Exercise Progress, Illness

Last Friday I completed the third week in my rebate/fitness program. Three down, seven to go.

The first week was all cycling, all three times. The second week ended with cycling, but the first two exercises were helping a friend move, including moving a couple of large appliances, a handful of shelf-type items, and a large recliner love-seat. The third week began with cycling, but Friday I used a 20-minute walk as my third exercise.

Why? Well, I'll tell you.

<music> ♫ He's going to tell. . . . He's going to tell. . . . ♫ </music>

I got sick. It was weird, but I'm becoming convinced that there was physical abnormality involved, so I'm documenting it here. If you feel the same symptoms, you can know that you're not the only one.

Beginning Thursday afternoon, I became dizzy, faint, and mildly disoriented. In fact, I did faint. I lost my appetite and experienced mild nausea. I stayed home from work on Friday, still feeling very "fuzzy" in the head, but managed to put in a half day on tasks I could complete from home. That's when I decided to go walk-about instead of cycling for my exercise: I walked to the local 7-Eleven and back, bringing some Gatorade back with me. (The Gatorade seemed to help me feel better.)

On Sabbath morning I felt enough better to go to church, and I found solace in playing violin with the hymns. It was extra fun because they were very good hymns and because we had both organ and piano, which fills out the sound nicely, especially with the excellent players we had. They were very kind and asked me to play with the postlude too. But I wasn't completely healed: a few stray waves of nausea passed through during the service.

Since then its been a general improvement, except that my appetite has not fully returned (which may be a blessing). By Sabbath evening I was feeling well enough to handle a picnic and a few hacky-sack kicks. After sundown I attended a Spirit of America performance with a small group of friends. This morning I directed the choir at Rockville UMC. I cycled to IBM Gaithersburg and back, doing a few laps around the IBM parking lot, and don't feel too bad. I think I should be fine going to work tomorrow.

Why do I think it was illness? Well, a colleague experienced similar, but apparently briefer, symptoms earlier in the week. I took him on a Gatorade run, and he reported feeling better an hour or so later. However, he had run twenty miles on the previous day, and thought the feelings could be due to an electrolyte imbalance. (Hence the Gatorade.) This morning a couple of choir members mentioned experiencing similar problems this week. So it could well be a communicable illness of some kind.

On the other hand, the first 36 hours or so felt more like a panic-attack than an illness; almost like a stress breakdown. It was a strange experience.

Cycling stats:

• Dist/Day 6.49 miles
• Ride time 33 minutes 27 seconds
• Avg Speed 11.83 mph
• Max Speed 33.0 mph