Training Log Archive: Tundra/Desert

2×Baylands as 24:40 24:25. Felt pretty good; no pressure at all. Lots of ringing and balance issues.

Man! This recovery's gonna be long. Did one Baylands loop. Strong ringing, more than a slight imbalance, but no pressure in the head. Bonus.

Felt even better, but really sleepy all this morning. But maybe I understand the sleepy now. The brain just isn't functioning well on the reduced amount of oxygen, without the training.

Got Bob Baylor's rollerskis and went out to the levees. Two problems: (1) I had no gloves. Duh. Exposed red flesh. And (2) the left front wheel was underinflated, giving me no control. It mostly did not matter, as there was so much resistance on the dirt—going approximately 2.5 times as slow as running—that I could only double-pole. I did the standard short loop, chickening around the knolls (climb!!) on pavement. So, about 3 km was dirt.

Felt absolutely no presure in the head, but strong ringing shortly after the start. It never felt unpleasant. As I finished, I felt a slight lack of balance; and the ringing continued until bedtime. I think this was a good challenge to the vestibulary, with no multiple-g impacts to the head and with continuous, large-range position changes.

Last evening, it suddenly got much better. This morning things were back to where they were late last week. Just the boomy feeling with footplants.

So, the good doctor thought several things. (1) That there is no inflammation of any kind as of now, and probably no hole (anymore or ever). (2) That there was no indication of a CNS problem, or of any neurological function disturbance. (3) That there most certainly was an infection, a viral one, but not of the inner ear itself but of the nerve that goes from it to the brain (deeper, going through the skull). Hence the pressure-inside-the-head feelings as I run. (4) That the strange taste was because a taste-bud nerve is right next to the auditory nerve. (5) That the episode I had over the weekend was not a new infection, but the antibodies being dumped into the system from the original one, as they were no longer needed. (6) That the left inner ear function is profoundly busted, and that's why I am getting all those sensations. (7) That the function will not come back—actually, that the brain will not learn to ignore the flawed input from the left vestibulary—unless I actually actively challenge it. I.e. he said that I should start running ASAP, and go as far as I can go until the head-pressure feelings appear, gradually increasing the mileage. I should ignore the lack of balance and ringing.

He would not do any imaging, saying that there were absolutely no indications for it, and instead prescribed a hearing test. I hate HMOs.

Last night and most of today were scary. I think something got infected. Felt like the flu, but with scarier cognitive issues. Could not concentrate and felt like going slightly crazy.

Went through 1600 mg Ibu today, feeling sicker and sicker. Faint headaches, feeling of pressure. Mentally disturbed. The ibu seemed to have cooled the area behind the left ear, deeply inside the head.