Monday, December 6, 2010

Where'd that come from?

How is it you can go from feeling so good one minute, to totally BLAH the next back to okay in a 20 min turnaround? Seems my body wanted to give me a wake up call and let me know who was in control.

Saturday was a pretty regular day - woke up - didn't do much at all apart from the usual house stuff and then headed off to the pools in the afternoon for my swim session. I felt fine through the warm up and 900m worth of drills - nothing, not an inckling of what was about to happen. The only thing I was feeling were tight shoulders however I even went so far as to let Chris the coach know how good I was feeling and how I had run a total of 23km for the week and felt good.

As we headed into our main set of 6 x 300m (done as 50m, 100m 150m in 40, 1:20, 2:00 respectively) I knew something was amiss. I just wasn't able to get my breath effectively in the first 300. I put it down to that initial need for added oxygen when you increase your workout. But as the next one started I really, really felt myself gasping for air. No matter how hard I tried to get a decent breath I just couldn't. It was as if I had a belt being tightened on every inhaled breath.

It got to the point where I could literally hear air moving loudly through the air passages. I signalled to Chris and he asked if I was alright - all I could do was signal for my puffer. Man, can he run like the wind. I made my way out of the pool to meet him half way and quickly took my inhaler. It has been ages - I mean years since something has happened like that to me. It's really a frightening experience and has just made me realise that I need to never, ever forget my puffer EVER. One of my friends mentioned about having it with me (onboard) when I do my open water swims. Definately makes sense - which more than likely have to put it in a zip lock sandwich bag to keep it dry.

After some rest on the side of the pool I took off again but at a much slower pace - just trying to relax the airways. It's something I was always taught to do from a young age. My coach back then would make me do kick when I was having a minor attack - just so I could focus on my breathing. He would walk beside me until it settled and then I was expected to just get back into it once it was done. So I guess that mentality stuck - keep moving.

After squad was done - I was left sort of feeling a bit flat but other than that the lungs felt good - like nothing had happened. But I did realise that maybe I needed to go back on a preventer like in my younger days. The fact that I am pushing myself harder and harder everytime indicates to me that the possibility of my exercise induced asthma reering it's ugly head again is extremely high. So that's where I am off to today apart from a swim and run of course.

Yesterday, I started the Sunday off with a really nice 60km ride with 2 friends. This ride was interspersed with some tempo stuff but all in all it was quite a nice and enjoyable ride. The weather was perfect - really still apart from the loud laughs and chatter of 3 women out for a ride at 0630am. Thank goodness where we ride is fairly rural so the houses are positioned quite a ways back from the road, otherwise we would have heard some colourful language.

After getting home we decided to pop the Christmas tree up. A little late this year but better late than never. Mum decided to bring her presents over as we will be spending Christmas Day together this year - last year I think we did Christmas Eve together.

What are you guys planning on doing for Chrissy?


Your hard work will be rewarded.

"The path to a dream is paved with sacrifices and lined with determination. And though it has many stumbling blocks along the way, and may go in more than one direction, it is travelled by belief and courage and conquered with a willingness to face challenges and take chances" Barbara Cage