Could this be the end?

Well it looks like my triathlon career could be coming to an end before it’s even begun!

I think I am allergic to swimming, water, goggles or chlorine!

Last night I went swimming for the 10^th time since deciding to try and improve my front crawl technique in order to get good enough to enter a triathlon.  However, I was so ill after swimming last night I am rapidly going off the idea.

Initially after starting swimming training 10 weeks ago I started to get a slightly stuffy nose afterwards but by the following morning the symptoms had gone. However, after each swimming session these symptoms have got progressively worse and last night they were what I would describe as extreme.  About an hour after coming out the pool I started with a slightly runny nose which progressed on to me sneezing (about 40 times in an hour) and that was closely  followed by an extremely heavy running nose (nearly emptied a box of tissues!) , a headache in my forehead, sore eyes and itchy skin.  I felt like I had been bull-dozed over by a truck.  I took some antihistamine to see whether this would work and after a good nights sleep I woke up symptom free. 

However I cannot possibly go through this every time I go swimming.  I have looked these symptoms up on the internet and surprisingly it appears to be a common condition and  suggestions include antihistamines, decongestants and nose clips as a preventative measure  or nasal sinus rinse to wash the chlorine away after swimming to lessen the irritation. Apparently also having your Goggles on too tight can increase the pressure on your sinuses. 

So, as I am always imprinted with goggle marks and come out the pool looking scary like the face from the film scream I have decided that this may be the problem!  My plan is to play around with my goggles and see if I can loosen them sufficiently without allowing water in and if that fails I have decided I will try taking an antihistamine before swimming and if this doesn’t work I am willing to look a Wally in a nose clip. However, if all this fails I will be giving up triathlons as a bad job and will be concentrating on another goal for 2013!

This saddens me as I finally feel I am slowly improving! I have gone from swimming 100 metres in 6 minutes 43 seconds to swimming 100 meters in 3 minutes 31 seconds!  Still a long way to go but getting better all the time!!!

 

I am thinking and hoping (fingers and everything else crossed) it might be the goggles as I have never had this problem before, but then again I haven't swam seriously before either for an hour at a time with my head under the water!

Watch this space for an update...