So I just did my first race of the season this morning (3m/16m/3m duathlon) and it went pretty miserably. My time was about 7 minutes slower than the same race the previous two years. I am a little older this year and a little heavier but still thought I had a decent shot of beating my PR. Throughout the race and even during my 15 minute warmup it felt like I was breathing harder than I should have been. I walked through T1 for the first time ever I felt so exhausted. Needless to say, I am pretty disappointed.
So here’s the thing. Last night, as I lay in bed in a half asleep/half awake state I thought I could smell natural gas and thought about getting up to check the furnace but it wasn’t overpowering or anything so stayed in bed. When I eventually did get up at 5:30 am I went to the basement where the furnace is located and didn’t smell anything at all so I figured it was all in my head. Except that upstairs I could still smell it. Anyway, I left the house and headed to the race. The race started at 8:15, so about 2.5 hours after leaving my home. So when I got home from the race I walked in my house I was met with the clear smell of rotten eggs. I went straight to the stove and sure enough one of the burners was set to the low position but there was no flame. I had forgotten to turn the burner off last night and at some point the flame must have somehow gone out. And yes, I immediately opened all my windows to air the place out.
So I am wondering if this had any affect on my race. I didn’t have any symptoms like headache or dizzyness and the burner was only on the low setting so it wasn’t exactly spewing gas. I also had a good 2.5 hours of fresh air prior to the start of the race. I would think that would be plenty of time to clear out any carbon monoxide in my system. Still, my drop in performance has me thinking (and hoping) there is a connection.
Any doctors/natural gas experts out there that can chime in and let me know if I am off base?