OK, I had a really bizarre biology experience last night/this morning. I made a fresh batch of salsa as we were running low yesterday evening, chopped up everything, including a nice plump jalepeno and dumped them in the bowl as I normally do. Only this time my right hand fingers started burning about an hour later. And 30 minutes after that my left hand started burning too. I didn't think much of it and decided it was likely just an extra hot jalepeno... This morning I woke up and once I started exercising my hands started burning again, and when I took a shower they felt like they had gone up in flames. I just washed them with a little rubbing alcohol and the burning sensation passed temporarily but is coming back again as I type this.
So, my theory: I've been eating super hot food all of my life, and have a deep love for it... So why is this happening all of a sudden? It should be noted that I never use gloves when chopping and its never been an issue before. And then Kim reminded me that my hands have been unusually dry recently which made me think that perhaps my body chemistry is changing in some way that has me producing less oil (being of Italian decent I am generally quite oily), and with that barrier gone the capsaicin can make a beeline to my skin surface without being repelled. And when I started sweating and then took a shower my pores opened up and the capsaicin was able to dive right in... It actually feels like what I imagine it might feel like to have someone spray your hands with mace/pepper spray.
So, any thoughts from the gallery? I will be doing all further PCP salsa prep with gloves on, but curious to know if anyone else has any thoughts... especially on how to quell the heat, or similar experiences.
One more thing...
Kim made me, made me I tell you... made me sit there and watch her eat her giant indulgence ice cream. Actually it wasn't the biggest cup available... it was the second biggest. And she didn't make me, I wanted to test myself. Into the lion's den as it were. Or ice cream parlor. Maybe entirely mental (in more ways than one), but I honestly had no craving for the ice cream. Sure, it looked good but I really didn't feel that tug...
Workout
Well... it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Still hateful for the jelly legs, but it sounds like that is par for the course.
- Jump ropes: It may be that I didn't get enough sleep last night but these weren't as good as yesterday. Still managed two lots of 200, but otherwise it was lots of 100 and 150 for the most part.
- Lunges: I can't decide if these are actually easier now because I have more strength and stamina or if they just suck less because of the introduction of their crippling cousins:
- Floorjump: Wow. Me on the floor quivering like a baby. Not quite as much urine, but I could literally barely stand up. And when I did I almost fell over.
- Pull-up/Incline Pull Ups: still stuck at 2.5 of the regular pull ups. As hard as these are I kind of wish we had more of them, more frequently as this feels like a surmountable goal. Finished the sets using the table again. The number of reps is quite hard...
- Rowing: remembered to double up on the bands this time and got a nice solid, tough four sets in
- DaVinci: the last reps of the last set of these are, as always, almost completely impossible to do with decent form.
- Situps: definitely feeling them... have to be careful with the form... towards the last set I am faltering and it appears that I am getting slightly asymmetric, rolling slightly to the right as I curl up. Just something to keep an eye on.
- Plank: not too bad... last set was tougher though
Hey Richard, you are lucky it only burnt your hands! I was clearing out the fridge a few days ago and came across a few red chillies I was saving. I chopped them in half and removed the seeds (Makes it too hot for Georgie) and then diced them and added them to another weaker chili sauce. I then washed up, made a cup of coffee and went to the bathroom to take a leak. Yikes! You can imagine what I was holding and about 30 seconds later, red hot hell!!!! To top it all off I rubbed both eyes too and they too proceeded to burn like shit. I ended up lying down on the couch with my eyes squeezed tight and holding my groin for about 20 minutes with my son Jake asking me if I was okay. No idea why they affected me so bad that time as I too never ware gloves when I work with chili, but believe me, from now on, I'm not taking any chances. Totally clueless as to why the chillies really affected me like that and would also like some sort of explanation.
ReplyDeleteAre you getting drier skin than usual too? I'm thinking that there may be a connection... Duly noted on wariness about chillies and willies!
ReplyDeleteToo true!!! I do have a drier skin but that I believe is due to climate and altitude. It's winter here and we are at 2000 meters above sea level. The air is as dry as a witches tit but having said that my skin seems drier than last years winter skin. Great photos, you can see a huge improvement. Well done!
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