Day 47: Monday, May 11, 2009

Today, I was ready to do some treadmill action. I didn't exactly have a set plan, but once I began, I found myself upping my speed to 5.5 MPH. Fine by me, I've done it before, and it shouldn't have been a big deal, so I started running.

Then I noticed, not long into my run that I was having a problem catching any good breaths. I tried to inhale deeply, to no avail. I continued to run, gasping in attempts to catch a sufficient breath, but it just would not come. Finally, at the 11 minute mark, I slowed my pace to 4 MPH - after running for 10 straight minutes. It wasn't quite what I wanted to do, but I could have done a lot worse too, considering my breathing issues for the night. While walking (which I did for 2 minutes) I took a few deep breaths, but none of them were as refreshing as I had hoped. Oh well, no time to dwell, I upped my speed again to 5.5 MPH.

I ran the next 5 minutes, still gasping for air before again slowing my pace, where I was again able to take a few deep breaths, but nothing lasting or really substantial. This time, after 3 minutes I sped back up to the 5.5 MPH where I ran for only 2:30 before slowing for 3 minutes and repeating the 2:30 pattern. I then walked for another minute or so before upping my speed for the final sprint of 7.0 MPH. When that was over, I slowed to 4 MPH before starting my cool down.

The entire time I was having a hard time breathing. As stated above, I attempted to use my walking times to gain a good, deep breath, but it never was substantial, and every time I ran, I was doomed to run with short, shallow breaths - with vain attempts at gaining that cleansing breath. I didn't know what was wrong, that is, until I left the gym. Then I noticed, my lymph nodes were partially swollen - indicating that my immune system is upon heightened awareness, sadly, for what, I cannot say. I hope I'm not getting sick, seeing as in how I have been working so hard and have come so far in my workouts. For now, if it persists, I'll take a day or two off before hopefully my body can recover.

Even with everything said above, I walked 9 minutes at 4 MPH for 0.60 miles, I ran 20 minutes at 5.5 MPH for 1.83 miles, I ran 1 minute at 7.0 MPH for 0.12 miles, and in total (with cool down) I completed 31 minutes for 2.59 miles. In spite of all the problems I was having, I still managed fairly decent numbers, and I am happy with that. Now, hopefully, I can kick this illness, whatever it may be, quickly.