Month: March 2020

Day 3

~ e.v. ~ 1 Comment

Day 3 of suspected coronavirus has been a lot like day 2. I worked from home today, which was uneventful. With this being a new job and with working from home not really being in the company culture, I think I feel a bit anxious about suddenly forcing them to let me work from home for a week (actually only 3 days), but I have decided to reframe my view of it as it being a test of my employer to see how much they care about my welfare.

I have tomorrow as holiday because I had a gastroenterology booked at the hospital and I didn’t really want my employer to know about it, so I thought I’d just take the day off. Unfortunately I can’t go to a hospital appointment with this cough, so I had decided I would phone up and cancel it today. Fortunately, the hospital beat me to it and phoned me yesterday to say they were going to change it to a phone appointment. So that’s good.

My heart rate today is still quite a bit higher than it should be for my suddenly sedentary lifestyle, so even though I’m not feeling too bad, tomorrow is going to be a restful day of lying in bed most of the day. To be honest I think I should probably have taken today off sick entirely.

Day 2

~ e.v. ~ 4 Comments

My fever disappeared overnight and apart from the cough I feel OK, really. Maybe a little bit lethargic, but a lot better than yesterday. The cough, though…

When I get colds, usually they’re very, very nose focused. My nose will drip and/or I’ll sneeze continually for hours. My body can produce snot at a staggering rate. If I could sell it, I’d be rich (maybe there are websites for that…).

I know this isn’t a cold, because my nose is fine. The cough, though, has become very unpleasant and my throat is hurting because of it. So if this isn’t coronavirus, it’s a huge coincidence.

Hmmm… 🤔😷

~ e.v. ~ 13 Comments

I started to feel much better this afternoon, which was promising, and my heart rate dropped back to normal. I was expecting to go into work tomorrow…

Unfortunately this evening it’s shot back up again, and I now have a fever too. So with the fever I now fit the NHS guidance to self isolate for seven days. I’m not sure what my employer will think to that…

Personally, I think I’ve got it (Corona) and they’ve massively underestimated the number of active cases.

I don’t feel too bad though really. I just feel like I have mild flu. Unpleasant but not debilitating. I had a much worse dose of it last January.

Not the best time to get ill…

~ e.v. ~ 3 Comments

It’s 5 AM. My throat hurts. My resting heart rate is 70 (normally about 45). My watch is saying my stress levels have been through the roof even while I’ve been asleep. The last time I had a cold, my watch barely noticed.

This isn’t looking too promising…

Update 10:30… Ok, I’m not feeling too bad (I had worse flu last year) but I’m definitely not well. I’ve spent the morning lying in bed and this is my stress:

Today versus earlier in the week

Do I have the virus? I’ve no idea. They don’t seem to have enough of a grip on the symptoms or spread of ‘mild’ cases to say one way or the other.

Saturday

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Saturday is Parkrun day after I missed it last week with my stomach bug. I was pleased today as I went sub-21 for the first time in quite a while, or at least, my Garmin time was sub-21, my official Parkrun time was slightly over, but whatever, Garmin is more accurate for me. Hooray, I’m getting fitter again.

In total I ran a bit more than 14km this morning at an overall speedy pace, but my hip was a bit achy when I got home. I have been neglecting the stretching and foam rolling this week, so I need to get back to that, but I also need to start building some more glute strength so hopefully I won’t need to keep stretching so much.

But let’s keep it in perspective – six weeks ago I couldn’t run a few kilometres without hip discomfort, now it only happens after 14km at an intense pace.

I found out this morning that the half marathon I had planned for early April has been cancelled. I was worried about this when they started mentioning curtailing “large scale gatherings” due to the coronavirus, but actually it was cancelled for the opposite reason: not many people have signed up.

I can’t help but be slightly irritated by this because the organisers didn’t advertise it and they were holding it on the same day as the Coventry half. The only reason I even knew this one existed was because this time last year someone mentioned it at Parkrun and I thought “I’d better make a note of that for next year”.

So I could do Coventry, but, let’s be honest, nobody wants to go to Coventry. Also, I’m just not really feeling well prepared. I’ve had injury and two illnesses sideline me when I should have been training. I’m not as fit as I was in October and I’m not sure I’d be happy with the result. So… I’ve signed up for a different one at the end of April instead. That gives me an extra three weeks.

Corona hysteria

~ e.v. ~ 8 Comments

What confuses me, fundamentally, about the Corona virus, is this:

Either it will become so widespread that we just won’t practically be able to avoid it, or, like seasonal flu, it will affect so few people that most of us just won’t ever come into contact with it.

All the reporting and even statements from the PM (since when is Boris Johnson considered an authority?) are going more towards the first option, but China seems to have managed to keep it under control.

It’s probably a good thing that people are hyper aware, because it will limit the spread, but… I don’t know, it just seems like there’s a lot of missing information. I think the confusion worsens my anxieties over the situation because it feels like the people in charge know something I don’t. Although I don’t think they really do…

Corona

~ e.v. ~ 6 Comments

My stomach bug seems to have mostly gone now. I tried running yesterday and it was dreadful. I managed 4k before I went home and collapsed in a sweaty mess, reminding myself that I have been ill and maybe I should have just had a quiet morning in. But I tried again today at lunch and it was good.

Thing is though… after having contracted a cold and a stomach bug already this year (and it’s only March)…

I’m kind of worried about the coronavirus. With exponential growth, things look underwhelming, until they’re not. I’m worried about getting it myself (probably from the train), but I’m more worried about passing it on to my 65 year old parents. If there are 39 confirmed cases in the UK there are probably hundreds of actual cases already, walking around and infecting others. The problem here isn’t so much the virus itself but the risk of the health service becoming overwhelmed. I find it scary, anyway.