12 February 2010

Training Week 3

Thankfully, this is only week three and I already did this Saturday's ride.  I have been sick since Monday.  Horrible sore throat, a voice that comes in and out at its leisure, congestion, and now, a very full and heavy head.  Yes, the dreaded head/chest cold.  I have not been on my bike since Sunday.  In fact, I've barely been off the couch.  Today, I decided it was time to mentally kick this.  I got up, blew my nose, showered, blew my nose, and dressed.  THAT was exhausting.  I was light-headed and had to lay down for a few minutes and hope the room would stop spinning.  When it did, I headed downstairs intent on gathering my things and heading to the office.  By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, I knew it wasn't going to happen.  If I can't even walk down some stairs without being exhausted, I am certainly not going to get a bike ride or run in. 
To make matters worse, tomorrow morning I will board a flight for Las Vegas.  Oh how I so look forward to the pressure that a flight will add to my already pressurized head.  I'm also sure that others on the flight will truly enjoy having me fly with them.  Yes, let's all share in the germ fest.  I have my sanitizer and my tissues and my apologies to anyone that gets this sickness.
The reason I am sharing this is because this is the second winter that I have been out sick like this.  I generally avoid the colds and flus.  I have come to find that it is a side effect of training outdoors in this season, though.  Last year it was running and this year cycling.  Have I learned my lesson?  Absolutely - more vitamins, more warm clothes, and more tissues.  I am not a fan of treadmills or indoor bike trainers and reserve their use for bad snow storms.  The rain, well, I live in Portland...I'll deal with it.
If anyone has any tips (aside from "stay inside") for avoiding the sickness when training outdoors in cooler weather, I would love to hear them.
Back from Vegas on Tuesday and hopefully, I'll have a lovely ride Tuesday evening (at which time it will have been 9 days since my last ride!).

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