Spin!

Extremely happy to be back at Chelsea Piers for Joanna's spin class, though I fear it will be WEEKS more now before I am back there again. There was only a 10am class scheduled, because of the holiday, so she very generously gave us a good extra chunk of time. Don't feel woefully out of shape actually, though I could feel my leg muscles walking up the subway stairs....

1.25hr spin!

Run!

Nice but short: I had a long sleep last night that made lungs today feel much better than lungs yesterday, and didn't want to mess that up. Also it is cold: same absolute temperature as yesterday I'd say, but dry and windy makes it a lot tougher esp. on tender lungs. Just did the nice vent-to-snout loop in my little bit of the park.

:31

T-run!

Off to a rather late start (in retrospect it was unrealistic to think I was going to get up early and do work - I'm running below par and need the extra sleep, and I think this cough suppressant is making me sleepier even than usual!). Fat flakes of snow falling down out of the sky, but really it's in the high 30s and nothing is sticking underfoot. Nice damp air for tender lungs! Got to the Boat Basin at least - hoping lungs will clear up soon for longer running.

48 min as 5:1 easy jog/walk

VSR!

That stands for Very Short Run - or Very Slippery Run as the case may be. Lungs still not quite right, thought I should properly wait for tomorrow, but there was a small window of afternoon before darkness falls and an awareness on my part that there is nothing like even a short run to turn mood around for the better! Snow this morning turned to freezing rain, but actually I sort of love running in freezing rain - except, that is, for how slippery it gets underfoot. Regretfully decided as I hit the point where you transition down to the river that it was not worth the risk of going longer and falling on slush/ice - but I will look forward to having a nice one tomorrow morning, hopefully it will be above freezing and less slippery (if it's too cold for tender lungs, I will go to hot yoga instead).

20 cobweb-clearing minutes!

Run!

Still not at 100%, so I will be very cautious re: duration and intensity, but there is nothing like an illness-enforced layoff to make you feel ABSURDLY grateful for even a short slow run! Beautiful weather, too - strange to say, it is almost 60, sunny and mild. A particularly good day for a run along the river....

:50 as 4:1 jog-walk

Run!

Hmmmm, regular readers may have deduced from my silence this week that last weekend's optimistic pronouncements re: recovery from ailment were woefully misplaced! Really I was quite sick all week still, with a gruesomely rattly cough (there are BUCKETS of phlegm still....). But I slept long and hard last night (it's pretty outrageous, I can still sleep like a teenager - went to bed at 11 and fell asleep very easily, I was exhausted, then woke up for 2 hours in the middle of the night c. 3-5, then went back to sleep - briefly woke up 9:30 but was clearly still asleep, next woke up at 12:45!). Have just gone out for a lovely easy half-hour run; lungs still junky, but I feel considerably better, and I couldn't resist the beautiful weather (mid-40s, sunny - beautiful glittery sun on the Hudson....)

:31 very easy

Run!

Lungs still full of junk, and I was feeling awful all day (tossing and turning last night meant I only finally fell asleep AT SIX IN THE MORNING, ugh) - I am underrested and generally rather stressed out! However I did get out the door and had a very nice half-hour run - it is wintry in the park, in a way that I like. Will continue to be cautious re: lungs as they are nowhere near approaching 100% health!

:30 easy run

Run!

Hmmm, that may have been slightly premature, but I felt justified by the fact that though this cold was dreadful while it lasted, it never had any major lung involvement beyond the inevitable pint of phlegm (speculative measurement derived Thursday evening in bed during extended spell of coughing) - no soreness or tenderness, none of the unpleasant dry painful unproductive coughing I had with the last ailment. Lungs still full of very runny junk, but feeling much better and have had several good long nights of sleep.

In any case, that's the too-much-information way of saying that I could not resist taking advantage of THE MOST GORGEOUS RUNNING WEATHER - it's 40 and sunny, relatively little wind, best time of the whole running year as far as I am concerned! Just did the vent-to-snout loop in my little bit of the park, with 8 x :20 sprint, :40 recovery in the middle. About 30min total. Woo-hoo!

Ailment report

I didn't exercise on Sunday and Monday due to work overload and fatigue - and then Monday evening it became unpleasantly clear that I was coming down with another respiratory ailment! It's interesting - this one has been much more unpleasant than the last, in terms of how I felt hour by hour and day by day (started with very sore "throat" [really the top part of the palate behind the sinuses] and then progressed through horrible streaming cold and lungs full of very runny phlegm!), but it has passed much more quickly, and really the traditional cold is easier to endure - you feel so gross you don't miss the exercise, and there is no puzzle about the symptoms (on the last one I was doing a lot of googling re: ear infections and sinus infections, and that dry hard cough is much more unpleasant too). Anyway, I slept for a very long time last night and am going to take it pretty easy today - definitely on the mend - I am hoping, perhaps slightly unrealistically, that tomorrow I might be able to go for a short easy run....

Spin!

Yesterday was a wash: I found out Joanna wasn't teaching midday spin, so I thought I'd run instead (more time-efficient), but really I only had a small window and a bit of a headache that made me feel a nap was a better idea.

Made it downtime only a minute or so late for 10am spin today - very happy to be back properly! Only did the one class. Maddeningly the 1 train is YET AGAIN not running above 96th St. due to track work, so it took much longer to get home than it should have (in retrospect, I should have walked that last mile rather than dealing with the incredibly annoying and crowded free shuttle). Had a diabolical plan that I would go to 4:30 hot yoga uptown, but really what I am going to do now is take a NAP. Opera this evening and need to get at least one chunk of work done this afternoon probably mean that's it for exercise for me today. Very beautiful sunny rather wintry day: hope the weather is like this again tomorrow for my LONG(ish) RUN....

:50 spin

Spin!

Gosh, it felt good to be back at Chelsea Piers. It is really my third place - I like my apartment and my neighborhood and indeed my job very much, but there is a slight company town feel up here, I rent from my employer and live barely one block from campus - very nice to go where I am unknown!

I don't think spinning is quite as good for the soul as running is, insofar as it's not done outdoors, but I really do love the feeling of a good spin class. Had an excellent workout - HR didn't recover as quickly as I would usually expect, but that is combination of residue from ailment, lost fitness etc. - certainly it was easy to get HR up, which suggests to me that I am ready to be exercising full-on again....

:50 spin!

Run!

Lungs still very tender, but I am extremely happy to be back at it. Will continue to be cautious re: duration and intensity.

:50 as 4:1 jog-walk

Run!

Ugh, this cold has been dreadful in an entirely undramatic and not very acute way! Really I am still not better, my lungs are very tender and I was up for a couple hours in the early morning coughing and wondering whether I should make a doctor's appointment (the answer is no as this is clearly a viral thing and doctors rightly don't like to prescribe antibiotics when they are unlikely to do any good!). But my energy levels were much more normal yesterday than they have been since before I went to Dublin, and it is such a beautiful day (60F, sunny, mild), I thought it was worth taking a chance on it. I will keep things very easy for the next couple days obviously....

:40 very easy as 3:1 jog-walk!

Ugh!

Ongoing respiratory infection is completely preventing me from exercising: it is strange, there was no one single day where it was absolutely dreadful, but it just continues to develop and morph into new stages of minor unpleasantness! Just went out for a brisk 40-minute walk to see how it would feel: the answer is that my lungs are raw and I am strongly inclined to lie down again, though I slept for twelve hours last night and only got up a few hours ago!

GRUMPINESS!