Finally went and got sick

All the warning signs were there, I just hadn't put it all together. Friday morning it hit me - I really was sick. The headache, muscle pain, rumbling stomach... yup, it was time to go home. I wouldn't make it through the day.

Luck for me there was a sub available. Within the hour someone was there, and I was able to leave. I had plans made (always have an emergency set ready), so it was a quick transition.

I went home and laid right down. Of course it was beautiful out. It promised to be spring-like, sunny and warm, and my planned afternoon ride was still on my mind. But only for a while. After lying in a chair for a couple of hours, my second epiphany hit - I couldn't exercise at all.

The 24-hour fever rule was in effect. No one should exercise until they have been fever-free for 24 hours. That's a hard rule for me, inviolable in fact. No workout is worth the permanent injury you risk by breaking this rule. However slight the risk might be, it does indeed exist.

Saturday didn't go much better. The headache persisted (which meant the fever did too), but passed by early morning. The muscle aches lessened and disappeared, but overall I was still weak. I hadn't intended to work out Saturday after Friday's fever. What was still in question was Sunday.

I awoke feeling pretty good, not 100%, but greatly improved. There seemed to be no real reason not to try a short run, so I met the group. We went 5 miles, and it felt pretty darn good. I actually felt... rested.

After the run was the lift. Here is where I really felt the weakest. My strength was not all back, no surprise. It wasn't a great lift as a result, but it was a lift.

Finally, there was the ride. I cut the afternoon ride to 20 miles, which went pretty smoothly. All I can say is Netflix makes this pretty easy to do!

So we come to today. I've felt pretty darn good all day, and ran equally well. Five miles might be cautious, but I want to be cautious. What reason do I have to push it? Tomorrow we run tempos, so it seems ill-advised to try to come back to top speed until then. Even at that, I will likely take the whole week to ease back into it. I'll either make miles or I won't. 

Better than yesterday

I had great plans for Wednesday - a longer run, then a ride... that would have left me only a few miles of running to cap the week before Saturday, which will likely have to be all off (due to Conference swimming). It would have been sweet, had I been able to do it.

I couldn't.

Three miles into the run yesterday I knew it was over for the day. OVER. I was light-headed, as if my blood sugar had dropped. I was starving. I wasn't tired especially, and I wasn't even that sore. I just couldn't go.

Man, getting old is awful.

So I waited for today. There were options. If it didn't rain, I could run from Parkview after school. If it did rain, I could ride for a couple of hours on the trainer. Either way, I would swim later.

Strunk texted me, stating he would run from Parkview, rain or shine. If Strunk can do it, so can I. Run it was.

Allen joined us, and it was a pleasant, if slow run. Slow was fine by me... after yesterday, I didn't need to push anything. It went by easily enough.

Allen really convinced me to wait until tomorrow to ride. He wants to start from his church at 4 and ride to Huck's and back. That's a decent 20 miles. Sounds more fun that spinning.

The swim went easily too, maybe the best I've done in a while. I held sub-1:30 pace for 100's pulling. My stroke felt on, even if it took a while to warm up the shoulders.

Busy at work. Really, really busy. 

First Tempo Tuesday

So this was the night, the first of the many Tempo Tuesdays to come. What a perfect night to start - 50 degrees and sunshine, light winds, and 16 runners.

On the front end was Miller and Wes. No one would be able to stay with them, especially Wes, but neither did they seem to have a particular plan for the run. That meant the actual plan fell to the second tier runners - Jimmy and myself.

We agreed we'd take the pace to 6:40. This would enable us to monitor our pace by quarter mile quite easily. It wouldn't likely tax either one of us too much. The important point there is this run wasn't intended to be really hard, just harder.

We broke into smaller groups, and we let the slower ones start. We would overtake them soon enough, but hopefully the staggered start would bring us together at the end.

Jimmy just couldn't stop gabbing, and he missed the start. Wes split hard at the jump, making the perfect bookend to Jimmy. Now it was choice time - chase Wes or wait on Jimmy.

