Exhausted

I biked to work today. The ride home in the cooling afternoon air triggered my asthma and my inhaler wasn’t showing much effect. I should have used it before the bike ride.

I’m just getting over a cold lasting a couple of weeks, and nearly eight weeks without exercise has not done me a favour. The fitter I am the more it is in control and the less often I need the inhaler; it usually expires before it is used up.

I thought warm, moist air might help, along with controlled breathing, so I went swimming. It is the first time in about two years. I ignored the extras at the centre and just swam lanes, and I’m happy with my progress. I started with two lengths non-stop, fifty metres. In my twenties, I often swam after work, and once swam fifty-two lengths non-stop, a mile, just to do it. As I’ve spent more time cycling, my legs don’t have all the fat to help me float anymore, and swimming takes more work, or that’s the story I tell myself.

After the last length, my pulse was 140, and recovery wasn’t happening fast. After showering, changing, and driving home, my heart was still racing at 125. I can’t say that eye candy can take credit for it, without my glasses, people are all a bit fuzzy.