Pat Report - 4/12/2010

I've had a rough two weeks.  And then out of the blue, I had a great 10 mile run yesterday.  I finally found my "second gear".  If my math is right, the second 5 miles was 7 minutes faster than the first 5 miles.

I'm off the Singulair.  I tried that for about 10 days.  It was working great for the asthma.  But it was also causing mood swings, insomnia and loss of appetite.  I didn't feel like myself at all.

I'm now trying Advair.  Side effects include headaches, sore throat and (gulp) "menstrual problems".  We'll see how that goes.

My thinking about the 1/2 marathon is now trending back towards "do it for the experience, even if you're not going to beat last year's time". 


Ups:

- Weather was great for running.  Low 60s and partly cloudy.

- My legs felt great yesterday.

- It was "Single Ladies" day at the bike path yesterday.


Downs:

- I forgot to wear sunscreen.  I now have a slight sunburn on one side of my face.

- Lungs are still way behind the legs.

- The Single Ladies were mostly in their 60s.

Weekend Update

Stats:

Long Run Sunday - 9 miles
Total for the week  - 19 miles

Ups:

Legs feel good
Back not sore after the long run  (spending an hour a day sitting on the exercise ball seems to be helping)
Sleep - I've been getting at least 8 hours a night for the last week


Downs:

Limited lungs
No speed
Asthma seems much worse below 50 degrees



At this point, I'm 70 / 30 on doing the half marathon.

Weekend Update

Got three miles in on Saturday.

Got six miles in on Sunday (I was supposed to do 8, but I was pretty sore from a full day of gardening and parenting).

The lungs are feeling OK, but not great.  I'm desperate enough at this point that I'm trying the olde tyme folk remedy for asthma: a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water.

It tastes terrible, but it seems to be helping.

I'm going to see an asthma specialist later today.  We'll see how that goes.

Weekend Report

Got two miles in on Saturday.  Got seven miles in on Sunday.

Legs felt great.  Lungs felt lousy.  I had to pause and take a hit from the inhaler twice on Sunday.  First time I've had to do that while running.

Hopefully this will improve as the weather gets better.

Pat Report

I did 5 good hard miles of hills yesterday.

I'm a little sore today, but I feel like I'm getting back on track.

I can tell I'm physically stronger than this point last year because I'm not popping an Advil as soon as I get home after a long run.

Plus I made Daisy Dog do 2 miles with me on Saturday, so we're getting her built back up, too.

Pat Report

Just got back from the doctor.

Things look pretty good.

Nothing is definite.  I might have asthma. Or, it might have been a really long lingering pneumonia.

I'm supposed to start coming off the albuterol and see how I do.

Running - I've been absolutely crushing it the last two weeks.  I'm over 25 miles for the month of February already (which is more than November, December and January combined).

But I'm officially cleared for my 1/2 marathon in May.  I'm free to run like the wind.

Injury Report

Had my doctor's appointment last week.  Still waiting on some tests.

But the doctor thinks I might have asthma.

What?  I'm 34.  Doesn't that sort of thing usually show up before now?

Apparently, adult-onset asthma is a real thing.

At first I was all pissy and depressed and worried that my running career was all done.

Now I'm a little more optimistic.  If we know what it is, we can treat it properly.

And hey... It's not cancer!