1/11
LD48 (UT2) - 50'
11896m/2:06.1/15.9 spm/151 HR/165 MHR
r2303m (10' warmup)

Pretty solid day today.

1/12
LD49 (UT2) - 35'
8301m/2:06.5/16.1 spm
r2308m (10' warmup)

First back to back loading days in a while; legs definitely felt less zippy but it was fine enough. HRM crapped out at the end of the ride, so may need a new one; was in the mid 160s with a few minutes to go so par for the course with things feeling a bit harder than yesterday.

1/13
UT3 - 45'
10178m/2:12.6/14.0 spm/145 HR/162 MHR

UT1 tomorrow, then leaving for the ski weekend.

1/14
LD50 (UT1) - 30'
7761m/1:56.0/24.0 spm/175 HR/187 MHR
5:00 - 1286m/1:56.6/24 spm/159 HR
10:00 - 1292m/1:56.0/24 spm/169 HR
15:00 - 1292m/1:56.0/24 spm/174 HR
20:00 - 1294m/1:55.9/24 spm/178 HR
25:00 - 1297m/1:55.6/24 spm/182 HR
30:00 - 1298m/1:55.5/24 spm/184 HR
r7062m (15' warmup + 15' cooldown)

Tried to go slower on this one as per my last conversation with TG - was going to shoot for 1:58->1:56, but settled in at 1:56 after the first five minutes so I just tried to keep it reasonably flat after that. This is my third loading day in the last four, but I'll be off of the erg for at least the next two days, so some potential for rest.

1/18
UT3 - 25'
5601m/2:14.0/14.0 spm/135 HR/144 MHR

Didn't sleep well last night and have a bit of a scratchy throat; hopefully it's not the Cron but I guess we'll see.

guessing our boy has the rona? thoughts and prayers

Worse - viral bronchitis; I'd have preferred the 'rona to this. Saw you got got, though, so hopefully you're on your way to working yourself back.

2/14
UT3 - 30'
6686m/2:14.7/14.3 spm

HRM dead, but pleasantly surprised to do even this much. Coughed a bit during the row, but I'm feeling better enough that hopefully a bit of activity helps me clear out even more. Per TG, I should probably take it easy for 3-4 weeks (UT3 mixed with lighter UT2) to try and work my way back.

In other news, we moved to a new house in the middle of a snowstorm; getting the old one prepped to go on the market (hopefully within a week to ten days). Exciting times.

sounds nasty. what does that involve...cough, temperature and a load of gunk in the lungs?

good to have you back and hope you pull up ok from it tomorrow.

That sounds horrible, I'm glad you are on the mend.

Thanks guys. Mostly just green goop in my lungs for three weeks with a cough I couldn't clear - I couldn't sleep in the same room with my wife because it took me 60-90 minutes after laying down to stop coughing. Some fatigue, but I kept working outside of the four days I had to take off for the move because the company wouldn't move the date even with a snowstorm coming. Poor timing all around.

2/15
UT3 - 30'
6684m/2:14.7/14.4 spm

Lowered the drag and felt a bit better. Still a slight cough but it's easy enough to work around at this pace/distance.

Some tips from a long time viral bronchitis person (for 25 years):

Medicine doesn’t help, unless it turns into pneumonia or something worse
Sleep and water if you get it. Don’t push any workouts.
Prevention is best - here’s what I’ve learned and do that helps prevent it from happening and mitigate severity and duration:
Humidity-dry nose/sinus prone to inflammation and onset. Get a whole house humidifier for the new pad (low cost install and attach to furnace). Even get one of those desktop humidifiers for your office.
Coat your nose & sinus with a nasal gel, Ayr sinus gel is what I have now. Do this during anytime you’re in dry air (Midwest from October ish thru March) and plane rides and arid destinations like CO, AZ, NV for me.

Since I’ve added house humidifier, office desktop one and started using nasal gel it’s helped a ton. I used to get 2x per winter and last 3 weeks, occasionally resulting in fever and general yuck.

As I’ve been told this is the gift that you’ll always have.

Holy shiet I have never heard of viral bronchitis. Do not want. WTF. Next thing we know is the Rona is going to mutate with this crap and we are going to have OmicronChitis.

Looking to relocate to some remote location and live off my own garden with a truffle pig and a shotgun.

Congrats on the house. Hope you stayed withing walking distance of everything important. That's the nuts.

