What Now, Achy, Shaky Heart?

My training over the past few weeks has been a little sporadic, due primarily to lingering concerns following my hospital stay a few weeks ago. Immediately following my release from the Emergency Room, I (sort of) resumed training, but in the past few days have found the discomfort in my chest and arm to be too much to just look past while running.

In the days (week?) of training which lead up to (as well as directly following) my hospital stay, I found that running and exercise did not exacerbate the discomfort and that, in fact, the activity served to move my attention beyond the troublesome "ache."

I'm really not trying to be melodramatic, but rather trying to articulate for you (and me) why my activity level has tapered off of late. Especially as this current malaise represent a change in my common training pattern... Normally, with Spring Break next week, I would be re-asserting my commitment to a training plan due top the freed up time.

This break though will have a slightly different emphasis as I'm hoping to first see my primary care physician for my second post-emergency room follow-up and (as my symptoms have neither dissipated nor improved) seek a referral to a specialist... just whom and for exactly what is to yet be determined.

I would really like to get a more meaningful diagnosis than the vague (and frustrating) "virus" though so that I can continue to move forward...

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

A Very Special ER

Two days ago, I noted to my class the piece of knowledge of that the average life expectancy of an adult male living in the Republic of Central Africa is 39 years old, and then noted that I was 39.

The next day, I was having a tight "pain" on the left side of my chest and radiating down my left arm to the fingertips, and generally not feeling well, so I called my primary care physician. The doctor then relayed to the nurse with whom I was speaking not to drive, but to have someone take me to the emergency room of a local hospital asap. While I thought the doctor was being something of an alarmist in making this request, I drove home where my wife met me to take me the rest of the way to the hospital.

Upon reaching the emergency room entrance (and with a Mercy Flight helicopter buzzing away overhead), I was immediately guided into a wheelchair and whisked on my way to admissions. I felt a little guilty as I was clearly younger and stronger than the older gentleman who pushed me along, but he was only to be the first of a number people for whom I felt bad they needed to wheel me around or otherwise care for me.

My wife and I felt as though we had won the "Emergency Room Patient Lottery" given the wonderful service I received and the efficient manner in which they moved me through a series of blood tests, x-rays, and a myriad of "scans." Unfortunately I did need to stay the night, as we had arrived too late to have a stress test, and the doctors did not want me to leave without one, so into the observation area I went for the night...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

On the Road(s) Again!

Run: 5.1 miles in :39:00 min. @ 9:00 a.m.
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 22°F, 54% Humidity, Wind: SSW @ 6 mph; feels like 14°F.
Pace: 7:42 min/mi
Course: A short jaunt around my larger community.

I finally found my way around to lacing up my running shoes and getting back on the roads this morning. IT has been nearly two weeks since my last run, and though I still have a lingering cough and some phlegm backup from my flu, the time just seemed right to giver 'er a go. Things went pretty well, though I did find myself both spitting and blowing my nose (farmer stylee!) frequently (though the cough abated until I got home) and I have high hopes that I may actually make it to the first Freezeroo race of the season next Saturday.

The likelihood of my placing were small anyway, but with a simple adjustment of personal expectations ("hey, just finish with a smile!") I can easily convince myself that running a five-miler seems like a good way to spend an hour or so next Saturday morning.

Snafus, Flus and Better Things

A few days have once again passed since my most recent post and while I have been (I think) very prolific with this blog, some things have taken place which have (of late) altered my ability to write (and therefore, post) more frequently.

First, for some reason, my primary PC at home will no longer allow me to connect to Blogger, so I can no longer post from there. I have little time to do so from school, so it is only in the wee hours of the morning that I find time to update this blog. After throwing my arms up regarding any attempt to figure out why Blogger and our PC no longer "connect," my wife did some digging and as best she can figure (and she's pretty smart about these things); for some reason our (local) Internet provider is blocking Blogger (and some Google functions) because of "China-influenced" filters. Oy vey! It's enough to make me just set the whole deal aside and... oh, wait, that IS what I've (kind of) done!

I must confess though, not being capable of blogging has done wonders for freeing up my time to do other things, though I do miss the immediate release of writing and posting directly to my blog... hopefully at some point these things will iron themselves out, though holding my breathe is not necessarily something I'll do in the meantime.

Additionally, I have yet to begin training (running) following my recent bout with influenza. I am still coughing up ugly, grey clumps of "whatever", and my nose has yet to conclude running, so I'm envisioning maybe heading out on Saturday morning. This will mean I have had a nearly fourteen day lay-off... something which was likely overdue. I've not registered for any runs or races, but with snowshoeing possibilities on the horizon, I would certainly like to give it a go, but only if I can regain some fitness before competing.

