Sick…Bleh

Last week Saturday, the day of my first lengthy bike ride, also marked the day of impending doooooooom.  Substitute doom with sore throat and runny nose that won’t stop and you’ll have a fairly accurate picture of how my week has gone.  Add a sprinkling of “job-that-makes-you-talk-all-day” to that and you have a very cranky Kam. 

My throat was somewhat sore on Saturday after my ride, which I assumed was due to dehydration and possible mild heat stroke.  Saturday night it got worse.  Woke me up a few times too.  Sunday was scratchy throat city, and by the end of my work day on Monday I had all but lost my voice.  Monday was most definitly a rest day.  Tuesday marked the change from a sore throat to a running nose and clogged sinuses.  I love sneezing constantly and sniffling in people’s ears all day, it’s the highlight of my week really.  A girl’s gotta have something to look forward to when it feels like her nose has been replaced with a wide open faucet. 

One thing that I’m questioning is how I got sick.  The only thing that’s changed is the increase in activity, which is apparently supposed to be good for you.  I was feeling fine prior to my bike ride on Saturday.  I’m wondering if I would’ve gotten sick even if I hadn’t gone for the ride, or if it started it?  I also wonder if the increase in exercise has made my lymphatic system go into overdrive and try to KILL ME.  Cos is convinced that my body is rebelling and probably hates me.

Despite the leaky faucet on my face and sandpaper in my throat, I have kept up with the activity this week.  Tuesday and Thursday (yesterday) were Bike days of about 3.5 miles each.  Yesterday was also a 20 minute Yoga and 15 minute Dance cardio workout day.  I’ve also been drinking a ton of tea, mostly ginger lemon or organic throat coat tea I picked up at a local health store.  I love tea.

Weekend Biking

The last bike I purchased was in the mid-ninety’s…I can’t remember the exact year, but it was about ’94-’95.  It’s a 15 speed, 20″, men’s Norco Cherokee bike in dark green.  It’s also been sitting in my parents shed for the last 7-8 years.  The last time I touched it, I got one of the tubes replaced and the tire was still going flat so I gave up.  I was also never in an area that was really good for bike riding…downtown Winnipeg and Edmonton are scary enough as a pedestrian!  I suppose Kitimat, BC would’ve been a good place, but bringing it there would’ve been expensive and I wasn’t terribly concerned about it.

When I got Sheol last November, my goal was to get my bike in spring and teach him to run beside the bike.  I thought that would be great incentive for me to get moving more, but that all crumbled when I had to find him a new home right before christmas.  Even tho I don’t have a dog to share in the fun, I decided to get my bike together anyway this spring.  I brought it to the city when I went to my parents place for a weekend in May.  The back tire needed some work, new spokes and a new tube/tire.  My current roommate took a look at it and goes, the rim is cracked and you need a whole new tire.  That sucked.  I don’t have money for a new tire.  My dad had already replaced the front tire with a spare tire from my mom’s old bike.  He then decided to see if the back tire would fit as well, which it did!  Roommate then went and filled the tires with air when I wasn’t home, which was awesome.

I decided to take it out on Friday.  I went for a ride down Churchill Drive and then through some of the streets in the area, was about a 20 minute ride all together.  My butt was sore, but otherwise I felt ok.  Saturday morning I decided to go for a longer ride!  I ended up going all the way to the end of Churchill Drive, just south of Jubilee Ave and back.  On the way back I went along the trails by the river, which was much more interesting and kept me involved.  I looked it up today and that trip is a total of 8kms, that’s almost 5 miles!  It took about 40 minutes, which I don’t think is too bad all things considered.  Today was going to be a rest day, but I ended up doing 20 minute yoga for strength from yogadownloads.com, a 15 minute stretch workout and then went for another bike ride down Churchill Drive, down to osborne and back for a total of 6 kms or 3 miles in about 20 minutes.

Today’s eats were a tuna pita with romane lettuce, honey mustard dressing and spinach, and then a tuna wrap for supper.  Along with supper I had an apple with peanut butter and a few pieces of a chocolate hazelnut bar.  I also made potato leek soup and peanut butter chocolate granola.  I’m going to be prepping some overnight oats for breakfast tomorrow and I’m hoping to get up early enough to go for a bike ride or maybe do level one of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred before work.