Battling Something

Well, last few weeks have been very on and off, and I have come to the conclusion that I am battling something which is either a upper respiratory tract infection, severe chest cold, bronchitis, or pneumonia which has affected my running on and off. On some massive drugs, hoping I can cure it myself and giving it another week to get better - otherwise I will be going to the doctor to fix me up. Really quick, found this super cool article online that shows how a marathon affects certain parts of the body - interactive and pretty awesome! Also, Deena is preggos!

Wednesday, got out to the track for my delayed track work. Had crashed out really hard after work and was really sluggish. Had mile repeats - weather was pretty cool and very nice. Pat and Crystal were out there doing their workouts, so was nice to have company. First repeat, thought I was going with decent effort but was surprised to see a 1:30 split - usually go out pretty hard and settle in, but today was obviously going to be different. Was battling, had to push to get in the rep at a decent pace. Quick break, onto the next one. Immediately, something was wrong and my breathing passages were pretty much closed. Struggled through half a rep before quitting - body was on fire from oxygen deprivation and I was coughing/wheezing like a 2-pack a day smoker. Jumped into Crystal's cooldown and struggled through to hit the 8:30 miles. Total mileage: ~3.5 miles - mile split(s) were: 5:59, 3:02 (half mile before I quit), 8:44, 8:22/

Was obviously not pleased with this effort, but impossible to fight when my body is not at 100%. Yesterday, got out after work for some light mileage. Wanted to push it a little to make up for my failed trackwork. Started a new medication which cleared up my breathing passages a little, so thought it might be safe to give it a go. Did an out and back on the trail - started out kind of hard, and was just struggling in general. Slowed it down to marathon pace for a few miles on the trail, then hit the last mile hard. Breathing was impaired but better than the night before. This workout was ok, but shouldn't have felt so hard especially considering I slowed it down for a couple miles. Usually with harder runs, it's my legs that impede my progress, not the cardiovascular portion - very strange to have my legs being totally fine and having my cardio tire me. Light stretching afterwards, felt like poop. Total mileage: 4 miles - splits were: 6:35, 7:15, 7:10, 6:18.

I am going to continue to monitor my body and run with the effort based on how I feel that day. I don't feel awful, but this breathing issue is a major problem that hopefully is getting corrected with medication, fluids, and what little rest I am getting.