Minor Setback

Mike and I stayed down on the Strip for a couple of days. Spent Wednesday shopping and did a little partying, but got to bed at a reasonable hour. All in all a good day.

I had a massage scheduled and always like to work out before if possible. Mike was on the elliptical when I came into the gym. He commented on how smooth the elliptical was, that I'd probably really like it. I had no intention of a killer cardio, but it looked like a fun machine and seemed a good option for a nice warm up before lifting. 9 minutes in and it felt like someone was pressing their fist right in the middle of my sternum. Oh shit. My heart rate WAS elevated, it was getting into the high 120's, but I wasn't sweating and didn't feel like I was breathing heavy or exerting myself. But my lungs thought otherwise. That's what I used to love about the elliptical, actually, you could get your heart rate really elevated, burn tons of calories, but not feel like you were killing yourself. Well, in this case, that very thing bit me right in the ass. Chest actually. Mike also brought up later that the air in the gym was pretty cold. That couldn't have helped either.

The tightness lingered, but I did some light lifting, Pilates, and stretching. Hung out in the steam room before my massage, which seemed to help. My nice long massage turned into a gab fest with the massage therapist. Jesus, he would NOT shut the fuck up! And he kept asking me direct questions. How can you ignore someone who's asking you direct questions? My two word answer would send him off on some new riff about something else. I know WAY too much about the therapist I had. I know, I should speak up. Next time.

Was wiped when I got back to the room. Just wanted to nap. So we did for a while. Rousted myself up for dinner. Looked great. Felt wiped. As the evening wore on, and we kept walking in and out of all the 2nd hand smoke, my chest continued to feel like someone punched me. We headed back to the room early, no partying, and Mike asked if we shouldn't just go home to our nice clean air. That's my sweetie, always looking out for me. Yes, let's go home!

Packed our bags and left about 11pm. So didn't have to worry about temptation at the buffet Friday morning, I was home having oatmeal and blueberries! Fired up all the air cleaning equipment and took it easy. Still feels like someone punched me in the sternum, but clean air and rest does make it feel better. Armed with what I learned from the doctor and more internet research here's what I think. It's an injury, not a virus. I think I sucked in some particulate matter when the forest fire smoke was sitting over the valley back in July. My resistance was down because I'd been overtraining, my lungs were probably already stressed for the same reason. And now it just needs to heal. Elevated heart rates stress it out, and second hand smoke irritate it. So I'm back to Mike's original plan of NO cardio for the next month at least. And no hanging out in casinos. Won't THAT cramp my style a bit?!

I've got a pretty killer immune system, all this clean living, so I'm not worried. Just need to eat especially good, and take it easy!! Not gonna let this get me down!!