I am fearful. This may be an irrational fear, an overreaction, and just plain silly.

I’m usually pretty good at self-monitoring. If I’m really tired, I’ll skip a workout if I’m convinced the extra sleep or a little break will have more benefit in the long run than the workout would. There are times I fear I skip too many workouts, but the season is long, and I want to stay healthy.

I am now a full week into this cold. Sunday night, I felt one of my sinuses begin to ache. The next day, the upper teeth on the that side of my face hurt. Classic signs of a sinus infection. I wasn’t running a fever — I’m back down to 96°F-ish — so I was hopeful it wasn’t an infection. I looked up the symptoms on WebMD – always a risky proposition – and it gave me two hopeful tidbits: sinusitis usually involves blood-streaked, yellowish snot (which I did not have), and it will usually resolve on its own after a few days. *fingers crossed*

And last night, the missing symptom arrived. *sad face* I’ve been taking acetaminophen consistently since Sunday night, so I’m not surprised I’m not feverish. My teeth feel better today, too.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. Sadly, while cooking breakfast I started feeling a little dizzy – back to bed I went. I made it in to work by eleven a.m., though. I’m not 100%, but I’m pretty tired of lying on the futon and watching TV. I hope to make it through the workday today.

Here’s my fear: what if this isn’t an unusually virulent rhinovirus? I was having trouble sleeping the weeks before getting sick. I don’t think I was over-training. In fact, I just looked back over my training calendar on Training Peaks, and my heaviest load shows a TSS of 341; most weeks, it’s in the low-to-mid 200s.

I’m sticking with this being a very nasty rhinovirus and the lack of sleep. Which means getting enough sleep over the next month while I recover is critical.

Okay – this blog served its purpose: I am convinced this illness is not the result of over-training. But it has reinforced my resolve to self-monitor and avoid over-training in the future. I really want to pursue more athletic goals, and this machine cannot function at its peak if it’s not adequately maintained.

Hmmm. Maybe I should have taken a nap instead of writing this blog post.