Miller made the choice for me. He split the difference, and I figured that was the best choice. I ran off his shoulder through the quarter, and soon saw that it was way too fast. I let it drop a bit after that, and we hit mile one at 6:13.

That's quite a bit faster than 6:40. But you knew that.

It wasn't hard. At least, I didn't feel it so much. But it was hard, harder by far than I've run in a while. It was nice, but scary. The way it is anymore, I don't pay for these mistakes right away - it's the next few days, when something snaps. It's always easy to push too far when it feels good. By the time you realize the mistake, it's too late.

I did get an early warning. In mile two the left calf starting hurting a bit. Not a lot, but in the wrong spot. This will need a lot of attention going forward.

We (Miller and I) hit 6:13, 6:25, and 6:27. That's not too bad. 6:40 was a shot in the dark to begin with anyway, so I don't worry too much about it. It does however give me a way to decide what next week's pace should be.

Tomorrow will be a regular run. I hope to get 8-10 miles. Hope. Operative word. 

Busy

In case anyone asks, Strunk is alive. I have a witness - Galloway and I ran with him this afternoon.

I was standing on the corner of 16th and O when I heard a car horn. Spinning about, I spotted the silver truck go by. It was him, Strunk, the MIA runner from days of yore. At that time of day, there was only one place he could be heading - Parkview, for a run no doubt.

It was a bit early, but I decided to head for home. Before you are too tough on me, know that I was at work 2 hours early, and Erin had a swim meet tonight, so whatever I did had to happen fast.

I met the boys, and we did 5 easy miles. It turned out to be a bit cooler than I expected, though by no means unmanageable in a thick long-sleeve top and compression short tights. I didn't even need gloves, though I had them.

The rest of the week should be warmer, if wetter. Allen keeps talking about a ride Thursday, but today the forecast was for a 70% chance of rain. I doubt I'll go outside to ride in that.

Tempo Tuesdays start tomorrow. We'll see how that goes!

Getting a head start

This is promising to be one busy week. With three swim meets, a workshop, and a full week of starting the second semester, there will be little extra time to get in some training.

I was mulling the week over this morning while I was getting a few extra miles (before the regular group met). It occurred to me that by riding longer today and getting the lift a day early I might make things easier for the rest of the week. I was already getting a few extra miles running - why not?

The run wasn't too bad until the end, when the hips said "enough is enough". That was at 8 miles. I'd hoped for 10, but hey, I ran 10 yesterday. I'm not really very good on doubling that distance right now. Maybe down the road, but not right now.

Later, after church and lunch, I got on the bike. Thank the good Lord for Netflix! I started watching the Colts game, but it didn't take long to be discouraged by the proceedings... Luck was being, well, Luck. Don't get me wrong, I think the Colts did a great job this year, but the one thing they couldn't afford was Luck to throw picks, which of course he did.

Anyway, I scanned the new January list of movies, and lo and behold, "The Warriors" was available. The Warriors! It took me back to the summer of '79, those warm summer days, sneaking into the old Bedford Drive-In, laying out front on a blanket in the grass. I can still remember being gripped by the action of that cutting edge "B" movie. Low production values? Sure. But its style would influence a whole slew of movies to follow ("Escape from New York", "Streets of Fire", "The Terminator", etc).

I dug in. The timing was perfect. I wanted a 30-mile ride, and Joe Walsh's "In the City" struck its last chords as my ride ended. (clink-clink-clink, "War-YURS, come out to PlaY-YAY!")

There was no time to rest. I knew if I sat down, even for five minutes, I was finished. With this in mind, I headed out the door to lift. This went surprisingly well given I'd worked out for nearly three hours already. The whole thing was over before I knew it, and I was out the door.

Now I have a little breathing room. I need only one more ride of at least 20 miles, better 30. I can run 8 miles tomorrow after school and head to the meet. The rest of the week should be more-or-less manageable until Saturday. That's swim conference, and there is nothing that will save it. So, Saturday is off for training.

