Still sick, still coughing up a storm, and getting antsy after not working out for two solid weeks. It's a clear case of 'rest 'cause it's in the chest' - I can't even talk on the phone for five minutes without a massive coughing fit - but the rest of me is getting better enough I feel the urge to work out.
To feed my tri habit while I'm still in bronchitis-induced confinement I got a fix with a new book: The Woman Triathlete. I settled down last night with my vaporizer and kleenex and started reading. I was only a couple pages in, checking out their handy little chart describing a generic 12 week sprint training plan, when it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Holy. Shit. I have a race in 17 weeks.
That may seem like a long time to y'all, because I know the average athlete can pull off a sprint, or even an oly, with about 12 weeks of focused training.
But it took me 13 months to train for my first tri, and even with that I still walked the run leg. I just ran a mile for the first time 3 weeks ago... and now I'm losing cardio base as I sit here, wheezing with my lungs full of crud. I wanted more than anything to run in my race this year but it feels like that dream is slipping away.
I'm trying to tell myself that it will be fine because I've maintained a pretty steady workout routine in the 7 months since my last race. But the truth is I took the concept of the 'off season' to a whole new level, dropping 6-7 workouts a week down to 2-4, and instead of doing 60-180 minute blocks of cardio, I haven't done more than 30-40 minutes in months. Instead of swimming 880-1600 yards like I was, if I get in the water at all I've been barely doing 500-900 yards. And hey, it's winter, so the bike's hanging upside down in the garage 'cause I can't afford a trainer yet. And to add insult to injury, I've been stuck on a plateau for 7 months and only weight about 4 pounds less right now than I did at my last race. It will be a huge psychological defeat for me to have to do this next race at the same weight as last year... but I'm just so STUCK.
I feel like if get back on track right this minute I could pull off my race in the realistic goal range (2:15)... but I can't because at this rate it will be at least another week before the coughing subsides. I'm so frustrated I want to cry.
3 comments:
Do you have asthma? I have an exercised induced asthma, or so I thought. When I got sick in the winter it lasted all winter. I recently went to a clinic that had an asthma lab that would work with you. First thing, exercised induced asthma is a myth, asthma is asthma. Second thing, I am now using a steroid inhaler (Flo-Vent) daily. Now when I get sick it goes away. They explained how your lungs work and what happens when an astmatic person gets sick. The infection can't get out of your lungs. So you keep getting sick.
Hope this helps, Good Luck.
Nope, of all the medical problems I do have (and the list is long) thankfully asthma isn't one of them. My husband had it bad as a kid, almost died a couple of times, so I'm glad it's not something I have do deal with.
One of the problems with hypothyroidism is it often impacts the immune system; this is the case for me and I get terribly sick with even the simplest little cold bug. It's pretty normal for me to wind up with bronchitis from any kind of infection; this time around I caught the nasty flu-type bug that everybody and their brother is passing around; it hangs around for a couple of weeks even in normal healthy people. Since this bug causes a chest infection anyway, my tendency to get bronchitis took on a whole new dimension this time. Blech. Can't wait to go running again.
Ummm Nytro got whooping cough. http://www.lifeisnuts.blogspot.com/
You couldn't possible have whooping cough, could you?
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