So, now I’ve had a week to contemplate my situation. And make an Excel table about it, as befits an introvert.
My nose is still a bit stuffy but otherwise it feels like I’m back to normal. Considering the stuffy nose, it’s a bit as if I’m recovering from a flu, but my Excel table clearly shows that I didn’t have a cold (because, Excel tables are always right). Nor did I have a prolonged allergic reaction. So it’s definitely the result of short-term overtraining, or a one-off mega-exercise with an added element of stress that was too much for me.
I’m saying ”short-term” because I’m really not training that much, overall. I just occasionally have these periods where I end up doing things on sisu when my physique is giving up. But there is actually a long-term context as well, which I didn’t think even think about until now. High blood pressure. I’ve suffered from high blood pressure all my life (I’m absolutely convinced it’s due to my high sensitivity), but it was only discovered about 13 years ago and I got meds for it. But I didn’t like the idea of popping pills for the rest of my life, so I stopped after a couple of years. Until four years ago, when I went to the doctor because I had a headache that painkillers didn’t kill. And they found that my blood pressure was so high that they had to measure it three times with two different machines to be sure it was right. So having seen the doctor freak out about it, I’m actually quite happy to be popping those pills now, trust me! But who knows what kind of damage that high blood pressure did to my body before I got it under control?
The past week has been incredibly boring. I haven’t dared to do anything more demanding than slow promenades, but there’s a small silver lining to it – I’ve had more time to spend with flowers. I’ve especially enjoyed the mound of manure that a local farmer piled by the road two years ago. Now it’s fertile ground for all kinds of plants, and it’s all green. Just a fluffy green mound, never seen anything like it before. I’m still waiting for some flowers to bloom, so what used to be a smelly pile of manure is now a gift that will keep on giving!
Today however, I went cycling. I just had to try to do something a bit more demanding, but I was still careful not to hit max pulse at any point. I think it went fine, but my stuffy nose is seriously runny now. I don’t need an Excel chart to tell me that it’s hay fever!
