I godda boe my node

As is happens all too often, our little germ incubator brought a nice little end-of-summer head cold that Mendy and I are now enjoying. I slept like crap last night, and felt like dookie all day, so I skipped today's workout. Oh well, rest is important too. It does make me feel bad, though, that Grace may have been suffering a sore throat and the throbbing head we are, but couldn't articulate it and simply soldiered on, or worse got in trouble for being cranky. I'm glad she's getting to the point where she can begin letting us know what's going on, but all this talk of school starting is troubling. Maybe not quite so bad, since Grace does go to daycare all day, which we call school. But something about that threshold of *real* school.

So, I'll keep it brief on the exercise, as not to bore you fine folks. Nothing too exciting anyway. Last Thursday I did my normal 4.28 mile loop in 31:46 for a 7:25/mile pace. A couple of bike rides between, and Monday I repeated the run, this time in 31:05 for a 7:16/mile pace. Yesterday I again did the loop after a Tuesday ride. This run felt difficult and labored, with shortness of breath, an awkward gait, and a general sense of slowness. My time was 30:30 for a 7:08/mile pace. Wow! Clearly I need to work the kinks out of my style/stride, but the pace is really improving rapidly. I do need a couple of long bike rides before I start doing hill repeats and intervals to get back on form there. Maybe this weekend.

To the shortness of breath issue: prior to the wreck I had been taking Cordyceps, a supplement derived from Himalayan mushroom, and one of the primary ingredients of a supplement product called Optygen. There was a perceived benefit from this supplement, such that I felt like shallower breaths were all that was necessary, and deeper breaths were very deep. I felt an increased efficiency in my oxygen handling. Since the wreck, I have taken none, and I feel like I have elastic bands around my chest when I'm running or riding hard. Coincidence? I don't know, but I stopped by the Vitamin Shoppe tonight and picked up three bottles (along with some vitamin E for my scars) to get back on track. Anyone else ever try either Optygen or simply Cordyceps? I will surely report back as I load back up on them and keep training. I'm hopeful it will help a lot, and a lot of elite athletes swear by it.

Anyway, sorry for my very poor blogging habits lately. I'm still frustrated, and have pretty much given up on completing the Half Ironman this year, in 3 weeks. That leaves me a race I could do this weekend (not likely), a sprint in a couple of weeks, and a race on the 14th. I can do both the second and third, but the timing of all this is rough since normal uninjured people have been ramping up for the HIM, while I tested and proved the laws of physics with my face and body.

Oh, on a wound note: All bandages are off!!! The cut on my lip is healing well, with only minor internal swelling. I tried to get rid of what appeared to be a pimple on it yesterday, but it turns out to have been a 1/8 inch wooden splinter. It popped right out without incident or pain. Yay! And as I mentioned, I am putting vitamin E oil on the affected areas which I hope will help them heal completely.

To those racing, have a good weekend! From Marcy's blog, I recognized Michelle and Paul. Go get 'em, folks!! And good training (and living) to the rest of us. :-)