I didn't run for just over a week after I had the achilles twinge, then I went for a 5km run last Tuesday and a 7.5km run last Friday. The leg felt OK for both of those runs, so I had planned to do a 10-12km run on Sunday until...
I woke up with a bit of a sore throat on Sunday morning, so I decided to take it easy (given my history of prolonging illness through pigheadedness). I stayed up to watch the final stage of the TdF, which with hindsight might have been a bad move. I was feeling pretty crappy on Monday morning at work, so I took the afternoon off. And then it hit. Monday night through Tuesday night I was totally wiped out - dizzy, headaches, felt hot but no temperature, achy, very sore throat, nasal and sinus congestion. Feeling a lot better on Wednesday, but still with a very sore throat, I went to see the doctor. He thought that I'd probably turned the corner, but I could have some antibiotics just in case the symptoms worsened. Took yesterday off as well to try and fully recover, but managed to do some work at home. Was feeling optomistic about getting back into work today, but woke up this morning feeling a little worse than yesterday, so here I am at home again.
Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow or at least by Sunday, so I can get back into work. I regret not having the flu shot this year now, although it didn't stop me getting the flu in the last two years, so maybe it wouldn't have helped this year either. This may also be a slight blessing, in that my achilles will get another week or more rest before getting back into the running again.
A couple of other things
House update. There has been considerable progress on the house since my last update. The roof is on, the plumbing and wiring have been put in, the insulation is in, and the plasterboard has been put up. The flushing, cornices and skirting should be finished on Monday. Things are looking good. Here's a picture of the main living area at the back of the house (with a strapping young lad posing for the photo).
And finally, Floyd... Say it ain't so! I followed le Tour pretty closely this year, and I was swept up by the performance of Landis. I wanted Evans and Rogers to perform, but I was amazed at the courage of Landis' approach to the race and especially the support of his average team (unbelievable effort by Axel Merckx). I'm going to put the positive A test down to three possible causes: a) His sample or bidon was tampered with; b) there was an error in the analysis; or c), one of the legal drugs that Landis takes for a couple of medical problems (chronic joint pain and hyperthyroidism) has either lowered his epitestosterone or raised his testosterone levels. The other really inpiring ride of the tour for me was David de la Fuente. That guy put it all on the line in his first TdF even though he risked bombing the whole tour. Maybe next year he'll win the Maillot a pois.
That's enough from me. I'm going to sit back and suck down another lemon, honey and ginger drink.