That about covers things for now (though I have left out school events and coaching stuff), so until I find some time tomorrow morning before school...

Ramblings from a Lost Week...

Now that my lost week has come to a close (I hope) things will quickly begin to once again pick up steam until the next holiday break. I've spent the past week, including Thanksgiving, laying in bed sweating hallucinating and dreaming though not because I was locked away on some romantic get-a-way, but rather because I have been struggling with influenza. Not the "flu," as my doctor assured me, "that everyone get's all whiny about because they have a stuffy nose or sniffles," but the real influenza. How do I know this?

It really began last Monday when getting ready for work I felt a little under the weather, but (being two days before a long weekend) went into work anyway.... this proved to be a mistake as I could barely make ti through the day. Following a terrible day at school I went home and slept until about 10:00 a.m. the following morning at which time I went to my primary care physician where I received the diagnosis alluded to above. I stayed home the day before our break (a big--but at this point unavoidable--"no-no"), and felt pretty well until about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night at which point the severe chills began... and went on... and on... and on for about two hours until my fever spiked at approximately 104.

From the following morning until the time of my typing this very tardy post (it's Sunday night) I have been in bed trying my best to "get better," whatever that means. Obviously, I haven't been doing anything dangerous like running or training, though the absence of multiple liquids and foodstuffs and absence of any physical activity has me feeling heavy.

I'm hoping that my patience in not pushing it will allow me start training by Thursday, the next day I have nothing scheduled to do (except work and track practice, of course), but like much these past seven days, I'll have to wait and see..

I Got Me Fever

The past few days I have not been running, or doing anything really, as I have been a Little under the weather. Despite Tuesday being the last day of classes before the Thanksgiving Recess, I did the unthinkable and called in sick. This was not something I wanted to do but after working all day Monday with a cold/flu, the reality of being productive one more day feeling that way was limited. I actually thought I was feeling better last (Tuesday) evening when things sort of fell apart...

After a day of resting, sleeping and drinking fluids at about 7:30 p.m. I was overcome with an incredible chill... I felt as though I was freezing and could not stop shaking. MY wife piled blanket upon blanket on me, and though I had no temperature (yet) I could not stop shaking. After about an hour of this, my temperature spiked at nearly 104 degrees, at which time a was a little delirious and very out of it. Not surprisingly, my head was pounding and I could not see straight.

Cut to about 4:00 a.m. this morning, at which time my wife brought me some more Advil and water... obviously at some point the fever broke (I really don't recall), and this morning I called and schedule an appointment with my primary care physician just to be sure that the lingering aches and headache are not an indication of any further concerns.

Needless to say, it does not appear as though I'll be running in the Webster Turkey Trot 4.4 mile road race; I just don't think I'll be up to it or I fear that if I did participate (darn--I already registered and paid!) I would only exacerbate the flu.

I reckon I'll just wait and see...

ARGHH... Fare Thee Well, Fruity Pirates!

Having been sick for a few days now, I decided last evening to take a day off from work today. Of course though I am not at school teaching, I find myself grading papers and planning the next few weeks of class work... such is the life of an educator. I also stopped by the local mega-lo-mart to pick up dome ice cream (I should qualify for the Clydesdale division of road races once I start running again!) and noticed a change in one of my favorite flavors of Ben & Jerry's.

To the upper left you'll notice the Berried Treasure packaging as it previously existed on the frozen goods shelf at your neighborhood store. I have always been partial to both the clever pun ("Berried Treasure"... Ha!), as well as the kooky cartoon pirates depicted on the packaging. Check out the blueberry with a bandanna on his "head"... classic!

Now note the new package as I found it this morning. While the image is small (I couldn't find an equally obnoxiously sized one on-line to match the "old" one), if you look carefully maybe you'll see the change... no, not just the color change, look closer... yep the FRUITY PIRATES ARE GONE! In a world where the real Adam West Batman has been replaced by a more "real" gritty violent Batman, apparently the world could no longer take the playful antis of the Fruity Pirates, as they too have been replaced by realistic depictions of fruits... ARGHH, mateys, tis a sad day!

I guess I'll have to drown my disillusion in some fat-free Berried Treasure!

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Week 8, Key Workout Run #1

Scheduled Workout: 10-20 min. warm-up, 1 mile (400 m ri), 2 miles (800m ri), 2 x 800m (400m ri), 10 min cool-down

Actual Workout: 10 min. warm-up, 1 mile (400 m ri), 2 miles (400m ri), 10 min cool-down
Total Run: 4.5 miles in :36:46 min. @ 3:45 p.m.
Total "Laps": 18
Settings: Avg. Speed 7.3, Avg, Inlcine 0.3
Average Mile: 8:13 min/mi

As much as I have been enjoying my recent treadmill speed workouts at the neighborhood YMCA, this afternoon's abbreviated run there may be my last for a while. Though I avoided the urge to run outside in sixty degree weather in favor of focusing on my speed work (which is easier to accomplish in a disciplined manner for me on a treadmill where I can control the pace and distance--no forearm computer have I) I came up against something that I struggled to overcome.

