Just breathe

If I can think of one good thing to say about winter, it's that it is better to get sick in the winter than the summer. OK, Christmas is pretty good too.

This week, I was hit with the dreadful "summer cold". It started with a tickle in my throat Monday night and by Wednesday I was at CVS stocking up on decongestants and cough drops. So it was unfortunate for me that I had the 4th Charles River summer series race Thursday night. I'd had a few good runs in a row earlier that week and was hopeful the race would go well.

As I've been having some issues with my Garmin recently, when it started to drizzle during my warm up, I decided to make a quick switch to my regular watch before the race began. In the past, when my Garmin has gotten wet, it has on occasion taken on a mind of its own, showing me the screens it wants, and often not the ones I want to see. So I opted for the sure thing. The miles aren't marked in this race, so I tried to listen for the sounds of Garmins around me to know when I hit approximately each mile.

Mile 1 went ok and I felt fine. Slowly, however, my breathing became labored and I felt like I was working harder, but running slower. My legs wanted to run faster, but I was sucking wind at the pace I was running. So I finished about a minute slower than last month, running 31:57 (which is somewhat debatable, given the back up of folks at the finish line). A bit disappointing, but without making excuses, I knew I didn't feel great that night.

Saturday was my next run. My schedule called for 14 miles - easy for the first 12 and then hard the last 2. I had started feeling better Friday night, so I hoped the cold was working its way out. But after 4 miles, I was feeling winded and I was running slower than I usually do. I made it through my easy 12. The last 2 miles were definitely difficult, but unfortunately, not because I was running all that fast. I still ran those last 2 miles about 1 minute/mile faster than the first 12, but my effort felt like I should have been running a lot faster. About 1/2 hour after my run, my legs did not feel very sore or tired at all, and I knew I could have run faster.

Sunday, hurricane/tropical storm Irene encouraged me to take a much needed couch day to recover from this cold and a busy few weeks in general. By the way, if you have not read Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, it is laugh-out-loud funny and part of the reason I stayed on the couch so long on Sunday. This morning I woke up and had a great run. I'm still a little "stuffy", but hopefully on my way to breathing through my nose again soon! I guess this week I needed to stop and catch my breath.