Saturday

Modified (lungs are still getting worse) to do 1hr as 4 x 15 (1 x 4:1, 5 x 1:1). I will forego yoga, my lungs don't need any more stress....

Yoga!

Rachel's 8:45am flow class. Packed with visitors! It was really, really good - I felt clumsy and ungainly, it's going to take a while to get back into it, and I was rather queasy for a stretch in the middle (the room was very warm, and the combination of postnasal drip and residual cold meds unsettle the stomach - ugh, the smell of Mucinex!), but it is so immediately and evidently beneficial. I have a fantasy about the fitness regimen I am going to pursue in Paris! Just need to make it through till then without total collapse....

1hr flow yoga!

Friday

40 as 1:1, which was good as lungs are feeling very raw and a bit unstable. Shooting for 8:45 flow yoga I think - hot will be too intense while my lungs are still so tender....

Catch-up

Tuesday: coming down with respiratory ailment, that plus very low temperatures ruled out a run. Wednesday: travel to Cayman! Don't sleep much those nights (car was booked for 4:30am), took a nap in the afternoon (Brent didn't get back from Ottawa till 10pm or so), had long sleep overnight. Lungs aren't 100% but it's really just a minor cold, not a true dreaded lung ailment, and I decided I'd better get out for an experimental 30 easy as 2:1. (David would not be impressed with the argument that my lungs were good enough for yoga but not good enough for jogging!) Cool for Cayman, warm for me, very nice though - pleasant holiday mood, joggers and cyclists greet each other with an amiable "Good morning"...

30 easy as 2:1

Xmas jog!

I add the exclamation point grudgingly, I am not really in the mood, but it was awfully good to be in the park again (the fitness center at the airport hotel in Ottawa is a windowless box with thermostat set at - I am not kidding - 30C!). It's so windy that it's almost scary! But I like that holiday feel - hardly anybody out, but a park worker stopped his truck and rolled down the window to wish me a merry Christmas. Babying my lungs as they are tender from cold and I am eager not to pick up the respiratory infection that had afflicted Brent by Friday, was sorry not to do anything epic but it wouldn't have been smart! Heading to NJ for Xmas feast at my brother's - especially looking forward to sitting with their little pug Gracy on my lap as the worst thing about getting home yesterday was of course NO CATS!

40 as 2:1

Sun

OK, 15 minutes, 3 x (4:1) with odds jog/walk and even incline walk/walk. Got about forty-five minutes before it's time to leave for the airport. Assuming all goes smoothly, I will reunite with Brent in Cayman on the evening of the 27th - fingers crossed...

Fri, Sat

15 mins yesterday, 10 mins today. Pretty darn depressing situation! Not feeling good about stuff, but then that is a rational response to a genuinely difficult underlying set of issues.

Thursday

Had to take a zero yesterday, there was an adequate time window at the end of the day but by that point all I could do was huddle in bed! This morning however things are structured forgivingly, we have a meeting at 10 at our hotel with the head of the caregivers agency at the assisted living to discuss issues for C.'s possible return there (we are waiting to hear whether she'll be admitted to stroke rehab or not), and we also were in bed at 8pm last night and asleep shortly thereafter (i didn't get much sleep Tuesday, it was 12:45am by the time I got to the hotel and I couldn't get to sleep till about 2:45am). So - spirit not letter - 15 minutes on treadmill brisk walk (3mph, 5% incline). Started with a slow jog but it was so slow and I was so breathless that I decided uphill walking would be preferable. Both cold weather and emotional stress trigger asthma - AND the prescription I didn't have time to pick up before I left on Tuesday, I realize, was Singulair, one of my two asthma controller medications - so it is not surprising I should be wheezing like a pug....

Ugh...

But I did do 60 as 2:1, it is nice outside. Have promised David that I will try and do 10 minutes on hotel treadmill each day during Ottawa trip...

Ongoing tough times!

