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Friday, March 29, 2013

It's alive!

So, when last I posted six days ago, I believe I said something along the lines of Things are Looking Up and Everyone, Including Me, Is Starting to Feel Better.

Yeah, well, as it turns out, those were the infamous famous last words.  What I mistakenly took for
getting over the hump in my cold actually turned out to be the calm before the storm, because at some point during that night I woke up with an insane earache.  You might be asking yourself, do adults still get these? Well, I can tell you, the short answer is yes.

The earache bugged me all day Sunday.  You know it's bad when all you want to do is sit on the couch and rub your ear.  Talk about looking and feeling like a kid.  The whole day I was reduced to putting hot compresses on my ear and taking copious amounts of decongestant and Ibuprofen to take the edge off the pain.  And, anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a fan of taking any kind of drug - prescription, recreational, over-the-counter - doesn't matter.  I don't like them.  So, giving in to the earache like that was a tough call for me, but truly it was the only way to get through the day.

Luckily, the pain didn't last that long.  By Monday morning it was gone.  However, six days later I am still dealing with a weird feeling of fullness in that ear and the fact that I cannot hear out of it.  So, I suppose this has manifested itself into a sinus infection, and maybe it would make sense to get antibiotics, but since I am not in pain - I just can't hear, am just blowing my nose a lot, and seem overly tired - I don't really want to go that route.  Besides, the past few times I have taken antibiotics have resulted in stomach upset. I don't think my little happy community of gut flora likes it when I commit genocide on it.

I am not a complete martyr, however.  I did call the nurse and was told the ear issue could last a week or so, and if it bothers me to go in to the doctor.  Okay.  So, in the meantime, always one to find the silver lining in everything, I am enjoying using the ear as an excuse to not hear things around me.  Kids arguing? Can't hear it.  Kids whining? Can't hear it.  Kids shouting Mom! when Dad is nearby?  Can't hear it.  Sadly, in the majority of these cases, I really can't hear, but if once or twice I might have heard something and pretended I didn't, then oops, my bad.

So, that's where I am at.  I am hoping it will resolve itself soon.  In the meantime, my training has gone into the toilet, as can be expected.  But weirdly, I am okay with that.  There is something about just taking the two weeks or so off and accepting that you need to rest that is relaxing.  It's mentally freeing.

Naturally, I am a little concerned about the 50K on the race schedule, which is coming up, but at this point it is what it is.  Hubby tried to make me feel better this morning by doing his pace calculations. He says to finish the race in 10 hours (the cutoff), all I need to do is power hike the 31 miles at a 3.1 mph pace.  Joy.  I can't say I can get too excited about hiking for 10 hours at this point in my race career, but if that is what it comes down to, then so be it.  Of course, hearing my lamentations of woe about walking 31 miles, Hubby cheerfully reminded me that I didn't have to do that.  His view?  If I can run 10 miles, then I only have to hike 21 miles.  I can only shake my head at that and smile.  Hubby is ever the optimist, and I love him for it.

So, this week's roundup isn't going to be that exciting.  I surely don't have the miles this week, but I have been slowly working my way towards getting myself back in the game.  Here's where I am at:

FRIDAY ROUNDUP:
Saturday: 40-minute walk outside while the kids took a yoga class.
Sunday: Rest
Monday: 30-minutes on the treadmill, all of five minutes of which were running.  Legs felt extremely tired, so just ended up walking.
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 45 minutes on the treadmill.  Feeling a bit better, so five minutes walking warmup, then 40 minutes of 3/2 run/walk - 3-min. 5.7 mph run alternated with 3.5 mph walk.
Thursday: 40-minute walk with LG at an area nature center.
Friday: Today was the first day I felt halfway human on the treadmill.  Did one hour and ten minutes.  First and last five minutes were warmup/cooldown.  The hour in between was a 3/2 run/walk - 3 min. run at 6.0 mph alternated with 2-min. at 3.2 mph at 10% incline.
Because I think it is starting to FINALLY feel like spring, I will leave you with a couple of pictures from yesterday's walk.  It really was gorgeous out, and I am looking forward to many more days like this as it warms up!

Happy Running!
LG on our nature walk.
LG ankle deep in muddy snowmelt water. He about fell over in
shock when I told him, sure, go in the mud. Have fun. 

2 comments:

  1. Burrrrr that looks cold! Glad you're on the mend and yoga is an excellent form of strength training!

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    1. lol...Temps are all relative, I guess. It was in the mid-to-upper 40s, and I thought it was WARM out! Even still, we were a bit wimpy in our coats. On our ride home, we actually saw someone walking their dog wearing a tank top and shorts. Now that is badass! :)

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