Refocusing

After a month of dedicating my body to the removal of snow from various structures and surfaces I am now ready to commence more serious training for the upcoming season. The month sort of ended in a shitstorm crescendo; I had an intense albeit short, bout of the flu last weekend. I had gone to the gym in the morning and felt ok but I had a feeling that something was a bit off. I got home and progressively got worse as the afternoon rolled around. Em and I were supposed to attend a birthday party for her nieces later in the day so I was a trooper and off we went. I don't think I was there more than a half hour when I ended up leaving Em there, with our couch being my most singular focus. I got home, promptly changed, and covered myself with several blankets hoping to cease the (now) excessive shivering. I was burning up. It was probably one of the worst fevers I've had. Em finally came home some 2 hours later with recently purchased digital thermometer in hand. The verdict: 101.6. I can only imagine what it had been when I first got home. Em put her sick nurse skills to good use. I was feeling better within the hour. The fever finally broke and all that was left was a night of every 2 hr diarrhea. Hey, at least I didn't shart in the bed.

Next day I came around. I started downing Gatorade to replace fluid electrolyte loss. That's when you really start feeling like shit- when you lose a ton of electrolytes. I probably get a little carried away making sure I get them back in. Anyway, it must have been a 24 hr thing. Never had it that intense and that quick before. So I think I'm in the clear and late Sunday afternoon my back starts spasming out of nowhere. I mean the type where if you move a certain way (usually unconsciously), it takes your breath away. As par for the course for most athletes, I start racking my brain in what I could have done to eff my back up. It must have been the shoveling Friday that did me in.

After 2 days of sitting around, we get yet another 4" of snow on Tuesday. I was back at it again. Sadly my hands have been wrapped around a shovel more this year than my handlebars. Even though I employed proper mechanics (I must look like a robot to my neighbors), I still managed to tweak an on-the-mend muscle. Wednesday night I figured I'd better try testing my back doing something so I decided to jump on the trainer (I know, I know) for an easy spin. Miraculously I was able to watch 3 episodes of Family Guy (1:30) with no issues. I can't help but feel like I'm incredibly far behind at this point but I guess you just have to hope that everyone else is too.

A couple of positives out of all this are that I currently weigh a pound less than I did all last season. I've gotten really focused with my eating. I eat several small meals a day and limit excess carb consumption after 6pm. I got that going for me. Which is nice. Seeing as I probably have less than a dozen rides in the first 6 weeks of this year, at least my equipment has that much less wear. I think I also have like 40 prs of chemical toe warmers as well. When it does get warm the roads will be eternally wet as this shit melts, so bikes and clothes are sure to take a beating then. Maybe this weather will end up being a blessing in disguise, giving us all the break we needed. Hopefully not completely breaking my back in the process.

Stay positive. Those first couple 60 degree days are gonna be unbelievable this year!