Notes
Well, this was an interesting run. I did not feel very energetic to begin with -- I felt lethargic and was dragging, probably a result of taking a Benadryl at bedtime last night. So we started running, and I was having a hard time breathing - even at easy paces. Somehow, I muddled through it and was able to still do my workout, and hit paces for miles 5, 7, 9 and 11. But it was a struggle and I really found it hard to breathe. During my last faster mile, I literally felt like i was almost drowning or suffocating, I just could not get enough air in. It felt very different than when I've been breathing hard just from running a faster pace .. I could not suck enough air in.
Somewhere around mile 10-11, I started remembering having a similar problem this time last year. Because i have such awful allergies, my dr gave me an inhaler, which helped. I only used it from maybe March-May? And then didnt need it after that - -so I had forgotten about it. So ... at mile 12, I stopped and used my inhaler (thankfully, it was still floating around the bottom of my purse). It took about 20 mins/2 miles for it to kick in but WOW ... when it kicked in, it really illuminated and confirmed things. All of a sudden, i swear, it felt like I could get about 2x the air in then before.
I should have known -- both from going through this last year and also just over the past few weeks, off and on I've complained to Rob about breathing harder than normal during runs that should have felt easy. So ... lesson learned I guess! Plus it was good "mental toughness" training the first 12-14, before my inhaler kicked in!