I can handle the fact that there is zero ventilation in the "cardiac theater," and the idea that I am exercising in what is in effect a concrete box, but apparently I had no stomach for what was thrown within my field of vision... I just couldn't shake the entertainment black hole that is the Ellen DeGeneres Show. There wasn't even any volume as I wasn't wearing a headset, but even reading briefly the captioned, overly cloying "interview" with the equally vapid Jonas Brothers drove me to the brink.

Marathon Training gods... forgive me, but I took all the preening I could and finally made the decision to leave--I'll do my best to make it up later this week!

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Bound to Happen...

Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown

Following a great time at the fourteen-ish mile Run Around the Bay on Saturday, I have been struggling to get over a terrible cold/flu type deal, which has taken my training offline for a few days. The hope is that by resting, eating lots of fruit, and not exercising, I will be able to pull it together for this (Tuesday) evening's scheduled Key Run Workout #2.

Though having a cold is a pain in the patoot, the big picture outlooks is that something like this minor set-back was bound to happen (I'm a school teacher for goodness sake!), so I'd just as well get a little under the weather before the series of runs I'm registered for kick in this coming Saturday, my training amps up even more, and I begin my maiden voyage on the modified track and field coaching experience.


With eleven weeks until Buffalo (Marathon, that is) time is on my side, and besides, who knows, I may yet pull it together and head to the YMCA tonight!

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Tis' the Season

Starting yesterday, the first day of February, one of the more challenging seasons of the year for this recreational runner began... cold and flu season. Following a very productive three consecutive days of training runs, my throat has been feeling a little scratchier, my eyes a little heavier and my nose a little runnier (YUCK!). So, though I had planned to rack up some heavier back-to-back days of running this weekend, I may be taking a slight step back to avoid the necessity of three or more longer ones later in the “season.”

Fortunately, should I recover, or feel better, by late Sunday, one good run could put me in a position to have my total weekly mileage fall only six-to-eight miles short of my goal total. Not too bad for four days “work,” and enough to keep discouragement from creeping in.

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Run: 6.3 miles in :48:45 @ 4:30 a.m.

Pace: 7:44 min./per mile avg.
Weather: Clear, 37°F
Course: A slight variation on Castaway's Ritzy 6-mile Run

”If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.” ~Dale Carnegie

Tossing and turning much of the night with a dry mouth and scratchy throat, I woke up to stare at the clock. The bright red numbers don’t seem to advance and what feels like hours is only ten or maybe fifteen minutes. It’s nearly 4:00 a.m., so what thought crosses my mind? Maybe I should go for my run this morning rather than this evening, so I could enjoy my daughter's cross-country meet later in the day, and possible sneak in a short jog with my wife in the evening.

It’s very clear this morning, so also very crisp, and for the first time since May, I pull on my running tights and knit cap, as much to protect myself from the cool early morning air as to attempt to stave off further exacerbating my already troublesome runny nose.

The run goes well, just one recovery day removed from back-to-back 12 milers, and the delicate dance of training, work, and family has begun in earnest for another school year…

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Under the Weather with Spirits High

Weather Report: Partly Cloudy, 40°F, 53% Humidity, Winds: From W @ 17 mph; feels like 31°F.

Today is the first (of what will hopefully be many) lovely post-Daylight Savings Time day. As illustrated by my pic to the right, for whatever reason, my body has decided to break down, just a little bit, and as a result I have spent most of the day in bed sleeping, rolling, coughing, gagging, resting. Awesome, huh?

Fortunately, there was not much on my "agenda" for the day and I don't feel too badly about having taken a day off from "stuff," although it does place additional hardship on my wife. Anne is also feeling a little under the weather, but has been taking care of me and the boys today.

Another real "plus" for me, today, is that my local public broadcasting television station (PBS), WXXI, is in the midst of a membership drive, which means that there is quite a bit of interesting viewing on this particular Sunday afternoon. Today's re-broadcast du jour is one of Dr. Wayne W. Dyer's older programs, in which he is walking and talking us through his "self-help" book, The Power of Intention. The current craze, The Secret, which I am also working through, is very much the cousin of Dr. Dyer's work. Both authors espouse, or present, a world view whic suggest the power of positively influencing one's own life through our ability to generate positive energy in our thougths, feelings and actions, which can, in turn, be returned to us... hmmmm...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!