THE ICYHOT INCIDENT

"As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment." — John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men)

My eyes clinched tightly, bracing for the pain. Waiting for the nerve endings to alert my brain that pain was on its way.

“May cause blindness.” I’m sure I read that on the package at some point. That was the thought that entered my mind as the burning began. I stood up, my right eye began feeling as if it were on fire.

“I’M BLIND!” I screamed as an inferno began to rage in and around my eyes …

Moments before, it had been a serene morning. I just returned home from my training session at the pool and was getting ready for a run on the treadmill. I have a strained calf muscle so lately I’ve been using an analgesic called IcyHot to help warm up the muscle before I run.

As I was applying the “extra strength” cream to my leg, without thinking, I rubbed my right eye with the hand that I was using to apply the cream. And that’s when my John Steinbeck moment happened. Time stood still as I contemplated the inevitable consequences of what I had just done.

Unable to open either eye by now, tears rolling down my face, I blindly run toward the bedroom and the master bath all the while screaming, “I’m Blind, I’m Blind!” That’s when it hit me, or rather, I hit it — the bedroom door.

CRASH! I smack head on into the closed door at full speed. Still screaming, I recover and feel my way through the doorway and build up speed as I head in the general direction of the bathroom.

CRASH! This time it was something metal.

“MY BIKE!” I scream. I just crashed into my new Kuota tri bike. My bike has never been horizontal since the day I bought it. (Bad luck to lay a bike down, right?) I even drape a towel over it to keep the dust off. Now we both lie in a heap on the floor. Pain wins out over concern for my bike and I toss it aside and crawl to the sink.

On goes the faucet. I stick my face under the cold running water and begin to wash out my eyes. Slowly I crack them open and am relieved that I can see, although my face feels like it has had battery acid thrown on it. Five minutes later I’m on the treadmill as if nothing has happened. Fortunately, the house is empty except for my daughter, who is asleep and deaf so no one witnessed my comedy of errors. Upon checking the label of IcyHot it only reads “avoid contact with eyes.” Good advice.

So, when Karen asked me what I did for training today, I simply told her, "Well, I swam 3000 yards and ran on the treadmill. Oh, I got a little bit of IcyHot on my eye, too. It hurt a little bit."

So, I’m adding “Do not rub eyes” as the second thing on the list of what not to touch while applying IcyHot.

Here's my Amazon affiliate link to some Icy Hot patch. Just so that doesn't happen again. Ha, but knowing me it will.


CALL ME MR. 3,000
I swam my first 3,000 yard workout today.
I didn't plan on it, it just sort of happened. This week is a swim focused week, So I'm trying to put in lots of time in the water. I usually swim 2,000 to 2,600 yards per workout, but today, after my workout (4x50, 3x100, 2x150, 1x200, 2x150, 3x100, 4x50, 4x75) I did a couple hundred yards for a cool down.
By then though I was up to 2,500 yards and still had some time, so I worked on some kicking drills, backstroke, breaststroke, etc. and then another cool down. Now I'm up to 2,800 yards so I figure, "Why not go for 3,000?" So I freestyle another 200 yards. In just about an hour's time I put in my longest pool session to date. So I guess I'm getting a little faster, since most of the time it takes me an hour to do 2,600 yards. And on top of that, I’ve only been swimming for seven months.