Nothing to report doctor wise as my appointment is not till July 8th but did have a week or so I would have rather avoided.
About 2 weeks ago I came down with a cold and initially it was just a slight head cold and as was not riding much so decided to just not ride and let the cold get better sooner. Well, that did not happen as the cold just seemed to get worse to the point where I had to take a couple days off of work. Then the fun and why I titled the post to include Sleep and Helmets. As some quick background – when I get sick I do have a tendency to get light headed and have had issues passing out quite a few times over the years. A few times I have taken some bad falls in trying to get to bed and moving too fast and losing it. This past Saturday was one of those days as with the cold and lack of sleep I was feeling a little dizzy when I got up in the night. I thought I was doing fine but then knew it was not good and instead of my usual race to the bed I got down on all fours so did not fall. But when I got there my head suddenly felt like it weighted 100lbs and it banged to the floor – fortunately was only from being on all fours and not standing. The strange part was while I laid there I tried to lift my head and it felt like it was stuck to the floor and could not lift it. It felt like a while but am sure it was not but finally crawled to bed and all was good. I did get a bump and bruise on the noggin and a little sore but all good. So maybe I need to wear my helmet to bed when I am sick – or at least when I get up
As it would happen I was wearing my Frontier X Plus HRM for a 24 hour period so I could see what the ECG showed when I fell. However, from what I can tell the HRM did not show anything out of the ordinary but for a slight elevation from 45 to 80 BPM for my HR but nothing else but will have it for the Doctor if he wants to see it.
Now a week later I am still dealing with the sinus/congestion from the cold but for me that is sort of normal so slowly getting back to normal. I finally got in a Zwift ride Friday for an hour and just rode so as to keep HR in check and had no issues. My HR averaged 110 with a max of 137 on a climb but unlike when had issues a couple weeks ago it went right down and for an effort on a climb the HR was good and ECG looked normal. Then the next day I did an easy 2 hour Zwift ride with some sprints to see how it went. The ride was a banded one – as long as you pedal you stay in group but also more watts only does so much as it also keeps you back – as they are good to control effort and ride in a group. The banded part of the ride was 1:20 long so the last 40 minutes was mostly in a group with normal drafting and dynamic. During the banded ride I did 8 sprints but not all out – 576w max – and my max HR was only 138 and went down right away and the average for the 2 hours was 103 and my ECG also did not show anything abnormal. I did take my blood pressure after the ride – as usually mine is a little on the higher side – and contrary to what I thought it would be as they often tell you to relax before a BP test – it was 116/79 w/HR of 60. In looking it up it is quite normal and called “post-exercise hypotension” where during exercise your muscles need more blood, so blood vessels widen (vasodilation) and don't immediately return to normal size when you stop exercising, which lowers resistance to blood flow and can reduce blood pressure – did not know that.
From Satruday's 2 HR Ride
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Also, did a rowing workout today (7/5/26) to see how that felt. Kew it would be hard as still congested and tired, let alone having not rowed for maybe 2 weeks. During the 20 minute warmup wondred even if I could go under 2:00/500m average but figured give it a go as not sure what will be up after my Cardiologist vist Wednesday. I did go into it with the mndset if my HR goes up to 155-160 or I get the breathless feeling when my heart wacks out I would stop. Not the fastest I can do but HR did not go up past 152 and was farily consistent and while tired got it done. Was also hot even with the AC on as blew a fuse halfway through so was off for half the workout. Info on workout below:
This all fits one of those weeks where the saying “When it rains it pours” fits. Not enough that I have the heart/health issues that I have no idea what it is but now having to deal with a cold that wiped me out for a few days. It is one of those times when it I easy to get frustrated with all else going on and frustration often leads to being anxious just for it all to be done. It can be easy to get down and get into the “oh who is me” mindset. What I have to remember is that as believers it says in Philippians 4:6 we are called to not be anxious for ANYTHING:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
This is not meant to be a pollyannish platitude where one just puts on a happy face and ignore the realities around one. No, life is real and fake smiles do nothing. The call is to take our frustration, anxiety and concern to God and in prayer and thanksgiving. Not because otherwise He does not know them but it is to change us to what we are relying on. Also, here we need to remember that to rely on God does not mean we do nothing. God is a God of means and He uses our, and others actions, to accomplish His plan. The result of this is we do what we need to do but realize it is all in God’s hands. Confusion, pain and discomfort may continue – or it may not – but our peace comes in knowing we are relying on God. It is also not a fatalistic look at life as fatalism results from no hope. But is a look at life that has hope that to be in the center of God’s plan is always the best – I did not say most comfortable or easy, no matter what the hucksters of fake Christianity sell. This is what I have to lean on as I am one likes answers and right now there are none.
More to come after my appointment at the cardiologist this week – even though I realize it may bring up more questions than answers in only one visit. I also pray the doctor is open to looking at non-pharmaceutical answers when at all possible – so many are not.
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