a8a0r8on

I'm pretty sure I have an overactive immune system. Reasons:

• I have pretty strong allergies, an autoimmune disorder


• I have very mild eczema, an autoimmune disease of the skin


• My mother has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the intenstines


• My father has an autoimmune disease of the spine which I can't spell or pronounce


• I rarely get sick. Other than allergies, I can count the number of times I've been sick as an adult on one hand


• I get a slight fever at the slightest sign of trouble, such as when giving blood or getting a vaccine.

So I wonder if that may be why I'm so susceptible to shin splints, which is inflammation - again, an autoimmune thing. Maybe my body's natural tendency to go into attack mode means that any kind of injury is going to be exacerbated. I gotta be careful.

So I've continued my cross training. I broke down and bought a membership at a gym that is within walking distance of my house. It's fabulous! It's so nice that I haven't been back to Tufts' sorry excuse for a gym since. But it's mainly the convenience of now being able to go anytime I want and not having to plan in advance. I've been able to increase my weight lifting load across the board a bit too. I do weights for about an hour and then I bike for 30 minutes at a high pace (avg heart rate=170). But in reading some marathon handbooks I think I'm over training the heart. I think I need to drop that down to around 160 when I start training to run again in about two months. In the meantime I'm continuing to get my body stronger, my legs more flexible and rolling on my shins to wear down the last bit of nagging soreness in my inner right calf. The left calf is perfect now. I've been e-mailing with the Tufts' marathon team coach and he's been totally awesome. He has a good, funny spirit and is incredibly supportive. He's given me advice and offered me their therapy and training services to prepare for next year. Nice!