I almost made it through the
month of February without missing a single training run. By the third week I
was feeling great, adding mileage and increasing my pace by a very small amount
each week without experiencing any adverse effects other than tired achy
muscles. So, foolish me, I stepped it up and wham, I found my upper limit in
terms of heart rate. At 3.9 miles per hour, with a heart rate of 150, my
sinuses flooded and I suspected I was in for a bad sinus headache. I dropped my
speed, keeping my heart rate around 130 for the rest of my run with the hope I
wouldn’t pay too much of a price for my imprudent increase in speed.
Sure enough I woke up the
next morning with a painful ache in my temples, behind my eyes and across my
forehead. Not painful enough to keep me
in bed, but painful enough to keep me from moving around or lifting anything
for the next couple of days. It seems strange to struggle so much with sinus
headaches simple because my heart rate gets elevated, but I have observed this
cause and effect repeatedly for several years and am learning to live with it.
Some day I may sit down with my doctor and try to figure it out, but in the
mean time I remind myself that a few years ago I couldn’t let my heart rate get
about 115 without suffering a headache and now I have a higher threshold, so I
can do more, I just need to train at my aerobic heart rate.
Five days of rest and I was
able to get outside for a one-mile jog without consequences. Good to go! At
least I thought so. On the last day of February as I sat daydreaming, working
on the plot outline of the book I am writing, at the breakfast table I
performed my next foolish act. I got a pecan lodged in my throat. It was far
enough done I could breathe, but it certainly wasn’t going anywhere. A little
goggling by my husband brought up the suggestion of sipping coke to help loosen
the food and wash it down. Which makes sense, as coke is acidic. Therefore I
spent the day sipping coke and tea and chicken broth… to no avail. Finally at
the end of day, just before I decided enough is enough I am going to Urgent
care, I swallowed a tiny piece of bread and after a moment of, well maybe it
would all come up, the nut made its way into it’s anticipated destination, my
stomach. It’s been a long time since I have felt such a level of relief and
simple joy in being able to swallow I couldn’t stop smiling.
Now if only I can keep myself from doing silly things that interfere with my training I will meet my goal of running a marathon in the fall.
