Return of the Living Dead

Gah!!!! My smugness at my lack of winter illnesses has finally caught up with me and I’ve been well and truly kicked in the bum with the nasty virus that’s been doing the rounds. I’m feeling really frustrated by just how sick I’ve been because I really want to be out on my bike and building up to some decent long rides this month.

The week before last was a good riding week, although I think the signs of my impending illness might have been there now that I look back on it. I did some really nice long-way-to-work rides and even got to the gym three times (I love my new weights programme, but I might have said that already). On Wednesday Pete and I headed out to McLeans for another blast and it was bloody awful. Wednesday was very very cold in the evening, I think it must have been close to 0 and I just couldn’t warm up. I felt flat and cold and exhausted for the whole lap, not good, and maybe I should have listened to my body and taken it easy from then. I felt fine on Thursday and Friday, and felt fantastic on Saturday so we headed to the sandpit for a blast. I love Bottlelake on my singlespeed. I managed to get round the whole inner loop much faster than last time and although knackered at the end I felt that my fitness had really improved. Sunday was a different kettle of fish altogether.

I woke up in the morning and it felt like someone had been pumping phlegm into my lungs overnight. They felt awful. I didn’t feel sick or anything though so I just went and had a bit of a cough to get rid of some of the phlegm. I suspect that might have been my biggest mistake. My throat really hurt after this, but I was still planning on heading out on the roadie for a couple of hours later in the morning. I lazed around in bed for a while and my throat got progressively sorer. Eventually I managed to haul myself into my riding gear and make some breakfast, but I started to feel pretty rough and decided that a couple of hours on the bike in the rain might not be the best thing for me. Probably the best decision I’ve made in a while. Pete was out at his mum’s and by the time he got home I’d pretty much lost my voice and it was completely gone by 3 in the afternoon. And it all went down hill from there. I woke up on Monday still with no voice, but now also weak as a baby, with a headache, hacking cough, and wheezy chest. I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment because apparently everyone was sick (I spoke to a nurse and she said they’d done 20 strep tests that morning and it was only 10am). I spent the day in bed on Monday, barely able to get the kitchen to heat soup up. I went to the docs on Tuesday morning and my throat had stopped hurting so badly, but I had a fever now and my cough was worse. The bloody thing had started to move to my head also. Vaguely reassured that I didn’t have the flu or strep I went home and collapsed back into bed, again pretty much unable to move. Wednesday I was able to make it to the couch, but unable to do much else. Thursday I was starting to feel better and seemed to be able to walk to the kitchen and back without feeling faint. On Friday I woke up feeling further improved so decided that I’d better go to work as there’s so much to do. I pretty much realised this was a mistake about half way to work when I was feeling light headed just driving. By the time I got into my office my fever had cranked up again and I was feeling pretty bad. I managed to get through all my emails and voicemails by 11 and went back home to lie on the couch for the rest of the day. Saturday was similar. Yesterday I managed to walk around town for an hour without my fever going up, but still felt quite wasted by the time I got home. Today I’m feeling better, still really tired and run down, but not so congested and sick feeling. Plus I seem to be surviving being at work, so that’s a good sign.

Luckily for me it’s blood orange season. I love blood oranges, they taste so much better than normal oranges and have lots of good anti-oxidants and vitamin C and stuff. Being sick meant I could justify the expense of getting these instead of their cheaper, more boring kin. So I’ve been ploughing my way through 3 or 4 of these a day. Yum. Unluckily for me the weather over the weekend and today has been fantastic and I’m feeling very grumpy on all the missed riding opportunities. I’m going to ride to work tomorrow so that will be interesting. Hopefully by the weekend I’ll be ready to hit the forest again. I’ve found a race in Cheviot on the 21st of September that looks really fun so I need to get some riding in before that!