Where I've Been

So, I've been gone for two weeks. All is well, just worked through a series of stomach bugs on the Quarter Acre that set me back about a week or so. So, Mrs. A went down hard on Sunday (3/1) and I went down fairly hard on Monday (3/2). I slept from 2 PM Monday until 7:30 AM Tuesday after shoveling all morning with a sour stomach and lots of aches. The rest of the week was not great, so there was no running.

Last week I went out on Sunday (3/8) for a lousy, wind sucking and weak-legged 5 with Child Two. I was sore on Monday and busy as heck Tuesday and Wednesday which left me concerned about the New Bedford Half. I headed out Thursday for another 5 or so and felt OK. Inexplicably, I decided that I needed to run 10 on Friday in order to remember what it felt like to go double-digits before Sunday. So, I went 10 and felt pretty good. Saturday I was a bit stiff but active with the kids and was feeling good for Sunday -- I was going to treat it as a training run, which it was. The New Bedford Half Marathon, however, gets its own post.

Unexpected

Mrs Agricola got super ill in the middle of Saturday night. She was down for the count all day Sunday, so no 15 miler. I need to figure out if I can make it up sometime this week. Last week was a poor training week. I need to go in the AM but the infant (wh0 is now 5 moths old, and needs to stop this) is up 3 times each night and it is wreaking havoc on us. So mornings are hard right now. It's fine, I'll find a way and rebound. Twelve inches of snow on tap for tonight. This winter needs to end.

Better

I got out this AM at about 7:15 -- much later than usual but I got on a late train and rolled into the office at 10:15. I'm still on the beach . . . good times. Anyway, I was actually up at 6:10, but had to make peace between the children, get them set up with some juice and sustenance and then head out. There's not much to report except that my lung capacity was better and I shaved off about 2:40 from my previous time and finished today in 26:45 on my 3.3 mile course. Still not my fastest but closer and an improvement even if it was a bit painful. Oxygen is very important for running, amazingly, and I had some more today so I feel good about my plan of action over the next week-and-a-half and will hopefully be at some semblance of full-strength come the CCMR -- at least 80%. It was nice to run at 7:15, I can't get too used to that.

Atonement

Last week marked the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and some of my neighbors were suffering through their fast. This week marks my week of atonement. Child Three's arrival disrupted things a bit but I was hopeful that I'd get out during the week -- what with paternity leave and all that. Fat chance, Child (or should I say Vector?) Two got a wicked cold that turned into a cough about the same time it took root in my lungs and I spent the week battling through that. Couple illness with totally broken sleep, and tons of bad treats around the house and my running is a mess.

I went out yesterday with a neighbor for 3.3 and did it in a glacially slow 29+ minutes. Ten days off and much diminished lung capacity hurt me. I've been hacking and wheezing since Thursday (wicked tight in the lungs) but I couldn't let another beautiful day go by without a run. I got out again this morning on the same route and ran only about 30 seconds faster but I did stop to watch hawk that landed on a telephone pole and also stopped to work out a nasty little stitch in my ribs around the two mile mark. I'm bummed about the pace and I think it's more related to running sick than anything else right now, hopefully my lungs return and I can rebound nicely. My goal is to get out three more times this week at this distance and then go longer on Sunday and knock out a few more runs the week before the CCMR. It will be fun, see you all soon.

Seasonal Woes

I don't know what it is, but every time the seasons start to change I become achey, stuffy and generally lousy feeling. I'm not sure if it's a viral or bacterial thing, or the shifting pressure, changing air or new allergens that trigger my symptoms and knock me for a loop. I haven't run since Thursday of last week. Lat Friday, I awoke feeling nasty and it carried through the weekend. Non-sore legs and gorgeous weather on the Cape, made me psyched to do my five mile loop but I took a three hour nap instead on Saturday. Sunday I laid around all day doing nothing until I helped prune some trees with my father-and-brother-in-laws. I was totally out of it, all day -- lethargic, unmotivated . . . blah. Yesterday would have been a stolen day. Today would have been my actual on-day but I felt less than chipper again so bagged it. Tomorrow is Mrs. Agricola's day so Wednesday will mark my return -- as long as my seasonal woes have come to an end.