Taking my three days

I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission.

 And I want to help you. - HAL

I am a computer geek - I have that scrolling across my workstation.

After the long walk home I have taken it easy. I believe that I have just been over extended. This happens to me this time of year. I know it happens and I just bull dozer through it. It is funny – I know it, I can see it, I can feel it but I think it will be different this time.

I hate feeling weak. I am not sure where this trait comes from. I sure did not grow up with it. I was a pretty sickly child (when I was real little). I was allergic to dang near everything. In fact I could not drink any type of milk – not cow, goat or otherwise. A funny story – when my sister was working in a laboratory on g-proteins (cow hearts) everyone in her lab would gag from the smell. I guess it was awful. It did not make her sick – in fact it kind of reminded her of childhood. That is what I had to drink for protein – cow hearts in a blender – YUK. My father tells me that they had to change the carpet in the house often because as he would rest me on his shoulder to comfort me I would throw up all down his back. He has told me this story repeatedly all of my life.

Anyway, if you ask me when the last time I was sick I will tell you that I don’t remember. And I truly don’t. I like to think that my immune system is a fortress around my body. I am in excellent health and nothing can get through. I know this is not true but it is how I look at it. Being sick is admitting weakness.

Let me state this one more time – I AM NOT SICK, I’m really not, but I am a bit run down. This time of year I deal with a lot of stress – it used to be worse – but there is a lot of stress none the less. And the way that I deal with stress is through exercise. One-a-days turn to two-a-days and two-a-days turn to three-a-days. It is just what I do – I know that it is maladaptive – but it is me.

The first sign of this fatigue was the damned ‘Prickly Heat’ (thankfully resolved). Then came some reduced performance – I failed on two of my bike trainer workouts. The last straw was the failed run home on Tuesday. Therefore, I have taken it easy the since then. I am not sick and I do not feel bad but my body (and to a less extent my mind) has been fatigued.

I am fond of saying ‘take three days to save three weeks and take three weeks to save three months’.

I am taking my three days.

Run the trolley tracks

While in New Orleans I did get a couple of runs in – one was a quick 5k at the hotel fitness room and the other was with a new friend along the St. Charles trolley lines. The trolley run looks like a lot of fun, however, it had rained while we were in class and there were lots of puddles.

So I was running along with fellow triathlete Mark who is doing Branson 70.3 this weekend. As usual I was flapping my gums. I really can just go on and on with the talking. Especially while exercising. Since he has the race next weekend I said I could run any pace. This meant we settled into my comfortable zone hovering around 8 minutes per mile (maybe a hair over). It was fun dodging the puddles and yielding to the trolleys. Mark was suffering some from the 100% New Orleans humidity.

However, right at 1.5 miles Mark kicked a hidden post or something and nearly went down. We stopped immediately. He was limping a little bit. I told him (repeatedly) that this was his workout – not mine and that we could turn back at anytime. We ended up walking a half mile and running a mile for a total of 8.5 miles. A lot of the last miles were walking.

Since last month when I opened up it has been liberating. Almost complete 180 degree turn around. This is allowing for me to be more honest – to show more of who I am. Anyway, during our run / walks Mark asked me if I was married or had ever been married. I said, I am not trying to be heavy or anything but yes I was married and all of that stuff. It felt awkward. I mean that is some heavy stuff to just throw out there. No one wants a ‘fun run’ conversation to have substance.

So I have gone from telling no one to telling complete strangers. Wow. Anyway, it was not a downer for the rest of the run and I felt more genuine. In the past I would have just said nope – never married.

After the run my ‘Prickly Heat’ made more one last ditch effort of making me miserable. I showered and did the baby powder thing. Since that run last Saturday, I am happy to say that this ailment has subsided. The itching and redness has completely gone away.

I left New Orleans in the early afternoon. I enjoyed riding with Bill and we talked about the clinic. These network connections are valuable in and of themselves. I made it home just in time for Beer Club. It was a beautiful day and the Beer Club had a fair showing. My good friend Charles did show up (still on crutches) and we enjoyed chewing the fat. I think he is going to enter the homebrew contest next month.

I was exhausted from the weekend. This caught me off guard. I mean, I did not do any of the traditional New Orleans debauchery or anything. I just sat in class all day and did some moderate exercise. Sure, beer club did not help but it was also in moderation.

I skipped Adult Swim on Monday morning. This is not like me. Generally when I have a commitment I am going to make it come hell or high water. There was just no way that I was going to get up at 4:30AM and ride to work. So I missed the swim. Instead I made all of my meals for the week. I got to work and I was still feeling tired. It did not help that one of my co-workers has been suffering from a cold for the last week – all last week and still snotty this week.

I think that I started to feel the effects. So I have been slacking this week. At lunch I have played racquet ball the last two days. On Tuesday I rode the bike in and actually felt chilled. I think I will have to pull out the arm warmers. To make up for the lack of running I decided to run home after work. It was hot out but the humidity has subsided somewhat.

This would be an easy 6 mile run – just like I always do. I started out at my comfortable pace. My heart rate was in check but when I looked at my speed it was slow – like a minute slow. My heart rate climbed a little bit and my pace fell into place but my legs were killing me. They felt like I had run long the day before. I continued to run in this easy heart rate zone but nothing about this run was easy.

After three miles I called it quits. I walked the next three miles. I have never done this. It was demoralizing. I felt like a failure. I was not blown up. I was not too hot. I just did not want to run. Looking at my training for the last week I know that I am not over extended. And I actually do not feel sick – just tired. After the hour plus run / walk home (ran the first 3 miles at a low 8 pace and walked the next 3 at a 17 pace) I made myself a recovery drink.  I know that I did not need it from this session but I wanted to curb of any further decay.  I mixed up a protein shake with a health dose of BCAA's with some almond milk.  It was delicious and hopefully it will add in getting me back on track.

So here I am on Wednesday morning and I have decided to skip another Adult Swim. I am still tired and when I went to get a cup of coffee my legs were achy and fatigued.  fortunately I don;t have any races on the near horizon so I have the luxury of riding it out.

I am sure I will spring back in the next day or so and be ready to tackle a new training plan.