Aligator skin...

I don't know what's happening to me. Since coming back from China, my skin is peeling off my fingers and the heels of my hands. (If it was palms, it would be easier to diagnose).

I've never had this happen to me before. I'm wondering if this is still side effects from swimming in a Chinese river? or just from entering China altogether?

Also, John Barclay's still not feeling well. He came by to drop something off and told Alice that his doctor is having him take some blood tests. It seems something got the both of us. Fortunately for me, I'm MUCH stronger than John.

I don't know what I was thinking when I thought China would be safe. Hindsight is 20/20 and after much reflection it all makes sense now. It comes down Newton's law, which is "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction". So I used that theory and applied it to our current situation.

My hypothesis, is: If John and I went to China and came back feeling 50% of our normal self, then Chinese people who come to North America and go back to China must feel 150%.

No wonder they don't want their people to leave the country and learn what other foods are available, it would kill their "chicken foot" industry. If they started eating North American food, I could only imagine the problems it would cause. Their dog, cat and rat population would grow out of control.

China may not allow Western social media sites, but they allow McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut. To them, it's the equivalent of health food. No wonder McDonald's sponsor their Olympic program, if they didn't, the Chinese athletes wouldn't have the energy to even make it on the team bus.

I'm still shocked how much fitness I lost in just two weeks. Getting food poisoning, and who knows what else, has kicked my ass. Although I think I'm finally on the mend.

Last night, about 2 hours after my ride, my legs started feeling much better. And this morning, I wasn't hobbling and I felt a few cracks and loosening in my pelvis area, which is a good thing. I also noticed that my arms started to feel strong again. It's amazing what only one easy weight training session can do to bring back some muscle strength.

Today was my first swim since China and I hadn't lost much. My main set was 20 x 100 meters on 15 second rests at a steady pace, not hard. My fastest was 1:37 and my slowest was 1:43, most were at 1:41. I was surprised and happy with the strong swim.

However, the swim did take it's toll. I ran tonight and before I even left the house my heart rate was resting in the 70's. It's normally in the 50's. To keep my heart rate under 143, I had to stop and walk at least 30 times during my hilly run.

I don't think I walked that much EVER. It didn't help that my heart rate monitor was screwing up. There may be a few times I walked due to a watch malfunction. For my next run I'm going to be wearing a second heart rate monitor. There is nothing more frustrating that an erratic heart rate monitor.

Although my heart rate was way too high, I was happy with how I felt. My legs were still sore from yesterday's training and before I started the run, I was dreading the pain. It turned out that my legs held together pretty good. They felt better after I finished than when I started.

I'm also making sure that I'm taking in lots of protein. I'm having a protein drink in the morning and after I finish my training. I want to make sure my muscles get everything they need to rebuild as quickly as possible.

I was given some twitter advice from @gosonja about my muscles and strength. She said, "it's not gone, just hiding a little". It made me feel much better because Sonja been there, she knows what she's talking about. She's an age group elite triathlete and this past weekend just came second overall in the Moab 100 mile run. You can check out here race report at http://gosonja.com/

I also think the beers are really helping. I've haven't been going overboard by any stretch, but that first beer after a training session tastes so good. It's heavenly.

I think something in beer must be good for me. Since I started drinking it, I'm not eating or craving food as much, especially junk food. This morning I stepped on the scale and was back down to 179 lbs. In one day I got rid of Sunday's 3 lbs of grease and salt water retention.

In the first two days of Ironman training, I've done 6 hours and I don't feel too bad. It will be interesting to see how long it takes until I get my strength and speed back. This is one hell of an experiment. It falls under the "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" category.

Long Swim - 1:00:09 / 3000 meters

Mod Run - 1:35:02 / 17.08 km / 5:34 pace / 142 avg hr.

179.4 lbs / 21.5% BMI

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