Training Interrupted...

Yesterday (actually, two days ago, read on...) started out beautifully, we were very productive in the morning, getting our house ready for the renters, and when we could stand being inside no longer, we had the rest of the warm, clear day to enjoy the outside. I swam on the cable for 20 minutes then hopped on my bike, with just enough time for a 15 mile ride before we had to leave for dinner with friends. I'm gradually ramping up my mileage and speed, but until I can ride for a few hours each time at a decent pace, I've found that combining swimming with riding allows me to get the aerobic benefit without stressing my knee unduly. Today (two days ago) was the first day I was able to bike right after swimming.

Riding in the warm, sweet, August sun just after swimming was a treat. My hair kept me cool for at least 30 minutes. Riding north, I had the sun at my left shoulder. I spun in my middle chain ring for most of the ride, taking joy at the increasing speed. After turning around I was lost in the middle of a thought when I rolled over a large rock in the breakdown lane. Rookie Mistake #1. Keep your eyes on where you are going. I continued on and waited..... hmmm maybe it won't flat and I'll be lucky. Drats, seconds later I was riding on the rim. Sighing audibly I pulled over, hopped off the bike, and started taking off the front wheel. The tube was out in a jiffy, thanks to my speed lever. Here is where I KNOW better, Rookie Mistake #2. I had forgotten to put a spare tube in my pack. Tubes are cheap, and I usually keep 1 in my pack and several at home, but I not only forgot to pack one, I also had used up the ones at home. @#$%$#@. I did have a patch kit, though and two patches left, so I put some air in the tube and opened up my water bottle and found the snake bite pinch, or I should say I found MOST of it, because right after I patched it and put the tube back in, zipped the tire back on the rim with the speed lever, inflated it with my CO2 cartridge, and put it back in the fork, it was flat again @@#&$!!!@#%&. By this time I had used up most of my alloted ride time, so I grabbed my phone and called for my support team (Nick). While I waited, I found the small hole that I had missed, millimeters away from the edge of the patch, and put a patch over THAT, and reinflated the tube, just to be sure. Not sure why I did that, because now the tube is horribly bumpy and won't be very good to ride on, but I wasn't going to let it get the best of me.

Fast forward a few hours and we are enjoying deckside dining up on the ridge at our friend's house, looking down at the Hudson Valley, as the sun gently dipped behind the ridge line. We'd been here two days before celebrating their oldest son's graduation from highschool, but things were hectic and we really had missed talking with each other, and they had tons of food leftover! Never ones to refuse a free meal and some great conversation back up we went. Somehow peanuts and conversation go hand in hand and there was plenty of both. All of us dug in heartily to the leftovers, but by the end of the meal I started to feel like I had been hit HARD in the stomach, every 45 sec or so. After hanging out for an hour or so, relaxing, I figured it was just too many beans, but when I stood up I nearly fell flat on my face. Again, probably too many beans, but I really needed to get home, if you know what I mean. This wasn't beans.

I'm a scientist by trade, and my training has been in bacterial infections, specifically, pediatric respiratory infections, but I've been teaching Microbiology at the college level for several years, and one of the things I make sure my students understand is the difference between food "poisoning" and food bourne "intoxication". Without giving you all one of my lectures, I clearly was suffering from food bourne "intoxicaton". Rapid onset of violent symptoms. The toxin was very quick acting, affecting my stomach as soon as it hit. I did manage to make it home before "reverse peristalsis" set in, along with a bunch of other textbook symptoms that were with me the entire night until I passed out, literally, after I crawled to the couch. Two days later I've managed to rehydrate myself, and eat some solid food. I'm fairly certain the toxin I ingested was on the peanuts I ate. Everyone else had the same food, but I ate the most peanuts (Just typing this is making me queasy). I've lost almost two days of cleaning the house for our renters who are arriving this weekend, two days of getting ready for our vacation, and two days of riding and swimming. There was no way I could do more than drag myself around the house until this afternoon, so I've "lost" a few days, and a few pounds, gained some stress, and I won't be eating peanuts anytime soon.