THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

3 x 5 mile loops on the singletrack at Miller's Meadow.  First loop I felt winded and out of shape keeping up with Kyle and Jarrod, second loop I fell back a minute or two and felt better.  Then they stopped, and I took an easy third loop.  I feel breathless and out of shape, gonna chalk it up to this cold and hope that it gets better before next Saturday.  I am going to back down this week and really try to rest!

My diagnosis:  "pneumonia with acute asthma exacerbation".  I was told I had asthma when I was a smoker many moons ago.

Anywho, no run.  no work.  sitting at home with meds and steroids and breathing treatments trying not to move around too much.  I knew I was in trouble at work last night, started having major problems in the wee hours of the morning.  I told my partner, dude, I think I have pneumonia....can't breathe.  I was right.

Still have pneumonia.  Still can't breathe if I do much more than sit around.  Will see doc on Wednesday to decide if I can go back to work.  Psycho this weekend is  pretty much off the table.  I will probaby feel better but will be risking relapse and more serious illness.  My left lower lobe is especially bad.  Boston is the key race this spring, so I need to think about that and get recovered now while there is still time and let these other races go for now.

snowed in!!  pretty outside!

I went to the doc today.  The pneumonia is worse, I have more in the right lung now. We switched to a different antibiotic and hopefully this one does the trick.  I am still banished to a life of laying around the house, not working, and not exercising.  I hope I sit throught this weekend, the med works, and I can start back to normal life Monday.  I am not patient with this type of stuff! 

This is definitely a game changer in Boston training.  I think I will be forced to switch to lower volume and higher quality to maximize recovery and rest periods, at least for this spring.

Slept very late but got up feeling almost normal today, even had enough energy to clean house and pay bills.  I might even go for laundry next.  My Mom came and listened to my lungs, still rice krispies on teh right side but over all much clearer and much less wheezing.  Yay, the  new med is working.  I'm thinking as long as I'm compliant and live the couch potato life through the weekend, I can be back to business as usual Monday.

Slept well, woke up feeling normal.  Resting heart rate was back to 50.  So....I jogged 30 minutes very very easy on the home treddy--no shortness of breath.  Then I stopped and showered and now am relaxing. 

Nice n ez on the treadmill at Genesis while talking with Marcus.  Badly miss running with my bud!  I did group power with him and and Glen afterward and now I am guaranteed to be sore.  felt good--all systems a go

ez on the home treddy.  all better.

New weekly tradition began today....the 6:00 death workout. So basically I get on the treadmill and run 6:00 pace more or less until I can't stand it. Goal is to try to extend it half a mile each week, as well as extend the total distance at 6:00 pace. I warmed up 2 miles ez, then made it to 1.75 at 6:00 pace before bailing, but I'm kicking myself for not hanging on until 2. Jogged .5, then another mile at 6:00, jog, .25 at 6:00 pace. Hit the indoor track for 2 miles including 10 strides. So I made it 1.75 on the first shot with a total of 3 miles at 6.00 pace, so next weeks goal will be 2.25 with a total of 3.5 at 6:00 pace. Hit core and plyo with weights for 30 minutes afterward.

Recovery miles at the East Y. 7 on the mill, one on the indoor track. Sore today, probably because of all that lunging and squatting and jumping around with weights yesterday. Hurts so good.

6:52 pace. Treddy hill day. Nothing spectacular, I wasn't really struggling but was just sorta tired and not feeling it so I completed the workout but didn't ratchet up paces and kill it at the end. Not a superhero workout. .5 warm up ez, 2.5 miles up 4% 7:30 pace, then 5 miles down -2% at 6:22 pace. Gotta start getting the quads ready for some Boston mashing.

Am: 6.5 ez around Riverside

Afternoon: 3.6. Super duper easy with my friend Roger who is getting into running

Went to Sedgwick County Park to get out of traffic and slush, ran into Karen and Leann and ran with them for miles 1-8.  Ran easy with last 4 6:59. 6:48, 6:49, 6:46.  Did not feel so great on the last 4, but kinda glad this week I set the bar with so-so workouts, leaves room for improvement and next week I should be fully recovered coming off the pneumonia.

