I told you I was ill

Fortunately I wasn't as ill as Spike Milligan but I was very much out of action for exercise for almost a week. After last week's recorder lesson (maybe there should be a whole blog on that?) I faded and spent much of the weekend and beginning of this week under a blanket. I postponed Monday's circuit class until yesterday.

Swimming was also out of the question until Wednesday and I took it easy then. The common cold is a trivial illness but feels far worse than it deserves to. I'm still not 100% well but have managed some activity without falling back into bed. I've noticed that my resting heart rate (RHR) mapped my underlying lethargy remarkably well.

RHR from my Garmin's optical wrist sensor 

It's 'well known' that RHR increases by up to 10bpm in mild infections although serious evidence to support this isn't easily found. I spotted that my RHR dipped below its average on recovery and I suspect that this might be due to reduced physiological stress in the absence of medium length runs, aka sitting around at home!

I'm not going to make this into a larger analysis, but if you are thinking of doing that, this report is a great example of the "quantified self" movement (which may well be beyond its apogee).

Incidentally, I submitted heart rate data to my GP this week and the RHR of 40bpm caused some concern as it's a threshold of severe bradycardia. I'm booked in for an ECG next week, no significant NHS waiting list there! Personally I don't believe I've a sinus problem or heart block as my heart rate adapts rapidly and predictably to exertion and rest just as it should do.