Saturday, February 11, 2006

Cold Run

Okay, you people up north won't think it was cold, but by the standards down here, overnight lows in the thirties with gusts of 15-20 mph is pretty darn cold.

It was in the 40s when I headed out this morning, bundled up a little more than was probably necessary because I like to be warm. A long run on a sweltering August morning makes me happy. If I'm not leaving a drippy trail of sweat, it's just not a proper run. So if adding a fleece vest and a cap for this morning's run was a bit of overkill, hey, it was just my way of trying to bring a little bit of August to February.

It was a very dull run. Not many people were out and there wasn't much to see. Now that my abductor exercises seem to be mitigating the ITB problem, I may have to start wandering a little farther afield so I can have something to report. I've stuck close to home doing permutations on the same little routes for a long time now.

After my run I had a pretty severe asthma attack. It was enough to scare me for a few minutes, which doesn't happen often. I had woken up with a little difficulty breathing, but I took a pill, hit the inhalor and was fine when I headed out the door. Of course the cold air did me no favors, but once the adrenaline kicked in I was okay. Then when I stopped running and there was no more adrenaline, my lungs decided to make up for lost time. When I got up from icing my legs and went into the other room for my inhalor I was getting so little air I actually felt dizzy. It scared me because Dan was at the LBS helping with packet pickup for a ride tomorrow and it was just me and the critters. I'm not quite sure what would've happened if I'd blacked out. I like to think my lungs would've called it a victory and gone on to find other sources of entertainment like, say, breathing. But one can't be too sure about these sorts of things. All was well once I got my albuterol, though.

As if to make up for a rather uneventful run, my drive to the Rice Village area to meet my husband for lunch was very interesting. It reminded me of the video from the driving simulators we used in high school driver's ed class-- just about every possible road hazard and weird driving situation that could be imagined happened. Yes folks, we had it all-- oblivious jaywalkers, people ignoring signals, emergency vehicles, work crews blocking lanes, a huge charter bus lost on a residential street, a parked moving van taking up an entire lane of a two-lane street, and a guy trying to kill his daughter by taking her for a bike ride on a busy street full of road humps, narrow lanes and parked cars. Oh, and did I mention he didn't stop for stop signs? Daddy must've taken out a new insurance policy on her.

In light of the even colder temps tonight, I'm probably going to skip tomorrow's bike ride. I had been looking forward to it, but I'm still a little spooked by this mornings's asthma attack. I would've been fine on the ride, of course. But not being able to breathe while attempting to drive home afterwards doesn't sound appealing at all. Now that spring ride season is here, there's a supported ride every weekend, so there's always next week. And it never stays cold in this town for very long. Not outside, at any rate. How we set our air conditioners is a tale for another time.

Recent Workouts
Thursday: 20 minute core and strength training, 35 minute spin - Cyclerobx
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 15 mile run

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Do you think the cold air triggered your asthma? I thought I heard that somewhere before. Anyway, I have to abductor exercises too, or I get runner's knee. Apparently, weak abductors are common in women. Whenever my abductors or knees get sore when I'm running, I know it's time to back off. Sort of like an internal indicator of when I'm pushing too hard.

Bolder said...

ok, glad you survived the asthmatic attack.

first off, my initial thoughts were what would have happened to the bunny? -- sorry, i'm all about the animals after I bonded with Happy this weekend.

next off, for the record, i don't think anyone in Texas should have to endure that kind of weather -- for me, that kind of weather belongs in Canada (except Vancouver) but definitely not the great debate of Texas.

finally off, since i may have been the guilty party, but, i'm pretty sure i wasn't, i have to correct you on the useage of the term abductor. the only reason i'm doing this, is because i've recently felt this pain in my left adductor.

see how i slipped that in there --of course, if the bunny took your hip thingy, then it would have been an abduction.

i've noticed, after i'd been told, that sitting with my legs crossed really irritates my left adductor... be interested if you found the same... kept wondering why the left?

*shakes fist in the air*

why the left?

turns out i cross my left leg over my right leg -- executive style, when i throw my laptop on my lap, or i'm sitting in a chair at work, like i am now, pretending i'm working, but acutally commenting profusely on your blog.

back to work.

Bolder said...

but then again, maybe an abductor and adductor are either the same, or different.

but, then i wouldn't have anything to really say, and i wanted to give good comment.

really, back to work.

Papa Tweet said...

The asthma things sounds pretty dam scary. And yes, those temps aren't that cold. I guess it's all relative.
Benny

Comm's said...

love the driving video reference. very imaginitive. astma is such a little bugger.