1st, more about "Brian" the dog. 13 years ago, I decided to get a boxer puppy, and Brian came into our lives (I know, weird name, but that's another story). When I got married and moved to an apartment, he stayed with my parents because we felt he would be happier in a house with a garden. He's aged a lot lately, and has recently been diagnosed with heartworms (don't follow the link if you have a weak stomach). Was searching for some old digital pictures of Brian and I found this one from 5 years ago (picture - left, above), which presents a rather striking contrast to how old and gray (white?) he looks now (picture - left, below).
Positive testimony to share about Brian: Some weeks back Brian suddenly went off his food/water, and went so weak in a day that he couldn't even walk properly. Took him to the vet and found out he had some sort of viral attack and early stage of heartworm. While waiting, I felt so sorry for the old, weak dog that I laid my hand on him and prayed for healing, peace and comfort for him - the amazing thing is that as I prayed, I could FEEL him relaxing! It's like God's hand came upon him and then and there I knew he would get betta. While at the vet, he drank up two bowls of water (refused to have any water the entire day/night before), and of course pee'd all over the vet's floor - much to my embarassment. But as I was mopping up all that stinking urine, I had a HUGE smile on my face. PRAISE GOD! He was given some asprin and anitbiotics but the vet did not want to treat the heartworms until he got "a lot stronger". Praise God again, that in the few weeks that followed, he got betta and betta, and last week we brought him back to the vet, who has prescribed HeartGuard and asprin for him - since it is early stage (baby worms) and Brian is really too old to go thru a more extensive treatment. Brian is now eating well and looks like a happy, healthy (albeit old) dog again. Truly our God is a God who loves His creations!So why do I feel like an old dog myself this week? Well, "exciting" 1st week back at work plus the typical 2nd half year kick-offs means busy days and late nights with too much food, beer and wine. :( Was totally not able to do any training Monday to Thursday, but finally managed to make it to the gym at lunch yesterday. So I did intervals on the treadmill - 1km tempo run, 500m recovery, repeast twice more, then close with 500m sprint - total distance/time 5km/29 minutes. May I ask the expert runners here if this sort of interval work is effective for making me faster on Sprint and Oly Tri distances (5km and 10km)? Should I be adjusting it to longer or shorter interval/recovery?
Train safe this weekend. I know I will be. God Speed! :)
5 comments:
Clearly God wanted you to have more time with Brian the wonder dog. Good luck with th esecond half of the year!
That's wonderful news about Brian. I was not going to follow the link until you said that if you have a week stomach not to follow it. You were right that is disgusting, but sad to realize that is what is inside a dog when that problem arises.
I shouldn't have looked. Hard to imagine a poor dog with that problem. Glad to hear you caught it in time. Pets are so so precious and so much a part of the family. We have had our little dog since we first moved in together 10 years ago this fall.
I don't have much authority as a distance running expert so these are just my amateur opinions. For the most part if I am doing short inteverals my recovery is half the distance of my interval. Then as my fitness level increases, I decrease the time for my recovery period. For shorter intervals I would make sure my pace is as fast if not faster than my intended pace for my training distance. ie If I want to do 5 min per km in a 5k, then my 1k interval would be slightly faster than that. So I think you're on the right track, as long as the 1km intervals are at an appropriate pace. Just my thoughts.
Glad to hear your the good news about Brian.
Good to hear Brian is on the mend. Our old dog "Bailey" started falling down two weeks ago. Though she didn't have heart worms she had some type of infection that threw her balance off and made her not want to eat and drink, etc. It was a tough week, but she is about 90% now.
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