Going horizontal with vertigo

Verti, please go

Today's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles
Last Sunday's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

This has been a dizzying week for a couple of reasons. One is that I have so much going on at the office that I'm doing five minute meetings in the hallway on my way to other meetings. The other reason it's been dizzying is because I've been dizzy. About once a year (last time was in March) I get a bad case of sinus related vertigo that puts me horizontal, at least for a little while. Aside from the feeling that the room is spinning, there are no concerning effects.

My bout with this annoyance started on Wednesday night. I had no idea it was coming, but right after dinner, I started feeling woozy. It isn't unpleasant, but it does get in the way of walking a straight line across the room. I felt much better on Thursday morning but after a couple of dizzy spells during my morning coffee, I elected to work from home. I would normally run on a work-from-home day, but I didn't want to take any chances on the treadmill.

Today was a different story. I worked from home again because that's what I do on Fridays. Between a restful night's sleep and some sinus medicine, I was getting back to normal. I decided to do a treadmill run. Although the streets are clear, the sidewalks are still snowed under and I didn't feel comfortable without that escape route.

I expected to struggle on the treadmill but ended up doing okay. No dizziness issues and the running felt easy. I suspect that had to do with my moderate pace and the fact that I had two consecutive nights of sleeping eight hours. That doesn't happen too often. With the music station playing some decent songs and a calmer day ahead, my workout seemed to go by quickly.

I don't like admitting this, but my last few treadmill runs have gone very well. I think we're due for spring-like weather next week and that might get me back on the road. This weekend, I'm pretty sure I'll be running inside. But with the Monday holiday, at least I'll get an extra chance for a run.

I'm vertigo-ing to take Sudefed next time

Once again, pseudoephedrine saves the day

Today's run (street): 3.75 miles

I had a very nice Saturday until about 8:00 PM last night when I started feeling dizzy. I have very sensitive sinuses and big changes in temperature tend to affect me. It's usually in the form of a pounding headache. Occasionally, the only effect will be a feeling of light-headedness, which is far more tolerable. Unfortunately, the dizziness sometimes provokes it's evil twin, nausea, and then it's no fun at all.

By 8:30 I could tell that this would be more than a passing thing. I considered using nasal spray or taking a decongestant, but I was also starting to feel sick. Instead, I headed upstairs to go to bed in hopes that I could sleep it off.

Today is the start of daylight savings time, and when I woke up, I thought I'd slept until 7:00 AM. Actually I did, but my internal clock thought it was 6:00 AM. Still, I managed to get more than eight hours sleep and all signs of last night's vertigo were gone. I was concerned about overdoing it today, and decided to keep my run short.

The weather was pleasant and I dressed correctly for a change. I'd taken Sudefed when I got up in hopes of warding off a recurrence of sinus trouble. I expected to feel tired on the road. Instead, the decongestant had the opposite effect. My stride felt loose and my energy level was higher than it's been in weeks. I felt so good I wondered if pseudoephedrine is a banned substance.

I stayed in my neighborhood, but mixed up my route to keep things somewhat interesting. Unlike many runs, I wasn't thinking about how much more time or distance I had to cover. I was really enjoying being outside on a beautiful (if humid) pseudo-spring day. I never looked at my watch during the run, and was surprised to see that I'd exceeded my three mile target by 20%.

I didn't get in all the workouts I'd hoped for over the week, but I had some challenging days in the office that kept me late a couple of days. This week should be better and if I'm able to stay on schedule I'll aim to add a Wednesday and/or Thursday workout.

Moving lower on the dizzy scale

Today's run (street): 4.4 miles

After another good nights sleep I'm functioning a little better than on Friday. I woke up today without feeling dizzy. Even after my run, I haven't experienced any problems. I still feel blocked on my right side around my ear, which may be due to fluid build-up. It's possible that I got water in my inner ear from being in the pool last weekend. That could explain my occasional dizziness over the past week.

I had some time pressure to get my run done early, although I still took my sweet time getting outside. I like to take it easy on Saturday mornings, leisurely drinking coffee and watching the news, although those aren't conditions that motivate me to run and sweat. I do eventually get there. According to my Garmin data, I didn't actually start my run until 8:43 AM. Fortunately, the weather was still a balmy 77° with an 8 MPH breeze and only 57% humidity.

Since I skipped my workout yesterday, I considered covering a little extra distance today. I ended up keeping my run to around four miles because I didn't want to overdo it. That was a good decision and I ended up having a good, energizing run. The run itself started as it typically does, with the first few minutes setting the tone for the entire workout. I usually start off feeling uncomfortable, probably due to the high degree of anaerobic breathing that happens before my body switches over to aerobic.

The rest of the run went fine and I was back home in time to stay on schedule. Today has been busy and I was happy to get my run in after missing it yesterday. I'm glad the dizziness has gone away. I just hope it stays gone.

Nothin' doing

I don't know why, but I've been tired and dizzy over the last couple of days. It may be due to an inner-ear thing, or possibly caused by a sinus infection or allergic reaction. I haven't suffered from allergies in the past, but I think I may have recently developed some pollen sensitivities. Whatever the cause, this condition has sapped my energy this week.

I was looking forward to a good week of activity and had enough energy on Wednesday afternoon to do an elliptical session when I got home from work. I was a little dizzy before that workout but seemingly fine afterward. Thursday was rough because the dizziness came back and my schedule was filled with meetings and presentations. Somehow I got through it.

I got a full eight hours sleep last night and expected to go out for a run this morning before I started my work day. Unfortunately the dizzy feeling and fatigue returned and I elected to wait until later, hoping that I'd snap back. By late morning I resigned myself to making this a rest day. I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow. No matter what I do, at least I won't be leaping across and jumping from buildings like SIOR will be doing on Saturday.