Suppressed Immunity

The flu bug had been going around. Have heard of so many of my friends who were down. I am just so glad I am not a victim. Yet. I believe my body had been fighting many of the possible germs going around. When my kids fall ill, I didnt get anything. When my wife fell ill with stomach flu, it didnt come to me either.


However, there was a bacteria in my body that my body couldnt overcome - inflammation of the hair follicles in my scalp, also known as folliculitis. And what I noticed was that ever since I started training harder than the year before, that the inflammation came and never went off. It was pretty peculiar and my doctor told me the possible reason: the body's immune system had been suppressed that even though I did not fall ill, this bacteria just cannot be overcome.


I had thought it was my shampoo problem and changed a couple of times. Had it for about 8 months and was wondering why washing my scalp with bactericidal soap still did not relief myself of it. There was no itch, simply an outbreak. Can get embarrassing. Finally, went back to the doctor and he gave me a 10 days course of antibiotics. Since then, it had dissipated.


The body works in strange ways. You win some and you lose some battles. In this case, it was a simple bacteria. But now that things are back to normal, a haircut is no longer a conscious ordeal anymore. Felt great!

***

Shoulder felt sore during Monday's swim. I could feel the fatigue and could not do an 80% effort throughout the hour. With the shoulder nagging away, it didnt make things any easier.


Tuesday track session was cancelled. So I took the opportunity to do the speed bike with the ENR blokes. Only 4 of us turned up, Tee, Julian, Andrew (new guy, not my running mate) and myself. We were all contemplating over SMS whether to go or not. Had though that the rain would have washed out the floor. As it turned out, the rain clouds were in the central of the island and not in the east. Good speed session. Julian timed it to be a 46min ride for the almost 30km ride. Almost a 40kph average. Nice!


Believe my track sessions have helped with my anaerobic stamina. Use to feel the lungs heaving really hard during such Tuesday rides but was not so bad that night.


Wednesday went for a 100km ride followed by a 4km run. Wind was so strong at Coastal. It was amazing how the wind could affect my cadence. And the amount of effort used to step on the crank, didnt translate to a good speed. However, the tailwind just blew my uturn speed up really high. I was cruising without drafting above 37kph and some stretches at 40kph. So that made up for all the lost time for 2/3 of the loop due to the wind. 4.5loops in all. To add on, I was unable to crank up my HR for the last 2 sets of 15km. The HR just could not go up and my legs were beginning to feel tired. Somehow, my biking legs had been affected recently. Think it must be due to the harder runs I had been doing for the past few weeks.


This worries me. Sunday is a 160km Desaru ride and am suppose to do another harder than normal 27km run on Saturday. Not sure if my legs would work well on Sunday.


Crossing my fingers...