six reasons not to scrimp on sleep:
- Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
- Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
- Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
- Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
- Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
- Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
So, in some ways I failed this travel week: I didn’t do my Diane Challenge Finals (yet). I didn’t visit another CrossFit to report back to you about. I fell off of my kick ass schedule I had been so proud of keeping up with. I didn’t sleep much. I haven’t been to the gym IN A WEEK.
But, you know what? Solutions to problems 1-5 include the following: I’m not gonna beat myself up. I listened to my body. And I did sleep 7 hours last night in my own bed. And I’m ready to get back in the gym tonight with my Solcana CrossFit homies. I’ll try this again when I’m on the road next month in Milwaukee. I’M GONNA DO IT MY WAY, YOU GUYS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPxd2KVvNCo