I wish I was sick more

-- "Hmmm, that espresso sure smells good, but, ya know, I'll take a chamomile tea."

-- "It's nine o'clock? I'm bushed. Night night. . ."

-- "I made it to the gym! I rawked a 30 min easy spin and a 20 min elliptical!"

So, no pictures in this post, but those are my images that best suggest the kind of approach I'm taking these days. I've been on Amoxicillin for over a week now; I have about three more days of it. Quite a last few months of battling colds, small injury, and then the throat infection that has required some serious drugs.

I've been going to the gym about every other day, doing about 50 minutes of aerobic or sub-aerobic exercise, with a little core work. Based on what I did get to do in '09 training-wise and still managing to do some light work, I'm not that bummed. It's the way it is. I'd rather it be me than my son.

The interesting thing to me whenever I'm sick is how well I treat myself. I hydrate like I'm training (hmmmmm . ..), and sleep like my body needs it because I have a big day of work and training and LIFE tomorrow (hmmmmmm. . .), and I eat as if I really really care about what goes in my body (geeeeez. . ..). My point: I should live all the time like I do when I'm sick. When I'm healthy, I take for granted the true needs of my bind (mind/body) and sorta "goof off:" Go to bed late, eat like a moron, pound coffee/have one too many beers, etc. When I'm sick, I'm responsible. I don't wish I was sick more, but I wish I had half the sense that I do when I am sick! A perfect example is eating. I will go hungry some days when I'm "healthy." Have a bunch of coffee in the a.m., not really eat, have a good lunch and then sorta snack at dinner. Now, if I go two hours, I start to drag and feel sick. I'm having to constantly keep my nutrition going, stay hydrated and rested. . . or else. And that's just life, not running two hours on the trails.

This latest infection has been wild. The first three days I was on the drugs I was dizzy and felt nausea. I thought about quitting the drug since my throat felt better and I didn't dig the side-effects. My doc said those aren't side-effects (in his experience) but do not stop taking the drugs. He's right. You always hear that. I skipped a dose, started to feel worse and have been spot on ever since. One day, I tried to go for a light jog; my HR was going through the roof and I felt very dizzy and squeamish. Unbelievable. On the trainer one day, my HR was flying, but I wasn't. Wow. It's been a very weird few weeks. Fortunately, I've been feeling a little better and managing to sweat at the gym.

So, maybe I'm learning how to snack more effectively, hydrate better and dig the eazy work-out. There will be a lot of easy days in my future because there will be very hard days. I can't wait for those.