Droopy,

Thanks for the detailed post; as a very underweight baby with underdeveloped lungs, my childhood winters until I was 10 or so all contained some combination of viral bronchitis/pneumonia, so this isn't completely new, just the first time I've had to experience it in quite a while. The new house does have a humidifier, but getting another one for my office is a good idea. Nasal gel is new to me, but I'll look into it. Thank you very much for taking the time to post this advice - I greatly appreciate it.

loco,

Yes, it's far from ideal; stay safe.

melk,

Thanks. I'm in one of the old money quasi-suburb neighborhoods right now (still technically in the city limits but outside of downtown); there's some walkable stuff maybe 6-8 blocks away, but the days of the triangle of life are sadly no more. Also, I have a fifteen minute commute to the office now, which is less of a problem than you'd think because I have to take the kids into school when I go in, so it's actually a lesser commute in total, since it's now in the same direction as the office.

Also, I mentioned it in Arjun's thread, but RIP to real Monte. The end of an era.

2/16
UT3 - 30'
6686m/2:14.7/14.3 spm

Feeling ok still; hopefully my cough keeps gradually going away.

Remarkable consistency with your three comeback rows !

I have a Venta. I'd highly recommend.

https://www.venta-air.com/en_de/Original-LW45/7045401

I'd likely spring for the Pro now. I'm a believer in UV light nuking things like children coof air.

Well, I guess sacrifices must be made. But 15 min is not so bad.

Hey, at least you didn't move to Carmel. That would have been the true death of the real Monte.

Edit: Just popped over to Arjun's thread and realized which Monte you were referring to. That sucks. Sorry to hear it.

RIP Monte. I have never heard of an in your home vet service like you mentioned. Sounds like a good way to make the unpleasant as bearable as possible.

Congrats on the new digs and good luck kicking the ailment to the side!

Thanks bros; kind of a weird emotional time with everything going on, but overall we're holding together.

2/17
UT3 - 30'
6715m/2:14.1/14.0 spm/df 80

Bit better today; higher drag made things a bit easier.

And thanks Thremp, I'll probably end up buying that humidifier for my bedroom. Apparently my lungs subscribe to horseshoe theory, so it's time to be proactive.

np. I got it because waking up with a nosebleed and bloody sheets is a bad time. Also the hard water issue makes an ultrasonic untenable.

RIP Monte.

Think rescue doggos in my near-ish future. The real rich people flex. Instead of paying $x thousands for fancy dog and professional training, you get to the point where you can actually spend time with your pet and train it yourself. (Parable of the Mexi Fisherman and IB)

2/18
UT3 - 30'
6756m/2:13.2/14.0 spm/df 80

Feeling better still.

Re: dogs, one of the kids definitely wants one and one wants one but is too lazy to walk them so he's claiming he doesn't to avoid the responsibility. I'd guess we'll probably get a kitten in a few months once we're settled and back from the vacations I hope we'll be able to take and then take it from there. I've never had a dog, so I have no idea what kind we should get or anything like that, but I guess we'll figure it out.

Get a cocker spaniel. Such a great breed.

One thing I will advise is not to believe any children who say they will walk the dog. Because they ****ing won’t. Wives rarely do either

We have a cat and a dog and I love both. Cat is way more chill and low maintenance and the dog more loving and giving but way way more work. I went through a few periods of regretting the dog purchase because it’s a lot more responsibility but on balance, your freedom is ****ed already once you have multiple young children and the dog brings a lot more joy into the home

Hope you feel better soon and congrats on the new house.

Fuuuck moving through a snow storm...can't even imagine how miserable that was. It's time to start paying people to do it; I personally will never load/unload another piece of furniture or appliance for the rest of my life.

2/21
LD51 (UT2) - 30'
7044m/2:07.8/15.8 spm
r2260m (10' warmup)

Took the weekend off of rowing due to excessive drinking and unpacking; this was my first UT2 since coming back, so I kept it light. I felt like I could have both gone a bit longer and a bit faster, so I suspect TG would approve.

Re: dogs, noted. I've always been a catbro, so I very much don't know what to expect. Our friends have some similar mix (Labrador/spaniel or poodle or something?) that is pretty high energy; I'm not really inclined for a dog like that myself. I guess we'll see.

Re: moving, agreed MLY. We hired movers that refused to move the day of the move, so I moved ten car loads the two days before the storm and they still couldn't get it done as promised (and then charged us 2k more because they were slow). We managed to knock it back down to close to the original estimate, but still not pleasant. Old place just had new paint applied and is going on the market in a few days, so hopefully not too long to go with two mortgages.