The Porcupine Experiment

I spent the week getting my ass kicked by some flu virus I must've never had. This thing has been lingering since the beginning of the month, but I thought it would never develop; just like every other year. Well, I'm one year older than last year and perhaps this virus is in it's late teens/early twenties so I'm getting a taste of my own medicine.
Anyway, having this flu run me down, leaving me 3-nil at the half, isn't really what's bothering me. What has me pissed is that I gave into something that I never give in to - medicine. I've always had success at letting these things run their course and feeling a little uncomfortable along the way hasn't really bothered me as much as giving in to some symptom relief remedies from CVS. This time, however, for a few different reasons, I went out and bought a 2 pack that contained 1 Day-Quil and 1 Night-Quil, packaged neatly together so I didn't have to use the extra energy to pick up 2 things. The main symptom I was hoping to relieve was the coughing fits I was having; the ones that start with a little tickle in the back of my throat then turn into a dry-heave-gag until I end up in the bathroom with my head in the toilet wondering if I'm going to vomit or spit up a teaspoon of some clumpy, neon green discharge. It didn't take long for either of the Quil's to start to take effect. I immediately starting coughing more violently, running to the bathroom sink only to be shooting blanks, no phlegm or teaspoon sized noen-green discharge - just an excruciating ab workout and the thought that my superior athletic fitness needed a double dose of the Quil and I would soon need to be back at the CVS (chronic virus shop) for some more.
It's dark now and the kids have eaten, bathed and are ready to settle down so I'm ready for the other Quil, the Ny-Quil. I've heard great stories about this baby, it knocks people out. Sounds good to me, I'll take a couple shots of this and be out for the night. It says right on the label - Cough - all night relief. Well, as I'm sure you can guess, not my cough and probably not alot of people's cough. Yea, this shit knocked me out right away, about 7:30 actually, but was not strong enough to keep me asleep through my dry-heave-gag coughing. So, I can't sleep because of the violent coughing and am extremely drowsy. And now, I'm really pissed, especially since I have someone else to be pissed at besides myself and I seem to be coughing more than when I started taking the Quil.
So I slept on and off through the night perhaps feeling worse than if I hadn't taken the Quil, but feeling a little better today as the virus ages much faster than humans and even dogs. I think the flu virus, at least in my body, has a life span of about 1 week. This afternoon, however, I went and picked up a 4 pack, neatly packaged so I could grab what I needed, not too much, not too little, the perfect dosage. Three quarters through the recommended dosage I have not coughed in over an hour and the sinus pressure seems to be gone. I can only guess as to how well I'll sleep tonight and will never take a bite out of the porcupine again. It is the hen's eggs that I will derive my health from!

Tuesday - Monday

Managed to plug my way through a little flu-like virus the past week and get in the milage that I was hoping for. Kept all the miles very easy, anything above 140 bpm would start to tire me out quickly. Feeling much better for the most part, but anything more than 2nd gear still has me gasping a little.
Mileage for the past 7 days was 5, 5, 5, 10, 8, 10, 5.

Not feeling well today, might be fighting some early flu symptoms, and thought an easy run would help, but 20 minutes in I just turned around and did a slow 40 minute hike back while Tima exercised her instincts.

Endurance

I'm glad I bought this movie a few years ago and cannot wait to watch it again with my kids in a few years when I think they'll have a better understanding of what it's all about. Shit, I can't even completely comprehend what it's like growing up on a farm in Ethiopia, but I hope that my kids will, at least, see what I see in the movie about Geb. I will definately miss seeing the smile on this guys face as he toes the line and will miss the drama that surrounds a WR everytime he raced. I'm sure we'll see more of Haile as he is a great ambassador to T&F as well as the people of his country.
5 miles (132) nice and easy.

Will name dropping make me faster?

Great morning, 31 degrees and snowing! Light snow at first, then for about 20 minutes I was just dumped on. It was quite nice with the dusting of snow on the bed of colored leaves. 5 miles (145) moderate.
Timed my run so that I'd finish around the time that the Shut-In racers would be hitting the 2.5 mile mark and making the transition from service roads to single track. Looked to be a good race going at the front early on, bigger pack than usual anyway. The 1&2 women were running togather, but just about a minute back was Anne L. Anne will only pick up the pace as the race goes on so 1&2 will need to keep pace if they want the victory. Hard to tell, but the first Master looked to be Jay Curwen. Jay, I think, used to have the course record a few years back. He reminds me a little of another guy I follow on this blogsphere that I was hoping to get out here to run this race, but he's enjoying a little time off running to flip logs. Defending champ and CR holder was not racing this year so perhaps that's why the pack at the front was bigger. Look forward to seeing the results tonight, as well as how Scott does at MM (He won!!). And I must say I do feel a little faster now.
Speaking of getting faster, we will gain an hour tonight. Does that make me faster or slower? I don't know. However, know it will make me - up at 4:30 - because Tima doesn't know we turn the clocks back tonight.