56 degrees!!   ez breezy in the sun with music.  Runnnig in the sun in shorts feels so amazing!  I need to do some abs and push-ups but right now am more interested in what to eat.

This was sortuva last minute deal.  A couple of my running buddies were doing it, so after I got off work this morning I set th ealrm for noon, it went off and I decided I felt rested enought after 5 hours to get up and go run.  This is a low-key race with no prizes but everyone gets a mug and a first-aid kit and gets dirty, plus it's close to home.  It had mud and sand and wind but it was fun.  I missed a turn coming back and mucked through some more mud before hitting a dead end and having to backtrack, so lost a few minutes in there.  I was able to re-pass about half of the people who got by I think.  Anyways, it really doesn't fit in my training plan but it was a good time with friends and I'm glad I went.  I don't feel like I really "raced"--I ran solid but it wasn't an all-out redline effort.

45 minutes spin class.  I have never been to a spin class before.  It was pretty fun.  I really needed to just take a running day off but needed something to help me not feel like a blob!  Speedwork tomorrow.

6:00 death workout day.  I only went ,25 further than last week on the first swing but overall I fell immensely stronger during this workout then I did last week, even with my legs a bit fatigued.  2 mile warm-up, 2 miles at 6:00 pace, half mile jog, 1 more 6:00 mile, half mile jog, 800 meters at 6:00 pace, Cooled down a little on the treadmill then hit the indoor track for 1 more mile with 10 strides.  25 minutes core afterward.

4.5 ez on the home mill while doing laundry then drove to SCP and did 2.8 ez with Roger and Guinness the dog.

Only half days at school all week, it's killing me because it really cuts into my sleep time between shifts.  Dragging today, not much time, but wanted to get something in.  Home treddy, 15 minute warm-up, 10 x 45 secs on/75 secs off at 5:27 pace, cooldown to 5.5  miles.  If I don't get my tired butt out for a long run tomorrow then it will have to be pushed to Monday since I have my girly all weekend and Mom is out of town.

6:40 pace.  Mom is out of town, so no way to run outside this weekend but still wanted a long run.  I have a 2 hour time limit in kidzone at the Y, so I checked Vanessa in, bolted upstairs to the treddy, plugged in Pandora radio, and want for it.  I don't know what got into me, but if felt easy and I had a pretty nice cruise watching close captioned tv and listening to my tunes.  Hopefully it's not a fluke, and it's what SlowJoe would call an "improvement spurt".  Half a gu and a few good chugs of water at mile 9.

recovery day,  6 ez on the home milll then a little later 4 super ez with Roger on the west side

More ez on the home treddy

Was supposed to be the 6:00 death workout today but I could tell in the first mile that I just didn't have it, my legs were just not responding.  I decided to go ahead and do a workout, but I radically modified it.

2 mile warm up, 1 mile 6:00 pace, .5 recovery, 1 mile 5:56, .5 recovery, then 8 x 400 at 5:52 pace with 400 recovery, cooldown 2.25.  Did 40 minutes upper body and core afterward.

I had to take yesterday off, too exhausted between shifts.  Today Vanessa was sick so I did the home treddy, started at 6.7mph and bumped it up .1mph every 5 minutes until I got to 8 miles.  Just a super easy progression, hoping to have my legs under me for a hill workout tomorrow.

6:43 AP.  a little quadmashing, picked up the pace from the usual for the uphill and felt it, had to cut it short half a mile to keep from going overboard to the well.

Downtown treddy.  .5 warm up 8:34 pace, 2 miles up 4% at 7:24 pace(suddenly got real tough the last half mile). 5 miles down -2% 6:22, 6:18, 6:15, 6:11, 6:07, .5 cooldown flat at 6:40 pace.

7:36 AP.  Today was the last decent day to be outside before winter hits again, so I moved the long run to today, despite doing a workout yesterday.  My goal was just to get the 18 in at whatever I felt like running.  This pace felt pretty easy and it was an enjoyable run, but I could definitely feel the fatigue in my legs in the latter miles.