My story seems to be getting more entertaining by the day, but looks (hopes) to be pretty boring over the next few days (keeping my fingers crossed).
Wednesday I went back to the toe doctor and it turns out my toes are in fact infected. I was surprised at how long they were taking to heal, so this makes sense. Now, a lesson for everyone who did not already know it: hydrogen peroxide isn't necessarily such a good thing. I'm sure many of you know this and are saying "duh!?", and I had heard a little about it, but for some reason did not think too much of it. I was given a saline wash to use each day on my toes but left it in San Antonio after Christmas so I just started using peroxide 1-2 times a day instead. FAIL. While peroxide is good at killing bad cells, it also kills the good ones. From my understanding, it is okay to use once, say the first time you clean a wound, but not on a regular basis after that.
So, after learning that lesson for real, I walked out of the office with a rx for a z-pack (antibiotics). I laughed when he gave it to me and said that might help a lot of things going wrong with me since I had basically been sick since Thanksgiving. I had made an appointment with my regular doctor for Friday already, and kept it, but figured I'd be on my way to better by the time I'd get there because I would have been on antibiotics for two days already. That did not totally end up being the case - I was diagnosed with full blown bronchitis on Friday. Awesome. I have not really felt much better or worse over the past few weeks, so there is no telling how long I have had it, and also no real reason to assume the antibiotics will automatically make it better because most cases of bronchitis are viral. Hopefully they will still make my toes better though!
So now I'm kind of sitting here wondering what to do with myself in the near future. I know "back off" would be most people's first response, but I honestly have been backed off for quite a while now, as in two months. I have averaged running 20 miles per week at most and have not really done anything else. This past week I did not workout until Wednesday, and that was just 30 minutes of weights, and ran 5 miles Friday and 4.5 today (cut short because my heart rate was being awesome again). So, that makes a whopping 10 miles this week, if you round up.
I think I'm going to sit on my butt for several solid days this week. I'm running the Houston Half on Sunday, but cannot really expect much there. I do need to remember to use my inhaler before I do anything because bronchitis is that much more awesome when you have asthma, and my little episode at the Jingle Bell Run was probably a prime example of that. I am just a bit torn because I haven't been doing much and am still not getting much better. I'm on day 5 of the antibiotics and don't totally notice much of a difference either. I guess I will just take it a week at a time, and this week will be laying low. I may run a very very short run Thu or Fri (2-3 miles) just to remind my legs how to run, but I am going to try to really rest other than that this week. Anyone else have any suggestions?
I guess it is good I'm more concerned about what to wear at the race on Sunday than how I actually do. Jill gave me a new skirt for Christmas, the Skirt Sports Race # Skirt, that I will most likely try out. I have several Skirt Sports skirts already and am excited to add this one into the rotation (I'm also still hoping to add this one to the rotation as well...as I do have a birthday coming up). I'm also excited about hopefully hopping on a bike after I run the half and heading out to hunt down Kelly and my other friends running the full. In fact I may be more excited about that than the race. Maybe I'll just ride my bike around in my skirt and call it a day!
Wednesday I went back to the toe doctor and it turns out my toes are in fact infected. I was surprised at how long they were taking to heal, so this makes sense. Now, a lesson for everyone who did not already know it: hydrogen peroxide isn't necessarily such a good thing. I'm sure many of you know this and are saying "duh!?", and I had heard a little about it, but for some reason did not think too much of it. I was given a saline wash to use each day on my toes but left it in San Antonio after Christmas so I just started using peroxide 1-2 times a day instead. FAIL. While peroxide is good at killing bad cells, it also kills the good ones. From my understanding, it is okay to use once, say the first time you clean a wound, but not on a regular basis after that.
So, after learning that lesson for real, I walked out of the office with a rx for a z-pack (antibiotics). I laughed when he gave it to me and said that might help a lot of things going wrong with me since I had basically been sick since Thanksgiving. I had made an appointment with my regular doctor for Friday already, and kept it, but figured I'd be on my way to better by the time I'd get there because I would have been on antibiotics for two days already. That did not totally end up being the case - I was diagnosed with full blown bronchitis on Friday. Awesome. I have not really felt much better or worse over the past few weeks, so there is no telling how long I have had it, and also no real reason to assume the antibiotics will automatically make it better because most cases of bronchitis are viral. Hopefully they will still make my toes better though!
So now I'm kind of sitting here wondering what to do with myself in the near future. I know "back off" would be most people's first response, but I honestly have been backed off for quite a while now, as in two months. I have averaged running 20 miles per week at most and have not really done anything else. This past week I did not workout until Wednesday, and that was just 30 minutes of weights, and ran 5 miles Friday and 4.5 today (cut short because my heart rate was being awesome again). So, that makes a whopping 10 miles this week, if you round up.
I think I'm going to sit on my butt for several solid days this week. I'm running the Houston Half on Sunday, but cannot really expect much there. I do need to remember to use my inhaler before I do anything because bronchitis is that much more awesome when you have asthma, and my little episode at the Jingle Bell Run was probably a prime example of that. I am just a bit torn because I haven't been doing much and am still not getting much better. I'm on day 5 of the antibiotics and don't totally notice much of a difference either. I guess I will just take it a week at a time, and this week will be laying low. I may run a very very short run Thu or Fri (2-3 miles) just to remind my legs how to run, but I am going to try to really rest other than that this week. Anyone else have any suggestions?
I guess it is good I'm more concerned about what to wear at the race on Sunday than how I actually do. Jill gave me a new skirt for Christmas, the Skirt Sports Race # Skirt, that I will most likely try out. I have several Skirt Sports skirts already and am excited to add this one into the rotation (I'm also still hoping to add this one to the rotation as well...as I do have a birthday coming up). I'm also excited about hopefully hopping on a bike after I run the half and heading out to hunt down Kelly and my other friends running the full. In fact I may be more excited about that than the race. Maybe I'll just ride my bike around in my skirt and call it a day!
Comments
If Houston this next weekend is going to be cold at the start you may want to opt for tights or capri length pants for the run. I saw gals in Orlando running in skirts or bun huggers and they looked miserable and cold with goose bumps on their legs even on the last 6 miles of the marathon. And we had the sun out which was an improvement from the sleet the day before during the half marathon. I know you love your skirts, but stay warm.
Oh, as far as the toes, I had to soak my feet in Betadine. You know that stuff that is the color of iodine? If you run out of saline you might want to check to see if you can use that in a pinch since they sell it at the drug store. Go easy on those toes for the run.
Take it easy with the bronchitis and the run. Use a bandana or neck warmer that you can pull up over your chin and nose to keep the moist air you are breathing in rather than breathing cold dry air in that will irritate the lungs.