Time Out

Its been nearly two weeks since my last post.  With good reason, I've been sick, with what I've been referring to as the plague.  Obviously I don't actually have the plague, what I do have is a flair for the dramatic.

So a couple of weeks ago I got a head cold, and I took two days off training, to let it clear up.  Then I jumped back in.  Mistake.  Workouts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday left me unable to breathe on Sunday.  My Saturday workout I dialed it back a bit, but still wound up feeling worse by Sunday. I went with some friends to cheer on some other friends running the Tinkerbell Half Marathon early Sunday morning (pretty sure that didn't do me any favors).  After that, I knew I was not going to be able to run the scheduled 9 miles.  I did do a 60 minute, four mile walk (read: boring) that Sunday, thinking that it would be good to do something and that I'd be fine the following week.   But, the cold had turned in to a nagging, persistent cough.

Riding while sick

Mid ride.  I had to stop to rest - breathing was hard. Plus, who can pass up this amazing view?

Cheering at Tinkerbell 

One of the view on my four mile walk

This is where I walked to - the Troll Bridge.

Seen on my walk - a library in Santa Monica at Ocean Ave and Entrada.  

Definitely new. Definitely interesting.

View at the end of the boring four mile walk. While walking wasn't exactly exciting, I did notice a lot more stuff than I normally do.  Like the weird addresses back in  Runyon Canyon, and the beautiful homes.

I took Monday as my rest day, which it is every week, and did workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday.  But, by Thursday, the not being able to breathe thing had gotten much worse.  It's not that I was even congested anymore, but I was coughing all the time.  I tried taking some cough syrup we had at home.  It helped me sleep, but didn't really help the cough.

Easy trainer ride to get the blood flowing.

Seen at the pool.  Interesting that people don't seem to know what to wear to a pool.

Cough syrup.  Ice cream followed to rid the icky taste.

(Cough syrup was not an ice cream topping, as a few people misunderstood)

I took Thursday and Friday off thinking I'd be good on Saturday.  Wrong again.  I tried a nine mile run and my chest just hurt the whole time.  I was hacking and struggling to breathe.  So, I walked most of the first three mile loop and just stopped.  I slept most of the day on Saturday and then got ready for a ride on Sunday morning.  I was not feeling right, but hoped that I'd be okay.  I drove down to Torrance (for those not in LA, that's about an hour from where I live) and felt worse by the time I got there.  I decided it would be best to skip the ride and wound up going home and sleeping almost all day.

Saturday was the team's first open water swim. I skipped it because of the plague. Wound up being a very

wise choice, the water was a frigid 58. Brr!  But, my teammates are amazing and did a great job.

The view from the parking lot in Torrance.  Winter in LA.  Can't beat it.

Obviously I'm enjoying the panoramic feature on my phone. :)

I went "out" on Sunday night.  Just to a friend's house for movie night.  And was hoping I'd be feeling better on Monday after sleeping for most of the weekend.  Guess what? Wrong again.  So, on Monday after work I decided it was time to do something about this.  I headed to urgent care and, in a small miracle, was in, seen by a doctor and out in an hour!  I was diagnosed with asthmatic bronchitis, explaining the difficulty breathing.

Movie night on the road in Camarillo.  Worth going out.

Armed with three prescriptions, one for cough syrup to help me sleep, a Z-pak (antibiotics) and prednisone (steroid), I should be on the road to recovery.  Finally.  I'm two days in to the antibiotics and steroids and actually starting to feel  a bit better.  I'm nowhere near 100%, but I am definitely getting better.  I'm able to take a deep breath without hacking now, so that's a step in the right direction.  And, the cough is starting to let up, it's still there, but not quite as severe.

Very dirty children's toy in Urgent Care.

I remember this, but not sure if it's a toy I would have

played with or a kid I babysat did.

Armed with a Zpak, Prednisone and cough syrup.

Time to get well!

I'm taking all of this week off - total time out.  Listening to the doctor who said if I don't rest, recover and take the full cycle of medication, that this could turn in to walking pneumonia.  That scared me just enough to listen.  So, no workouts until I'm 100%.  I'm hoping that letting my body recover this week will put me in a position to get in at least some of this weekend's workouts.  We'll see.  Fingers crossed!  I know I'll be back in training mode soon enough, but I gotta say, time out sucks.  I'm usually good at the resting (being lazy is my strong suit), but I'm definitely feeling antsy and frustrated at this point.  But, I can see the light, I will be well soon.  I better be well soon, Wildflower is in 94 short days.  Time to get in gear!

Dog. Today is his birthday, so his picture must be included. Happy Birthday Rocky!

He'll be getting some extra cuddle time this week to help me through the time out. :)