GET ON THE TRAIN

February Recap:

I suffered through 2 and 1/2 weeks of Black Lung Death Cough and never ran a step (missing Zena Road Race).  I started to feel better and ran a few days (mostly in Denver) and decided to race Buck Mtn 6.5 mile up at Silver Falls State Park since I love that little loop so much.  Within 200 yards I could taste those pennies that usually come with an extreme track workout...  raw lungs already?  no bueno.  I took things easy on the climbs because breathing was difficult.  I charged the downhills as fast as a person who hadn't run much lately could.  I ended up in 4th place overall.  I got a little plaque to add to my meager collection of mediocre accomplishments.  I also got the cough back.  It stuck around for another week and 1/2 to 2 weeks and by then I was feeling the fitness fade.

March:

You see when I take time off I do it to the max.  I sleep less.  I eat poorly.  I drink more.  It doesn't help with the sickness but these are the things that people do when they are bored and don't have to get up early to jog.  The results are bad but I am slowly getting back to things.  You know 3 days a week, 4 days a week, 5 days a week...  and so on.

While I was sick I took up yoga and home improvement.  Re-did the front yard, the side yard and working on the back.  Yoga was primarily an exercise in resisting coughing fits for an hour with some pathetic stretching on the side.

I raced Monument Peak 10 mile this past weekend.  Total mudfest.  Fun and challenging.  Felt weak on climbs but hung in there for a 5th overall finish.  3 or 4 faster guys showed up to the race and that gave me some incentive to start working a little harder at getting back on the training train. 5th was the perfect place for me to come in as I know I've still got some drive but a lot of work to put in to get better results.

The future:

Signed up for the Mac 50k.  Race is going to kill me again (3rd time).  I'll try and be conservative out the shoot as I am feeling a little less strength this year.  I've got to get some long hilly runs in soon if that's going to be fun at all this year.