What Makes Me Sick

It’s a glorious day in Nashville and I am finally starting to feel better after being laid out with some stupid illness.  I have never been one to reach for drugs (well, other than my well documented periodic affairs with booze) so I found myself in search mode again.  I have pinned down my sickness to three possible reasons:

1.  General dehydration.  I’m a big believer that hydration is the key to good health but as I moved toward the holidays (and wasn’t doing much exercise) I wasn’t drinking the things I should.  Without swim, bike, and run, energy needs to come from somewhere else and I found a lot in coffee.  It’s only a matter of time before a sludgy backlog builds in your body and constricts proper organ function.  I have been slamming fresh juice and water again and look forward to the benefits.  We are nothing without water.  Maybe that’s why I love swimming so much.

2.  Lazy Days and Nights.  Speaking of sludge, nothing works it out like good, hard workouts.  I’m not saying I don’t believe in viruses or that things often get the best of us, but I think a healthy body disposes of these things naturally long before they can take over.  I mean, if you just step back and think about what being sick is, it makes sense.  If you’re tuned up, you work a lot better in the heat or cold.  I was worn out a lot while training this year, but only remember being sick once.  Coincidentally, it was when winter changed to spring, and I think if I added a #4 to this list it might be nature’s seasonal cleansing pattern.

3.  Bad State of Mind.  To say I have a lot going on is both an under and overstatement.  When you go up, you must come down, and that’s where I’m at.  A year of incredible highs and lows has concluded with the highest peak and lowest valley.  It’s hard to explain the rush you get as you close in and finish an Ironman, and it’s equally difficult to convey what it’s like when you start sliding down that mountain.  I’m not talking about depression as much as I am confusion.  After you set and attain such a lofty goal, you’re forced to ask the question, “Now what?”  Yeah, that question.  Then you realize the goal can never be the end.  That’s when you have to dig deep and ask why you set the goal in the first place.  It’s never enough to hang a medal on the wall.  It only represents a chapter.  You still have to write the book.