Calibration

Listening to your Body: A Play in Two Acts

Remember yesterday, when I said that everything felt fine? That wasn't entirely accurate, or at least didn't stay that way. I went home from work with a bit of a headache and just felt really tired, so I ditched my planned workout. I was mostly caught on sleep and had gotten a fair bit of sleep, so it was all rather mysterious. I had a few possibilities for why it was happening:

1. Insufficient calorie intake / hypoglycemia
2. Overtraining /endocrine system fatigue
3. Dehydration
4. Lack of sleep
5. Caffeine withdrawal
6. Electrolyte deficiency
7. Recurrence of last week's cold

I thought I'd pretty well escaped from any possible hydration or fueling issue. Illness, overtraining, and sleep would only be fixed by going to bed, either at my normal bedtime or a little before. That left electrolyte issues, which I was rather surprised by, since I'd been actively taking them while running Sunday. Yeah, I finished with salt caking most of my skin, but I had been good about getting replacement sodium, right?

Upon checking the label for my electrolyte tablets, I discovered that the sodium content was lower than I'd thought... probably low enough that the three I'd taken during over 4 hours of running were probably not enough. After taking a few more, I soon felt much better.

The lesson? Listen to your body and educate yourself on the science behind how it works, but realize that you may need to actually experience something like electrolyte deficiency before you can learn to prevent it.