And So It Begins.....

My 2008 season has officially begun! Wednesday consisted a visit to my doctor who promptly prescribed a 10 day course of a powerful antibiotic as well as a 5 day course of steroids! YUCK! The stuff kills your stomach AND disturbs your sleep! Good times!

Coach Matt sent me my training schedule for the first week keeping in mind that I've been pretty sick. He kept it light and wants to see how I do with it. So far so good... yesterday was just an easy spin on the trainer... but he insisted that I bring the trainer out of the cave in the garage and into the house for the sake of warmth! I'm all for that... I set it up in front of the boob-tube and watched, "Running On the Sun". Its a documentary about the Badwater ultra marathon. Essentially its a 135 mile race that extends over barren desert, across three mtn. ranges and through temperatures upwards of 130 degrees! Yeah... not something I'm remotely interested in doing. I think... like my homey Blink... that I'd me more inclined to do an ultra ironman than the straight running thing.

Anywho... here's what I did today:

Swim:

• Warm-up: 300 swim, 200 kick, 300 pull
• Main Set: 2000 yds (including 300 kick and 500 pull)
• Cool-down: 100 swim
• Total Yards: 2900

Just felt low energy the entire time. Probably has something to do with the meds... oh... and being sick! I was pretty pleased that I did the whole workout... you know that sometimes the pool can just suck the life outta ya and its tough to put in the yards. This was a very conservative workout but MORE than enough for me at the moment! Had a recovery drink, picked up Tom and played with Legos! What's better for recovery than THAT I ask ya?!

Run:

• Distance: 3.75 miles
• Pace: 8 min/mile
• Total time: 30 min
• Avg HR 152

Matt told me to keep it flat and super slow! He also told me to keep my HR below 145... HUH? Yeah... ummmmm... if my HR is below 145 bpm then I'm basically walking... and walking slowly. But I think that being sick raises your HR by at least 5 bpm... I like this being sick stuff... gives me LOTS of excuses! But seriously... it felt good to run... even if it did have to be on the freakin dreadmill, inside, next to one of those runner hippie guys. You know that guy that has a LOT of body hair, tends not to bathe too frequently, breathes really really loud, and runs FOREVER??? Yeah... that guy. Or maybe those guys are just in Eugene.

Overall it feels really really REALLY good to have a plan and be working toward a goal. I don't do very well mentally when there isn't something hanging in front of me that I'm working toward. Good stuff...

Breathe...