Training Wid a Cod

I left town on the 25th for Colorado (to attend the Golden Retriever Club National Speciality if you simply must know) with high hopes of cooler weather, crisp air, and training in the glorious foothills around Loveland and Greeley. Several friends and I had rented a house on the outskirts of Loveland not 20 miles from Estes Park.

I eagerly loaded up my bike on the back of the Pilot, all my bike and running gear (alas, had to leave the swim togs behind), and planned my schedule to include at least 3 bike rides and 3 runs during the days I was Away From Hot Texas. I did remember to load up my 2 dogs as well!

We drove on Saturday to Raton NM and I got up at 6 a.m. Sunday morning and went for a short 3 mile run to start altitude acclimation. Lovely morning, crisp, cool, clear, and without a trace of oxygen to breathe, but I managed to stagger through the 3 miles in a pretty decent clip with only one short walk break to try and find my lungs (which seemed to have exited through the soles of my feet). It wasn't a terribly photogenic run--we had stayed at a motel on the side of the main highway, so my run consisted mostly of a Denny's parking lot into a trailer park neighborhood, but there WERE hills out there in front of me. I felt great.

A caravan of us left the hotel around 8 a.m. and I noticed I was starting to get a sore throat. I was trying to convince myself it was the dry air, but the Patient Spouse had brought home (from one of his many airplane exposures) a nasty cold the previous week and I had been congratulating myself that I had managed to avoid it (we discussed wrapping him in saran wrap and stashing him in the freezer, but we didn't go quite that far--and probably should have, in retrospect). By the time we stopped for lunch in Pueblo, I knew that I was going to get it, and get it hard.

By Monday I was feverish, coughing, sneezing, clogged up and simply miserable. In addition, the weather in Colorado was experiencing a record high temperature--low to mid 90's. The awful cold virus, the altitude and the heat all combined to make me feel like a contestant on "Survivor: Loveland."

I skipped my planned Monday run and Tuesday bike. I kept trying to feel better. Normally, I will work out with a cold as soon as it leaves my throat area and hits the nose, but this one was not in a hurry to pack its bags. By the time it moved into my nose and chest, on Wednesday, I started a horrible, hacking cough that left me completely and totally breathless. The bike that I had so carefully loaded and locked onto the back of the Pilot was looking very sad, as well as very dusty from the trip (which included a rainstorm, a duststorm, and a windstorm--gottta love west Texas).

Finally I could stand it no longer. Although I was still wheezing and hacking, by Friday I felt a bit less woozy, so I cleaned up the bike and went for a 23 mile ride on a well groomed bike/walking trail that ran right behind the dog show site in Greeley (Island Grove Park). I didn't have to show that day until around 11:30, so I headed out on the trail (I had asked some fellow bikers the day before where I should ride in Greeley). It was a beautifully maintained trail, and not heavily populated (this was a Friday after all), but the scenery, again, left something to be desired. The trail allegedly followed the Poudre river, and it tried hard to do that, and if you kept looking to the right you could see the riverbed and trees, but to the left was Greeley Industrial behind a prison-like high fence for about 8 miles. Then, after crossing a couple of busy highways and portaging over a rough railroad track, the path turned through a historic dairy farm where you had to dodge a lot of cow paddies, not something I was terribly used to. Finally, the trail wound through some new development subdivisions with lots of signs of LOTS FOR SALE. It was fairly flat, although it had some minor ups and downs, and it had lots of twists and turns to it. And face it, it was 68 degrees and sunny with little wind, and the concrete was smooth, so big deal on the scenery.

I stopped halfway to cough, wheeze and blow my ever-filled nose, and then headed back through the development, cow pats and WW II fencing, being scolded by about 15 prairie dogs on my way.

The next day, I forced myself to get up at 6 a.m. again and go for another 3 mile run. This one was from the Loveland house and had some up and down hills (nothing terribly steep, but definitely Not Texas). I was still not 100 percent well so I went easy and took a walk break halfway to catch my still-not-there breath. That afternoon a friend and I went for a 5 mile hike in Homestead Meadows with the dogs, and I packed and loaded up that night, so by the time I hit the sack I was one tired pup.

Back home again with the bike on Sunday and Monday--a 1400 mile trip and only one 23 mile bike to show for it. The bike was so dusty and dirty that I took it into the local shop to have it professionally cleaned. And I am just now getting over the cough.

I know a lot of people work out with colds, but I can't do it the first 2-3 days that it settles into my chest. After it moves to my nose, I can usually stagger through some shorter and easier workouts. If I have a fever, I'm not even going to try. I'm dedicated and determined, but when I feel like uck, I simply have no energy to do anything but whine and suffer.

Fortunately, I'm pretty healthy and usually only get 1-2 colds a year (and usually from Patient Spouse, who unfortunately is given ample opportunity to get one because he flies so much). I hardly ever get the flu, a virus, or anything of that nature. So except for about twice a year, I'm usually good to go. I have read--and I believe--that working out regularly helps stave off infections by keeping your immune system healthy.

So I'm back at it now, trying to make up for a bit of lost time. Next event is a half marathon in December!