For the past week and a half, I’ve been involved with a very talented and a tad crazy group of people to compete in a hackathon – where we produce a fully developed product delivering actual value to our users and company. Yesterday was the final presentation and judging; we had to pitch to senior leadership. My stress levels were through the roof, even as we were having so much fun! My workouts a chore that was keeping me from doing more with my team. What was that saying … “take care of yourself”? Even my kids noticed my stress levels but it was heightened by getting more stressed at having to do workouts.
Now that I know that I will face the kind of intense stress that will plummet my energy levels, I can be aware of a few things that got in my way of workouts these past 2 weeks so I can learn how to not let work stress affect my workouts.![How to not let stress affect your workouts](http://www.fauxrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Screen-Shot-2018-01-25-at-10.09.19-PM.jpg)
When I was on my computer all day and night, worried about finishing up in the deadline, I was carrying the mental stress even after I closed the computer. It was harder for me to get moviing and to do anything else other than work more.
The only times I could get a workout in was when I woke up early enough. But even that backfired since I was going to bed late and early wakeup meant that I was running low on sleep.
Not enough sleep can wreak havoc on mind and body. The body is more exhausted and I feel reduced motivation. Even though I was not watching TV late at night, staying up for work was reducing my body’s natural enthusiasm and everything felt like a chore.
Short regular breaks
A desk job sitting at the computer for long hours is definitely not conducive to pulling in workouts. Even when I had my workouts scheduled, I had no energy to get up and actually go. If I had taken frequent breaks to just walk around and stretch, I think I would’ve been a little more effective in sharing the inertia.
Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate
During the hackathon, we were well fed – breakfast, lunch and snacks were arranged for all the teams. So there was never going hungry or forgetting to eat. But what I did keep forgetting in the stress of it all was to drink water. I’d start the day with a bottle but it would taper off as the day kept going. I could feel myself being dehydrated and that would make me feel like my energy was being sucked out.
Added stress of workouts aka plan better
In a way, this was a weird one for me. I was stressed with work but I was even more stressed when I missed a day. And that feeling compounded when one missed day became three. And the day that I missed my long run – worst.feeling.ever. Even though I knew that I consciously gave up my long run in order to not be hurried with … you guessed it … more work and the minions’ swim meet.
I don’t advocate not making time for workouts, but perhaps if I had reconciled it with a 45 minute run instead of a 2hr run, I would have gotten something in. In this case, the 2hr workout was adding stress that I could’ve avoided.
As much as I HATED missing my workouts and it stressed me out more, it was all worth it. We won the hackathon and await to see where that leads our eclectic team.
![Getting through stress](http://www.fauxrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Screen-Shot-2018-01-25-at-9.36.09-PM.jpg)
How do you deal with stress? Do you find that it affects your workouts? How do you manage to keep stress at bay and still get a good workout in?
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