Worst exercise month in living memory. Friday and Saturday I had to take zeroes due to cold temperatures in realistic run windows. Sunday I am happy to say I DID get out albeit only for 30 as 2:1 before heading to Philadelphia for the day (nice but very taxing, took all my willpower as I got back in to Penn Station around 6 not to come straight home but I had to go to Amy's holiday party! Which was really nice, I caught up with some dear friends - but if it hadn't been en route home I am not sure I could have done it...). Almost talked myself out of this morning (got up later than I meant, complicated day of mock-interviews and long grading meeting and various other meetings), but saw David's inspired easy workout of 20 as 1:1 and thought - hahahaha, I am PITIFUL if I can't do that! And I did, and it was lovely, I am sweaty and a lot happier than I was half an hour ago, must now get in the shower and scamper to campus or I am late for first interview....

Catch-up

I think December is really tough for everybody, I am not doing particularly well with it at any rate this year!

Took a stupid zero on Monday (busy day with dentist appointment in the morning, didn't eat lunch, post-lecture could only collapse with a sandwich and it was dark by time digestive interval had occurred, no vim to get out). Tuesday was good, just 40 as 2:1 (shorter than written) but very nice. Wednesday run window was in the morning, I was up due to insomnia but temps were low 20s, no good for asthmatic lungs. Today fortunately I was working at home so I could basically just keep an eye on weather.com and wait for it to creep up near freezing. Snow/slippery in spots but gorgeous bright day, rather chilly (just below freezing I guess), even more of a shuffle than usual due to mildly treacherous footing but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

70 minutes as 2:1

Sunday short run

Just 30 as 2:1, I was game for longer but the footing in the park was very treacherous, and I decided it wasn't sensible.

ASHAMED at having missed three days in a row - Thursday I had time but not a ton of time and woke up to another credit card fraud and a minor emergency concerning book sales at my event next week; Friday I just underestimated the toll that getting the cats to Philadelphia would take, sometimes it really is feasible to do an afternoon run after getting there at lunchtime but this time it was not, especially given that I'd forgotten to bring the dry food and we needed to go out for it in the car; Saturday I got home from Philadelphia around lunchtime, sidewalks VERY slippery due to snow but also returned to find slew of messages about ongoing eldercare crisis in Ottawa (new chapter). Not surprisingly I went back to bed and slept for the whole afternoon!

The whole rest of this month is going to be tough, too many commitments to others and not enough time for myself, but once I am in Paris, everything should get much much better. This year has been so hard - Gene's decline, and the Trump presidency, #metoo and its specific fallout for my sense of my obligations to my department's graduate students, Brent's mother's health issues, too many airports - the fundamentals remain sound, I am leading an absurdly fortunate life, but it has really been a tough stretch!

Tues, Wed

Forgot to log yesterday, but 30 as 2:1 both yesterday and today (switched longer one till tomorrow - it's my last crazy Wednesday of the semester). Wintry in the park, I no longer feel the need to insist that everyone must get out there!

Run!

Weather of utmost beauty! Feeling very fortunate. 30 minutes as 2:1. Have realized it is silly to try and get downtown to lift today, my back and hhip have been bothering me and sudden deadlift session is surplus to requirements, I will go tomorrow and do upper body and clear out my locker and reintroduce myself to the team! Hoping to make some workouts next week, after that it's pretty dodgy (Ottawa, holidays, Cayman, MLA, departure for Paris!)...

Run!

That was good. Gray and a bit damp (good for tender lungs) but still very mild, high 40s and no wind to speak of even down by the river. This is good! 40 mins as 2:1. Trouble area rather stiff and sore but nothing exceptional/worrisome.

Long run!

I am benefiting from really finally having a few calm days. Looking back, it's not surprising I've been feeling so stressed, it has been one horrible thing after another (and political news is not helping!). Ready to start doing better on everything concerning regular habits, nutrition, sleep, etc. (tho with a St. Augustine-ish "but not quite yet" proviso for SUGAR to help me through December craziness in the way of work and Ottawa things). First hour unalloyed bliss, thereafter sore enough at R glute-hamstring that it was not quite so enjoyable, but really pretty good all round.

90 minutes alternating 10 mins as 4:1 and 10 mins as 1:1 (did final 10 as 2:1 as soreness had become pronounced)

Run!

A bit of sciatica woke me in the night, had to apply heating pad and painkillers, but it's not horrible and it didn't bother me while I was out - 40 minutes easy as 2:1. Most beautiful weather - 50F and sunny!