Great morning for a run. 36 degrees when I started and 44 when I finished. Got out on the trail that I promised Tima yesterday for a nice 10 miles (143).
There's a chance of snow here tonight and the Shut-In Ridge Trail Race is tomorrow morning. I doubt there will be any accumulation, but add slippery to a trail where leaves cover ankle breaking rocks and roots and there's sure to be some DNF's.

Haven't been on the treadmill in a long time, and I think it will be a long time before I do anything easy on it again. I've always been able to endure the boredom of an easy treadmill w/o, but today was aweful. Perhaps the spoiled plans that I had to get Tima out on the trail for a nice 90 minutes had something to do with the level of mental difficulty I had today. Tima wasn't very happy about it either, she ate about a quarter of Kayle's pumpkin while I was on the treadmill. I think I'll make it up to her (Tima) and let her try and catch a squirl in the front yard.
5 miles (131) easy on the treadmill.

5 miles (135) nice and easy.
The Candy Apple Experiment seems to be working out. Last night, w/o asking for candy, Kayle said, "Can I have an apple?" She ate it, then asked for a piece of candy. On the other side of the world, I saw Riley sneak a piece, no biggie, pretended I didn't see him. Hey, if it's just one piece of candy in the evening I'm good with that. Now if I could just get the apple to come after the candy, then we've taken care of cleaning the teeth!

Candy Apples

In an attempt to have some control over the amount of Holloween candy my kids will eat in a day I started out using the phrase that has been passed down from generation to generation - "You'll get a tummy-ache if you eat too much candy." I can't say if this is true or not because I never had a tummy-ache from eating too much candy - or, perhaps I never ate too much candy. Either way, I didn't believe this when I was a kid and neither do my kids. I can see it in their eyes, that phrase is just another way of saying "NO!" So, I decided I'd be a little creative and allow them to eat as much candy as they wanted. The only requirement is that they need to eat a small apple cut into nice smiley face slices before they can pick a peice of candy. This is working very well I must say. Last night both Riley and Kayle went 3 for 3 - that is they each ate 3 small apples and picked out a piece of candy after each apple they ate. About 5 minutes after the 3rd piece of candy was eaten Kayle said "Daddy, I have a tummy-ache." And, of course, I said "Well, I think you ate too much candy." Riley spoke up before I was able to finish the word candy and said, "No Dad, I think it was all the apples."
Ran 8 miles (142) this morning and felt MUCH better than I did yesterday. The 8 miles I ran today was done 7 minutes faster than the 7 miles I ran yesterday at about the same effort. The courses were alot different, but I still felt alot better at the same effort and will chalk that up as some progress.

Back at it.

I really didn't do anything last month; a few runs and a few rides and that's about it. I guess I lost some motivation there and mostly wasted away my favorite month of the year. Luckily Fall is a long season here in Asheville and I'll be given a second chance here in November to enjoy some great Fall running. 7 miles (144) this morning and boy am I out of shape. A little dissapointing as I was, about a month ago, just starting to get a solid base going for the winter. On a positive side, I think I can recover fairly quickly from what I lost this past month. Today I felt like my heart muscle was more out of shape than my legs.
I also lost any motivation I have for Cyclo-Cross. I think this just comes from my laziness to maintain something like a bike. I'm very used to throwing on a few articles of clothing, heading out the door and going. Now there's this whole bike that I'm just too lazy to actually use. I think the straw though was when I got a flat tire and never fixed it. It just sunk in at that point that "what if I get a flat in a race?" Again, just too lazy when it come to maintaining equipment. I'll keep it as simple as I've been keeping it for the past 15 years and enjoy what I like most - the utter simplicity of running - the 2 minutes it takes to get out the door. I'll still use the bike for some great 30-60 minute rides when it's convenient and will be quite happy with that.
As for now, I'm back at it looking to get a solid base. I'm hoping to be comforably hitting a 70 mile week by the end of the year and maintaining that. I'd also like to concentrate a little more on my strengths - running races that take me 1-2 hours. I might throw a marathon in there at some point, but I'd really just like to stay in that 1-2 hour range and really enjoy what I do best.