Wednesday, January 20, 2010

This should be a killer.

That sentence embedded in the description of today's treadmill session struck raw, cold fear into my core.

Never has Sara said anything like this to me -- and the next sentence was like striking the final nail into the coffin: "Afterwards, spend lots of time on your calves!"

What was I in for??????

I am still getting my asthma under control -- and that was another thing I was worried about. I can run for a certain time or at a certain effort and then suddenly...WHAMMO! It hits and I am gasping. To tell the truth, I was more afraid of the asthma then of the imminent pain in the legs....

Today was my very first tempo treadmill session (EVER!) and despite the fear, I was excited to attack! :) :)

I had my inhaler ready and got to work. During the warm up, I noticed I was having no trouble breathing at all -- a good sign. I had taken a number of hits at the pool this morning, so I think there was sufficient stuff in my system that I would be OK for the run session. (The pool temperature is creeping up again DAMMIT. There is a direct correlation between how hot that pool is and how much I wheeze/whoop.)

Onto the main set.... 3 sets of 4 minutes. NO PROBLEMS BREATHING!!!!!!!! Amazing feeling to be able to push your body and feel pain your legs and actually be able to BREATHE HARD!! I was breathing hard!!! YAY!!!!!!

I would watch the timer for each 4 minute interval to end and thought to myself -- "I can handle the pain, if I can breathe." Over and over again I said that. Part of me half-expected the wheezing to start, but it never did. What a great workout!!!!!!!!!!

The only sucky (and I mean very sucky) thing about the session was the company at the gym....

There is this one young guy (maybe 14-15) that comes in with his Dad/Grandpa. And he STINKS of B.O. Really, really bad B.O. And the stench has far-reaching powers too. I am not exaggerating here...He can be at the other end of the building in the weight room and you can smell his reek. Poor kid. Somebody should tell him, but that somebody ain't going to be me.

Happy running!! :) :)

7 comments:

Keith said...

You see? Even a killer workout doesn't repress your spirits. I hope you did spend lots of time working on your calves after. They deserve it.

I've never understood how to slow down on the treadmill. I can get going faster, but then when it comes time to slow down, I'm flailing away at the machine trying to hit the slower button. I've had to abandon ship a couple times. Not graceful.

Julie said...

LOL -- You just hop off, straddling the sides, then start hitting buttons. :) :)

runningman said...

Yikes I know what you mean Julie, I once was this {-} close to telling someone once to wash their clothes. I moved a few treadmills over and still could smell it. I second the stradling the treadmill belt Keith. I've done intervals where I didn't want to wait for the speeding up/slowing down so I'd just get off and let it spin while I rested. It works well you just get lots of funny looks in the gym.

Jenna said...

yes the jumpoff - i enjoy that to trying to hit the red button to lower the speed.

Poor kid. Slip a body spray in his bag, advise the staff, put a note in his boot if left by the public door. His stink is gonna ruin his social life and make him an outcast and he could be a good kid. OK, why doesn;t grampa say something - or maybe you mention it to gramps??

KK said...

Ugh, I feel bad for him. The thought of having to tell him is AWKWARD though. I vote for the anonymous note idea from Jenna. Or the Gramps idea.

Great workouts, way to go!

Cath said...

Keep on running, keep on running....- you have to sing along for it to really work - hahahaha!

I LOVE interval treadmill workouts - they made me a LOT faster than I was before - you'll be whizzing away in no time - yay!

I vote for word with Grandpa

xx

Sara Gross said...

Glad you lived to tell the tale! Nice work champ.