The Duel: Speed vs. Lungs
After yesterday's terminal laziness, accompanied by many chocolate snacks which probably completely negated my previous post, today was time to get serious: speedwork.
Blah.
Now, normally, I don't mind speedwork too much. It's really hard to get out there when you know you have to do it, but once it's done, you feel really, really virtuous. Unless you feel like your lungs are working at half capacity. Which, incidentally, is how I felt today.
The jury (read: doctor) is still out on whether or not I have asthma. I did a pulmonary function test a few weeks ago which concluded that my lungs work perfectly well - nice to know, thank you, but it still doesn't explain why I have tightness in my chest and an intermittently nasty cough. I'm going to have to see the GP again, to determine the next step, but in the meantime, I've been more or less dutifully taking a puffer twice a day, and feeling 100%. Except, today was a "less" dutiful day - and then came the speedwork.
Blech, blech, blech. I felt like I couldn't draw a decent breath, and my chest was sounding all funny. Probably a good reason to stop, but I figured unless it got worse I wasn't going to let it impede my workout. Garmin was beeping away at me to run, so I ran (side note: first time I've used the "interval" function on Garmin - I love it! The nearest track to my house is too far away for my liking, so I'm very happy to just barrel around the neighborhood, avoiding intersections during the fast parts. Oh Garmin, how I love thee).
I finished. I finished fast. I felt proud. And I felt a little like death.
I'm better now. I'm happy I did the speedwork. And I'm scheduling in my doctor's appointment A.S.A.P.
Blah.
Now, normally, I don't mind speedwork too much. It's really hard to get out there when you know you have to do it, but once it's done, you feel really, really virtuous. Unless you feel like your lungs are working at half capacity. Which, incidentally, is how I felt today.
The jury (read: doctor) is still out on whether or not I have asthma. I did a pulmonary function test a few weeks ago which concluded that my lungs work perfectly well - nice to know, thank you, but it still doesn't explain why I have tightness in my chest and an intermittently nasty cough. I'm going to have to see the GP again, to determine the next step, but in the meantime, I've been more or less dutifully taking a puffer twice a day, and feeling 100%. Except, today was a "less" dutiful day - and then came the speedwork.
Blech, blech, blech. I felt like I couldn't draw a decent breath, and my chest was sounding all funny. Probably a good reason to stop, but I figured unless it got worse I wasn't going to let it impede my workout. Garmin was beeping away at me to run, so I ran (side note: first time I've used the "interval" function on Garmin - I love it! The nearest track to my house is too far away for my liking, so I'm very happy to just barrel around the neighborhood, avoiding intersections during the fast parts. Oh Garmin, how I love thee).
I finished. I finished fast. I felt proud. And I felt a little like death.
I'm better now. I'm happy I did the speedwork. And I'm scheduling in my doctor's appointment A.S.A.P.
posted by Liv @ 11:17 p.m.
7 Comments:
At 1:30 a.m.,
tryathlete said…
I don't really like speedwork, but you're right, we feel good after we've done it. It's harder when you've got tightness in your chest when you run - why not try speedwork on the bike instead?
At 4:32 a.m.,
carmen said…
LOL @ I felt a little like death.
You had some good chocolate. I pigged out on some really good Mexican food today prepared New Mexican style. I think deep down, we're not feeling guilty. It was well worth it. lol
At 8:34 a.m.,
Olga said…
Yep, love and hate for speedwork...take care of that chest problem!
At 9:50 a.m.,
L*I*S*A said…
I know what you mean about speedwork. I usually just do a few fartleks within my run and call it good!
Hope you get some answers from the doc soon.
At 9:52 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
Good luck with the MD. I hope everything is okay.
At 4:09 p.m.,
Backofpack said…
Liv,
There is a definitive asthma test - it's called a challenge. They give you some kind of medication, then do the pulmonary test. If you have asthma, the medication will trigger it. That's how they finally ruled out asthma for me, and got me off the inhalers. Ask your doc about it. And good job on the speedwork!
At 12:28 p.m.,
Joe said…
I hope your doctor's appointment goes well. Take care of yourself.
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