Returning to the Season

Hello Everyone!

Trying to get back on some more regular blogging and blog reading, so here's a post for you!

I think I last left you (I’m too lazy to look at my last post right now) with the hopeful news of improving health and a return to running!

The Flovent inhaler (why is this so expensive?!) I was given is supposed to take one to two weeks to start working. Monday (2 December) I started feeling some feeling of normalcy return to my breathing that I haven’t had since…. the first half of the Chicago Marathon.

Small tangent here, looking back to my first marathon experience, I feel robbed a little bit. 

This isn’t to take away how amazing the experience, community, and journey was, but to reflect on no matter how much you prepare for an event, life can throw you an obstruction that you can do little more than just trudge through.  I feel a little frustrated that even with the awesome pacing by Annabelle at Fluency’s Folly provided, months of training, and months of rehab to work through an injury, I could do absolutely nothing to work through the mid race asthma.  I know the finish time is just a number, but I now know it was not the number I deserved.  Next time…

Okay, back to this week. If you follow my on Twitter or Runkeeper, you may have seen I started running again.  The only order from my doctor is to take two puffs Albuterol 15 minutes before cardiovascular exercise.  I also was waiting until I felt normal throughout my normal activities and didn’t get any chest tightening or other warning signs for my breathing.

I decided to do my first few runs on the treadmill at work to isolate the amount of variables in my run (such as cold air possibly making the asthmas worse) and be in a safe environment in case I did have some incident. 

Kudos to those of you that log a lot of miles on treadmills and live to blog about it. Jeannie has done a good job with it during her interstellar cruises, but I just can’t really enjoy the runs on the treadmill.  TV and music are like taking a low dose of Advil for an injury that requires a Morphine drop for me. 

Monday: 5 miles, easy pace. My legs were really stiff and my breathing was getting a bit fatigued at the end, but nothing I was worried about.

Tuesday: 6 miles, easy pace. I was very sore and stiff again.  Calling me inactive over the last few weeks would be a compliment to my activity level. I keep hoping my legs wake up after this week. In the evening, I finally start to feel full functioning again with that running blood starting to pump through me again.

Just a tad dramatic

Wednesday: 7 miles, 1.5 warm up, 4 at long run pace, 1.5 miles cool down. Hey, it’s a start!

Thursday: Running rest day. 

Notes: I HATE the sharp static shock I get on the treadmill if I ever touch the bar in front of me. 

I also am doing the runs during my lunch hour, which limits the amount of time I have to run, try to stretch for a few minutes after, and shower. 7-8 miles is going to be my max here, which leads me to start re-planning my running future. I’ll rehash it out later, but I still want my lunch hour to do more core and weight focused routines.

This weekend I hope to get my first test of cold weather running mixed with asthma, but I'm excited to get back outside.

Non Running Stuff:

You know what grinds my gears at work?

Grinches that take holiday candy and chocolate like the deserve it. The secretaries in my area have put out a variety of holiday chocolate minis and those bowls of chocolate get raided very quickly. I’m not okay with this. I decorate my pod at work like it belongs in a holiday movie. I bring in holiday chocolates as well, but this year, I’m not letting just anyone have a piece, not even the tip.

Past seasons, I just put the candy close to me or out of reach for those sneaky swipers.

This would make people have to at least risk acknowledging me to get the tip of the diabetes treat. 

This season, it may by the season of giving, but you need to give me back some holiday cheer! In my section of the office, there are about 40ish people. Only 3-4 people (including me) put up any decorations. Everyone else? HUMBUGlers!

Now I understand a lot of people just aren’t into it, okay, but if you want free holiday chocolates (Snickers, Yorks, Reeses, M&Ms, Hershey’s), You have to pay into this chocolate return with cheer, this isn’t the chocolate welfare office. Will my test succeed? I’ll let you know. If it doesn’t, I’ll take the candy home and bring it for more deserving people!

That should be more than enough content for a few days. 

Tell me how you have been? I'm so behind on blogs. Give me your recent highlights that I should know!