Training and The H1N1

Well today is the 28th of October three days before the little ghouls and goblins, one day after the premier of the Michael Jackson, over hyped (son and I went to the 10:00 pm showing last night) “This is It” movie, two days after not having a fever over 100 degrees in a week and finally, Twenty Eight days after the H1N1 hit our house. Now there is an opening sentence for you. Yes the H1N1 is hitting everyone in a little bit different of a way and I was not even suppose to be in the age group that was susceptible to it.

I have found that the occasional break from my recreational enjoyment (training) has worked out to be of a great benefit, but a month break between being sick and the weather, scares me. While this month has seen temperatures in the eighties, November is scheduled to start in the sixties yet, the high today was thirty degrees and we will be looking at fourteen inches of snow by the time it stops tomorrow. This means a long, unexpected layoff at a time were the weather will be the dictator of my ride schedules for the next five months. My only hope is there will be plenty of good weather in between the occasional annoyances we call white gold. The worst of this is the effects from flu. I am very proud of what my fitness level has become over the past eighteen months or so. As I sit here hunt and pecking out this nonsense on my keyboard, I can hear the gurgling in my chest with every breath that breaks into a seemingly endless deep cough every two minutes, with nothing coming out. From being able to return from a forty mile ride and have my resting heart rate of seventy two back within a minute and a half to walking up the stairs gasping for breath in less than a month is hard to take. I have lost ten more pounds but not the good pounds. The definition in my legs has dwindled as well as my arms. Most disheartening though, ladies you can appreciate this, I have gained some lose skin over my normally tight gluts, go figure. It will all get better, I know this for a fact. The problem is, as the body ages it is harder to get back what you lose. This is going to be a very interesting winter. I have faith that since I am not an elite athlete, I will not have that much to regain. I worry that since I am not an elite athlete that I will not be able to regain what I lost. It’s all a vicious circle that lets me know I need to get a life.

Till Next Post, Ride Safe and Stay Warm
“G”