Glandular fever and cycling training

One step forward and two steps back - that's the best way to describe the process. There is never a good way to tell bad news. People, who are familiar with Glandular Fever, Mononucleosis, Pfeiffer’s Disease, Eppstein-Barr-Virus or under whatever other name you know this disease, might not be too surprised, however.

After waking up symptom free last Saturday I continued feeling healthy all through Sunday and Monday. Three and a half days of normality and then Tuesday after lunch the all too familiar fatigue, sore throat and swollen glands returned. I had already sent a text message to John earlier that we would go to the gym after work and I had been looking forward to lifting some weights and catching up with Bec, our personal trainer. Worst, John is my faithful gym and training partner and I did not want to cancel on him last minute. With so many good reasons I stuck to my plan and jumped into gym gear Tuesday evening and John picked me up. The program was rather easy with light weights and Bec made sure that I didn't exhaust myself too much.

Wednesday, I woke up feeling bad; Thursday, I felt, if at all possible, even worse and both nights I had slept ten or more hours. I felt guilty, thinking that it had been my own fault because I had ridden on the weekend.

Friday, still no improvement, but I had organised a little “celebrate the new house” get-together and there was no way I was going to allow Glandular Fever to spoil this as well. Despite feeling extremely exhausted when I got home from the office, I enjoyed entertaining and having friends over.

This morning I was rostered for marshalling duties at the Bike Week races at Nundah. Reason finally won over. Alberto had told me already during the week to call and let them know that I wouldn’t be able to do my club chores this time but I really wanted to go. It’s that wish to dance at every party; I’ve always been like this. I can’t sit still and do nothing. But now I feel guilty that I let the club down.

People keep telling me that I have to rest. Simply staying off my bike for a few weeks would be resting, I thought, but it begins to dawn on me that the rest they are talking about is “to nap”, “have siestas”, “sleep”, “do absolutely nothing” … this kind of thing. I can’t just put life on hold and wait for this virus to be done with me. It’s driving me nuts.

My new herb garden to be

The new low maintenance back yard

Today I gave in and had a stupid “Sanatorium day” in my new home. Exposure to lots of fresh air though low effort gardening, lots of salad and water for good nutrition and … aargh … rest. It wasn’t all that bad. While resting I researched "Glandular Fever and cycling training" on the web and it appears that a number of professional cyclists had it. I found this from Philip Deignan, an Irish pro, now on the Cervelo Test Team, who had kept riding with Glandular Fever:

“The last blood test I got done showed that there was a lot of toxins and acid
in my blood, which is what you get after glandular fever. I think that is
basically what is making me really tired at the moment. … There is not
really much I can do right now…it is just a case of trying to rest and recover.
You can't really force it. If you are not able to train there is nothing you can
do, really. It is quite frustrating."

This sums up my experience and feelings perfectly. During last night’s party I spoke with Debs, who also had Glandular Fever a couple of years ago while she was preparing for the National Championship. She assured me that it was not my fault that the symptoms came back after a couple of days. Apparently this is normal and will continue for a few more months. She also told me that she continued riding and gym work through her whole Glandular Fever episode. She didn't, however, have a full time job at the time.

My research also showed that most people are able to return to some sort of training after about three months and that healthy eating with special emphasise on strengthening the immune system has some positive results. I found this list of foods that provide the highest source of the anti-infection nutrients:

B6 - Most meats, fish, egg yolk, wholegrain cereals, bananas, avocados and nuts.
B5 - Eggs, wholegrain cereals and meat.
C - Pure orange juice, most fruit, green vegetables, liver, kidney and potatoes.
E - Vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, soya and lettuce. Eggs and dairy produce provide small amounts.
A - Animal and fish livers, kidney, eggs, milk and butter, green, yellow or orange-pigmented produce.
Folic acid - Liver, green vegetables, kidney, eggs and wholegrain cereals.
Iron - Liver, kidney, heart, egg yolk, legumes, cocoa, cane molasses, shellfish and parsley.
Zinc - Oysters, ginger-root, muscle meats, and all types of nuts. Small amounts are found in carrots, peas and potatoes.
Fatty acids - Evening primrose oil and fish oil.

I have been taking a Vitamin C/Zinc supplement but will further look into improving my diet. An article also confirmed what Philip Deignan mentioned in the quote above, that Glandular Fever creates a lot of toxins in the body. I guess it can't hurt to look into some kind of detox diet and I will see my naturopath next week. Any further advice or suggestions on the whole "Glandular fever recovery and cycling" topic are most welcome.