Cycling With a Cold

The cold that has been working its way through my family for the past couple weeks finally descended upon me last night with a scratchy throat that signaled impending doom. I took some zinc lozenges and did a nasal irrigation but all in vain, because this morning my voice was gone and the cold was definitely here. It hasn't been too bad so far, knock on wood. I've just been desperate for liquids all day long. I've had two mini-pots of tea and lost count of how many times I've refilled my cup of water. I've been drinking citrus water lately, putting half a lemon, half a lime and half an orange into my cup and pouring water over them. They last all day and make the water a lot more palatable, but today I just can't stop drinking! I like to think of it as washing the germs through my body and out.

After a little bit of internet research, I decided not to skip the gym this evening. Apparently moderate exercise is good for your immune system, and as long as the cold symptoms don't go below your neck, you're good to go on exercise. Monday nights used to be Zumba for me, but it's the busiest night and I hated it. I find that being in a classroom with too many people makes me feel awkward and self-conscious. It makes me dance small, which is not good for getting a good workout, and it makes me feel huge, which is not good for getting those nifty post-exercise endorphins. I tried it for a few weeks, but it just wasn't working out.

Now I do cycling on Monday nights, and aside from the persistent butt pain, it's a lot better. Carlos teaches the Monday night class, and he is extremely loud but really nice and encouraging. Tonight's class involved a lot of sitting on the bike seat, which is not my favorite pose, and a lot of leaning over the handlebars while sitting, which is absolutely my least favorite pose. As an, (ahem) "bigger-busted woman," I find that there is substantially less clearance between the bottom of my top and the top of my legs than there is for my classsmates, and trying to bike while stretched out flat is a little bit like giving yourself a double-barreled mammogram at 65 revolutions per minute. On the other hand, besides going through two bottles of water instead of one, my cold didn't cause any problems at all!

Dinner tonight was good too, though I forgot to take a picture. I picked up a couple of ultra-thin whole wheat pizza crusts at HEB last week, and tonight I used one to make a chicken-bacon-artichoke pizza. I spread the pizza with pizza sauce (sometimes I use fat free ranch dressing for variety), then added chopped-up grilled boneless skinless chicken breast that I made up yesterday. Half a breast is plenty for pizza topping. Added a bunch of chopped up canned artichoke hearts, sprinkled on turkey bacon bits, and covered it with a cup of reduced fat parmesan cheese. 12 minutes in the oven, and it was done! Both my guys love this pizza.