The Taste of Exhaustion - Day 10

Ok, so today is the first day I finally understood the meaning of the phrase "pride goeth before a fall." So for those of you who have been keeping up with these training blogs, Day 1 I was so excited that I was able to run a 12.59 minute mile until today...

So for today's practice coach decided to break us into groups based on how we ran that first mile. Which was cool beans because if you remember from another blog I was always a sprint sport player so, technically based on my previous mile time 12.59 is pretty slow. But it ain't slow when you have to run at that pace for 1.5 miles after already completing one mile. And if that wasn't enough, we had to do the line.

So before I continue, let me recap the practice up to this point. We ran two laps straight (on our own at our own pace) took a water break and then ran two more laps straight.

Then coach says we are going to run 4 laps in teams that he created using our mile run. And then after the 4 laps a quick water break and then we would go again. My first thought was "ah shit, I'm f**ked," especially when I noticed that all the people on my team usually run ahead of me during our pacing runs...especially because we were running the line...If you've never run the line it consists of the following - everyone runs in a line and the person at the end has to sprint to the beginning of the line.

Which is cool when you're in great shape, but when the only shape your in is round (which unfortunately I am at present - just keepin it real for you folks!) running the line can be stressful.

Which brings me to the best part of this workout: I have stress induced asthma, and I haven't really had a major attack in a couple of years. Usually the stress that causes my asthma attacks is related to physical stress. Which is not a stress I've experienced for a while [insert embarrassed laughter here].

At first I was feeling good, we had already ran a mile and the pace was pretty good, but the people on my team were running at a 10 min/mile pace. Which is cool when you're only doing one mile and one mile only. But we had already run a mile and we still had another mile and a half to go....and we had to sprint about every 100 meters.

But after mile 3 I was seriously sucking wind. And for those of you that have asthma, basically when you're asthma breathing you sound like a balloon that is slowly leaking....every time you try to suck in a breath your bronchials in your lungs close off like a scorned lover with his back to you. And each breath sounds like that high-pitched noise balloons make when you let the air out slowly by constricting the balloon opening with your fingers. Which is quite appealing ;-)

Every intake of breath is being forced through this tightly squeezed tube. So basically, I am running and the poor person in front of me had to keep hearing this wheezy breathing behind her...which if you've never heard it before is a sexy as it sounds ;-)

And sometimes when my asthma turns on, my ability to screen my language turns off. So right around the time I started wheezing I had to sprint to the front of the line. And when I thought my lungs were going to burst into flames I muttered under my breath "fuck, fuck, fuck," but my teammates heard and they were like WHOA...and when I got to the front of the line I had to get a couple of "fucking shits" in there too...Which thoroughly offended my teammates because no on talked to me after that. OOPS...hopefully that was a one time team.

My body was fine, but my lungs were completely constricted. So exhaustion was kicking in because my muscles were barely getting any oxygen. Toward the end though, just when I thought I was not going to be able to take in any oxygen and I was literally going to collapse into a brown puddle on the Clovis West Track, I heard the coach's wife telling me "this is the most important moment, when you're body wants to give up if you can push yourself past that, you'll be okay" that's all I needed to hear, I took my last sprint and basically collapsed on the grass trying to get my breath back.

But my team in training teammates Donna & Casimiro both congratulated me on a job well done. And Sara one of my other teammates knew pressure points to help me breath, so that was very encouraging. And as I was signing out coach Jenny tells me remember it's not the 8 miles, when you're running 10 but the last 2 that are important. So I'm adopting that as my new mantra "it's not the first 24 miles it's the last 2.2 miles that count."

TMI warning...

And just because I can't resist...Those of you who have asthma will totally understand this...as you get your breath back your body starts to expel all of the liquid that has built up in your lungs. Which brings on several things: coughing, spitting, and sneezing. So essentially I was coughing and then spitting out this sort of foamy stuff, which oddly looks like snails when you toss salt on them...and I've been sneezing every since practice finished and oddly it feels good to sneeze...hmmm???

So today exhaustion tastes like air being sucked through a straw and my body and mind willing to push, but this time it's my lungs resisting like a petulant child refusing to go to bed. But this all this pain is definitely for a good cause SO...

Remember, I'm still in the game guys so in lieu of congratulatory high-fives if you can give me two high five dollar bills to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. One for me and one for my friend Casimiro who has been an excellent training partner. Your donation and our participating in this race will help those with blood cancers. Thanks All!

The links are below:

Roxanne Villaluz's Team in Training Website

http://pages.teamintraining.org/cca/nikesf08/rvillaluz

Casimiro Llamas, Jr.'s Team in Training Website

http://pages.teamintraining.org/cca/nikesf08/cllamas