Rain, Germs and Your Health

It is raining. It has rained. Bucketfulls.

There is a virus circulating. It has circulated. Debilitating.

We are racing. We have raced. Both exhilarating and draining.

If ever there was a time and a place to augment this 'thing', it is now, it is here and the thing is how we deal with the circumstance.

The three facts listed above combine to give us yet another opportunity to put our knowledge into play and convert it to wisdom.

We all know that riding in the cold, dark, windy, rainy winter in the Pacific Northwest is flirting with disaster. I don't care how many lights, reflectors, bright colors or glow sticks you have on your bike, you are no match for a teen-aged texter behind the wheel of a two ton SUV in the dark. Riding in the rain is a character builder, you say? OK, at your wake I will say, "He had character" to your grieving family. Ride and train inside wise one. The summer will soon be here.

We all know that we need to wash our hands and cough into our arm. We need to eat right, stay hydrated and get plenty of sleep. The latter despite the cruel joke played on us every year by the 1% looking to increase productivity at the expense of our health. When a strain makes the rounds it usually does so with a touch of vigor. I will get a flu shot the day we officially surrender to Big Pharma, BUT they will have to catch me, tie me down and heavily sedate before I will allow the .gov stick a needle in my arm. So? So I eat as pre-hab, as clean as I can afford. Drink lots of water FROM MY WELL, and get as much sleep as duty decides. If one of those insidious bugs catches me in a weak, recovering moment, oh, well. I will also do my best not to give it to you like I give you free advice. (insert laughter here)

Coach Grandma used to say that you can train IF the cold, virus, bug or congestion is above your neck. If it is centered in your head, keep on keeping on. You might want to throttle back your intensity some, but aerobic work is fine. If it is in your chest or GI, take some time off. Let it run its course. You are well aware of CG's sayings there, too. The one's about chicken soup, vitamin C and an afghan by fireside.

Bottom line is to use your resting heart rate as a barometer. If you know what your RHR is, even a 5 bpm increase could indicate that you are, 1) Not recovered from your prior workout, or 2) Fighting an infection. Or both. Do the wise thing. Listen to what your body is saying.

It is speaking. It has spoken. Relentlessly.

It is changing. It has changed. Miraculously.

It is adapting. It has adapted. Knowledge to wisdom.

Ride inside. Eat right. Drink often. Sleep deep. Race hard.

Graphic: Just three of the many reasons to use the CompuTrainer: Rain, germs and your health.