I woke up this morning feeling old. Like 70 or 75. In fact I woke up at 2 or 3 and had to take a couple of ibuprofens and 2.5 mg of Zolpidem (generic Ambien) because I was feeling so wasted. I drank all the ice water I could get down and went back to sleep until 7:30, when I crawled out of bed feeling really, really tired. Not too stiff -- I think I have the water to thank for that -- but weighed down by major lethargy. I would have been depressed, if I hadn't been through it before; if I hadn't learned that being thoroughly wiped wasn't necessarily terminal.
I remember feeling like this last March, soon after I had started playing with the idea of riding 80 on my 80th. I had started keeping a log of my distances. Here's a cut-and-paste:
Wed Mar 15 - 6.4
Sat Mar 4 - 5.8
Tue Mar 8 - 1.8
??? Mar 16?? 6.4
Sat Mar 19 - 8.6
Wed Mar 23 - 11.0 Very stiff next morning; lethargic 'til late afternoon.
It was nice to reflect on that, today, and to remember that I had, since then, learned how reliable was the restorative power of rest and relaxation. Not to worry. The thing to do was to do nothing. Tincture of Time, as some doctor in my misty past once advised me. So my lethargy today was accepted as a gentle reminder to be lazy. I took a nap this afternoon (as I did yesterday afternoon) and I'm feeling better. I won't ride tomorrow, and I may not ride Tuesday. Some walking, stretching, household chores, short rides to the grocery store, but nothing that smacks of effort.
Bitter medicine, but I'm determined to take it like a man.
I'm probably not the best one to post advice on this. I've had down days and what I did was get on the bike and ride anyway. Kind of like say 'Oh no body, we aren't having any of that shit. Get on that bike right now!'. Most times my body just cooperated with my insanity.
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