Allen is talking ride on Thursday. I'm not against the idea, but the roads has best clear up.

Sickness?

Leisa has been sick for a couple of days. Erin was sick before that. I wasn't too worried about it - I guess I figure if my number comes up, it does.

I ran with Galloway after work, 3:50 at Parkview, like Strunk used to do before he stopped answering everyone's texts. That run went fine, no problems at all. Sure, the alley near Norton Lane is still ice-clogged. We were fine. The time wasn't too bad either, comparatively speaking.

I had the option to ride, but I was feeling a bit dragged down. In fact, I've felt that way all week. My lifting especially has been difficult. There didn't seem to be any other concerns, so I didn't put much into it. Anyway, I wasn't going to ride, because Friday offered a better spacing to the workout week.

Then I got home and changed my mind. The time was there, Leisa wasn't in the basement, so it was the perfect time. I got on, got a few miles in, then felt really weak. The plan was altered from 20 miles to 10, and I set sights for 10.

I couldn't get there. I felt bad enough I had to get off the bike. That's very unusual. I tried to tough it out, it wasn't going to happen.

There was the Thursday night swim scheduled, and for me, that was out the window. I would go out and supervise, but there would be no water time. It was the right call. If I couldn't muster the energy to stay on the saddle, I didn't need to get wet.

This morning I feel much better. I won't know for sure until I get to the gym, but for now I am hopeful it should go well.

Tomorrow morning we meet at Parkview for a 10-mile run. I think we should be able to make the highway portion by now. Anyway, it's January, and stuff has to start happening. 

Gotta get back in the habit

I am a creature of habit, and I am slavish to those habits. However, if ever a habit is broken, it's broken. It's so difficult for me to restart those habits, no matter how long I might have found myself engaged in those activities.

Cross-country broke the spell, and since then I've found it difficult to take the time every day to put down my thoughts. I still like to do it, it just seems so hard to break away from anything I'm doing to do it.

The usual grist for my daily mill is exercise, though I am hardly constrained to that topic by any binding restrictions. Training for me isn't what it used to be, and that probably has a lot to do with me not having much to share. Oh, there are other topics I could discuss, but let's face it - another political or social issue blog is not really necessary nor wanted by my readership. Best to leave that off public channels (except for the occasional outburst of righteous indignation).

Turns out the Mayans were wrong. Huh. Who saw that coming? Certainly not the Mayans. Nostradamus was wrong too. Wow. Or maybe we don't know how to read Mayan. Or interpret Nostradamus. Dang. I thought we were out of the woods. Now the Nostradamus Channel (formerly known as the "Discovery Channel") can take one step to the side and continue 24/7 with their doomsday programming. Whew! I thought I'd have to find a new station.

The holidays are over. I'm glad. When you're young and pure, Christmas is magical. As you get older, the cuts and scrapes you get in life don't heal, and often the family gatherings just peel off the scabs. More and more I think it's something I could do without. Bah, humbug!

The great things that came out of the holidays:

• We held two events that raised money for cancer and the Boys and Girls Club of Bedford. 
• We held our annual Bub's Pilgrimage, this year attempting to eat both the Big Ugly and the Giant Dog. Our "Patties N Pups" challenge netted 5 contestants and 4 finishers. Sorry Jake, maybe next year!
• Despite the ample snowfall, training did resume. Running miles were a bit lower than I wanted, but no harm came from running in the somewhat messy conditions. 
• There was time to rest and relax with my wife and daughters. 

Back to the training... I am currently targeting 40 mpw running, 60 mpw riding, and at least one swim. I did manage to get most of that in over break, snowfall limiting the run somewhat. Lifting is going okay, though a lingering arthritis/tendinitis problem in my elbow is making me rethink my lifting routine. 

Finally, the family discovered Netflix over break. Daughter Erin is Breaking Bad over it, and if she doesn't stop watching, she will soon be the Walking Dead. ;)