Brief update

On stop two of four for Thanksgiving itinerary. Still with lungs full of junk, coughing a lot and not feeling particularly well - no way I can do the Turkey Trot, ugh...

Update

Yesterday was the first day I felt anywhere near my normal self: still very croaky and with pints of phlegm residing in the lungs and the sinuses, but at least actually able to walk around and do errands and think about interesting work things.

This was the ten-day cold from hell, and I was not mentally fortified to withstand its rigors!

Still not feeling anywhere near 100%; I think I will have to be cautious about reintroducing any exercise, ugh....

Tomorrow I'm leaving for whirlwind Thanksgiving travels (Ottawa, Philadelphia, Virginia, Maryland); I'm signed up for a five-mile Turkey Trot on the Thursday, but I am not at all sure I'll be well enough to do it, I'll see how I feel the day before.

My only goal for the coming week is to conduct myself in a fashion that will not lead to me becoming sick again when I return to Cayman on the 29th. As I had another bad cold that lasted from Oct. 15 to Oct. 22 ,and wheezing and coughing that began on Oct. 31 and lasted until the cold proper hit me on Nov. 9, I am basically counting this the least physically enjoyable month I have had in recent memory.

It is killing me not to exercise, I really depend on it for mood and morale and I need to be building some base fitness now if I want it to be realistic to start Ironman training in March. I'm still quite uncertain as to whether that's going to be feasible, but I suppose I will just have to wait and see closer to the time.

A sorry state of affairs

I am feeling extraordinarily glum - what seemed like a mere downturn in the preexisting ailment turned out to be a whole new ailment of the chest-cold variety - I have basically been in bed for days now, and judging by the current state of my lungs it is going to be days more before I can do any exercise to speak of.

UGH!

Tuesday grumpiness

On the bright side, had a nice walk with Max and dogs, but my cough is if anything worse this morning: it seems to have settled in as a real chest cold. I am very grumpily and belatedly taking the measure I should have taken last week, namely taking a few days fully off from exercise - I'll call C. later and cancel our appointment for tomorrow, I think Thursday is the earliest I should do anything and possibly Friday to give my lungs a chance to repair. Ugh, ugh, ugh....

40 mins. walk

Workout #6

1hr. strength (it was a short 'hour,' but I am still coughing up a storm, so it was perhaps for the best - we just did straight strength stuff, not boot-camp-style things, so as not to put undue strain on the lungs).

Alas, C. is going away for a week on Friday, so I'll have a session on Wednesday and then pick up again for only one session on Friday the 19th before I travel for Thanksgiving - I had better write in sessions on my own in my appointment book so as not to lose momentum...

Monday swim

It was pretty nice, but I am in low spirits - this lung ailment has gotten me down! I meant to swim longer (one more 400 of straight freestyle), but I hit the hour mark and was losing mental focus and also coughing a lot, so I figured it was OK to get out.

(I just was sick so recently, that's the thing that seems unfair! But rationally I know that upping exercise - I had a ten-hour week last week, after a month with very little exercise indeed - puts huge stress on the immune system, and it is not at all surprising that some sort of ailment set in once I'd triggered the asthma in the first place. Bit better this morning, I suppose, so I will hope that I can do a lot more hours of exercise this week than I did last.)

4 x 400m as

400 free with every fourth length as breast or back

4 x 100 drill-swim by 25 (front scull, fists, catch-up, thumbs-and-salute)

400 flutter kick with every fourth length whip or dolphin

4 x 100 IM, odds drill and evens swim

1600m total

Sunday ride!

I took yesterday off from exercise because my lungs were feeling worse again - it is making me very grumpy! But this morning was the KiwaniBike, and Max and I had egged each other on to do it - we rode over to Smiths Cove, put our bikes into a truck and rode a bus out to the Blowholes. Then rode the 20 miles back - count it as 26 total. Beautiful cool weather for riding, though rather windy...

Workout #5

Trainer C. texted me around 7:45 to see if I could meet at 9 instead of 2, and I was happy to oblige. A good workout - definitely I fatigue a bit more easily when I've only had an hour and a half post-swim, but it is not a real problem.

1hr. strength

Friday swim

Yesterday evening I vowed that I would swim this morning come hell or high water - fortunately extreme measures were not necessary, lungs felt quite a bit better this morning - it was a very nice swim, good to be back in the water. I'm still coughing quite a bit, so I took everything at pretty easy intensity - will try and do a couple of harder workouts next week, and perhaps a sea swim over the weekend.

4 x 500

(1) and (2) as free with every fifth length breast

(3) as 100 IM kick, 100 free, 100 IM drill, 100 free, 100 IM swim

(4) as odds drill-swim by 25 (finger-drag, catch-up, 6-3-6), evens free

2000 meters total

Hmmm...

I grumpily observe that my lungs are so gummed up and sore that there seemed to be little point doing any cardio; on the bright side, I did have a nice forty-minute walk with Max and dogs this morning, so that will have to count as the day's exercise. Very much hoping I will feel better tomorrow, this is discouraging!

Workout #4

Challenging workout with C. - more boot-camp-style than straight strength training, made me feel occasionally queasy as HR rose and stayed too high! Lungs full of what feels like a pool of disgusting fluid, but otherwise feeling OK...

1hr. strength

Lung-related grumpiness

I had quite a bit of wheezing in the last stage of Sunday's triathlon, and my lungs suffered quite a bit subsequently - they still feel very raw/sore/itchy and drenched in junk! I skipped my projected swim this morning because it just didn't seem like a good idea to put further strain on them...

But my lovely sister-in-law Jessi has lifted my spirits by sending me the link to a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot - I am going to register now, and as she says we will feel better about eating pie later if we do it!

3 x 45

45 minutes core strength class, 45 minutes spin; earlier I had a very nice 45-minute walk with Max and dogs.

(We heartlessly split our sides laughing as Sharka chased a chicken and made it fly over a fence!)

Workout #3

Super workout with C. at World Gym. This is GOOD.

Save Our Skins

A fantastical future possibility has now moved to the column of races for 2011 - I have registered for the Survival of the Shawangunks....